Mrs. Primkins listened to the whole list, and made a mental calculation of how much of the ten-dollar bill it would take to pay up. The result must have been satisfactory, for her grim face relaxed almost into a smile, as she covered up the "sponge" and washed her hands. "Wal, don't let your Pa get away in the morning till he has split up a good pile of oven-wood. We'll heat the brick oven, and have over Mis' Kent's Mary Ann to help. I guess the money'll cover it, and I can pay Mary Ann in old clothes." THE LINNET'S FEE. BY MRS. ANNIE A. PRESTON. Once I saw a wee brown linnet Dancing on a tree, Dancing on a tree. How her feet flew every minute As she danced at me-e-e; How her feet flew every minute As she danced at me! "Sing a song for me, wee linnet, Sing a song for me, Sing a song for me." "Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute, Till my mate I see-e-e; Oh, Miss, if you'll wait a minute, He will sing for thee." "Thank you, thank you, wee brown linnet, For amusing me, For amusing me; You have danced for many a minute, You must tired be-e-e, You have sung for many minutes, You must tired be." "Thanks would starve us," cried the linnets,-- As he sung at me, As she danced at me. "Should you sing like this ten minutes, You would want a fee-e-e; Should you dance like this ten minutes You would want a fee." "Pardon me, I pray, dear linnet, Fly down from your tree, Fly down from your tree. I will come back in a minute With some seed for thee-e-e; I will come back in a minute With some seed for thee." DAB KINZER: A STORY OF A GROWING BOY. BY WILLIAM O. STODDARD. CHAPTER XX. Dismally barren and lonesome was that desolate bar between the "bay" and the ocean. Here and there it swelled up into great drifts and mounds of sand, which were almost large enough to be called hills; but nowhere did it show a tree or a bush, or even a patch of grass. Annie Foster found herself getting melancholy as she gazed upon it and thought of how the winds must sometimes sweep across it, laden with sea-spray and rain and hail, or the bitter sleet and blinding snow of winter. "Dabney," she said, "was the storm very severe here last night and yesterday?" "Worse here than over our side of the bay, ten times." "Were there any vessels wrecked?" "Most likely; but it's too soon to know just where."