And when my sweet joy was dead, The sound of the heaving sea, Like gentle breath of sleepers, Was a soothing balm to me. * * * * * DEAR ST. NICHOLAS: I suppose you know that many girls have a poor opinion of boys. Well, my sister and her girl-friends were going to have a fair in my mother’s parlors. I wanted to be in it, but they laughed, and asked me “if I could dress a doll, or make a needle-book?” While they were joking, Mamma whispered something in my ear, and we had a secret together, and we kept it till the night of the fair, and then we astonished my sister in this way. There is a long hall opening out of our back parlor. Mamma had it brightly lighted, that night, and about the middle of the evening Papa opened the door which led into the hall, and hung a large card over the door, on which was written: “Target-Shooting.” I was in there with my new air-pistol, and the target was at the other end of the hall. I loaded the pistol, and another boy took the money. We charged two cents for a shot, and we had all we could do to load fast enough, so many people wanted to shoot. Some took ten shots. When I handed the money to my sister, she said I was “a daisy,”—I think I had the best of the joke that time,—don’t you? Yours, JAMIE H. Yes, Jamie,—but we think also that some of the credit belongs to Mamma. Don’t you? * * * * * A FRIEND of ST. NICHOLAS sends to the “Letter-box” this illustrated jingle: [Illustration] A rising young Man at the CAPE, Climbed a tree with the speed of an ape. “Why I’ve climbed up you’ll know If you look down below.”— Said this rising young Man at the CAPE. * * * * * THE CHILDREN’S RIDE. Once there were two little girls. Their names were Rosy and Alice. They had a little brother whose name was Robbie. Once when they were in the woods they saw a creature with eyes of flame, whistling as it went through the air, and it said in a gruff voice, “I am a Jabberwock.” “What kind of a creature under the sun are you?” said Robbie; “what flashing eyes you have! You look rather kind, though very frightful. Please take me up to the moon on your back and give me some cheese when you get there.” Robbie had heard that there was cheese in the moon, but he did not really think so; only for a joke he said that. “Oh! you soft little pussy thing!” said Rosy, as they rode away up to the moon. Pretty soon they went bump against something which was shiny and yellow. It was the moon. Then Jabberwock let the children get off her back, and asked the Man in the Moon if he would please get from his closet some cheese. “Why!” said Robbie, “I didn’t know there was really any cheese up in the moon!”