Soon every corner of the ground Its separate set of players found. A dozen games upon the green, With ins and outs might there be seen; The umpires noting all with care To tell if hits were foul or fair, The “strikes” and “balls” to plainly shout, And say if men were “safe” or “out,” And give decision just and wise When knotty questions would arise. But many Brownies thought it best To leave the sport and watch the rest; And from the seats or fences high They viewed the scene with anxious eye, And never failed, the contest through, To render praise when praise was due. While others, freed from games on hand, In merry groups aside would stand, And pitch and catch with rarest skill To keep themselves in practice still. And had our champion players found A chance to view that pleasure-ground, They might have borne some points away, To put in use a future day; For “double plays” and balls well curved And “base hits” often were observed, While “errors” were but seldom seen Through all the games upon that green. Before the flush of morn arose To bring their contests to a close, The balls and bats in every case Were carried back and put in place; And when the Brownies left the store, All was in order as before. [Illustration] [Illustration] ABOUT BREATHING. BY HELLEN CLARK SWAZEY. It is a curious fact that, although breathing is a very simple and necessary accomplishment, there are a great many people who have forgotten how to do it in the best way. If you will watch a perfectly healthy baby when it is asleep, you will see that its shoulders are quite low and even, that its mouth is usually closed, and that it is breathing comfortably from its lower chest. We know that the lungs are the chief purifiers of the blood; but to perform their duty satisfactorily the air-cells of the lungs must be filled with filtered air and they must have plenty of room in which to work,—so we are, on the whole, well satisfied with the baby’s method of breathing. In fact, we have reason to believe that the system has been taught by Nature herself; and when we can get Nature’s methods at first hand, it is seldom worth while to try to improve upon them very much. But when the baby grows up, if it chance to be a girl, her clothing is usually such that it interferes with the free action of muscles that are concerned in enlarging the cavity of the chest, so that the lower part of the lungs, which should be busy taking in their share of oxygen to make the blood fresh and bright, are seldom used, and the blood goes away from the lungs only partly freed from its impurities, while the lungs themselves do not get exercise enough for their own good.