"See her long claws, and only hear Her awful growl when I go near! We found her lying on a rug, And just escaped her fearful hug. It took some time to get her caged: She's terrible when she's enraged. (You think, perhaps, it's Mabel's cat, But don't you be too sure of that!) "Here is the ostrich in her pen (It's Ernest's little bantam-hen): She came from Africa, of course, And runs as fast as any horse; And up above there is a bird Of whom you all have often heard,-- The eagle ('That is not,' says Mary, 'A pretty name for my canary')." Just at this point, I grieve to say, The elephant broke quite away, O'erthrew the grizzly bear in rage, Upset the eagle in his cage, Flew at the kangaroos, and then Attacked the ostrich in her pen. Thus ended Jack's menagerie Beneath the crooked cherry tree! H. B. THE STORY OF A LITTLE DUCK. I WAS one of a family of nine brothers and sisters. We all found ourselves outside our shells one fine, sunny day in spring; but we felt chilly, and were glad to nestle under the wings of the kind old hen whom we regarded as our mother. In a day or two, we began to look about the world. We found that it comprised a pretty lawn, on which our mansion was placed, with a brick wall at one end of it. The other end of the world was at the foot of the lawn, and consisted of a level expanse as smooth as a sheet of glass. Our mansion was formed of wood, with a high pointed roof, and with open bars in front, through which we could look out and enjoy the prospect. We could crawl under the bars easily; but mother-hen could not. One day a great, strong giant came and lifted up our mansion right over our heads. This giant had two legs, but no wings. Poor thing! They called him a _little boy_. He frightened us very much at first; but as he fed us, and called us, "Ducky, ducky!" we soon grew fond of him. When the boy had lifted up our mansion (which he called a coop), mother-hen started at once on a journey round the world. We stopped to pick up some bits of grain, and some little worms, which we found. "Cluck, cluck!" said mother-hen, which means, "Come, come!" and we all said, "Quack, quack!" which means, "Yes, yes!" On we went, threading our way through the forest of grass; and our ideas were much enlarged by finding that the world comprised a vast farm-yard as well as our lawn, and the distant glass-like boundary. On we went, "Cluck, cluck! quack, quack!" and at last found ourselves close to the smooth expanse, which we learned was called a _pond_, and composed of a beautiful liquid called "water."