ONE day in May as Charles walked through the fields, he saw a large hawk hovering in the air, and heard a noise as of geese cackling. Soon an old mother-goose with a troop of little ones came running towards him. She knew that Charles would protect her and her fledglings from the cruel hawk; and she was not mistaken. He took up a stick, and, looking up at the hawk, said, "Now come on if you dare, you old thief!" The hawk made a swoop down to the top of a tree near by, caught sight of the goslings, and would, no doubt, have liked to clutch one of them, and carry it off; but the robber-bird was not quite bold enough to do this while Charles stood by. At last the hawk flew off out of sight, and Charles called his good dog Fido, and pointed at the geese, and said, "Take care of them, sir." So Fido sat down near by, and watched the geese. I think if the hawk had come then, Fido would have been more than a match for him. [Illustration] UNCLE CHARLES. MABEL'S SECRETS. AND what were her secrets? She was one of the children allowed to make Christmas-gifts to their friends. But it was hard for Mabel to keep her secrets. When her papa came home at night, she always climbed upon his knee to tell him every thing that had happened in her little world during the day; and her papa always listened to her prattle with a great deal of interest. Now, that there was something she must not tell, Mabel could think of nothing else. She climbed upon his knee, and sat so silent, that her papa said, "Well, puss, have you nothing to tell papa to-night?" "Oh, I mustn't tell you my secrets, papa," said wise little Mabel: "I've lots of 'em, and one is for you; and, if I tell, you will know all about it." Now that the ice was broken, Mabel chatted on, innocently thinking that her secrets were safe in her wise little head. "Mamma knows," she continued; "but you mustn't know; and we are going to have a Christmas-tree to put 'em on, and everybody will be so _sprised_." Sure enough, when Christmas Eve came, every one was surprised, but, most of all, little Mabel; for a beautiful doll and many other pretty things hung upon the tree for her. "Why, mamma," she exclaimed, "somebody else must have had secrets too!" M. B. L. [Illustration] [Illustration] THE LITTLE STUDENT. IN the sun by the wall, with Lion close by, With her book in her hand, little Ruth you may spy: She is getting her lesson as fast as she can, While the birds sing their song and the soft breezes fan. See, that is her slate lying there on the ground: She can make a square figure, and then make a round; She can add up a sum, if it's not very big; But she cannot yet draw me a cat or a pig.