"These dreadful running blackberry-vines!" Says Dick: "they are so prickly! I will not stop; some better place We surely shall find quickly." Through the long field they wandering stray, In the hot sunshine going: "Beneath the wood-lot trees," says Tom, "There must be nice ones growing." And so they find them thick and ripe; But, from among them darting, A hissing adder lifts its head, And, suddenly upstarting, The frightened boys drop both their pails, The berries from them spilling. "Let's hurry home," says Tom. Says Dick, "I'm sure that I am willing." So back they come with tattered clothes, Scratched, sunburnt, soiled, and tired; "To go again," says pouting Tom, "I never could be hired." "Oh, dear! oh, dear! oh, dear!" cries Dick, A doleful little fretter, "We've lost each good place we have had, By looking for a better!" MARIAN DOUGLAS. [Illustration] THE WOUNDED LAMB. EARLY one bright morning, three little girls who were spending the summer on their uncle's farm went out to gather wild flowers in the woods not far from the house. Just as they came to the edge of the wood, they heard the faint bleating of a lamb. They listened, keeping very still, but could not make out where the sound came from. Then Mary, the eldest of the three, said, "Let us each go a different way, and hunt till we find the poor little thing." They did so; and in a few minutes, Lulu the youngest called to the others, "I've found it! I've found it! Come, Mollie and Bessie, come quick and help me; for the dear little lamb is hurt, and I'm afraid it will die." You may be sure that they all ran quickly, and it was well that they did; for the lamb had broken its leg, and could not have lived much longer if some one had not taken care of it. They found Lulu trying to help the poor creature; but she could do little except to soothe it. Just then Bessie looked up, and saw the farmer not far off. She called loudly to him. He came at once, took the lamb tenderly in his arms, carried it home, laid it on a soft bed, and gave it some warm milk. Very soon the lamb began to revive, much to the delight of the children; and little Lulu would hardly leave its side all that day. With such kind care the lamb got well fast. It soon became a great pet with all the little girls, though their uncle said, that, as Lulu had found it, she should give it a name, and call it hers. For some time she was quite puzzled to know what to call it; but one day, when Bessie was stroking it, she said, "Why lambie, your fleece is as fine and soft as floss!" [Illustration] "Oh, now I know what to call this pet," said Lulu, "I'll call it Flossy," and it went by that name all summer. The next winter, when their uncle came to see them in the city, the children inquired for their little pet, Flossy.