allowed to eat their cherries and strawberries in their own verandah, a place they were all very fond of; and a very pretty place this verandah was. Fancy a deep, shaded trellis running along one end of the house, covered with vines, passionflowers, clematis, and jessamine, looking over gay flower-beds--the children's own flower-beds-to an arbour of honeysuckle, laburnum, and china-roses, which Arthur had made for Julia; clusters of greenhouse plants, their own pet geraniums, arranged round the pillars of the verandah : and the verandah itself furnished with their own tables and chairs, and littered with their toys, and their small garden tools; as pretty an out-of-door play-room as heart could desire. It was a fine sunny afternoon towards the end of June, and the young folks enjoyed the fruits and the flowers, and the sweet scent of the bean-blossoms and the new-mown hay in the neighbouring fields, and were as happy as happy could be. At last, after the girls had pointed out their richest geraniums and largest heart's ease, and they had been properly praised and admired, Arthur said, "I think it is time to show Edward our robins." And at the word, little Sophy began strewing bread crumbs at one end of the verandah, as fast as her hands could go. Bobby! Bobby! pretty Bobby!" cried Sophy; and immediately the prettiest robin that ever was seen, came flying out of the arbour towards her; not in a direct line, but zigzag as it were, stopping first at a rose tree, then swinging on the top of a lily, then perching on the branch of a campanula that bent under him-still coming nearer and nearer, and listening, and turning up his prettyhead as Sophy continued to say, "Bobby! Bobby!" and sometimes bowing his body, and jerking his tail in token of pleased acknowledgment, until at last he alighted on the ground, and began picking up the bread crumbs with which it was strewn, whilst presently two or three young robins, with their speckled breasts (for the red feathers do not appear until they are three or four months old), came fluttering about the verandah, flying in and out quite close to the children, hopping round them, and feeding at their very feet; not shy at all, not even cautious, like the old birds, who had seen more of the world, and looked at the strangers with their bright, piercing eyes rather mistrustfully, as if they knew that there were such things as little boys who take birds' nests, and little girls who keep birds in cages. "Bobby! pretty Bobby!" continued Sophy, quite enchanted at the good conduct of her pets, and calling upon her cousins for their tribute of admiration. Fanny willingly expressed her delight, and Edward, looking somewhat foolish, wondered how they became so tame. "We used to throw down the crumbs from breakfast and dinner in this place all the winter," said Julia; "the poor birds are so glad of them in the hard weather. And one particular robin used to come for them every day, and grew quite familiar; he would even wait here for us, and fly to meet us as soon as that quick eye of his spied a white frock turning the corner. So then we began to talk to him, and to feed him regularly." "I always saved a great bit of my bread for Bobby," interrupted Sophy. "And he grew as tame as you see; and when he had young ones, he brought them here with him," resumed her sister. "You should have seen them the first day," said Sophy; "that was the prettiest sight. The little things did not know how to help themselves, so there they stood about, some on the geraniums and some on the rose-trees, chirping, and opening their bills for the old ones to feed them; and the poor old birds flew about from one to the other with bread crumbs, not taking a morsel themselves. You cannot think how much the young ones ate! there was one great greedy fellow perched on my rake, who made his poor papa bring him seven mouthfuls before he was satisfied. And now they are so saucy! see how saucy they are!" continued the little girl, as one of the boldest came close to her, and caught a crumb which she was flinging to him before it reached the ground, " See how saucy! O pretty, pretty Bobbies! I do love them so." "We all like the poor confiding creatures who pay us the compliment of trusting so entirely in our kindness and good faith, I believe," said Arthur, half laughing at her eagerness; "and, after all, Edward," added he, as the two boys, bat in hand, marched off to cricket, "after all, you must confess that our method of taming robins is better than yours, and that one bird who comes to you at liberty, of his own free will, is worth a dozen kidnapped in the nest-luckless wretches!-and mewed up in a cage." Edward confessed that his cousin was right, and never took a bird's nest again. From "Our Village," by Miss Mitford. THE HOMES OF ENGLAND. THE stately homes of England, O'er all the pleasant land! The deer across their greensward bound And the swan glides past them with the sound The merry homes of England— Around their hearths by night, What gladsome looks of household love There woman's voice flows forth in song, Or lips move tunefully along The blessed homes of England, Is laid the holy quietness That breathes from Sabbath hours! Solemn, yet sweet, the church bells' chime The cottage homes of England They are smiling o'er the silvery brooks, And fearless there the lowly sleep, The free fair homes of England, Where first the child's glad spirit loves Mrs. Hemans. XXI. THE CHANGELING.1 I HAD a little daughter, And she was given to me To lead me gently backward To the Heavenly Father's knee, |