Tommy and Bessie, Bert, and even little Caddie, think there is no treat like a visit to Covill Farm.

They all jumped for joy when, one bright afternoon in early summer, their papa said:—

“I am going out past the Covill Farm, and if any little folks want to go along they may stop there while I do my errands.”

How soon they were all ready! How busy all the little tongues were, talking over what they would see and do!

“There’ll be lots of little chickens now; and ducklings, too!”

“Yes; and we’ll see the dear little lambs, and the little calfeys!”

“And maybe we can go down to the boat-house, and have a row on the lake!”

But they never dreamed of the funny sight they really saw that afternoon. Papa set them all down at the gate, and drove on, promising to come back for them in an hour.

When he came back he tied his horse, and set out to find the little folks. But in a few moments they saw him, and came rushing across the yard, all talking at once:—

“O papa, come! come and see!” “Oh, so funny!”

Little two-year-old Caddie was as much excited as the rest; she cried:—

“Take my hand, papa! Little piggies shall not bite you!”

“Little piggies,” indeed! Little foxes they were; and nine of the cunning creatures. Only think!

The manager of the farm said that something had been killing his lambs, and he had been on the watch to find out the rascal.

One day, when he was out with his gun, he saw something moving near an old woodchuck hole; at least, there had been woodchucks there the year before.

He went nearer, expecting to see a woodchuck again; but there were these little foxes playing around. The woodchucks must have burrowed out, and an old fox taken possession of their hole for a den.

Mr. Nash lay down on the ground to count the funny little things, and watch them tumbling over each other. Then he tried to stop up the entrance to their den with his coat, so that he could catch them. But a tree root lay across the hole in such a way that there was a place left big enough for the little foxes to get in; and in they went.

Then Mr. Nash went and called a man to help him. They took spades and dug into the hole until they found them.

They carried them up to the farm-yard, and put them into a pen. They were of a tawny color; and when the children saw them they were about as large as cats, and as full of play as any kittens.

Mr. Nash said he did not want to kill them, because they were so cunning. But it was a good thing that he caught them. Just think how many chickens, and ducks, and geese, and lambs those nine foxes might have killed, if they had grown up in their den!

MRS. D. P. SANFORD.

It was the first day of school after a vacation. The children were playing in the yards. The teachers sat at their desks waiting for the bell to strike to call the children to the different rooms. The hands of the different clocks pointed to a quarter before nine.

The bell was a sort of gong, fastened to the outside of the building, and the master of the school could ring it by touching a knob in the wall near his desk. It was now time to call the children into school. The master pulled the bell and waited. Still the merry shouts could be heard in the school-yards. Very strange! The children were so engaged in play that they could not hear the bell, he thought. Then he pulled it more vigorously. Still the shouts and laughter continued.

The master raised his window, clapped his hands, and pointed to the bell.

The children rushed into line like little soldiers, and waited for the second signal. The teacher pulled and pulled, but there was no sound. Then he sent a boy to tell each line to file in, and he sent another boy for a carpenter to find out if the bell-cord was broken.

What do you think the carpenter found? A little sparrow had built its nest inside the bell, and prevented the hammer striking against the bell. The teacher told the children what the trouble was, and asked if the nest should be taken out. There was a loud chorus of “No, sir.”

Every day the four hundred children would gather in the yard and look up at the nest. When the little birds were able to fly to the trees in the yard, and no longer needed a nest, one of the boys climbed on a ladder and cleared away the straw and hay so that the sound of the bell might call the children from play.

M. A. HALEY.