Brick, bat! Brickety, bat!
A woolly dog and a little cat
Sat in the barn door, enjoying the sun,
Watching their chance to have some fun.
Rick, rous! Rickety, rous!
A good-sized rat and very small mouse
Sat on the edge of the horse's manger,
Never giving a thought to danger.
"Bow-wow! Bow-wow-wow!"
Barked Mr. Dog to Pussy Meow:
"I'm going to catch that rat, while you
Can have the mouse to make a stew."
"Meow-meow! Fiss! Scat!"
To the woolly dog replied the cat:
"Just give your tail a gentle swing
When you're quite ready to make the spring."
"Tweak, tweak! Tweakety, tweak!"
Squeaked the rat to the mouse so weak:
"That woolly dog and little cat
Will try to catch us, I'm sure of that."
"Eak, weak! Eakety, weak!"
Replied the mouse, in a fainter squeak:
"We'd better not wait for it to be tried;
Let's jump down now and run and hide."
The woolly dog gave his tail a swing,
The little cat made a terrible spring;
The mouse disappeared through a hole in the floor,
The rat scampered out through the open door.
The doggy silently scratched his ear,
The pussy sighed and dropped a tear.
"It's all your fault," said the dog, in a huff,
"You cats never move quickly enough."
"'Tis no such thing," was pussy's reply;
"I moved as quick as the flash of an eye.
Your own lazy tail is all to blame;
If it had wagged quicker, we'd have caught the game."

Fire-crackers.—Fire-crackers are made in China, where, on account of the cheapness of labor, the price is only two cents a bunch. As there are eighty in a pack, a Chinaman makes forty fire-crackers for less than a cent of our money. Most of them are made by poor people in their spare time. Merchants in Hong-Kong buy them, and place them in boxes holding forty packs each. They are so cheap that shippers could not afford to pay much for having them carried, so they are used as ballast in ships that bring silks and teas. The Chinese letters printed on the wrappers of fire-cracker packs are the advertisements of the dealers. "Fire-bangs," as they are sometimes called, are used almost all over the world. In the United States, their use in the North is on the Fourth of July; but in the South, Christmas is the great time for them. In England, they are most popular on the 5th of November, Guy Fawkes's Day; and in South America, on days of Church festivals. In China, everybody fires them on New-Year's Day; and in some of the Chinese cities they can be heard at almost all hours of every day, because the people think the noise of their explosion will frighten away evil spirits.