really not one mouth only, but a great many. You cannot see them because they are all under ground. They are at the ends of all the roots. I will show you some day how the ends have little spongy things fixed to them which suck up the food of the plants. So the water which sinks in the earth, when you pour it over the flowers. can get into these little spongy mouths you see,

and go up into the plants."

13. "How funny, mother!" cried Amy. "Why, that is just as if we drank with our feet. But we could n't live if we had only water and nothing to eat; could we?"

14. "No," said her mother; "but you see it is not only water that the plants and trees get, for you must remember that the water goes through the mold, and it gets a great deal of goodness out of that. We might call it mold broth, and it must be very strong stuff, as it feeds all those great oaks and elms and fir trees, that can stand so firmly and so upright, even when the wind blows quite violently."

15. "I should n't like mold broth, mother," said Amy, making a great face.

16. "No, I dare say not, any more than the trees and plants would like meat and bread and butter

17. "They could n't bite that sort of food,' said Amy, laughing. "I think the trees are like babies: they only drink; they can't eat."

18. "And yet some trees are very old,” an"I have seen a good many

swered her mother.

that are more than a hundred years old."

19. "Oh how very old!" exclaimed Amy. "Do you think, mother, that I could grow strong and tall, as the trees do, if I had only milk or broth to drink, and nothing to eat?"

20. "No," said her mother; "you would do better on milk than on broth; but now that you are not a baby, you want food to eat as well as to drink, to make you strong and tall. God has made both you and the tree in such a way that you both wart food. Neither of you could live without it; but you are not made alike, and so you want different kinds of food."

And that

21. "And cows and sheep, mother," said Amy; "they eat too, but they don't have what I do, nor what the trees have; they eat grass. would n't make us strong, would it ?” 22. "Us? Whom do you mean by us?" asked her mother.

23. "Me and the trees, mother," replied Amy. 24. "No; neither you nor your green friends,' returned her mother; "because you have not either of you, stomachs like the cows and sheep.'

25. "Have the trees got stomachs at all?" asked Amy.

26. "They have what answers the same purpose," returned her mother.

27. "But they eat with their feet, and the sheep eat with their heads, and I take up things with my hands and put them into my mouth. So I have what the trees have not and what the sheep have not; I have hands," cried Amy.

28. "You cannot quite call the roots of the trees feet," said her mother, laughing, "for they cannot walk with them."

29. "No; they can only stand. I should n't like to be always standing in one place," said Amy, drawing a deep breath and looking the very thought tired her. "How dreadful it must be !"

30. " "And yet the trees do not look very unhappy, do they?" remarked her mother, quietly. 31. Amy seemed very much amused at the idea, and said, “No; because they have no faces. Oh, I am so glad that I am not a sheep or a tree! I have lots of things that they have not, either of them."

32. "Indeed, you have," said Mrs. Dudley, rather gravely. "God has made the trees in a wonderful way, and he has made the sheep so that they can eat and drink and enjoy themselves and be very happy in the green fields. But he has given to my little girl a great deal more than he has given to either trees or beasts, and he cares a great deal more for her."

I

WILL tell you of an incident which occur

red once in a country town in the south of Germany. The master of a dancing-bear was sitting in the dining-room of an inn, eating his supper, whilst the bear (poor harmless beast!) was tied up behind the wood-pile in the yard.

2. In the room up stairs three little children were playing. Tramp! tramp! was suddenly heard on the stairs. Who could it be? The door flew open, and, behold! there entered the bearthe huge, shaggy beast-with his clanking chain.

3. Tired of standing so long in the yard alone, Bruin had at length found his way to the staircase. At first the little children were in a terrible

fright at this unexpected visit, and each ran into a corner to hide himself. Put the bear found them all out, and put his nose, snuffing, up to them, but did not harm them in the least. He must be a big dog, thought the children; and they began to stroke him familiarly.

4. The bear stretched himself out at his full length upon the floor, and the youngest boy rolled over him, and nestled his curly head in the shaggy black fur of the beast; then the eldest boy went and brought his drum and thumped away on it with might and main, whereupon the bear stood upon his hind legs and began to dance, as he had been trained to do.

5. What glorious fun! Each boy shouldered his musket; the bear must of course have one too, and he held it tight and firm like any soldier. There's a comrade for you, my lads! and away they marched-one, two-one, two.

6. The door suddenly opened, and the children's mother entered. You should have seen her-speechless with terror, her cheeks white ast a sheet and her eyes fixed with horror. But the youngest boy nodded with a look of intense delight, and cried, "Mother, we are only playing at soldiers."

7. At that moment the master of the bear appeared, and led him away to a good supper before shutting him up for the night.