THE BILBERRIES AND THE
MOUNTAIN-ASH.

From the Swedish.

CHC LITTLE boy, his lessons o'er,
a Went bounding from the school-house door ;
A So loud his shouts, so blithe his glee,
He seemed a bird from cage set free.
His teachers were not harsh and stern,
Nor hard the tasks he had to learn;
But boys, we know, love play and fun,
And Wish the easiest lessons done.
Besides, hard work brings wish for food,
And well he knew that in the wood
‘Tall brambles rich in fruit there grew,
And juicy berries darkly blue ;
Of bilberries there he found a store,
For summer days were not yet o’er.
He might have filled with berries nice
His hat and pockets in a trice,
But just then saw, above his head,
A mountain-ash with berries red.
‘Dear me!’ he cried, ‘ how sweet must be
The scarlet fruit of yonder tree!’
The rowan was not hard to scale ;
The boy climbed up, and did not fail
To bring the choicest clusters down,
Yea, spoil the ash-tree of its crown.
But when his spoils he tried to eat,
He found them the reverse of sweet ;
The first so set his teeth on edge,
He threw the rest behind a hedge ;
He thought, ‘Tl to my bilberries haste,
They’ll make up for this hard, sour taste.’
But ah! his schoolmates had been there,
And all the stalks of fruit stripped bare.
* * * *
His disappointment this may teach,—
Don’t strive for what’s above your reach;
With what God gives contented rest,
Nor think the showiest must be best:
You'll often find, that here below
Best things in lowhest places grow.

JANET.

MRS. FLOYD'S

OSGYYY RAILWAY JOURNEY,
d \

HERE was no doubt about it that
Prudence Floyd was a very pre-
judiced woman in many matters,
but still she need not have gone
so far as to forbid her son to work
on the wonderful line of railroad
just. being made between Liver-
pool and Manchester, and pass-
ing through their own little vil-
lage on the way.

In a very lengthy discourse she
explained all her views to thé Squire, illustrating
from Scripture the sinfulness of this new, quick mode
of travel, as bringing places near together that God
had set afar apart, and so on; and showing how, by
way of preserving her Sam guiltless, she had des-
patched him on foot to learn the cobbling of his
uncle in Manchester. -

 

‘A poor trade, but better than wickedness!’ wound
up Mrs. Floyd, who was somewhat self-righteous.

The Squire listened, wagged his pigtail—it was at
least fifty years ago—smiled at widow Flovd, and
declared, — :

‘Well, well, times were changing, but not for the
worse he hoped: and for his part he prophesied the
year would not be out before both he and Mrs. Fleyd
were riding behind the new steam-horse to Man-
chester.’

‘God forbid!’ said Mrs. Floyd, and turned away
quite shocked.

In-that moment the Squire trotted off, delighted
to be released.

Why will people object to new discoveries and

-experiments just because they do not understand

them? and why should Prudence Floyd think her-
self so much better and more foreseeing than the
Squire in this matter of the railroad?

Everyone was a-gog about the scheme; some
pleased, some frightened, all curious. ‘The workmen
were very busy, and Farley village was full of them,
for a single line of rail had actually been laid between
Manchester and that place, and some of the men
were daring enough day by day to travel behind the
hissing, screeching engine, which brought material
for their daily work.

Widow Floyd trembled for them, but little thought
how soon her turn was to come. It was perhaps
three weeks later when a letter was delivered to the
widow. Widow Floyd did not read writing very
easily, so she carried the missive to the schoolmaster,
who read that Sam Floyd sent his duty to his moth-
er, and was then dying at his uncle’s of an acciden-
tal injury from his shoemaker’s knife. The last
words were evidently straight from the poor fellow’s
lips,—

‘Oh, mother! do get to me afore I die!’

Widow Floyd had a motherly heart, if a preju-
diced one; she was scrubbing away great tears with
one hand, while she rolled up a bundle and counted
her money with the other: she must start immediate-
ly for Manchester.

‘Wait for the carrier’s cart to-night,’ said a kindly
neighbour to her.

‘Nay, woman; [ll wait for nought,’ said the
mother. :

‘Get the Squire to send thee in his gig,’ advised a
second.

The Squire was on the threshold as the speech
was uttered.

‘Get the Squire to do better for thee than that,
he said. ‘Come along, Prudence; schoolmaster has
told me thy trouble. Well, poor Sam! poor lad! he
shall see thee to-night for all the bad roads. And he
dragged the old woman through the miry lanes, past
the last houses in the village, towards the straggling
sheds known as Railroad Corner.

Then Prudence hesitated; she saw his aim: but
the Squire was firm and the mother wavering. Into
the trucks used to remove earth the old woman was
lifted, the Squire by her side, and then with a shriek
and a groan the steam-horse set off for Manchester
and Sam.

‘You’d never have seen him to-night any other
way,’ said the Squire; but Prudence had her fingers