The magpie can be easily tamed and taught to speak. It is so fond of using its tongue, that "to chatter like a magpie" is a common saying. It is a bold, impudent bird, and remarkable for its love of mischief.

One of these tame birds was kept in a gentleman's

house. He was sometimes very amusing, but he often tried the temper of all the servants. If Mag saw the kitchen-maid scrubbing the floor, he would bring in dirt in his beak and scatter it about the part just cleaned, or walk all over it and leave patterns of his feet as an ornament on the white boards. If the boy cleaned the boots and left them in the passage, Mag

would soon do his best to take off the polish. Once the boy took off his white collar while cleaning the knives and forks; but when he came to put it on again, he found it had been dipped in the muddy water in the courtyard.

A magpie's love of mischief, or else his fondness for anything bright and shining, tempts him to hop off with silver thimbles, spoons and forks, with bright scissors and knives, or with gold rings and jewels. These things he hides in all kinds of odd corners, or buries them in the ground. Many a poor man or woman has got into trouble from the thievish habits of some tame magpie. The master or mistress having lost something valuable, wrongly suspects a servant of the theft; whereas the real thief is the sly bird in black and white, that hops about the house and pecks at the ankles of all the little boys and girls that come near him. Indeed, it once happened that a girl was put to death for stealing her master's watch; and it was only discovered when too late that a pet magpie was the true culprit.

ankle thimble

magpie caution
culprit peaceful thorn thierish
glossy kitchen buries jewels

muddy scrubbing

dipped stealing
collar driving

THE ANT AND THE CRICKET.

A SILLY young cricket, accustomed to sing

Through the warm sunny months. of the summer and spring,
Began to complain, when he found that at home
His cupboard was empty, and winter was come.
Not a crumb to be found

On the snow-covered ground,

Not a flower could he see,

Not a leaf on a tree ;

"Oh! what will become," said the cricket, "of me?"

At last, by starvation and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant,

To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant
A shelter from rain,

And a mouthful of grain.

He wished only to borrow,

If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.

Said the ant to the cricket, "I'm your servant and friend;

But we ants never borrow, we ants never lend.

But tell me, dear sir, did you lay nothing by

When the weather was warm?"

Said the cricket, "Not I

My heart was so light

That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay."
"You sang, sir, you say?

Go, then," said the ant, "and dance winter away."

MEANING OF A MAP.

dif-fer-ent pic-ture

dis-tance po-si-tion

New-cas-tle col-our-ed sep-ar-ate moun-tain

To help us to see clearly in our minds the different parts of the world, we use maps. A map is a picture of the world or a part of it; for we may have a map of the whole world or a part of it.

If we wanted to show any one the shape of the schoolroom, and the places where the desks and other things stand, we should draw a pian of it. So if we wanted to give a person an idea of the houses or fields around the school, and the streets or roads leading to it, we should draw a plan of the school and the district around it. Such a plan would give an idea of the position of the places near the school, and of the distance between them.

If these two plans were drawn for you, you would see that the plan or map of a country gives an idea of its shape, of the position of the places in it, and of the distance between them.

In drawing the likeness of a man you may make your drawing small or large; and so you may make a plan or a map small or large. But of course, if you draw one part of a man on a small scale, you must draw all the rest on a small scale too. And so it is

with a plan or a map. An inch may stand for a mile, or ten miles, or a hundred miles; but what it stands for in one part of the map, it must stand for in every other part.

A map is always drawn so that the top is north, the bottom south, the right-hand side east, and the left-hand side west. If then you have a map of your own country, and see Newcastle near the top of the map, you know it is in the north of England; and if you see London on the right-hand of Windsor, then you know London is on the east of Windsor.