The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-04-28
silk dress for palmer one, when Dimple

protested. II
-" She always liked that dress, NAM
ma. She looked so pretty in it, don't
want any other dolly to wear it. Please
leave it on.
So, dressed in her pink silk. with her
little pink hat in her hand, the faded
beauty was laid away. The box was
tied up with white ribbon and placed on
the upper shelf ola closet. But mamma,
taking from the library book of en-.
cravings, showed her grave that looked
very like the closet itself.
So Dimple, having done for Miss
Claudia all that she could, was comfort
ed.-Christidn Union.
Short Sermons by Jack Pulpit.
MUD PIES.
There is great sport in making mud
pies, I'm informed. Well, let me tell
YOU that Jack has heard of a city-St.
| Petersburg it is called-where the prin-
cipal ingredient of that sort of pastry is
regularly prepared in great piles In the
public parks, and all the children of the
city are invited to come, with pals and
shovels, and dig and play and make mud
pies all day. At night the clean sand is
carefully swept up again into high,
smooth piles, ready for another days
sport.
Sensible city fathers those-eh?
MAY BASKETS.
1 suppose the children of the red
school-house will be bringing May
baskets to the little school-ma'am and to
each other this year as they did last sea-
son. It's pretty custom, but the birds
tell me it is not SO common as it should
be. A May basket is the sweetest and
freshest thing know of, always except
ing the little schoolmaam Sometimes
it is hardly more than tiny white paper
box with ribbon handles, filed with vio-
let's, but it is always lovely, with its
white or blue ribbon streamers, and its
moss and early wild flowers. L hope all
little lame children, who can't go out
and play, and children in hospitals, will
have May baskets sent them this year.
May baskets are such simple little
things they can be made and filed in
any way one pleases, and, what is more,
they grow like a flower, right out of
loving hearts
EATING INSECTS.
Have you heard the shocking story
TINT Mr.. Darwin and Mrs. Treat have
been telling about certain plant-relatives
of mine-the sundew and others-that
they actually catch and eat insects?
Between ourselves, your Jack is very
much concerned about this, and intend
to ask the -birds-who are well &C
quainted in North Carolina, where that
naughty plant lives-what they know
about it. The proofs are very complete,
to be sure but we'll see what the birds
say.
DRYING TREES.
eyes, sirs," said the Deacon to the
little boys, "I've seen them often-cry-
ing trees that is, trees that shed tears.
The tears are not salt like yours, but
they are very respectable tears, and the
poor tree weeps from morning till night,
and from night till morning. It's called
the miningo tree, and you can find out
all about it if you look into your ency-
clopedia.
CLEANING FLOORS WITH ORANGES.
That's shocking, isn't it 2 But, then,
they have more of them than we do, for
it is in Jamaica that they make scrub
bling brushes of oranges, and you may
be sure it's true, because Mr.. Gosse saw
them do it. The floor was of hard,
polished wood, and, before the family
were out of bed, two or three colored
servants scrubbed over the whole of it
with sour oranges, cut in halves. When
the Juice was rubbed out of one piece,
they would take another, and so they
used up big trayful of them. A polish
was put on by rubbing with cocoanut
husk, and the floor looked as if it had
been waxed.
| MURRE EGGS.
The murre is queer bird. 1t is of
about the size of small duck, and it sits
on only one egg at time. If her nest
is robbed, the mother murre lays another
egg and sits again. The strangest part
of the story is that the eggs are not alike
in fact, it would be almost impossible,
among thousands of them, to find a
single pair that matched in color They
are brown, green, white, blue, or gray,
as the case may be, with streaks or spots
of blue, black, green, olive, or brown.
But all these fancy styles are only shell
deep. The little INJURIES that come out
of the eggs are all after the same pattern,
and in time they take after their parents
in way that is beautiful to behold.
If you want to see them, go to the Far
alone Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.
Climb the first cliff you come to, and
turn to the right.-,St. Nicholas for
Meg.