“I know you are, and that you are as brisk as you are pretty.  Just give me a breakfast, and I promise you that you shall see Washington before your father, mother, or brother Robert does.”

“I will do the best I can, sir,” Betty said.

The other men came in, and all sat on the porch and talked while Betty worked.  Getting her mother’s whitest cloth and the silver that came from England, she quickly set the table.  She brought out a loaf of new bread and a jar of fresh honey.  Then she ran to the spring house and got yellow butter and rich milk.  She had some fresh eggs that had been laid by her own hens.  These she dropped into boiling water.  Last of all she cut thin slices of delicious ham.

When everything was ready, Betty went to the porch and invited the strangers in.  Her cheeks were now the color of the red rose by the gate.

The visitors ate heartily of all the good things Betty had prepared.  As the tall, handsome gentleman rose to go, he leaned over and kissed her.  “My pretty little cook,” he said, “you may tell your brother Robert that you saw Washington before he did, and that he kissed you, too.”

You may believe that Betty did tell it.  She told it to her children, and they told it to their children, and I am telling it to you to-day.

—­MRS. L.A.  McCORKLE.

ROCK-A-BY, HUSH-A-BY, LITTLE PAPOOSE

  Rock-a-by, hush-a-by, little papoose,
    The stars come into the sky,
  The whip-poor-will’s crying, the daylight is dying,
    The river runs murmuring by.

  The pine trees are slumbering, little papoose,
    The squirrel has gone to his nest,
  The robins are sleeping, the mother bird’s keeping
    The little ones warm with her breast.

  The roebuck is dreaming, my little papoose,
    His mate lies asleep at his side,
  The breezes are pining, the moonbeams are shining
    All over the prairie wide.

  Then hush-a-by, rock-a-by, little papoose,
    You sail on the river of dreams;
  Dear Manitou loves you and watches above you
    Till time when the morning light gleams.

—­CHARLES MYALL.

THE TAR WOLF

I

Many hundreds of moons ago, there was a great drought.  The streams and lakes were drying up.  Water was so scarce that the animals held a council to decide what they should do.

“I hope it will rain soon and fill the streams and lakes,” Great Bear said.  “If it does not, all the animals will have to go to a land where there is more water.”

“I know where there is plenty of water,” said Wild Goose.

“I do, too,” said Wild Duck.

Most of the animals did not wish to go away.  “It is well enough for the ducks and geese to go,” said Wild Cat; “they like to move about.  It is well enough for Great Bear to go; he can sleep through the winter in one hollow tree as soundly as in another.  But we do not wish to leave our hunting grounds.”