The pine forests are the home of numerous wild animals.  The fox, the bear and the caribou furnish the highest prizes for the hunter.

SELECTION IV

  BRING BACK MY FLOWERS

  A child sat by a limpid stream,
    And gazed upon the tide beneath;
  Upon her cheek was joy’s bright beam,
    And on her brow a blooming wreath. 
  Her lap was filled with fragrant flowers,
    And, as the clear brook babbled by,
  She scattered down the rosy showers,
    With many a wild and joyous cry,
  And laughed to see the mingling tide
  Upon its onward progress glide.

  And time flew on, and flower by flower
    Was cast upon the sunny stream;
  But when the shades of eve did lower,
    She woke up from her blissful dream. 
  “Bring back my flowers!” she wildly cried;
    “Bring back the flowers I flung to thee!”
  But echo’s voice alone replied,
    As danced the streamlet down the lea;
  And still, amid night’s gloomy hours,
  In vain she cried, “Bring back my flowers!”

  O maiden, who on time’s swift stream
    Dost gayly see the moments flee,
  In this poor child’s delusive dream
    An emblem may be found of thee. 
  Each moment is a perfumed rose,
    Into thy hand by mercy given,
  That thou its fragrance might dispose
    And let its incense rise to heaven;
  Else when death’s shadow o’er thee lowers,
  Thy heart will wail, “Bring back my flowers!”

  Lucy Larcom.

LESSON X

THE USE OF TRIFLES

A certain painter once said he had become great in his art by never neglecting trifles.  It would be well for all of us to follow that simple and easy rule.  No man’s house but would be more comfortable, and no family but would be more cheerful, if the value of trifles and the art of using them were better understood.  Attention to trifles is the true art of economy.

We must, however, take care not to confound economy with parsimony.  The former means a frugal and judicious use of things without waste, the latter a too close and sparing use of things needed.  Now a person who understands the use of little things is economical; for instance.  If you wipe a pen before you put it away it will last twice as long as if you do not.

Generally the habits we acquire in our youth we carry with us into old age; hence the necessity of proper training in childhood.  A woman who attends to trifles and has habits of economy will not hastily throw away bits of cotton or worsted, nor will she waste soap by letting it lie in the water.  She will keep an eye to the pins and matches, knowing that the less often such things are bought, the more is saved.  She will not think it above her care to mend the clothes or darn the stockings, remembering that “a stitch in time saves nine.”