Compare one day’s writing with that of the one before, and try to improve every day.  Keeping a journal cultivates habits of observation, correct and concise expression, and gives capital practice in composition, spelling, punctuation, and all the little things which go to make up a good letter-writer.  So, one who keeps a journal is all the while learning to be a better penman, and a better composer, with the advantage of writing original, historical, and descriptive articles, instead of copying the printed letters and sentences of a writing-book.

But, best of all, a well-kept journal furnishes a continuous and complete family history, which is always interesting, and often very useful.  It is sometimes very convenient to have a daily record of the year, and the young journalist will often have occasion to refer to his account of things gone by.  Perhaps, some evening, when the family are sitting and talking together, some one will ask, “What kind of weather did we have last winter?” or, “When was the picnic you were speaking of?” and the journal is referred to.  But the pleasure of keeping a journal is itself no small reward.  It is pleasant to exercise the faculty of writing history, and to think that you are taking the first step toward writing newspapers and books.  The writer can practice on different kinds of style, and can make his journal a record, not only of events, but of his own progress as a thinker and writer.

SIMPLE SIMON.

[Illustration]

  “Simple Simon went a-fishing,
    For to catch a whale,
  And all the water that he had,
    Was in his mother’s pail.”

PRINCE CUCURBITA.

BY EDITH A. EDWARDS.

[Illustration:  PRINCE CUCURBITA ON THE TRELLIS.]

Prince Cucurbita was very unhappy.  His smooth, shiny face was all puckered up into little wrinkles, every now and then a big sob shook his jolly little person till you really felt like crying yourself at the sight of him.  Here was a prince living in a lovely garden full of birds and flowers, surrounded by a large family of brothers and sisters, and always dressed in a pretty green jacket, which could not get soiled or torn.  In spite of all this, he was not happy, for Queen Cucurbita, in order to keep her children out of harm’s way, had hoisted them all up on a high trellis, and would never let them get down.

You may think the Prince might have been smart enough, or naughty enough, to have jumped down when his mother’s back was turned, but, alas! how could he? for she held tightly to the tassel of his cap, and his cap fitted so closely to his head that no effort of his was ever able to get it off.  Across the way lived another big family, the Filberts.  They were just the merriest set that ever was seen, nodding gayly to Cucu now and then when they could spare the time from their own fun, and telling stories to each other, which must have been very amusing; for sometimes they all laughed together till they nearly fell out of bed, and their mother was obliged to shake them all round.  One day, there was a great commotion among the Filberts.  The eldest brother had determined to go out into the world and seek his fortune, so he climbed out of bed and quietly dropped to the ground.