St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls | Page 7

some
breathless minutes. Then he slipped the velvet on again, and said:

"That's all right."
Jim drew a long sigh.
"Will it be good, do you think?" he asked, anxiously.
"Not a doubt of it," said Mr. Leatherbee, in such a cheerful tone that
Jim immediately made up his mind that the pony should have an extra
quart of oats all winter for her fine behavior. He expected the picture
would be done right away, but Mr. Leatherbee said he would have to
send the plates to Poughkeepsie to his partner, and the pictures would
come soon by the mail. Mr. Leatherbee then put all his apparatus in his
wagon again, and jogged on as he had come.
For the next four days Jimmie went to the post-office about every two
hours.
"Expectin' a love-letter?" said old Mr. Halloway, the postmaster. At this
all the loafers who were sitting on the counter laughed loudly. Jim
made up his mind that Mr. Halloway was a very unpleasant old
gentleman, and vowed all sorts of threats against him. His revengeful
plans melted away, however, when Mr. Halloway handed him a big
envelope, and said: "Here, Bub, yer letter's come."
Jim tore it open, and six photographs dropped out all alike, all
representing Baby eating under a tree. He privately showed one to her
that afternoon. She evidently thought it very handsome, for she
delicately chewed it up out of Jim's hand, to his great amazement. He
says nothing about this when telling how the pony's picture was taken.

MERRY MIKE.
BY FLETA FORRESTER.
[Illustration]
Merry Mike, from his door, bounded out to his play, With his head in

his hat, on a blustering day; When the wind, of a sudden, came
frolicking down, And lifted Mike's hat from his little round crown.
"He-he!" said Mike, and he said "Ho-ho! Do you call that funny, I'd
like to know?"
[Illustration]
Then he made up his mind to return to the house, But the merry wind
pushed itself under his blouse; And it roared and it roared, as he puffed
and he ran, Till it just knocked over this queer little man. "Ho-ho!" said
Mike, and he said "He-he! I'll get up again, Old Wind, you'll see!"
[Illustration]
Then the wind, with a flurry of bluster and racket, Went crowding and
crowding right under his jacket; And it lifted him off from his two little
feet, And it carried him bodily over the street. Mike laughed "He-he!"
and he laughed "Ho-ho! Do you call this flying, I'd like to know?"
[Illustration]
But the wind with its antics was plainly not through, For fiercer and
fiercer and fiercer it blew, Till making one effort of fury intense It
carried Mike neatly right over a fence. Mike said "Ho-ho!" and
"He-he!" together, "Do you think I am naught but a little
hen's-feather?"
[Illustration]
He met there a somewhat discouraged old cow, That had blown thither
too, though she failed to see how; And he smiled and said, "Make
yourself easy, my friend-- Only keep your mind quiet, and things'll
soon mend!" And he laughed "He-he!" and he laughed "Ho-ho! The
wind is just playing, old cow, you know!"
[Illustration]
As he scampered off home, what above should he see But the roof of a

shed, that had lodged in a tree; So he laughed and he laughed, till his
sides they did ache, For he said, "This is better nor wedding nor wake!"
And he roared "Ho-ho!" and he roared "He-he!" For he was as tickled
as tickled could be.
[Illustration]
"That boy," say the terrified folks of the town, "He would laugh just the
same if the sky tumbled down!" "Indeed, an' I would," fancied Mike,
with a grin, "For I might get a piece with a lot of stars in!" And he
chuckled "He-he!" and he chuckled "Ho-ho!" The very idea delighted
him so!
[Illustration]
His father complained to the priest, "Now, I say, Mike never stops
laughing, by night or by day!" "Let him laugh," spoke the priest; "he
will change by and by, And 't is better to laugh than to grumble or cry!
It's the way with the lad; let him laugh, if he like; And be glad you've a
son that's as merry as Mike!"

AN AGREEABLE GUEST.
BY SUSAN A. BROWN.
The longest visit that we read of in modern days was one which Dr.
Isaac Watts made at Lord Abney's in the Isle of Wight. He went to
spend a fortnight, but they made him so happy that he remained a
beloved and honored guest for forty years.
Few of us would care to make so long a visit as that, but it might be
worth the while for us all to try and learn the secret of making