my wife. Much poking with snuffers before trick detected. Glance of vengeance. Exit wife up stairs, husband following.

"12, P. M. Listened to curtain lecture fifty-nine minutes, and then fell asleep."

The children were considerably amused with this account of poor Mr. Gander's experiences. Their mother said she thought April fool tricks were apt to end in turning the laugh on the one who played them off.

George, who was reading American history, remarked, that April was made celebrated by having been the month in which the battles of Concord and Lexington were fought. A party of British soldiers was sent out on the 18th of that month, in the year 1775, to destroy the military stores which had been collected at Concord, about eighteen miles from Boston. When they reached Lexington, six miles distant from Concord, they were met by a company of American militia, who had assembled from the neighboring towns. The British advanced at a quick step, and the commander ordered the Americans to disperse. As there were not enough people gathered to make it prudent to fight, they did not attempt a battle; but while they were dispersing, the British

fired and killed several of the party. They then marched on to Concord, where they destroyed a few articles of military stores, and sixty barrels of flour. The militia now had collected in considerable numbers. Made angry at the loss of their companions, they made a bold and furious attack upon the enemy, and drove them back to Lexington. Hearing of the situation of his troops, General Gage sent a large reenforcement, with two field-pieces, to their assistance. The united forces amounted to about eighteen hundred men. In their hurried retreat, the regular troops were pursued with the greatest activity. From the cover of trees and stone walls, the farmers were able to thin the ranks of the enemy with great success. The situation of the king's forces through the day was extremely hazardous, and it is wonderful that so many escaped. Worn down with fatigue, and almost exhausted, they reached Charlestown about seven in the evening, with the loss of two hundred and seventy-three men killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The next day they entered Boston. This was the commencement of hostilities. An obelisk of granite has been erected at Concord in commemoration of this event.

1

Cousin Grace said she had discovered Elea

nor writing some lines this morning, which she really thought ought to be read to the family. Eleanor blushed, and protested they were not good for any thing; she had only thought to turn Frank's groanings into rhyme, that she might make him laugh, and she did. not think she had succeeded very well. They all insisted, however, on hearing the lines, and cousin Grace produced and read them.

"RHYMES FOR APRIL.

"I welcome thee, April, at last,

Thou season of showers and of fools!
When the weather grows hot very fast,
And then quite as suddenly cools; —

"When, if out in the morning you stroll,
With your new summer dress just put on,
The thunder you soon may hear roll,
And the shower make you rapidly run.

"The snow-drop peeps up from the ground,
In the morning so bright and so clear;
And the crocus espies, looking round,

And cries, Welcome, my friend! Are you
here?

"I am glad that the winter is done,

That the snow has at last gone away,
That we feel the warm rays of the sun,
Inviting us up to the day;

For the way which our winters we spend,
In our bulbs' narrow case tightly bound,
Though it turns out all right in the end,
Is apt rather dull to be found.'

"But while thus rejoices the flower,

As she looks on her neighbors around,
Like enough, comes a gale and a shower,

And bends her quite down to the ground.

"And while twisted and turned on her stalk, And draggled and spoiled by the rain,

She wishes, for all her gay talk,

She were under the warm sod again.

"But these sad mishaps soon are o'er; The crocus will start up again,

The snow-drop look neat as before,

And grow strong and bright after the rain.

"No matter if stopped in your walk,

If the weather change oft through the day,
Or the flower is bowed down on its stalk;

April showers will bring forth flowers of May."

Dr. Solander had entered the room quietly, in time to hear the verses cousin Grace was reading; and, on being informed that they were the production of his friend Eleanor, he presented her with what he said he considered more beautiful than any thing in his green

house. In a warm, sunny nook, he had found this morning a darling little anemone - the Hepatica Triloba; class 16, order 6th. This delicate little white flower was welcomed by the whole party with the greatest joy, not only for its own beauty, but as being the first production of spring, and a promise of the pleasure they should be able to find from gathering the field-flowers. The doctor brought also a beautiful bunch of roses, geraniums, stocks, wall-flowers, and the other productions of his green-house, but they did not differ materially from those described in the last month.