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BY AUNT JUNE Our Boys and Girls Corner Registered According to the Copyright Act. I ,DEDICATEDTO EVERY BOY ^ND GIRL IN CANADA Mv Dear Bovi aud Girls: You will remember that I promiH. I to toll you BO me till 114; more this «!•â-  k about our friends, the bir<l«. Laat week I heard a very interesting' lecture by a niau, who has lonR known and loved these little friends, li:i- studied their ways and habits, and knows all their pretty colors, where they live, and how they build their nests. 80 I hope to be able to tell you more about them from time to time, as I have learned a great deal more from hearing this talk than I ever knew myself about them. Today I am going to tell you some- thing about the reason why birds are •Irc.ssi'd in the way they are. As you kDow, a bird's chief clothing is made up of feathers. They are the only creatures who are clothed in feathers and the reason is that fur or hair would not be so useful to them when flying. The way the feathers grow oil the back of the bird protects him and keeps him warm. They form a roof and are closely webbed, over- lapping like shingles on a roof, and ending each in pointed tips. The breast feathers â€" and when we speak of the bird's feather dress this is known as plumage- are much softer and each breast feather is very closely webbed at the tip and soft and downy at the end. This soft, downy fluff, which comes close to the bird's body, keeps him warm in much the same way that the warm underclothes you wear keep the heat in your body. You have seen baby chicks, I am sure, with no clothes on but this fluff, looking lik(! dear little balls of living cotton wool. This downy appearance, by the way, applies particularly to baby chicks, aud if you live in the country or have ever been on a farm abnt this time of year, you will know that the little chicks are beginuing to lircak out of the sheila and run about looking so sweet and fluffy. Perhaps you have kept chickens, so that you will know hotv interesting they are. Now I will tell you about the wings of the bird. The feathers in the wing of a bird are very woudcrfuily made for the purpose of helping him to fly. Each little shaft or feather is curved slightly and has a very tightly knit Webb which helps the bird to press down on the air when in flight. When the biril first starts to fly he beats his wings very rapidly in the air. This is to give the curving under part of his wings a chance to catch a cur- rent (if air like a parachute, and this helps to carry him up. His tail acts aH a rudder. You all know, I expect, what a rudder on a boat is for. It is the guiding piece at the end of the bf>at which turns it in whichever di- I'LKDGE FOR HKLPEllS. "Do a little kindness to someone every day. Scatter ray.s of sunshine all along the way." I pledge myself in the ser- vice of niv King and Country to DO MY HEST IN MY DAILY WO UK, wherever it may be, to help othcr.s wherever pos.sible, and to endeavor in every way to make myself A GOOD CITI- zf:n. Date Name Arc Addre.ss rcetion you wish to sail. This is what the tail'of the bird docs for him. For this reason the bird's tail feathers are longer and of a different shape to those on the other part of his body. There i:i a certain quality, too, in the fea- thers of all the birds which helps to make them fairly waterproof, so that if they got a little wetting, it will roll off their feathers. This is an oily substance contained in the quills of the feathers, which also helps to give u bright, shiny appearance to their pretty coats. Now that I have told you these few ; things about the birds' clothing, what can you tell me further about the birds you have seen ! * RIDDLES How many guessed the riddles that were given last weekt Here are the answers: â€" R. When are you all artists? A. When we draw a long face. Wc mustn't do this often, though, must wet Not if we are really, truly 'â- Helpers." .V â- ' Helper must go around trying to cheer everyone elae np. Th«t is the "Helper's" mission, and if we have a long face, why no one would ever be cheered by it. B. What is the difference between a soldier and a bombi A. One goes to wars uml the (illicr goes to pieces. B. What precious stone is like a door ? A. Agate. Here is a funhy tongue-twister for you to try upon your friends. Ask them to repeat this very quickly; if you want some fun: " .\ cheerful cup of coffee in a cop- per coffee pot." iSi Would you like some more riddlesf New Biddies. B. Why it a shoemaker like a brave soldier? B. What men may be said to work with a will .' U. What auiinal would you wish to- be on a cold day? Thinking about gardens! 1 hope so. The weather is improving every day. Sometimes only for a little part of the day, but gradually as the days are growing longer they are getting brighter too, aud in places where the snow has completely disappeared one can see littlo patches of green grass beginning to show. Isn't it just lovely to think of spring days, and all the jolly things there are to do, making garden, planting seeds, watching the birds and feeding them, and oh, so many iuterests. Here is a poem about the spring: â€" Spring Patchwork. If "I could patch a coverlet Prom pieces of the Spring, What dreams a happy child would have Beneath so fair a thing! A centre of the dear blue sky, A bordering of green, With patches of the yellow sun All checkered in between. Bright ribbons -of the silky grass Laced prettily across. With satin of new little leaves, And velvet of the moss. In every corner, violets. Half -hidden from the view. With many-flowered squares betwixt. Of pinky tints and blue. I Of flossy silk and gossamer, Of tissue and brocade; A warp of rosy morning mitt, I A woof of purple shade. { F.mbroidcries of little vines .\iid spider webs of lace. With tassels of the alder tied At each convenient plMt. With gold-thread 1 would sew the seams, And needles of the pine. Oil, never child in all the world Would have a quilt like minel Please send me lots of news about your helping. Tell me what your gar den is going to be like or what yon hope it will be. 1 shall tell you of some pretty flowers that are worth planting in a week or two. Hurrah for a jolly spring time for every helper! Yours lovingly, AUNT JUNE. ADVICE TO GIRLS By Rosalind Rtiitter^d According tu the Copy- right Act Dear Kosalind: I am in great perplexity, and I do hope you can help me. I am nearly 18 years old; I live next door to a boy one year older than myself. He is a dandy sport, and a good playmate. I have known him ever since I was five yean old, so you see I ought to under- stand him, and I thought I did, but I'm afraid I don't. He is the best playmate I ever had. We used to go for bicycle rides and long tramps with a bunch of other young people. Alto- gether, wc had a jolly time. But now, dear Boialind, he secma to be so dif- ferent, Instead of going out for a walk or a ride, ho wants to come over to our house, to talk or dance, or play the piano. Kvnry now aud then he'll begin to talk about love, and once he went as far as practically proposing to me. Now, dear Bosalind, I feel that hii friendship is giving way to a ridiculous boyish love affair. We are both far tou yiiMiig to think of such serious things, and I would like to call a halt, but last fall lie got the same way and I called him down for it, and asked him to stop. He seemed quite angry ind was several weeks getting ovei; it. What can I do now? Shall I pursue the same method? If I do, I may losu his friendship. Oh, Kosali.id, 1 wouMn't lose that for the world, for he is the best chum I ever had. I never had a best girl friend, but he's everything rolled into one. I want his friondshiii but I don 't want his love. I do hope you can help me by telling me what to do. I will wait anxiously for next week's paper. ELINOK. Dear Klinor: What a lucky, lucky girl you are to have a real boy chum. It is the best thing in the world for both of you; and I'd be as sorry as you to see such friendship spoiled. Rut it ncodn 't be. Don 't notice any difference in him. Just make up your mind not to see it; and, above cvotything else don't talk about it the way you did. Be such a good pal, and plan your good times with such tact that he will not have time or opportunity to talk about things that should be deferred several years. But â€" and now I seem to be contra- dictory myself, if you must talk, tell him what you have told meâ€" and that as soon as you really grow up you will let him talk about love, but that now you just want to play and learn how to grow up right. The reason 1 first said, don 't talk about it or notice it, is because girls are uj)t to dwell on these things more than they moan to, and the chances i-rc, itiv ilea:', that y.)u- nice boy friend is really much more sensible than you give him credit for. Dowi' in your romant' • heni'. you just love to think that you are having a real love affair so soon. So forget it! Be a good sport and a sensible little girl and you'll find everything will be splendid. HOSALIND. The Kangaroo's Leap. The kangaroo, reputed in ancient books to leap as far as 30 yards at a bound, can jump "no better than an elephant," according to Australians. What Good is a Dollar? It's larfr<'ly up to you. Il (Impends on liow you sptiiid itâ€" on tli(^ value TO \()\l of what you ^<>t for itâ€" -oil your ability to find wIuto that value is to Im' had. Of course, its all right to shop around a bit if you like, but why not let the other fellow make it easier for you by doing a little shopping after your dol- lar â€" by showing you what you want and where you can get most of it for your money? it's a great idea, once you get the hang of it. and here's how! Right in this paper you'll find dozens of advertisements offering you mer- chandise. Some things you'll need to-day ; some tomorrow ; some next week or next year â€" but the p)oint is that these merchants are coming to you, looking for your dollar and offering the best they have to get it. You'll find that by reading the ad- vertisements consistently to-day and every day, you can increase the value â€" to yourself â€" of every dollar you have to spend. The things you see advertised are almost invariably as represented. The advertisers' state- ments are usually safer to trust than your own judgment. Advertised mis- representation is business suicide. Read the advertisements and increase the value of your Dollar! rniTTLE Miss Lilly Looks awfully silly Dressed up in her mother's best clothes. If she doesn't take care She may trip on the stair, Or (aD down and bump her small nose. Find tteeectber persras. Left side down, on siurt; upper rikht coracr on ttirt and parasol; ri(iit side down, alone ann. The Sunday School Lesson LESSON IV. April 25 Ruth's Wise Choice â€" Ruth 1 THE LESSON IN ITS SETTING. Time.â€" The fact that Ruth was tlie great-grandmother of David makes it fairly certain (Hast- ings) that the events of this book look place when Eli was judge, or about H.C. 117;{ (neecher). Place.â€" The parting between Or pah and .Naomi may have taken place (lIustlnK.s) at the Ford of the .Anion, on the northern boundary of the Field of Moab, or perhaps when they reached the Fords of the Jor- dan, the eastern boundary of Jiiduh. The .scene of the rest of the .story is Dethlehem. live miles south of .leriLsalcni. the town which was to become the birlhpliice of Kuth's Rreat descendants. David and Jesus. "Then, as now, the sinKle street of Hethlehcni ran alonK the double crest of the white chalk ridge, 2,500 foet above the sea; its slopes ter- raced into lianKing Kurdens. with rows of olives and vines; a plea sant valley lying underneath on three sides, musical with the sound of brooks, though its eastern end Is almost t<)iiche<l by the terrible wil- derness of Judah." Ruth and Orpah. This little hook is one of a collec- tion of live short works called "the five rolls," the others being the Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesias- tes, and Esther. These "five rolls" belong to the thir<l of the three divi- sions of the Bible as the Jews ar- ranged it: the liaw, the Prophets, and the Writings; the other "Writ- iiigii" were the I'sahns, Proverbs, Job, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. Ruth was road in the synagogues every year at the Feast of Weeks. We do not know the author of the book of Ruth, nor the date. It tells -a story of the period of the Judges, which extended over three and a halt centuries. The book of Judges is full of war and commotion and Ruth is a peaceful idyl, but between the wars there were many intervals of peace when these events might have occurred. The diory of Ruth Is of special lmi)ortauce because It gives the an- cestry of David, the ancestor of Christ. It is of special interest also because of the prominence It thus gives to a Moabitess, in spite of the fact that, on account of their un- kind treatment of the Israelites ae they went up from Egypt to Canaan, Moabltes to the tenth generation were forbidden to enter the Hebrew religious assemblies. Further it is of interest because it illus- trates the duty of the nearest relatives to marry the widow of a man who has dietl without male children. Uut the beauty of the character of Ruth, the charm of her simple story, are enough In themaelvea to account for the popularity of this little hook. It Is the' loveliest narrative in the Old Testament, which abounds in beautiful stories. Merely as a piece of literature, it is perfect and prlce- leM. In the days when the Judges Judg- ed. Ruth t>ecaine the great grand- mother of David, BO that her story mtiat belong to tlte close of the per- iod of the Judges, which extended from B.C. 1450 to B.C. 1102. There was a famine in Palestine. Mo- dern civilization, with its telegraphs, railroads, and steamboats, has con- quered famine tor itself, rendering the surplus of one part of the world available for the failure of crops in another part, though still the large- ly populated and backward nations suffer severely from hunger. But all the world, in ancient days, was in frequent peril of famine, and this terrible scourge often afflicted an- cient Palestine. A certain man of Bethlehem-Judali, so-called to dis- tinguish it from the Bethlehem in Zebulun. Ephratha is the name of the district in Judah containing Beth- lehem. This man Elimelech ("God Is King"), with his wife, Naomi, and his sons, Mahlon and Chilion, in order to escape the famine emi- grated eastward acrose the Jordan to Moab, the high plateau 4,300 feet above the Dead Sea. The Moabites were descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and so were kindred of the Israelites; but they had quite lost their true religion, and had fallen away into idolatry. Naomi's husband died. She had left, however, her two sons, who married two Moabite girls, Ruth and Orpah. Such a marriage was allow- able (see Edersheim) in foreign lands, though not in the homeland of the Hebrews. But after ten years the two sons also died, leaving Naomi indeed a stranger in a strange land. She had learned that the famine was over in Palestine, and, old as she was, and very poor, the courageous woman made up her mind to walk home to Bethlehem ftlone. They went on the way. This doea not mean that the two daughters-in- law Intended to go with Naomi, for the people of the East seldom say good-by In the house, but accompany a departing friend part way on his road. When Naomi thought they had gone far enough, she thanked them tor all their kindness to her sons and to her, and bade them each return to their own mother's home and marry again. Struck with pity for her loneliness, the two young women wept, and declared that they would not leave her. Naomi, how- ever, insisted. If she had had other sons, it would have been their duty under the law to marry Ruth and Orpah; but as this was impossible, and as the young men in Bethlehem would not be likely to marry women of Moab, and as Naomi tak^s it tor granted that Ruth and Orpah will wish to have husbands and child- ren, she persists in sending them back. When we consider how dark and solitary Naomi's path must have been had Ruth yielded to her en- treaties, it is hard to say which ot these two noble women was the more generous and self-forgetting. The Two Decision*. Orpan Kissed her mother-in-law. But Ruth clave unto her. Kissing and cleaving, the outward show of affection and the reality of affec- tion! Gone back . . . unto her god. While she lived with her husband and wHh Naomi, Orpah had wor- UNCLE JIM'S STORY. THE CAT AND THE MOUSE IN PARTNEBSHIP. You may not believe this story, but I heard it on very good authority when I was living one winter in a large farmhouse out in the country. A white pussy cat and a little gray mouse once decided to live iu the same house together and share everything they had. "There isn't any reason in the world why cats acd mice shouldn't liv" to- gether happily," smiled pussy, and the little gray mouse shook bis head and said: "Of course, of course." "Now you are to stay at home," pussy said, "because if you go trotting around the first thing that will happen to you will be to fall in a trap. Now here is a pot of nice chicken fat which 1 found the other -day. We'll put this uuder the cellar steps and you can cook it when we want something espe- cially good." ' ' All right, ' ' said the little gray . Inouse, for he was a peaceful little mouse and was so proud to think that a beautiful white pussy would want to keep house with him. One day pussy said to the mouse: "I have a cousin who has a little son, all black with yellow spots, and she wants me to come and be a god mother. You keep house to-day." The little gray mouse promised aud the cat weiit off. But she really did not have any cousin at all. 8e just slipped back in the cellar uuder the steps and began to lick the little pot of fat till she had licked the top all off. When she came back the little mouse asked: "What is the name of the chUd?" "Top Off," said the cat with a sly wink, licking her paws, because that fat tasted wonderfully good. It was not very long before she wanted some more fat aud she told the same story. This time she ate it half up, aud when the mouse asked her the name of the second child shi! winked to herself again and said: "Half Gone." The third time she went away ' she ate up all that was left in the pot, and this time when Mousie innocently asked the name of the child, the cat grinned and said: " 'Clean Gone,' and for goodness sake stop asking me so many questions. ' ' Pretty soon winter came on and it grew cold, and it was very hard to find anything to eat. The mouse crept off to find the little pail of chicken fatâ€" and found it was gone. " O, I know what you meant by ' Top Off' and 'Half Gone;,' " cried the little gray mouse, and he started to cry be- cause he was so very hungry. "Will you be quiet f" screamed the cat, or I will eat you up this minute." "But 'Clean Gone' was already on the poor mouse's tongue, and he could not stop it, and no sooner had he spok- en it than the white cat made a spring at him aud swallowed him. So that is the way that the only case of friendship between a cat and a mouse ended. And I have never heard of another cat and mouse that tried. Have you? sliipped Jehovah; but her worship had little conviction back of it. evi- dently, for .Naomi expected her to return to her heathen god when she returned to her heathen home. Her religion was "in her husband's name." Verses 16 and 17 are the most famous of this book, among the best- loved of the Bible. "They constitute the most determined, the most de- cisive, the most unhesitating con- fession ot love in all literature."^ Hastings, it should be printed in poetry : "Intreat me not to leave thee. Or to return from following after thee: Whither thou goest. I will go; Where thou lodgest, I will lodge; Thy people shall be my people. Thy God shall be my God: Where thou dieet. will 1 die. There also will 1 be buried: Jehovah do so to me, and more also, It aught but death part thee and me." There will 1 be buried. The He- brew family lived altogether, father and mother, sons aud daughters and their wives and husbands and child- ren. So also they were usually buried in one place, and expected thus to be a united family in the next life. Note the expressions eo common in the Bible, "were gather- ed to their fathers," "slept with their fathers." Ruth showed her de- votion conspicuously by the sur- render of her family burial place. Jehovah do so to me, and more also. This oath is common through the books of Samuel and Kings. The form of the imprecation is vague; "so" may include any evil that God chooses to send; yes. "aud more also!"- "Kuth shows how ipstantly and entirely she adopts Naomi's re- ligion by sealing her vow with the Hebrew oath and by calling on the God of the Hebrews."â€" Hastings. She waa steadfastly minded. Ruth was of a very sweet disposition, but she had a tlrm will, as her mother- in-law doubtless knew. When Naomi saw that she had made up her mind, she cease<l to urge her to re- turn to .Moab. They gave on© look after the figure of Orpah, now far in the distance, and then with happy hearts set out together on the long road to Bethlehem. They came to Bethlehem. It was a walk ot about sixty milee, and they may have been six days on the journey. All the city was moved about them. Call me not Naomi, which means •pleasant,' "delightful," call me Mara, which means "bitter," "sad." Thus Gideon caught up the common greeting. "God Is with thee," and turned it back: "God Is far from our wretched nation." The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. Like many ot us, Naomi saw only the bitter side of her lite, and did not realize how much sweetnese Qod had dealt to her in Ruth.