The four-and-twenty blackbirds
Were hunting after snails,
The four-and-twenty pussy-cats
Were wagging all their tails.

These four-and-twenty blackbirds,
They went to see the Queen,
Aud she came out, and looked about,
And found them on the green.

And in and out, and round about,
They sat them in a ring;

When she came out and looked about,

They all began to sing.

TWIGS FOR NESTS.

IV. CHILDREN'S BIRTHDAYS.

"O thou bright thing, fresh from the hand of God,
The motions of thy dancing limbs are swayed
By the unceasing music of thy being!
Nearer I seem to God when I look on thee.

'Tis ages since he made his youngest star :

His hand was on thee as 'twere yesterday,
Thou later revelation!

Silver stream,

Breaking with laughter from the lake divine,

Whence all things flow! O bright and singing babe,

What wilt thou be hereafter?"

E

SMITH.

It may be thought, at first sight, that these words of the prophet Isaiah are wrested, by turning them into a motto for a paper upon Children's Birthdays. At least, those who have never been awaiting the advent of a child, or who have not accepted, in all its fulness, the revelation of the Fatherhood of God, may be unable or unwilling to admit the propriety of this adaptation. We have placed them where they are, because they were the