A SIMILAR incident occurred in Maine, The some years ago. A young girl had strayed into the woods, and had lost her way. Night came, and she did not return. The neighbors were alarmed. It was a clear beautiful night. men shouted, and the woods rang, ever and anon, with the name of "Clara.” She was a sweet child. Every body loved her, and none more than little George Bent. As his father was going out, George said, Please, papa, take Carlo with you. He loves Clara, and will be sure to find her." George then whispered "Clara" in Carlo's ear, and told him to find her. The search long, but successful. About 12 o'clock a great barking was heard, in a deep hollow, more than two miles from Clara's house. The sound was followed. led the way to the lost girl, who, acCompanied by Carlo, was running merrily homeward, when her overjoyer friends found her. Everybody praised Carlo for his noble deed. But all Carlo could ask in return was a drink of cold water, out of the old trough by the well side. Modest merit never expects to be paid for doing a good act. H. H. The Famous Farm, AND STORIES ABOUT ARLY in the spring of 1855, we left the city of S- and went to live on a farm, about eighteen miles distant. The first time we visited the old people who owned the place, was on the most dismal day you can imagine. We started to walk over from the residence of Mrs. Ebut before we had walked half the distance we became so numbed from cold, that we finally stopped in the woods, THE POULTRY. and built a little fire of the dead twigs and leaves, to warm our feet. Ough! how the wind blew ! How chill the half foggy half rainy air seemed, and as we climbed the steep hill-sides, we had to cling to each other, to keep old Boreas from fairly whirling us away in his brawny arms. The trees cracked as they bent, groaning beneath the wind, and the dead leaves danced frantically, high and low, in circles, and in sudden dartings forward in straight lines, now seeking shelter in crevices of gray rocks, or hollows of dead trees. But in vain, for the ruthless wind followed and drove them forth again, until perhaps they sank into the half-frozen pond in the valley. But we had determined to overcome all difficulties, and battling with cold, wind, and damp ground, we finally reached Mr. R's residence, and, not finding a gate, commenced climbing the fence. At that moment a mulatto woman came out of a cabin in the yard; merely glancing at us, she proceeded to hang up some wet clothes, which she took from a basket, upon the line. "Hallo! is your mistress at home?" said Mr. W. But the girl appeared not to observe that she was spoken to. "She must be deaf," said C By the time we had reached the ground on her side of the fence, how ever, the girl came hastily forward, and | room with three large French windows with her chin stretched out, and her ear a little inclined towards him, said to Mr. W "My ole Miss gone visitin', but ole Massa at home, sir. Go right in that way," pointing towards a door at one end of the house. was chosen. Looking from the south window, we had a broad stretch of green fields, dotted, away yonder, with farm houses. From the east, the lane stretching from the front yard down to the wood which bordered the farm, in nearly every direction. West, more woodland, and the cabins of the negroes; tractions, except the two fine locust trees under the south window. The old lady's consent was quickly given, when she discovered that I liked chickens and young turkeys, and we were soon installed in our new quarters. The house was a large one, and quite new. Indeed it had been so lately fur-a portico, in front, completed the atnished that the old people were scarcely settled in it yet; and so fine a house was it, that all the neighbors were saying, "What in the world can those old people want of such a great house, at their age? Why, they will scarcely live long enough to get settled in it! If they had children, one could understand it. But they have nobody to care for, but their negroes! How strange !" Well, well, we had been told to go into the door at the end of the house; in the meantime, the girl, or "Pop" as the old man called her, had given him warning that "folks comin'," and he met us at the door. We were soon rapidly thawing before a large wood fire, and while the old gentleman was hurrying about, getting us something warm to eat and drink-as the fashion | is in Kentucky-we told him our errand. As soon as we had lunched, we were shown over the house. The old gentleman, evidently very much gratified at our admiration of it; said he had no doubt but that his "old woman" would like to have us come, and advised us to select the room we liked best, promising to let us know the old lady's mind on the subject next day. Accordingly The peculiarity which first struck us in our new location, was the crowing, cackling, and gobbling of the most astonishing number of fowls we had ever seen collected before. It was positively wonderful, the clatter the cocks made every night at twelve o'clock, and in the morning at day-break; we really could scarcely sleep for them at first, and although the old lady had some three hundred hens on the place, it was the most amusing thing to find that she never sold either eggs or chickens, but kept them all, through the sheer love of such pets. Another amusing thing was to observe the old lady, with the consternation of a veritable old hen, herself, rushing hither and thither about the yard, followed by her train of little "darkies," to collect her forty or fifty broods of chicks, and house them all before a threatened rain. Many a time have stood at the window, laughing heartily to see the sturdy old dame, in 1 her dire tribulation, with the mingled rain and perspiration pouring from her wrinkled cheeks, rushing up and down, screaming to her worthless "darkies," and frightening the poor old hens, with their clittering broods, almost to death, in her eagerness to save them from the weather. Such a busy time as there was on these occasions! What between the violent clucking of the old hens, an occasional battle between them and their over anxious mistress, the cries of the young ones, the universal crowing of the cocks, the cranking of the great flock of geese, the phut, phut, of the astonished turkeys, the squeaking of the dismayed pigs, the bleating of the sheep and calves, the neighing of the horses, and the hisses of the old drakes, the vociferous screamings of the blind old grandmother negro, hurrying up the indolent young ones to the assistance of their mistress, the mournful howlings of the dogs, who always joined their voices in any general clamor, and we have a time worth being witnessed by any children brought up in cities. There were other funny things which caused us great amusement too. We sat up very late one night engaged in writing, when the air of the room becoming oppressive, the window, before which our lamp was burning, was thrown open, and it happened to be on the side west the barnyard. Instantly there was a general burst of crowing, from the throat of every chanticleer on the place. The effect was quite astound ing; at first it was impossible for us to conceive "what could the matter be," and looking at the time, we found it was not near twelve o'clock, and as all the geese, and turkeys, too, on the place, joined the general hubbub, we could only conclude, after listening quite puzzled for awhile, that all the multitude of feathered people on the place had mistaken the light of our lamp through the window, for that of the breaking day. We afterwards amused ourselves by repeating the experiment, and after obtaining several hearty laughs at the expense of their simplicity, we found that if they did wear feathers, they were not to be fooled too often, for they soon ceased to crow at the sight of the light. Another very curious fact, which we observed in relation to the habits of domestic fowls, was that the flock of geese were perpetually walking round and round the house, in single file, the livelong night, until twelve o'clock. Look out what time you might, from the window into the dark, we could see the head of the single file of white forms. make its appearance round the corner of the house, and on they would stream, fact, in our succeeding stories, concerning the habits of our pet birds. in dead silence, like a funeral procession | several other curious illustrations of this of white ghosts, or head-stones that had taken to gadding. As they never uttered a single sound, and as you could not even hear the pattering of their soft splay feet upon the grass, the effect through the dim shades of the night was extremely quaint. During the whole time of our stay, this thing was repeated every night; and you may imagine how curious it was to watch the procession regularly at the instant when the cocks crew for midnight, gravely squat themselves on one particular spot, and remain there till daylight, silent and motionless as death. This habit of domestic geese affords quite a remarkable example of the tenacity with which the usages of the wild varieties from which they are originally descended, are retained even after many centuries of domestication. It is well known to all observers of their habits, that the wild geese on their migrations, fly until twelve o'clock at night, and then descend to rest and sleep until morning. They are found at daybreak alighted and feeding on the fields over which they have been flying. Even when not migrating, they are known to be feeding busily until midnight, from which time they sleep. It is a fact, we believe not to have been as yet commented upon in books of natural history, that all domestic creatures, which are descended from the migratory tribes, exhibit invariably an extraordinary restlessness when the period has arrived at which their wild kinsmen migrate. We will give you But before we dismiss this account of the habits of domestic birds, it may be as well to relate to you a most affecting and interesting incident, which we witnessed in the habits of the domestic turkey. It may not be familiar to all our little readers, that those persons who are in the habit of raising fowls, who are most successful, are accustomed to notice, with great care, the habits of the hens of the different breeds. Those which prove themselves the most motherly and careful, are quickly selected out, and the eggs of all the careless mothers, as well as their own, placed under them to hatch. Because, you may rest assured, there is just as much difference between the hen-mothers, as between the humanmothers in this respect. So that on one occasion, while visiting our sister in south Kentucky, we found one of these motherly turkey mother hens, at the head of a brood of about thirty young, who had by this time grown up to be quite as large as their mother, and quite fit for the table. So one night, our sister ordered the old black cook to select from the roosting places of the flock, a fine fat young gobbler, and despatch him, on the occasion of a grand dinner we were to have on the next day. The cruel old cook performed her task, as many negroes do, without caring whether she was right or wrong. The next morning, to our inconceivable as |