A Sang About The Bairns.

0 happy l > e the bonnie bairns ' [ n ilka cot and ha 'jlay blessings on the winsome pets Frae heaven richly fa ' . \ Vi' them we spend the brightest blinks And sweetest hours o' life ;

They are the golden links that bind The husband and the wife . I ' ve seen them in the summer woods Amang the blooming flowers , Gang up and doon with merry step Through a' the leafy bowers ,

I ' ve heard them sing at jingo-ring Alang the dinsoine street , And seen them on the pavement play Wi' dancin' lichtsome feet .

It ' s aye a eheerfu' sicht to see Wee birkie bairns at play , As blythesome as the bonnie birds That tune their pipes in May . I dinna like the surly loon Wha frowns the weans awa ;

But weel I like the kindly heart That lo ' es the bairnies a ' . 0 , some o' them are sturdy tots , Wi' pith their voices ring ; But some are like the wee white flowers That droop and dee in spring .

In lowly cot and lofty ha ' May peer and peasant learn , That virtue may not crown the man Unless we teach the bairn . ANON .

Little Jack Rag's "Day In The Country"."

LITTLE JACK RAG'S "DAY IN THE COUNTRY " . "

BY WILLIAM GREENWOOD . WE take this excellent paper from the " Graphic : "NOT very long since the chaplain of one of

our largest metropolitan prisons , in one of his periodical reports of the flock of black sheep entrusted to his spiritual care , put forth the bold opinion that , if we expected V means of the schoolmaster to diminish our criminal population , we should find ourselves mistaken . Speakingfrom personal experience and observation , and much stud y ° f the subject , the melancholy conclusion to

which the reverend gentleman in question is driven is , that to insist on the children of what is known as the dangerous class being sent to school and drilled up to the required educational standard will have no better result in the future than to ensure their being smooth rogues instead of rough

rogues . He believes that putting them through the Board School furnace may improve them exteriorly , but that the base metal of their natures will remain unchanged ; and that as regards criminals to the manner born—and there are , it seems , at least three of these to one of any other sort—mental culture will but assist them

in developing such an amount of cunning and cleverness as may be found necessary to enable them to keep pace with the times , and provide for the maintenance of the balance of po wer between themselves and the improved policeman . It would be sad indeed if this alarming

prognostigation should prove to be- true , especially if the rule should be shown to hold good in all cases where endeavours are made by gentle means to filter the juvenile mind free from the poisonous influences of gutter life . It wouldfor instancebe

, , grievously disappointing should it turn out that nothing was really gained by treating poor little Jack Rag to that " clay in the country" for which at this time of year his kind friends plead so earnestly in the columns of the newspapers . The idea which

actuates these good-natured promoters of a brief spell of ruralisation for Alley Jack is that , just as the health of his small bod y is improved by an occasional dose of physic , so will his mind be refreshed and rendered

more wholesome by handing him over to country Alother Nature for a shore timethat being a " dame school " at which the wisest , as well as the most ignorant , among us may at any time attend with advantage . Jack already knows what sheep are . They

are driven through his neighbourhood frequently , and it is one of the recreations of his existence to fetch out of hiding the hoarded stick that he may , in the capacity of a volunteer , drive and " wallop" the fleecy creatures in imitation of the drover

, who , to Jack ' s mind , is a man to be envied , inasmuch as , by virtue of his bad ge , he is licensed to set his dog at them as well . Jack knows what grass is . At the bird shop round the corner they sell it in slabs 11 2