ment later the voice of Alf resounded through the house, crying, "The robins have come!" Very soon nearly all the household were on the piazza to greet these latest arrivals from the south; and a pretty scene of life and animation they made, with their yellow bills, jaunty black heads, and brownish red breasts. "Isn't it odd how they keep their distance from each other?" said Webb. "You can scarcely see two near together, but every few feet there is a robin, as far as the eye can reach. Yes, and there are some high-holders in the orchard also. They are shyer than the robins, and don't come so near the house." Clear and sweet came an exquisite birdsong from an adjacent maple. Webb took off his hat in respectful greeting to the minstrel. "Why," cried Amy, "that little brown bird can not be a robin?" "No," he answered; "that is my favorite of all the earliest birds-the song-sparrow. You remember what Dr. Marvin said about him the other evening? I have been looking for my little friend for a week past, and here he is. The great tide of migration has turned northward." "He is my favorite too," said his father. "Every spring for over seventy years I have heard his song, and it is just as sweet and fresh to me as ever. Indeed, it is enriched by a thousand memories." In the morning little Johnnie appeared at the breakfast table in a state of great excitement. It soon appeared that she The had a secret that she would tell no one but Amy-indeed, she would not tell it, but show it; and after breakfast she told Amy to put on her rubber boots and come with her, warning curious Alf in the mean time to keep his distance. Leading the way to a sunny angle in the garden fence, she showed Amy the first flower of the year. Although it was a warm, sunny spot, the snow had drifted there to such an extent that the icy base of the drift still partially covered the ground, and through a weak place in the melting ice a snow-drop had pushed its green succulent leaves and hung out its modest little blossom. child, brought up from infancy to feel the closest sympathy with nature, fairly trembled with delight over this avant-coureur of the innumerable flowers which it was her chief happiness to gather. As if in sympathy with the exultation of the child, and in appreciation of all that the pale little blossom foreshadowed, a songsparrow near trilled out its sweetest lay, a robin took up the song, and a pair of bluebirds passed overhead with their undulating flight and soft warble. Truly spring had come in that nook of the old garden, even though the mountains were still covered with snow, the river full of floating ice, and the wind chill with the breath of winter. Could there have been a fairer or more fitting committee of reception than little Johnnie, believing in all things, hoping all things, and brownhaired, hazel-eyed Amy, with the first awakenings of womanhood in her heart? ONE THE SECOND WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. We speak of Jefferson's period of office as having lasted for eight years, but it is not wholly incorrect to estimate, as Mr. Parton suggests, that it lasted for nearly a quarter of a century. Madison's and Monroe's administrations were but the continuation of it. The fourth and fifth Presidents had, indeed, so much in common that it was about an even chance which should take the Presidency first. Both had long been friends of Jefferson; both had something to do with reconciling him to the United States Constitution, which he had at first opposed. He himself would have rather preferred Monroe for his immediate successor, but the Legislature of Virginia pronounced in favor of Madison, who, like the two others, was a native of that then powerful State. It really made little difference which came first. Josiah Quincy, in a famous speech, designated them simply as James I. and James II. The two were alike Jeffersonian; their administrations moved professedly in the line indicated by their predecessor, and the success of his policy must be tested in a degree by that of theirs. inherited something of his unpopularity with the Federalists, but Madison partially lived it down, and Monroe saw nearly the extinction of it. The Jeffersonian policy may, therefore, fairly be judged, not alone by its early storms, but by the calm which at last followed. NE of the very best bits of reading | he has uniformly adhered." Such a tribleft to us from the early days of the ute from a woman like Mercy Warren-a American republic is the correspondence woman then nearly eighty years old, but carried on in 1807 between John Adams still showing unimpaired those mental and Mercy Warren, and first published in powers of which John Adams had before the centennial volume of the Massachu- spoken in terms of almost extravagant setts Historical Society. Mercy Warren praise-is entitled to count for something was a woman of rare ability and character, against the bitterness of contemporary the sister of James Otis, the wife of Gener- politicians. al James Warren, and the author of a history of the American Revolution. John Adams, reading this book after his retirement from office, took offense at certain phrases, and corresponded with her at great length about them, showing in advancing years an undiminished keenness of mind and only an increase of touchy egotism. He makes it, for instance, a subject of sincere indignation when the lady in one case speaks of Franklin and Adams instead of Adams and Franklin. Mrs. Warren, on her side, shows to the greatest advantage, keeps her temper, and gives some keen home-thrusts. She shows clearly in this correspondence how strongly and even justly a portion of the most intelligent people of Mr. Adams's own State dreaded what she calls his "marked and uniform preference to monarchic usages"; she brings him to the admission that he hates "democratic" government, and is satisfied with such republicanism as that of Holland-a nation which, as he himself says, "has no idea of any republic but an aristocracy”—and that he counts even England a republic, since a republic is merely "a government of more than one." She even quotes against him his own words, uttered in moments of excited impulse, recognizing monarchy as the probable destiny of the United States. But the most striking fact, after all, is that she, a refined and cultivated woman, accustomed to the best New England society of her time, is found dissenting wholly from the Federalist view of Jefferson. "I never knew," she bravely says, in answer to a sneer from Mr. Adams, "that 'my philosophical friend' Mr. Jefferson was afraid to do his duty in any instance. But this I know-he has dared to do many things for his country for which posterity will probably bless his memory; and I hope he will yet, by his wisdom, justice, moderation, and energy, long continue the blessings of peace in our country, and strengthen the republican system to which Both Mr. Madison had been Secretary of State for eight years under Jefferson, and had not only borne his share, earlier than this, in public affairs, but had acted as chairman of the committee which reported the Constitution, and had afterward aided Hamilton and Jay in writing The Federalist in support of it. For these reasons, and because he was the last survivor of those who signed the great act of national organization, he was called, before his death, "The Father of the Constitution." He was a man of clear head, modest manners, and peaceful disposition. His bitter |