she is not watching, Laura eats too much, and then she is sick. 2. I don't know what makes her such a silly girl. Her kitten never eats a mouthful more than she wants; she leaves the nice bones of meat in the plate, and lies down to sleep when she has eaten enough. 3. Her Canary birds are not so silly; if she fills their cage with seed, they will only eat what they want, and leave the rest till to-morrow. 4. The busy bee is wiser than Laura; she flies about among the flowers, and might eat out of the honey-cups all day, if she pleased; but she only eats enough to keep her alive and well, and carries the rest home to her hive. 5. The pretty squirrel eats half a dozen acorns, and frisks about as gaily as if he had dined at the king's table. Did you never see a squirrel with a nut in its paws? How bright and lively he looks. How he runs along the stone wall, as quick as if a boy had shot him from his pop-gun. 6. If he lived in a house, made of acorns, he would never need to have a doctor come to see him, for he would not eat a single acorn more than he wanted just because they tasted good. 7. I do not love little girls that eat too much. I do not think they will have such rosy cheeks, or such bright eyes, or such sweet lips, or such happy tempers, as those who eat less. Do you, my little readers? 25. LESSON TWENTY-FIFTH. The Hour Glass. 1. Francis was a very talkative boy. He never saw any new thing without asking a great ma ny questions about it. His mother was very patient and kind; and would always answer his questions when it was proper to do so. 2. The first time Francis saw an hour-glass, he was much pleased. He sat and watched the little stream run through, and he was impatient, because it would not run faster. "Let me shake it," said he, "it is so lazy, it will never get through." 3. "Oh, yes it will, my son," said his mother; "the sand moves by little and little, but it moves all the time. When you look at the hands of the clock, you think they go very slowly; and so they do, but they never stop. "While you are at play, the sand is running out, grain by grain; and the hands of the clock are moving, second after second, and when night comes, the sand has run through twelve times, and the hand of the clock has moved all round its great face. 5. "This is because they do not stop to think how much they have to do, and to calculate how long it will take, but they keep at work every minute. When you are getting your lesson, my son, I wish you to do so too." 26. LESSON TWENTY-SIXTH. The Infant School. 1. Very little things are we, And would break the happy rule, 2. Just like pretty little lambs, Of our much-loved Infant School. 3. In the winter, when 'tis mild, 27. LESSON TWENTY-SEVENTH. The Infant School Fair. 1. If my little readers did not go to the Infant School Fair, I will tell them some of the things I saw there. I cannot tell them all I saw because there were so many I fear they will be tired of hearing so long a story. 2. In the first place, there were dolls of all sizes and kinds. One was dressed in a Turkish dress, all sprinkled with gold, and a glass feather in her turban; and another, in a full dress of white satin, like a New-York lady, besides a great many more. 3. Oh, what queer looking pin cushions, and needle books. Some were made like genteel Parisian bonnets, with a crown for a pin ball, and a needle book under the rim. Some, like butterflies, with a needle book, shut up between their rich wings, and their bodies serving for an emery bag. 4. And there were little black turtles with their backs stuck full of pins, and an emery ball for a head. Little velvet kittens, too, were sitting up very quietly, to have pins stuck into their heads. But I cannot tell you half the things I saw. 5. Now, do little girls know what is meant by the Infant School Fair? If they do not, I will tell them, In the first place, many ingenious and charitable ladies and girls make all these things, and on a certain day, they are collected together and sold. 6. All the money which is paid for these pretty things is to be given to two schools for infants in the city of Boston. Poor women, who have to go away from home all day to work, send their little children to these schools to be taken care of, and taught such things as they can learn. 7. They have a nice, warm room to stay in, with low seats to sit on, and little beds to sleep on when they are very tired and sleepy. The walls are covered with pictures of sheep, and dogs, and cows, and the teacher sometimes tells them stories about these creatures. 8. Is it not a good thing to have such schools, where these poor children can be taken such good care of, without being in any danger of getting burned, or scalded to death, or of their learning to say wicked words, or fighting each other? 28 LESSON TWENTY-EIGHTH. The Charitable Lady. 1. A good lady was walking through a back street in Boston, one cold day, last winter, when she thought of a poor washer-woman, she sometimes had to do her washing, who lived there. 2. Winter is the time, above all others, when we should think of the poor, and this good lady resolved to visit this hard-working creature, to see if she had the comforts of life. 3. An old ten-foot building was pointed out, as her residence. Many panes of the window were broken, and old hats and rags stuffed in, to keep out the air. The door was locked, but she was able to look in at the window. 4. There was not a spark of fire on the hearth, and on a bundle of hay, in one corner of the room, sat two children, one about four, and the other two years of age. They were wrapped in some old garments, and were hugging each other to keep themselves warm. 5. Mrs Bailey called to the eldest, to open the door, which she readily did. "Where is your father? my poor children," said she. "He is sick in the hospital." "How long has he been there?" "A great while." "And where is your mother?" "She has gone out to wash." 6. "Have you had any thing to eat, to-day ?" "No," said Mary, (as pretty and bright a child as any one who will read this story.) "Lucy keeps crying for something to eat; but I tell her, when mother comes home at night, we shall have some." 7. A basket of shavings was all the fuel in the house; an iron pot containing some fishes' heads, stood on the hearth; a quart of meal was all the food in the closet; and a bunch of straw, covered with a horse blanket, was their only bed. 8. The eyes of the good lady filled with tears. She had children of her own, at home; and well she knew how much such little ones needed kind |