Mary could see the ten white eggs. They were all lying in the straw; but there were no little chickens. Then little Mary said to her Mamma, "There are no chickens come out of the eggs, Mamma; " and her Mamma said, "Wait a little longer, Mary, and you will see them come at last." Well, so little Mary waited again; and one day, when she was going to throw down the barley for the hen, up jumped the hen again-and there little Mary saw a beautiful little yellow chicken sitting in the straw; and he said, “Chirp, Chirp, Chirp!" He had just come out of one of the eggs, and there was another little chicken just coming out of one of the others: the hen had broken the shell of the egg to help him a little, and he had popped out his little yellow head, and his bright eyes. And, in a little while, a chicken came out of every one of the eggs. So there were ten little chickens, and all the eggs were gone-only the

white egg-shells were left. And, do you know, the old hen was such a tidy creature, she put all the egg-shells away? Well, Mary was so much pleased to see the little chickens! And her Mamma gave her one in her hand (because she was such a good little girl, and had not touched the eggs)—and she let her hold it in her frock, and kiss it. And one of the chickens was white; and one was black; and one was brown; and all the rest were yellow! So little Mary was very much pleased with the chickens; and she was very much surprised to think how the live chickens got into the eggs; and she said to her Mamma," Mamma, who made chickens come in eggs? Did Mamma make them?" Then Mamma said, "Oh no, Mary, Mamma cannot make live chickens, nor put them in the eggs. Mamma cannot make live birds to fly about in the trees, nor pretty little lambs, nor dogs, nor pussey-cats for Mary to play with. God

made them all-God, who lives up there, above the sky-and God is very good, and very kind. And who made little Mary?"

Then little Mary said, "I think Mamma did." But Mamma said, "No, Mamma could never, never make little Mary; God made little Mary, too, as well as all the little chickens and cats, and dogs, and pretty singing birds. And God loves little Mary very, very much; and God gave Mary her dear Papa and Mamma to be kind to her, and to take care of her. And God has given the little chickens the Hen to take care of them; and God makes the hen kind to the chickens; and God teaches her to feed them, and to stretch her wings all over them, to keep them warm. If Mary puts down the little chicken out of her frock, upon the ground, she will see the hen take it underneath her wings, to warm it." So little Mary put the chicken down upon the ground, in the middle of the yard; and the stones

were so cold, that the poor little chicken began to cry; and he said, " Chirp, Chirp, Chirp!" in a very sorrowful voice. So the hen (who was the little chicken's Mamma) heard him crying; and she began calling to him to come to her into the stable, that she might warm him. And how do you think the hen called to the little chicken? She said, "Cluck, Cluck, Cluck!"-that was all the hen could say; but the poor little chicken heard her, and he knew what she meant ; and he ran along to the stable as fast as his little yellow feet would go; and, directly he came close to the hen, she made room for him to creep in underneath her wing: then the little chicken left off crying, because he got quite warm and comfortable, under his Mamma's wing, in a minute. Was not that very pretty? Mary was quite delighted to see the little chicken run to his Mamma so quickly; and she said, "Little chickens go to their mamma,

when mamma calls them.' And Mary's Mamma said, "Yes; all little creatures ought to run to their Mammas when they are called, just as Mary must always run to her Mamma; and if they do not run in a minute, perhaps something will happen to them to hurt them."

Well, the next morning, little Mary went into the yard again to feed the hen, and to see the hen feed the chickens. The hen pecked about the food that Mary's Mamma threw for the chickens, and showed them how to eat it, and made it soft and small for their little mouths. And the chickens ran all about the yard so fast, and picked up the food as the hen taught them. And they looked so pretty! White, and brown, and black, and yellow chickens, all running about, and jumping and pecking together!

But while Mary was looking at the chickens, there came a great, ugly bird, called a kite. He came flying through the air, on