mother, and all my brothers and sisters work at whatever they can get to do, and we do not want for anything.'

:

'And pray, my little girl, do you not long to eat some of the nice things, you have to sell?' said I. 'Yes, sir,' said she, 'I long very much; but my mother has taught us, that we must not eat everything we long fór and she tells me every day, that, if I were to eat any of the tarts, or sugar-plums, or cakes, she should not get anything by it; and I never taste a bit of any of them; but when I am hungry, my sister or brother brings me what my mother can get for us.'

I made this good little girl a present as a reward for her goodness and obedience: and then I left her, and said to myself, I would tell the story to all the little girls and boys I knew, and that I would say to them, Pray, my little girls and boys, do you think you could sit quite alone in a pastry-cook's shop, or in a room full of nice things, and not take a bit? I am sure they must be very good children indeed, who could do that. [Maria J. Crabb.]

CHAPTER IV.

DEFINITIONS.

Bat, a stick, or paddle to strike a ball with.

Toy, a plaything

WHEN Charles Bruce was at home for a short time from school, he went to see his aunt. This aunt had no boys, or girls of her own to play with hím; so she told him she would take him to play with the son of a friend of hers.

Charles Bruce was a good boy, and his aunt thought that George Smith, the boy to whose house she took him, was the same she had not yet heard of his bad tricks.

George Smith had carts, and whips, and bats, and balls, and kites, and tòps. He had more toys and playthings than he could use ; and so he did not care for them at all.

George was but a rude boy. He did not love to go to school, nor yet to read books. Charles Bruce knew much more than he did, though he was not so old by two years.

George would throw stones at the dogs and pigs, and call it good fun, when he made them howl and cry. If he was at play at trap-ball, he would, if he lost the game, say bad words, so that few boys would play with him.

Charles did not know all this, but he soon found some of it out; for the cat was lying on the mat by the door, and George gave her a kick as he went by; he next met the dòg, and cut him with a whip he had in his hand. Then he threw stones at a poor ass, and hit him so hard on the leg, that he was lame.

'O fie, fie!' said Charles to him. 'how can you do such things as these?'

( Why, do you not like to throw stones?" said George.

'No,' said Charles, 'I do not; and pray what harm had that poor ass done, that you should choose to make him lame ? when did your dog try to hurt you? and what good could it do you to make his back smart with the lash of your whip, or to give puss such a great bruise on the side with the toe of your shoe?'

'Why, it does me no good that I know of,' said George Smith; but I like to do it. It makes them run, as if they would break their necks with haste, when they see me, and that makes me laugh. I love to laugh, and your dogs, and cats, and such things, do not feel much, and they are of no use but to make fun with.'

'Well!' said Charles, 'you may do as you please but I cannot laugh; but at the pain of such things as dogs and cats, I would choose to cry all the days of my life; and give me leave to tell you, that you are quite in the wrong, both when you say they do

not feel, and that they are of no use but to make fun with.

'Dogs guard the house at night from thièves, while you sleep safe in your warm bed. They can save the lives of men, and we ought not to treat them ill.

'Cats are not of quite so much use, for they do not guard us from thieves; but they keep mice and rats from the house, who would gnaw and spoil the meat, the bread, and the cheese.

'My aunt has a cat, who comes to the door to meet her, when she has been out; and, when my aunt sits down to work, puss sits down too, and purrs, to show how glad she is to be near some one, that is good to her.

'How can you think they do not feel pain? They have flesh and bones, as well as we have.

'If you pinch or beat them, they cry out, and run to hide in some place, where they think they shall not be found by those, who use them ill. If they did not feel pain, they would not cry out, but lie still like logs of wood.

I have been told by my friends, and have read it in books, that a worm, a fly, and all things that have life, can feel pain, and, that if we learn to be cruel while boys, we shall not grow up to be good men.'

[Infantine Stories, by E. Fenwick.]

CHAPTER V.

DEFINITIONS.

Flutter, to shake the wings or move them very quickly.

Persuade, to make one willing by talking to him,
Persuasion, the act of persuading.

Joy, pleasure, happiness.

Joyfully, happily, gladly.

Branch, a limb.

LITTLE GEORGE AND THE ROBIN.

ONE day, little George came running to his mother and said, Guess, mother, what I have in my bosom.' 'Dear child,' said his mother, 'how shall I be able to do that?' but she tried to guess, because she thought it would please her son. When George found that his mother could not guess, he opened his bosom a little, that she might peep in.

'Where did you get that pretty robin?' asked the mother.

George told her the robin had been caught in the trap, by one of its legs; that he had seen it fluttering, and trying to get loose, and that he went and took it very gently, and that he had taken great care not to hurt it.

'O, how frightened the poor little thing must have been, when it was caught! and how painful its little foot must have been,