7. She takes out her slate, and begins to wash it; spending much more time in this process than is necessary. She tries a sum, and cannot do it, and thinks it the fault of the pencil. So she proceeds to sharpen that with great deliberation, making every body around her uneasy with the disagreeable, grating sound. When this operation is over, she looks at the clock, and sees that it will soon be time to recite in geography, of which she has not learned any thing.

8. She puts up her slate, pencil, and arithmetic, and takes out her geography and atlas. By the time these are opened and spread before her, she hears a band of music in the street. Her seat is near the window, and she wastes some precious minutes in looking at the soldiers as they pass by. She has hardly made any progress in her study of geography when she is called up to recite. She knows very little of her lesson, gives wrong answers to the questions put to her, and gets a bad mark.

9. Soon after this, the class in French to which she belongs goes up to recite. This lesson she has only half learned, and she blunders sadly when called upon to answer. She goes back to her desk in an unhappy state of mind, and takes up her arithmetic once more. But she feels dissatisfied with herself, and cannot fix her attention upon her task.

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10. She comes to the conclusion that she has got a headache, which is a very common excuse with her, and that she cannot study. So she puts a cover upon one of her books, and writes a note to one of her young friends about going to a concert'; and when this is over the bell for dismissal rings.

11. And this half day may be taken as a fair sample

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of the whole school life of Miss Do-Nothing. It is a long succession of lessons half learned, of sums half done, of blotted copy books, of absences and tardiness, of wasted hours and neglected opportunities."

12. Most of the annoyance which teachers suffer in the discharge of their duties comes from boys and girls of this family. They have two seemingly opposite traits: they are always idle, and yet always restless. They more about on their seats, and lean upon their desks in a great variety of postures. They talk with their fingers, and keep up a constant whispering, and buzzing with their lips, which disturb scholars and teachers alike. The boys are very expert in catching flies, and moulding pieces of paper into the shape of boats or cocked hats. They draw figures upon their slates, and scribble over the fly-leaves of their books.

13. In summer they are afflicted with a constant thirst, and in winter their feet and hands are always cold. Both boys and girls are apt to be troubled with drowsiness in the daytime; and yet they are very reluctant to go to bed when the proper time comes. They are fond of laying the fault of their own indolence upon the weather: they would have learned their lesson if it had not been so hot, or so cold, or so rainy. /14. There is one remarkable peculiarity about this family every boy and girl that chooses can leave it, and join the Do-Somethings, the members of which are always glad to welcome deserters from the DoNothings.

15. The boys and girls of the Do-Something family are always busy, always cheerful; working heartily when they work, and playing heartily when they play. They are neat in their appearance, and punctual in

...

attendance upon school: every thing is done in proper order, and yet nothing is hurried: they are the joy of their parents, and the delight of their teachers.

16. My young friends into whose hands this book may fall, to which of these two families do you belong? Remember that no one can be truly happy who is not useful; and no one can be useful who is idle, careless, and negligent./

Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he, before his cottage door,
Was sitting in the sun;
And by him sported' on the green
His little grandchild, Wilhelmine.

2. She saw her brother, Peterkin,
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet,

In playing there, had found;
He came to ask what he had found,

That was so large, and smooth, and round.

3. Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant

And then the old man shook his head,
And, with a natural sigh,

""Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he,
"Who fell in the great victory.

4. "I find them in the garden,

For there's many here about; And often, when I go to plough,

The ploughshare turns them out; For many thousand men," said he, "Were slain in the great victory."

5. "Now tell us what 'twas all about,"

Young Peterkin he cries;
And little Wilhelmine looks up

With wonder-waiting eyes;
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they killed each other for."

"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout3;
But what they killed each other for,
I could not well make out;
But every body said," quoth he,
"That 'twas a famous victory.

7. My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard' by ;

They burned his dwelling to the ground
And he was forced to fly;

So, with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.

8. "With fire and sword the country round Was wastal far and wide;

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And many a hapless mother then,

And new-born baby, died;

But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.

9. "They say it was a shocking sight,
After the field was won;

For many thousand bodies here

Lay rotting in the sun;

But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.

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