EASTER GARLANDS. "Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer: They break forth in glory-bring flowers, BRIGHT flowers." MRS. HEMANS. AM going to tell my young readers a story which, I hope, will interest them. It is about two children who lived, not many years ago, in a tiny fisherman's hut, situated near the lovely village of B, beyond all question the most picturesque and beautiful in the Isle of Wight. Agnes and Robert were the only grandchildren of good old David Landon, a man who was universally respected and beloved, both for his honesty and uprightness of character, and also for the unfailing kindness of his disposition. This boy and girl were the children of old David's youngest daughter, whom God removed after a lingering illness, when Robert was about two years old. Soon afterwards their father also died; and before the brightness of another Christmas had dawned upon the world, the good fisherman laid his aged wife to rest beneath the whispering elmtrees in the quiet churchyard of B Since that time, Agnes and her brother had lived quite alone with their grandfather, in the little cottage perched on the summit of a tall cliff overhanging the dark-blue sea. They were tolerably comfortable, and very cheerful and contented. At the period of which I write, Agnes was nearly twelve, and Robert only one year younger. Like all of us they had faults, but they earnestly endeavored to subdue them, which, alas! is far from being the case with many who have, like them, been taught that ALL sin, even what we have perhaps alowed ourselves to look upon as very trivial in its nature, is yet grievous in the sight of a most. holy God! You will wonder by whom these children were so carefully instructed, as their grandfather was occupied from daybreak until seven in the evening, only resting for an hour at noon to partake of a slight repast, and to listen to his darlings' recital of all that had taken place since he parted from them in the morning; but they enjoyed many advantages about which I will tell you. They regularly attended the parish school at B, where they were taught to read and write, and, what they had learned to value most of all, were permitted to be present at the week-day as well as the Sunday services. On Wednesday afternoons they were in the habit of assembling at the church to receive lessons in sacred music, from a kind lady who resided in the village, and thus they were enabled to unite their voices with the multitude of the "great congregation" in singing to the praise of God those same beautiful and glorious anthems which, from earliest childhood, have been familiar to us all. Besides what I have already mentioned, Agnes and the other girls were taught to sew; and likewise received instruction in the various departments of household work, such as washing, ironing, and cooking, which knowledge served to render them useful for the present to their parents, and also tended greatly to fit em for the duties of a life of industry, when they should be of an age to seek employment away from home. |