Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

4. "That is very strange' indeed," said Willie. "I thought, as Aunt Mary did, that it was a song which the cricket sung. But I like to hear it, for Uncle John says, 'to have a cricket on the hearth," is the luckiest thing in the world.""

[graphic][subsumed]

5. "Lucky indeed!" said Minnie. "But is no the cricket a thief? Does he not, in the night time, come out of the chinks and crannies, where he has lain hidden all day, and eat up the crumbs that have fallen from the kitchen table'? And if he chance to be thirsty-as he always is-and no water be near, does he not get into the milk-jug, or gnaw great holes in the wet woolen stockings hung by the kitchen fire to dry?".

6. "And what if he does all this!" said Willie. "May he not take the crumbs which have been thrown away'? Is there any harm in this'? And

is it not well that he should teach you and Lucy to be more careful than to leave the damp stockings where he can reach them'? May not the cricket get his living the best way he can'?"

7. "I think the crickets must be very happy," said Lucy. "I should like to be a cricket, and sit all day by the fire, with nothing to do but sing, and never have to go to school."

8. "You'!" You, Lucy'! You wish to be a cricket?" said I'. "You who so dearly love the fields and the flowers', and the sunshine', and the bright sky', and the beautiful butterflies'! Would you be willing to be deprived of all these'?"

9. "Would you like to be shut up all day-all summer too, as well as winter-with nothing to look at but the red fire, the black chimney, the kettle, the andirons, and the saucepan'; with no sweet song of birds or hum of bees to listen to, only the wind in the chimney, or the clatter of the tongs and poker, or the tick of the clock on the mantelpiece'?"

10. "Poor thing!" exclaimed Lucy. "I never thought of summer. I was only thinking what a snug and warm home you have in winter'. Poor cricket! How I pity' you!"

11. "Nay, now, Lucy," said I," you need not pity him; for, like all the creatures which our good heavenly Father has made, he is very happy in his way. Does he not seem to say so in that little song which he plays on his fiddle'?"

12. And so we all agreed that the cricket is as happy in his way', as we are in ours'; that, al

E

though he has no voice, he has a very good fiddle, and plays on it remarkably well; that he does not need our pity', and that he is not a very bad thief after all'. But who would like to exchange places with him! "Not I." "Not I." "Not I."

And so said we all.

a SHRILL, sharp in sound.

b NOTES, musical sounds.

© HEARTH, pronounced härth.

d CRAN'-NIES, narrow openings, etc.
e CHANCE, happen.

f RE-MARK'-A-BLY, exceedingly.

[LESSON XLV., illustrated by a view of several house-crickets around the kitchen fire-place-one on the woolen stockings, and one climbing up the milk-jug-corrects a popular error-the belief that crickets have voices, and can sing, etc. Minnie's censure of the crickets is well replied to by Willie and Lucy's very inconsiderate wish she herself is let to retract, after a little reflection.-See the subject of "The Music of Insects" farther explained in LESSON LX.]

LESSON XLVI.

LEON AND CLARA.

1. Leon and Clara were two orphan children, who had lived to the ages of twelve and ten years in the great city of Paris; but when their parents died they were sent to live with their Aunt Hubert, in a little village a short distance from the city.

2. Aunt Hubert soon found that these city children knew very little of the world that was outside of Paris, and that they were, indeed, very ig norant of many of the most common things of every-day life.

3. So the very first holiday after they went to live with her, she took them to the farm from which she obtained her butter, eggs, and milk, that they might see how people live in the country; for

it was a saying of Aunt Hubert, that "seeing is believing."

с

4. On their return home that very evening, the good results of this their first visit to the country, were very evident. It seemed that they would never tire of talking about what they had seen, and what they had done.

5. Leon had tried his hand at the plow, under the direction of the farmer: he had seen the corn growing in the field, and had plucked some of the ears for roasting: Clara had taken her first lesson in milking; and both had seen the process of stacking wheat, and threshing oats.

6. Leon had fed the little pigs that were in the pen: Clara had fed the chickens three times; and both of the children had been delighted in hunting hen's nests. As fond of hot rolls and butter as they were, they had never before known how bread is made; and they were surprised to find that butter is obtained by stirring or churning cream.

7. Their first visit to the country was a day of wonders to these children; and Aunt Hubert succeeded in making them feel the importance of the knowledge which they had gained, by telling them the following story about the little Marquis Nihil, and his sister Letta.

HOL'-I-DAY, day of amusement; festival day.

RE-SULTS', effects.

c Ev'-I-DENT, plain; clear to be seen. d PRO'-CESS, mode; manner.

[LESSON XLVI. is designed to show how ignorant those people, who have always lived in a city, may be of the most common matters of country life, with many of which they ought to be acquainted. They can not be well-informed of these things without they learn them by actual observation.]

LESSON XLVII.

THE LITTLE MARQUIS AND HIS SISTER.
I. Their First Visit to the Country.

1. The little Mar quis Nihil, and his sister Letta, were educated in the city of Paris, in princely style; for the lad had a fencing-master, who came every day to teach him the sword exercise; and his sis

[graphic]

ter was taught to embroider: both of them took lessons in drawing, painting, and dancing; and when they should be perfect in these, it was thought their education would be complete.b

2. When the Marquis was fifteen years old, and his sister twelve, they went to reside a short distance from Paris, at the castle of their uncle, for they were orphans."

3. As this was the first time they had ever been in the country, their eyes opened with wonder at nearly every thing they saw. They were very much surprised to see the roads unpaved; fields in which other things besides tulips were growing; sheep that were not led by rose-colored ribbons; and birds that were not confined in cages!

4. But how much were they astonished, when, on arriving at their uncle's, they learned that before French rolls can be made, wheat must grow, and be'

« AnteriorContinuar »