Great ripe nuts, kissed brown by July sun, Hark! how the blackbird pipes to see the fun! 7. Little Bell looked up and down the glade: Down came the squirrel eager for his fare. 8. And while those woodland playmates twain, In the little childish heart below, and grow, From her brown, bright eyes. 9. By her snow-white cot, at close of day, Knelt sweet Bell, her small hands clasped, to pray. Rose the childish voice to where, unseen, 10. "What good child is this," the angel said, "That with happy heart, beside her bed, Prays so lovingly?" Low and soft, oh! very low and soft, 11. Then whispered soft that angel fair, "The child that loves God's living things, shall share With them the watchful angels' care. Child, thy bed shall be Kept ever safe from harm; love, deep and kind, EYES, EARS, AND COMMON SENSE. 1. MY DEAR READERS: When I was your age, there were no such children's books as there are now. Those which we had were few and dull, and the pictures in them were ugly and mean; but you have your choice of books without number, clear, amusing, and pretty; and from them you may learn a great deal about subjects which were only talked of fifty years ago by a few learned men, and very little understood even by them. So if mere reading of books would make wise men, you ought to grow up to be much wiser than we old folks are. 2. But mere reading of wise books will not make you wise. You must use for yourselves the tools with which books are made wise. But I hear some one ask, "What are those tools? I did not know there were any such tools ?" 3. Let me tell you what they are: They are eyes wide open to all that is going on about you; ears which can hear and understand; and common sense which teaches you to judge wisely. Eyes, ears, and common sensethose are the tools that you must use for yourselves. 4. Now, that is what I learned from one of those stupid, old-fashioned books; and therefore I am more grateful to it than if it had been as full of wonderful pictures as all the storybooks you ever saw. Its name was "Evenings at Home;" and in it was a story called "Eyes and No Eyes"-a real old-fashioned, prim, goody-goody story. And it began thus: 5. “Well, Robert, where have you been walking this afternoon?" said Mr. Andrews to one of his pupils at the close of a holiday. 6. Oh, Robert had been to Broom Heath, and round by Camp Mount, and home through the meadows. But it was very dull. He hardly saw a single person. He would much rather he had gone by the turnpike road. 7. In a little while Master William, the other pupil, comes in. He is dressed, I suppose, just as the boys of forty years ago were dressed-in a frill collar and short jacket, and tight trousers hardly coming down to his ankles, and low shoes which always came off in the mud. And Master William is terribly dirty and wet, too; but he says that he never had such a pleasant walk in his life; and he has brought home his handkerchief (for in those days boys had no pockets much bigger than keyholes) full of curiosities. 8. He has brought a piece of mistletoe, and wants to know what it is; and he has seen a woodpecker, and a wheatear, and gathered flowers in the meadow; and he followed a strange bird because he thought its wing was broken, till of course it led him into a bog, where he got very wet. But he did not mind that, because he there met with an old man burning charcoal, who told him all about charcoal-burning, and gave him a little dead snake. 9. And then he went to the top of a high hill and saw all the country spread out beneath him like a map. And then, because the hill was called Camp Mount, he looked for the ruins of the old camp, and found them; and then he went down to the river, and to twenty other places; and so on, and so on, till he had brought home curiosities enough, and thoughts enough, to last him a week. 10. Then Mr. Andrews, who seems to have been a very sensible old gentleman, tells him all about his curiosities; and the two discover-if you will believe it—that Master William has been over the same ground as Master Robert, who had seen nothing at all. 11. And then Mr. Andrews says, wisely enough, in his good, old-fashioned way: "So it is. One man walks through the world with his eyes open, another with his eyes shut. I have known sailors who had been in all quarters of the world, and could tell you of nothing but the signs of the tipplinghouses and the price of the liquor that was sold there. While many a silly, thoughtless youth is whirled through Europe without gaining a single idea, the observing eye and inquiring mind find matter for improvement and de light in every ramble. You, then, William, continue to use your eyes. And you, Robert, learn that eyes were given to you for use." THE WHITE MORNING-GLORY VINE. 1. Some morning-glory vines were climbing up the outside of a beautiful bay window in a large, old-fashioned country house. It was early in the morning, and the sun had just coaxed the lovely buds to unfold and turn into flowers so graceful and pure that one seeing them could but think, "How good is the great God to let us have these beautiful things on earth instead of keeping them all in heaven!" 2. The vines climbed up the strings which the gardener had placed for them, until they could look in at the window. Then said the snow-white blossoms of one to the pink and purple blossoms. of the other, "Oh, what a pleasant room! Let us creep in through the crevices of the window, and twine ourselves around the curtains, and crown the marble brow of the little white angel which stands on the shelf against the wall." |