g ■ AND It ►J THE DOVE. If M jH BY MRS. CAMERON, rt<3 Author of" The Two Lamhs," " Margaret lVhyte," &c. *C. ™ «<3 A NEW EDITION. &>o — sec- £^ N K LONDON: o« PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND CO. fcj 65, Paternoster-Row. Price Sixpence. si N FRONTISPIECE. Henry and Eiiza in the Garden. Sec P(rgf 9. THE RAVEN AND T H E D V E. BY MRS. CAMERON, Vullior of ** Margaret Wiiyte," " The Two Lambs," &c. &c. NEW EDITION. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND CO. (J5, Paternoster-Row. IHllMf *— Tf*^ ^ JilFB IM^ H^l I B B UMiW IP tiHI 1 1 > I'll i I IJI' 1^ f> W mW^ft tlU'li ill! ■ J^I^'M Jff W THE RAVEN and the DOVE. THERE was once a little brother and sister, who slept in a nursery with their kind nurse Anne. The name of the little girl was Eliza, and the name of her brother was Henry; and they had each a little crib on the side of their nurse's bed. One morning, the sun shone very bright into Eliza's crib ; and when she awoke, she jump-- ed up in her crib, and she called out, " See, Henry, how the sun shines! and the little birds are singing in the trees! Come, let us get up, that we may go to play in the garden," Then Henry made haste to get up, and their nurse washed them, and dressed them* Now, when Henry was dressed, he did not stay to thank Anne for dressing him ; and U« A 3 THE RAVEN forgot, too, that he had not said his prayers: and he was running away as fast as he could run. Then Eliza called him back, and she said to him, " Henry, you have forgotten to say your prayers; you know we can't be good for one minute, if we do not ask God to make us good for Jesus Christ's sake." Henry came back when Eliza called him, and they knelt down together, and joined their little hands, and they said, " Pray, God, take care of us to-day, and send thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, to make us good children for the sake of Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross for us." Now this little brother and sister prayed to God with their hearts, and while they said the words, they wished to be good children, and felt that they could not be good without God's help : and God heard their prayer, and gave them his Holy Spirit; and when they did a naughty thing that day, they felt very sorry, and tried to be good again. So, when they had finished their prayer, they took each other by the hand, and they Henry and Eliza at their Prayers. AN I) THE DOVE. Ikipped away into the garden; and there they played till breakfast-time. They did not gather the flowers in their apa's garden, because their papa did not How it; but they had each a little garden of their own, and Eliza gathered some of her flowers for Henry, and Henry gathered some of his flowers for Eliza: and they did not quarrel, and dispute, and say, " This is my flower, and you must not have it," as I have sometimes heard naughty children say. Then these little children were called in to break- fast: and while they were at breakfast they did not make a noise when their papa and mamma told them to be quiet, but they did what they were bid to do ; and after breakfast they learned their lessons like good children. Now it happened, that morning, that these little children's papa was obliged to go out upon some business ; and he did not come home till near tea-time. Eliza and Henry were standing at the nursery-window, when they saw their papa come home. "O! there is papa!" said Eliza: "let us go to meet him." Then they ran down stairs, calling out, 'Papa, papa," and jumping about him like 10 THE RAVEN two little kittens. " O ! papa," said Henry, " what is that you have got in your hand ] it is like a box; what is there in it?" " And it is covered with green cloth," said Eliza: "may I just peep under the cloth, and see what it is?" "Stop! stop!" said their papa; " I must ask your mamma, whether you have been good children." Then both the little children looked very earnestly at their mamma, who had just stepped into the hall, to meet their papa. Their mamma looked pleased, and smiled, and said, that she believed she had a good account to give of them. " Well, well," said their papa, " we must not be in such a hurry;" (for the little ones were encouraged, by the good account their mamma had given of them, to take hold of the box;) " I must have some tea, and rest myself a little while. Do you go up stairs, now ; and when I send for you, we will see about this box, as vou call it." Now tins ! ; u!p brother and sister, as \ Henry and Eliza welcoming their Papa, on his Return Home. 'ill AND THE DOVE. 13 have said before, had behaved well all that day ; and they did not say, as naughty chil- dren sometimes say, " Pray, papa, do shew it us now;" or, " We do not like to wait:" but they did what their papa bid them im- mediately, and went up stairs; but they walked rather slowly, and turned back to look at the box sometimes. Now as they sat down in the nursery, on a little bench, they talked a great deal about this box, and they wondered what could be in it ; and Henry ran several times to ask John, if the tea-things were gone out of the parlour. At last, the bell rang for them to go down ; and they were in such a hurry to go, that Anne was obliged to call them back, to have their hair brushed, and their faces washed. At last, they got down stairs, and into the parlour, where their papa and mamma had been drinking tea. And there upon the table stood what they took for a box ; and it was covered with a green cloth. " And, now, papa, dear papa," cried both the little ones, " will you shew us what is in that box*?" " It is not a box," said their papa. 14 THE RAVEN " What is it, then?" cried Eliza. " Do, pray tell us, papa." " Well, you shall feel what it is. Come, Henry, and touch it." Then Henry took hold of it, and he cried out, " It is a cage! a cage! and I dare say, there is a bird in it." "O! papa, papa, do let me feel;" saK 1 Eliza. "It is a cage," said their papa; "and there is a bird in it: and you shall put down your ear to it, Eliza, and tell me if you can guess what bird it is." Then Eliza put her ear close to the cage; and she thought she heard something say, very softly, Coo, coo, coo. "Dear, dear papa, it is a dove! 1 am sure it is a dove!" "Well, you shall see," said her papa; and he took off the green cloth, and un- covered the cage, and there was in it a dove, almost as white as sbqw, and it ha^J silken wings, and a golden ring round its pretty head, and said, Coo, coo, coo. AND THE DOVE. 15 Then Eliza and Henry clapped their hands, and said, " Joy ! joy ! joy ! O I dear, kind papa, is this dove, this sweet white dove to be ours ? " " Yes," said their papa; " I give it you, because I hear that you have been good iil tie children, and that you have been kind and good-natured to each other, and obe- dient to your mamma: and while you are good, this pretty dove will stay with you ; but if you should ever become quarrelsome, and selfish, and disobedient, this little dove will go away, (for doves are tender gentle little creatures, and do not love naughty people,) and instead of this dove, there will come a black raven, with a hoarse and ugly voice, for fierce and ugly crea- tures are the best companions for naughty children." Now it will take up too much time to repeat every thing which these children said that evening, and to tell you how they jumped on their papa's lap, and how they kissed him, and thanked him, and how good they promised to be, and how they talked to their dove. Their papa gave them leave to carry their IS the raven dove to a closet, where they kept their play- things; and here they fed their dove every day, and they spent the greatest part of their play-time in talking to it, and playing with it. When some days were passed away, 1 cannot tell how many, since the pretty white dove had been given to Eliza and Henry, there came a lady to drink tea with their mamma; and it happened, that Eliza and Henry were left alone for a few minutes in the room with this lady. Then Henry went and stood opposite to the lady, looking very earnestly at her. At last he said, " We have got a white dove, Ma'am." " And it has got a gold ring round its neck," added Eliza, who was standing behind her brother, " and soft silken wings." M And this pretty dove was given to us," said Henry, " because we had been good." Now this lady was not much used to chil- dren, and she did not know what silly little creatures they are, and how easily their little AND THE DOVE. 17 heads are turned by things which wiser people do not mind. So she took Henry on her lap; and pushing aside Eliza's curling hair, which fell over her fore- head, inH go and look for papa, and tell h.m that «e hope we shall be good, and shall not any more, THE RAVEN So they took each other by the hand, and ran to look for their papa: at last, they found him walking with their mamma in the garden. " O ! papa ! papa ! " said Eliza, " we have been very naughty children, and we have made God angry with us, and we have made you angry with us. But we have been pray- ing to God to forgive us, and to teacli us to love one another; and pray, papa, forgive us, too, and when we are good, give us back the pretty white dove." Their papa took his little ones in his arms, and kissed them, and said, "I am very glad, my dear little children, that you are sorry for your faults, and that you have prayed to God to forgive you ; and I hope Chat I shall not see you quarrel any more. I cannot promise to give you back the little dove to-day; but, if you will come with me, I will let you see where it is." Then they each of them took their papa by the hand, and jumped along by his side till they came into the house. And he brought them into his study, and he took out of his pocket a key, and he unlocked the door of a closet: and here, upon a Henry and Eliza's Papa shewi them the White Dove. AND THE DOVE. 35 table, stood the cage of the lit lie white dove; the pretty white dove, with silken wings, and a golden ring round his neck. Then the little ones called out, "O! my dove! my dear white dove! O! papa, may we have it, to take back into our closet? and will you take away that ugly black raven i "To-morrow, my dear children," said their papa, " I will let you have your pretty w hite dove again, if I see you kind and gentle t< each other all the rest of the day. And I hope that you will remember," added he, as he took Eliza and Henry in his arms, " 1 hope that >ou will remember, as long as you live, the history of this pretty white dove : how you lost it by forgetting to love and pray to your Saviour, and by giving way to a naughty and quarrelsome temper with each other. Some time or other, when noli are older, I shall teach you a hymn, in which there is this pleasant verse: < Return, O holy dove' return, Sweet messenger of rest! I hate the sins that made thee mourn, And drove thee from my breast.' The dove in that verse does not mean such a dove as we see in this cage, but it means 30 THE RAVEN AND THE DOVE. the holy Spirit of God, the Spirit which comforts and refreshes all his children : and, as you lost your dove hy giving way to naughty tempers, so will that holy Spirit forsake and leave all those persons who forget their God, and give way to a selfish and quarrelsome temper. But he will dwell with all those children who love God and love one another, and give them joy far greater than the joy you will feel to-morrow morning, when you* find your little white dove in your closet, with his silken wings, and ring of gold round his neck." u *• CLAY, PRI NTER) BREAD ,Tm KT „ J, A P By the same Author. \» Price Id, o4 ii h