THE 
 
 MRS. SHERWOOD, 
 
 Author of " Little Henry and his Bearer^* §c. fyc. 
 
 PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND SOX, 
 f>f>, Paternoster-Kow ; 
 AND AT WELLINGTON, SALOP. 
 
 Price One Penny, 
 
 [Entered at Stationers' Hall.] 
 
 LONDON: 
 
See Page 5 
 
THE 
 
 FAWNS. 
 
 — Q^?ew 
 BY 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "LITTLE HENRY $ HIS BEARER," 
 
 fyc. <Sfc. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR HOULSTON AND SON, 
 65, Paternoster-Row; 
 AND AT WELLINGTON, SALOP. 
 
 1832. 
 
 [Entered at Stationers' Hall.'] 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 My brother and I were playing in our 
 father's park one day in the month of June, 
 when, approaching a thicket where we had 
 seen something stir, we found two little 
 fawns sleeping together in the shade. We 
 went very gently to them, and seizing them 
 before they were aware, we carried them 
 home, and, taking them into our mother's 
 parlour, we asked leave of her to keep 
 them till they were grown larger. 
 
G 
 
 THE FAWNS. 
 
 Our mother did not say no, though she 
 added, that they would not be so happy 
 with us as in the open air among their na- 
 tive groves. So we carried them up to a 
 room at the top of the house ; for we did 
 not dare to let them loose in the court-yard, 
 because of the dogs. 
 
 Have you ever seen a fawn ? There are 
 no little animals which God has made more 
 lovely than the young of deer. They are 
 tall and graceful, and have long and elegant 
 necks and small heads, with eyes so mild, 
 that, when the people in the East would say 
 that any one has lovely eyes, they say that 
 lie is fawn-eyed. Their coats are so beau- 
 tifully variegated, and they step so deli- 
 cately, and are so timid, that one would 
 think no one could have a pleasure in hurt- 
 ing them. But there are people who make 
 it a sport to hunt and destroy them : men 
 are so wicked, that they delight in cruel 
 practices. 
 
 We let them loose in the large room at 
 the top of the house ; and when they were 
 at liberty, they ran round the room, and 
 sprang at the window, and uttered a gen- 
 tle cry, as if calling their mother; but their 
 poor mother was far away, and was, no 
 doubt, weeping for them in the park ; for 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 7 
 
 deer, when in trouble, shed tears, they say, 
 like human beings. 
 
 My brother and I sought some milk, and 
 brought it up to our fawns ; and they lap- 
 ped it when we held their heads to the bov\l. 
 
 Now, while we were busy in feeding our 
 fawns, we heard some one coming up stairs 
 very slowly, and our grandfather entered. 
 " Look, grandpapa!" 1 said, "look at our 
 lovely fawns ! See, they can lap milk ! Are 
 they not beautiful? Do you not admire 
 them?" 
 
 " They are beautiful," he said, " and I 
 admire them. But, my dear boys, is it not 
 very cruel of you to take these pretty little 
 creatures from their mother, and from the 
 sunny lawns and the shades in which they 
 delight, to shut them up in this garret ? 
 What makes you do so?" 
 
 " O," I answered, " because we like to 
 have them, grandpapa, and to look at them, 
 and feed them." 
 
 " See," said our grandfather, " how they 
 tremble and turn about their eyes ! they are 
 very miserable, and you have made them so. 
 0, my boys ! be sure of this, you are taking 
 the wrong way to render yourselves happy. 
 No person can find real happiness in making 
 any creature miserable. We should try to 
 
s 
 
 THE FAWNS. 
 
 make every thing that has life comfortable 
 about us. Sometimes, indeed f it is neces- 
 sary that even such lovely things as these 
 fawns shouid be killed ; but no compas- 
 sionate man or boy will torment any living 
 thing for his sport. Be advised then by me : 
 carry these pretty fawns back to the place 
 where you found them, and you will have 
 more pleasure in so doing, than ever you 
 will derive from seeing them shut up in this 
 dismal garret." 
 
 He went away, and my brother and I 
 stood looking at each other till we could no 
 longer hear his steps upon the stairs ; my 
 brother then went to his fawn, and, taking 
 it in his arms, " I am going, Francis," he 
 said, " to carry back my little deer, and I 
 am sorry that I brought it away from its 
 mother." The tears stood in his eyes while 
 he spoke, and he stooped his head to kiss 
 it. " Little fawn," he added, " I do love 
 you ; I shouid like to keep you : but I will 
 not make you unhappy/' 
 
 u Stop, George'! stop!" I said, "wait a 
 moment. Put your fawn down again. Don't 
 take it away. My fawn will be happier if 
 you leave yours with it. It will be misera- 
 ble if left alone." 
 
 " What!" said he, " don't you mean to 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 9 
 
 take vour fawn back to the park, Fran- 
 cis 
 
 " Perhaps I may some time or other," I 
 answered, "but not this evening. Pray, 
 George, leave yours with mine till to-morrow 
 morning at least, and then we will think 
 about setting them both free." 
 
 "If I keep my fawn till to-morrow," re- 
 plied George, " it will be harder for me to 
 part with it than it is now, so don't persuade 
 me to delay another minute." And he press- 
 ed the little creature to his bosom and said, 
 " Poor little fawn, I am sorry for you ; I will 
 take you this very evening to your place." 
 So saying, he hastened down the stairs with 
 his little deer in his arms, and I ran after 
 him ; but I lost sight of him till he had pass- 
 ed through the garden and was in the park. 
 I saw him go to the wood where we had 
 found our fawns asleep. I got up with him 
 just as he had set the little creature down, 
 and saw it bounding away, very eager to 
 find its mother. 
 
 " There, Francis," said my brother, " it 
 is contented now, and I have done what 
 grandpapa bid me do; now I hope it will 
 be happy. And then he asked me again 
 what I meant to do with my fawn, and I 
 lold him that I would think of that the next 
 
10 
 
 THE FAWNS, 
 
 day. So we walked home, and I felt very 
 sad, but my brother was merry, and said lie 
 would go to the park the next morning to see 
 if his fawn had found its mother. 
 
 That night I was very unhappy ; and the 
 next morning the first thing 1 did was to go 
 to the garret to look at my fawn and feed it, 
 but when I opened the door, it was missing, 
 The window had been pushed open. I 
 hastened to it, and looked out upon the 
 slates, but could not find it. I ran down 
 stairs, and upon the lawn under the window 
 I found my little fawn lying without life; 
 the poor animal had sprang to the window, 
 burst it open, and had fallen through. 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 11 
 
 What a sight was this for me ! I sat down 
 on the grass, and took the little breathless 
 creature on my lap, and burst into tears. 
 u O, my fawn ! my little fawn ! " I said, " had 
 I been a kind and obedient boy like my 
 brother, you might now have been skipping 
 and playing by the side of your mother in 
 the park, enjoying the morning breezes and 
 drinking the dew; and now you are dead, 
 through my cruelty. But I will bury you 
 where I found you asleep, and I will often 
 go to weep over your grave." So saying, I 
 carried my fawn and my spade to the wood, 
 and dug a hole in the place where I had 
 
12 
 
 THE FAWNS. 
 
 found him asleep the day before, and put 
 him in it, and covered him with grass. I 
 then sat down to cry at a little distance 
 from the spot, for I was very unhappy. 
 
 I was sitting under the shade of some 
 high trees, and before me was a wide lawn 
 surrounded by woods. The dew was still 
 on the grass, and the mist upon the tops of 
 the trees, but the sun was rising above the 
 woods. Presently the herd of deer came 
 out from under a grove, and spread them- 
 selves over the lawn. There were the harts 
 with their brandling horns, and hinds with' 
 out horns, with little fawns playing by their 
 sides. 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 13 
 
 I distinguished my brother's fawn, for I 
 knew him by a particular spot on the brow ; 
 he was bounding and exulting by his mother's 
 side, rejoicing in his recovered liberty. What 
 would I then have given to have seen his 
 twin brother with him ! But alas ! my little 
 fawn w^as never more to play on those green 
 and sunny hills, and never again to skip 
 around his mother. u And it is I," I said, 
 " who have cut short his innocent life. I 
 have been very cruel and disobedient/' 
 And I wept much. At length I heard a 
 rustling noise among the trees, and saw my 
 dear grandpapa coming towards me leaning 
 with one hand on a stick and with the other 
 on my brother's shoulder. I ran to him and 
 fell upon his bosom and confessed my fault 
 to him, and told him how I had been pu- 
 nished, and he embraced me and sympa- 
 thized with me. 
 
 " My dear little boy," he said, " do not 
 weep, though I would have you remember 
 the story of your little fawn, that when you 
 become a man it may admonish you to escape 
 such painful feelings as you have had this 
 morning, by avoiding cruelty to animals. 
 Be sure, my dear boy, that all sports and 
 pleasures which make any creature uncom- 
 fortable tend to sadness of heart : whereas 
 
11 
 
 THE FAWNS. 
 
 what we do to make others happy, will end 
 in giving peace and joy to ourselves. " 
 
 He then urged us to examine our Bible, 
 and reminded us that deer are emblems of 
 holy persons. " Our Saviour," added he, 
 4< is compared to a roe or a hart, because 
 of the beauty and majesty of that fair 
 creature, and because of the swiftness with 
 which it flies to the assistance of those it 
 loves. The branching horns of the hart 
 are typical," he added, " of the royal dig- 
 nity of our Saviour. And the love of the 
 hart for the hind shews the affection of 
 Christ for his Church. 
 
 " The deer also is said," continued my 
 grandfather, " to have a particular hatred 
 to serpents, and to eat many of them ; and 
 hence we find in this creature another re- 
 semblance to our dear Saviour, who is for 
 ever at enmity with the old serpent, the 
 evil one." 
 
 Thus my grandfather talked to me and 
 comforted me ; and as he walked home with 
 us, he taught me that if I would become a 
 member of the flock of Jesus, I must aim at 
 the harmlessness and innocence which are 
 so lovely in the fawns of the forest ; add- 
 ing, tii at these qualifications were more to 
 be commended in the members of Christ's 
 
THE FAWNS. 
 
 15 
 
 Church, than any distinctions which talents 
 or wisdom could procure them. 
 
 I fear I did not understand all that my 
 grandfather said to me, yet his words sank 
 into my heart, and from that time till the 
 present (and I am an old man now) when- 
 ever I have seen a park filled with these 
 beautiful animals, I have remembered the 
 simile of the deer to a society of holy people 
 under the protection of their Saviour. O 
 may I be found in the last day in the like- 
 ness of Him, of whom the hart and the roe 
 are the beautiful and lively emblems ! 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 HOULSTONS, PRINTERS. 
 
By the same Author. 
 
 A PRIMER. Price 6d. 
 
 The INFIRMARY. Price 4d. 
 
 The ERRAND-BOY. Price 4d. 
 
 The TWO SISTERS. Price 4d. 
 
 The MAY-BEE. Price 4d. 
 
 EDWARD MANSFIELD. Price 4d. 
 
 JULIAN PERCIVAL. Price 4d. 
 
 GEORGE and his PENNY. Price 2d. 
 
 EMILY and her BROTHERS. Price 2d. 
 
 The ROSE. Price 2d. 
 
 The BUSY BEE. Price 2d. 
 
 The WISHING-CAP. Price 2d. 
 
 EASY QUESTIONS. Price 2d. 
 
 ROBERT and the OWL. Price 2d. 
 
 The TWO DOLLS. Price 2d. 
 
 SOFFRONA and her CAT MUFF. 
 PVice 2d. 
 
 The SUNDAY-SCHOOL CHILD'S RE- 
 WARD. Price Id. 
 
 LITTLE ARTHUR. Price Id. 
 
 POOR BURRUFF. Price Id. 
 
 The DRY GROUND. Price Id. 
 
 The LADY in the ARBOUR. Price Id, 
 
 HOME. Price Id.