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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 University of Nprth Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/ourjqnnystoryforOOwinn 
 
OUR JENNY./^ 7 ?^ 
 
 A STORY FOB YOUNG PEOPLE. 
 
 BY ALICE HAWTHORNE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATE©. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JAMES MILLER, 
 522 BROADWAY. 
 
Entered, According to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, 
 
 BY CHARLES H. DAVIS, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
OUR JENNY. 
 
 Do you know our Jenny? Oh! you 
 should know her, — she is such a nice girl ! 
 She lives in the country near us, and she 
 is my own cousin. I love her so much 
 that I want all my friends to know her 
 and love her too. So I will tell you some- 
 thing about her. You will find that she 
 is both pretty and good ; and what proves 
 that she is good, is that she is a. great 
 favorite at home, in her father's own 
 house, where they know most about her. 
 
 (5) 
 
JENNY'S PICTURE. 
 
 Here is our Jenny's picture. Is it not 
 pretty. Uncle George had it painted 
 when he came home from California, and 
 he gave it to Jenny's mother. It was 
 Uncle George's fancy to have it painted 
 just as she looked one morning when she 
 put on her gipsy hat, and took her little 
 basket in her hand, to go out into the 
 garden and gather some strawberries for 
 Uncle George to have with his breakfast, 
 with nice, fresh cream and sugar. Is it 
 not a pretty picture ? Is not my cousin 
 
JENNY S PICTURE. 
 
jenny's picture. 
 
 9 
 
 Jenny pretty ? We all think her a very 
 good and excellent girl as well as a pretty 
 one ; and. Uncle George, I do believe, loves 
 her just as much as if she were his own 
 daughter. 
 
JENNY'S HOME. 
 
 Here is a picture of Uncle Arthur's 
 house. That is Jenny's home. It is a 
 very nice house. It has a great many 
 rooms in it and a nice shaded stoup, and 
 plenty of trees round it with their pleasant 
 shade. Back of the house is the garden 
 full of flowers and all sorts of vegetables, 
 and many other things that I am going 
 to tell you about by and by. All round 
 the house lies the farm, so large, with its 
 fields, and hills, and vales ; and the thick 
 woods and the brawling brook. — It is a 
 (10) 
 
JENNY S HOME. 
 
 13 
 
 grand farm. Jenny's father employs a 
 great many men on the farm. They 
 plough, and harrow, and sow wheat, and 
 plant Indian corn, and take care of the 
 horses and cattle, and oxen, and gather 
 the apples. One little boy drops the corn 
 in the hills, and hoes the weeds out, and 
 drives the cows home from the pasture. 
 
JENNY'S BROTHER, WILLIE. 
 
 Jenny has a little brother, Willie. Here 
 is his picture. Is not he a nice little 
 fellow. He is only five years old ; and 
 he hardly knows his letters yet. This is 
 because his mother does not wish him to 
 learn to read at all till he is a good, strong, 
 hearty, big boy ; and then she says she 
 can teach him herself in a few days. But 
 Willie is very fond of picture books ; and 
 he has learned the names of hundreds of 
 animals, and birds, and insects, and can 
 tell you in a moment the name of any 
 (14) 
 
JENNY'S BROTHER, WILLIE. 
 
 15 
 
JENNYS BROTHER WILLIE. 
 
 17 
 
 animal or bird that he sees. He is very 
 fond of exercise and trundles his hoop 
 pretty well. Above all he is good tem- 
 pered and amiable, and every body loves 
 him. 
 
JENNY'S SISTEE, SALLY. 
 
 Jenny's sister Sally is seven years old 
 She knows how to read and how to dance 
 too. See, here is her picture. She is in 
 a dancing position. She loves dancing 
 very much ; for she is a merry little girl. 
 And she is as tender-hearted as she is 
 merry. Once when Willie was sick she 
 sat by his bedside and read little story 
 books to him all day long ; and she begged 
 her mother to let her wait upon Willie all 
 by herself. But that could not be, you 
 know, because Willie's mother could not 
 (18) 
 
jenny's sister sally. 
 
JENNY S SISTER SALLY. 
 
 21 
 
 bear to let any one but herself wait upon 
 her poor, dear little sick boy. However, 
 he was not sick many days, and when he 
 got well, we were all so glad, and my 
 brother Harry played "peep oh!" with 
 him by the hour. But that was a long 
 time ago, when Willie was very little. 
 
JENNY'S RABBITS. 
 
 Farmer Jones kept a great many tame 
 rabbits which he raised lor the purpose 
 of selling. Uncle George bought some 
 out of the inclosure of Farmer Jones, 
 where they ran wild as you see them in 
 the picture. And who do you think was 
 the person for whom Uncle George bought 
 these pretty rabbits. 
 
 You say "Willie," of course. 
 
 Guess again. 
 
 " Sally," say you. 
 
 Not at all. They were for Jenny, who, 
 (22) 
 
fc ^-^ 
 
 jenny's rabbits. 
 
JENNY S RABBITS, 
 
 25 
 
 I do think, is Uncle George's pet. But 
 it makes no difference. It is all the same 
 as if Uncle George had given them to the 
 little ones. Jenny has put them in a 
 cage, where she often takes Sally to see 
 them. And little Willie gives them cab- 
 bage leaves to eat very often, 
 
JENNY'S MOTHER. 
 
 Jenny's mother is very fond of her and 
 pays a great deal of attention to her edu- 
 cation. She says that she is desirous that 
 Jenny should learn to be useful. She 
 has taught her a great many useful ways 
 of employing her time. Jenny can sew 
 beautifully. She can embroider, work 
 lace, do rug work, and crochet, and a 
 great many other kinds of work. Jenny 
 studies her school lessons very hard, and 
 is at the head of her class. She knows 
 how to write a beautiful hand and can 
 (26) 
 
jenny's mothek. 
 
JENNY' S MOTHER. 
 
 29 
 
 draw very well. She draws flowers and 
 landscapes and colors them very nicely. 
 Jenny has a little garden of her own; 
 and her mother encourages her to culti- 
 vate it herself. She rises very early in 
 the morning and often spends the whole 
 time till her breakfast is ready in weeding 
 her garden and watering the flowers. 
 
SHEEP SHEARING. 
 
 In the early part of the summer there 
 is a grand sheep shearing at the farm of 
 Jenny's father. A great number of sheep 
 are raised on the farm. Some of these 
 cost my uncle a great deal of money. He 
 imported sheep some years ago from 
 Saxony and Spain ; and paid a great deal 
 of money for them ; and now his flocks 
 produce the finest wool that is to be had 
 in the whole country. Before the sheep 
 are sheared, you know, they have to be 
 taken to the brook and washed. This is 
 (30) 
 
SHEEP SHEARING. 
 
SHEEP SHEARING. 
 
 33 
 
 a very funny scene ; and all the children 
 go to see the sheep caught and dragged 
 to the brook and washed by those strong 
 sturdy farm workmen. 
 
 Then comes the shearing; and this 
 is a pleasant sight for the children who 
 ask a hundred questions of the men ; and 
 learn how wool is made into broad cloth, 
 and merino, and mouseline de laine. 
 
THE HOP GAEDEN". 
 
 On the farm is a large hop garden, 
 where a great many hops are raised. It 
 is a very beautiful sight when the hops 
 are growing, and the children often go 
 there in the summer time to enjoy them- 
 selves rambling about and playing in the 
 shade of the hop vines. When the hops 
 are ready to be gathered, all the workmen 
 turn out together to pick them and put 
 them in baskets to be taken to the great 
 barn ; and this is such light, pretty work, 
 that the dairy maid and the workmen's 
 (34) ' . 
 
PICKING HOPS. 
 
THE HOP GARDEN. 
 
 37 
 
 wives and daughters help the men ; and 
 so the work is done very quickly. Even 
 the children, Jenny and the rest, often 
 beg to be permitted to take a part ^n the 
 grand frolic at hop-picking time. 
 
THE ORCHARD. 
 
 The orchard at my uncle's farm was a 
 very fine one. It contained an immense 
 number of apple trees ; and it was laid 
 out so tastefully as to be admired by all 
 the visiters at the farm. In the spring 
 it was very delightful to walk in the or- 
 chard, when the trees were in full blos- 
 som ; and the birds were building their 
 nests in the branches and singing their 
 sweetest songs. But the most delightful 
 of all entertainments for the children was 
 that of gathering the fruit when it was 
 (38) 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE ORCHARD. 
 
THE ORCHARD. 
 
 41 
 
 ripe. Then they perfectly revelled in de- 
 light. To shake the branches and send 
 clown showers of rosy cheeked apples, and 
 golden colored pears, and see them rolling 
 in rich profusion over the grass, was in- 
 deed a beautiful sight ; and one well cal- 
 culated tb inspire a sense of thankfulness 
 to the bountiful Giver of all good. 
 
THE LITTLE GARDEN. 
 
 Willie and Sally had a little garden of 
 their own, as well as Jenny ; and it was 
 a very pretty sight to see these beautiful 
 children working away industriously on 
 their plots of ground, digging and raking, 
 sowing and planting in the spring,' 
 watering the thirsty flowers in the heat 
 of summer, and gathering bouquets of 
 roses to give to their mother and other 
 friends. Very proud were the little folks 
 of their success in gardening. And well 
 they might be ; for it proved a good de- 
 (42) 
 
WILLIE AND SALLY IN THE GARDEN. 43 
 
THE LITTLE GARDEN. 
 
 45 
 
 gree of steadiness and attention in such 
 very young gardeners to have any success 
 at all. It is true they were often obliged 
 to consult the gardener ; and often made 
 little mistakes ; but they succeeded be- 
 cause their heart was in the work and 
 there was no such word as faih 
 
JENNY'S DOE AND FAWN. 
 
 Jenny had a beautiful doe and fawn 
 sent her by a friend in Virginia ; and her 
 father had a little paddock fenced in from 
 a pasture near the house for these elegant 
 animals to feed and sport in. They were 
 quite tame and w r ould come at Jenny's 
 call and eat the sw r eet fresh grass from 
 her hands, and suffer her to deck them 
 with garlands of flowers. Willie and 
 Sally were very fond of them and delighted 
 to chase them round the paddock and 
 play with them. In the winter time they 
 (46) 
 
*' v # 
 
, 
 
 ^ \h 
 
jenny's doe anp fawn. 4f 
 
 were kept in a little apartment made on 
 purpose for them in the great barn ; and 
 there they were often visited and fed by 
 the children. Their delight wiien let out 
 in the spring w^as expressed by bounding 
 off and running several times round the 
 paddock at full speed, as you see them in 
 the picture. 
 
JENNY'S GARDEN. 
 
 Jenny's garden was larger than that 
 of Willie and Sally. It covered a large 
 piece of ground and she had a good deal 
 of help from the gardener in taking 
 care of it. In the middle of the ground 
 was a little pond, which was ornamented 
 with rockwork and had a small but very 
 pretty fountain throwing jets of water 
 from the midst of a fine wild looking pile 
 of rocks in the middle of the pond on the 
 top of a hill a considerable distance from 
 the house. From the same source a 
 (50) 
 
THE FOUNTAIN. 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
JENNY S GARDEN 
 
 53 
 
 larger fountain in the lawn in front of the 
 house was also fed. Jenny had also her 
 department in the large green house, 
 where she raised a great number of exotic 
 plants, which in winter were often brought 
 into the parlor or conservatory. 
 
JENNY'S AUNT DEBORAH. 
 
 Have you an Aunt Deborah ? I am 
 afraid not. Few people are so lucky. Our 
 Aunt Deborah, Jenny's and mine, whom 
 we call Aunt Debby, " for shortness/' is 
 the kindest, best aunty in the world. She 
 is Jenny's mother's sister and lives always 
 at my uncle's farm. She loves all the 
 children just the same as if they were her 
 own. She plays with them, helps them 
 with their lessons, tells them the prettiest 
 stories that ever were heard, shows the 
 girls how to do all kinds of ornamental 
 
 m) 
 
AUNT DEBOJIAII. 
 
JENNY'S AUNT DEBORAH. 
 
 57 
 
 work, tends them when they are sick, 
 gives them ever so many presents at 
 Christmas, and helps to adorn the Christ- 
 mas trees. Aunt Debby is as fond of 
 flowers as Jenny herself ; and helps her 
 attend to the garden and green house. I 
 think she is the most wonderful aunty 
 that ever was. 
 
JENNY'S FLOWEES. 
 
 In the green house, Jenny, as we have 
 already observed, cultivated a number of 
 fine exotic plants. One of these was a 
 large and very beautiful pansy, which she 
 had received as a present from a friend. 
 She took the greatest possible care of it ; 
 and frequently kept it for a long time in 
 her own chamber. But beautiful as this 
 pansy was, it did not please Jenny's fine 
 taste so well as the little common Johnny- 
 jump-up, or heart's ease, of which she had 
 a great abundance in her garden. Indeed 
 (58) 
 
A PANSY. 
 
JENNY'S FLOWERS. 
 
 61 
 
 I think, myself, that the common heart's 
 ease is really one of the prettiest flowers 
 in the world ; but we forget to admire it 
 because it is so common. 
 
JENNY'S FLOWEKS. 
 
 Among Jenny's flowers were some very- 
 curious ones. The sensitive plant was re- 
 markable, because it was so sensitive that 
 if you touched the leaf it drew itself away 
 from the touch as if it had been a live 
 animal and not a plant. Then there was 
 another kind of sensitive plant which they 
 call Venus' s Fly-trap, because having the 
 same sensitive quality as the other, it 
 would contract its leaf when a fly lighted 
 on it and so imprison the fly. In the 
 picture of Venus's Fly-trap, here, you see 
 (62) 
 
VENUS S FLY TRAP. 
 
JENNY'S FLOWERS. 
 
 05 
 
 a fly caught by one of the leaves. Below 
 is one of Jrnny's Auriculas, which is a 
 very pretty flower. 
 
WILLIE'S PICTURE BOOKS. 
 
 Willie as I have already told you, al- 
 though he was a little fellow and did not 
 know how to read, was very fond of pic- 
 tures and picture books. This taste his 
 mother encouraged, and bought him all 
 the pretty picture books she could find, 
 and then explained to him the meaning 
 of the pictures. He was especially fond 
 of those which contained pictures of ani- 
 mals and birds, and as he was a child of 
 very quick perceptions and good memory 
 he soon learned to distinguish the animals 
 (66) 
 
willie's picture book. 
 
WILLIE'S PICTURE BOOKS. 
 
 69 
 
 from each other and he remembered very 
 well all that his mother had told him of 
 the habits of the animals and could tell 
 very readily w 7 here they were to be found 
 and what means were used for capturing 
 them. He had a little friend Eobert 
 Short who used to come and spend the 
 day with him looking at his pictures. 
 
SALLY'S VISITOES. 
 
 Sally had her visitors as well as Willie. 
 Two little girls about her own age were 
 her especial favorites. She also had her 
 little library of books ; and when the little 
 girls had rambled over the garden and 
 gathered flowers and made bouquets and 
 wreaths, and had a spell of swinging in 
 the large swing suspended to the elm tree 
 they used to go up into Sally's little 
 chamber and have a nice time looking 
 over her handsome books. It is a great 
 thing for children to have kind and indul- 
 (70) 
 
sally's visitors. 
 
SALLY' S VISITORS. 
 
 73 
 
 gent parents who furnish them with good 
 and useful books, which serve to expand 
 their minds and teach them how to per- 
 form the duties of life. Children should 
 be deeply thankful to a kind Providence 
 for the blessing of good and judicious pa- 
 rents and the means of a moral and reli- 
 gious education. 
 
THE SQUIRREL HUNTERS. 
 
 One day two boys came to the farm to 
 sell some wild rabbits which they had 
 caught in the woods. Little Willie saw 
 them talking with the cook in the kitchen 
 and was greatly delighted to have an op- 
 portunity of examining real rabbits like 
 he had seen pictured in the books. He 
 asked the boys how they had been caught ; 
 and was told that it had been by means 
 of a snare set in the bushes which caught 
 and strangled the rabbits ; and w T hen the 
 boys had obtained a number in this way 
 (74) 
 
THE SQUIRREL HUNTERS. 
 
 77 
 
 they sold them in the village to people 
 to make rabbit pie of. They told Willie 
 that they sometimes caught squirrels alive 
 in a box-trap ; and finally undertook to 
 catch one for him. 
 
WILLIE'S SQUIKKEL. 
 
 The very next day, sure enough, the 
 boys came again to the farm, bringing a 
 fine black squirrel, which Jenny bought 
 of them for a few pennies, and presented 
 to Willie. He was put in a box for the 
 night ; and the next morning a fine rolling 
 cage was obtained at the neighboring 
 village, and master squirrel began his 
 gambols in it to Willie's great delight. 
 A very busy little man was Master Willie 
 now. Such a fuss as he made about his 
 squirrel, set all the folks a laughing. 
 (78) 
 
^fikm> 
 
willie's squirrel. 81 
 
 Water must be had for him to drink in a 
 little tin pan ; and Indian corn for him 
 to eat; and then Willie was in such a 
 taking lest he should not have enough to 
 eat and drink ; and lest his bed of hay 
 should not be comfortable. When all 
 these household cares of the squirrel were 
 attended to he would sit by the hour 
 watching his gambols in the rolling cage. 
 
 6 
 
THE GRAND AFFAIR OF THE RAT. 
 
 All the world knew that there were 
 rats in the barn ; and sometimes the 
 hired men had a great deal of trouble in 
 catching and killing them; but a rat in 
 the house was a thing unheard of in the 
 memory of the oldest inhabitant. But 
 one morning the cook came into the 
 breakfast room and communicated the 
 appalling intelligence that she had seen 
 an actual live rat in the cellar. Then 
 such a shout of horror and amazement 
 arose. " A rat!" " In the cellar !" "The 
 (82) 
 
THE GRAND AFFAIR OF THE RAT. 85 
 
 villain I" "The insolent rascal !" " He 
 must be caught !" " He must be hung !" 
 " He must be drowned I" " The like was 
 never heard of before!" My aunt was 
 grieved. The children were highly in- 
 dignant. My uncle was calm and deter- 
 mined. So a wire cage was brought and 
 baited with toasted cheese and set in the 
 cellar. 
 
THE CATASTBOPHE. 
 
 The next afternoon Willie had a little 
 party. Four urchins of about his own age 
 came to assist in celebrating his birth 
 day. They had a famous time, playing 
 all sorts of games in the breakfast room 
 all the forenoon. When they were in the 
 height of their glee, they heard a bustle 
 in the kitchen below; and on Willie's 
 going down to see what was the matter, 
 there stood the cook with the wire cage 
 in her hand, held up at arm's length, and 
 the insolent villain of a rat raging and 
 (86) 
 
THE CATASTROPHE. 89 
 
 darting about in his wire prison, biting 
 the bars and vainly trying to get out. 
 
 Forthwith he was taken up into the 
 breakfast room and the trap set on the 
 table for the little boys to have a good 
 look at him One of them caught the cat 
 and held her up to the table to enjoy the 
 sight. It was proposed to let him loose 
 in the room and see pussy catch him. But 
 fortunately Jenny came in and quietly 
 ordered the cook to take him into the 
 yard and drown him by putting the trap 
 in a tub of water; and so ended the tra- 
 gedy of that "insolent rat. 77 
 
THE CARD HOUSES. 
 
 After the grand catastrophe of the rat 
 the little boys went to work building card 
 houses. They were very industrious ar- 
 chitects ; and built a great many famous 
 edifices, square and round and triangular 
 and octangular and high and low. But 
 the houses tumbled down as fast as they 
 were built. Jenny came in while the 
 work was going on and invited them into 
 the dining room where they joined the 
 family at dinner, which they enjoyed very 
 much, as every bodv w T as anxious to afford 
 (90) 
 
THE CARD HOUSES. 
 
 93 
 
 them pleasure and make Willie's birth 
 day pass off agreeably. After dinner the 
 little boys had a fine time looking at pic- 
 ture books. Then Jenny told them a 
 great many pretty stories and Sallie and 
 Willie brought out their whole store of 
 toys. Then came tea in the breakfast 
 room, with plenty of nice cake ; and in 
 half an hour after, all the little boys were 
 on their way home having enjoyed them- 
 selves very much in celebrating Willie's 
 birth day. 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL BOYS. 
 
 In the village was a Sunday School, 
 where children were taught the first prin- 
 ciples of religious duty by the young gen- 
 tleman and ladies who belonged to the 
 church. Among these was our friend 
 Jenny, who was extremely attentive to 
 her duties at the Sunday school and not 
 only taught the little boys of her class 
 their catechism and their scripture lessons 
 but volunteered to teach them singing. 
 The little fellows were delighted with this 
 exercise ; and one day when Jenny was 
 (94) 
 
THE CHILDREN SINGING. 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL BOYS. 
 
 97 
 
 walking out in the fields she came sud- 
 denly upon the little boys of her class 
 practising their singing lesson with all 
 their might in the open air. The little 
 boys were rather bashful ; and as soon as 
 they caught sight of Jenny, they all 
 jumped up and ran away, before she could 
 speak to them. 
 
WILLIE'S VISIT. 
 
 Willie was permitted to pay a visit to 
 Charlie Carson, one of the little boys who 
 took a part in the grand celebration of 
 his birth day. At the farm, the little 
 boys had amused themselves mostly in 
 the house, looking at picture books and 
 playing all sorts of in-door games. Here 
 it was different. The play was mostly out 
 of doors in the open air. In the first 
 place they took a grand ride on stick 
 horses on the lawn in front of the house. 
 Then they played at leap frog and tag, 
 (98) 
 
WILLIE' S VISIT. 
 
 101 
 
 and a dozen other games. Thus the day 
 passed very pleasantly ; but the boys all 
 declared that it was not quite so agreeable 
 as looking over Willie's picture books at 
 the farm. 
 
JENNY'S BEADING. 
 
 Jenny read a great many books and 
 took delight in this as a recreation. But 
 there was one book which she read for 
 her own moral and religious improvement. 
 This was the Bible. Before she retired 
 to her bed at night, when all alone in her 
 chamber, she invariably read a certain 
 portion of the Holy Scriptures, with prayer 
 to her Heavenly Father, to give her the 
 daily bread of religious and charitable 
 feeling and to keep her from temptations 
 to sin. The same exercise she was enabled 
 (102) 
 
JENNY READING THE BIBLF 
 
jenny's reading. 105 
 
 by early rising to go through in the 
 morning before leaving her chamber. This 
 course of reading and her earnest desire 
 to put in practise in her daily life the pre- 
 cepts of the Holy Word, was the secret of 
 her truthfulness, benevolence, and uniform 
 sweetness of temper. No other reading 
 is so certain to form a good character as 
 that of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 «gg^ 
 
THE WINDY WALK. 
 
 One day Jenny and Willie took a walk 
 in the fields for the purpose of visiting a 
 certain pond in which there were kept 
 two live swans. It was an excessively 
 windy day and little Willie had a great 
 deal of trouble in keeping his cap upon 
 his head; but they were greatly amused 
 at the pranks which the wind was playing 
 The waving of the branches of the trees, 
 the scattering of apples and peaches on 
 the ground ; the occasional showers of 
 dry leaves which fell upon their heads 
 (106) 
 
THE WINDY WALK. 109 
 
 and whirled along before them in the 
 pathway, all afforded great amusement to 
 Willie who had never been abroad in a 
 windy autumn day before. With all this 
 commotion, however, there was nothing 
 to interfere with their comfort as the day 
 was clear and mild, without any signs oi 
 rain. 
 
THE SWAN. 
 
 At last the walkers came to the pond, 
 which was greatly agitated by the wind, 
 and showed its surface all ruffled into 
 waves, which formed a tolerable imitation 
 of a stormy sea, rolling its little breakers 
 on the shore and tossing about the chips 
 and leaves on its surface, as the ocean 
 does ships and boats. As for the swans, 
 they were no where to be seen. They were 
 very fond of swimming about on the 
 smooth surface of the water when it was 
 calm, and showing their elegant forms, 
 
 (110) 
 
THE SWAN. 
 
THE SWAN. 
 
 113 
 
 and beautiful arched necks to the visitors 
 who came to see them. But a gale of 
 wind was what they had not bargained 
 for ; and so they had left the water and 
 walked off. On turning to go home, how- 
 ever, they encountered one of the swans 
 walking on the shore. But he did not 
 appear to advantage ; as his gait and mo- 
 tions were not very unlike those of a goose. 
 
 8 
 
THE BIRD'S NEST. 
 
 When Jenny and Willie had got nearly 
 home from their walk and were already 
 in the orchard, they met Sally, who had 
 just picked up a poor robin's nest which 
 the wind had dislodged from one of the 
 trees and thrown upon the ground. It 
 was empty ; and now an inquiry arose as 
 to what had become of the young robins. 
 Jenny thought they must all have got 
 fledged and flown away. But Sallie and 
 Willie determined to have a hunt for 
 them ; and, at last, sure enough three little 
 (114) 
 
THE BIRD'S NEST, 
 
THE BIRD'S NEST. 117 
 
 birds were found scattered about under 
 the tree, and put into the nest again. 
 They were not much hurt by their fall ; 
 and when they were all restored to the 
 nest, and Willie had held the nest in his 
 lap and had a good long look at them ; 
 one of the hired men was called who 
 quickly climbed the tree and put the nest 
 in its place again, to the great delight of 
 the parent birds. 
 
THE HEED BOY. 
 
 I have sat on the mountains and tended 
 my herds ; 
 
 I have watched with attention the dear 
 little birds ; 
 
 There they sang to each other, and hopped 
 on the spray, 
 
 And builded their nests till the close of 
 the day. 
 
 In the garden I stood, and observed that 
 the bees 
 
 Made their cells in our hives, and aban- 
 doned the trees ; 
 (118) 
 
w 
 
 w 
 
 o 
 fcri 
 
THE HERD BOY. 121 
 
 They hummed, and they buzzed, and flew 
 
 many a mile — 
 Does the tune they are humming their 
 
 labor beguile ? 
 Can they hear ? — or are insects quite deaf 
 
 all the while ? 
 I have strolled in the meadows when gar- 
 nished by spring, 
 I have seen painted butterflies float on 
 
 the wing : 
 They flitted, they fluttered, they hasted 
 
 away ; — 
 They have wasted no time — done their 
 
 work in the day — 
 And that is more than some people can 
 
 say! 
 
THE BROTHER'S GRAVE. 
 
 Ser the hillock near the church, 
 Garnished b} 7 a sister's hand, 
 
 This you'll find with little search, 
 For the garlands on it stand. 
 
 There sank her brother in the tomb, 
 His body there in dust must lie ; 
 
 But angels bore his spirit home, 
 To gain a mansion in the sky. 
 
 And Christ is still the same, to save 
 The child who seeks and trusts his grace ; 
 
 He'll raise his body from the grave, 
 And infant lips shall sing His praise. 
 
 (122) 
 
the brother's grave. 
 
THE FROG AND THE MOUSE. 
 
THE FROG AND THE MOUSE. 
 
 " Frog," said the Mouse, " are you unwell, 
 
 Tou look a bloated figure ?" 
 "No," said the Frog, " the truth to tell, 
 
 Pd fain be somewhat bigger. 
 
 " There stands an ox, he's larger still, 
 And roars with staring eyes ; 
 
 I'd roar as loud, say what you will, 
 Were I but blown his size." 
 
 "Peace!" said the Mouse, "you reptile 
 thin; 
 Do you think that wind would do it ? 
 You'd be no larger than your skin, 
 Were Eolus to blow it." 
 
 (127) 
 
128 
 
 THE FROG AND THE MOUSE. 
 
 The Frog he swelled, till skin gave way ; 
 
 He burst himself at last ! 
 The Mouse he scampered off, they say, 
 
 No doubt he scampered fast. 
 
 / 
 
.