Roe naaite) hi =e Eegenry OF VIRGIN AUCan RENTS e peeLIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FROM THE BOOKS OF JOHN STAIGE DAVISa ee SERN INA i fo)FINB@RICEURES AND NICE MBA bINGS IN WORDS OF ONE AND TWe SPLLARBLES. LONDON T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW: EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. 1371.Most of my young readers have seen fine pictures, some very large and in handsome frames, some in large books, and some in small books. But they could not always tell what the pictures were about. There are books with nice tales in them but no pictures. When I| was very young I liked to know all about the pictures that I saw. When I read pleasing tales, I liked the books in which the tales were printed to have pretty pictures in them. I know that young folks now likeVi PREFACE. just what young folks liked when I went to school. So I have tried to write a book that should have fine pictures and pleasing tales, and I hope that my young friends will like it.THE BOY AND THE BIRD’S NEST, DAVID AND AUNT NANCY, THE TWO SISTERS, THE TRUANTS, CAPTAIN RUFFLES, JANE AND JACK,FINE, PICTURES NICE READINGS f). es THE BOY AND THE BIRD'S NEST. Ir is a lovely summer day. The sun shines brightly, there is a gentle breeze, wild-flowers gladden the eye, and the birds warble songs of joy to charm the ear. Under the wide shady branches of a fine old tree there sits a boy who would not like me to tell you his name. He has a bird’s nest in his lap. In10 THE BOY AND THE BIRD’S NEST. the nest there are some pretty little egos. Yet the boy does not look happy; no, he looks afraid. He is in good health, he is strong, he has plenty of good food to eat; his clothes are neither old nor torn, and they are just the sort he hkes. Besides this, he has good parents, good teachers, and a sound mind. His teachers are those whom his parents think able to instruct him well in all that a boy like him should learn. They wish him to become wise and good. He can learn as quickly as most boys of his age. His mind is sound, He knows right from wrong. He reads the Holy Bible day by day, and he knows many verses, and even chapters of Holy Scripture by heart. It is well to know Holy Scripture by heart, but it is better to treasure itTHE BOY AND THE BIRDS NEST. 11 zn the heart, and be able to say, “‘ Thy word have | hid in my heart, that | might not sin agaimst thee.” We may know the whole Bible by heart, but it will profit us nothing unless we have the grace of Gop wm our hearts. The Bible tells us that the servant who knows his master’s will, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. And our blessed Lord said, “Tf ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” The boy who has the bird’s nest ought to be happy, and to look pleased; why does he not? I think that, if I try, 1 can guess. He has often been told that it 1s wrong to take birds’ nests. Some people say that there is no harm in it, But I do not agree with them. We use hens’ eggs for food, but when12 THE BOY AND THE BIRD'S NEST. a boy takes away the eggs of a poor little bird, it 1s for no useful purpose, and therefore it is cruel. But even if it were right for a boy to rob a bird of her nest, it would be wrong for him to do so against the wishes of his parents and _ teachers. The Holy Bible says, ‘“‘ Children, obey your parents in all things.” Children who do not obey their parents, pain them. Those who cause needless pain are cruel. ‘Those who are cruel are mostly those who are cowards; they cause needless pain and suffer needlessDAVID AND AUNT NANCY. How pleased the woman looks! And how thoughtful the boy looks! Who is the woman, and why is she so pleased? Who is the boy, and why does he look so thoughtful ? The woman is known in the village as Aunt Nancy. She is always busy, always laughing. Her wants are few, and so are her troubles. Her chiet want is to be a scholar; she means that she would like to be able to read better than she does, and to write, for she cannot write at all. Her chief trouble is to know what she had better14 DAVID AND AUNT NANCY. do first, for she has always a good many things to do. The boy is the son of the farmer who lives in that pretty cottage, and with whom Aunt Nancy lives as ser- vant. David-—for that is. the boy’s name—is thought by Aunt Nancy to be the most clever boy in the whole village, which seems to her to be half the world. Aunt Nancy has never been ten miles out of her native village, and she says she cannot make out why people want to go far from home. If she could read better, and read more. and think more, she would not wonder why people travel. Aunt Nancy has come to tell David that his sister wants him to come and show her how to do her sum. David has been busy finding as many sorts of grasses and wild-flowersDAVID AND AUNT NANCY. TMV aN) \\\4 1 | UNAWARE re 4 as he could get.. His teacher told him and the other boys to do so, and that he would give theng aé lesson on them, Aunt Nancy thinks it very clever tor a boy to be able to sort grasses16 DAVID AND AUNT NANCY, and wild-flowers. She wonders, and she laughs. ‘‘ What next will they teach in schools?” says she; “I wish I were young again and could go to school.” There are many grown-up persons who, like Aunt Nancy, wish they were young again, and could go to school. I hope that when you grow up, you may not have to wish that. Try and learn all you can now, for it will be useful to you as long as you live.THE TWO SISTERS. Loox at those two little girls! How neat they are, and how busy! The elder one, who is not nine years old, has her bonnet and shawl on, and a basket in her hand. She is going out on an errand. ‘The younger one, who is only seven years old, is cleaning the table. She has to stand on a little stool,-for she could scarcely reach the middle of the table if she stood on the floor, and she would have no power to use the house flannel as it should be used, The little girls are both doing their duty. They have a good kind mother, B18 THE TWO SISTERS. who has taught them how to be neat and clean. Young as they are, they know that even the poorest home should be clean and neat, and that it is a disgrace to a girl when she is not clean in her person and in her dress, and when her dwelling is not tidy. The mother of these little girls has gone out for a short time, but she knows that they will do their duty just the same as though she were at home. There are two ways of doing one’s duty. One may do it with pleasure, or one may do it with pain. It is our duty to do what we can to make others happy, and to kind people it is a pleasure. It is our duty to punish, when we can, those who do wrong ; but that is a painful duty. | There is a way of making duty that should be pleasant, painful; and thatis by doing it with ill will. The elder child does not look happy. Two days azo she said she wished she were the younger one, that she might go out on errands instead of staying at home.THE TWO SISTERS. Her younger sister, who always looks happy, said she would try to do the cleaning. Now the elder one dislikes going on errands. “Tt is very easy for you, to her little sister, “to stay at home and do the cleaning, whilst I have to go out, and it may rain before I come back.” Now you see her little sister is not tall enough to clean the middle of the table without standing on a stool, so that her work is not so very easy to her. after all. ? she saysTHE TRUANTS. “Do come, Willie: it will never be found out.” ‘Not be found out!” said Willie. ‘It is sure to be found out that we are not at school!” “Qh, Willie, what a coward you are! How easy it will be for you, when you go to school in the morning, and Mr. Hunter asks you why you were absent to-day, to say that you spent the day with me. He always says you are truthful, so he will not think of asking whether you had leave to spend the day with me, and we shall both get out of the scrape.”igre THE TRUANTS. In this way James tried to get Willie to play truant, and at last - Willie agreed to go with James to the beach instead of going to school. He had. never played truant before, and James was so sure. that they should not be found out, that he said, “‘ Willie, if we are found out I'll never again ask you or any other boy to play truant.” “ Well, if it is found out, I’ll never again play truant,” was Willie’s answer. Off ran the two lads, and had you heard their merry laughs, and seen their gambols, you would not have thought that they could be so happy if they were doing wrong. ‘““T think school is over,”’ said James; “let us sit on this bench by the rock and listen till we hear a church clock strike.”THE TRUANTS, Oe \ De a RE: Sr NK Sk oe Na tet 4 AY mH NS SSN SS SN NF The boys sat down. ‘‘ Haven’t we had some fine fun, Willie?” ‘ Yes.” ‘“And don’t you feel more pleased than if you had been to school?” “No, i dont. feel. happy at ail |2 A THE TRUANTS. almost wish our truant playing may be found out.” ‘It will not be found out— ;” James was going to say some- thing else, when from the voice of a man behind the rock they heard, “ It will be found out—it is found out! Here, mate!” (he called to a man on the beach) ‘‘ take these lads to Mr. Hunter.” Willie and James told Mr. Hunter the truth. He forgave them, and they have never since been truants.CAPTAIN RUFFLES. — CAPTAIN RUFFLES was a brave man. He had been in many countries, in many battles, in many dangers. He had been wounded, and he had scars left by his wounds; but he also had honours, and rewards, and riches. Captain Ruffles had but one great trouble. He had what he called a strange temper. But other people called it a very bad temper. We are too apt to call our own faults by very gentle names. Captain Ruffles knew that it was wrong to give way to ill-temper, and yet he would get angry with very little26 CAPTAIN RUFFLES. cause, even whilst he was talking about the folly of anger! He had a little nephew of whom he was very fond, and to whom he used to talk about battles, and sieges, and foreign lands; and I am glad to say he used also to speak to him about better things. Captain Ruffles loved to read the Holy Bible, and it gave him much pleasure to hear his little nephew read to him. One day Captain Ruffles was sitting in his easy chair, sipping his coffee, and staring at the’ fire; his little nephew was reading. The captain rose from his chair and rang the bell. The servant came into the room. The captain pointed to the fire; fuel was wanted. The ser- vant found that the coal urn was empty, and took it away to fill it. He wasCAPTAIN RUFFLES. | ie rs Pu Le gone longer than the captain thought was needful. The captain rose in anger, pulled the bell-rope with great force, and then looked at it as though it had done something very wrong.28 CAPTAIN RUFFLES. The captain’s little nephew was reading the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Proverbs, and came to the thirty-second verse, just as the captain was about to resume his seat—‘‘ He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” “(Quite true,” said the captain, as he sat down; and it was.a long time before his strange temper again got the better of him.JANE AND JACK. Are they not pretty children? Have you not seen many children clad in fine clothes and living in grand houses, and yet not nearly so good-looking as these, the children of a poor woodman? But people who think as they should think, have more regard to children’s ways and manners than to their looks. There are children who have hand- some faces and ugly ways; there are other children who have plain features, but such pleasing ways, that they are liked by all who know them. Children whose tempers are good and whose manners are pleasing are30 JANE AND JACK. liked much more than those who are fretful and rude, though they be good- looking, and may wear fine clothes. The woodman’s children are happy; much more happy than the children of some rich people. ‘They live in a nice little cottage; they have enough to eat, and they are not ill-clad. If you were to pity Jack because he has his lees and feet bare, he would only laugh, and say he has shoes and stock- ings at home, and that he likes to go without them in summer time. He and his sister Jane can read very nicely. They go to school, and yet they find time to help their parents, as well as to learn their lessons and to play. Jane has a big bundle of faggots on her head, and she is laughing at’ little Jack, who is trying to lift a smallJANE AND JACK. bundle as high as his head. Jack is laughing too, and telling Jane that he shall be a woodman before she will. Jane and Jack are very fond of each other. They do not quarrel, asoo JANE AND JACK. foo some brothers and sisters do. They do not envy children whose parents are nich, ‘They try to do wieu ae right, and they are happy. It is a great mistake to suppose that the children of working people are not so happy nor so good as the ‘children of wealthy people. They are sometimes much more happy—much better; and in many cases they enjoy better health.