BOYS AT PLAY.
Here are three boys at play. Each boy has a hoop, which he strikes with a stick, and it rolls along. It is very pleasant to roll a hoop. If you strike it hard, it flies along very fast, and you must run with all your might to catch it.
You must take care not to drive your hoop among horses. I once knew a little boy playing with his hoop in a street. A horse was coming along, but the boy was looking at his hoop, and he did not see the horse. His hoop rolled close to the horse’s fore feet, and the boy ran after it.
The horse was going fast, and he struck the boy with his foot. The boy fell dawn, and the horse stepped on his leg. The poor boy’s leg was broken, and it was many weeks before he got well.
THE GIRL AND KITTEN.
“Come, pretty Kit, come, learn to read;
Here with me sit; you must indeed.
Not know your letters! fie, fie! for shame!
The book I’ll hold; come! spell your name!
Now try to say K I T, Kit;
For you may play where you think fit,
Upon the bed, or on the tree,
When you have said your A B C.”
’T was snug and warm in Mary’s lap,
So pussy thought she’d take a nap.
She went to sleep,—the lazy elf!
And Mary read the book herself.
She learned to read, she learned to spell,
And said her lesson very well.
And now, my little reader, say,
If you from books will turn away,
And be like Kit, an idle thing,—
Now catch a mouse, now twirl a string;
Or will you learn to read and spell,
And say your lessons very well?