"Now let us compare the various reasons which have been given for choosing different birds," said Clara, "that we may decide upon which is the best one. The eagle was chosen for size and strength, the little hummingbird for beauty; one liked the swan's life of easy enjoyment, another the swallow's of active amusement. The lark was chosen for cheerfulness, the nightingale for the admiration which he gains, the eider-duck for the unselfishness which she shows. Now which of our little party has given the best reason for a choice?"
"Annie! Annie!" cried most of the children—though Sophy murmured something about "an ugly waddling creature that can say nothing but 'quack!'"
"Then I think that we agree that Annie has won the rose," said Clara.
And if, before the day was over, that sweet rose found its way to a chamber of sickness, and was laid on an eider-down quilt within reach of a lady's thin hand, the reader will easily guess how it came there. Annie was one not only to admire but to imitate the unselfishness of the bird that finds its pleasure in caring for the comfort of others, instead of seeking its own.
"HARRY was a hero, if ever there was one!" cried Theodore Vassy, after he had been for some time silently looking at a print of the prince who was afterwards so famous as Henry V. The print represented the well-known anecdote of Harry's trying on the crown of England by the sick-bed of his father.
"I never admire that story much," observed Theodore's eldest sister Alice, raising her eyes from a volume which she had been reading. "A son finds, as he thinks, that his father has just died; and, instead of bursting into tears (like our good Queen when she gained a throne by the death of her uncle), Prince Harry's first thought is to try on the crown! I do not wonder," added Alice with a smile, "that when the poor sick king woke from his deathlike sleep, he was little pleased with his son."
"But the son, if the story be true, made such a noble excuse for himself, that even his father was satisfied," said Theodore. "Harry had not tried on the crown because he was in the least hurry to wear it, but because—"
Alice shook her head, laughing. "Harry's excuses may have been clever, but I am afraid that they were but false ones," said she; "for when he was once on the throne, one crown was not enough for King Harry: he must carry sword and fire into poor France, because he wanted to have two!"
"Girls know nothing, understand nothing, about heroes," said Theodore in a tone of contempt.