Mrs. Clifford, charmed with the sensibility of her little boy, kissed him most tenderly, saying, “Dry your tears, my sweet Alfred, and resolve not to be so desirous of the death of a little animal again. Though it is very necessary to kill them sometimes, or they would soon destroy all our food and clothes; still when we are forced from necessity to kill any thing, we should do it with as much humanity as we can, and never inflict on them unnecessary pain. I should myself have been forced to set the trap for Velvet, only I did not like to see my little Alfred, merely from revenge, wishing so eagerly for the death of a poor mouse, who did not know it was doing any harm in eating the cake.”
Alfred kissed his mother, and thanked her for her kindness in telling him the story; and wiping his tears away, went into the garden to play till tea was ready.
THE END.
[*] The above-mentioned circumstance, improbable as it may appear, I myself was witness to in the garden not many paces from the door of the house; when the poor little mouse actually escaped the eyes of a cat and her kitten, who passed within a yard of the spot where it stood, by standing in that motionless manner on the top of a clod of earth, nor was it discovered till it left its station, and though caught by the kitten, yet it finally escaped unhurt to the garden hedge.
Dean and Munday, Printers, Threadneedle-street.
[ Front Cover]
Little Downy;
OR,
THE HISTORY
OF
A FIELD MOUSE.
EMBELLISHED WITH
TWELVE COLORED ENGRAVINGS.
LONDON:
Printed For
A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street.
Price 1s. 6d.