The Liar Reclaimed
O! 'tis a lovely thing for youth
To walk betimes in wisdom's way;
To fear a lie, to speak the truth,
That we may trust to all they say.
But liars we can never trust,
Tho' they should speak the thing that's true,
And he that does one fault at first,
And lies to hide it, makes it two.
The Truth
Why should you fear the truth to tell?
Does falsehood ever do you so well?
Can you be satisfied to know
There's something wrong to hide below
No! let your fault be what it may,
To own it is the happy way.
So long as you your crime conceal,
You cannot light or gladsome feel;
Your heart will ever feel oppressed,
As if a weight were on your breast:
And e'en your mother's eye to meet
Will tinge your face with shame and heat.
False Alarms
Little Mary one day most loudly did call,
"Mamma! oh, mamma, pray come here!
A fall I have had—oh! a very sad fall."
Mamma ran in haste and in fear;
Then Mary jump'd up, and she laugh'd in great glee,
And cried, "Why, how fast you can run!
No harm has befallen, I assure you, to me,
My screaming was only in fun."
Her mother was busy at work the next day,
She heard from without a loud cry,
"The big dog has got me! O help me! Oh! pray!
He tears me—he bites me—I die!"
Mamma, all in terror, quick to the court
And there little Mary she found;
Who, laughing, said, "Madam, pray how do you do!"
And curtsey'd quite down to the ground.
That night little Mary, when long gone to bed,
Shrill cries and loud shriekings were heard;
"I'm on fire, O mamma, come up or I'm dead!"
Mamma she believ'd not a word.
"Sleep, sleep, naughty child," she call'd out from below,
"How often have I been deceived?
You're telling a story, you very well know:
Go to sleep, for you can't be believed."
Yet still the child scream'd—now the house fill'd with smoke.
That fire is above Jane declares.
Alas! Mary's words they soon found were no joke,
When ev'ryone hastened upstairs.
All burnt and all seam'd is her once pretty face,
And how terribly mark'd are her arms,
Her features all scarr'd, leave a lasting disgrace,
For giving Mamma false alarms.
Adelaide Taylor
To A Little Girl That Has Told A Lie
And has my darling told a lie?
Did she forget that God was by?
That God who saw the thing she did,
From whom no action can be hid;
Did she forget that God could see,
And hear, wherever she might be?
He made you eyes and can discern
Whichever way you think to turn;
He made your ears, and He can hear
When you think nobody is near;
In ev'ry place, by night or day,
He watches all you do and say.
You thought, because you were alone,
Your falsehood never could be known,
But liars always are found out,
Whatever ways they wind about;
And always be afraid, my dear,
To tell a lie,—for God can hear!
I wish, my dear, you'd always try
To act as shall not need a lie;
And when you wish a thing to do,
That has been once forbidden to you,
Remember that, and never dare
To disobey—For God is there!
Why should you fear to tell me true?
Confess, and then I'll pardon you:
Tell me you're sorry, and you'll try
To act the better by and bye,
And then whate'er your crime has been,
It won't be half so great a sin.
But cheerful, innocent, and gay,
As passes by the smiling day,
You'll never have to turn aside,
From any one your faults to hide;
Nor heave a sigh, nor have a fear,
That either God or I should hear.
Ann Taylor
The Blind Man reading to the Deaf and Dumb Man after business hours, and their wicked Dog looking out.

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Page 67—Laziness Land

Idle Mary
Oh, Mary, this will never do!
This work is sadly done, my dear,
And such little of it too!
You have not taken pains, I fear.
On no, your work has been forgotten,
Indeed you've hardly thought of that;
I saw you roll your ball of cotton
About the floor to please the cat.
See, here are stitches straggling wide,
And others reaching down so far;
I'm very sure you have not tried
At all to-day to please mamma.
The little girl who will not sew
Should never be allowed to play;
But then I hope, my love, that you
Will take more pains another day.