‘I remember all about it, grandmamma,’ said Alice; ‘I have read it in my Bible stories. May I read it to Beatrice?’ and Alice fetched her book and read about the flood and the rainbow to Beatrice; and afterwards grandmamma read to them from the Bible as follows (Gen. ix. 13-15): ‘I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature of all flesh: and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.’
‘So you see, dear children, that God has made a covenant, which means an agreement or promise, never to destroy the earth again by a flood, and the rainbow is a sign of His promise, and reminds us of it.’
‘I am very glad to know about the rainbow, and I will think of God’s promise when I see one again.’
CHAPTER VI.
BEES SWARMING—FABLE OF THE ANT AND GRASSHOPPER.
IT was just after the children’s dinner, one very hot day towards the end of May, that the gardener came to the verandah where the two little girls were sitting with their grandmamma, and said—
‘Please, ma’am, the bees are swarming.’