CONTENTS.

PAGE
A True Story[7]
The Boys and the Apple-Tree[9]
Sophia's Fool's-Cap[11]
Frances Keeps Her Promise[12]
Careless Matilda[14]
The Violet[16]
The Orphan[17]
The Disappointment[18]
James and the Shoulder of Mutton[19]
The Good-Natured Girls[21]
To a Little Girl that has Told a Lie[22]
Dirty Jim[24]
Meddlesome Matty[25]
The Butterfly[27]
The Gaudy Flower[28]
George and the Chimney-Sweep[29]
Deaf Martha[31]
The Little Cripple's Complaint[33]
Negligent Mary[35]
The Spider[36]
For a Naughty Little Girl[37]
The Child's Monitor[39]
The Chatterbox[40]
Jane and Eliza[41]
Sleepy Harry[42]
Washing and Dressing[43]
The Vulgar Little Lady[44]
The Wooden Doll and the Wax Doll[46]
The Baby's Dance[48]
The Pin[49]
The Cow[50]
Come and Play in the Garden[50]
Little Girls Must Not Fret[52]
The Field Daisy[53]
Learning to Go Alone[54]
Finery[55]
Greedy Richard[56]
The Holidays[58]
The Village Green[59]
Mischief[61]
About the Little Girl that Beat Her Sister[62]
The Apple-Tree[63]

A TRUE STORY.

Little Ann and her mother were walking one day
Through London's wide city so fair,
And business obliged them to go by the way
That led them through Cavendish Square.
And as they pass'd by the great house of a Lord,
A beautiful chariot there came,
To take some most elegant ladies abroad,
Who straightway got into the same.
The ladies in feathers and jewels were seen,
The chariot was painted all o'er,
The footmen behind were in silver and green,
The horses were prancing before.
Little Ann by her mother walk'd silent and sad,
A tear trickled down from her eye,
Till her mother said, "Ann, I should be very glad
To know what it is makes you cry."
"Mamma," said the child, "see that carriage so fair,
All cover'd with varnish and gold,
Those ladies are riding so charmingly there
While we have to walk in the cold.
"You say God is kind to the folks that are good,
But surely it cannot be true;
Or else I am certain, almost, that He would
Give such a fine carriage to you."
"Look there, little girl," said her mother, "and see
What stands at that very coach door;
A poor ragged beggar, and listen how she
A halfpenny tries to implore.
"All pale is her face, and deep sunk is her eye,
And her hands look like skeleton's bones;
She has got a few rags, just about her to tie,
And her naked feet bleed on the stones."
'Dear ladies,' she cries, and the tears trickle down,
'Relieve a poor beggar, I pray;
I've wander'd all hungry about this wide town,
And not ate a morsel to-day.
'My father and mother are long ago dead,
My brother sails over the sea,
And I've scarcely a rag, or a morsel of bread,
As plainly, I'm sure, you may see.
'A fever I caught, which was terrible bad,
But no nurse or physic had I;
An old dirty shed was the house that I had,
And only on straw could I lie.
'And now that I'm better, yet feeble and faint,
And famish'd, and naked, and cold,
I wander about with my grievous complaint,
And seldom get aught but a scold.
'Some will not attend to my pitiful call,
Some think me a vagabond cheat;
And scarcely a creature relieves me, of all
The thousands that traverse the street.
'Then ladies, dear ladies, your pity bestow:'—
Just then a tall footman came round,
And asking the ladies which way they would go,
The chariot turn'd off with a bound.
"Ah! see, little girl," then her mother replied,
"How foolish those murmurs have been;
You have but to look on the contrary side,
To learn both your folly and sin.
"This poor little beggar is hungry and cold,
No mother awaits her return;
And while such an object as this you behold,
Your heart should with gratitude burn.
"Your house and its comforts, your food and your friends,
'Tis favour in God to confer,
Have you any claim to the bounty He sends,
Who makes you to differ from her?
"A coach, and a footman, and gaudy attire,
Give little true joy to the breast;
To be good is the thing you should chiefly desire,
And then leave to God all the rest."

THE BOYS AND THE APPLE-TREE

As William and Thomas were walking one day,
They came by a fine orchard's side:
They would rather eat apples than spell, read, or play,
And Thomas to William then cried:
"O brother, look yonder! what clusters hang there!
I'll try and climb over the wall:
I must have an apple; I will have a pear;
Although it should cost me a fall!"
Said William to Thomas, "To steal is a sin,
Mamma has oft told this to thee:
I never have stolen, nor will I begin,
So the apples may hang on the tree."
"You are a good boy, as you ever have been,"
Said Thomas, "let's walk on, my lad:
We'll call on our schoolfellow, Benjamin Green,
Who to see us I know will be glad."