Robert sat very still and tried to hide. The father robin flew around asking everybody if he had stolen his wife’s eggs. He asked the cow, but the cow said: “No, indeed! I gave you some of my hay to build your nest.” He asked the sheep, but the sheep said: “I would not do such a thing. I gave you some of my wool to line your nest to make it soft for your little ones.” He even asked an old owl on top of a pine tree, but the old owl said: “By no means! Why should I? I killed a rat the other day that I saw prowling round looking for young birds.”
None of the animals knew who was the robber, but the jay bird who was always on the look out, saw Robert under the tree and cried: “Here he is! he has got two eggs in his cap and has broken two on the ground! Here he is!” All the birds came flying and set up such a scolding and abusing that Robert was alarmed.
“Let us all fly to his house and take his little brothers and sisters,” said the birds. But Robert began to cry and beg and promise, until finally the birds agreed not to rob his house if he would let their nests alone.
Robert sat up with a start and rubbed his eyes. He had been asleep but he learned a good lesson. The mother robin was still crying in the tree where her nest was. Robert climbed back up the tree and put the good eggs back and said, “There you are, Mrs. Robin. I am sorry I broke two, but I will not rob your nest again.”
THE BOYHOOD OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
(February 22nd)
In which we find out that truthfulness is a great virtue.
To-day we are going to talk about a little boy named George Washington. His mother and father lived on a large farm, and George’s life was just like that of other boys. He played games and learned to read just as boys do to-day. George was very fond of pretending to be an Indian warrior. One day while playing that he was a chief of the tribe he picked up his father’s hatchet to use as a tomahawk. After pretending that he had killed many wild animals, he walked through the orchard where the young fruit trees had been planted. He thought he would like to be a woodsman and cut down trees. So he began to use his little hatchet, and presently down fell a tree.
Shortly afterwards his father was walking in the orchard and found his favorite cherry tree cut down to the ground. He immediately asked George who had cut down his beautiful tree. George answered, “Father, I cannot tell a lie. I cut it down.” His father was so pleased that George had told him the truth that he said, “My boy, you should not have cut down this tree, but I would rather you had cut down every tree in the orchard than tell a lie,” and so his father did not punish him.