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LESSON XX.

CRADLE SONG.

(FROM THE GERMAN.)

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Thy father is watching the sheep; Thy mother is shaking the dream-land tree,

And down drops a little dream for thee.

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!

The large stars are the sheep;

The little stars are the lambs, I guess, The bright moon is the shepherdess. Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!

And cry not like a sheep.

Else the sheep dog will bark and whine,

And bite this naughty child of mine.

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Thy Saviour loves his sheep;

He is the lamb of God on high,

Who for our sakes came down to die.

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!

Away to tend the sheep.

Away, thou sheep dog, fierce and wild, And do not harm my sleeping child.

Sleep, baby, sleep!

-ELIZABETH PRENTISS.

LESSON XXI.

THE STRAW, THE COAL AND THE BEAN.

In a certain village there lived a poor old woman who had gathered a dish of beans, which she wished to cook; so she made a fire upon the hearth, and that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful of straw.

As she shook the beans up in the saucepan, one fell out unseen and came down upon the ground near a straw. Soon after, a glowing coal burst out of the fire and fell just by these two. Then the straw began to say, "My dear friend, whence do you come?"

The coal replied, "By good luck I

have sprung out of the fire, and if I had not, my death would have been certain and I should have been reduced to ashes."

The bean said, "I also have got away with a whole skin; but had the old woman put me in the pot with the others, I should have been boiled to pieces as my mates are."

"Would a better fate have fallen to my lot?" said the straw; "for the old woman has smothered in fire and smoke all of my brothers. Happily, I slipped

between her fingers."

coal.

"What shall we do now?" asked the

"I think," answered the bean, "since we have so luckily escaped death, we

will join in partnership, lest a new danger overtake us. Let us wander forth and travel into a strange country."

Soon

This pleased the two others, and they set out together on their travels. they came to a little stream over which there was no bridge or path, and they did not know how they should get over.

The straw said, "I will lay myself across, so that you may walk over upon me as upon a bridge."

So the straw stretched itself from one bank to the other, and the coal, which was of a fiery nature, tripped lightly upon the newly-built bridge; but when it came to the middle of it and heard the water running beneath, it was frightened

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