For Children. "To aid the mind's development, and watch The dawn of little thoughts." JAMES AND THE SHEEP. NE day in May, James went out in the field to feed the sheep some salt. He lived on a farm, and his pa had a great ma-ny sheep. When James came near them and be-gan to call, they saw that he had a dish in his hand, and ran to him. Sheep are fond of salt. When it is put on the clean grass, they will bite the grass off close to the ground, to get all the salt. When James called the sheep the lit-tle lambs came up, too; but they had not learned to love salt, as well as the old sheep. While the old sheep were eating the salt which James gave them, the lambs were at play. And as soon as James had fed the sheep all the salt he had in his dish, he sat down on a large stone, to see the lambs skip and play. His dog Ring went with him to the field, and when James sat down, his dog came and sat down by him. Ring was a good and kind dog, and would not harm the sheep or lambs. There was a knoll not far from where James sat, and on this the lambs would climb un-til it was full; then they would jump a-bout, run down, and skip a-round it. Then all would climb on the knoll a-gain, and then jump and run down once more. It was fun for James to see the lit-tle lambs play. And then they all seemed so hap-py! James used to say, "Hap-py as a lamb." When James was eight years of age, his pa gave him a sheep, be-cause he was so kind to them. His pa got some red paint and made the let-ters J. L. B. on the side of James's sheep. These stood for James L. Brown, which was this good boy's name. James could tell his sheep when it was with a large flock, as soon as he could see the letters J. L. B. on its side. He taught his sheep to eat salt from his hand. Then it would come to him as soon as he called it. When James calls his sheep it will say "Bah, bah," and run her she would send her into the MMA CLIFTON was a little girl who had always lived in the city, and therefore knew but little of the pretty and curious things that are seen in the country. Her father was not a rich man, and as he had to work for a living he had but little time to take his children from home. Emma was so used to the things of the city that they did not seem curious to her at all; and as she was a talkative little body, always asking how or why things were so, her mother told country to live a while, where she could see for herself the things she so much wanted to know about. At this Emma danced around the room, and tossed her curls all over her face, exclaiming, "Thank you, dear mother, thank you. When I come back I'll tell you all the strange things I see, and when I become older I will write you a book about the country." Her mother smiled and said, "I hope you will be pleased with your visit, my dear, but I would not write a book yet." Emma was reading a little book on birds, so she thought she could write one too. The next day her Uncle Edward and Aunt Mary came to her father's, and she prepared to go home with them. She had never been out of sight of the city before; and when she looked around and saw only green fields and scattered houses, she was very much surprised, and said, "Why, Aunt Mary, I thought people lived in the country; but here are not houses enough for them. Will the poor children have to sleep in the street? It soon became dark, but Emma's tongue ran as fast as ever. They were passing a little wood, where the pretty fireflies were flashing out, and the little girl asked what they were. When told they were fire-flies, she said, "Are they going to have fire-works to-night? See, uncle, see! They are little rockets." In the morning she went with her cousins, Albert and Ellen, to the pasture. There were cattle and calves, sheep with their playful lambs, and colts. Emma asked, "Does uncle Edward keep a menagerie ?" The cousins could hardly help smiling at this question, but they knew little Emma was only six years old, and had never been in the country before. They soon found a flower with a bee on it. Emma put her finger on the bee, saying, "Pretty fly, pretty fly;" but she soon drew it back, crying out, "Oh, the fly has bit me! What sharp teeth it must have!" Her aunt put some hartshorn on her finger, which soon eased the pain. Pretty soon they found a grasshopper. "See, cousin Ellen, see,” cried Emma, "here is a little kangaroo; see him jump. But he does not look much like the one in my book; I guess it is because he is so small." was; and she said, “Oh, Ellen, there are so many things I do not know!" "Never mind, Emma, dear, I will teach you,” said Ellen. Then they went to see the men cut grain, and Emma was much pleased, and said, "Oh, what a funny knife, and what a queer handle." Albert told her that was a cradle. "A cradle," said Emma, "and do they call it a cradle because they rock the wheat in it before they throw it out?" And thus it was with every thing that Emma saw. She had so many questions to ask, and though she was very ignorant of country life, her cousins did not laugh at her, but tried to teach her all they could. When she went home again, they went with her to see the strange things in the city; but Emma told them the flies did not make the fire-works there, and there was no wheat to be cradled, but she would show them all the nice things she could. . WELL, my little boy, you have been to school to-day; now can you tell me what you learned, that you did not know this morn Her cousin told her what it ing? A KISS FOR A BLOW. HE following is a beautiful incident, illustrating the happy effects of "A kiss for a blow." How pleasant it would be to see children always thus return love for anger. One day a minister went into an infant school in Boston. He had been there before, and had told the children they might ask him any question that they pleased, whenever he came to see them. "Please to tell us," said a little boy, "what is meant by overcoming evil with good?" The minister began to explain it, when a little incident occurred which gave him a striking illustration. A boy, about seven years of age, was sitting beside his little sister, who was only six years old. As the minister was talking, George, for that was the boy's name, got angry with his sister about something, doubled up his fist, and struck her on the head. The little girl was just going to strike him back again, when the teacher seeing it, said, "My dear Mary, you had better kiss your brother. See how angry and unhappy he looks!" Mary looked at her brother. He looked sullen and wretched. Her resentment was soon gone, and love for her brother returned to her heart. She threw both her arms about his neck and kissed him. The poor boy was wholly unprepared for such a kind return for his blow. He could not stand before the generous affection of his sister. His feelings were touched, and he burst out crying. His gentle sister took the corner of her apron, and wiped away his tears, and sought to comfort him by saying, with endearing sweetness and generous affection, "Don't cry, George; you did not hurt me much." But he only wept the more. No wonder; it was enough to make any body weep. But why did George weep? Poor little fellow! Would he have wept if his sister had struck him as he had struck her? Not he. But by kissing him as she did, she made him feel more acutely than if she had beaten him black and blue. Here was a kiss for a blow, love for anger, and all the school saw at once what was meant by “overcoming evil with good." NEVER stop to play when on your way to school. UNCLE ROLLO'S ADVICE. ABOUT THE MOUTH. OME, Henry, and William, and Susan, and Anna, I wish to talk with you about the mouth. Can you tell me what it is made for? Children.-O, yes; it is made to eat and speak with. That is right; and you see it is a very useful thing, and that we could not well do without it. But the mouth, like every thing else, needs to be taken care of. Sometimes the mouth will pout, and make a child look very disagreeable. Sometimes it will eat too fast, and get too much in it at a time. Now, children, never let your mouth do any such things as these. They are both very unbecoming habits. There is another very curious thing about the mouth, that is, it laughs. Now, dogs, and cats, and pigs, and hens, and geese, and sheep, and cows, never laugh. But I never like to see any one laugh at the misfortune of another. Now, children, did your mouth ever laugh at any person because he was poor, or because he was poorly dressed? Did your mouth ever laugh at any one because he fell down and hurt himself? If it did, it laughed at others misfortunes, which it should not do. Now, if your mouth has ever done any of these things, take uncle Rollo's advice, and teach it better manners. LOOK UP. A LITTLE boy went to sea to learn to be a sailor. One day his father said to him, "Come, my boy, you will never be a sailor if you don't learn to climb; let me see you go up the mast." The boy, who was a nimble little fellow, soon reached the top; but when he saw at what height he was, he began to be frightened, and called out, "Oh, father, I shall fall; I am sure I shall fall; what am I to do?" "Look up, look up, my boy," said his father. "If you look But children laugh; and old people, too, sometimes. And it is well enough to laugh at prop-down you will be giddy, but if er times. I love to see children laugh when at play; and I love to see them laugh when I tell them a funny story. you keep looking up you will descend safely." The boy followed his father's advice, and reached the bottom with ease. |