"We want our tea,Eee-ee! ee-ee!"
"We want our tea,Eee-ee! ee-ee!"
"O dear!" said the old gray rat, "if I had someone to help me! O dear!" He put his paw on the end of his nose, and then all at once gave a jump for joy in the air. "Good! good! good!" he did cry; "I have it! I can get all the eggs in the hole."
"Come here, Bet!" he said to his wife. "Come out, all of you, and help me."
Up they came with a hop, skip, and jump, all ears and eyes, and each tail gave a slap on the side of the wall, it came out withsucha jerk.
"Here we are, my dear," said old Bet, the rat's wife. "Come; go to work as fast as you can. I hear the cat."
"Well, you and I mustgo out to the mill, to get a wisp of hay to tie my legs with."
"Tie your legs!" said his wife, "Why! whatdoyou mean?"
But she was a good wife, and knew how to mind; so she went with the old rat, and they got a fine long wisp of hay, and ran backto the eggs and the nine rat-boys.
Rats with hay"They got a fine long wisp of hay."—P. 80.
"They got a fine long wisp of hay."—P. 80.
And now the old rat-wife and the nine rat-boys soon knew what a dear, good pa-pa they had; for, sure as you live! he made a cart of him-self. Down he went flat on his back with all four paws up in the air.
"Now, my dear," he saidto his wife, "lay an egg in-side of my legs, then tie my paws up with the wisp of hay, so the egg can not fall out; then you and all the boys take hold of my tail, and drag me and the egg to the hole."
"Oh! what fun!" said all the nine rats; "let's give the egg a good ride. Now, then,
"Oh! pull, boys, pull!Eee-ee! eee-ee!We'll get our nine eggsHome for tea."
"Oh! pull, boys, pull!Eee-ee! eee-ee!We'll get our nine eggsHome for tea."
So each one took a bit of the long tail in his lips, and did try not to bite his pa-pa, and as they sung, "Pull, boys, pull," they drew the egg in high glee to the edge of the hole.
But Nip, the one who was at the end, did try so hard to pull, that, all at once, snap! he had bit off the end of his pa-pa's tail.
"Ki-i! kii!! e-e-e!!!" said the poor old gray rat, "you bad, bad boy, to bite me so! Now you can not have a bit of egg. You must go with-out your tea."
"O pa-pa! I did not mean to! O my!" Nip did say.
"Go down in the hole and stay till we come. You must not help one bit more."
So the wee rat had to go; but, O dear! whatwillyou say, when I tell you that he ate up the end of his pa-pa's tail, and then gave a snap of his lips, as much as to say:"Dear me! that was nice! How I do wish I had some more!"
The rest did pull, till the egg was at the hole. Then old Bet, the wife, went down, and the rest took off the wisp of hay, and gave the egg a push, so that it fell in her fore-paws. Then they all went back for more, till,at last, the nine eggs were safe in the hole.
What fun it was!
Just as the last of the nine rat-boys had gone with a hop, skip, and jump, down the hole, the old cook came back in the room.
"Oh!" she said, "how nice the fire does burn! I will fry some of the eggs the henshave just laid for tea." She went to the box and saw that the lid was off, and all the eggs were gone!!!
She did look in the box, as if the eggs were out for a walk, and were to come back in half an hour, and it was time for them to come now. But no eggs did she see; and the old cook didcry out at last: "Why, who in all the land has been at my eggs? I put them in the box, I am sure."
Then she did look in all the jars and cups; in the big blue bowl, and the four tin pans, and the new red pail; but not an egg did she find.
Down in the hole the rats had a good time, I can tellyou! Yes, all of them; for the old gray rat, when he got safe home, laid the end of his tail on a bit of soft wool, so that it did not hurt him much, and then he gave the rat-boy Nip, who had bit it off, a kiss, and said he did not mean to take away his tea now, as he was so sad. Then the rat-boy said:"Oh! I am so glad, I will jump up to the moon for joy." And so they all had a fine time.
The old gray rat made a hole in the big end of an egg, and gave it to his wife to suck. Not a drop came out! "Why, how is this?" she said, "it is as full as it can be!"
"Try a hole here," said the old gray rat, and he took the egg and made one on the top of it. Oh! then it came out as fast as you like, and you may be sure that Bet, the rat-wife, soon ate it all up.
Then the wise old rat made two holes in each egg, and all his nine boys gave him one suck out of each,and ate the rest, and had a real good time.
Now if you have a mind, and your mam-ma will let you, just try to suck an egg with one hole in it: you will find that none will come out; but if you make two, one at each end, you will get it all. A wise man told me this, so it must be true; butI do not like to try it, for raw egg is not good.
The old gray rat was wise too; but as for the poor old cook she does not know, from that day to this, who took all her nice eggs. If I were you, I'd go and tell her it was the old gray rat.
When you go, won't you take me with you, dear pet?We will peep in the hole, and try to see the old rat and his wife and his nine boys.
That is all this time; so, good-by.
Illustrated letter I
t is a fine warm day in June. Out of the town the air is soft and pure. Bird and bee flit from tree to tree,from blue-bell to rose, till at sun-set they hie away to nest and hive.
Bell and Lou were at play in a nice room in a home out of the town. They came to this dear home each year when it grew warm. Bell was hard at work with some bits of wood. "See, Lou," she said, "see my log hut;when it is done, your doll Fan can come and live in it."
"Oh! do not let it fall, Bell, for poor Fan is sick. She has got fits in her ear and all her ten toes. I have just put her in bed. Put your arm in the bed, my pet," she said to the doll in a kind tone; "you will get cold; and here, take this blue pill, dear. Do notmake such a face. Poor soul!sosick! Has my pet got fits? So she has! O my!" So she gave Fan a kind pat, and then went with a soft step to look out at the door.
Fan is sick"Oh! do not let it fall, Bell, for poor Fan is sick."—P. 98.
"Oh! do not let it fall, Bell, for poor Fan is sick."—P. 98.
Soon she ran back and said: "O Bell! do come here! Come and look at the poor old man at the door. Why, I do not knowhow it is, but I can see but one arm. O dear! if he has but one, how sad it is! Come, look!"
Bell laid down her bits of wood, tho' her log hut was 'most done, and ran with Lou.
The out-side door had not been shut, for it was such a warm day. The soft west wind blew in, and the sunlay hot on the wide door-step.
"Come here, poor man," said Bell, "come to Lou and me; we want to talk to you."
He came with a slow, sad step. His face was thin and pale, his eyes were dim, and the long gray hair that fell on each side, made him look so sad! But it was a kind,good face, and Lou and Bell did not fear to call him to them.
"Have you been to the war?" said Lou.
"Yes, miss."
"Did you lose your arm in the war?"
"Yes, it was shot off; but, O miss! I do not mind my arm. It is my boy, my dearWill, I want back, my own dear son. Oh! why did I let him go?"
"Why did you?" said Bell, "you did not want a boy to go to the sad wars to be shot, did you? Why did you not take care of him?"
A big tear came out of the poor man's eye, as Bell said this. It fell down histhin face. He put up the back of his hand and took the tear off. Then he said: "I have been cold; I know what it is to have no food to eat; I have had no bed to lie on: I can bear all this with-out a sigh; but, oh! I can not bear the loss of my Will, my dear boy!"
"Poor man!" said Lou,"come sit down by us, and tell us how your boy came to go to the war; tell us all."
"Well, miss, if you wish to hear such a sad tale, I will tell you. When the war came I had to go and help on our side. Then Will said: 'Oh! if you go, I must go too. You know I can beat the drum, if I can not beat the bad men,who will try to do all they can to hurt us.'"
"Then I said: 'O no! Will; I can not let you go. They will kill you.'
"'Why, who can want to kill a boy like me? Come, dear pa-pa, do let me go; I want to be with you, I love you so much. If you get hurt, I can take care of you,and then I can beat the drum, or play on a fife. Do, dear pa-pa, let me go with you; I will keep out of the way of the big guns. Oh! I want to go.'
"At last I said: 'Well, Will, you may go.' He was so glad, he gave a leap of wild joy. I was glad too, for I did love him so much. I felt that Ihad no one to love or care for but him. My wife was dead, and my Will was my all. If I went with-out him, he was to go and live with an old aunt whom he did not know. So I said: 'Will, you can be with me in my tent, and we will not part at all.'"
"How old was he?" said Lou.
"He was ten, but tall of his age." Then the poor man gave a deep sigh and went on: "Oh! he was so glad; but it made me sigh to look at my boy. He was in a glow all the time; he was sure we would win, and come back to our home full of joy.
"They gave him a drum, and a cap, and a blue coatwith a big cape like the rest of us, and in his belt they put a dirk. When Will put them on, he felt as fine as a new pin. Said he: 'I mean to pull out my dirk, and poke it at all the bad men who try to get a shot at you. Then I will get up in a tree, and beat my drum as hard as I can, to call our men out to help me killthem. See if I don't! Oh! what fun it will be!'
"My dear boy! he did not know what fear was."
Each day, as soon as he was out of bed, he came to kiss me, and tell me how glad he was that I had let him go with me; 'for I love you,' he said, 'I can love no one else as I love you. Oh! do takecare of your-self; do try not to get shot or hurt: if you die, I must die too.'"
Here Bell and Lou saw a big tear roll down on each side of the poor man's face; they had hard work not to cry too. Lou said in a low, soft tone: "Poor man, we are so sad for you!"
"You are a good girl," saidthe old man; "and tho' it will give me so much pain, I will tell you the rest.
"We went to the war, and Will was with me in my tent. All the men did love him, he was so good, and just as full of glee as a bird. He sang all day, and beat his drum so well, that the men said he was as good as a band.
"One day we were told to load our guns, and not to say a loud word. We knew then that the time was come; that bad men were on our path to kill us. I took Will to the back of the camp. I put my arm on his neck; I gave him a kiss full of love, and I said: 'O my dear son! do not come near the guns; they will killyou if you do. You know you can beat your drum out here. Good-by, and God bless and keep you safe.' Then I gave him one more kiss, and he gave me a hug and a kiss—the last but one I had from my dear boy, the last kiss of my Will. Oh! why did I let him come?
"All that day we did loadand fire our guns, and the bad men did fire at us. The dead lay at our feet. We did not take them up; we had no time; but when the sun had set, we went out to find our men who had died, to wrap them in our flag, and lay them down in the last rest. We knew our men, for the pale, sad moon lit up each face.As we took them up, we did pray to God for each soul that had gone. We did pray that each one who had died for his dear land was in joy with Him.
"As we went on, one of the men gave a low cry, and said: 'Why here is a poor boy! O dear! he has been shot; he is dead! How did such a boycome here?' I did not dare to go up and look; but one of our own men went near; he gave one look, and then said in a low, sad tone: 'It is our Will.'
"Oh! then I ran and fell down by my boy, my dear dead boy. He lay on his face; he did not stir.
"I took his hand in mine,and did turn his dear face so that I could see it. With sobs I took him up in my arms. He was yet warm, and a hope rose in me that he was not dead. Yes, the good God did not let him die then, for he gave a low moan of pain, tho' his eyes were yet shut.
"And so I took him to my tent, and laid him down onmy bed, and sat by him in the dark. All I could do was to wet his lips, and sob and pray to God for my boy.
"At last, at dawn of day, I saw that his blue eyes were open, and he said with a sigh: 'Pa-pa, is that you?' Oh! what joy I felt! but my joy was not for long, for my boy was so weak, he said but aword or two from time to time. I will tell you what he said, 'Pa-pa, Ididstay back just as you told me, but a shot from a big gun flew in the air, and went in here,' and he put his hand on his left side. 'I fell down, and all at once it grew dark to me, and I knew I must die.
"'Then I did try to get to you to bid you good-by, and to give you one last good kiss. The shot fell like rain; they made a buzz, buzz in the air. I went from end to end of the line of men to find you, but I did not see you; then the guns did not fire, for the sun had set; but I was so weak I fell down. I did lift my arms upto the sky, and pray: O God! let me see my own dear pa-pa, to kiss him, and tell him that I did do as he had bid me. I can not get back to the camp; I must die here. And then I knew no more. But God did hear me; and now I can bid you good-by, and beg you not to cry for me when I am gone.'
"'O Will!' I said with a sob, "you must not die. I will not let you. Oh! do you hear? I will not let you go from me.'
"Just then the kind doc-tor came in; for it was now Will's turn. He did look at his side; he felt his brow and his cold hand; then he gave me a look, a sad, sad look—it said: 'Itis no use to try, I can not save him.'
"And now my Will's face grew pale and pale; his head sank down; his blue eyes were dim. He put his hand out to me, for now he did not see me; I took it, and laid it on my neck. He drew my face, all wet with big tears, down to his, and I could just hearhim say: 'I love you, O how I love you! But God calls me; I will wait for you at His feet. Good-by.' Then he gave me his last kiss, and then—he was dead."
The poor old man hid his face in his hand. His sobs were so sad to hear, that Bell and Lou felt as bad as the poor man, and did cry andsob with him, and wish the war had ne-ver come, to give all this woe and pain to a good man.
At last the old man got up to go. Then Bell said to Lou in a low tone: "Let us give this poor man the gold coin we have had so long. It will buy him a new coat."
"O yes, yes!" said Lou.So she ran in and got it, and then they both said: "Here, good old man, take this; it will not make you less sad for the loss of your dear boy, but it will buy you food or a coat; we beg you to take it."
With a look of love at those dear ones who were so kind, the old man took the gold. "May God bless you!"said he. "You are His own lambs. I will pray for you; and when you die and I die, may we all meet my own dear Will, who is now with Him, safe from the pain and sin of this life."
Then he bade them good-by, and went with slow and sad steps down the road.
Illustrated letter O
dear! dear!" said Ann, in a fret, "how it does rain! It is just pour, pour all the time. Whenwillit stop? Why mustit rain when I want to go out? The sky is like a big gray pan up-side down, and so low it will fall on top of the hill, if it does not mind. What is the use of rain? O my! I do wish the sun was out."
"Come here, my dear," said her mam-ma, in a soft, kind tone, "will you help me with this blue yarn? I want towind it, and then knit it into mitts for the good men who have gone to the war."
"O dear! yes, mam-ma, I am glad to do that; to be sure I will."
You see Ann was not a bad girl; but she had no work to do, and she did not want to play just then with Miss Kate June, her new doll. Ann hadbeen born in June, and just as sure as each new June came, she got a new doll for a gift from her mam-ma.
Miss Kate June made six dolls that she had; so you can tell by that how old she was.
And now she held the blue yarn, and mam-ma soon made a big ball of it. She had just got to the end, when down fellthe ball out of her hand. A gray kit was on the rug; and when the ball fell, she was sure it was for her to play with; so she flew to get it, and Ann flew to get it too; and both had such fun, and a real good romp!
Dear me! how the ball did roll! and how the kit did jump! and how Ann did runto get it! and what a nice time they both had! Ann's blue eyes were full of glee, and let me tell you, she did not look out once at the rain.
At last she got the ball away from the kit, and gave it to her mam-ma, with a kiss.
Then mam-ma said: "Do you care for the rain now?"
"Not a bit."
"Will you do some more work for me?"
"O yes! mam-ma, I like to work for you;" and a soft look of love came into her blue eyes.
"Well, my dear, I like to have you. And now, for fear the kit will want to jump up in my lap to get at my ball, just tie this bit of tape to thiscork, and hang it on that nail in the wall. Now, give it a toss to and fro, and you will see kit jump at once to bite it, and tap it with her paw."
Ann did as she was bid. She gave the cork a toss in the air, when up flew the kit like a shot. She hit it with both paws; she did jump up with all four of her legs highin the air; and you may be sure that she had no end of fun and play.
Just then, old Aunt Peg, the cook, came in. She was a good old soul, tho' her face was so dark, and her hair was made of wool. She was so fond of Ann, she did just what the wee girl told her to do. If Ann went to AuntPeg, and put her soft hands on the neck of the old cook, and laid her head on her dark hand, and said, "O dear Aunt Peg! do make me a pie to-day, and I will love yousomuch," then, let me tell you, Aunt Peg set to work at once, and a fine pie was made in less than an hour.
Well, this day, Aunt Pegsaid: "What am I to cook, ma'am?"
"Oh!" said mam-ma, "we will have some ham and eggs, and peas, and rice, and——"
"Pie!" said Ann. "O yes! you must make me a big pie, Aunt Peg, or you will get your head shot off."
"O good-y! I hope not, Miss Ann," said Aunt Peg."If you cut my head off, I shall hop up and down like the poor hen who flew in our yard from next door with her head off; and then all the pies you will get will be the dirt pies you make your-self; and they are not as good to eat as mine, are they?"
"Oh! I was in fun, dear Aunt Peg," said Ann. "Youmust not have your dear old head cut off;" and she ran up to the cook, and took her hand, and gave it two soft, kind pats.
Then the good old soul went off to make the pie, and fry the ham and eggs, and boil the peas and rice.
Ann sat down to make a red silk bag for her mam-ma,to keep her ball of blue yarn in. It was not more than half done, when all at once the rain did stop, and a sun-beam came like a dart in the room, and lit on the end of Ann's nose. "Why! look at the sun!" said she with a cry of joy, and ran to the door.
The sky was blue; the sun's rays made each dropof rain look like a gem; and when a bird flew past Ann with a wild song of joy, Ann sang too, she was so glad. The bees went to work with a will, to make up for the time they had lost by the rain; and they flew home to the hive with bags full of food, you may be sure.
Then Ann came in to gether hat, and flew out once more, as gay as a lark, when her mam-ma said: "Come back, come back, my dear; it is too wet; you must wait till the sun has been out some time. If you get your feet wet, you will take cold."
O dear me! Ann did not like this a bit; but, as I have told you, she was agood girland did as she was bid. She did not say, "What for?" or "Whymust I do so?" No; she came in at once, and sat down to work at her bag.
And now you will see how good it is to mind.
Ann had not sat long, when all at once a loud cry came to her ears. She held up her head and said: "Hush!hush! what was that?" Then she ran to look out, as if she had six pair of eyes, when a howl and a bark, and a loud roar, made her jump, and then a boy ran past like the wind. His hair was on end; his face was pale with fear. As he ran he said: "O save me! O help! help! Save me from themad dog!"
The dog was at the poor boy's heels, and four or five men, each with a big club, did run and try to get at the mad dog to kill him.
And now the boy ran for his life. He was in such fear, he did not see a log of wood that was in his path; so he fell down on it, and then, O sad to tell! the mad dog, witha howl of rage, made a dash at his leg and bit it.
The men got at the dog, and hit him on the head till he died. But it was too late! it was too late! the poor boy had been bit, and he must die too.
Then mam-ma took her dear girl in her arms, and gave her a kiss, and said:"Oh! how glad I am you did not go out to play! God has kept my dear pet from harm, and He has made you a good girl. If you had run out when I told you not to go, and the mad dog had bit you too—O dear! I can not bear to think of it."
"Butmustthe poor boy die?" said Ann, as a big tearcame out of her blue eye; "Oh! must he die, mam-ma?"
"I fear he will. They will try to save his life. They will cut a big hole in his leg where the dog bit him, and put him to sad pain. But the bite of a mad dog is so hard to cure, I fear it will be of no use."
"O mam-ma! will you let me take him some of AuntPeg's nice cake? It may do him good. Do let me!"
Her mam-ma said yes, tho' she knew it was of no use; for the poor boy was too much hurt to eat. She did not tell Ann so, for she did not wish to make her more sad.
So some cake was made, and Ann went with a good lad who knew the way.
It was sad"Oh! how sad it was!"—P. 153.
"Oh! how sad it was!"—P. 153.
Oh! how sad it was! The poor boy lay in bed. His face was pale, and his eyes were shut. He did not say one word, but just lay on his bed, as if he were dead.
Ann gave the cake to his mam-ma, who did cry and sob, and look so sad, that Ann had to cry too.
She went home and toldher mam-ma all this bad news; and all the rest of the day she felt sad, and her kind face was pale.
When it was time to go to bed, Ann did pray to God for the poor boy. She did beg the good God to save his life, and she did beg Him to make her a good girl, and to love her and love her dear mam-ma,and take care of them both. She did pray that God would make her good and kind to poor old Aunt Peg, and to all she knew, and to let her be His lamb, to live with Him when she died.
Then her mam-ma gave her a kiss, and saw that she lay warm in her nice, soft bed, and went out of the room.She left Ann in the dark. But let me tell you she did not care for that; no, not a bit! Ann had no fear, for she knew that God took care of her; she knew that God did love a good girl.
Illustrated letter O
my! what a cold day!" said Tom; "I am sure the pond is all ice. What fun it will to run my sled on it! Come, Joe, get your sled, and I will racehome and get mine, and we will have a real good time."
"O no! I can not," said Joe; "pa-pa told me not to go on the pond to-day; he said the ice was too thin."
"Stuff! the ice is two feet deep,Iknow. Come, it will not hurt you, and then you need nottell. Don't be such a gump. Go, get your sled,I tell you. Come; one! two! three! Why don't you run?"
"W-e-ll," said Joe in a slow way, "if the ice is as deep as you say, I will just try it; that can do no harm, I am sure."
"Yes, and you need not say a word when you come back," said Tom.
Do you not see what a bad boy this was? If a boy orgirl tells younotto mind your pa-pa or mam-ma, I beg you to run away from them as if they were a bear or a wild cat, come to bite your head off; for, let me tell you, a bad boy or a bad girl will do you more harm than a wild bear or cat; they will make you bad too; and you will be sure to come to harm, just as Joe did.
For he got his sled and Tom got his, and they ran off to the pond.
It was full of boys, and for an hour or two, our two boys had fine fun. They all slid down the pond in a long line; and if one fell down and hit his nose, he did not mind it a bit, but got up and went on, with a grin on his face.Then they got each sled in a line, and with a cry of one! two!! three!!! ran a race; and were just as full of fun and glee as an egg is full of meat.
At last a fat boy, who did not like to run so fast, said: "See here, boys, I have got a big kite home; I will go and get it, and then you will seefun! for the wind and my kite will give me a ride on my sled."
"O dear, yes! won't that be nice!" said all the boys, as the fat one ran off with a hop, skip, and jump.
As he did not have far to go, he soon came back with his big kite; and then he sat down on his sled and let hiskite out, and, whoo!! how he flew down the pond! He had to hold the cord as hard as he could. His face was full of joy at such a fine ride; and the rest of the boys ran and slid, first on one foot, and then on two; but they did not go half so fast as the fat boy on his sled.
He was a good, kind boy,and let them all have a ride with the kite in turn. When Joe's turn came, he was in such joy, that he did not care a snap for what his pa-pa had said to him. "Oh!" he did cry, "what fun! I want to stay here all day. I tell you what! I mean to make a big kite, and come here some time, and ride on my sled all day long."
He held the fat boy's kite then, and his sled went down the pond like the wind.
Snap! snap!! what was that? snap! snap!! snap!!!
The boys made a rush to the spot; a wild cry rose in the air of "Save me! O save me!" and down went poor Joe thro' a hole in the ice. The cord that held the kite flewout of his hand; a great lump of ice sank for a time; and then all that was seen of Joe was his cap, and his sled that came, up-side down, to the top of the pond.
All the boys grew pale with fear. They did not know what to do.
As they did look with wild, sad eyes at the dark hole inthe ice, Joe's head came up, and his hand took hold of the edge of the ice. With a grasp and a cry of "Save me!" he drew him-self up till his face was out of the wa-ter; but that was all. Oh! how he did wish he had done as his pa-pa had bid him! With a wild look up at the cold blue sky, he did try to pray. He knew that Godsaw him. He knew how bad he had been. He held fast by the edge of the ice, with his face up, and his head back, to keep his face from the cold edge that cut him; and his cry was: "Save me! O save me!"
The boys came as near to him as it was safe to go—all but Tom. He ran off. He didnot try to help the one he had told to be so bad. Oh! do you not see that a boy like this will do you more harm than good? If you know such a boy or girl, do not play with them; give them up this day.
Well, here was poor Joe, and God did hear his cry for help; for just then it was Hiswill that two men came by with a sled full of wood. The boys did call them: "Come here, oh! do come here! or Joe will die!"
It was time; for the poor boy had sunk down, down to his eyes. He was so cold, he had to let go of the ice.
The good men ran to the pond, and then ran back andtook a long rope, that they had used to tie the load of wood. Then, with care, one of them went on the ice near the hole. Snap! snap! it did go; but it did not sink. The man threw out the rope, and told Joe to take hold of the end. He was so cold he could not hold it; but he put the end un-der his arm,and in this way the man drew him out so far that he took hold of his hand, and got him safe on the hard ice.
The man drew him out"In this way the man drew him out."—P. 173.
"In this way the man drew him out."—P. 173.
Then poor Joe gave one gasp, shut his eyes, and sank down as if he was dead.
No time was to be lost. "Take the wood off the sled," said one of the men. The boys flew to do it. Thewood fell this side and that; and then poor Joe was laid on the sled, with his head on the good man's lap. He took off his coat, and laid it on the poor boy; and then the sled went off so fast, that they were at Joe's house in time to save him.
But, oh! what a sad time it was! How long it took!They put him in a warm bed, and they did rub and roll him for an hour; but still his eyes were shut, and his face was so pale, they all said he was dead. But his mam-ma did cry: "O do not stop! try once more! My dear boy must not die! Oh! do not give him up!" So they went on; his pa-pa with the big tears in hiseyes; and the kind men they did rub and roll him, and his mam-ma sat by, with a pale, sad face, to help, and she did not give up hope; she did pray to God all the time to save her boy's life.
Hark! what was that? A low moan came from Joe's lips, then a sigh, then a gasp; then he said in a low tone:"How did I come here in bed? Oh! what pain I am in!—oh! how I ache!"
All at once the pond and his fall thro' the ice came back to his mind, and then the pain of his mind was, oh! so hard to bear! and he said: "O my dear pa-pa! my dear mam-ma! do not be kind to me! I am a bad, bad boy. Idid not do as you bid me; I went on the pond, and I fell in. Oh! you can not love me! I have been so bad! I wish you had let me die! Oh! how can you be kind to such a bad boy?"
"My dear son," said his pa-pa, "God does not wish you to die. He will give you back your life, so that you may tryto be good all the rest of your days."
"But are you glad to get me back? Will you and mam-ma love me? If you can not love me, I want to die."
His mam-ma took him in her arms, and gave him a kiss, and told him she did love him, and that he must not wish to die, but try to be good. Hemust pray to God to help him, and he must not go with bad boys; and she did look so kind, that Joe put his arms on her neck, and felt glad.
He was ill a long time, for he took a sad cold. But he did what he was bid. He did not fret a bit, but had a kiss and a kind word for all who took care of him.
When he got well, he did not go near that bad boy, Tom, who had made him to sin, and then when he was in such a sad way, and like to die, ran off. For you know when Joe sank down thro' the hole in the ice, Tom did not help him, but, like a bad, mean boy, ran away. All bad boys and girls act so; they will getyou to sin, and then when you are in pain, and want to get rid of your sin, they will not help you. Not they! So keep far away from all such, if you wish to lead a good life. Do not go with bad boys or girls, who will tell you not to mind your pa-pa and mam-ma, who are sure to know what is best for you.
Joe got well, and he grew up a good boy and good man. He is a man now, and when he is told to do what is bad, he says to him-self: "This is like Tom; this will get me into a hole, like the hole in the ice; I will not do it."
Doyoudo as you are bid? Oh! I hope so. If you do not—mind what I now tell you—takethis book back to your mam-ma, and tell her, I do not wish a bad boy or girl to have it; and beg her to keep it till you are good; and when you are so, ask for the book, and then do come and give me a kiss, and it will make me sing for joy.