Alfred Selwyn.
Hurrah! Great boot-race under difficulties.Hurrah! Great boot-race under difficulties.
"Now, when she comes out, I shall be sure of her!""Now, when she comes out, I shall be sure of her!"
Bird on weather-vane
Hereare some birds having a ride on the weather-vane. The vane is on the top of the barn.
I should think it would make the birds dizzy to swing backwards and forwards. But they like it just as well as some boys like to swing on a gate.
Bird on a fence
Here is an old crow sitting on the fence. He is a sly old thief. There is a nest in the grass; and he is after the eggs. If you try to get near him, he will fly away, saying "Caw, caw, caw!"
The pig and the milk bucket
The milk-maid set down her pail of milk, and went to the orchard. A little pig came along, and tipped the pail over; and the milk was all spilled. Never leave milk where a pig can get at it.
A woodpecker had a nest in a hollow tree. A boy climbed up to get the eggs; but the old birds flew at him, and pecked him, and made him get down. I am glad they drove him away. What right had he to meddle with their nest?
W. O. C.
Birds driving the boy away
The Fisherman's Children
Therewere three children on the beach looking out to see the boats of the fishermen sail off to the fishing-grounds. Little Joe Bourne and his sister Susan stood side by side, watching their father's boat. Rachel, who was with them, was not their sister, but an orphan-child, whose grandfather, Mr. Harrison, was in one of the boats.
It was a windy day in November. The waves broke with a great noise on the shingly beach. Soon the wind rose higher: the sea rose too, and the rain fell fast. The children walked back to the village; and there the old men said, shaking their heads, "We shall have a storm."
That night, all the boats came safely back into the harbor, excepting the boat in which Rachel's grandfather had sailed. It was a long, sad night for poor Rachel. The next day and the next passed by; and no grandfather came back to take care of her, and find her in food and clothes, and carry her in his strong arms when she was tired out with walking.
Cutting a boat with an old jack-knife
Susan and Joe in their own house felt sad for the little orphan. One day their mother went to market. Baby was in the cradle, and Susan was rocking it, whilst Joe was cutting out a boat with an old jack-knife. The kettle on the stove began to sing; and Susan and Joe began to talk.
"Poor Rachel will have to be sent to the workhouse now," said Joe.
"I hope not," said Susan. "I hope father will give her a home in our own house."
"Why, he says he can hardly earn enough to feed his own family," said Joe.
"But can't we do something to help him?" asked Susan.
"I know of nothing children like us can do," said Joe.
When their mother came home, Susan begged so earnestly to have Rachel come and stay with them, that Mrs. Bourne at last replied, "Well, we will take her in for a week or two, and see; but mind, Susan, you must try and earn a little money somehow. You will now have less time to play on the sands, remember."
Susan went and found Rachel
So Susan went and found Rachel, and brought her home to live with them all. The poor little orphan was a bright, joyous child. She had a strange hope that she should see her grandfather again; that he was not lost; for he had told her many stories of his escape from great dangers at sea.
"Why, grandfather was on a wreck once a whole week," said Rachel: "he was cast away once on an island where he had to live on clams a long while before he was rescued. I think we shall hear from him soon."
One day Joe caught a fine basket of perch from the rocks, and went round to try and sell them. But all the folks in the village told him they could get as many fish as they wanted without buying them. So Joe walked off to a town four miles away from the sea, and there he sold his fish.
He told a kind blind lady, to whom he sold some, that his sister wanted to get work, so that she could help a poor little orphan-girl. The kind lady sent Susan half a dozen handkerchiefs to hem; and the next morning Susan rose early, and sewed by candle-light, while the other children were in bed and asleep.
Susan hemming by candlelight
For three years the poor Bourne family gave Rachel a nice happy home in their little house; and they would have kept her longer, but one day, while the children were all playing on the beach, they heard a great shouting, and ran to see what it was about.
It was all in honor of Grandfather Harrison. He had come back, as Rachel had always said he would. He had been picked up at sea in his sinking boat by a ship bound for Australia. The old man was carried to that far country. He went to the mines, and helped some men dig gold. He made a good deal of money, thinking it would be a good thing if he could only be rich enough to send his dear little grand-daughter to school.
But Rachel was not the only one who was benefited by his good fortune. The Bournes shared in it. Joe and Susan, and all the rest of the children, were sent to school also; and they studied with a will. It was always a happy thought to Rachel that the great kindness of these good people did not miss its reward even in this life.
Ida Fay.
Young Lazybones
Music
[Transcriber's Note: You can play this music (MIDI file) by clickinghere.]
2. Then little Maggie sings to him,And plays upon the harp;While rapid Robert, keen and slim,Cries, "Lazybones, look sharp!"And Lucy tickles with her wand,This sleepy, lazy boy;And one and all with tricks and jokesIn teasing him take joy.3. But Lazybones must take his napBefore he goes to bed:He does not move his weary limbsOr lift his heavy head.And though a dozen brewers' draysShould rumble o'er the stones,Not all the noise that they can makeWould rouse Young Lazybones.
Transcriber's Note:Obvious punctuation errors repaired.This issue was part of an omnibus. The original text for this issue did not include a title page or table of contents. This was taken from the July issue with the "No." added. The original table of contents covered the second half of 1873. The remaining text of the table of contents can be found in the rest of the year's issues.
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
This issue was part of an omnibus. The original text for this issue did not include a title page or table of contents. This was taken from the July issue with the "No." added. The original table of contents covered the second half of 1873. The remaining text of the table of contents can be found in the rest of the year's issues.