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of corn; we will ask mother to give us some for him." So they asked their mother for a little corn, and threw it down upon the ground for him, and he picked it up and ate it with his large bill, and seemed to like very much. Then William remembered it was time to go to school, and he ran off with John, for they were both good boys, and they did not like to be late at school.

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LESSON XXXVIII.

PLANTS.

RICHARD TOMS had a large piece of good garden ground behind his cottage, which he took a great deal of care of; and his two boys, Charles and George, were old enough to help him.

When Richard went out to his work in the morning, he always set George and Charles a task of digging, or hoeing, or raking, in the garden, which they were to finish before their father came back in the evening.

The garden was divided into a number of different beds; in one bed there were potatoes, in another bed there were turnips, and in another there were cabbages; and Richard had carrots, and cauliflowers, and onions, too. In another place, there was a row of gooseberry and currant bushes; and there was a nice bed of strawberry plants.

In the winter there was very little for Charles and

George to do in the garden; but as the spring came on, they had plenty of digging and raking.

Charles was a good industrious boy, but George was apt to be idle, and to like play better than work, so that when his father came home, he had often not finished his task, and he was obliged to stay in the garden and do his work by himself, while Charles and his father went in to their good supper.

However, he soon found this was very unpleasant, and he resolved to follow Charles's good example, and to do all his work before he thought of play, and became a diligent boy, as well as Charles. Richard always sowed the seeds himself, after the ground had been well dug, and Charles and George raked the earth smooth over the seeds. If the weather was dry, they sometimes got some water in a waterpot, and watered the seeds that they might grow, for seeds will not grow without a good deal of

rain or water.

In the month of June the strawberries became ripe, and then Richard told Charles and George to gather them and take them to market to sell.

One day, as they were busy gathering the strawberries, Charles saw George put one into his mouth; "Oh, fie, George," said he, "that is very wrong of you; these strawberries are not ours, they belong to father, and he will be very angry if we eat them without his leave."

"What harm is it to eat one strawberry?" said George. "Father will never know that I have taken it, and I have only eaten one."

"But," said Charles, "do you not know that it is

dishonest to take anything, even such a little thing as a strawberry, which does not belong to you?

"Father has often told us that God will be very much displeased with those who are dishonest. God always sees us, we cannot hide anything from him: he sees what we do at all times, in the darkness as well as in the light; and though we may think nobody sees us when we do dishonest or deceitful things, yet God sees us, and he will punish us for the wrong things we do."

"You are a good brother," said George, "to tell me when I do wrong, and I will never take a strawberry again without leave; and when my father comes home I will tell him I have eaten this strawberry, and I will beg his pardon. I am sure I do not wish to be a deceitful or a dishonest boy."

So when his father came home, George told him what he had done, and all the good advice Charles had given him. His father told him he was very right to own his fault, and forgave him; but said he should remember that no wrong thing that we can do, can ever be hid from God, and that he will not love those who do wrong.

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MRS.

LESSON XXXIX.

FLAX.

RS. THOMPSON said to her little girl, Mary, one fine evening, "Come, Mary, we will take a walk now we have done our work, and see all the pretty flowers in the fields, for it is a sweet evening, and the sun shines, and makes every thing look beautiful."

So they went out together, and walked along a path which led through some pleasant fields, and sometimes Mary ran on before her mother to gather some of the pretty wild flowers in the hedges, and brought her back a nice nosegay, such as she thought her mother would like.

Mary had been a very good girl all day; she had her lessons well at school, and she had done her work neatly at home, and she felt happy, as good children always do.

"You look very happy, Mary, this evening," said

her mother, as Mary tripped along, singing as she went. "Yes, mother," said Mary, "I do feel very happy; you were displeased with me yesterday because I was an idle girl, and spoiled my work, and then I was unhappy; but to-day I have been a good girl, and you look pleased with me, and I am so happy to take this pleasant walk, and to gather these pretty flowers.

"What is growing in that field, mother, which looks so blue?" "It is flax, my dear," said her mother, "let us go through the gate and look at the blue flowers; some of them will be very pretty to add to my nosegay."

So they went through the gate to look at the flax. "But, mother," said Mary, "this is not like the flax I see you spin; here is nothing but blue flowers and green stalks and leaves, quite different from the flax you spin."

"When these flowers are withered away," said Mrs. Thompson, "and the seeds are come instead of them, all the stalks will be pulled up and carried away to a place where they will be soaked in water first, and then they will be beaten to make them into such flax as I spin." "Well," said Mary, "I should not have thought these stalks could ever be made into flax for spinning."

"After the stalks are made into thread, it is taken to the weaver's, and is there woven into linen, and when the linen comes home, it is spread out on the grass and sprinkled with water as it lies in the sun, This is called bleaching it. And do you know, Mary," said Mrs. Thompson, "what your frock is

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