"on New-year's Day. I told her the names of all the months in the year, and how many days there were in each month; and I said a little verse to her, which begins, Thirty days hath September,' and which tells about all the months. My grandmother was pleased with me, and she went to her shelf, and took down this nice knife, and gave it to me for my own, and it is very useful to me. "I call it my New-year's knife, because grandmother gave it to me on the first day of January, which is New-year's Day; and when the last day of this year comes, I am to take the knife to her, to show her that I have not lost it.” “And when will the last day of this year be,” said his father. "It will be the thirty-first of next December, almost a year from this," said William ; I hope I shall take care of my knife, and not lose it or spoil it before that time." LESSON XLIII. BESSY GRANT. I WILL tell you what Bessy Grant saw when she took a walk, and then you shall tell me what season of the year it was. She saw the trees with small leaves just budding out, and the hedges looked of a very pale green, and the little blue violet was peeping out on the banks, and smelling very sweet; she saw that the cowslips were all in bud, and that it would not be long before they looked yellow, and were ready to be gathered. The little lambs were skipping and jumping about; they began to bite a little of the short sweet grass; and the old sheep looked after them, and sometimes one of them cried out if her lamb got very far away; then the lamb skipped back to its mother. The birds were singing on every bush, and many old birds were seen picking up food to take to their young ones who were still in the nest. Whilst one bird sat over the young ones, to keep them warm, the other bird sang a pretty song as he perched on a branch opposite to the nest. Pretty creatures! I hope no one will be so cruel as to hurt you, or to take away your nestlings. Bessy walked by a farm-yard, and there she saw a goose and six goslings, all swimming on the pool; the goose hissed at her, and was very angry when she thought Bessy was coming near; in the same farm-yard there was a brood of pretty little chickens with the hen, their mother. The feathers of the chickens were all very soft and white, and the hen was speckled black and white; she did not like Bessy to come very near her young ones, but called them away to pick amongst some straw that was in the yard. After Bessy had passed the farm, she stopped to listen to a bird which was crying "cuckoo, cuckoo;" she thought it was a very pretty sound, and she knew that the bird that made it was called the cuckoo. She then saw a shepherd who had penned his sheep into the sheep-pen, and he was feeding them and looking at their wool. Bessy stopped to look into the sheep-pen, and the shepherd said, "We shall shear the sheep next week if the weather is fine and sunny, but if it is rainy and not so warm as it is to-day, we shall not shear them till the week after next, for they are sadly chilled, poor creatures, if the weather is very cold when they have had their thick fleeces of wool sheared off their backs." Now Bessy had finished her walk, and got home again, and I wish you to tell me what season of the year it was. LESSON XLIV. SPRING. ONE into the fields. Every thing looked cheerful, the flowers were coming out in the hedges, the trees were beginning to bud, the young lambs were playing about, and the little birds were singing. In one field I saw James Wilson and his brother Thomas, planting potatoes. They were neat, happy looking children, and were singing away as merrily as the little birds. These little boys are always industrious, never idling away their time, or, what is worse, doing mischief, but always busy about something useful. Potatoes will not grow unless the ground is prepared to receive them; so last week, if you had passed this way, you would have seen Thomas and James digging away very busily. Thomas gets up every morning with the sun, and goes out to work with his father, and now they are ploughing the ground, and sowing barley in it. Thomas is surprised as he puts in the little brown seed, to think that in a month's time it will come peeping out of the ground a pretty bright green leaf. When Thomas has done his work, if there are no potatoes to plant, and nothing else to do, he helps his sister Mary to work in their little garden; and if there is nothing to be done there, Thomas stays at home and helps his father; so he has always plenty to do, and he has no time to spare for doing mischief, and for running about, like some idle boys at this season of the year, looking for birds' nests. Thomas is very sorry when he sees some cruel boys taking away the little warm nests, that the birds have had a great deal of trouble in making, and when they rob the poor mothers of their eggs, and the young birds that can hardly fly. Thomas's father, when he was a very little boy, taught him how wicked it was to torment any creatures. He used to say to him, "Thomas, you must remember, that the good God, who made you, made those pretty creatures too. "He made them for our pleasure and our use, but he did not make them for us to torment, and we shall be called to give an account how we have used them as well as the rest of God's gifts. "It is said in the Bible that not a sparrow falls to the ground without God's knowledge, and that he loves and takes care of all his creatures: so you may be sure he will be angry with those who treat them ill, and you know, my boy, none can be happy when God is angry with them; so Thomas, instead of robbing the poor birds, do you be kind to them and to all other creatures, that God may love you." LESSON XLV. SUMMER. IT T is pleasant summer. Hark! What noise is that? It is the mower whetting his scythe. He is going to mow down the grass, and the pretty flowers. The scythe is very sharp, do not go near it. Come into this field; see, some of the grass is cut down, and the men and women with their forks and rakes, toss, and spread, and turn the new-mown hay: how hard they work! Come, do not sit idle, but help |