THE BEAR AT SCHOOL.

51

not to beat him. Mind what I say, and I will let you keep the poor thing."

11. John thanked his father, and kept the bear. He fed it for the first two or three months on bread and milk, and then he gave it fruit and bread, and now and then some meat. The bear grew large and strong, fond of John, and at last became as tame as a house-dog.

12. John went to a school about a mile from home, to learn to read and write; and one day he took his bear with him. The school-boys would not go near the bear at first, for fear he would growl at or bite them; but when they saw how tame and playful he was, they lost their fears, and John took him every day to school.

13. A game of play with the bear, when they came out of school, made great sport. In school-hours he was shut up in an out-house, and when he was let out the boys gave him a share of the bread and fruit they brought to school in their bags, and when it was very cold he was called into the school-room to warm himself, and to eat with the boys.

1. Two years had passed, when one day John called his bear to go to school, but he did not come ; he could not be found; search was made, but all in vain there was, at last, no doubt that the bear had run away.

2. He had taken his leave of friend John, and had

gone to live in the woods, where he was born. John bore his loss as well as he could; but the bear was greatly missed by himself and all the school-boys.

3. Four more years passed, and there was a great change in the school. It was now kept by an old dame, and all the boys who had been at school in the time of John and his bear were gone.

4. The ground had been hard with frost, and white with snow, for six weeks, when, one cold day, while the dame was hearing a class spell, one of the boys went out to fetch a log of wood for the fire; he left the door half open, and a large bear walked in.

in

5. The dame, the boys, and the girls jumped up a great fright; they could not run out, for the bear stood in the door-way. All they could do was to get behind the chairs, and forms, and desks, and keep as still as they could; they dared scarcely breathe.

At

6. But the bear did not look at them; he walked up to the fire-place, and there stood warming himself, and looking as if he were quite at his ease. length, he walked up to the wall, where, on a row of pegs, the boys and girls had hung their bags.

7. Standing upon his hind-legs, he put his forepaws and his nose into the bags, one by one, and made free with the bread and fruit and cakes he found there. He next tried the old dame's drawer, but this was locked; so he went back to the fire, warmed himself once more, and then walked out the way he came.

8. As soon as the old dame, with her troop of boys and girls ventured to move, they left their hidingplaces and ran out into the road, calling for help.

DANGER OF DELAY.

53

Some young men came from a farm-house close by, and set out to find the bear; they tracked the print

of his feet in the snow, came up with him, and killed him.

9. Then it was, when the bear lay dead at their feet, that, by some well-known marks on the skin, some of the young men knew the poor bear to be the old friend of their school-days, and they were quite sorry they had killed him. It seemed as if they had put an old friend to death.

XVII. THE DANGER OF DELAY.-A DIALOGUE."

(6, 15, 16, 26, 43, 126, 299, 303-4-8-9, 319, 320.)

ΕΙ

Mrs. Home. Look at that plant which I gave you but a short time a-go: it is dead.

Ann. Oh! I am so sorry it is dead, moth'er, that I could cry!

Mrs. H. Last Fri'day I heard you say, "That flow'er is droop'ing; I must give it some wa'ter, or it will die."

Ann. But, mother, I for-got all a-bout it.

Mrs. H. Yes, you put off the need'ful at-ten'tion till morn'ing; and when the morn'ing came, you did not think of it.

Ann. That is true, mother; and so the poor plant was left all day with-out wa'ter in the hot sun.

Mrs. H. Its leaves that were so fresh and green, are now with'ered and fall'ing off. Its flow'ers, that were so bright and gay, are fad'ed.

Ann. The plant is lost for want of nour'ish-ment; it is bend'ing to the earth; it will bloom no more. Mrs. H. And yet, a little time'ly care would have saved it.

Ann. Ah! if I had wa'tered it last night, it might have been gay and bloom'ing still.

Mrs. H. Did you not think it would die?

Ann. In-deed, moth'er, I did not mean to neg-lect it; I meant to wa'ter it in the morn'ing.

Mrs. H. But why, my dear child, did you leave it till the morning? Why did you not water it at

once ?

Ann. I wanted to do something else at the moment, and so I thought it would be just as well to put off wa'tering the plant till morning.

Mrs. H. Is it ea'si-er to do a thing to-morrow than to-day? I think not. I think it is far bet'ter

to do ev'er-y-thing at the time when it ought to be done.

Ann. Dear moth'er, I see my fault: I am pun'ished for it in the loss of this beau'ti-ful plant.

Mrs. H. See the danger that there is in de-lay. You might have kept the plant a-live; but now that you have let it die, you can-not bring it to life a-gain. Ann. I shall always think of my poor plant when I want to put a thing off, after this.

Mrs. H. Let its loss be a lesson to you, nev'er to put off till an-oth'er time that which you ought to do at once. De-lay is al'most sure to be the cause of

sor'row.

XVIII.

THE ROBINS.

The English robin of these lines differs from the American, which builds its nest in trees.

1. COME out into the lane with me,

And see what I have found;

It is a little rob'in's nest,

That's built upon the ground.

2. Look! there it is, close by the tree,
Half hidden in the grass;

I see the rob'in's scar'let breast

3. The nest is made of ten'der moss,

And lined with hair and hay;
And you may see the rob'in's eggs,
When she has flown away.

4. The rob'in sits for man'y days,

And warms them with her breast;