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'Tis to sing a mer-ry song

To the pleas-ant morn-ing light;
Why lin-ger in my nest so long,
When the sun is shi-ning bright?
Lit-tle la-dy, this is why
I sing so ear-ly in the sky.

To the lit-tle birds be-low,

I do sing a mer-ry tune;
And I let the plough-man know

He must come to la-bour soon.

Lit-tle la-dy, this is why

I am sing-ing in the sky.-" Nursery Rhymes."

LESSON XIX.-STONES.

hard:

Mar-ble is dug out of the ground. It is very you can-not cut it with a knife; but the stone cut-ter can cut it. There is white mar-ble, and black, and green, and red, and yel-low mar-ble. The chim-neypiece is made of mar-ble, and the mon-u-ment in the church.

Stones come out of the ground, and flints. Here are two flints: they are very hard; strike them both togeth-er. Ah! here is fire; here are sparks. Grav-el is dug out of grav-el pits. They put it into carts, and then make grav-el walks with it, or else mend the roads with it. Chalk and ful-ler's earth are dug out of the ground. Coals come out of the ground. Men dig great deep pits, and so they go down in-to them, and get the coal with pick-ax-es, and bring it up. Those men are col-liers; they are very black, but I do not know how we should do for coals to make a fire with-out them. A great many things come out of the ground; sure it is very

deep! Yes, it is very deep. If you were to dig a hun-dred years, you would nev-er come to the bot-tom, it is so deep.-Mrs. Barbauld.

LESSON XX. THE CREATION-THIRD DAY.

When God made the dry land, there was noth-ing on it; it was bare. So God spake, and things grew out of the ground.

Trees came out of it; they were cov-ered with green leaves of dif-fer-ent shapes. Some were called oaktrees, and some were called elm-trees, and some beechtrees. And some trees bore nice fruit, such as plumtrees, ap-ple-trees, or-ange-trees, and fig-trees.

Veg-e-ta-bles grew out of the earth; po-ta-toes and beans, cab-ba-ges and let-tuce, they are called veg-eta-bles.

Corn came out of it. Some corn is called wheat, and some corn is called bar-ley, and some is called oats. The ears of corn bend down when they are ripe, and look yel-low like gold.

God made the soft green grass to spring up, and flowers to grow among the grass-flowers of all col-ours, and of sweet-est smell. The yel-low but-ter-cup, the white lily, the blue vi-o-let, and the rose, the most beauti-ful of all flowers.

I have told you of five sorts of things that grow out of the earth. Trees. Veg-e-ta-bles. Corn. Grass. Flowers. "Peep of Day."

LESSON XXI.-ASKING A BLESSING.

Rol-lo was sit-ting one morn-ing by the fire-side, before break-fast, read-ing a little blue cov-ered hymn-book. Pres-ent-ly Ma-ry brought in the break-fast; and Rol-lo was glad, and jumped up from his lit-tle low chair at the

fire, and went and brought his high chair, and put it at his place at the ta-ble.

When they were all rea-dy, they stood still, while Rol-lo's fath-er said, in a slow and se-ri-ous man-ner, "Al-migh-ty God, we thank thee that thou hast a-gain spread this ta-ble for us and pre-pared this food. Help us now to re-ceive it thank-ful-ly, and may it strength-en us to o-bey thy com-mands this day." Then they sat down.

Rol-lo knew that this was called ask-ing a bles-sing, and he had al-ways been taught to be very still and very at-ten-tive while it was done. He did not know, howev-er, ex-act-ly what it was for, and he thought he would now ask his fath-er.

His father told him that it was to thank God for their break-fast.

Rol-lo asked his fath-er wheth-er God gave them their break-fast.

"Yes," said his fath-er; "God caus-es our break-fast to be brought to us from many dis-tant pla-ces."

"Well, but, fath-er," said Rol-lo, "how does God give us our break-fast, then?"

His father said, "Why, God made the i-ron in the ground for the knives, and the clay for the plates and cups. He brings the sum-mer and the sun. He makes the wheat sprout up and grow, and brings the showers of rain. He takes care, too, of all the men who shape the cups, and make the knives, and gath-er the cof-fee, and grind the wheat. He kind-ly does all this for us,— so that Rol-lo, and all the oth-er boys in the world, may have some break-fast. I think we ought to thank Him." Rol-lo did not say any-thing, but he thought so too.― J. Abbott.

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