1st Week.

Papa. Lucy, Willie, Ion, and Ada! come here, I have some good news for you.

Lucy. Pray, papa, let us hear it. Papa. Do you remember the Infant School, where your mamma and I once taught so many children?

Lucy. Yes, and the children too, who were so happy.

Papa. Now, I have been thinking that you would like to hear some of their lessons; for, in these times, the poor children of England often learn more in their schools than you do.

Lucy. I'm sure we should like such lessons; I want very much to learn about some animals.

Willie. And I should like to learn about some new countries, and to hear some more History Tales.

Ion. And I want to learn Drawing. Papa. Well, you shall learn all these things. Our course for the

present shall be

Good and Bad Children on Monday.

Tuesday.

"Wednesd.

"Thursday. "Friday. "Saturday.

We will have a regular course of

Introduction.

lessons on each subject; and when you want a change, you may learn about Great Men, or Biography, and what is called Natural Philosophy.

Willie. I do not know what that means.

P. And you may learn of different plants and flowers.

L. That is called Botany.

P. We shall teach you only one idea in each lesson, so that you may understand and remember it perfectly. I should like much for you to gain

ONE IDEA EVERY DAY.

L. That will be six ideas in a week.

W. And THREE HUNDRED IDEAS in a year, if we can only remember them; but why should we take so much pains to learn?

Ion. That we may get knowledge, of course.

W. Yes, it is very pleasant to know more; but, after all, what use is our learning? We must die one day, and then we shall go out of the world and leave all our knowledge behind us.

L. Oh Willie! I'm sure that you do not know that; you know we cannot leave it in our bodies.

P. Besides, Willie, that is a selfish

thought. Do you mean to get knowledge only for yourself? By learning, you may not only get good, but great pleasure for yourself and others. Sit down all of you, and I'll tell you a tale about

THE PLEASURES OF LEARNING.

When I was at boarding-school, there was a boy, a day-scholar, whom we all liked very much. He was only ten years old. He could not play well at cricket or hoop, yet he was the first boy in the school. One day I went home to tea with him. His father was lying on the sofa; he looked very pale, and had a bad cough. His mother was sitting near to him with his little sister, whom she was teaching to write.

After we had taken tea, and played in the garden, we sat down by the side of his mother, and read our lessons to her. Whilst she was sewing she talked to us about them, and explained the hard words. We soon understood them then, and I think I never learned my lessons so quickly before.

W. I see now why he was the first boy in the school.

P. But when we came back after the holidays, we found that he had left school. His father's house was shut up, and empty; for, poor boy, he and his sister had lost their father and mother, and had gone to live with their aunt, on the other side of the pond.

He told us that he had only his little sister left to love now; and that, as he was too poor to come to school again, he intended to read the books of the school library, and to teach her all that he read, and everything that his good mother had told him about God their Father.

And oh how delighted he was to teach his sister! We could often see him from our bed-room window.

How joyfully he would get up at six o'clock in the morning, and would tie on her little black bonnet, and white pinafore, and shawl! Then he would brush her tiny shoes until they were very black, and would put on his straw hat, and away they would go over the hills together.

At nine o'clock, he would teach her to read, then he taught her to write, and to spell. He showed her how to make figures, and work sums on her slate, and their aunt taught her to sew.

I wanted very much to know what they learned on the hills, so one morning I got leave to go with them. 'I am going," said Joseph, "to teach little Kate all that my dear mother taught me from underneath this tree. Here are hundreds of things yet to find out and learn. Look at that beautiful sky and the long streaky clouds. We are going to find out where the clouds come from, and what they are made of. Then we want to learn why some clouds are round, and some long, and why they are of such a rosy colour in the morning." "Then," said little Kate," I want to know what the wind, which blows them along, is made of, and where it comes from. We have been noticing, too, the music which the animals make to the sun, when they see him. Do you see that he is just getting up! Listen, only now! There's the singing of the birds-the buzzing of the insects-the bleating of the lambs in the valley-and the cawing of the rooks a long way off. We mean, this summer, to count up the different trees and plants here, and perhaps the different earths, and rocks, and stones. To-morrow we shall begin to learn about this tree behind us."

"Why, Joseph," I said, "what is there to be learned from this old stump? "Ah!" said he, "my mother taught me

many things from it; we had twelve lessons-1st. We examined the roots, to see what they are made for. 2ndly. We learned about the sap. 3rdly. The trunk. 4thly. The branches. 5thly. The pith. 6thly. The layers of wood. 7thly. The bark. 8thly. The buds. 9thly. The leaves, and what they were made for. 10thly. The little insects which live on the leaves and under the bark. 11thly. How the tree came here, and what it was made for. 12thly. We learned its name, and to what family of trees it belongs. And," said he, "13thly, I'm going to teach all this to Katie, and she is so glad!"

W. But, papa, what was the use of their spending time in noticing these things so much?

P. You ought, Willie, to notice and know every common thing around you. From the Plants you get food to nourish you, medicine to heal you, and clothing to cover you. The Corn plants gave you the straw for your hat. The Crocus plant grew the yellow colour for the ribbon. The Indigo plant, the dark blue for your neckerchief. You have to thank the Flax plant for the linen of your shirt, and the Cotton tree for your socks. Your shoe-strings came from a silkworm; your coat from a sheep, and your shoes from a calf.

Ion. And the soles from the Gutta Percha tree.

will gain even a far greater good. One of my books says,

"These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health,

And love, and gentleness, and joy impart.

So God's works will always teach you something new about their Maker, and will give you good thoughts, which you will keep after you go out of this world. We shall find out some of these thoughts soon. L. And did Joseph get so much good by taking notice?

P. Yes, and his sister too. He taught her every day until she was a great girl, and now they both enjoy, in another way, more happiness than

ever.

Ion. How do they get it, papa?

P. By giving it to others. That is the only way to get real happiness. They live in the country, where they have more than a hundred children to teach; and, as they thank God when the children grow wiser and better, the happiness which they see in their faces comes back again to them, a hundred-fold. They talked to me the other day of a higher happiness still, which they know they will have soon.

L. What is that, papa?

P. Listen! In 100 years, you, and I, all of us, will belong to another world instead of this one. Joseph and his sister must die too: and their great happiness will begin when they sit in heaven and meet their old scholars. Then, how they will thank God again, that he allowed them to teach! One scholar will say to them, "You first showed me the way up here :" another, "You first taught me to love Jesus Christ." Perhaps many bright angels, as they go on their way to praise God, will stop and say to them, "You first taught us to sing." And even the Great God may call to them, saying,