Pretty Tales for the Nursery Part 1

Pretty Tales for the Nursery.

by Isabel Thompson.

f.a.n.n.y'S BIRTHDAY.

Here is a nice new book! It is mine. Papa has just given it to me, for this is my birth-day, and I am five years old. Oh, how pretty it is!

Here are boys and girls at play, like Willie and me; and here is nurse, with baby on her knee.

They will call me a dunce if I do not learn to read well, so I will try my very best; for what is the use of a nice book like this, if I cannot read it? It is not of a bit more use than my wax doll would be to puss.

What, Miss Puss, you hear your own name, do you? and think we are going to have a game of play. On no, puss, no such thing. It will not do for me to mind only play, for mamma says that, if I live, I shall be a woman in time, and there are many things that I must learn before then.

Look, puss, here is my new book. Ah, I see you do not care for books.

You like to lie on the warm rug before the fire, and there you sleep away half your time. That may do very well for a puss, but it will not do for me. If I am as idle as you, I shall grow up a dunce, and what would papa say then? No, no, p.u.s.s.y, you may do as you like, but for my part I am not going to be a dunce.

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Sometimes I sit upon mamma's knee, and she tells me the story about a young king, who lived many years ago, and who loved the Bible better than any other book in the world, and how G.o.d took him to wear a crown of gold in heaven. Or else she talks to me about Jesus, who came down from his glory above to die for us upon the cross. I love to hear about him when he was a baby, and his mother laid him in a manger, for there was no room for him in the inn. Oh! how glad I shall be when I can read these things in books.

Mamma says that when I can read, I shall have books that will teach me about many things which are to be seen in places a long way off, far, far over the sea. About lions and tigers, that live in the woods, and about black boys and girls, like the poor man who came to beg at the door. Willie and I ran away from him, but nurse called us back, and said he would not hurt us; and mamma told us to pity him and be kind to him, if we saw him again. I should like to see the little black boys and girls. Some of them go to school, I am told, but others are never taught anything that is good: I am very sorry for them.

Let me look again at my new book. Papa was very kind to buy it for me, and I will take care of it, that not a leaf may be torn. But I shall lend it to Willie if he asks me, for mamma says we must be kind to each other. I will tell him to take care of it when I lend it to him. Now I will go and show it to nurse, and ask her to put on it a white paper cover to keep it clean. Good bye, p.u.s.s.y, I will leave you to finish your nap, and when I come back again I will have some play with you.

THE DOG THAT HAD NO HOME.

One day little James stood upon a chair, and looked out at the window, and he saw a dog lying on a bank on the other side of the road. Then a bad boy came that way and hit it with a stick. James could see the poor dog s.h.i.+ver with cold as he lay on the wet bank. James felt very sorry for him, and he said, "Why does not the dog go home, and lie down by the fire, and get warm?"

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Then James's mother said, "I do not think the poor dog has any home to go to. I have seen him out there before; and one day I saw Jane Rose keep a bad boy from hurting the dog."

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Now James was very sorry that this poor dog should have no home. He talked a great deal about him, and when it began to grow dark, he got upon the chair again to see if he was still lying there.

The dog was there still, but he was not lying down this time. He stood upon the bank, and looked this way and that way, as if he did not know where to go. He looked more cold and wet than before, for the rain was coming down fast. Then James said to his mother, "May I tell Jane to let that poor dog come in? See how cold and hungry he looks. I should like to give him my bread and b.u.t.ter, for I have had some dinner, but the poor dog has not had a bit."

His mother said, "We cannot have him in the house, but you may ask Jane to let him come into the yard, and there is some straw in one corner of the shed where he may lie and get dry."

James was very glad to hear this, and he ran in a great hurry to tell Jane. So Jane went to the gate to call the dog, and James went back to the window to see him come in. But the dog would not come at first, and James's mother said that he looked afraid of being beat. At last he came very slowly across the road, and when he heard Jane call him, "Poor fellow! poor fellow!" he ran into the yard.

James's mother told Jane to give the dog some water to drink, and something to eat. So James stood by and saw him fed, and then the dog lay down on the straw, and curled himself round. James gave him one little pat on the head, and the dog wagged his tail, which was the only way he had to say, Thank you. Then James and Jane came away from the shed, and the dog went to sleep.

The last thing before James went to bed, he begged of Jane to go and see if the dog was still lying in the shed. Yes, he was snug asleep in the straw. James's mother said she would give him leave to stay there all night if he liked.

The next day, as soon as James awoke, he began to talk about the dog to Jane, who came to dress him. Jane said that he was not gone away, and the rain was over, and he was come out of the shed. So James made haste down stairs, and he went into the yard to see how he was after his good night's rest.

The dog was lying in the sun, and when he saw James he jumped up and ran to him; for a dog always knows those who are kind to him, and treat him well. If James had not been kind to this dog the night before, he would not have been so glad to see him come into the yard.

Then James patted him, and said, "Doggy, what is your name?" But the dog only looked in James's face. He was a very pretty dog, but he was very thin, like a dog that has no home. And James said, "Oh, I wish I might keep you for my own! I would feed you, and take care of you, and you should never lie out in the rain and the cold any more."

Then James's father came out of the house, and he said, "If I were to let you keep this dog, are you sure that you would be always kind to him, and use him well?" And James said, "Yes, father, indeed I would,"

Then his father said, "We must try to find out his proper master, if he has one, and send him to his own home; but if he has not a proper master, nor a home, he shall be your dog, my boy, and we will have a kennel made for him; and as he has been such a roving dog, Rover shall be his name."

So James's father asked a great many people about the dog, to try to find out his master and his home. But no one knew anything about him, and no one could tell where he came from. And some kind people said they were glad that he had found a good home, and he was a wise dog not to go away from it.

So James kept him for his own, and there was a kennel made for him, and it was set up in a corner of the yard. And he was called by the name of Rover, as he had been such a roving dog all the time that he had no home.

ANNIE GROVE'S SHOE.

One warm summer day, when little Annie Grove was coming home from school, some of her school-fellows said, "Let us go into the fields and get some flowers to take home." So they got over the stile into the field by the side of the road. Annie could not get over the stile at first, for it was a high one; but her brother John and Jane Gray told her to put her foot upon the step, and then they lifted her over into the field. Her brother was older than the rest, so he was tall and strong. It is right that the older boys and girls should be kind to the little ones, but they should not help them to do wrong; and John knew that they were both doing wrong when he helped to lift Annie over into the field.

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They all ran about the fields a long time, for it was a fine sun-s.h.i.+ny day. When they grew hot and tired, they sat down under some trees beside a narrow brook. After a while, Jane Gray said, "How nice it would be to wade over the brook this warm day!" And one said, "I will do it," and some one else said, "I will do it," and so they all jumped up and got ready to wade over the brook. Little Annie Grove jumped up too, and took off her shoes and her little white socks, and she held up her frock round her, and put the shoes and socks into her frock to keep them safe.

Then she put her little bare feet into the water to wade across the brook. She would not have done it if any grown-up person had been by, for she knew that it was wrong.

There were some sharp stones lying at the bottom of the brook, and when Annie was about half-way over, she trod upon one of them, and hurt her foot. Poor Annie stood still, and began to cry, for she was afraid to go on, and afraid to turn back, and the sharp stone had hurt her foot very much. She held up her frock with one hand, and a school-fellow who was close by took pity on her, and led her by the other hand back again to the gra.s.sy bank under the trees.

Then Jane Gray wiped Annie's foot dry with some of the long gra.s.s, and then they began to put on her socks and shoes. But only one shoe could be found. They looked among the gra.s.s, and they looked on the bank, but there was only one shoe to be seen. She had let the other slip away when she hurt her foot, and all the time since it had been going down the brook; and the brook was deeper and wider at the other end of the field, so there was little hope that poor Annie's shoe would ever be seen again.

What Annie was to do not even Jane Gray could tell. How was she to walk home with only one shoe? It was now very late, and there was not much time to talk about it, for every one of the girls ought to have been at home at least an hour before. So she had to go along with them as well as she could, the little white sock coming to the ground at every other step, so that people turned to look after her, and smiled, as she walked down the street. Poor Annie will not soon forget that day of sorrow and shame.

Her mother was angry when she got home, for though Annie was a little girl, she was quite old enough to have known better; and if other people do wrong that is no good reason why we should do the same.

THE LITTLE BOY'S BEDTIME.

One night little Albert sat at play with his box of bricks till bedtime.

He sat at the foot of his mamma's work-table, and he built a house with walls round it, and steps up to the door, and a well in the middle of the yard. His mamma said it was very nicely done. Then Albert began to take the house to pieces, and put away the bricks; and before he had put all the bricks into the box, the clock struck eight.

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When the clock struck, Susan came to the door and said, "Come, master Albert, it is time to go to bed." His mamma said, "Please to come again by and by, for the little boy is not quite ready. He has not said his prayer. He will be ready soon." But Albert cried out, "Go away, Susan. I do not want to go to bed. I want to sit up a little longer."

_Mamma._ My dear, it is bedtime, and you must go.