Read Ebook: The Nursery May 1877 Vol. XXI. No. 5 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers by Various

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Ebook has 1496 lines and 61746 words, and 30 pages

"GOOD-MORNING, SIR!"

THERE was once a little robin that grew to be so tame, that it would come to my sister Helen's door every morning for a few crumbs. Sometimes it would perch on the table.

What a power there is in kindness! It is very pleasant to form these friendships with birds; so that they learn to trust you and to love you. The sound of the human voice often seems to have a strange effect on animals, as if they almost understood your words.

My sister would say, "Good-morning, sir! Come in! Don't make yourself a stranger. Hard times these; but you will find plenty of crumbs on the table. Don't be bashful. You don't rob us. Try as you may, you can't eat us out of house and home. You have a great appetite, have you? Oh, well, eat away! No cat is prowling round."

The little bird, as if he knew that my sister was talking to him, would chirp away, and seem quite happy. As soon as the warm weather came, his visits were not so frequent; but, every now and then, he would make his appearance, as if to say, "Don't forget me, Helen. I may want some more crumbs when the cold weather comes."

IDA FAY.

PLAYING APRIL-FOOL.

IT was the last evening in March, and raining drearily out of doors; but in mamma's sitting-room all was bright, warm, and cosey. Jim and his big brother Rob were stretched out on the rug, feet in the air, watching the blazing fire, and talking of the tricks they meant to play next day.

"No, sir," said Rob, "you can't fool me! I know about every way there is of fooling; and I'd just like to see anybody try it on me!" And Rob rolled over on his back, and studied the ceiling with a very defiant air.

Poor little Jim looked very much troubled; for, if Rob said he could not be fooled, of course he couldn't be; and he did want to play a trick on Rob so badly! At last he sprang up, saying, "I'm going to ask mamma;" and ran out of the room. Rob waited a while; but Jim did not come back: so he yawned, stretched, and went to bed.

Next morning, bright and early, up jumped Jim, pulled on his clothes; wrong-side out and upside down , and crept softly downstairs.

An hour or two later, Rob went slowly down, rubbing his eyes. He put on his cap, and took up the pail to go for the milk; but it was very heavy. What could be the matter with it? Why, somebody had got the milk already. Just then, Jim appeared from behind the door, crying, "April Fool! April Fool! You thought I couldn't fool you; but I did."

Rob looked a little foolish, but said nothing, and went out to feed his hens. To his great surprise, the biddies were already enjoying breakfast; and again he heard little Jim behind him, shouting, "April Fool! April Fool!"

Poor Rob! He started to fill the kitchen wood-box; but Jim had filled it. Jim had filled the water-pails: in fact, he had done all of Rob's work; and at last, when he trudged in at breakfast-time, with the sugar that Rob had been told to bring from the store the first thing after breakfast, Rob said, "I give up, Jim. You have fooled me well. But such tricks as yours are first-rate, and I don't care how many of them you play."

AUNT SALLIE.

THE EIDER-DUCK.

DID you ever sleep under an eider-down quilt? If you have, you must have noticed how light and soft it was. Would you like to hear where the eider-down comes from? I will tell you.

A long, long way from here, there is a country called Norway. It is a very cold country, and very rocky; and there are a great many small islands all around it. It is on these islands that the dear little eider-ducks build their nests. They take a great deal of time and trouble to make them, and they use fine seaweed, mosses, and dry sticks, so as to make them as strong as they can.

When the mother-duck has laid four or five eggs, which are of a pretty, green color, she plucks out some of the soft gray down that grows on her breast, to cover them up, and keep them warm, while she goes off to find some food.

And now what do you think happens? Why, when she comes back to sit on her eggs, she finds that all her eggs and beautiful down have been taken away! Oh! how she cries, and flaps her wings, to find her darling eggs gone!

But, after a while, she lays five more, and again pulls the down out of her dear little breast to cover them. She goes away again; and again the people take the down away.

When she returns the second time, her cries are very sad to hear; but, as she is a very brave little duck, she thinks she will try once more; and this time she is left in peace, and when she has her dear little children-ducks around her, you may be sure she is a joyful mamma.

So this is where the eider-down comes from; and, as there are a great many ducks, the people get a great deal of down; and with this down are made the quilts which keep us so warm in cold winter-nights.

The eider-down quilts are very light and warm; but I always feel sorry for the poor mamma-duck.

SISTER PEPILLA.

THE TRIAL-TRIP

DAVIE and Harold are two little Boston boys. They are brothers. Last summer, they had two pretty little yachts given them by a friend. Then they had a launch in the bath-tub; and their mamma named the yachts, breaking a bottle of water over the bows. Davie's yacht was named the "West Wind;" and Harold's, the "Flyaway."

One afternoon, the boys went to City Point, hired a row-boat, and rowed out about halfway to Fort Independence, where they put the little vessels into the water for a trial-trip. It was a pretty sight to see the sails fill with the wind, and the tiny yachts ride the waves as if they meant to go to China before they stopped.

The "West Wind" beat the "Flyaway," and I regret to say that Davie taunted his brother with the fact, and made him cry; for Harold is a boy that takes every thing to heart.

MAMMA.

SWADDLING-CLOTHES

DID the little readers of "The Nursery" ever think how thankful they should be for the free use of their arms and legs? I do not believe it ever came into their thoughts that there could be any other way than to use them freely. But in Syria, a country many miles from here, the mothers do not let their babies kick their feet, and hold out their dear little hands. They are bound very closely in what are called "swaddling-clothes."

They are seldom undressed, and are kept in a rough cradle, and rocked to sleep as much as possible. When the mother carries them out, she straps them to her back; and often, on the mountains there, one may see a woman with a baby on her back, and a great bundle of sticks in her arms.

With the sticks she makes her fire, in a room where there is no chimney, and where the smoke often makes poor baby's eyes smart; but all he can do, poor swaddled child, is to open his mouth, and cry.

This custom of binding the baby up so straight and tight is a very old one. The Bible tells us, you know, that the mother of Jesus "wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid him in a manger." So the people of Syria keep on using swaddling-clothes, thinking, that, if they do not, the baby will grow crooked.

They are used in Russia also, and in other countries of northern Europe. Poor babies! We pity them.

EM. JUNIUS.

POLLIWOGS.

THE cat-tails all along the brook Are growing tall and green; And in the meadow-pool, once more, The polliwogs are seen; Among the duck-weed, in and out, As quick as thought they dart about; Their constant hurry, to and fro, It tires me to see: I wish they knew it did no good To so uneasy be! I mean to ask them if they will Be, just for one half-minute, still! "Be patient, little polliwogs, And by and by you'll turn to frogs."

But what's the use to counsel them? My words are thrown away; And not a second in one place A polliwog will stay. They still keep darting all about The floating duck-weed, in and out. Well, if they will so restless be, I will not let it trouble me, But leave these little polliwogs To wriggle till they turn to frogs!

MARIAN DOUGLAS.

FANNY AND LOUISE.

FANNY was a little pony, and Louise was a little girl. Fanny had a long black mane and tail, and Louise had long brown curls. Louise wore a gypsy-hat with blue ribbons, and Fanny wore a saddle and bridle with blue girths and reins.

Louise was a gentle little girl, and Fanny was a very headstrong pony; consequently Fanny had it all her own way. When she was trotting along the road, with Louise on her back, if she chanced to spy a nice prickly thistle away up on a bank, up she would scramble, as fast as she could go, the sand and gravel rolling down under her hoofs; and, no matter how hard Louise pulled on the reins, there she would stay until she had eaten the thistle down to the very roots. Then she would back down the bank, and trot on.

Fanny was fond of other good things besides thistles. She would spy an apple on a tree, no matter how thick the leaves were; and, without waiting to ask Louise's permission, she would run under the tree, stretch her head up among the branches, and even raise herself up on her hind-legs, like a dog, to reach the apple.

Louise would clasp Fanny around the neck, and bury her face in her mane: but she often got scratched by the little twigs; and many a long hair has she left waving from the apple-boughs after such an adventure.

Whenever Fanny smelled any very savory odor issuing from the kitchen, she would trot up, and put her head in at the window, waiting for Biddy to give her a doughnut or cooky. One day a boy named Frank borrowed Fanny, as he wished to ride out with a little girl from the city. As they were passing a farm-house, Fanny perceived by the smell that some one was frying crullers there.

She immediately ran down the lane to the house, and stuck her head in at the open window, and would not stir from the spot until the farmer's wife gave her a cruller. Then she went quickly back to the road, and behaved very properly all the rest of the way.

Fanny was such a good pony, with all her tricks, that the neighbors often used to borrow her. This Fanny did not think at all fair; and she soon found a way to put a stop to it. One warm summer day, the minister borrowed her in order to visit a sick man about two miles away. After several hours he returned, very warm and tired, walking through the dust, and leading Fanny, who came limping along, holding down her head, and appearing to be very lame.

She had fallen lame when only half-way to the sick man's house; and the good old minister had led her all the way, rather than ride her when she was lame. All the family gathered around Fanny to see where she was hurt, when Fanny tossed her head, kicked up her heels, and pranced off to the stable, no more lame than a young kitten. It had been all a trick to punish the minister for borrowing her. And it succeeded; for he never asked for Fanny again.

L. S. H.

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