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III. THE TWO RULES ADOPTED.

1. The next morning, while Howard was seeing how well he could write in his new copy-book, his mother called him to do an errand for her.

2. While he was gone, his sister Olive took the pen to write her name in a book which her father had bought for her the day before. In doing it a drop of ink fell from the pen onto the page where Howard had been writing.

3. Just then Howard returned, and, as he saw what had been done, he exclaimed, “O, Olive, you have made a great blot on my book!"

4. "I did not mean to do it, Howard, and I am very sorry for it," said Olive. But Howard was angry, and I fear would have answered his sister very roughly, had not Irving just then come up and touched him, saying as he did so "Take care, Howard; the thing is done, you know, and it can not be helped now."

5. It was hard for Howard to keep back the angry words, but he did; and soon he said, pleasantly,- "I know it was an accident, and I do not blame you any, Olive. Accidents will happen, I suppose." And that very day Howard had occasion to know more about it, for he tore his coat while climbing over a fence.

6. "O, now, that is too bad!" he said.

7. "But it can not be helped," said Irving, "and it can be mended."

8. "Yes, it can be mended, but mother has so much to do that I do not like to ask her to do it."

9. "Ask Olive, then," said Irving.

10. Howard knew that Olive very much disliked such work, and at first he was not disposed to ask her, but he finally decided to do so.

11. The boys found Olive busily at work on a piece of embroidery. Howard looked at Irving when he saw how his sister was employed, and was inclined to turn back, but Irving said, "Ask her."

12. "What do you want?" said Olive, in a pleasant

voice.

13. "I am almost afraid to tell you," said Howard. "It seems too bad to ask you to leave your work and do a job for me which I know you dislike."

14. "You are a long while in getting at what you want. I did not know that I was such a terrible creature that you were afraid of me. Come now, out with it," said Olive, laughing.

15. Howard held up his arm and showed the great rent he had made in his coat. "Well," said Olive, cheerfully, "take it off, and I will do my best to make it all right again."

16. "You are a dear, good sister," said Howard. "When I saw what you were doing, I did not want to ask you to mend it."

17. "And my good nature and my willingness to do it surprise you, do they? I have been thinking all day what I could do to repay you for not getting vexed at me this morning for blotting your writing book. Does this explain ? ”

18. "So much for our rules!" exclaimed Irving, triumphantly. "They work like a charm.”

19. "What rules?" inquired Olive.

20. "We must tell Olive all about it," said Irving. Then the boys told her the two rules, and how they had been trying them, and how well they worked.

21. Olive thought they were good rules to follow, and said that she would join the boys in keeping them. The three children then adopted the rules, being fully determined to follow them all their lives.

THE TWO RULES.

First: WE WILL NOT BE VEXED WITH ANY THING WE

CAN PREVENT.

Second: WE WILL NOT BE VEXED WITH ANY THING WE

CAN NOT PREVENT.

22. How would you like to join this N. B. V. (never be vexed) society? I think the children will take you in; but if they will not, here are the rules, and you can start a new one for yourselves.

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1. Angry words! O let them never
From thy tongue unbridled slip;
May the heart's best impulse ever
Check them ere they soil the lip.

2. Love is much too pure and holy,
Friendship is too sacred, far,
For a moment's reckless folly
Thus to desolate and mar.

3. Angry words are rashly spoken;
Bitterest thoughts are often stirred,
And brightest links of life are broken,
By a single angry word!

Write your name with kindness, love and mercy on the hearts of those you come in contact with, and you will never be forgotten.

V. A LESSON IN NATURAL HISTORY.

You can sit in the house
No doubt you are very

1. Come, my little friends, boys and girls, do not waste this fine spring weather. in winter, and on rainy days. busy in school, and learn a great deal from books; but take my advice, and learn something from Nature, too. Shall I tell you how to do it? One thing at a time is the rule to follow in learning.

2. You know there are animals which feel warm when you put your hand on them. Cats, dogs and birds are some of them. There are also animals which feel cold to the touch-such as fishes, turtles, lizards, toads, and frogs. This time we will study one that is coldblooded.

3. Take a pail and a dipper, and start for the nearest frog-pond. If you live in the city, the cars or the stage will take you out to some place where there is a little pond, or a large puddle of half-stagnant water, where the frogs live. The boys who live on the outskirts of the town can tell you where to go.

4. Bend over the water, and search closely for tadpoles. A tadpole is also called a pollywog. When a tadpole is very young, it looks like one of the commas in your book; but it would not do for a comma. It is a live thing, and its tail wriggles all the time; and this is the way it pushes its body along through the water.

5. This little tadpole was once an egg-a frog's egg. A frog's egg is a very small black ball, or point, in a mass of jelly as large as a pea. The jelly faded away, and a tail grew out of the little ball and began to wriggle, and lo, the egg had become a pollywog!

6. The pollywog is a baby frog, but its mother takes no care of it. It must swim about alone, and feed itself

on what it finds in the water. This baby frog grows larger very rapidly. Every day, if you should watch him closely, you would see that he was larger than he was the day before. He grows longer and longer.

7. His head does not seem to be much separated from his body. Where his neck should be he will put out little gills, with which he breathes by letting the water pass through them, just as fishes do. When he is a little older the gills go away, and his eyes grow large enough for you to see them. Now that the gills are gone, the pollywog breathes air with his lungs.

8. Next, his body grows thicker and his tail more slender, and when he is an inch and a half or two inches long he puts out two little legs, with little feet that have five toes on each; and then he swims about with his long tail and two little legs, and grows larger and larger. In a few days more he puts out two little arms, with five fingers on each hand, and he looks very much like a lizard.

9. What do you think the tadpole does next? He waits about a week, until he has grown as large as a small frog, and then, all of a sudden, he drops his tail off and he is a frog!

10. If, when you are looking in the pond or puddle, you see a frog's egg, or a fish-like animal, swimming about, waiting for his legs to grow, or one with two legs, or a lizard-like creature in whatever state you see the tadpole cautiously put your dipper into the water and catch him. Then put him into your pail, with some water, and carry him home. Do not be satisfied with one; take half-a-dozen or more.

11. At home, place them in a glass dish or in an earthen one, and set the dish in the sun; but do not put it where the dog may lap up the water, or the orderly housemaid empty it out. Then day by day watch your

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