52 CHILDREN IN MANUFACTORIES. see you, and then to find yourself deceived. Boys at school never think of or practise the simple rule of— 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you;' and this is one reason why, when they become men, they feel so little scruple in cheating and overreaching their fellow-men." 66 This conversation took place in the garden, while they were planting out some balm, and mint, and sage. When they had finished, Adam was desired to weed the asparagus beds: for," said Mr. Stock, we should never suffer weeds to spring higher than an inch, because the plants are much weakened by them." Adam did not much like weeding; and sometimes he would complain that it made his back ache. But his father soon convinced him how much happier his lot was than if he had been brought up a stocking-weaver or cotton-spinner, when he would have been confined in a close room, breathing over and over again the breaths of a hundred other laborers, many of them unhealthy; and that he would have been compelled to keep at this work for nearly sixteen hours out of the twenty-four. "You never worked for sixteen hours together, in your life, Adam," said Mr. Stock; "but there are thousands of poor little boys, younger than you, who do so every day. Think, then, how rejoiced one of those poor, pale, and sickly little creatures would be to come and take your place! think how happy he would be to breathe the sweet air we are now breathing; and to take the delightful walks we do so frequently. Whenever you feel discontented, and any thing crosses you, always think of that pretty little verse you used to repeat when you were much younger, and then, I believe, did not know its meaning; now you do: WEEDING.CATERPILLARS. 'Not more than others I deserve, Yet God has given me more; 53 This rebuke made Adam look very serious; but as he was a boy of a most generous disposition, he set to work with all his might, and pleased his father very much by the quickness with which he had finished weeding the bed: who, for a reward, allowed him to sit up to supper and have poached eggs and salad, and a good draught of home-brewed bottled ale. On the following day they planted out in rows their first crop of broccoli; and Mr. Stock sowed some for a second crop. Then Adam was shown how to tie up the leaves of the most forward early cabbages, in order to make them come into heart more quickly. After that they planted out the other cabbages from the seedbeds; such as the sugar-loaf cabbage; the red cabbage for pickling; and the savoys. When this task was finished, Mr. Stock, smiling, said, “Come, Adam, I have more weeding for you." "Very well, papa," said he, "I don't mind it." So they both went to work at the bed of early carrots; and Mr. Stock thinned the plants where too many had been sown together. And those which he pulled up, Adam carried to the rabbits and pigs. He was then desired to tell his sisters, when they had finished their morning's work and lessons, to come into the garden and help to pick the caterpillars, and slugs, and snails, from the cabbages and apple-trees. In the course of an hour they had collected a watering-pot nearly half full. These they took into the poultry-yard, and they furnished a hearty meal to the ducks and chickens. They continued to do so every day for an hour or two, and 54 CAULIFLOWERS.-BEANS. in the course of a few weeks their father pointed out to them the benefit they had rendered the garden, by desiring them to observe a neighbor's trees and plants, which were almost stripped bare by those destroying vermin, while their own looked beautifully fresh and clean. The next job for Adam and his father, was to plant out the cauliflowers from the seed-bed in rows, in the same manner as they did the cabbages. The very early ones, which had been planted under handglasses, they earthed up, and raised the glasses a little, to give them air. They must not be raised too high," said Mr. Stock; "for if we should have any frosty mornings, which it is very probable we shall have, they will either be killed or much checked." Then Adam was allowed to sow mustard and cress, and to dig up the old beds after he had cut a sufficient quantity for dinner. In the middle of the day, when the weather was mild, the cucumber-frames were opened to inure the plants to the air, and in case there should be too much heat from the manure. But they were carefully shut up again in the evenings. They next sowed some endive-seed, which makes such pleasant winter salad. Then Adam was desired to take the line and hoe, and make some small trenches for sowing kidney and scarlet beans. His father had before shown him how to use the line, and how far apart to make the trenches. With a little assistance he managed very well: and when his father had sown one trench, he sowed another exactly like him. After this they weeded and thinned the onion-beds; also the lettuces; and those which they pulled out they gave to the pigs and rabbits. They also tied up the most forward to make their hearts fuller and of more pleasant flavor. While Mr. Stock was sticking his early peas and Adam was bringing the sticks to him, they heard the cuckoo for the first time. The well-known voice of the pleasant messenger, that comes to tell us he has brought with him the spring weather and the bright flowers, reminded Mr. Stock of the following beautiful verses of a little poem, which he repeated to Adam, and told him he should learn it : "O, blithe new-comer! I have heard, O, cuckoo! shall I call thee bird, While I am lying on the grass, Thy loud note smites my ear! The same which in my schoolboy days Which made me look a thousand ways; And I can listen to thee yet; Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget That golden time again."-Wordsworth. Adam wanted to know the meaning of the word "blithe." His father told him it meant glad, joyful, brisk. He then said, he could understand the poem, and thought it very pretty, all except the last part; and he did not know what that meant. His father then told him that the poet intended to say, that he could "lie and listen" to the happy bird till he fancied himself a thoughtless, careless, and merry schoolboy again. He calls that the "golden time” of life; "and when you are a man, Adam," said Mr. Stock, “you will think so too. You will never know how truly happy you now are, till the sorrows, and troubles, and 56 MIGRATION OF BIRDS cares of life come upon you. I used to think, when I was a little boy, how happy I should be, if I were a man; and now that I am a man, I would give all that I am worth to be a little boy again. I know you cannot believe what I tell you, but you will think differently when you grow up. Now fetch your hat and let us take a walk: we have not been out this week. I have two or three places to call at in the village; and when I shall have finished what I have to do there, we will go into the fields. Ask your mamma and sisters if they will not go with us.' In a few minutes the whole party were ready, and set out. On the road they observed, now and then, a solitary swallow darting by them. Mr. Stock said, they were the first he had seen that year. Adam wished to know where they came from. "It is not clearly ascertained," said his father. "However, they travel many hundred miles to visit us. It is supposed by some that they go to the continent of Africa; because, in the autumn, large flocks have been seen flying over Gibraltar, and across the straits to that continent. During the long continuance of stormy winds which sometimes happen while they are migrating, the poor little things are so worn out with fatigue, that they have been known to settle upon the rigging of ships, and suffer themselves to be taken by the sailors with the hand.* They are pretty pleasant birds to think of;—always following the sunshine and fine weather. It is curious to notice them while they are building their nests, how very quick and skilful they are; also to observe those sly rogues, the sparrows, watching them from the house The migration of English birds, particularly of the swallow, is largely treated of in White's History of Selborne.-EDS. |