Chapter C: D. B

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE GRASSHOPPER.

"PRETTY Butterfly, stay!
Come down here and play,"
A Grasshopper said,
As he lifted his head.
"Oh, no! and oh, no!
Daddy Grasshopper, go!
Once you weren't so polite,
But said, 'Out of my sight,
You base, ugly fright!'"
"Oh, no! and oh, no!
I never said so,"
The Grasshopper cried:
"I'd sooner have died
Than been half so rude.
You misunderstood."
"Oh, no! I did not;
'Twas near to this spot:
The offence, while I live,
I cannot forgive."
"I pray you explain
When and where such disdain,
Such conduct improper,
Was shown by this Hopper."
"I then was a worm:
'Tis a fact, I affirm,"
The Butterfly said,
With a toss of her head.
"In my humble condition,
Your bad disposition
Made you spurn me as mean,
And not fit to be seen.
In my day of small things
You dreamed not that wings
Might one day be mine,--
Wings handsome and fine,
That help me soar up
To the rose's full cup,
And taste of each flower
In garden and bower.
This moral now take
For your own better sake:
Insult not the low;
Some day they may grow
To seem and to do
Much better than you.
Remember; and so,
Daddy Grasshopper, go!"

EMILY CARTER.

THE PET PIGEON.

WHEN I was about nine years old, my father and mother were living in a Southern city; and, as I had been very ill for a long time, I was taken from school, and permitted to do as I liked.

In one of my walks I met an old colored woman, who took quite a fancy to me; and once, when I was sick at home, she came to see me, bringing as a present a young pigeon. Its feathers were not grown enough to show its color; but it proved to be brown and white.

I was very much grieved when my mother said that she could not have a pigeon kept in the house; but my father persuaded her to indulge me till I was able to go out again; and then my pet gave so little trouble that nobody objected to him.

For the first two or three weeks, he was put at night in another room; but I begged so hard that finally "Pidgy," as I called him, was allowed to roost on top of the wardrobe in my bed-room.

The first time he saw me asleep, he seemed very much alarmed (so my mother told me); but he settled down on my shoulder, and kept very quiet till I awoke. This he always did after that morning, sometimes waiting more than two hours. After amusing myself with him till it was time to get up, I used to give him a large basin of water, into which he would jump with great delight; and he would be making his toilet while I was making mine.

For two or three months I kept his wings clipped, so that he could not fly far. When I went out for a walk, I generally took him, either in my arms or perched on my hand; and thus I and my pet became known all over the neighborhood; and, when my little playmates invited me to visit them, an invitation was always sent for "Lillie and her pigeon."

He followed me everywhere. If I was reading, he rested on my chair; if playing on the piano, he would listen attentively: indeed he acquired such a taste for music, that the only time he ever seemed willing to leave me was to perch upon the foot of a gentleman who was singing very finely.

I taught him a number of tricks, such as bringing me any thing that he could carry, lying down very still till I told him to get up, and running over the piano-keys to make music for himself.

During the two years that Pidgy and I enjoyed so much together, he never fed from any hand but mine; and once, when I staid from home over night, he would not eat at all, but pecked at my mother and sister so that they were quite provoked with him. On my return, he flew to meet me with an angry "coo," his feathers all ruffled up, as if trying to reprove me for my neglect.

What finally became of my pet I never knew. I had him out on the porch, one day, and, as I ran into the house for a few minutes, the door was blown to, so that he could not follow me. A boy caught him up, and was seen running away with his prize. Every effort was made to find him; but I never saw my dear little pigeon again.

ANNE PAGE.

EIGHTH LESSON IN ASTRONOMY.

HOW shall I make such little folks understand that the sun and the stars really stand still, when they seem to take a journey across the sky every day? Perhaps the best way will be to make a little game of it. We will explain it with boys.

I want a boy to represent the earth, and as many as can be found for sun and stars: there is no danger of too many. Now, the fattest boy of all must be the earth, and stand in the middle. We want him fat and round, because the earth is as round as an orange. (We need not mind about the size of the stars: they always look small, they are so far off.)

All the other boys must stand about him, and stand still. If they are not satisfied with their places, they must not move; for they are fixed stars. That is right. I can imagine you now just as you are, the fat boy in the middle.

But _you_ must not stand still, fat boy, because I told the star-boys not to move. You are the earth, and must do what the earth does. Don't you know what it does? Oh! it does not run away. Come back, and I will tell you what it does. It turns around just as a top spins. That is right. Every time the earth turns, it makes a day and a night, by turning towards the sun, and away from it again.

Don't turn so fast, my dear: you make the days and nights too short, and you will be dizzy. Besides, you are turning the wrong way. The earth turns from west to east, and you must remember you are the earth, and not Charlie. Now go the other way, and more slowly, and keep your eyes on the little boys who are the sun and stars.

We will suppose now that Frank is the sun. There he is just behind you. He is shining now on the other side of the earth,--on your back. As you turn around to the left, to the east, you begin to see him: he rises. Now, as you turn more towards him, he seems to pass in front of you towards the west, and pretty soon he is out of sight. He has set. So much for the sun.

It is just the same if you look at the stars,--John, or Willie, or James. As you turn round they all seem to be going round you. Now can't you see, that, as the real earth turns around, the sun and stars about it seem to you to rise and set, although they stand still, like Frank and John and Willie and James.

A great many years ago, everybody supposed that the earth stood still, and the sun and stars revolved around it; but a wise man named Copernicus found out the mistake, and you had better call your game the Copernican game.