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them up for lost. Hilga grew up to be a teacher of her poor ignorant people, though the Bible was the only book she ever studied. But it had made her wise unto salvation. When you see the Northern Lights again, I hope they will remind you of the faith of the little Laplander.

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Branch'-es Wrapped

No'-tice Touch'-ing

Ear'-ache

Chest'-nut Nice'-ly
Halves Squeezed

Pen'-knife Spoilt
Smooth'-ly To-geth'-er

Big'-ger Chos'-en Cu'-ri-ous Sun'-shine

"I do think, Willy," said his mother to him one morning in the early part of spring, "that the trees will soon be in leaf." 'But, mamma," replied Willy, "the trees look as if they were nothing but dry sticks, just as they have been all the winter. I cannot see any thing on them like leaves or flowers." "I believe

that you can see as well as I can; but then you are not so much used to take notice of what you see. When I was a little child like you, I did not observe what happened in the spring, but when I grew older I did; and I saw that every spring the trees, which had looked all the winter as if they had been dead, came out into leaf. The next spring I watched the trees to see when they would come into leaf again; and then I observed, that at the end of the dry branches there were little round buds not much bigger than

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a pin's head, and when the weather was warm, these little buds grew larger." "And are these little

buds upon the trees now, mamma ?" they tell me that there will soon be flowers."

"They are; and leaves, and then

Some days afterwards, when the buds on the trees had grown much larger, his mamma gathered some of them to show Willy the little leaves and flowers inside. "How sticky it feels!" said he, as he took into his hand one of these large buds; "I think it is dirty." "No," replied his mother, "this sticky stuff comes from the inside of the bud, and covers the inside all over, to prevent the rain from touching the bud, for the rain would hurt it." "Now let us see what there is inside, mamma," said Willy.

When they reached home, his mamma took all the buds she had gathered out of the paper in which she had wrapped them, and laid them on a table; and having chosen one of the largest of the buds of the horsechestnut tree, she cut it into two halves with a penknife, which, being sharp, cut it very smoothly. "Look, mamma," said Willy, "there are no leaves nor flowers!" "There is something," replied she, "that would have grown into leaves and flowers, if the bud had remained on the tree." She then picked out the inside of the bud with the point of the knife, and showed Willy some little things shaped like leaves, but they were not green. "How curious!" said he; "and what is this white stuff sticking about the little leaves ? it looks like bits of cotton, such as you put in my ear when I had the earache to keep it warm. Oh, this is to keep the little buds warm though it is not cotton."

As she picked out the leaves, she made Willy observe how nicely they were folded over each other, and how closely they stuck together. "If they were not so well squeezed together," said Willy, "they could never

all be packed up in this bud, though it is a large one. And what is the cover made of, mamma ?" "It is made of little leaves also." "But they are hard and do not look at all like the little leaves inside." "No, because the cold weather spoilt them; so, instead of growing into leaves, they became brown and hard; but you see they do very well to cover up the others, and keep them warm.' "Oh yes, mamma, just like my brown greatcoat; but now, pray show me the flower."

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"Here it is," said she, taking something out of the middle of the bud; "you can just see the shape. This would have grown into a pretty bunch of white and pink flowers. When the buds on the tree burst open, and you see the leaves and the flower growing, do you think you will know their shape again?" "Oh yes, mamma; only they will be a great deal bigger.' "The buds will grow larger and larger every day," said his mamma, "till at last the covering will be too small to hold them; then it will burst open; and the little leaves will be green, and spread themselves out, and after that the flowers will blow, and look beautiful. But a great many days must pass first; for they must have rain to water them, and sunshine to warm them and make them grow."

Mrs. Marcet.

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Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;

Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view.

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"What have you got in the basket ?" said Willy to the gardener one day in summer: they look like great balls to play with ?" "Oh no," replied the gardener;

they are cabbages for dinner."

"How I should like

to have one to roll about!" said Willy.

His mamma allowed him to take one, and he played with it for some time; he could only roll it on the ground, for it was too heavy to toss up in the air. When he was tired of this, he sat down and began to examine how it was made; and, for this purpose he did as most children do, he began pulling it to pieces. He soon called out to his mother. "Do come and see

my ball; it is made all of great leaves folded one over the other. Why, mamma, it is just like the buds we used to cut open in the spring, only a great deal larger."

"That cabbage is really a bud," said his mother. "Is it indeed ?" replied Willy, astonished to see a bud so prodigiously large. "I wonder whether there is a flower in the inside;" and he went on tearing off the leaves to get to the middle. "Here is Mark coming," said his mamma, "who will cut it open with his gardenknife." Mark cut the cabbage in two through the middle in an instant; and Willy and his mamma looked for the flower, or rather the little thing which was one 'day to grow into a flower; but they could not find it out, and his mamma told him that he must remember to and see the flower when the bud was open and the flower blown.

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"Mamma," said Willy, "what a great tree these large buds must grow upon! I should not like to walk under the tree, for if the wind blew, and these heavy buds were to fall upon our heads, we should be sadly bruised." 66 They grow on no tree my dear, but each bud has a stalk and a root all to itself." She then took Willy to the bed of cabbages, and pulled up one to show him the stalk and the roots. Willy was quite surprised to see a large bud like the cabbage growing in the ground, without any tree or branch to hang upon. “And look, mamma," said he, "here are a great many

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