A little girl, I also knew,
With cheeks of red, and eyes of blue;
And though she was at learning quick,
She had full many an awkward trick.
She ate so fast,--so often spoke,--
Mamma was much afraid she'd choke;
Her spice she ate, too, with such haste,
She would not let her brother taste.
And habits such as these 'twas thought,
She learn'd from what her nurse had taught.[4]
This little girl would often climb,
And so it happen'd that, one time,
Attempting more than she was able,
She fell against a dining table.
Loud did she cry "I've hurt my head!
O, naughty table!" then she said,
And sobbing loud, and crying more,
Began to beat the table sore.
Mamma was sadly griev'd to find
Her darling to such tricks inclin'd,
But watchful care, with language mild,
Soon check'd this temper in the child.
"Such foolish ways, my Harry! shock!
_He_ knows a table feels no knock:
And, if it did, he would not _like_,
He would not even _dare_, to strike.
He knows the maxim of the good--
'Do as you wish that others should.'
Revenge makes naughty passions grow,
It plants the root of endless wo;
A boy that follows long this plan,
Will fight when he is grown a man."
[4] In order to induce children to take their food, some persons are
apt to say, "Come, my dear, make haste, or brother (or sister) shall
have it! no, no, brother! you shall not have it!" Now every expression
of this kind will infallibly create selfishness and greediness. A mode
of conduct directly opposite should be enforced; that children may be
taught to find their chief happiness in promoting the pleasure of their
brothers and sisters, even by the sacrifice of their own.