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Frontispiece.
[Illustration: Mrs. Dudley stood by her little boy, looking from the
window.]
THE
Nest in the Honeysuckles,
AND OTHER STORIES.
[Illustration]
WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION.
Philadelphia:
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION,
No. 316 CHESTNUT STREET.
_NEW YORK:_ No. 147 NASSAU ST.
_BOSTON:_ No. 9 CORNHILL...._CINCINNATI:_ 41 WEST FOURTH ST.
_LOUISVILLE_: No. 103 FOURTH ST.
_Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by the
AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania._
* * * * *
_No books are published by the_ AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL
UNION _without the sanction of the Committee of Publication,
consisting of fourteen members, from the following denominations
of Christians, viz. Baptist, Methodist, Congregational,
Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Reformed Dutch. Not more
than three of the members can be of the same denomination, and no
book can be published to which any member of the Committee shall
object._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE NEST IN THE HONEYSUCKLES. 7
"MAY I POP SOME CORN?" 33
"WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER I SHOULD DO?" 36
THE BIRDS AND THE SNOW-STORM. 40
THE FIRST STRAWBERRY. 43
"I PRAYED ALL DAY FOR HELP." 44
"EVER SO MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS." 47
LILY AND HER DUCKLINGS. 51
PRAYING FOR RAIN. 56
THE GRAPE CLUSTERS. 62
"IT ALMOST MAKES ME CRY." 65
THE BOY WHO STEALS. 68
LOOK AT THE BIRDS. 73
THE LOST CHILD. 78
THE UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOUR. 83
THE BOY WHO KEPT HIS PURPOSE. 87
MARY'S STORY. 91
THE SUNNY FACE AND THE SHADY FACE; OR, JUNE AND NOVEMBER. 93
"IT ISN'T FAIR--I PEEPED." 96
THE CHRYSALIS. 99
CHRISTMAS AT THE COTTAGE. 102
I WILL CONQUER MYSELF. 106
SELFISH ELLA. 110
"OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN." 114
HATTIE AND HERBERT. 117
THE TWO WILLS. 119
"BLESS GOD FOR THIS DOLL." 122
BESSIE HARTWELL. 126
"MARY'S GREAT TREASURE." 131
"SUSAN WILL BE HAPPIER IF I GO WITH HER." 133
THE NEWS-BOYS' BANK. 135
IDA'S DRESS. 144
WHAT MADE WILLIE HAPPY. 148
DO YOU INTEND TO BE A GENTLEMAN? (A QUESTION FOR BOYS.) 150
GENEROUS NELLY; OR, THE WILLING MIND. 153
LOVEST THOU ME? 155
MY LITTLE BAG. 158
DO YOU LIKE YOUR SEAT? 160
THE LITTLE BEGGAR. 164
LITTLE CHARLEY. 170
DARLING WILLIE. 173
WIDOW CAHOON AND HER GRANDSON. 178
THE
NEST IN THE HONEYSUCKLES.
CHAPTER I.
[Illustration]
"Do come here, mother," said Eddie, carefully tip-toeing from the
window, and beckoning with his hand. "Here is something I want to show
you. Come carefully, or I am afraid you will frighten it."
Mrs. Dudley laid aside her book, and stepped cautiously forward, Eddie
leading the way back to the window. "What is it?" she inquired.
"It is a bird with straw in its mouth, and I do believe it is going to
build a nest."
Mrs. Dudley stood by her little boy a few minutes, looking from the
window. Presently a robin alighted on the walnut tree, directly before
them, with a bunch of dry grass in its mouth. It rested a few seconds,
and then flew in among the branches of a honeysuckle which twined
around the pillars, and crept over the top of the porch. A fine, warm
place it was for a nest, sheltered from the north winds, and from the
driving rains, and from the hot rays of the noon-day sun.
Eddie and his mother watched the bird for some time. It would bring
straws, and arrange them in its nest, as only a bird can; and then it
would away again, and come back, perhaps, with its bill covered and
filled with mud, which it used for mortar in fastening the materials
in their places. Then it would get in the nest, and, moving its feet
and wings, would make it just the right shape to hold the pretty eggs
she would lay in it, and the little robins she would love so well, and
feed so carefully.
The robin was industrious, and worked hard to get the house finished
in season. I think she must have been very tired when night came, and
she flew away to her perch to rest till morning. I do not see how she
could balance herself so nicely on one foot, as she slept with her
head turned back, and half-hidden beneath her wing.
Eddie often watched the robin during the day. He was careful not to
frighten it. "I wonder how the robin could find so nice a place. I
should not have thought it would have known about it,"--he said to his
mother, as he saw the bird fly in, almost out of sight, among the
clustering branches.
Mrs. Dudley told Eddie God taught the birds where to build their
nests, and that he took care of them, and provided food for them.
Is it not wonderful that God, who has built the world in which we
live, and all the bright worlds we can see in the sky, should attend
to the wants of the robins and sparrows, and other birds which he has
made? We should forget them, if we had much of importance to attend
to, or we should be weary of providing for their wants; but our
heavenly Father never forgets, and never grows weary. He hears the
ravens when they cry, and not even a sparrow falls to the ground
without his knowledge. "Are ye not much better than they?" our Saviour
said to his disciples, when endeavouring to teach them to trust in the
love and parental care of God, and not to be anxious in regard to
their temporal welfare.
If God so cares for the birds, whose lives are short, and who have no
souls to live in another world, will he not much more care for those
who are made in his image, and for whom the Saviour died?
No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly, who try
to obey his commandments, and look to Christ for salvation from sin. I
hope, my dear children, when you see the birds, you will remember
God's love to them and to you.
I have given you all I know of the history of one day of the robin's
life, but Eddie will observe it while it lives in its house in the
honeysuckle, and will tell me all he sees of its domestic
arrangements. I hope to tell you with what kind of a carpet it covers
the floor, and what it hangs on the walls, and how it brings up its
little children, if it should be so happy as to have any to gladden
its quiet home, and cheer it with their chattering tongues. I am sure
it will have pretty flowers and green leaves for pictures to look at,
painted by One whose skill no artist can rival; and it will need no
Cologne for perfume for the breath of the honeysuckle is more
delicious than any odour which the art of man could prepare.