1. "Beg, Frisk, beg," said little Harry, as he sat on an inverted basket,
at his grandmother's door, eating, with great satisfaction, a porringer of
bread and milk. His little sister Annie, who had already dispatched her
breakfast, sat on the ground opposite to him, now twisting her flowers
into garlands, and now throwing them away.
2. "Beg, Frisk, beg!" repeated Harry, holding a bit of bread just out of
the dog's reach; and the obedient Frisk squatted himself on his hind legs,
and held up his fore paws, waiting for master Harry to give him the
tempting morsel.
3. The little boy and the little dog were great friends. Frisk loved him
dearly, much better than he did anyone else; perhaps, because he
recollected that Harry was his earliest and firmest friend during a time
of great trouble.
4. Poor Frisk had come as a stray dog to Milton, the place where Harry
lived. If he could have told his own story, it would probably have been a
very pitiful one, of kicks and cuffs, of hunger and foul weather.
5. Certain it is, he made his appearance at the very door where Harry was
now sitting, in miserable plight, wet, dirty, and half starved; and that
there he met Harry, who took a fancy to him, and Harry's grandmother, who
drove him off with a broom.
6. Harry, at length, obtained permission for the little dog to remain as a
sort of outdoor pensioner, and fed him with stray bones and cold potatoes,
and such things as he could get for him. He also provided him with a
little basket to sleep in, the very same which, turned up, afterward
served Harry for a seat.
7. After a while, having proved his good qualities by barking away a set
of pilferers, who were making an attack on the great pear tree, he was
admitted into the house, and became one of its most vigilant and valued
inmates. He could fetch or carry either by land or water; would pick up a
thimble or a ball of cotton, if little Annie should happen to drop them;
or take Harry's dinner to school for him with perfect honesty.
8. "Beg, Frisk, beg!" said Harry, and gave him, after long waiting, the
expected morsel. Frisk was satisfied, but Harry was not. The little boy,
though a good-humored fellow in the main, had turns of naughtiness, which
were apt to last him all day, and this promised to prove one of his worst.
It was a holiday, and in the afternoon his cousins, Jane and William, were
to come and see him and Annie; and the pears were to be gathered, and the
children were to have a treat.
9. Harry, in his impatience, thought the morning would never be over. He
played such pranks--buffeting Frisk, cutting the curls off of Annie's
doll, and finally breaking his grandmother's spectacles--that before his
visitors arrived, indeed, almost immediately after dinner, he contrived to
be sent to bed in disgrace.
10. Poor Harry! there he lay, rolling and kicking, while Jane, and
William, and Annie were busy about the fine, mellow Windsor pears. William
was up in the tree, gathering and shaking; Annie and Jane catching them in
their aprons, and picking them up from the ground; now piling them in
baskets, and now eating the nicest and ripest; while Frisk was barking
gayly among them, as if he were catching Windsor pears, too!
11. Poor Harry! He could hear all this glee and merriment through the open
window as he lay in bed. The storm of passion having subsided, there he
lay weeping and disconsolate, a grievous sob bursting forth every now and
then, as he heard the loud peals of childish laughter, and as he thought
how he should have laughed, and how happy he should have been, had he not
forfeited all this pleasure by his own bad conduct.
12. He wondered if Annie would not be so good-natured as to bring him a
pear. All on a sudden, he heard a little foot on the stair, pitapat, and
he thought she was coming. Pitapat came the foot, nearer and nearer, and
at last a small head peeped, half afraid, through the half-open door.
13. But it was not Annie's head; it was Frisk's--poor Frisk, whom Harry
had been teasing and tormenting all the morning, and who came into the
room wagging his tail, with a great pear in his mouth; and, jumping upon
the bed, He laid it in the little boy's hand.
14. Is not Frisk a fine, grateful fellow? and does he not deserve a share
of Harry's breakfast, whether he begs for it or not? And little Harry will
remember from the events of this day that kindness, even though shown to a
dog, will always be rewarded; and that ill nature and bad temper are
connected with nothing but pain and disgrace.
DEFINITIONS.--l. In-vert'ed, turned upside down. Por'rin-ger, a small
metallic dish. 3. Rec-ol-lect'ed, brought back to mind. 5. Plight,
condition. 6. Pen'sion-er, one who is supported by others. 7. Pil'fer-ers,
those who steal little things. Vig'i-lant, watchful. Intimates, those
living in the same house. 8. Holiday, a day of amusement. 9. Buf'fet-ing,
striking with the hand. 11. Sub-sid'ed, become quiet. For'feit-ed, lost.
14. Con-nect'ed, united, have a close relation.
XXVIII. THE VOICE OF THE GRASS. (83)
By Sarah Roberts.
1. Here I come, creeping, creeping, everywhere;
By the dusty roadside,
On the sunny hillside,
Close by the noisy brook,
In every shady nook,
I come creeping, creeping, everywhere.
2. Here I come, creeping, creeping everywhere;
All round the open door,
Where sit the aged poor,
Here where the children play,
In the bright and merry May,
I come creeping, creeping, everywhere.
3. Here I come, creeping, creeping, everywhere;
You can not see me coming,
Nor hear my low, sweet humming,
For in the starry night,
And the glad morning light,
I come, quietly creeping, everywhere.
4. Here I come, creeping, creeping, everywhere;
More welcome than the flowers,
In summer's pleasant hours;
The gentle cow is glad,
And the merry birds not sad,
To see me creeping, creeping, everywhere.
5. Here I come, creeping, creeping, everywhere;
When you're numbered with the dead,
In your still and narrow bed,
In the happy spring I'll come,
And deck your narrow home,
Creeping, silently creeping, everywhere.
6. Here I come, creeping, creeping, everywhere;
My humble song of praise,
Most gratefully I raise,
To Him at whose command
I beautify the land,
Creeping, silently creeping, everywhere.