Olive and Gertie were walking along a country road, and high up in the
sky a lark poured forth his sweet song.
"How beautifully that skylark sings," said Olive; "it is worth while to
come out into the country just to hear it."
"I did not hear it," said Gertie, swinging her parasol.
"It is there, right overhead," exclaimed Olive; "do look, Gertie; it
will drop like a stone when it gets nearer the ground."
"Oh! I cannot trouble to look up," replied Gertie, "it makes my neck
ache."
By-and-by they passed a field of oats, nearly ripe, and as the wind
swayed them to and fro, they made a pleasant rustling sound.
"How nice it is to hear the corn as it rustles in the wind," said Olive,
"and listen, Gertie, is not this a pretty tinkling sound?"
Olive had plucked one of the ears of oats, and was shaking its little
bells close to her friend's ear.
"It is nothing," said Gertie.
"To me it is lovely," replied Olive, "and the tinkle of the harebells is
just as sweet."
Then a bee went buzzing by, and Olive liked to hear its drowsy hum, but
Gertie did not notice it.
Presently they were on the edge of the cliffs, and could hear the splash
of the waves as they rolled in and broke on the beach.
"Surely you like to hear 'the song of the sea,'" said Olive, but Gertie
made no reply--she was thinking of something else.
Do not be like Gertie, who seemed as if she had "No Ears," but, like
Olive, keep your ears open to all the sweet and pleasant sounds.
The fire makes a pleasant sound as it burns and crackles in the grate,
and who does not like to hear the "singing" of the kettle on the hob?
How musical is the flow of the stream, and do you not love to hear the
splash of the oars as they dip in the river? or the sound made by the
bow of the boat as it cuts through the water? Some people like to hear
the "thud" of a great steamer as it ploughs its way through the sea, and
everybody loves the sound of the wind as it whispers in the trees.
The sounds that we hear in the fields and woods are called "voices of
nature," let us listen to them, for they speak to us of God's love.
(Blackboard.)
Listen to the Voices of Nature;
They Speak of God's Love.
(Let the children enumerate some of the pleasant
"sounds" mentioned, and the teacher might then
write them on the Blackboard.)