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Oh, where are the books?" they all said with one voice. John, who was a very good-natured man, as I have before said, smiled, and, stopping his horse, began to feel in his pockets; and soon brought out, from among other things, three little gilt books; the largest of which he gave to Lucy; the least to Henry, and the third to Emily, saying, "Here is one pennyworth-and here is two-penny worth-and here is three-penny worth."

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'Indeed, John, you are very good," said the children, "what beautiful books!"

"Here are many beautiful pictures in mine," said Henry: "it is about a covetous woman-The History of the Covetous Woman!' I never read that

story before."

"My book," said Emily, "is "The History of the Orphan Boy' and there are a great many pictures in it: the first is the picture of a funeral-that must be the funeral of the poor little boy's papa or mamma, I suppose."

"Let me see, let me see," said Henry, pretty! And what's your book, Lucy?”

"O how

"There are not many pictures in my book," said Lucy; "but there is one at the beginning;—it is the picture of a little boy reading to somebody lying in a bed; and there is a lady sitting by. The name of my book is, "The History of the Good Child, who was made the instrument of turning his Father and Mother to the Ways of Holiness.'

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"Oh! that must be very pretty ;" said Henry. By this time Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild were come up; "Oh, papa! Oh, mamma!" said the little ones, "what beautiful books John has brought!"

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Indeed," said Mr. Fairchild, when he had looked at them a little while, they appear to be very nice books; I see they are written in the fear of God; and the pictures in them are very pretty."

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Henry shall read them to us my dears," said

Mrs. Fairchild, "whilst we sit at work: I should like to hear them very much." "To-morrow," said Mr. Fairchild, looking at his wife, " we begin to make hay in the Primrose Meadow. What do you say? Shall we go after breakfast, and take a cold dinner with us, and spend the day under the trees at the corner of the meadow ? Then we can watch the haymakers, and Henry can read his books, whilst you and his sisters are sewing."

"O do let us go, mamma! do let us go!" said the children; "do, mamma, say yes."

"With all my heart, my dears," said Mrs. Fairchild.

So Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild and the children went home; and after they had ate their supper and prayed, they went to bed.

The next morning early, the children got everything ready to go into the Primrose Meadow. They had each of them a little basket, with a lid to it, in which they packed up their work and their new books: and soon as the family had breakfasted, they all set out for the Primrose Meadow. Mr. Fairchild, with a book in his pocket for his own reading; Mrs. Fairchild with her work-bag hanging on her arm; Betty with a basket of bread and cheese and a cold fruitpie; and the children with their work-baskets, and Emily's doll, for the little girls seldom went out without their doll. The Primrose Meadow was not a quarter of a mile from Mr. Fairchild's house: you had only the corner of a little copse to pass through before you were in it. It was called the Primrose Meadow, because every spring the first primroses in the neighbourhood appeared on a sunny bank in that meadow. A little brook of very clear water ran through the meadow, rippling over the pebbles; and there were many alders growing by the water-side.

The people were very busy making hay in the

meadow when Mr. Fairchild and his family arrived. Mrs. Fairchild sat down under the shade of a large oak tree which grew in the corner of the coppice; and Lucy and Henry, with Emily, placed themselves by her. The little girls pulled out their work, and Henry his new books. Mr. Fairchild took his book to a little distance, that he might not be disturbed by Henry's reading; and he stretched himself upon a green bank.

"Now, mamma," said Henry, are you ready to hear my story? And have you done fidgeting, sisters?"-for Lucy and Emily had been bustling to make a bed for their doll in the grass with their pocket-handkerchiefs.

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Brother," answered Lucy, "we are quite ready to hear you; read away; there is nothing now to disturb you, unless you find fault with the little birds who are chirping with all their might in these trees, and those bees which are buzzing amongst the flowers in the grass."

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"First, mamma," said Henry, "look at the picture at the beginning of the book: there are two cottages in the picture, with trees growing up behind them higher than the chimneys, and two little neat gardens before them; and there is a woman spinning at the door of one of the cottages; and another woman, with a baby in her arms, at the other."

"Let me see, brother," said Emily.

Why, you have seen it several times," said Henry; "and now I want to read."

"Still, my dear," said Mrs. Fairchild, "you might oblige your sister. Good manners and civility make everybody lovely, and are pleasing in the eyes of God. Have you forgotten Mrs. Goodriche's story of

Master Bennet?"

Henry immediately got up, and showed his sister the picture; after which he sat down again, and began to read as follows:

THE STORY OF THE COVETOUS WOMAN,
IN HENRY FAIRCHILD'S BOOK.

:

"On the high road which goes from Bridgenorth to Wellington, not half a mile out of the town of Bridgenorth, there formerly stood two very neat cottages at the back of them was a small orchard, and in the front two little gardens, with wickets opening towards the road. In these cottages lived two poor men, who supported themselves by working in the fields the name of one of these was Dobson; and the name of the other, Wray. These men were both married; Dobson's wife's name was Jane, and the name of Wray's wife was Kate. They were both clean, industrious women; they kept their houses very neat, and their clothes well patched; and what spare time they had they spent in spinning and knitting. I cannot tell you how much woollen-yarn they spun in a twelvemonth, nor how much knit stockings they sold in Bridgenorth market in one year.

"When Jane had been married two years, she had a little son born; after which she could not do so much as before but Kate went on spinning and knitting, till she had laid up as much as forty shillings, besides a stock of nice warm winter clothing in a chest. She had as many as a dozen pair of woollen stockings for herself and her husband; three or four good quilted petticoats, of her own spinning and quilting; as many stuff gowns, and a handsome scarlet cloak, of her own earning. These were all stored up in her chest ; and she often used to take them out and hang them to air, lest the moth should get into them.

"About this time, a poor widow in the neighbourhood died, leaving two little friendless girls behind her the eldest of these, whose name was Nancy, was placed by the parish under the care of Kate, who

received two shillings a week to find the poor child food and clothes; and the youngest, whose name was Sally, was placed under the charge of Jane. Nancy was a stout girl, and Kate made her work very hard, and gave her very little food, and scarcely any clothing to cover her; but Jane was kind to Sally, and, though she made her work, yet she fed and clothed her to the best of her power.

"One day in the winter, these two little orphans, Nancy and Sally, were playing in the road before the gates of the cottages, when they saw a very fine coach coming along the road. In the coach there was a lady, and a little child in the arms of a maid. The child was looking out of the window, holding in its hand a silver coral and bells, fastened to a long ribbon, which ought to have been tied round the child's waist, but by some accident the ribbon was become untied. The child was shaking the coral through the window; and as the carriage passed by the cottages, the child dropped the coral on the road. No one belonging to the carriage saw the coral fall; but Nancy and Sally saw it. They ran and picked it up, and called to the people in the carriage, but nobody heard them. They then ran after the carriage; but it went so quickly that it reached the town, and the lady was sitting in the window of the inn, when the poor little children came up with the coral, and presented it at the window to the lady. When the lady saw the coral, and heard how far the poor little girls had brought it, she sent her maid to the nearest shop, to buy as much flannel as would make two children's petticoats, and as much queen's stuff as would make two slips. The lady did not understand that the children were not living in the same house; otherwise she would have divided the flannel and stuff, and have given half to each child; but as it was, she gave all the flannel into the hands of Nancy; and all the stuff

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