When I went from home, all followed me to the outer gate, and looked after me, till the carriage, or horse, was out of sight.  At the time appointed for my return, all were prepared to meet me; and, if it were late at night, they sat up as long as they were able to keep their eyes open.  This love of parents, and this constant pleasure at home made them not even think of seeking pleasure abroad; and they, thus, were kept from vicious playmates and early corruption.

This is the age, too, to teach children to be trustworthy, and to be merciful and humane.  We lived in a garden of about two acres, partly kitchen-garden with walls, partly shrubbery and trees, and partly grass.  There were the peaches, as tempting as any that ever grew, and yet as safe from fingers as if no child were ever in the garden.  It was not necessary to forbid.  The blackbirds, the thrushes, the white-throats, and even that very shy bird the goldfinch had their nests and bred up their young ones in great abundance, all about this little spot, constantly the play-place of six children; and one of the latter had its nest and brought up its young ones in a raspberry-bush, within two yards of a walk, and at the time that we were gathering the ripe raspberries.  We give dogs, and justly, great credit for sagacity and memory; but the following two most curious instances, which I should not venture to state, if there were not so many witnesses to the facts, in my neighbours at Botley, as well as in my own family, will show, that birds are not, in this respect, inferior to the canine race.  All country people know that the skylark is a very shy bird; that its abode is the open fields; that it settles on the ground only; that it seeks safety in the wideness of space; that it avoids enclosures, and is never seen in gardens.  A part of our ground was a grass-plot of about forty rods, or a quarter of an acre, which, one year, was left to be mowed for hay.  A pair of larks, coming out of the fields into the midst of a pretty populous village, chose to make their nest in the middle of this little spot and at not more than about thirty-five yards from one of the doors of the house, in which there were about twelve persons living, and six of these children, who had constant access to all parts of the ground.  There we saw the cock rising up and singing, then taking his turn upon the eggs; and by and by we observed him cease to sing, and saw them both constantly engaged in bringing food to the young ones.  No unintelligible hint to fathers and mothers of the human race, who have, before marriage, taken delight in music.  But the time came for mowing the grass! I waited a good many days for the brood to get away, but at last I determined on the day; and if the larks were there still, to leave a patch of grass standing around them.  In order not to keep them in dread longer than necessary, I brought