20 Eclectic series.

Lesson iv.

CASTLE-BUILDING.

1.  “O pussy!” cried Herbert, in a voice of anger and dismay, as the blockhouse he was building fell in sudden ruin.  The playful cat had rubbed against his mimic castle,

Third reader. 21 and tower and wall went rattling down upon the floor. 2.  Herbert took up one of the blocks and threw it fiercely at pussy.  Happily, it passed over her and did no harm.  His hand was reaching for another block, when his little sister Hetty sprang toward the cat, and caught her up. 3.  “No, no, no!” said she, “you sha’n’t hurt pussy!  She did n’t mean to do it!” 4.  Herbert’s passion was over quickly, and, sitting down upon the floor, he covered his face with his hands, and began to cry. 5.  “What a baby!” said Joe, his elder brother, who was reading on the sofa.  “Crying over spilled milk does no good.  Build it up again.” 6.  “No, I won’t,” said Herbert, and he went on crying. 7.  “What’s all the trouble here?” exclaimed papa, as he opened the door and came in. 8.  “Pussy just rubbed against Herbert’s castle, and it fell down,” answered Hetty.  “But she did n’t mean to do it; she did n’t know it would fall, did she, papa?” 9.  “Why, no!  And is that all the trouble?”

22 Eclectic series. 10.  “Herbert!” his papa called, and held out his hands.  “Come.”  The little boy got up from the floor, and came slowly, his eyes full of tears, and stood by his father. 11.  “There is a better way than this, my boy,” said papa.  “If you had taken that way, your heart would have been light already.  I should have heard you singing over your blocks instead of crying.  Shall I show you that way?” 12.  Herbert nodded his head, and papa sat down on the floor by the pile of blocks, with his little son by his side, and began to lay the foundation for a new castle.

Lesson V.

CASTLE-BUILDING.  (CONCLUDED)

1.  Soon, Herbert was as much interested in castle-building as he had been a little while before.  He began to sing over his work.  All his trouble was gone.

Third reader. 23 2.  “This is a great deal better than crying, is n’t it?” said papa. 3.  “Crying for what?” asked Herbert, forgetting his grief of a few minutes before. 4.  “Because pussy knocked your castle over.” 5.  “Oh!” A shadow flitted across his face, but was gone in a moment, and he went on building as eagerly as ever. 6.  “I told him not to cry over spilled milk,” said Joe, looking down from his place on the sofa. 7.  “I wonder if you did n’t cry when your kite string broke,” retorted Herbert. 8.  “Losing a kite is quite another thing,” answered Joe, a little dashed.  “The kite was gone forever; but your blocks were as good as before, and you had only to build again.” 9.  “I do n’t see,” said papa, “that crying was of any more use in your case then in Herbert’s.  Sticks and paper are easily found, and you had only to go to work and make another kite.”  Joe looked down at his book, and went on reading.  By this time the castle was finished. 10.  “It is ever so much nicer than the one