3.  “A penny a bunch is the price,
I think you’ll not find it too much;
They are tied up so even and nice,
And ready to light with a touch.”

4.  I asked, “’What’s your name, little girl?” “’Tis Mary,” said she, “Mary Dow;”

        Thirdreader. 171

And carelessly tossed off a curl,
That played on her delicate brow.

5.  “My father was lost on the deep;
The ship never got to the shore;
And mother is sad, and will weep,
To hear the wind blow and sea roar.

6.  “She sits there at home, without food,
Beside our poor, sick Willy’s bed;
She paid all her money for wood,
And so I sell matches for bread.

7.  “I’d go to the yard and get chips,
But then it would make me too sad
To see the men building the ships,
And think they had made one so bad.

8.  “But God, I am sure, who can take
Such fatherly care of a bird,
Will never forget nor forsake
The children who trust in his word.

9.  “And now, if I only can sell
The matches I brought out to-day,
I think I shall do very well,
And we shall rejoice at the pay.”

        172 Eclectic series,

10.  “Fly home, little bird,” then I thought,
“Fly home, full of joy, to your nest;”
For I took all the matches she brought,
And Mary may tell you the rest.

Lesson LXVI.  The little loaf. 1.  Once when there was a famine, a rich baker sent for twenty of the poorest children in the town, and said to them, “In this basket there is a loaf for each of you.  Take it, and come back to me every day at this hour till God sends us better times.” 2.  The hungry children gathered eagerly about the basket, and quarreled for the bread, because each wished to have the largest loaf.  At last they went away without even thanking the good gentleman. 3.  But Gretchen, a poorly-dressed little girl, did not quarrel or struggle with the rest,

        Thirdreader. 173

but remained standing modestly in the distance.  When the ill-behaved girls had left, she took the smallest loaf, which alone was left in the basket, kissed the gentleman’s hand, and went home. 4.  The next day the children were as ill behaved as before, and poor, timid Gretchen received a loaf scarcely half the size of the one she got the first day.  When she came home, and her mother cut the loaf open, many new, shining pieces of silver fell out of it.

174 Eclectic series. 5.  Her mother was very much alarmed, and said, “Take the money back to the good gentleman at once, for it must have got into the dough by accident.  Be quick, Gretchen! be quick!” 6.  But when the little girl gave the rich man her mother’s message, he said, “No, no, my child, it was no mistake.  I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf to reward you.  Always be as contented, peaceable, and grateful as you now are.  Go home now, and tell your mother that the money is your own.”