LESSON LXVIII.  THE VIOLET.

1.  Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view

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2.  And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its colors bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower
Instead of hiding there.

3.  Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed,
And there it spread its sweet perfume,
Within the silent shade.

4.  Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility. 
Jane Taylor.

180 Eclectic series.  Lesson LXIX.  No crown for me. 1.  “Will you come with us, Susan?” cried several little girls to a schoolmate.  “We are going to the woods; do come, too.” 2.  “I should like to go with you very much,” replied Susan, with a sigh; “but I can not finish the task grandmother set me to do.” 3.  “How tiresome it must be to stay at home to work on a holiday!” said one of the girls, with a toss of her head.  “Susan’s grandmother is too strict.” 4.  Susan heard this remark, and, as she bent her head over her task, she wiped away a tear, and thought of the pleasant afternoon the girls would spend gathering wild flowers in the woods. 5.  Soon she said to herself, “What harm can there be in moving the mark grandmother put in the stocking?  The woods must be very beautiful to-day, and how I should like to be in them!” 6.  “Grandmother,” said she, a few minutes afterwards, “I am ready, now.”  “What, so

Third reader. 181 soon, Susan?” Her grandmother took the work, and looked at it very closely. 7.  “True, Susan,” said she, laying great stress on each word; “true, I count twenty turns from the mark; and, as you have never deceived me, you may go and amuse yourself as you like the rest of the day.” 8.  Susan’s cheeks were scarlet, and she did not say, “Thank you.”  As she left the cottage, she walked slowly away, not singing as usual. 9.  “Why, here is Susan!” the girls cried, when she joined their company; “but what is the matter?  Why have you left your dear, old grandmother?” they tauntingly added. 10.  “There is nothing the matter.”  As Susan repeated these words, she felt that she was trying to deceive herself.  She had acted a lie.  At the same time she remembered her grandmother’s words, “You have never deceived me.” 11.  “Yes, I have deceived her,” said she to herself.  “If she knew all, she would never trust me again.” 12.  When the little party had reached an open space in the woods, her companions ran about enjoying themselves; but Susan sat on

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the grass, wishing she were at home confessing her fault. 13.  After a while Rose cried out, “Let us make a crown of violets, and put it on the head of the best girl here.” 14.  “It will be easy enough to make the crown, but not so easy to decide who is to wear it,” said Julia. 15.  “Why, Susan is to wear it, of course,” said Rose:  “is she not said to be the best girl in school and the most obedient at home?” 16.  “Yes, yes; the crown shall be for Susan,”