VI.

  But you look very sad, pretty robin, I see,
  As you glance o’er the meadow, to yonder green tree;
  I fear I have thoughtlessly given you pain,
  And I will not prattle so lightly again.

VII.

  Go home, where your mate and your little ones dwell;
  Though I know where they are, yet I never will tell;
  Nobody shall injure that leaf-covered nest,
  For sacred to me is the place of your rest.

VIII.

Adieu! for you want to be flying away,
And it would be cruel to ask you to stay;
But come in the morning, come early, and sing,
For dearly I love you, sweet warbler of spring.

                      SOMETHING ABOUT CONSCIENCE: 
                         OR MR MASON’S STORY.

Two little boys, Robert and Samuel, were one day assisting the gardener about some flower-beds.  They were rather young to be of much service to the old man, and gave him some trouble, once in a while, by the clumsy way in which they did their work.  Still, they meant to please the gardener, and he ought not to have got out of patience, if they did now and then make a blunder.  Well, he was usually very patient and kind; but that day, for some reason or another, things did not go right with him at all.  Pianos and violins, though they sometimes make sweet music, get out of tune occasionally, and then, no matter what you try to play on them, nothing sounds well.  It is so with men and women too often; and with boys and girls, too, it is to be feared.  At any rate, it was so with Mr Mason’s gardener, at the time I speak of.  He was peevish and fretful, and said some harsh things to Robert, because he accidentally destroyed a fine tulip with his spade.  Robert cried, and said he did not mean to do it.  Then the old man was sorry, but, probably feeling too proud to confess it, he was silent for a long time.  By and by, however, he told Robert that his conscience troubled him on account of his speaking so unkindly, and he hoped the little boy would forgive him.  So you see the gardener was a good man, although he was hasty at that time.  Robert cheerfully forgave him, and things went on a good deal better.  The boys tried to be more careful, and the gardener tried to be more patient.

[Illustration:  THE GARDENER REPROVING ROBERT.]

Robert thought a good deal about the old man’s mention of conscience, and when he saw his father, he asked him what the conscience meant.

Robert’s father liked to have his children make such inquiries, and did all that he could to encourage them in doing so.