8.  ’And there would be no corn, if the birds did not kill the wheat-fly’s grubs.’

9.  When Harry heard all this, he made up his mind not to throw stones at the sparrows, as Jack wanted him to do.

A DAY IN THE COUNTRY.

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    1.  Where the bees and butterflies
          Skim the grassy down,
        Four merry little children
          Gathered from the town;

    2.  Ragged little Johnnie,
          And his brother Ben,
        With wild-flowers are laden,
          These merry little men. 
        Kate and Mat have posies
          Of colours bright and gay,
        For Tim, their tiny brother,
          At home obliged to stay.

    3.  They have roamed the meadow,
          They have scoured the wood,
        Seeking nuts and blackberries,
          For their pleasant food. 
        With their nuts and blackberries
          And bits of bread and cheese,
        On a mossy hedge-bank,
          Now they take their ease.

    4.  Drinking from the brooklet
          ’Neath the hawthorn tree,
        Clear it runs as crystal,
          Fresh and bright and free. 
        And the thrush sings loudly
          On the hawthorn spray,
        And the brooklet ever
          Makes music on its way.

[Illustration]

SOME HERBS.

stream through grav’-el mar’-ket tea lett’-uce tongue mus’-tard pow’-der sprin’-kled flan’-nel car’-ried pars’-ley thyme herbs sage

1.  A little stream ran through one of the farmer’s fields.  The water was so clear that you could see the sand and gravel at the bottom, and in it there grew plenty of water-cress.

[Illustration:  Water-cress.]

2.  Harry went one afternoon to help Johnny and Tom to pick it for market, and brought a big bunch home for tea.

3.  His mother had picked a lettuce from the garden, and some mustard and cress, and they were all put on one plate.

‘They bite my tongue,’ said Dora, ‘all but the lettuce.  I like it best.’

4.  ‘And I like the biting,’ said Harry.  ’Why is this called mustard, mother?’

’Because the yellow mustard comes from it.  The seeds are ground to powder.’

‘And we eat the leaves.  It is a useful plant.’

[Illustration:  Lettuce.]

5.  After tea, mother took some cress-seed and mustard-seed out of two little packets.  Then she cut up one or two corks, put them into a deep plate, filled it with water, and sprinkled seed on the cork.

6.  ‘This is for you, Harry,’ she said.  ’You will soon have a little crop of mustard and cress.  And here is one for Dora!’