Esther Bakewell

“ You could tell him that there is much grief and pain to be borne here—that few men who live here have such a round fat face as his, and that if he came he would have to work hard, and that care, and work, and pain might soon make him look thin, and lose his round bright face that shines so.
Yes, man in the moon, stay where you are. Do not long to have what you can not get, but rest there, and do what you have to do in peace and joy. ”

“ Now it is quite sure that no good boy could do this; for he must know that all things that have life can feel pain as much as he feels it.
All things that have life can feel pain in all parts of their frame; but there is one kind of pain which dogs, and cats, and such things as they, do not feel as man feels it—and that is pain of mind. Such pain as this is hurts much more than some pains that are felt to be hard to bear in the frame of man.
It was just such pain as this that Jane felt when she saw the head of her doll cut off. It was such pain as this that John Snap likes to give. ”

“ Saib felt that all joy for him in this world was gone: he felt there was no one for him to love now; and great was his grief when he thought of those who would not know what had been the fate of poor Boa and of him. He thought of these things, and his heart was sad. In this state of mind he was for two or three days, and the ship was still on the wide sea. ”

“ Mark would sit near her, and watch her, and read to her; and he would look so sad at times! When he was sad, Rose would do what she could to make her pain seem less than it was; but Rose's mouth could not prove the kind smile that was in her heart.
It was a long time ere Rose was quite well. Years are now flown in the stream of time since the day when Rose cut her lip.
The mark left by the cut is on her lip still. There it will be as long as she lives; and when she has a wish for that which she knows she ought not to have, that mark tells her to take care. ”

“ What is the bright moon, that shines so in the sky?
It is a world like ours, but not so large; and boys and girls may live there, and go to school and play, as they do on this earth. To boys or girls who live in the moon this earth of ours shines like a large moon, and must give a great deal more light to them than their moon does to us. They could see to read and write by the light of the earth quite well.
The moon gives light from the sun, and does not shine with its own light; and so the earth would give back the sun's light to the men in the moon. ”

“ Yes, he who has bought them! for these poor boys and girls can be bought and sold. They are put on board ships that sail far from the homes of their hearts; they are torn from all they like best in the world, from all they have had to love. Far, far off from these scenes do they sail, and with swoln hearts, and tears too big to fall, they feel that they must work or die. Some would think it a joy to die, for death would put an end to what they feel. They think, too, that when they die they will go back to the home round which their thoughts cling. ”

“ Boys and girls should do the same. They should not want to reach the man in the moon, but try to make the best of what they have. They may be sure that to be good and do as they are bid, will give them more joy than the most bright things they could find in the moon.
FRANK HART.
There is in this world one grief of a kind so sad that there are some who have not heard of it—there are still more who have not felt it. ”

“ There are land and sea, and hills and dales, in the moon; and the marks we see on it, like a face, are the lights and shades of the land, the hills, and the sea. There are hills too which are on fire, and they can be seen through a large spy-glass. ”

“ Stone was a hard man, he was a man who had so great a wish to be a rich man, that he could not say no, when there was gain in his way; and though he was at first in a great rage, the sum Mr. Bright said he would give for Saib was so large a one, that Mr. Stone did not say no.
What was the joy of poor Saib when told he should be free!—what was the joy of poor Saib when he found how much thought and care Mr. and Mrs. Bright had for him! ”

“ At length all the things were gone but the tart. "That won't go, I hope," thought John; and great was his joy when he heard Mr. Thorpe say in a loud clear tone, "John Snap, will you please to cut that tart?"
John, in great haste to do what he was told, took up the spoon—but the crust would not break: there was some hard thing, and the spoon would not go through the crust. One, twice, three times did he try. "Put a knife round the edge of the dish and clear off the crust," said Mr. Thorpe; "we must come to the fruit." ”

“ The coach came round to the door, and great was the joy of Jane.
Yet, though Jane was so glad, she would have been more glad if Charles might have gone too. But Charles could not go; he had not been a good boy, and Mrs. Thorpe said he must stay at home.
Jane gave one look at him as she left the room to put on her things, and as she got in the coach, a tear fell down her cheek.
But on went the coach, and soon Jane thought but of the toy shop, and of what toy she would like best to have. Round and round went the wheels, and soon they were put down at the door of the toy shop. ”

“ SAIB, THE BLACK BOY.
In a far-off part of the world there is a place where the boys and girls have not the white fair skins that boys and girls have here, but whose skins are quite black, and whose hair is short and thick, like black wool. Some of these poor things know not what it is to have a home, they know not what it is to have kind friends, they know not what it is to do as they would like to do: they must do all that he who has bought them bids them do. ”

“ What a sad sight it is to see a young child who does not know how to keep a check on the wish that tempts him to do wrong. The first rule that they who love a child should teach him, is the rule of self. ”

“ A child like Frank soon finds out if he is made to feel pain for his own good, or if he is made to feel it from some cross thought that may pass through the mind of some one who may not care for his good at all. ”

“ Rose would stand close to the shop, near a pane of glass through which she could see this box, and each time she saw it the more strong was her wish to have it for her own.
So much did Rose think of it that it might be said she had not a wish but what was shut up in that box.
"What shall I do for six pence?" said Rose one day; "that box will cost but six pence, and if I had six pence it would be my own."
"Why," said Mark Wood, "if you will sell your self to me, I will give you six pence."
"Sell my self! yes, that I will," said Rose. "Give me six pence, and I will sell my self at once." ”

“ The earth turns round each day, and goes round the sun once each year. In the day, that part of the world where we live points to the sun, and when the earth turns from the sun, it is night.
When the earth goes round the sun, the heat at one part of the year comes from the sun more straight to that part where we live, and makes the days hot and long, and the nights short, as in June; and when the light and heat do not come to us so straight, there are cold and frost and long nights. ”

“ Be sure, man in the moon, you will find peace and joy if you do all the good you can in that world of yours, and that if you pine and grieve to come here, you will do no good at all, and make your life sad. ”

“ Though John Snap was so bad, yet he could do and say things which made boys like to be with him. There was now and then a great deal of fun in what he said, and he could make boys laugh. All boys like to laugh, and few could fail to laugh at what John Snap said.
Thus, in time, they might have been led to like him, and then they would not have thought some of the things he did so bad as they were. It was the fear of this which made Mr. Thorpe tell Charles he did not wish him to play with John Snap. ”

“ It is this that makes girls and boys think more of what they want to do, than of what they ought to do; and each time they give way to it, they find it more hard not to yield the next time; and thus they go on till they are grown-up folks. They who would not like to grow up in this bad way must take great care while they are young not to think so much of self.
The sense of taste is the sense that a child likes best to use. It would be strange to see a child who did not like cake, or tart, or fruit, or most sweet things. ”

“ It is the air which makes sound. We could not hear men talk, nor bells ring, if the air did not bring the sound to our ears.
Of such great use is the air, though we can not see it, that no one thing could move, or be heard, or live, if it were not with us and round us. ”

“ Come, I shall put you on this hat of old Bet's, and you must wear this old shawl, and you must tuck up your frock, and go out to find the cress."
"Oh dear! oh dear!" said Rose; "you do not mean that I should do this?" ”

“ Lloyd saw them—when she knew that they were safe, she could not speak a word, but her look told a great deal—they felt that look, and they all said, "We have done wrong, but we will try not to do wrong more." ”

“ Soon there came a stream of light through a chink in the door: it grew more strong, till at length it came in the room in a full blaze. Ruth gave a quick glance, and saw that it was not Mrs. Grey, but Mrs. Grey's maid.
"Miss Ruth," said the maid, "I am sent to bid you go down stairs: the first course is come out of the room, and Mrs. Grey bids me tell you to go down to see the sweet things. You are to go at once." ”

“ They were good on the whole, but they had one fault.
Mrs. Lloyd had told them that she should not like them to go to a fair which was to be held on the tenth of June. It was now near that time, and they had a strong wish to go.
The tenth of June came, and the fair this year was most grand.
When they came to the front door, they saw such crowds of men, girls, and boys, that their wish to go was more strong than it had been.
Soon Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd went out, and left Paul, Charles, and Grace in the room. When they had been gone some time, Paul said to Grace, "Shall we take a walk?" ”

“ Grey did not wish her to go in. Once when she was near the door she thought she heard some one, and then she ran off as fast as she could. This she would not have done if she had not felt sure it was wrong to go in that room.
But now she was in! and what did she see there? Why, she saw the stand quite full of all sorts of nice sweet things. There were sponge cakes, and plum cakes, and queen cakes; there were two turn-outs, and whips and creams of all sorts; and there was a cake hid in red jam, with small thin white things put all up and down it, which stuck out. What could this be? ”

“ ONE FAULT LEADS TO A WORSE ONE.
John Gay was eight years old. He was not a good boy, for he now and then told what was not true, and that is not right, for all boys and girls should speak the truth.
One day when his Aunt was in the room, John came in, and he saw her with a plum cake in her hand. She told him when she left the room, that he must not touch. ”

“ We do not see the wind, but it can blow with such force as to throw down trees. When the wind blows it makes ships sail on the seas to all parts of the world, and brings them back home. It turns mills, to grind corn ”

“ My poor doll!"
The tone of Jane's voice, as she said this, made John go back. He could not bear to hear her. "Jane! Jane!" he said, "that doll's head will be the means to make me a good boy. I feel I could be good. I feel some thing that tells me so. I grieve for what I have done—I feel grief of such a kind as I have not felt till now."
Jane saw his face. When she saw his face, it told her so much that she said, "I will think of this no more."
PLAY NOT WITH FIRE.
Mr. and Mrs. Green had two girls, and their names were Kate and Anne. Kate was ten and Anne was eight years old. ”

“ Though in words of one syllable, "The Book of One Syllable" is not meant for a child when first he learns to read; it is meant for him when he knows such words at sight. The tales are told in these small words, that a child need not have to stop to spell, but that he may be led on and on till he comes to the end. ”