Various

“ I shall lie down and die.” ” Mary went to bed, and in the night the rain poured. The handkerchief was soaked as if somebody had been crying very much, when she went out to fetch it as soon as the sun shone. She remembered who was under the thimble. ”

“ On sunny days they carry their babies out, and let them lie in the sun. On cold days they take them downstairs, away from the cold wind and the rain. The worker ants are the nurses. Though the little ones are not theirs, they love them and care for them as dearly as if they were.”
“Why, that’s just like Aunt Jenny who lives with us, and mends our things, and puts baby to bed, and goes out for walks with us.”
“Just the same,” said father, laughing.
“Is that the reason we say Ant Jenny?” ”

“ The baby ants are born as eggs; they are little helpless things, and must be carried about by their big relations. There are father ants and mother ants, and lots of other ants who are nurses to the little ones. Nobody knows his own children, but all the grown-up ones are kind to all the babies. This is a little nurse ant. ”

“ But it is not a bad idea, all the same. It would be a good thing if there were as many ‘ant’ Jennys in this big round world of ours as there are in the ants’ little round world—folk who care for all, no matter whose children they are. ”

“ THE sunniest of days, the clearest and loveliest of blue seas, and I, a little lobster, young, proud, and as lively as a cricket—that is what people say; but I can’t help thinking “as lively as a shrimp” would sound better.
I always wear a lovely suit of armour, like those old warriors you read about. It is strong and firm and well jointed, so that I can move ever so fast—of course not so fast as that silly little fish.
He has armour too, he says, but wears it inside. That seems queer to me ”

“ And now all his work was gone.
“Oh! well, it can’t be helped,” he said good-naturedly, when his first feeling of anger had passed; “but I wish you chaps would leave my things alone.”
“But it can be helped,” said Dolly, rushing in. “See! a fisherman brought it to shore, and it isn’t a bit broken.”
So the orphans got the boat after all, and had great fun sailing it in the river near the Home; and what was perhaps more wonderful, Tom won the prize.
The Little Thief in the Pantry. “MOTHER dear,” said a little mouse one day, “I think the people in our house must be very kind; don’t you? ”

“ Yet ne’er find the shop where they sell things so pretty;
But I think it’s the angels from far, far away,
Teach the mothers and grannies the sweet things they say.
A Lesson in Manners.
The Prize Boat.
“DON’T do it, Dick!” pleaded Dolly.
“Girls always spoil sport!” growled Mark, as he saw Dick ready to give in.
“We shan’t hurt the boat! Don’t be silly, Dolly. Even if the sails do get wet, Tom can get fresh ones. And it will be better for him to know whether it will sail or not.” And the twins departed for the seashore with the boat in their hands. ”