has bought his sheep with his own blood; therefore they are his; and they know him and love him because he gave his life for them."

You do not suppose that little Henry Milner understood all these pictures, after having seen them only once or twice. No, he had seen them, and heard his uncle talk of them over and over again before he understood them properly; but before he was six years old, he so fully comprehended them, that he would often take the book himself and tell the stories, as it were, to himself; and then he began to ask his uncle questions about the subjects of these pictures; and so he gradually acquired new ideas relative to them.

Thus little Henry Milner entered his seventh year, an account of certain events in which, I shall give you in my next chapter.

CHAP. VI.

Giving an Account of Henry's Contest with his Temptations to Idleness; the Pigeon, the Butterfly, the Humble Bee, the bright-eyed Mouse, and the Spider.

It was the intention of Mr. Dalben to bring up little Henry, the Lord permitting, for the ministry of God; he therefore knew that the little boy must acquire a knowledge of those ancient languages in which the Bible was written; but inasmuch as he knew with what difficulty children acquire a knowledge of grammar in a foreign language, he resolved to make him first acquainted with the parts of speech and other such matters in the English tongue, for these are the same in all languages; and it is a great matter to understand what an adjective, and what a substantive, and what a verb is, before we begin to study new and strange words in other tongues.

Mr. Dalben accordingly procured a plain English grammar to his purpose, and took considerable pains in explaining it to the little boy.

Henry, in commencing this new and dry study, felt himself much disconcerted; but he did not show his ill humour as he had formerly done in pouting and obstinacy, but by being excessively idle; he for a length of time would never study his grammar, excepting when his uncle was working with him and trying to explain it to him.

At length Mr. Dalben was displeased, and calling him to him, he said, " Henry Milner, you may perhaps have heard foolish people say, that idleness is not sin; but I plainly tell you that idleness in children is nothing but obstinacy; and that it is because children will not work, not because they cannot work, that we see so many ignorant boys and girls. You often tell me that you wish to be good, and to be one of the little lambs of the Shepherd King, and to be like those holy children who in ages to come will play upon the fair hills of the millennium; but, Henry, do you suppose that these boys will be idle? think you not rather that they will be ready to learn, and would be ready, if called upon, even to suffer for the sake of their King?

"Let me tell you, Henry Milner, if you do not know it already, that this idleness is a strong symptom of an unchanged heart, and that if it is not speedily overcome, I shall apply to the

friend which has lain by in the closet for nearly a year and a half.”

So saying, Mr. Dalben produced the rod; but I am happy to say that he had no occasion to use it, for Henry melted into tears, confessed his fault, and, to show his penitence, set to work with all his might to learn his lesson.

It was summer-time, and Thomas had mowed one of the fields. Mr. Dalben, at breakfast the day after the above conversation, said to the little boy, "If you will do all your lessons before dinner, Henry, you shall go with me after dinner to the hay-field, and shall help to make hay." Henry heard this with great delight, and the moment breakfast was finished, set to his lessons. He had a copy to write and a sum to do, he had two lessons to learn in geography, his Bible to read, and his grammar lesson: all these lessons he loved, excepting his grammar. So he did those he liked best first, and then said to his uncle, May I go, Sir, into the closet where I sleep,” for Henry being six years old now, slept in the closet I spoke of within his uncle's room," and there learn my grammar?"

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Mr. Dalben gave his consent, and Henry ran up stairs, shut the door, and sitting down on a little stool opposite the window, set himself to learn his lesson. It was the summer-time, as I

before said, and the window was open; but there was nothing to be seen where Henry sate, through the window, but the tops of the tallest shrubs, the summits of the grove behind these, and the heights of Malvern beyond, but at such a distance, that the little gardens and cottages, halfway up the hill, only looked like dark specks upon the blue mountain. Henry set himself very earnestly to his lessons, and went on without interruption, till a blue pigeon, from his uncle's pigeon-house over the stable (for Mr. Dalben had built a pigeon-house about half a year before), came flying towards the window, and setting herself on the window-sill, for she was very tame, began to coo and dress her feathers, turning about her glossy neck in a very dainty and capricious manner. Henry's voice ceased; his eye wandered from his book, and fixed itself upon the pigeon; till at length recollecting himself, he cried out, "Get away, Mrs. Pigeon; I will learn my lesson, and you shall not hinder me." At the sound of his voice the bird took flight, and Henry went on with his lesson very successfully, till suddenly a beautiful yellow butterfly, whose wings were enriched with spots of azure, appeared in the open window, first settling himself upon the window-frame, then upon some of the furniture within, and then upon the ceiling. Henry's