there were
many alders growing by the water-side.

The people were very busy making hay in the meadow when Mr. Fairchild
and his family arrived. Mrs. Fairchild sat down under the shade of a
large oak-tree which grew in the corner of the coppice, and Lucy and
Henry, with Emily, placed themselves by her. The little girls pulled
out their work, and Henry the new books. Mr. Fairchild took his book to
a little distance, that he might not be disturbed by Henry's reading,
and he stretched himself upon a green bank.

"Now, mamma," said Henry, "are you ready to hear my story? And have you
done fidgeting, sisters?" For Lucy and Emily had been bustling to make
a bed for their doll in the grass with their pocket-handkerchiefs.

"Brother," answered Lucy, "we are quite ready to hear you--read away;
there is nothing now to disturb you, unless you find fault with the
little birds who are chirping with all their might in these trees, and
those bees which are buzzing amongst the flowers in the grass."

"First," said Henry, "look at the picture at the beginning of the
book--the picture of the funeral going through the churchyard."

"Let me see, brother," said Emily.

"Why, you have seen it several times," said Henry; "and now I want to
read."

"Still, my dear," said Mrs. Fairchild, "you might oblige your sister.
Good manners and civility make everybody lovely. Have you forgotten
Mrs. Goodriche's story of Master Bennet?"

Henry immediately got up, and showed his sister the picture, after
which he sat down again and began to read the story in Emily's book.

[Illustration: "_Henry reads the story._"--Page 91.]

The History of the Orphan Boy

[Illustration: Marten behaved well at breakfast]

"In a little flowery valley near Tenterden there lived once a certain
farmer who had a wife and one little boy, whose name was Marten. The
farmer and his wife were people who feared God and loved their
neighbours, and though they were not rich, they were contented. In the
same parish lived two gentlemen, named Squire Broom and Squire Blake,
as the country people called them. Squire Broom was a man who feared
God; but Squire Blake was one of those men who cared for nothing beyond
the things of this world. He was a very rich man, and was considered by
the neighbours to be good-tempered. His lady kept a plentiful house,
and was glad to see anyone who came. They had no children, and, as they
had been married many years, it was thought th