be seen,"
The little maid replied,
"Twelve steps or more from mother's door,
And they are side by side.

10. "My stockings there I often knit,
My kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,
And sing a song to them.

11. "And often after sunset, sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there.

12. "The first that died was sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,

166 ECLECTIC SERIES.

Till God released her from her pain;
And then she went away.

13. "So in the churchyard she was laid;
And, when the grass was dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.

14. "And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side."

15. "How many are you, then?" said I,
"If they two are in heaven?"
Quick was the little maid's reply,
"O master! we are seven."

16. "But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!"
'T was throwing words away: for still
The little maid would have her will,
And said, "Nay, we are seven."
William Wordsworth.

THIRD READER. 167

LESSON LXIV.

MARY'S DIME.
1. There! I have drawn the chairs into the right corners,
and dusted the room nicely. How cold papa and mamma will
be when they return from their long ride! It is not time to
toast the bread yet, and I am tired of reading.
2. What shall I do? Somehow, I can't help thinking about
the pale face of that little beggar girl all the time. I can see
the glad light filling her eyes, just as plain as I did when I
laid the dime in her little dirty hand.
3. How much I had thought of that dime, too! Grandpa
gave it to me a whole month ago, and I had kept it ever since
in my red box upstairs; but those sugar apples looked so
beautiful, and were so cheap--only a dime apiece--that I
made up my mind to have one.
4. I can see her--the beggar girl, I mean--as she stood
there in front of the store, in her old hood and faded dress,
looking at the candies laid all in a row. I wonder

168 ECLECTIC SERIES.
what made me say, "Little girl, what do you want?"
5. How she stared at me, just as if nobody had spoken
kindly to her before. I guess

she thought I was sorry for her, for she said, so earnestly and
sorrowfully, "I was thinking how good one of those
gingerbread rolls would taste. I have n't had anything to eat
to-day."

THIRD READER. 169
6. Now, I thought to myself, "Mary Will