u, or do for you, will do you any good.

5. Many little boys and girls, when their teacher is talking to them,
are in the habit of staring about the school-room, or looking at their
fellow-pupils, or, perhaps, slyly talking to them or laughing with them,
when they ought to be listening to what their teacher is saying.

6. Others, perhaps, may appear to be looking at their teacher, while, at
the same time, they are thinking about tops and marbles, or kites and
dolls, and other play-things, and have no more idea of what their
teacher is saying to them than if he were not in the room.

7. Now, here is a little picture, from which I wish to teach you a very
important lesson. The picture represents a nest, with four little birds
in it. The mother bird has just been out to get some food for them. The
little birds, as soon as their mother returns, begin to open their
mouths wide, and the mother drops some food from her bill into the mouth
of each one; and in this manner they are all fed, until they are old
enough to go abroad and find food for themselves.

[Illustration]

8. Now, what would these little birds do, if, when their mother brings
them their food, they should keep their mouths all shut, or, perhaps, be
feeling of one another with their little bills, or crowding each other
out of the nest?

9. You know that they would have to go without their food; for their
mother would not open their mouths for them, nor could she swallow
their food for them. They must do that for themselves, or they must
starve.

10. Now, in the same manner that little birds open their mouths to
receive the food which their mother brings to them, little boys and
girls should have their ears open to hear what their teachers say to
them.

11. The little birds, as you see in the picture, have very large mouths,
and they keep them wide open to receive all the food that their mother
drops; so that none of their food ever falls into the nest, but all goes
into their mouths, and they swallow it, and it nourishes them, and makes
them grow.

12. So, also, little boys and girls should try to catch, in their ears,
everything that their teacher says to them, and keep it in their minds,
and be able to recollect it, by often thinking about it; and thus they
will grow wise and learned, and be able to teach other little boys and
girls, of their own, when they themselves grow up.

13. Now, my little friend, please to open your eyes and see what I have