its delicate rigging and snowy sails. She begged to have
it set on her table, that she might see it while she was studying, and
the good-natured Kitty left it with her.

7. But in vain the heedless child tried to study; her eyes and thoughts
wandered perpetually to the pretty toy before her. "How I should like to
see it sail!" said she to herself. The more she looked at it, the more
anxious she became to see it in the water.

8. At length, taking it carefully up, she stole down stairs, and hurried
across the garden to a little brook in the adjacent field. Here she
launched her tiny bark; but it had scarcely touched the water, when it
turned over on its side. She then recollected that she had once heard
her father speak of the manner of ballasting a ship; so she hastened to
gather a quantity of small stones, with which she filled the little
cabin.

9. Again she intrusted her ship to the crystal streamlet; but, alas! the
weight of the stones carried it straight to the bottom. There it lay in
the pebbly channel, with the clear waters rippling above it, and the
little girl stood aghast upon the brink.

10. She bared her arm, and attempted to reach it, but without success.
At length, while making a desperate effort to regain it, she lost her
balance, and fell into the water.

11. Fortunately, the water was not deep, and she soon scrambled out
again; but she was thoroughly wet, and, having been very warm before the
accident, she was now chilled to the heart.

12. Grasping the little ship, the cause of all the mischief, she hurried
home, and creeping softly into the kitchen, sought her friend Kitty, to
screen her from Betty's anger. By this time she was shivering with a
violent ague, and Kitty carried her immediately to Betty.

13. Poor Anna! she was now obliged to be put to bed, and to take some
of Betty's bitter herb tea, seasoned too with scolding, and all kinds of
evil predictions. She felt very unhappy, and cried sadly; but
repentance, in this case, came too late.

14. Her head began to ache dreadfully; her skin was parched with fever,
and before the next morning she was very ill. She had taken a violent
cold, which brought on an attack of scarlet fever; and when Mrs. Elmore
returned, she found her little daughter stretched on a bed of sickness.

15. How did that fond mother tremble, as she watched by the bedside of
her darling child, uncertain whether she would ever again lift up her
head from her uneasy pillo