in verse:

If Human Beings only knew
What sorrows little birds go through,
I think that even boys
Would never think it sport or fun
To stand and fire a frightful gun
For nothing but the noise.

For another (instructional and quite a good _memoria technica_ so
far as it goes):

William and Mary came next to the throne:
When Mary died, there was William alone.

Now for a story of incident.--It comes from the book "Reading
Without Tears," that made my small sister weep. She did not weep
over the story, because she did not claim to be an angel.

Did you ever hear of the donkey that went into the sea with the
little cart?... A lady drove the cart down to the beach. She had
six children with her. Three little ones sat in the cart by her
side. Three bigger girls ran before the cart. When they came to
the beach the lady and the children got out.

Very good so far. It opens like the story of Nausicaa ["Odyssey,"
Book vi, lines 81-86].

The lady wished the donkey to bathe its legs in the sea, to make
it strong and clean. But the donkey did not like to go near the
sea. So the lady bound a brown shawl over its eyes, and she bade
the big girls lead it close to the waves. Suddenly a big wave
rushed to the land. The girls started back to avoid the wave, and
they let go the donkey's rein.

The donkey was alarmed by the noise the girls made, and it went
into the sea, not knowing where it was going because it was not
able to see. The girls ran screaming to the lady, crying out,
'The donkey is in the sea!'

There it was, going further and further into the sea, till the
cart was hidden by the billows. The donkey sank lower and lower
every moment, till no part of it was seen but the ears; for the
brown shawl was over its nose and mouth. Now the children began
to bawl and to bellow! But no one halloed so loud as the little
boy of four. His name was Merty. He feared that the donkey was
drowned....

Two fishermen were in a boat far away. They said 'We hear howls
and shrieks on the shore. Perhaps a boy or girl is drowning. Let
us go and save him: So they rowed hard, and they soon came to the
poor donkey, and saw its ears peeping out of the sea. The donkey
was just going to sink when they lifted it up by the jaws, and
seized the bridle and dragged it along. The children on the shore
shouted aloud for joy. The donkey with the cart came safe to
land. The poor creature was weak and dripping wet. The fi