Chapter 5

11. His disposition was gentle and peaceable, both to men and animals; but he showed marked symptoms of anger to ill-dressed or blackguard-looking people, whom he always regarded with a suspicious eye, and whose motions he watched with the most scrupulous jealousy.

12. This fine dog probably brought on himself premature old age, by the excessive fatigue and exercise to which his natural ardor incited him; for he had the greatest pleasure in accompanying the common greyhounds; and although, from his great size and strength, he was not at all adapted for coursing, he not unfrequently turned and even ran down hares.

13. Sir Walter used to give an amusing account of an incident which befell Maida in one of his chases. "I was once riding over a field on which the reapers were at work, the stooks, or bundles of grain, being placed behind them, as is usual.

14. "Maida, having found a hare, began to chase her, to the great amusement of the spectators, as the hare turned very often and very swiftly among the stooks. At length, being hard pressed, she fairly bolted into one of them.

15. "Maida went in headlong after her, and the stook began to be much agitated in various directions; at length the sheaves tumbled down, and the hare and the dog, terrified alike at their overthrow, ran different ways, to the great amusement of the spectators."

16. Among several peculiarities which Maida possessed, one was a strong aversion to artists, arising from the frequent restraints he was subjected to in having his portrait taken, on account of his majestic appearance.

17. The instant he saw a pencil and paper produced, he prepared to beat a retreat; and, if forced to remain, he exhibited the strongest marks of displeasure.

18. Maida's bark was deep and hollow. Sometimes he amused himself with howling in a very tiresome way. When he was very fond of his friends, he used to grin, tucking up his whole lips and showing all his teeth; but this was only when he was particularly disposed to recommend himself.

19. Maida lies buried at the gate of Abbotsford, Sir Walter's country seat, which he long protected; a grave-stone is placed over him, on which is carved the figure of a dog. It bears the following inscription, as it was translated by Sir Walter:

"Beneath the sculptured form which late you wore, Sleep soundly, Maida, at your master's door."

LESSON XXIV.

_Gelert._--BINGLEY, altered.

1. I have one more story to tell you about the Highland greyhound. It is an old Welsh story, and shows how extremely dangerous it is to indulge in anger and resentment.

2. In a village at the foot of Snowden, a mountain in Wales, there is a tradition that Llewellyn (_pronounced_ Lewel´lin), son-in-law to King John, had a residence in that neighborhood.

3. The king, it is said, had presented him with one of the finest greyhounds in England, named Gelert. In the year 1205, Llewellyn, one day, on going out to hunt, called all his dogs together; but his favorite greyhound was missing, and nowhere to be found.

4. He blew his horn as a signal for the chase, and still Gelert came not. Llewellyn was much disconcerted at the heedlessness of his favorite, but at length pursued the chase without him. For want of Gelert, the sport was limited; and getting tired, Llewellyn returned home at an early hour, when the first object that presented itself to him, at his castle gate, was Gelert, who bounded, with his usual transport, to meet his master, having his lips besmeared with blood.

5. Llewellyn gazed with surprise at the unusual appearance of his dog. On going into the apartment where he had left his infant son and heir asleep, he found the bed-clothes all in confusion, the cover rent, and stained with blood.

6. He called on his child, but no answer was made, from which he hastily concluded that the dog must have devoured him; and, giving vent to his rage, plunged his sword to the hilt in Gelert's side.

7. The noble animal fell at his feet, uttering a dying yell, which awoke the infant, who was sleeping beneath a mingled heap of the bed-clothes, while beneath the bed lay a great wolf covered with gore, which the faithful and gallant hound had destroyed.

8. Llewellyn, smitten with sorrow and remorse for the rash and frantic deed which had deprived him of so faithful an animal, caused an elegant marble monument, with an appropriate inscription, to be erected over the spot where Gelert was buried, to commemorate his fidelity and unhappy fate. The place, to this day, is called Beth-Gelert, or The Grave of the Greyhound.

LESSON XXV.

_Knock Again._--CHILD'S COMPANION.

1. I remember having been sent, when I was a very little boy, with a message from my father to a particular friend of his, who resided in the suburbs of the town in which my parents then lived.

2. This gentleman occupied an old-fashioned house, the door of which was approached by a broad flight of stone steps of a semi-circular form. The brass knocker was an object of much interest to me, in those days; for the whim of the maker had led him to give it the shape of an elephant's head, the trunk of the animal being the movable portion.

3. Away, then, I scampered, in great haste; and having reached the house, ran up the stone steps as usual; and, seizing the elephant's trunk, made the house reëcho to my knocking. No answer was returned.

4. At this my astonishment was considerable, as the servants, in the times I write of, were more alert and attentive than they are at present. However, I knocked a second time. Still no one came.

5. At this I was much more surprised. I looked at the house. It presented no appearance of a desertion. Some of the windows were open to admit the fresh air, for it was summer; others of them were closed. But all had the aspect of an inhabited dwelling.

6. I was greatly perplexed; and looked around, to see if any one was near who could advise me how to act. Immediately a venerable old gentleman, whom I had never seen before, came across the way, and, looking kindly in my face, advised me to knock again.

7. I did so without a moment's hesitation, and presently the door was opened, so that I had an opportunity of delivering my message. I afterward learned that the servants had been engaged in removing a heavy piece of furniture from one part of the house to the other; an operation which required their united strength, and prevented them from opening the door.

LESSON XXVI.

_The same subject, continued._

1. As I was tripping lightly homeward, I passed the kind old gentleman, about half way down the street. He took me gently by the arm; and, retaining his hold, began to address me thus, as we walked on together:

2. "The incident, my little friend, which has just occurred, may be of some use to you in after life, if it be suitably improved. Young people are usually very enthusiastic in all their undertakings, and in the same proportion are very easily discouraged.

3. "Learn, then, from what has taken place this morning, to persevere in the business which you have commenced, provided it be laudable in itself; and, ten to one, you will succeed. If you do not at first obtain what you aim at, _knock again_. A door may be opened when you least expect it.

4. "In entering on the practice of a profession, engaging in trade, or what is usually called settling in the world, young people often meet with great disappointments.

5. "Friends, whom they naturally expected to employ them, not unfrequently prefer others in the same line; and even professors of religion do not seem to consider it a duty to promote the temporal interest of their brethren in the Lord.

6. "Nevertheless, industry, sobriety, and patience, are usually accompanied by the Divine blessing. Should you therefore, my little friend, ever experience disappointments of this kind, think of the brass knocker; _knock again_; be sober, be diligent, and your labors will be blessed.

7. "In the pursuit of philosophy many difficulties are encountered. These the student must expect to meet; but he must not relinquish the investigation of truth, because it seems to elude his search. He may knock at the gate of science, and apparently without being heard. But let him _knock again_, and he will find an entrance."

LESSON XXVII.

_The same subject, concluded._

1. "Do you ever pray to God? I hope and trust you do. God commands and encourages us to pray to him. But he does not always answer our prayers at the time, or in the way, we expect.

2. "What then? We know that he hears them. We know that he is a gracious God, a reconciled Father in Christ. Let us _knock again_. Let us ask in faith, and, if what we ask be pleasing in his sight, he will grant it in his own good time.

3. "You know who it was that said, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; _knock_, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that _knocketh_, it shall be opened.'

4. "Once more: our progress in the Divine life, even after we have wholly given ourselves to the Lord, does not always equal our wishes or expectations. We find much indwelling sin, much remaining corruption, to struggle with.

5. "But let us not despond. The grace of our Lord is sufficient for us, and his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Let us _knock again_.

6. "Let us continue, with humble confidence, to do what we know to be pleasing in our Master's sight. Let us work out our own salvation, with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

7. We had now reached the gate of my father's garden; and the good old gentleman, taking me kindly by the hand, bid me try to remember what he had said. He then went his way, and I saw him no more.

8. I afterward endeavored to find out who he was; but I did not succeed. His advice, however, sunk deep into my mind, and has often been of singular value to me since.

9. My disposition is naturally sanguine, and my disappointments proportionably acute. But, upon calling to mind the old mansion, the brass knocker, and my venerable counselor, I have frequently been led to _knock again_, when I might otherwise have sat down in despondency.

10. I hope that many of my readers will derive similar benefit from the perusal of this little history; for the sole end of its publication will be answered, if the young persons under whose eyes it may come be induced, at every season of doubt and perplexity, in the exercise of simple confidence in God, to _knock again_.

LESSON XXVIII

_Make Good Use of your Time._--EMMA C. EMBURY.

1. "My dear Anna," said Mrs. Elmore, as she bade her little girl farewell, "I shall be absent ten days; and as you have already had so many lessons from me respecting the manner of distributing your hours of amusement and study, I will only say to you, now, '_Make good use of your time_.'"

2. Anna's eyes filled with tears as the carriage drove off, and she felt very lonely when she returned to the parlor without her mother. She thought over her mother's parting words, until she felt quite proud of the confidence reposed in her, and resolved not to abuse it by neglect.

3. She accordingly took her books and sat down to her studies, as attentively as if her mother had been waiting to hear her recitation.

4. Anna was an affectionate, intelligent child. She would have made any sacrifices to please her mother, and she really loved her studies; but her one great fault was a disposition to loiter away time.

5. This her mother well knew; and after trying admonition, until she almost feared she was increasing the evil by allowing Anna to depend too much upon her guidance, she determined to test the effect of leaving her to her own responsibility.

6. For an hour after her mother's departure, Anna sat in close attention to her studies. All at once, she started up. "I am so hungry," said she, "I must go to Betty for some luncheon;--but stop--I will finish my exercise first."

7. She wrote a line or two; then throwing down her pen, petulantly exclaimed, "There! I have made two mistakes, because I was in such a hurry;--I will not finish it till I come back."

8. So away ran the little girl to her old nurse, and the next half-hour was spent in satisfying her hunger. As she was returning, with laggard step, she happened to spy, from the window, a beautiful butterfly fluttering about the rose-bushes in the garden; and, quite forgetting her unfinished exercise, away she flew in chase of the butterfly.

9. But, agile as were her movements, the insect was too nimble for her; and after an hour's race beneath the burning sun, she returned, flushed and overheated, without having succeeded in its capture.

10. Again she applied herself to her books; but study was not so easy now as it would have been a little earlier. Anna was too tired to apply her mind to her lessons; and after loitering a while over her desk, she threw herself on the sofa, and fell into a sound sleep, from which she was only awakened by a summons to dinner.

11. After dinner, Betty proposed taking her out to walk; and though conscious that she had not performed half her duties, she had not resolution enough to refuse to go. Tying on her bonnet, she took a little basket on her arm, and set out with Betty to gather wild-flowers.

12. When they reached the woods, Betty sought out a mossy seat under an old tree, and, taking her work from her pocket, began to sew as industriously as if she had been at home.

13. "O Betty!" exclaimed Anna, "how can you sit and sew, when there are so many pleasant sights and sounds around you?"

14. "I can hear the pleasant sounds, my child, without looking round to see where they come from," replied Betty; "and as for the pretty sights, though I can enjoy them as much as any one, I cannot neglect my work for them.

15. "I promised your mother to have these shirts finished when she came home, and I mean to do so."--"Dear me!" said the little girl, "I wish I had brought my book, and I might have studied my lesson here."

16. "No, no, Anna," said the old woman; "little girls can't study in the woods, with the birds singing and the grasshoppers chirping around them. Better attend to your books in-doors."

17. Betty continued her sewing; and towards sunset, when they arose to return, she had stitched a collar and a pair of wristbands, while Anna had filled her basket with flowers.

18. As they approached the village, Betty called at a poor cottage, to inquire after a sick child, and Anna was shocked at the poverty and wretchedness of the inmates. The little children were only half clothed, their faces were covered with dirt, and their rough locks seemed to bid defiance to the comb.

19. Pitying the condition of the poor little girls, Anna determined to provide them with some better clothing; and she returned home full of benevolent projects.

20. The next morning, as soon as she rose, she began to look over her wardrobe; and selecting three frocks which she had outgrown, she carried them to Betty, to alter for Mrs. Wilson's children.

21. "I shall do no such thing," said Betty; "Mrs. Wilson's children are not suffering for clothes; the weather is warm, and they are as well clad as they will be the day after they are dressed up in your finery.

22. "Mrs. Wilson is an untidy, slovenly woman; and though your mother charged me to look after her sick baby, she did not tell me to furnish new clothes for the other dirty little brats!"

23. "Well, Betty, if you don't choose to do it, I'll try it myself."--"Pretty work you'll make of it, to be sure! you will just cut the frocks to pieces, and then they will fit nobody."

24. "Well, I am determined to fix them for those poor little ragged children," said Anna; "and if you will not help me, I will get Kitty the chambermaid to do it."

LESSON XXIX.

_The same subject, continued._

1. Anna found a very good assistant in the warm-hearted, thoughtless Irish girl. Kitty cut out the frocks, and Anna sat herself down to make them.

2. She found it rather tedious work, and, if she had not been afraid of Betty's ridicule, she would have been tempted to throw her task aside; but as Kitty promised to help her, as soon as her household duties were completed, Anna determined to persevere.

3. When night came, she had finished one frock, and begun another; so she went to bed quite happy, forgetting that, in her benevolent zeal, she had neglected her studies and her music, as well as her mother's plants and her own Canary-bird.

4. The next day, she again went to work at the frocks, and, with Kitty's assistance, they were completed before tea-time. Never was a child happier than Anna, when she saw the three little frocks spread out upon the bed.

5. A degree of self-satisfaction was mingled with her benevolence, and she began to think how pleased her mother would be to learn how hard she had worked in the cause of charity. She ran off for Betty to take her down to Mrs. Wilson's cottage; but she found Betty in no humor to gratify her.

6. "I'll have nothing to do with it!" said the old woman. "Kitty helped you to spoil your pretty frocks, and she may help you dress the dirty children;--they will look fine, to be sure, in your French calico dresses!"

7. Anna was too happy to mind Betty's scolding; so away she flew to find Kitty, and they set off together for Mrs. Wilson's cottage. When they arrived there, they found the children by the edge of the pond making dirt pies, while their faces and hands bore testimony to their industry.

8. Kitty stripped and washed them, though nothing but the bribe of a new frock could have induced them to submit to so unusual an operation. Anna almost danced with pleasure, when she beheld their clean faces, well-combed locks, and new dresses.

9. Her mother had now been three days gone, and Anna felt that she had not quite fulfilled her trust. But she satisfied herself with the thought that two days had been devoted to a charitable purpose, and she was sure her mother would think that she had made good use of that portion of her time.

10. The fourth day, she determined to make amends for past neglect, by studying double lessons. She went to her room and locked the door, resolving to perform all her duties on that day, at least.

11. She had scarcely commenced her studies, however, when she recollected that she had not watered her mother's plants since she had been gone. She threw down her books, and running into the garden, sought her little watering-pot; but it was not to be found.

12. She was sure she had put it either in the summer-house, or the tool-house, or under the piazza, or somewhere. After spending half an hour in search of it, she remembered that she had left it under the great elm-tree, in the field.

13. By this time, the sun was shining with full vigor upon the delicate plants; and, forgetting her mother's caution to water them only in the shade, she overwhelmed the parched leaves with a deluge of water, and went off quite content.

14. She then thought of her bird; and on examining his cage, found that he could reach neither the seed nor the water. So she replenished his cups, decorated his cage with fresh chickweed, treated him to a lump of sugar, and played with him until she had loitered away the best part of the morning.

15. Immediately after dinner, a little friend came to see her, and the rest of the day was consumed in dressing dolls, or arranging her baby-house.

LESSON XXX.

_The same subject, concluded._

1. On the fifth day, she summoned courage enough to persevere, and actually performed every task with attention.

2. In the afternoon, Betty took her out to walk, and Anna coaxed her into a visit to Mrs. Wilson's cottage. What was her indignation, as she approached the house, to see the children again playing on the margin of the duck-pond!

3. As soon as they saw her, they ran to hide themselves, but not until she had observed that their new frocks were as dirty, and almost as ragged, as the old ones. Betty did not fail to make Anna fully sensible of her own superior wisdom.

4. "I told you so, child," said she; "I told you it was all nonsense to try to dress up those dirty creatures; much good you have done, to be sure!" Anna almost cried with vexation, as she thought of all the time and labor she had wasted upon her benevolent task, and she walked home with a heavy heart.

5. The next morning, she had scarcely risen from the breakfast-table, when Kitty came to show her a beautiful little ship, which, her brother, who was a sailor, had made for her, as a token of remembrance.

6. Anna was delighted with it; nothing could be more beautiful than its graceful form, 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 pillow!

16. Anna did not know her mother in the delirium of fever, and her melancholy cry of "Mother! mother! come back!--I will never be so bad again!" wrung Mrs. Elmore's heart.

17. For three weeks Anna lay between life and death; and when she was at length pronounced out of danger, she was as helpless as an infant.

18. One day, as she sat propped up by pillows, she told her mother all that had passed during her absence, and awaited her decision respecting the use she had made of her time.