LONDON:

      WARD AND LOCK,

      158, FLEET STREET

     .

    ABLUTION.—Poor little fellow, you are certainly making comical faces: I fear the soap has got into your eyes, and that you will make that towel very black indeed. All boys, when they wash themselves, should take care to rinse off the soap and dirt before using the towel. To make the poor little sweep quite clean would take much washing. I should like to see the soap and water a little cleaner. Many of us have nice wash-stands and baths of marble, but this poor little fellow must make the best of what he can get. See how cleverly he has put a brick under the broken leg of the stool to prop it. I like to see boys clever and ingenious.

    BARTER.—Miss Lucy Hart was a nice girl, but rather thoughtless, little regarding any time but the present—new things in her eyes being the prettiest and the best;—thus, she would cast away old toys for new ones, as if she were not likely to want them again. See, Master George Mc Gregor is bartering for her skipping-rope; offering some fruit in exchange for it. The fruit he has picked off the tree without permission. I know Lucy’s mamma will be vexed; for not only will the fruit soon be gone, and the skip-rope wanted again, but it was a present from Papa. The plaything cost far more than a little fruit, which will be quickly eaten, and possibly make Lucy unwell after so much as she has had to-day.

    CATASTROPHE.—Poor dear lady! has the cat tried to help himself to a gold fish, and overturned the handsome glass vase? Naughty Tom! greedy puss! I am sure kind Mrs. Blossom always feeds you well; and I think you know that you have done wrong, or you would not run so fast over the rails into Admiral Seaworth’s garden, where he keeps his large dog Neptune, who may bark and send you back in a fright.

    Poor fish, see how they gasp!—run and fetch some water, or they will die. Men drown in water, but fish cannot live out of it. It is the nature of cats to catch mice and birds—so that we should keep our little favourites out of their reach.

    DELIGHTFUL.—These boys, I fear, are bathing without their parents’ consent, which is very wrong, indeed. It is very pleasant in the water on a fine day; but little boys should not go there, as it might be deep, and they might become cramped in their limbs, and be drowned when no one was near, as many naughty boys have been before now.

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