WHEN I was a-bout six years old, one mor-ning, go-ing to school, a ground-squir-rel ran in-to its hole in the road be-fore me, as they like to dig holes in some open place, where they can put out their head to see if an-y dan-ger is near. I thought, now I will have fine fun. As there was a stream of wa-ter just at hand, I de-ter-mined to pour wa-ter in-to the hole till it would be full, and force the lit-tle an-i-mal up, so that I might kill it. I got a trough from be-side a sug-ar-ma-ple tree used for catch-ing the sweet sap, and was soon pour-ing the wa-ter in on the poor squir-rel. I could hear it strug-gling to get up, and said, "Ah, my fel-low, I will soon have you out now."

Just then I heard a voice be-hind me, "Well, my boy, what have you got in there?" I turned, and saw a good old man with long white locks, that had seen six-ty win-ters. "Why," said I, “I have a ground-squir-rel in here, and I am go-ing to drown him out."

Said he, "John, when I was a lit-tle boy, more than fifty years a-go, I was en-gaged one day just as you are, drown-ing a ground-squir-rel; and an old man like me came a-long, and said to me, 'You are a lit-tle boy; now, if you were down in a nar-row hole like that, and I should come a-long and pour wa-ter down on you to drown you, would not you think I was cruel? God made that lit-tle squir-rel, and life is as sweet to it as to you; and why will you tor-ture to death a lit-tle in-no-cent crea-ture that God has made ?"" Said he, "I have nev-er for-gotten that, and nev-er shall. I nev-er have killed an-y harm-less crea-ture for fun since. Now, my dear boy, I want you to re-mem-ber this while you live, and when tempt-ed to kill an-y poor lit-tle in-no-cent an-i-mal or bird, think of this; and mind, God does not al-low us to kill his pret-ty lit-tle crea-tures for fun.”

More than for-ty years have since passed, and I nev-er for-got what the good man said, nor have I ev-er killed the least an-i-mal for fun since. Now you see it is nine-ty years since this ad-vice was first given, and it has not lost its in-flu-ence yet. How man-y lit-tle crea-tures it has saved from be-ing tor-tured to death I can-not tell, but I

have no doubt a great num-ber; and I wish all the dear lit-tle boys who read this to keep it in mind; and when they see pret-ty birds or harmless an-i-mals play-ing or hunt-ing their food, not to hurt them. Your heaven-ly Fa-ther made them, and he nev-er in-tend-ed them to be killed for your a-muse-ment. The Bi-ble says, "Bless-ed are the mer-ci-ful, for they shall ob-tain mer-cy."

THE win-ter passed a-way; all the ice and snow had gone. Lit-tle boys could not make an-y more snow-balls, but then they could go out of doors a great deal more than they could be-fore; and spring, when it comes, makes ev-er-y-bod-y feel glad. The trees put forth their young leaves, the fresh green of which is so pleas-ant to look up-on. It is the kind, good God who bids ev-er-y-thing bud out once more, af-ter the long sleep of win-ter.

I am go-ing to tell you a lit-tle sto-ry a-bout a cher-ry-tree, and the good it did in the world, and of how much use it was a-ble to be to man-y of God's crea-tures.

This cher-ry-tree had stood all the win-ter, bare of leaves, like all the oth-er trees that are not ev-er-greens, and look-ing as if it was of no use,

and nev-er would be an-y more. But, at the prop-er time, spring came a-gain to the world, and God, the great Fa-ther, who takes care of ev-er-y-thing He has made, knew very well how to make the cher-ry-tree look pret-ty a-gain. So He bade the spring pro-vide for the lit-tle worms.

Soon the cher-ry-tree bore leaves-man-y thousand leaves, green and fresh. Oh, how dif-fer-ent it looked after the gen-tle, warm winds of spring had passed o-ver it! And the lit-tle worms seemed to know all a-bout it, for they woke up, af-ter their long win-ter sleep, just at the right mo-ment, stretched them-selves in their new skins, opened their mouths, and pushed out their lit-tle eyes. They lost no time, but set to work gnawing qui-et-ly at the leaves with their lit-tle teeth. They were ver-y glad, too, to taste the nice leaves. It was as though they would be quite sat-is-fied with such food as this with-out wish-ing for an-ything else.

Then came the time for oth-er crea-tures to be pro-vi-ded for. So God bade spring pre-pare food for bees. And the cher-ry-tree bore blos-somsman-y thou-sand blos-soms, white and love-ly. With the warm noon-day sun the bees came; they flew round the flow-ers, and sucked out their sweet jui-ces, and seemed to say to one an-oth-er, “This is our break-fast; what a cost-ly chi-na ser-vice we have! how clean all the lit-tle cups are !" and af-ter they tasted the juice, we might fan-cy they said, “How sweet it is! how cheap sug-ar must be!"

Spring-time gli-ded gen-tly by, and made way for sum-mer; and sum-mer had its work to do too, for God bade it pre-pare food for the spar-rows. Then the cher-ry-tree bore fruit-man-y thousand cher-ries, red and pulp-y.

The lit-tle spar-rows came and set to work to eat their feast, chirp-ing forth their thanks, get-ting strong-er and strong-er as they pecked the good food. When they had eaten e-nough, they went a-way from the tree. And God sent a cool mountain breeze, and the thin, ear-ly rime be-gan to fall. The pret-ty tints of au-tumn, red and yel-low, ap-peared on the leaves, and the winds blew them off. What had sprung up from out of the earth fell a-gain in-to the earth. Then win-ter came, and God bade it care-ful-ly cov-er up all that was left. Plen-ty of snow fell, and made a warm thick cov-er-ing to pro-tect the roots and flow-ers du-ring the cold weath-er.

Rec-ol-lect, dear chil-dren, when you see the leaves bud out a-gain on the trees, and the flow-ers and fruits suc-ceed-ing one an-other, as months pass on, who it is who makes ev-er-y-thing new a-gain. You have read, I dare say, what is said in the Psalms, and our Lord Je-sus Christ tells us that our heaven-ly Fa-ther feed-eth the spar-rows. How good God is to have made the world so beau-ti-ful, and to give us spring-time and summer, au-tumn and win-ter! This lit-tle sto-ry a-bout the cher-ry-tree shows you what care God takes of lit-tle in-sects and birds, and so we are