McGuffeys Third Eclectic Reader | Page 4

snowballs are a great deal prettier than oranges."
3,
18 ECLECTIC SERIES.
LESSON III.

LET IT RAIN.
Rose. See how it rains! Oh dear, dear, dear! how dull it is! Must I stay
in doors all day? Father. Why, Rose, are you sorry that you had any
bread and butter for breakfast, this morning? Rose. Why, father, what a
question! I should be sorry, indeed, if I could not get any. Father. Are

you sorry, my daughter, when you see the flowers and the trees
growing in the garden? Rose. Sorry? No, indeed. Just now, I wished
very much to go out and see them,--they look so pretty. Father. Well,
are you sorry when you see the horses, cows, or sheep drinking at the
brook to quench their thirst? Rose. Why, father, you must think I am a
cruel girl, to wish that the poor horses that work so hard, the beautiful
cows that
THIRD READER. 19 give so much nice milk, and the pretty lambs
should always be thirsty. Father. Do you not think they would die, if
they had no water to drink? Rose. Yes, sir, I am sure they would. How
shocking to think of such a thing! Father. I thought little Rose was
sorry it rained. Do you think the trees and flowers would grow, if they
never had any water on them? Rose. No, indeed, father, they would be
dried up by the sun. Then we should not have any pretty flowers to
look at, and to make wreaths of for mother. Father. I thought you were
sorry it rained. Rose, what is our bread made of? Rose. It is made of
flour, and the flour is made from wheat, which is ground in the mill.
Father. Yes, Rose, and it was rain that helped to make the wheat grow,
and it was water that turned the mill to grind the wheat. I thought little
Rose was sorry it rained. Rose. I did not think of all these things, father.
I am truly very glad to see the rain falling.
20 ECLECTIC SERIES.
LESSON IV.
CASTLE-BUILDING.
1. "O pussy!" cried Herbert, in a voice of anger and dismay, as the
blockhouse he was building fell in sudden ruin. The playful cat had
rubbed against his mimic castle,
THIRD READER. 21 and tower and wall went rattling down upon the
floor. 2. Herbert took up one of the blocks and threw it fiercely at pussy.
Happily, it passed over her and did no harm. His hand was reaching for
another block, when his little sister Hetty sprang toward the cat, and
caught her up. 3. "No, no, no!" said she, "you sha'n't hurt pussy! She

did n't mean to do it!" 4. Herbert's passion was over quickly, and,
sitting down upon the floor, he covered his face with his hands, and
began to cry. 5. "What a baby!" said Joe, his elder brother, who was
reading on the sofa. "Crying over spilled milk does no good. Build it up
again." 6. "No, I won't," said Herbert, and he went on crying. 7.
"What's all the trouble here?" exclaimed papa, as he opened the door
and came in. 8. "Pussy just rubbed against Herbert's castle, and it fell
down," answered Hetty. "But she did n't mean to do it; she did n't know
it would fall, did she, papa?" 9. "Why, no! And is that all the trouble?"
22 ECLECTIC SERIES. 10. "Herbert!" his papa called, and held out
his hands. "Come." The little boy got up from the floor, and came
slowly, his eyes full of tears, and stood by his father. 11. "There is a
better way than this, my boy," said papa. "If you had taken that way,
your heart would have been light already. I should have heard you
singing over your blocks instead of crying. Shall I show you that way?"
12. Herbert nodded his head, and papa sat down on the floor by the pile
of blocks, with his little son by his side, and began to lay the foundation
for a new castle.
LESSON V.

CASTLE-BUILDING. (CONCLUDED)
1. Soon, Herbert was as much interested in castle-building as he had
been a little while before. He began to sing over his work. All his
trouble was gone.
THIRD READER. 23 2. "This is a great deal better than crying, is n't
it?" said papa. 3. "Crying for what?" asked Herbert, forgetting his grief
of a few minutes before. 4. "Because pussy knocked your castle over."
5. "Oh!" A shadow flitted across his face, but was gone in a moment,
and he went on building as eagerly as ever. 6. "I told him not to cry
over spilled milk," said Joe, looking down from his place on the sofa. 7.
"I wonder