p>A Week of Instruction and Amusement, / or, Mrs. Harley's birthday present to her daughter : / interspersed with short stories, outlines of sacred and / prophane history, geography &c
ADVERTISEMENT
The following pages were written with the design of communicating, in a manner agreeable to children, some knowledge of those subjects which they so often find tedious and uninteresting.—Should the stories related inspire a love of virtue, and the lessons awaken a desire for the further acquisition of useful knowledge, the attempt, notwithstanding its defect, cannot, it is hoped, be deemed wholly useless.
CHAPTER I.
THURSDAY
At a pleasant village a few miles from London, resided a widow-lady of the name of Harley; she had but one child, and to forming her manners and instructing her mind she devoted her whole time. Anne (for so was this little girl named) was an amiable child; she rewarded her mother's care and affection, by paying great attention to her instructions; like all other children, she was fond of play, but seldom murmured when called to attend the hours set apart for working, reading, or learning her lessons: all these she performed extremely well for her age, and had already gone through many of the first books that are put into the hands of children.
As a reward for her application, her mamma had promised to write a few stories on purpose for her, and one Thursday in the month of August, the day on which little Anne completed her eighth year, Mrs. Harley presented her the book which contained them, saying, "I shall only permit you to read in this book, my dear Anne, when I have reason to be satisfied with your conduct, for as it is now given to a good little girl, I would never upon any account, allow a naughty one to make use of it. We will begin our mornings with reading one of these stories, and afterwards I will give you a lesson upon different subjects, many of which you are now quite unacquainted with. By pursuing this method you will be daily adding to your stock of knowledge, and will I hope in time become a good and sensible girl: this, my dear, is the first wish of my heart, and you must do every thing in your power to promote it. Be industrious and docile, and you may be sure of succeeding in all I require you to undertake. But come, the morning is so fine that we will go into the garden, where upon yonder seat you shall begin your new study."
Little Anne after thanking her mamma for her kind present, followed her to the bench, when they were seated, she opened the book, and the first story that presented itself was
Edward and James were the sons of a respectable farmer, who spared no pains in giving them an education suited to their situation in life. Having been pleased with their good conduct in some circumstances that had lately occurred, he promised them a holiday the first time the weather should be fine enough for them to visit their aunt, who lived a few miles distant from the village where they resided. The wished for morning at length arrived, the farmer gave each of his sons a shilling, and a basket filled with provisions. Thus equipped, they began their journey, and amused themselves on the road, by talking of the pleasure they should have in seeing their good aunt. The best way of spending their shillings was a subject of great importance, "I will have a handsome kite," said Edward, "and the string shall be long enough to allow it to fly as high as the clouds." "Yes," answered James, "but however long your string may be, I believe it must depend upon the wind for flying. Now, I will have a bag of marbles, with these I can always play on the stones in the church-yard after school." "Excepting when it rains brother James; however, as the money is our own, we have each you know a right to please ourselves."
Just as Edward finished speaking, a poor little ragged boy came up to the brothers, and asked for a halfpenny to buy a bit of bread, saying he was so very hungry he knew not what to do. "What, have you had no breakfast! my little man?" asked James. "No, sir, nor supper last night, do pray give me a halfpenny, I am so very faint for want of food."
Edward immediately took a piece of cake from his basket and gave it to the boy, enquiring at the same time, where his father and mother was.
"Alas, my good young gentleman, they are both dead. I lost father about a month ago, and I fear I shall soon follow him, for indeed I am very ill, and not able to work, therefore I must be starved." "O no," said James, "not if I can prevent it, you do indeed look very ill, but take courage, I hope you will soon recover, and surely the parish must provide for you—where do you live?"
"Since father died I have had no regular home, and this is not my parish. Sometimes I sleep in a barn. I do what I can to assist an old man, who was my mother's uncle, but he is ill now, and not able to keep me, so I shall be quite deserted."—"Well," said Edward, "I will provide you with a dinner to day, and give you money to procure a lodging at night; here is a shilling, my father gave it me to buy toys with, but I can do better without them, than you can without food." The little boy took the shilling, and with tears in his eyes thanked his kind friend. James would not suffer him to depart without accepting his shilling also, and desiring him to call the next morning at their father's, where they would try to be of further use to him, they bade him adieu, and pursued their journey.
"I am sure," said Edward, "I feel more pleasure in making that child happy, than in flying the finest kite in the world." "And I," added James, "was a hundred times happier in giving him a shilling, than I was when I received it this morning. Only think how rejoiced the poor boy must be, to have so much money; I dare say he never before, possessed so large a sum, but Edward, we shall have no new kite nor marbles now!—Never mind, brother, we have done a good action, and that, you know, our father says is the surest way to secure happiness"—
Thus conversing, these good lads arrived at their aunt's, where they spent a very pleasant day, and in the evening returned home, to delight their father's heart, with an account of their morning's adventure.—The poor boy came the next morning to the farmer's, who having made the necessary enquiries into his former conduct, took him into his service. The brothers had soon the satisfaction of seeing him restored to health, and in time he became a useful, faithful, and grateful servant to his benevolent master.
"Well, my dear Anne," said Mrs. Harley, "how do you like my first story?"
Anne. O very much mamma, what good children Edward and James were, to give their money to a poor little hungry boy; indeed, if ever I should meet one I will do the same.
Mrs. Harley. Then you will do well, and I shall love you dearly. Remember, that the use of reading examples of virtue is to inspire you with the desire to imitate them. But do you, my dear, know of what the story you have just read is composed?
Anne. O yes, mamma, of words, is it not?
Mrs. Harley. You are right: letters make syllables, one or more syllables make a word, words form a sentence, and a number of sentences compose not only the little story of Edward and James, but all the great books in the library. Now can you tell me how letters are divided?
Anne. Not properly mamma, pray explain it to me.
Mrs. Harley. I will my dear, and so we begin our
FIRST LESSON
Mrs. Harley. Letters of which there are twenty six in our language, are divided into vowels and consonants. There are five proper vowels, a, e, i, o, and u. Y is generally a consonant at the beginning of words, and a vowel at the end of them. Repeat the vowels.
Anne. a, e, i, o, u. Y, is sometimes a vowel, and sometimes a consonant. The other letters are all consonants, they are, b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.
Mrs. Harley. Very well, now you understand the letters, I will explain the other little marks you see in this book. They are called stops: there are six different ones, the comma,
