Frank and Fanny | Page 7

a few rods from the tree that contained the nest, from which
Frank had taken the little bird only two days before.
When they heard the notes of the brother and sister birds, Fanny
thought, that had it not been for her, the little one that they carried
would have been chirping as merrily as they, and this made her cry
again.
She sat down on a little mount of grass, and watched Frank as he
prepared the grave. It was a beautiful spot. The broad, green boughs of
a noble oak shaded them from the sun, and a placid little brook wound
along through the long grass and brake leaves at their feet. Tall stems
of blue-bells blossomed around, and modest little daisies sprang from
the turf every where. After Frank finished burying the bird, he heaped

up the green moss, all about it, and then sat down beside his sister.
Putting his arm around her neck, he drew her close to him, while he
clasped both of her hands in his.
[Illustration: FRANK AND FANNY.]
Her eyes still rested upon the little mount of moss beneath which the
bird was buried, and the tears were still welling from them.
"Don't cry any more, dear Fanny," he said; "don't cry any more, I am
sure we have both repented doing so wrong, and we never shall forget
how unhappy it has made us. Grandmother has often said that every
thing is for the best; and perhaps, this will make us more careful to try
to do right--so don't cry any more."
"I do try not to cry, Franky, and then I think how sweetly the little bird
would have been singing to-day, if it had not been for me, and how
badly the papa and mamma birds must have felt, when you took it away,
and I can't help crying. And perhaps, the little bird will go to heaven,
Frank, and it might see our mamma, and tell her how naughty we had
been to take it from its nest, and then she would think we were such
bad children--oh, dear;" and Fanny breathed another long sigh.
For some time the children sat very quietly, occupied with their own
thoughts, but at length Frank proposed that they should gather twigs,
and make a fence around the grave. Alter this was completed, it looked
very neat, and Frank thought that if the birds could see it, they would
think it was a very nice little grave.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
COUNTRY AMUSEMENTS AND OCCUPATIONS.
Frank and Fanny were permitted to keep pigeons. They had a pigeon
house at the back of the barn, with windows opening into the yard,
which could be entered by going up into the hay loft, and opening a

little door. Fanny often went up there to look at the eggs, and play with
the young pigeons. Indeed, the old ones were quite tame, and not at all
afraid of her.
[Illustration: FANNY IN THE PIGEON HOUSE.]
All the various occupations of the neighboring farmers were observed
by these children with great attention; because they were desirous of
gaining information by their own observation. The ploughing of the
ground in the spring, and the breaking of it up with the harrow, to
prepare it for receiving grain, such as barley, rye, and wheat, were
operations which interested them very much, as well as the sowing of
the wheat, and harrowing it so as to cover the seed.
[Illustration: HOEING CORN.]
Then, again, the culture of Indian corn, or maize, was another curious
operation. They saw the farmer, after ploughing up the ground, making
it into little hillocks with his hoe; each hillock, or hill, as he called it,
received a shovel full of manure, before the corn was dropped in, which
last operation, Frank and Fanny sometimes assisted their neighbor,
Farmer Baldwin, to perform. Afterwards they saw the farmer hoe the
corn, loosening the soil round the plant, and cutting up the weeds with
his hoe. In summer, they often enjoyed a feast of green corn, roasted or
boiled, and when it was gathered, in autumn, they assisted the farmer in
husking it.
[Illustration: SHEEP WASHING.]
Farmer Baldwin's sheep were objects of great interest to the children,
and the little lambs they very justly regarded as types of purity and
innocence. When the season of sheep washing and shearing came, they
went over to the farmer's, and witnessed these amusing operations with
great delight.
[Illustration: SHEEP SHEARING]
Very sorrowful were they when they heard of the disaster which

happened to the good farmer's flock, by the great snow storm. The
sheep were in a pasture quite distant from the village, late in autumn,
when just before night there came up a sudden and violent storm of
snow, and Farmer Baldwin