The Book of One Syllable | Page 9

rise in the air and fly to the land, where they fall in rain, and

make plants and trees grow, and the brooks and springs flow.
The sea is salt, but the heat does not take up the salt in the fogs and
clouds; so that the rain is quite pure, and makes springs for us to drink
from.

A FALL FROM THE CLIFFS.
George Crisp was a good boy; he was kind to those he knew, and could
not bear to have a thing that they had not.
He was glad when he could give things, and he gave a great deal to the
poor that came to the house, so that his stock of cash was at a low ebb.
Though George might have set his mind on some toy, he felt glad to
think that the pence which would have bought it had been of more use
to some one else.
But though he was so good in this way, yet he had one fault which
spoilt the whole. This fault was, that he would not do as he was bid; for
he thought he knew as well as those who told him, and his Aunt, who
taught him, did all she could to break him of the fault, but in vain.
George's house was on the sea coast, and George went to dig in the
sands, to get shells, and to fish, and to sail boats in the pools which
were left at low tide; and when it was high tide he went with his Aunt
on the cliffs.
Now his Aunt had told him he must not go near the edge of the cliffs,
for they were steep and high. His Aunt took hold of his hand when she
went with him to the cliffs; for once he went so near the edge that he
must have gone down, and would have been much hurt, had not his
Aunt just caught him in time to save him.
One day, when they were on the cliffs, George's Aunt had left hold of
his hand to get a wild rose from a bush. She had got it, and had gone
back to take hold of George's hand, but no George was to be seen!

She then ran home, as she thought he might have gone back, but when
she came near the town she saw two men with a dead boy in their arms.
She ran in haste to look at him, and what was her grief to find that he
was George!
The men took him home, and his Aunt, though in such a state that she
knew not what she did, went home too.
When Mrs. Crisp saw him she sent at once for Mr. Pill.
Mr. Pill said that he was not quite dead, that he might, with great care,
be brought to life, but that he would be ill for a long time. George was
brought to the fire and wrapt up in warm things; air was blown down
his mouth, and he was put in a warm bed. At last he came to life, but he
was so ill that he knew no one, and could not speak.
The men told George's Aunt that they were in their boat, and had just
gone out to fish, when they saw George fall down from the cliff. They
got their boat to the place as soon as they could, and brought him home.
George's Aunt now knew that he had gone to the edge of the cliff, when
she had told him not to do so.
While George lay in bed, he thought what a bad boy he had been, and
of what his Aunt had told him. And he thought, too, that if he should
get well he would try to do what his Aunt told him to do.
George was a month ill. As soon as he was well he told his Aunt he
would be a good boy, and try to do as she bid him--for he now knew
that what she told him to do was right.
Since that time George has done what he has been told to do, in all
things; for he has thought of the fall he had down the cliff.
He was such a good boy, that all were fond of him, and what is more,
he has grown up a good man.
Then let this tale warn those boys and girls who read it. May they do as
they are bid, and may they not, as George once did, think that they

know more than those who are more old than they are.

THE MOON.
What is the bright moon, that shines so in the sky?
It is a world like ours, but not so