"They hurt people," said Mary. "They never hurt me," said the Violet. "Perhaps they are obliged to sting, if people hurt them, for they are so small that they would easily be killed if they did not defend themselves. "They have a great deal of work to do, and if they hurt any one, I think it must be because they wish to finish it.” "Yes," said Mary; "God gave them their sting to defend themselves, and they never use it for any other purpose. "The point is so fine that we can not see the end of it unless it is put under a glass which makes things look hundreds of times larger than they really are. The bees never hurt me, for I do not touch them." "If any one should hurt me," said the Violet, "I could not defend myself." Mary thought it would be very cruel to hurt such a beautiful, sweet creature, but before she could answer, the Violet seemed to have forgotten that there was any danger in the world. III. "Has my cousin Heart's-ease bloomed yet?" asked the Violet. "I should rather know her than any of the Pansies. "I once heard your mamma talking of a cold country far away from here, called Siberia. Many people are sent there from their pleasant homes by a cruel king, who punishes them sometimes without good cause. "She told a story of a noble daughter who walked more than a thousand miles in that cold country, to ask the king to let her father return to his happy home. It was a very beautiful story. 66 She said that the father of that good daughter would often twine my cousin Heart's-ease into the garlands he wove for his daughter's brow. I wish I could have been there, to speak to him of the valleys of his native land, where Violets grow. "I have more than twenty cousins in America. We grow in Asia, too, in the Holy Land where Abraham lived. Some of my cousins grow in the palm groves of Africa. "The children of that land are not so happy as you are, but they love flowers, and wear us in garlands round their heads. When they give us to one another they mean to say, 'I shall love you always.' "My cousin who lives in England keeps all her sweet fragrance to herself in the daytime. At evening she sheds it upon the dewy air, and the nightingales come and perch upon the bushes near her. They thank her with such sweet songs that all the flowers wake to listen. "I see you are looking at my green leaves. They are spoon-shaped, to catch the falling drops of rain or dew. Violets first grew upon highlands where no brooks watered their roots, and we are provided with these to catch moisture from the air." At that moment the sun sunk behind the hill, and the lowly flower drooped her head and ceased speaking. If Mary had been asked then what flower she should like to be, she surely would have said a Violet, so tenderly did the modest beauty and sweet fragrance and heavenly color speak to her heart. But the bright blue Day was fast turning pale at the approach of dark-robed Night. The flowers were folding their robes for slumber. As Mary turned homeward, her mother said, "I hope my daughter will be like that modest flower who never thinks of herself, but remembers all the goodness of others. Then every one will love my daughter as well as she loves the blue Violets." Describe the different members of the violet family in this lesson. What ones have you seen? Did you ever raise any pansies? stud' ded ǎe' çent văn ished ré fresh' ment APRIL SHOWERS. Come, gentle April showers, And water my May flowers. The violets Blue, white, and yellow streaked with jetThickly in my bed are set. Gay daffodillies, Tulips and St. Joseph's lilies, Gleaming through its leaves afar, I am tired of wintry days, And meadow-sweet |