give you grace to practise it. For though we know this rule, we are apt to forget it when we are put to the trial, and to do to others not as we should like them to do to Bella soon learned the text, and repeated it to her mother; also these lines, “How short and sweet ! how good and plain ! And 't will be sweet to practise too." The next day after this was Bella's birthday. Mary, the nursemaid, had lived in the family long before Bella was born. She dearly loved the children, and she was sure to remember when their birthdays came. So, that morning, when Mary went to tie Bella's frock, she said to her, “ Good morning, Miss, and I wish you many happy returns of the day." Bella's brothers and sisters said the same. When Bella came into the parlour, her papa and mamma both kissed her. The Bible was lying open before her papa, who said, “ Here is a verse that will make a good birthday prayer for my dear little girl, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.'” Her mamma said, “ And here is another, close by, to go with it: 'O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.'” Both these texts are in the 90th Psalm. There is also another, which the parents of Bella adopted as their own prayer, that the grace of God might crown all the means they used for training their children in the right way. It is this, " Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children ; and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it." When prayer was over, as the family sat at breakfast, a parcel was brought to the house and given to Bella's papa. He looked at it, and said that on one corner of the direction was written, “For Bella.” So he laid the parcel aside, and it was agreed that when breakfast was over, Bella should have the pleasure of opening it herself. Bella very much wished to know whom it came from, and what was inside ; but as her papa and mamma had said it was not to be opened till after breakfast, she knew she must wait.. She had done eating sooner than her brothers and sisters, and then she fixed her eyes on the table where the parcel lay... At last the bell was rung for the cloth to be removed, and Bella was allowed to unpack her parcel. It was a birthday gift from her aunt in London. The first thing she took out was a plum-cake; the next was a doll, very neatly dressed ; then there was a pretty book and a letter. Bella was very much pleased with all these things. She read the letter twice over ; while she was doing this, her sister Laura took up the doll, and tried whether its eyes would shut and open. When Bella laid down the letter, and saw Laura with the doll in her arms, she felt angry, and took it away. I need not repeat the words she spoke, for when children feel angry they often say words that are not fit to be repeated. Bella's mother heard what she said, and saw her snatch the doll from Laura. She called Bella to her, and asked her if she had forgotten the Golden Rule. Bella said, “ Oh no, mamma, I can repeat it every word.” She did so. " And can you tell me, Bella, what your kind aunt intended and wished, when she sent you this nice present ?" Bella seemed rather puzzled for an answer. “Do you not think it was to give you pleasure ?” . “Yes, mamma, I am sure it was.” “You told me, Bella, that the Golden Rule teaches us to do to other persons as we should like them to do to us. Do you think it teaches us, when we have pleasures, to keep them all to ourselves, or to be willing that others should share them with us?” Bella saw what her mamma meant, and felt that when she was unkind to her sister she broke the Golden Rule ; so she went to Laura, and asked her if she would like to look at the doll and play with it. Then the little girls kissed each other, and they played happily together till they were called to their lessons. When we obey the Golden Rule, we give pleasure to others, and we feel happy ourselves; but when we disobey it, we vex and grieve others, and we are not happy ourselves. Those who indulge a selfish temper are never happy. In the afternoon of Bella's birthday, all the children had a pleasant ramble in the meadows, to gather cowslips. Mary went with them to take care of them, and also to carry little Arthur; for he was too young to walk far without being tired. When the children had each got a large bunch of cowslips, Martin said he wished they might go into the park and get some blue-bells; and Emma and Bella and Laura and Henry all said, “ Oh yes, let us go into the park ; we should like to get some blue-bells." Mary felt rather tired, for they had already walked a long way, and Arthur was heavy to carry. But Mary was very kind; she never liked to refuse the children anything that would give them pleasure, if it was proper for them to have it. So she said nothing about being tired, and they all went through the gate into the park. Martin and Bella ran on before the rest. They soon came to a dell where there were plenty of blue-bells. They gathered as many as they could grasp, and Bella tied hers round with a bit of string. Martin had no string to tie his. Bella said to Martin, “ If my string were long enough to tie two nosegays I would give you half; for I ought to do for you as I should like you to do for me. We will try if it is long enough.” So they tried, but it would not |