ade
garlands to dress up the infant. 'Oh! if his mamma saw him, she would be
glad to let us have him,' said Matilda. She then explained to her sister
who this mamma was, and Sophia shed tears to think of the sorrow of the
poor mother. 'But how do you know, mamma, that she was Minou's mother?'
demanded she. This question proved that her judgment was forming, and I
took the opportunity of teaching her what information one may derive
from observation. She understood me very well; and when I told her on
what I had founded my idea, she trembled to think he had been brought
here by a bear, and asked me if the bear would have eaten him.

"'I cannot answer for it,' said I, 'if it had been pressed by hunger;
they tell us, that the bear does no harm to man unless attacked, and is
especially fond of children. But, notwithstanding this, I should not
like to trust it. At all events, the poor babe would have died, if we
had not found him.'

"'Poor babe, he shall not die of hunger now,' said she. 'Let us give him
some figs; but these are not good; we must go and seek some more.'

"The rain having ceased, I consented, passing through the grove, where
there are no fig-trees, to search farther. My daughters had fed the
child with honey and water; it appeared quite reconciled to us, and had
ceased to cry. I judged it might be about eight months old. We soon
found some trees covered with the violet-coloured figs. Whilst I
gathered them, the girls made a pretty bed of moss, adorned with
flowers, for their little favourite, and fed him with the fresh fruit,
which he enjoyed much; and with their fair hair and rosy faces, and the
little negro between them, with his arch, dark countenance, they formed
a charming picture, which affected me greatly."

* * * * *

CHAPTER LVI.

"We had been more than an hour under the tree, when I heard cries again;
but this time I was not alarmed, for I distinguished the voice of the
disconsolate mother, and I knew that I could comfort her. Her grief
brought her back to the spot where she thought her child had been
devoured; she wished, as she afterwards told us, when we could
understand her, to search for some remains of him,--his hair, his bones,
or even a piece of the bark that bound him; and here he was, full of
life and health. She advanced slowly, sobbing, and her eyes turned to
the ground. She was so absorbed in her search, that she did not see us
when we were but