lanted the marigold.

"Look before you leap" is a good motto for everybody--for children, as
well as for men and women. If Kate had thought of it, perhaps she would
have saved herself and her mother a great deal of trouble.

She did not mind where she stepped, and put her foot upon a beautiful,
sweet-scented peony, which had just come out of the ground. She broke
the stem short off, and crushed the root all in pieces.

Now, this flower was very highly prized by Mrs. Lamb, for she had
brought it from a great distance, and it was the only one of the kind
in Riverdale at that time.

Kate was very fond of flowers herself, and when she saw the mischief she
had done, she cried with anger and vexation. She would not have spoiled
this peony for a great deal, for she had looked forward with much
pleasure to the time when it should bud and blossom, and fill the garden
with its fragrance.

"What is the matter with you, Kate?" called her mother, from the house,
when she heard Kate crying.

"I did not mean to do it, mother," sobbed the poor girl.

"Didn't mean to do what, Kate?" said her mother, rushing into the garden
to find out what mischief had been done.

Mrs. Lamb was very angry when she saw that the peony was spoiled; and
she took Kate by the arm, and shook her. I don't think this shaking did
any good; but it was a great trial to her to see her favorite flower
destroyed.

"You careless girl!" said Mrs. Lamb.

"I didn't mean to, mother," replied Kate.

"But you were careless, as you always are. Will you never learn to be
careful? You walk about the flower beds as though they were solid
rocks."

"I did not mean to tread upon it," was all that poor Kate could say.

It was very true that she did not mean to spoil the peony; but it was
almost as bad to ruin it by being careless. Children ought to understand
that not meaning to do wrong is not a good excuse, when the wrong might
have been prevented by being careful.

Suppose the captain of a ship should run his vessel on the rocks, and
lose a dozen lives, by being careless; do you think people would be
willing to trust him with another vessel afterwards?

Suppose the engineer should neglect to keep watch of the boiler, and it
should burst; would not people blame him? Would they think it a good
excuse if he said he did not mean to let it burst?

If the man who has the keeping of a powder house should smoke a pipe in
it, and twenty persons should be killed by his