l you play with me?" But the dog
said, "No, I must not be idle; I am going to catch a hare for my
master's dinner: I must make haste and catch it." Then the little boy
went by a hay-rick, and he saw a bird pulling some hay out of the
hay-rick, and he said, "Bird! will you come and play with me?" But the
bird said, "No, I must not be idle; I must get some hay to build my nest
with, and some moss, and some wool." So the bird flew away. Then the
little boy saw a horse, and he said, "Horse! will you play with me?" But
the horse said, "No, I must not be idle; I must go and plough, or else
there will be no corn to make bread of." Then the little boy thought
with himself, "What! is nobody idle? then little boys must not be idle
neither." So he made haste, and went to school, and learned his lesson
very well, and the master said he was a good boy.

[Illustration]

GATHERING APPLES.

See, here is Mamma, and here are Maria, and Harry, and Herbert. They are
in the orchard gathering apples to put into puddings. See, Mamma is
shaking the tree, and Maria is catching the apples in her frock. And
look, how busy Harry and Herbert are! I hope they will not eat too many
apples.

HARRY'S LADDER TO LEARNING.

PART VI.

HARRY'S COUNTRY WALK.

COUNTRY WALK.

[Illustration]

Early one morning during last summer, Harry and I put on our hats, and
taking some cake in our pockets for lunch set out for a good long walk.
First we went through the Home Meadow, where the tall elm-trees are, and
then through the gate at the bottom of the valley into the corn-fields.
The sun was shining bright and clear, and a lark was singing high up in
the blue sky almost beyond our sight. Harry and I stood still to watch
its descent, and after many minutes we saw it alight near a tuft of
grass by the hedge-side. We walked a little nearer, and then we found
that there was another bird there with some young ones; so we thought
that this lark had been singing its long, sweet song in the air to
cheer its mate, who was feeding their little ones in the nest.

[Illustration]

We then walked on, and soon came to the skirts of the wood, through
which runs a little stream. We thought there must be some one in the
wood, for we heard a smart tapping sound, like the noise of a little
hammer. I climbed on the top of a hedge-bank, and, after a little while,
found that the noise came from over our heads. On the trunk of a tree
were two wood-peck