little kitten in her lap, and a nice bowl of bread
and milk for her breakfast. She always saved a little milk in the bottom
of the bowl for Daisy her kitten, and after she had done, she would give
the rest to Daisy. So you see that Emma lost much pleasure by not
minding quickly; and, what was worse than all, she had displeased her
Mother, and made her unhappy.

Oh, how weary she got! how she longed to get up! She did not dare to
disobey her Mother, and she lay in her crib a long, long time, and
thought she never could be so naughty again.

At last her Mother came into the room. She opened the shutters, and
said, "Emma, you may get up and put on your stockings and shoes."

Emma jumped up quickly, and had them on in two minutes, and then she
took off her night-gown and put on her day-clothes, which hung over the
back of the chair by her crib, and went to her Mother to have them
fastened, for she could not fasten them herself. Her Mother fastened her
clothes, and then, taking her little girl's hand, she said, "My dear
little Emma, you have made me feel very unhappy this morning. I do not
like to punish you, but it is my duty to try to cure you of all your
naughty ways, and it is your duty to try to overcome them. If you do
not, some day you may meet with some terrible misfortune, like that
which happened to a boy I used to know when I was young. I will tell you
the story. This boy, like you, grieved his parents often, by not minding
quickly; and he suffered for it in a way that he will never forget as
long as he lives. He was one day standing on the steps of the house
where he lived, and I was standing at the window of the house opposite,
where I lived. I was watching some men that were on the top of this
boy's house, fixing the slates on the roof. The roof was covered with
loose pieces of slate, and nails, and rubbish.

"Presently one of the men on the roof cried out, 'Go in, little boy; go
in.' But the boy was looking at a kite that some other boys had in the
street, and he did not choose to go in. The man thought that he had
minded what he told him, and without looking again he tumbled down a
great heap of slates and rubbish. The house was quite high, and a large
and sharp piece of slate came down very swiftly, and struck the boy on
the side of his head, and cut off nearly the whole of his ear. In a
moment the blood poured down his neck and over his clothes, and I
thought he would bleed to death. Oh, Emma! what a dre