Or, again, when
they sat out in the garden, or wandered back in the autumn twilight from
some gipsy party, they were taught to recognise the stars and planets,
until Mars and Jupiter, Orion and Cassiopeia, the Pleiads and the
Northern Crown, seemed to look down upon them like old and beloved
friends.

It was easy, too, and pleasant, to teach them to love and to treat
tenderly all living things--to observe the little black-eyed squirrel
without disturbing him while he cracked his nuts; to watch the
mistle-thrush's nest till the timid bird had learned to sit there
fearlessly, and not scurry away at their approach; and to visit the
haunts of the moorhen without causing any consternation to her or her
little black velvet progeny. Visitors who stayed at the house were
always delighted to see how all creatures seemed to trust the children:
how the canary would carol in its cage when they came into the room; how
the ponies would come trotting to the boys across the field, and the
swans float up and plume their mantling wings, expecting food and
caresses, whenever they came in sight.

The lake was a source of endless amusement to them; summer and winter
they might have been seen bathing in its waters, till they were bold
swimmers, or lying to read their books in the boat under the shade of
the trees, or rowing about till the little boy of six years was allowed
to paddle himself alone to the other side, and even when the waves were
rough, and the winds high, the elder ones were not afraid to venture
out. In short, they were healthy and manly mountain-boys, with all
their senses admirably exercised, and their powers of observation so
well trained, that they sometimes amazed their London cousins by
pointing to some falcon poised far-off above its prey, which was but a
speck to less practised eyes, or calling attention to the sweetness of
some wood-bird's note, indistinguishable to less practised ears.

Even in such lessons as these they would have made but little progress
if they had not been trained in the nursery to be hardy, modest,
truthful, unselfish, and obedient. This work had effectually been done
when alone it _can_ be effectually done, in the earliest childhood, when
the sweet and plastic nature may acquire for all that is right and good
the powerful aid of habit, before the will and the passions are fully
conscious of their dangerous and stubborn power.

Let no one say that I have been describing some youthful