Harry's Ladder to Learning Page 4

  GATHERING APPLES.

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

  HARRY'S LADDER TO LEARNING.

  PART VI.

  HARRY'S COUNTRY WALK.

  COUNTRY WALK.

  Early one morning during last summer, Harry and I put on our hats, andtaking 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, andthen 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 inthe blue sky almost beyond our sight. Harry and I stood still to watchits descent, and after many minutes we saw it alight near a tuft ofgrass by the hedge-side. We walked a little nearer, and then we foundthat there was another bird there with some young ones; so we thoughtthat this lark had been singing its long, sweet song in the air tocheer its mate, who was feeding their little ones in the nest.

  We then walked on, and soon came to the skirts of the wood, throughwhich runs a little stream. We thought there must be some one in thewood, for we heard a smart tapping sound, like the noise of a littlehammer. 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 treewere two wood-peckers pecking with their long beaks at the bark of afir-tree, in which they find a number of little insects, which servethem for their food. I lifted Harry up to see them at their work, but hedid not frighten them, and at some long way off we could still hear themtapping away.

  Just at the corner of the wood, as we were turning round by the side ofthe fence, we saw two hares and a rabbit feeding among the clover; oneof them pricked up his ears and looked at us for a moment, and then allof them ran away across the field much faster than Harry, who tried allhe could to catch them.

  We had not walked much further when we heard a great chattering, andwhen we came to a young beech-tree close by the stile, we soon found thecause of the noise. About two dozen or more of a little bird called thetitmouse had all perched on one tree, where they were pecking, andfighting, and love-making, and noise-making, all at the same time.Except the noise made by sparrows when they go to bed on a summer'sevening, I never heard the like.

  While I was amusing myself by watching the titmice, Harry, who hadrambled on a little way, came running back to ask me what the funnything could be that he had found. It was a mole that had been caught ina trap, and was dangling in the air with a swarm of bees around. I toldHarry that the moles are blind, or nearly so, and that they live underthe ground, and do great good to the farmers by eating the slugs andother things that destroy the corn; but that they turn up such greatmounds of earth when making their tunnels, that the farmers are oftenglad to get rid of them, and therefore set traps to kill them.

  In the next field we came to, the young wheat had grown up higher thanmy knees, and Harry was greatly pleased at running down the furrows andmaking the blades of corn bend before him. Presently he stopped andpeeped through an opening, whence he discovered a whole covey ofpartridges, the two old birds and seven young ones; they all rose with awhirring noise, and flew into the field we had just left.

  Soon after the partridges had flown away, Harry was delighted to hearthe well-known voice of the cuckoo; it sounded so near us that we bothstarted at the first voice, and we soon found out where the cuckoo was.Like a lazy tyrant, instead of making a house for himself, the cuckootakes the first little bird's nest he can find, and turns the pooroccupant away. When we reached the tree where the cuckoo was, we saw itsitting on a small nest throwing out the eggs of a poor little bird, whowas screaming in anger at the intruder.

  When I told Harry what the cuckoo had been doing, he wanted to throw astone at it, but I told him that this cuckoo was only doing what allother cuckoos did, and that the poor little bird would soon build itselfanother nest. As we walked on, still by the side of the wood, Harry sawsomething jumping about in the boughs of a tree; and presently anotherfollowed it: they were two squirrels, with their long bushy tails curledover their backs, and their ears pricked up to hear the slightest noise.As soon as they saw Harry looking at them they both leaped away, and welost them in the branches of a large oak. To look after the squirrelswe had climbed over the hedge, so we were walking a little way in thewood. Presently I heard the call of a pheasant; and as we walkedfurther, we came to some brush-wood, under which were two old birds andtheir young ones. They all flew away at our approach; but the oldcock-pheasant left two of his tail-feathers in the brush-wood, whichHarry soon picked up to decorate his hat with.

  The next bird that caught our notice was a fly-catcher. It was sittingon a bramble catching bees and flies, and so intently was it watchingfor them, that it did not even notice our presence, till Harry tried toput his hand on it, but then away it flew with a fine chattering.

  We now left the wood, and taking the foot-path to the left, went alongtill we came to the road. Just by the stile sat a girl, who had beengathering dried sticks in the wood, where her father was cutting downtrees. She had tied up the sticks into a bundle, and was sitting on themto rest herself, because they were so heavy. She asked me to help her toput them on her head; this I did, and then she thanked me, and trudgedon, singing as merrily as a lark in the sky.

  Now we came to a bridge over a wide river. I mounted Harry astride theparapet, and there we stopped for some minutes to look at the boats asthey passed under us, and to watch two swans which were sailing up theriver with their great wings spread out for sails, and their necks soproudly bent that they looked like the king and queen of the river.Harry would have stayed for hours to look at them, but we could not stoplong.

  We next turned down the pathway by the river-side, and soon we came tothe wide marshes, which are only two miles off the sea. There we werestanding under a willow, watching for the fish which were swimming downthe river in little shoals, when we heard a splash on the opposite bank;it was an otter that had dived into the river, and caught a fish, withwhich we saw it climb on to the bank again. Men used to hunt the otterwith dogs and spears; and sometimes otters have been trained to catchfish and bring them to land, but we do not often find them in England.

  As we walked on by the river-side, we noticed a hawk flying swiftly overus; afterwards we saw him balance himself on his wings, and keep formany minutes in exactly the same place. Presently, with a loud scream,he darted down into some rushes a little way before us, and then weheard a most furious quacking, as if there were fifty ducks there. Weran on and saw a drake flying at the hawk and pecking at its wings, andthe duck, quacking in the utmost alarm, tried to get all her littleducklings under her wings; but, alas! one little truant ran into theweeds, and the hawk caught it in his claws, and, in spite of all theefforts of the poor drake, flew away with it.

  Harry was greatly excited at this scene, and cried to see the hawk carryaway the poor little duck; but he soon laughed again, for as he watchedthe robber in his flight through the air, he saw a number of littlebirds fly after him,--sparrows, swallows, finches, all chirping at himand mocking him; then a tribe of bigger birds, blackbirds, magpies,rooks, and jays, flew after him also; and as the hawk could not fly fastwith the duckling in his claws, they soon overtook him, and we saw thempeck at his wings and his tail, and pull his feathers out; and they allscreamed and chattered at him till at last the hawk let the poorduckling down into the marsh, and then, rising much higher than theother birds, flew away so quickly that he was out of sight in a minute.Harry clapped his hands with delight to see the hawk thus treated, andsaid that he was rightly served.

  Now we walked on again by the river-side. The swallows skimmed alongthe surface of the water, and caught the insects that hovered over it,and now and then a sea-gull came with its great wings, and diving intothe river, bore away a poor fish in its beak t
o swallow at its leisure.

  Then we came close to a solemn-looking heron, who stood so still thatwe could hardly tell if he were alive, till we saw him suddenly dive hishead in a pool of water and pull out a frog, which he swallowed at onemouthful; and then he stood as still and solemn as ever. He flew awaywhen we walked near him, flapping his immense wings slowly, and giving amournful cry.

  Then we turned away from the river, and took a path across the meadows,where Harry ran about and gathered cowslips and buttercups until he wasquite tired; therefore it happened very luckily that just as we reachedthe gate into the high-road, who should we see but Uncle George drivingpast in his gig! He stopped his horse when he saw us, and both Harry andI were very glad to have a nice ride home with him.

  In the evening Harry and I went for a stroll in the fields near home,and presently we came to one where the sheep were feeding. The shepherdwas just calling them home to be put in the fold, and we were very muchamused to see the antics of some of the young lambs that would skipabout instead of going to bed with their mothers. This put me in mind totell Harry Mrs. Barbauld's story about

  THE SILLY LITTLE LAMB.

  There was once a shepherd, who had a great many sheep and lambs. He tooka great deal of care of them, and gave them sweet fresh grass to eat,and clear water to drink; and if they were sick he was very good tothem; and when they climbed up a steep hill, and the lambs were tired,he used to carry them in his arms; and when they were all eating theirsuppers in the field, he used to sit upon a stile, and play them atune, and sing to them. And so they were the happiest sheep and lambs inthe whole world. But every night this shepherd used to pen them up in afold. Do you know what a sheepfold is? Well, I will tell you. It is aplace like the court; but instead of pales there are hurdles, which aremade of sticks that will bend, such as osier twigs; and they are twistedand made very fast, so that nothing can creep in, and nothing can getout. Well, and so every night, when it grew dark and cold, the shepherdcalled all his flock, sheep and lambs, together, and drove them into thefold, and penned them up, and there they lay as snug and warm andcomfortable as could be, and nothing could get in to hurt them, and thedogs lay round on the outside to guard them, and to bark if any bodycame near; and in the morning the shepherd unpenned the fold, and letthem all out again.

  Now they were all very happy, as I told you, and loved the shepherddearly that was so good to them--all except one foolish little lamb. Andthis lamb did not like to be shut up every night in the fold; and shecame to her mother, who was a wise old sheep, and said to her, "I wonderwhy we are shut up so every night? the dogs are not shut up, and whyshould we be shut up? I think it is very hard, and I will get away if Ican, I am resolved; for I like to run about where I please, and I thinkit is very pleasant in the woods by moonlight." Then the old sheepsaid to her, "You are very silly, you little lamb, you had better stayin the fold. The shepherd is so good to us, that we should always do ashe bids us; and if you wander about by yourself, I dare say you willcome to some harm." "I dare say not," said the little lamb. And so whenthe evening came, and the shepherd called them all to come into thefold, she would not come, but crept slily under a hedge and hid herself;and when the rest of the lambs were all in the fold and fast asleep,she came out, and jumped, and frisked, and danced about; and she got outof the field, and got into a forest full of trees, and a very fiercewolf came rushing out of a cave and howled very loud. Then the sillylamb wished she had been shut up in the fold, but the fold was a greatway off. And the wolf saw her and seized her, and carried her away to adismal den; and there the wolf had two cubs, and the wolf said to them,"Here, I have brought you a young fat lamb." And so the cubs took her,and growled over her a little while, and then ate her up.

  Harry said that was a very naughty lamb.

  It now began to be quite dark, so Harry and I returned home. Then we hada long talk about what we had seen during the day; and then Harry hadhis bread and milk for supper, and then he said his prayers and went tobed.

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