For the little girl Miss _Lydia_ reserved _First Principles of Religion_, a book which her Mamma esteemed very highly indeed, and preferred to any other book of the kind, but which she did not put into her hands till she had altered some few passages; which, though written with the best intention in the world, appeared to her to speak of the Deity in words too free to be put even into the mouth of an ignorant child. _Lydia_ had not forgotten the little boy, to whom she gave the _Universal Shuttlecock_. You may be sure these presents were received with many thanks; and Mrs. _Brush_ afterwards asked her visiters to walk in her garden, showed them a nice brood of chickens, and gave Miss _Lydia_ some cabbage to feed two rabbits that were in a hutch: she then took them to her bee-hives, where the little bees were all in a cluster at the door, or buzzing about and sipping sweetness out of the flowers, to make honey for their winter provision.
I have heard my sister, said _Lydia_, repeat some verses about killing the poor bees and taking their honey.
I do not kill them Miss, said Mrs. _Brush_, I have been taught to use some fumes which will stupify them for a time, and then I take their honey, only leaving them a little to live upon, and they soon revive; and if, in the winter, when there are no flowers, I cannot spare them honey enough, I feed them with sugar and water. The greatest part of my honey I have sold; but when we go in, if you please, you shall taste the remainder.
The young people were permitted to take a little of the offered honey, which was nicely spread on a thin bit of home-baked bread. The lady made a present of some money to the good woman, and they then took their leave of Mrs. _Brush_ and the children.
About a week after the visit to the school, _Lydia_, from her window, saw _Sally_ lugging something under her arm, which seemed more than she could manage, when the little girl came to the gate, she stopped and looked in, but modesty prevented her from ringing. Miss _Lydia_, went down to see what she wanted: but how surprised was she to see that _Sally_’s load was a little lamb, not many days old. It had been given to _Sally_ by a farmer, whose little boy and girl went to school to her mother, because the dam was dead; and she had adorned its neck with a wreath of field flowers, and brought it as a present to Miss _Lydia_; accordingly when _Lydia_ came to the gate, she, in a very pretty manner, begged her acceptance of it, and told her it must be fed two or three times a-day with warm milk. Nobody can express the delight of Miss _Lydia_, upon finding herself mistress of the lamb. Her joy, however, did not make her forget to thank _Sally_ with great good-nature and civility for the gift; nor did it prevent her recollecting that her mother had thought it proper to offer her a present for the May garland, she, therefore, begged her to stay till she showed the lamb to her Mamma; and taking it up, tottered into the house; she soon returned with half a crown, which, she took great pains to persuade _Sally_ to accept, but to no purpose: she said, her mother would be very angry with her if she took any thing; that the lamb had cost her nothing, and she had been strictly charged to take nothing for it.