I wonder if you have ever seen any little children who make you think of those disagreeable wheels? They are children who do not like to lend their toys, or to play the games that their companions suggest, but who like, instead, to please themselves.
Do you know what the wheels needed to make them go sweetly? They needed oil. And the disagreeable children who grate on us with their selfish, unkind ways, need =another= sort of oil--the oil of kindness. =That= will make things go sweetly; so we will write on the blackboard
Squeaking Wheels need Oil. Children need the Oil of Kindness.
Did you know that trees and birds, bees and flowers could be kind to each other? They =can=; I will tell you how.
See the pretty red cherries growing on that tree. All little children like cherries, and the birds like them too.
A little bird comes flying to the cherry tree and asks, "May I have one of these rosy little balls, please?"
"Yes, little bird," says the cherry tree; "take some, by all means."
So the bird has a nice fruit banquet with the cherries, and then, what do you think =he= does for the tree?
"Oh!" you say, "a little bird cannot do =anything= that would help a big tree." But he can.
When he has eaten the cherry he drops the stone, and sometimes it sinks into the ground, and from it a young cherry tree springs up. The tree could not do that for itself, so we see that
When you have been smelling a tiger-lily, has any of the yellow dust ever rested on the tip of your nose? (Let the children see a tiger-lily, or a picture of one, if possible.) Look into the large cup of the lily, and there, deep down, you will see some sweet, delicious juice. What is it for? Ask the bee; she will tell you.
Here she comes, and down goes her long tongue into the flower. "Ah! Mrs. Bee, the honey is for you, I see. And pray, what have you done for the flower? Nothing, I'm afraid."
"Oh, yes, I have," hums the bee. "I brought her some flower-dust (pollen) on my back from another tiger-lily that I have been visiting to make her seeds grow. When I dip down into the flower some of the 'dust' clings to me, so I take it to the next tiger-lily that I visit, and she is very much obliged to me."
You see, dear children, how the flowers help each other, and how the bee carries messages from one to another; so if