Such Bright Eyes!

Rabbit

Hidden where the shadows cast

Hopping through the grass

Then running so fast

He came to home at last. 

My Mother Looked Sad.

LATE one autumn I returned from the forest with a beautiful brown rabbit imprisoned in my box-trap. I conveyed" it home with 

in exulting heart, in the buoyancy of   

unreflecting boyhood, expecting

 congratulation and the expression of

 congenial joy from my loving and beloved

 mother, in announcing the welcome tidings

 of my success. Rare 

pleasure would she share with me upon   

exhibiting my innocent captive. I loved my 

mother's smile; but as I hastened to relate 

my achievement; how great was my 

disappointment!

 My mother looked sad. "My son, I

wish you had a taste for higher and better 

pursuits," was her only reply.   

Volumes were contained in these few

 words, they indeed damped my spirits, and

 sent pain to my heart; but they were words

 of wisdom and love. They awakened the 

sober, salutary thought that time was not

 given me for selfish gratification or 

unprofitable amusement, but for mental 

and moral culture, and for the great ends

 worthy of a rational being. They struck

 deep into my memory and my conscience,

 and often they revived, in a sober hour,

 in future years, to check way

ward inclinations and to reprove and

 restrain me when solicited by temptation

 to devote time to ignoble objects.

What thanks shall I render to God for such 

a mother? Many a child would have been 

cheered with smiles and gratulatory words, 

fanning the growing passion for the trap

 and the gun. And what might have been the 

moral influence of such treatment from my 

own fond mother in that momentous period 

of my life? I tremble at what might have 

been the result. Self-indulgence I imagined 

to be the source of happiness; and in this  

delusive, ruinous sentiment I might have

 been confirmed, to my utter undoing.

That scene is fresh before me; my mother 

at her spinning-wheel the trap introduced, 

despite the sobering words just spoken the 

prisoner released in my inconsiderateness

 to play in the room, as if this must gratify

 her whom I so much loved, no less than 

myself. 

Poor victim! Few were his terrified leaps, 

were he rushed into the open, blazing fire

 upon the hearth, whence he was taken 

with the tongs by my distressed mother, 

and  dispatched in haste to end his pains.

 Then too, I was sad; for I had brought to a

 miserable death the innocent animal; and

 all my promised pleasure had vanished, 

like the smoke of the fire into which my 

captive had vainly hurried for safety.

Then and there I learned the lesson, never 

to be forgotten, that the pursuit of mere 

pleasure at the expense of the happiness

 and life of the inferior, harmless creatures

 around us is irrational and criminal. It was

 time to have higher aims, and to inspire 

nobler  objects. This was seen and felt by 

one who loved me more wisely than I loved

 myself, and whose fervent desire and 

prayers were, that my happiness might be

 found in the fear, love, and service, of God.

 She well knew that a heart unrenewed and

 devoid of Christian affection could not be

 the abode of joy or peace, which will abide

 through the changes of time, and survive

 the sorrows of earth and the solemnities of

 death and the grave.

 Mother's Treasury.

 "Here are two little brothers out for their early morning run in the dew and the sunshine. They live and learn in the School of the Woods. Did you not know that little animals had to go to school? They have many lessons to learn, and their mothers are their teachers. Those poor little animals who have lost their mothers have no one to teach them. They are soon caught and killed by some larger animal or bird, because they have not learned the way to escape. 

The first and chief lesson for Baby Bunnies to learn; as well as for little children, is to obey their mothers,-to do as they are told. Baby Bunny knows nothing. His wise Mamma knows all that a bunny needs to know. So if he does just what she tells him, he will be safe. But the naughty and disobedient little bunny will be sure to get into trouble. 

Baby Bunny learns to lie quite still when a snake or hawk is near. Then most likely he will not be seen. He learns how to dodge the old fox and the dogs who chase him, and to lead them into the prickly thorn bushes that scratch them and shelter him.  

He learns how to send telegraph messages to the other bunnies with his hind feet. One thump means "Keep still." Two slow thumps mean "Come." Two fast thumps mean "Danger." And three fast thumps mean "Run." These are a few of the lessons that Baby Bunny learns in the School of the Woods."

June 18, 1903 EJW, PTUK 395

 THE LITTLE HARE.

THE hare is very much like the rabbit. It is a little larger, and is known by a black spot at the tip of its ears. It does not burrow in the ground as rabbits do, but makes its nest, or 

"form" as it is called, in the grass. It is very timid.- In England rich men hunt it, for sport, with dogs and horses. It is hard to understand how grown-up men can take pleasure in 

hunting down a poor timid hare. It is cruel and senseless sport. We trust that no boy in the   family ever hurts an animal for pleasure or mere sport.

Beyond the palings of the park,

A hare had made her form 

Beneath a drooping fern, that gave

A shelter, snug and warm.

She slept until the daylight came,

And all things were awake; 

And then the hare, with noiseless step,

Crept softly from the brake.

She stroked her whiskers with her paws,

Looked timidly around 

With open eyes, and ears erect

That caught the smallest sound.

The field-mouse rustled In the grass,

The squirrel in the trees; 

But the little hare was not afraid

Of common sounds like these.

She frisked and gamboled with delight,

And cropped a leaf or two 

Of clover and of tender grass,

That glistened in the dew.

What was it, then, that made her start,

And run away so fast? 

She heard the distant sound of hounds,

She heard the huntsman's blast.

Hoy! tally-ho I hoy! tally-ho!

The hounds are in full cry; 

Ehew! ehew! in scarlet coats

The men are sweeping by.

So off she set with a spring and a bound, 

Over the meadows and open ground, 

Faster than hunter and faster than hound; 

And on, and on, till she lost the sound, 

And away went the little hare.

  THE RABBIT.

Rabbit is the name commonly given to several species of the hare family.

The pretty little creatures are found in almost ever part of the world, although they are said to be natives of Spain.

They are of many different colors and shades, black, brown, gray, white, spotted, etc.

Rabbits build their nests in the ground, usually in meadows, but sometimes

they are found in cultivated fields at the foot of a hill of corn, or some other plant that will afford them shelter. A few days ago a nest of young rabbits was plowed out from under a hill of sage in the middle of the field. There were four of the little fellows snugly hid away in a nest made of light brushwood, and lined with thistledown. They were so young that their eyes were not yet open, and it seemed sad to give them so rude an introduction to the ways of the world; but after replacing the nest as carefully as possible, and marking the spot so as not to disturb it again, we found them all right and able to run about, on visiting them a few days later.

During the summer and autumn months, when there is plenty of clover, the rabbits fare pretty well, and they are somewhat shy of the farm buildings; but when the fields have all been cleared, they venture into the orchards and gardens, where they feed on the apples, and the leaves of the garden vegetables. They are especially fond of cabbage.

Although the rabbit is a very harmless-appearing animal, yet he sometimes

does a great deal of mischief.

In the winter, when the snow is deep and he can find nothing to eat, he

gnaws the bark from the young fruit trees, frequently destroying an entire orchard.

The rabbit is a very timid creature, and is usually so wild that the comparison "wild as a hare" has come to be a common one. When tamed, however, it often comes to be a very affectionate little pet. The poet Cowper, who lived in England about one hundred years ago, had a pair of them of which he was very fond; and as he lived alone most of the time, his rabbits were a real comfort to him.

He is said to have spent several hours a day with them, feeding them and

watching their pretty gambols; and when one of his pets died, he wrote a pretty little poem about it. This certainly shows the poet to have been a very kind-hearted man.

In these mild October days, when the summer's work is done, and everything snugly stored away for winter, or later on, when the first light snow has fallen, the farmer lads like to get together and go hunting the rabbit and other small game. Of course this is fun for the boys, but I fear the tenderhearted poet would feel like reproving them for killing his pretty pets. And really, boys, does it not make you hard-hearted to find your sport in destroying life? Did you ever think that perhaps life was as dear to the little rabbit as to you?

Think of it next time the one you are chasing looks at you so appealingly out of its great, frightened eyes, and see if you cannot find better sport.

  B. L.