ROSY'S VISIT TO THE COWS.
THE dear, good nursey did not forget about the cows next morning, forwhen Rosy opened her little blue peepers there she was half dressed.
Rosy jumped up in a minute, crying out,--
"The cows! the cows! Shall we go and see them?"
"If you will make great haste," said the nurse; "but it is gettinglate."
Rosy never got dressed more quickly. She did not much like even to waitfor her morning splash; and while her curls were being combed, she keptsaying, "Won't it do, nurse?" and then rather hindering by holding upher little face for a kiss.
As soon as she was quite ready she bustled off, and got down stairsfirst. Whom should she see there but papa himself, with his hat on?
He said that he would take her to see the cows, and even carry her alittle way if she got tired.
How very kind that was! But would such a great girl as Rosy get tired?
O, dear, no; at least, so she said, for Rosy did not like to be thoughta baby now, though somehow or other it did sometimes happens that aftera long walk her feet would ache a little bit, and then papa's shouldermade a very comfortable seat.
She was half afraid now that nursey might be sorry not to see the cows,and ran back to whisper that if she liked she might dress one of thedollies instead. That was meant for a treat, you know; and nurseylaughed, and said,--
"Perhaps, we shall see;" and gave her another kiss.
Then Rosy showed her papa where the farm was; and when they came near,they saw the farmer's wife standing at the door, as if she expected herlittle visitor.
Rosy did not forget to say,--
"Bon jour, madame," which means "Good morning" in English, you know.
Papa asked in French if they could see the cows, and the good woman waskind enough to take them round to the water where they were drinking.
There was a black one, and a black and white one, and a red one, andanother with red spots. We cannot find room for them all in thepicture; but you will see the one which was drinking.
Rosy admired them very much, and wanted to go as near as she could thatshe might see them well; for although they were so very big and had suchlong legs, she was not a bit afraid of them. She never was afraid ofanything when her papa was by, because he was so very strong--strongerthan all the world she thought.
"Who made the cows, Rosy?" asked her papa, when she had looked at them alittle while.
"God," said Rosy, softly; "God made everything, didn't he, papa? Why didhe make the cows?" she asked, after thinking a minute.
"To give us good milk, such as you had yesterday, Rosy, and to make youand other little girls and boys fat and strong. Was not that very goodof God!"
"Yes, papa," said Rosy, again.
"Then will you remember that, my little one, when you say, by and by, 'Ithank God for my nice bread and milk'?"
Rosy said she would, and then she asked,--
"And do the pretty cows give us coffee, too, papa?"
"And do the pretty cows give us coffee, too, papa."]
"No, no, my silly little Rosy; don't you recollect that we buy that atthe grocer's shop? We must go some day and ask him to let you see itground up to powder. The coffee comes from a long, long way off. Itgrows on a tree in a very hot country, and looks like little berriestill they put it into a mill and turn a handle. Then the berries areground up to powder, and we put some boiling water over the powder, andwhen it gets cool we drink it. Haven't you seen mamma pour it out intothe cup and put some sugar and milk in for herself and papa?"
Rosy remembered now; but she had not taken much notice before, becauseshe did not like coffee at all. She liked her nice milk much better; andso when she went away with her papa she called out,--
"Good by, dear cowies, and thank you very much for my nice milk."
Rosy wanted to walk round the other side where there was a very gentle,kind-looking cow, that was not in the water, because she thought thatshe would like to stroke her; but her papa told her to look at those twogreat horns. And he said that cows did not like little girls to takeliberties with them unless they knew them, and that this cow did notknow her, and might think her very saucy, and poke out her horns toteach her to keep a proper distance. If she did, he said he thought Rosywould not like that poke, for it might hurt her, so he advised her tokeep quite out of the good cow's way.
Then she stood at a little distance to watch her drinking, and Rosy'spapa said,--
"See how she enjoys it! Cows like to come here sometimes, like littlegirls; but French cows don't get out of their houses so often as Englishones."
"Don't they, papa?" said Rosy. "Then I should think they must often wishto go to England."
Papa laughed, and said,--
"Perhaps they would wish it if they knew how their English cousins enjoythemselves; but I think they look pretty happy; don't you, Rosy?"
Rosy said,--
"Yes, papa; but how funnily the cow drinks! She puts her head into thewater."
"And you think that if she were a polite cow she would not think ofdoing such a vulgar thing, but would wait till they gave her a glass;eh, Rosy?"
"She hasn't got any hands, papa," cried Rosy, "so she couldn't, I'spose."
"No," said papa; "so I think that we must excuse and forgive the poorthing, until Rosy can teach her a better plan."
And Rosy trotted home by his side, thinking how much she should like totry drinking after the cow's fashion.
ROSY'S VISIT TO THE HENS.
ROSY was very hungry when she got home to breakfast, for the freshmorning air had given her an appetite.
Her mamma took off her hat and her little jacket, and said,--
"So, Rosy, you have brought me two more roses."
"But my roses don't smell, mamma," said Rosy, laughing and patting herown fat cheeks, as she always did when mamma said that. Then she madehaste to scramble up on to her little chair, and pull her nice basin ofbread and milk close to her. She looked at her papa after she had saidher little grace, and said,--
"I didn't forget, papa."
Then she began to eat away as if she liked it very much; and when shehad eaten a little, her mamma said,--
"Look here, Rosy."
And Rosy turned round and saw a whole spoonful of egg waiting for her toeat it. Mamma was holding it for her; and it looked so yellow and sodelicious!
Rosy opened her mouth, but she did not take it all in at once. It wastoo good for that, and she thought it better to make it last a little.
But some of the yellow would stick on Rosy's lips; so mamma wiped itoff, and then Rosy put her arms round her neck and kissed her, andsaid,--
"So nice, dear mamma."
Then mamma said,--
"At the end of the garden, Rosy, there lives the good hen that gave usthis nice egg, and a great many other hens, and very fine cockstoo,--the cocks that you heard crowing this morning. Shall we go and seethem after breakfast?"
"O, yes, yes, yes!" cried Rosy, clapping her hands, "that will be fun.I've almost done mine;" and the little girl made great haste to finishher bread and milk; but mamma said,--
"Ah, but not quite directly. I've not done my breakfast. If you havedone yours, you had better go and see what nurse is doing, and ask herto get ready to come and hear papa read about Daniel in the lions' den."
Rosy did not mind waiting for that, for she was never tired of hearingthat story. I dare say that some of her young friends know it too.
Her mamma got ready soon after, and they both went round to a part ofthe garden which Rosy had not seen before.
There they saw that one piece was railed off from all the rest, and thata hen-house was inside it.
Rosy's mamma opened a gate in the railing, and took her little girl intothe enclosure amongst all the cocks and hens.
The cocks did not seem much to like this, and they both made a greatcrowing, and then marched off into the farthest corner, with a lot ofhens after them.
Rosy said,--
&n
bsp; "O, mamma, show them the nice seed, and then they won't go away!"
But her mamma answered,--
"Not yet, Rosy; let us go first and look at these good ladies that arewalking about inside their house. We can have a good look at them beforethey get away. See, they can't get out if we stand at the door."
"Ah, look at these beauties, all over speckly feathers," cried Rosy, asshe ran forward to catch one.
She put out her little arms to seize her; but the hen seemed to thinkthis a great liberty from so small a child, and instead of running away,she turned and opened her beak in a very angry manner.
"Take care, Rosy," said her mamma, as the little girl drew back halffrightened. "This hen seems rather a fierce lady. I will give her someseed to persuade her to be quiet. Perhaps she has got something therethat she does not choose us to see. I wonder what it can be."
Rosy took one more peep, and then called out,--
"O, mamma, mamma, some little chickens, I do declare! If you stoop downyou can see them running about behind her,--such dear, pretty, softlittle creatures! Do get me one to play with."
"Little chickens!" said mamma; "why, they must have come out of theirshells very late in the year if they are little ones still, and I amafraid their mother won't let me touch them."
"Do chickens come out of shells?" said Rosy, making very large eyes, andlooking quite puzzled.
"Yes, Rosy, out of just such shells as our eggs had this morning; and ifin the summer we had given this good hen five or six of her own eggs inthis little house of hers, she would have sat upon them, and spread herwings over them to keep them warm; and there she would have staid sopatiently all day long, and day after day, until the dear littlechickens were ready to come too."
"And wouldn't the hen get tired?" said Rosy. "I shouldn't like to staystill so long."
"No, I don't think you would," said her mamma, chucking her little girlunder the chin; "but then, you see, you are like the little chickens,and not like the mamma hen. I think you will find that she has not gottired even yet, for if you peep down again you will see that she iskeeping two of the little chickens warm under her even now. Littlechickens are like little babies, and they very soon get cold, so theylike keeping very close to their mammas."
"Are the little chickens naughty sometimes?" asked Rosy.
"If you stoop down you will see that she is keeping twoof the little chickens warm under her."]
"Well, I don't know, Rosy; but I know that I have often thought it verypretty to see how they will all run to their mother when the great henclucks for them."
"O, mamma, I should _so_ like to hear her cluck," cried Rosy, clappingher hands.
"Well, Rosy, you go a little way off, and keep quite quiet; and then Iwill see if I can tempt the good lady out of her nest with some of thisnice seed."
So Rosy ran away, and her mamma stepped back a few paces and threw downsome of the seed. The hen saw it directly, and looked for an instant asif she would like some very much; and she did not wait long, but soonstepped out of her house, and began picking up the seed.
Just at that moment a cat came creeping along the outside of the paling,and watching to see if she could pounce on one of the little chickens.The hen saw the cat, and began to stretch out her neck very fiercely, asif she meant to fly at its eyes, and then began to cluck for her littleones, which all came running to her as fast as their legs would carrythem.
Rosy's little eyes sparkled with pleasure, and she went up and put herhand into her mamma's, and said softly,--
"Wasn't it nice?"
"Yes, Rosy," said her mamma, "and I hope that my little chicken willalways run to my side as quickly as these did to their mother. You seeshe knew that they were in danger when they didn't themselves; and so doI sometimes when my Rosy thinks she is quite safe."
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Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 7, "the" changed to "she" (so that she)
A Walk and a Drive. Page 3