Good advice for boys and girls

Ex Libris
ELY AH KARSHNEF

CHILD REN'S BOOK
COLLECTION

LIBRARY OF THE V*

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES

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GOOD ADVICE

FOR

BOYS AND GIRLS

WORCESTER:

PUBLISHED BY S. A. ROWLAND.

Henry J. Howland, Printer,

WKi

Children, make haste to learn to read,
and to understand the meaning of what you
read ; love to learn your duty, and to do it;
then you will be able to read the Bible, and
you will love to read it. There are many
things in it which you can understand now,
though you are so young.

When you are older and wiser, you will
understand it better; and, if you are goodr
you will delight in it more and more.

Love your father and mother. They
love you very dearly ; and they have taken
care of you ever since you were born. They
loved you. and took care of you, even when
you were iittle, helpless babes, and could

not talk, nor walk about, nor do scarcely
any thing but cry, and give a great deal ot
trouble.

4 GOOD ADVICE

Who is so kind to you as your parents
are? Who takes so much pains to instruct
you ? Who taught you almost every thing
you know? Who provides food for you, and
clothes, and warm beds to sleep on at night?
Who is so glad when you are pleased, and
so sorry when you are troubled ? When
you are sick and in pain, who pities you,
and tenderly waits upon you, and nurses
you ? Who prays to God to give you
health, and strength, and every good thing?

Obey your parents. They know better
what is proper for you than you do ; and
they wish you to be good, and wise, and
happy.

Love your brothers and sisters. Do not
tease nor vex them, nor call them names ;
and never let your little hands be raised to
strike them. If they have any thing which

FOR BOSS AND GIRLS.

you would like to have, do not be angry
with them, nor want to get it from them.
If you have any thing they like, share it
with them.

Your parents grieve when they see you
quarrel ; they love you all with dear love ;
and they wish you to love one another, and
to live in peace and harmony.

GOOD ADVICE

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 7

Do not meddle with what does not be-
long to you ; nor ever take other people's
things without leave.

Children, never allow yourselves to pluck
a flower, or fruit, that grows in your pa-
rent's or other people's gardens, unless you
are told that you may do so; never without
leave, take a pin, or a needle, or a bit of
thread, from your Companions. If you steal
little things, you will soon learn to steal
great things.

Never tell a lie. When you are relating
any thing that you have seen or heard, en-
deavor to tell it exactly as it was. Do not
alter nor invent any part, to make, as you
may think, a prettier story. If you have
forgotten any part, say that you have for-
gotten it. Persons who love the truth,
never tell a lie, even in jest.

8 GOOD ADVICE

Consider well before you make a prom-
ise. If you say you will do a thing, and
you do not do it, you will tell a lie ; and
who then will trust or believe you ? No
persons are trusted, but those who keep
their promises, and who speak the truth.

When you have done a wrong or careless
action, do not deny it, even if you are afraid
you will be punished for it. If you are sor-
ry for what you have done, and endeavor to
do so no more, people will very seldom be
angry with you. They will love you for
speaking the truth ; they will think that
they may always believe what you say,
since they find you will not tell a he, even
to hide a fault, and to prevent yourselves
from being punished.

It is very foolish to tell lies ; for, soon or
late they are found out ; and it is very
mean and wicked. God himself has said.
that we must not lie ; that he abhors liars,

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

and that he will punish them. Ananias
and Sapphira were struck dead for telling
lies.

Our parents are very good to us ; but
God is better than our parents, and he has
done more for us. He gave us our parents,
and every thing we have. He is not a

GOOD ADV1CH

man; he is wiser and better than any man
ever was or can be.

He has made the sun, moon, and stars ;
the earth, the sky, and the water; trees
and flowers ; birds, beasts, fishes, and in-
sects, and men, women and children.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. II

He has made us more excellent than the
beasts; for he has given us souls. It is
our sou's that know God, and that he is
good, and wise, and powerful. The beasts
do not know God, nor the things which he
has made ; if we were to tell them, they
would not understand us. Our souls learn
and know a great many things, which the
beasts cannot learn. Our bodies will die
like the beasts. When we are laid in the
grave, our flesh and our bones will dis*
solve and mingle with the earth. But our
souls are immortal : they will never die.

God orders every thing. He keeps us
alive : and he makes us die when he pleas-
es. There is nothing which he cannot do.
He sees us wherever we are, by night, as
well as by day ; and he knows all that we
do, and say, and think. There is nothing
which he does not know,

12

GOOD ADVICE

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 13

We must love God. Good people love
him more than they love any thing, or any
person in the world. They never rise in
the morning, or lie down at night, without
thinking of him, and of the good he has
done them. Often in the day, they think
of him : and they love to talk, and hear,
and read about him.

We must pray to God ; for he is very
good, and worthy to be loved ; and desire
him to forgive us when we do wrong, to
put good thoughts into our minds, and to
help us to be better ; and that he will bless
us, and our parents, and all our kind friends,
and give us every good thing that is proper
for us.

We must do to all persons what God re-
quires us to do. It is his will that we should
not be unkind, even to people who are un-
kind to us ; and that we should do to all
persons as we wish they would do to us.

14 GOOD ADVICE

The things that God requires of us will
make us good and happy. If we do them
not, he will be displeased with us, and will
punish us. He can punish us in whatever
way he pleases. He can take away all our
friends, and every thing that he has given
us; and after death, he can make us mis-
erable forever. But, if we try to be good,
and do as he would have us to do, he will
help us to be good ; he will bless us ; he
will make us feel happy in our minds : and
when we die, that is, when our souls leave
our bodies, he will take us into heaven
where we shall be with him, and know and
love him, and praise him better than any
body in this world can know, and love, and
praise him. Then we shall never grieve
any more ; we shall be wiser and happier
than any body who lives here can be, or can
imagine.

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 15

We must love to read the Bible* It is
the most, excellent and beautiful of all
books. God himself commanded good men
to write it. There, we read of the great
and good things God has done for us, and
for all people ; how just, and wise, and
powerful he is; and what we must do to
serve and please him. There we read of
good men who loved God, and whom he
loved and blessed ; of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, of Joseph, Moses, Samuel, and Da-
vid.

There too, we read of Christ, who was
so good, and who has done so much for us.

GOOD ADVICE

He never did harm to any body : he never
did any thing that was wrong. He was
gentle and patient when he was troubled,
and when he was ill used, he was kind to
all persons, even to those who were unkind
to him , and, when wicked men were just
going to kill him, he prayed to God to for-
give them.

When we have read, or heard about
Christ, and who he was, and what great
things he has done for us, we must love
him, and be thankful to him, and try to be
like him.

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