1 00 DA VET'S PRIMER 



Now, children, are you getting tired of the talks 

 about trees? You are not. Well, that's good. What 

 you have been reading in these lessons are just the 

 ;t A, B, C." Be sure you get your alphabet right ; if you 

 fail in that part you never will read plant life right 

 nor practice culture correctly. 



Here is a very charming object. It is a cut-leaved 

 birch, covered with hoar frost. What a lovely sight! 

 How weird and unspeakably grand the trees are, 

 especially the evergreens when covered with snow! 

 How delightful when in bloom, and how charming 

 when hung with luscious fruits or the gay-colored 

 foliage of fall ! The book of Nature is wide open ; 

 boys and girls, learn to read it. " The heavens declare 

 the glory of God and the firmament showeth forth his 

 handiwork'' ; the stratified rocks tell of his might and 

 wisdom ; the blade of grass his creative power ; the 

 simplest flower whispers his love, while the trees show 

 forth his fatherly care in blessing us with pure air, 

 shade in the heat of summer and the breaking up of the 

 fierce winds of winter, and, above all, the abundance of 

 fruit to give us health of body and contentment of 

 mind. Surely you cannot afford to spend any part 

 of your lives in those things that are low and base ! 

 May you all live in touch with Nature's throbbing 

 heart. 



There is not only no need of sin in this beau- 

 tiful world, but, as near as I can guess at it, there is 

 no excuse for its existence. Sin is the violation of 



