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birds sang to her of their happiness. The bees 
and the butterflies hummed and fluttered their wings 
in joy and gladness. The sheep gambolled on the 
hills. The little fish sported in the brook. The 
very leaves of the trees and blades of grass made 
music as they waved in the gay winds, that some¬ 
times softly whispered, and sometimes loudly thun¬ 
dered their life and enjoyment. These thoughts 
passed rapidly through her mind, for all that she 
had ever known seemed to rise up at that mo¬ 
ment in her memory, and speak its testimony to 
the goodness of God. When she grew older, and 
found that there were some people in the world 
who liked to speak ill of others, and who were 
ungrateful for the powers and blessings that God 
had bestowed upon them, she remembered that a 
few among all the flowers that spoke to her in 
her childhood, were like them, and it troubled her 
