used to do; and I hope I shall remember how much better you can feed
me, than I can feed myself."

"I wish I may too," said William. "If Eve had but waited for the
Lord only to fill her mouth, she would not have eaten that which
brought sin and death."

"Tell me, Frances, if you feel the force of all we have learnt from
the little birds, and your own mistaken idea of what would be good
for them?"

Frances did not answer.

"But you know, my child, you were guilty of another fault; when the
medicine was offered, which was likely to do you good,--you
_refused_ to open your mouth, and was long before you would let
me fill it, so you see we must leave it all to the Lord to give us
much or little, bitter or sweet, just as he knows to be
_convenient_ for us."

"Yes," Mary said, "these poor little birds will long teach us a
lesson. We may imitate them to open our mouth wide, but we must be
warned by what happened to them, to let the _Lord_ only fill
them."

"Let us look again at the nest." They approached, and frightened the
mother so, that she flew off.

"See, see! William," said Anne, "the two little things are opening
their mouths again. O how beautiful! let us never meddle with them