care now vanished, and their little hearts felt no sentiments but cheerfulness and joy. They ranged the fields and gardens, sipped at the coolest springs, and indulged themselves in the pleasures of society, joining their cheerful notes with those of other gay choristers which animate and heighten the delightful scenes of rural life.
The first morning that the old redbreasts were missing from Mrs. Benson's breakfast-table, Frederick and his sister were greatly alarmed for their safety; but their mamma said she was of opinion that they had left their nestlings, as it was the nature of animals in general to dismiss their young as soon as they were able to provide for themselves.
"That is very strange," cried Harriet; "I wonder what would become of my brother and me, were you and papa to serve us so!"
"And is a boy of six, or a girl of eleven years old, capable of taking care of his or herself?" said her mamma. "No, my dear child, you have need of a much longer continuance of your parents' care than birds and other animals; and therefore God has ordained that parental affection, when once awakened, should always remain in the human breast, unless extinguished by the undutiful behaviour of a child."
