with ripeness.

88 ECLECTIC SERIES.
5. "How good these will be with my bread and butter!"
thought George; and lining his little cap with leaves, he set
to work eagerly to gather all he could find, and then seated
himself by the brook.
6. It was a pleasant place, and George felt happy and
contented. He thought how much his mother would like to
see him there, and to be there herself, instead of in her dark,
close room in the village.
7. George thought of all this, and just as he was lifting the
first strawberry to his mouth, he said to himself, "How much
mother would like these;" and he stopped, and put the
strawberry back again.
8. "Shall I save them for her?" said he, thinking how much
they would refresh her, yet still looking at them with a
longing eye.
9. "I will eat half, and take the other half to her," said he at
last; and he divided them into two heaps. But each heap
looked so small, that he put them together again.
10. "I will only taste one," thought he; but, as he again
lifted it to his mouth, he saw that he had taken the finest, and
he put it back. "I will keep them all for her,"

THIRD READER. 89
said he, and he covered them up nicely, till he should go
home.
11. When the sun was beginning to sink, George set out
for home. How happy he felt, then, that he had all his