help, and her answering cry of distress, I could but think of the dear
children who forget their mother's counsel, and leave her protection
before they are old enough to take care of themselves.

The ducklings, I observed, did not know who were their friends; for,
one day, when the prettiest of the brood had found a way out of the
rabbit-house, I thought I would catch it, and give it back to its
mother. It was much alarmed, and Lily was in equal trouble. It ran
away from me, thinking, perhaps that I was a greater enemy than the
rats, against which it had probably been warned. Just as I was going
to put my hand on it, it hid itself in a rat-hole, from which there
was no escape. I could not rescue it, neither could its mother. The
next morning, when I went to look at the ducks, and give them their
breakfast, there lay the poor duckling, close by the fatal hole. The
rat had brought it out, and partly devoured it.

Children often think they know what is best for them quite as well, if
not better, than their parents, and when told not to do this or that,
they are not satisfied to obey quietly, but ask, "Why not?" I think
children may often be told why they are bidden to do this, or
forbidden to do that; but they should obey their parents promptly,
whether they know their reasons or not.

Sometimes there are reasons which children cannot understand,
sometimes there are reasons which it would not be wise to tell them,
and sometimes it is not convenient to give the why and the wherefore.
Children are commanded to obey their parents,--not the reasons their
parents may give them. The young ducks could not understand why their
mother did not wish them to go out of that enclosure. They could not
comprehend the dangers which surrounded them. They saw the birds