Pleasing Pictures and Stories - The Young Inventor.

IT is not inquisitiveness alone which makes this lad look so closely into the works of a clock ;  he wants to see how they are made, and will one day if he lives be an inventor. Sir Humphry Davy, who invented the miner's safety lamp, was such a lad as this boy, always inquiring into things ;  and James Ferguson another. This latter boy was so poor as to be glad to keep sheep for a Scotch farmer, but he taught himself astronomy, and made a watch before he was twenty.  If you have a turn for invention, follow it by all means, but be a sensible boy, and don't let your lessons suffer in consequence; but always do them first, and then no one will make any objection to your other pursuits, or call you idle.  It is only those who are idle and shirk their studies who are to be blamed.

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - "I Love You."

MISS WILSON, the governess, was sitting all alone, and feeling sad, for she had not long left her home to go out teaching, and it was strange to her.  She wished to do her duty and teach her pupils well, but they were high-spirited, and she feared she had made no good impressions yet on either of them.  Just then a pair of little arms was thrown round her neck, and a voice said, "I love you," and kissed her many times.  It was Edmund who did this, and his kindly sympathy went to her heart and cheered her, for it seemed an earnest of better things.  Her sad thoughts vanished, and taking the little boy on her knee, she talked to him and interested herself in all he had to tell her, for he was an intelligent boy, and she wanted to show him that she appreciated his kindness to her.

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - A Bad Headache.

EDWIN came back from school with so bad a headache that mamma said he must go and lie down at once, which he gladly did ;  and she drew the curtains to shut out the light, gave him a comfortable sofa and a soft cushion for his head, and by-and-by brought him a glass of cool lemonade to drink, which he did with pleasure, for he was so thirsty.  Then she bathed his head with eau de Cologne, and telling him to try and sleep, she kissed him, and went out shutting the door gently behind her ;  and telling the other boys that they must keep quiet, she sent them out to play in the meadow, bidding them stay under the shade of the great beeches until the sun set, or they would perhaps be as bad with headache as Edwin was, for it was the hottest day they had had that summer.

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - Child at Prayers.

NELLIE has been taught to kneel down by her bedside night and morning and pray to God, asking Him to bless her and all near and dear to her, and to keep her from evil and dangers. To praise and thank Him for all the benefits she receives, and to ask Him to continue them, is also part of Nellie's prayer, and she asks it all for Jesus Christ's sake ; who when He was on earth set us an example of praying for all we need. A habit of prayer is proper to all men, for great are our wants and trials and temptations, and nothing brings us relief like asking God in prayer for all that is necessary for body or soul.  But we must pray from the heart, and not with the lips alone, to make our prayers acceptable to God, who will hear and answer us if we ask him aright.  He has said, "Ask, and it shall be given you."

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - The Kind Elder Sister.

GERTRUDE is the eldest of a family of nine children, and Bertha is the youngest. Gertrude is very fond of her baby sister, and in the picture we see how lovingly she is nursing it. 

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - Title Page and Frontispiece

Pleasing Pictures and Stories - Bastard Title