ate their porridge, they took occasion to lecture the little bear very severely, telling him how wrong it was to be so angry at a little mishap, and how he ought to bear these things with patience. But as they both had their breakfasts, while the little bear had none, I do not think he gave much heed to their talk, but only went on crying more and more; which makes me think he was rather a foolish little bear, and would have been none the worse for a taste of the big bear's umbrella. If you doubt what I say, turn to the first picture in this story, and you will see the big bear smiling, and the middle-sized bear with her head back, laughing, and the little bear rubbing his eyes with his paws, and crying. But after a while the little bear got over his grief; and when he thought how pretty the child looked when she lay asleep in his bed, and how he and the other bears had frightened her, he felt sorry that she had not stayed longer. When the big bear had finished his breakfast, and the big porridge-bowl stood empty (he was always in a good humour when he had had his breakfast), he began to talk over the adventures of the morning. "She was a very pretty child, that little girl," he began; and the middle-sized bear, his sister, looked lovingly at him, and agreed with what he said, as she always did. "She had very pretty hair," the big bear went on: "it shone like silver as she lay on the bed;" and again the middle-sized bear nodded, for she fully agreed with her brother, like a good sensible bear, who knew how to keep peace in the house. For, to tell the truth, if there is one sort of person who does not like to be contradicted, that person is a large bear who has a good opinion of himself, and a habit of having his own way. Therefore the middle-sized bear used to give way to the big bear like a good-tempered, prudent, and wise sister as she was, even when he got angry and stirred her up with his umbrella, which was his way of telling her that he did not approve of something she said or did. "I'm sure I should be very glad if such a pretty child rested herself on my bed, or sat in my chair," the great bear resumed. "And so should I," chimed in the middle-sized bear, with a nod. The little bear's face began to brighten, and he thought that the big bear, for once in his life, was talking very sensibly; for there was no doubt about it, little Silverhair was a pretty child, and one that the little bear would have been proud to know, if she had only given him the opportunity. And the more he thought about it the more he felt convinced of the fact that the calamity was not very great, and that after all he could not have given his breakfast to a nicer little visitor; but still he could hardly help laughing to hear the big bear talk so, when he remembered how angry he had been at first, when he found the cushion of his chair pushed a little on one side. But the big bear saw the effect he had produced on the little one, and went on-and I cannot tell you how sly he looked "Well," said he, "I cannot help fancying that little girl must have known something about us, and about our house out here in the wood, and wanted to make our acquaintance; or perhaps the acquaintance of one of us; and he looked at the little bear. "That's very likely," said the middle-sized bear. "Yes," cried the big bear, "I'm sure that pretty maid with the silver hair and bright blue eyes must have heard what a nice little bear lived here, and so she came to see him, and to spend some little time in his company; and she would have stayed longer if she had not been scared away by our great ugly faces, or perhaps it was your bonnet," he continued, looking at the middle-sized bear. Why will you wear that horrid coal-scuttle bonnet?" looked nervously at his umbrella. And the middle-sized bear But when the little bear heard this, he was vain enough to believe that Silverhair had come on purpose to see him, and all his anger and sulkiness vanished away. He turned quite red underneath his thick hairy coat--only you could not see it through his fur-and felt quite delighted to think himself a person of such an attractive kind; and ever since that day he has brushed his hair every morning, and once even asked the middle-sized bear to curl it for him, getting dreadfully burned with the curling-tongs for his pains. But if little Silverhair should go to see the bears again, I think she will enjoy her visit, for the very last words the great bear said at the end of his speech, which lasted exactly twentyfive minutes and a quarter, were: "Well, if she comes again, we will treat her to the best we have; and as for the chair she has broken, we'll mend it as well as we can; and for the future, like sensible bears, we will endeavour to remember how much wiser it is to learn how TO BEAR AND FORBEAR." For after all there's no use in getting into a passion and making ourselves unhappy for nothing; for what is it that the old rhyme says: Nettles grow in an angry bush, |