Lesson:

1. Oh, how one ugly trick has spoiled


The sweetest and the best!


Matilda, though a pleasant child,


One grievous fault possessed,


Which, like a cloud before the skies,


Hid all her better qualities.





2. Sometimes, she'd lift the teapot lid


To peep at what was in it;


Or tilt the kettle, if you did


But turn your back a minute.


In vain you told her not to touch,


Her trick of meddling grew so much.





3. Her grandmamma went out one day,


And, by mistake, she laid


Her spectacles and snuffbox gay,


Too near the little maid;


'Ah! well,' thought she, 'I'll try them on,


As soon as grandmamma is gone.'





4. Forthwith, she placed upon her nose


The glasses large and wide;


And looking round, as I suppose,


The snuffbox, too, she spied.


'Oh, what a pretty box is this!


I'll open it,' said little miss.





5. 'I know that grandmamma would say,


'Don't meddle with it, dear;'


But then she's far enough away,


And no one else is near;


Beside, what can there be amiss


In opening such a box as this?'





6. So, thumb and finger went to work


To move the stubborn lid;


And, presently, a mighty jerk


The mighty mischief did;


For all at once, ah! woeful case!


The snuff came puffing in her face.





7. Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin


A dismal sight presented;


And as the snuff got further in,


Sincerely she repented.


In vain she ran about for case,


She could do nothing else but sneeze.





8. She dashed the spectacles away,


To wipe her tingling eyes;


And, as in twenty bits they lay,


Her grandmamma she spies.


'Heyday! and what's the matter now?'


Cried grandmamma, with angry brow.





9. Matilda, smarting with the pain,


And tingling still, and sore,


Made many a promise to refrain


From meddling evermore;


And 'tis a fact, as I have heard,


She ever since has kept her word.





DEFINITIONS


1. Qualities: Traits of character.


2. Meddling: Interfering without right.


4. Forthwith: At once.


4. Spied: Saw.


5. Amiss: Wrong, faulty.


6. Woeful: Sad, sorrowful.


8. Tingling: Smarting.


9. Refrain: To keep from.





EXERCISES


1. What did Matilda do?


2. How was she punished?


3. What effect did it have on her?