1. "what a sharp night it is, peter, to be sure!" said a pale woman to her husband, as she sat rocking her baby in its cradle by the fire.

2. she had been but poorly, and had felt the cold very much. "very sharp, indeed!" said her husband. "i feel pains in all my poor old bones."

3. "if you and i feel cold here," said he, "by the warm fire, after our good supper, what must it be outside, for those poor souls that have nothing to eat, and no fire?"[pg 51]

4. "ah, bad indeed!" said his wife. "and for the poor dumb beasts, too. how glad i am that we had that nice dry house made for the cow this summer, and the new place for the cocks and hens!

5. "they would have been half frozen under that broken roof as it used to be when we first came here."

6. her eldest child, a little-girl, looked up from her knitting. "the hens are all quite snug, mother, fluffy and biddy and the rest. i peeped in just now, after they were gone to roost."

7. "you are always a kind little one to the dumb things," said her father, stroking the soft brown head of mercy, who had just spoken. "and so is my little nelly, too," he added, looking fondly at the second child, who sat on his knee.

8. "it is getting late for the children, peter," said his wife. "shall mercy read a bit, before we go to bed?" so mercy, who was a good scholar, took the bible from the shelf and read aloud a few verses which her father found for her.

9. they told of the manger, and of how[pg 52] the ox and the ass stood by one bitter night like this, when the infant christ was laid in it long ago. "thank you, dear," said her mother, when mercy had done. "now run up to your warm bed."

10. "oh look, mercy, how nice!" cried little nelly, "we have got a new blanket!" "that is because the squire sent it to mother; a big new thick one," said her sister. "how warm we shall be!"

11. nelly began to make great haste, while mercy went to the window and looked out.

"how thick the snow is!" she said. "and how white it looks in the moonshine!

12. "but what is that dark thing standing by the old shed?" nelly ran up and pressed her little face against the window to peep out too. "why, it is a donkey!" she cried. "how did it get there?"

13. "i tell you what," said mercy, "it is our poor old brownie, that father sold last week to mr. smith, that he might pay the doctor's bill with the money.

14. "he had spent all we had in getting things for mother when she was ill, you[pg 53] know, and in bread for us. so poor brownie had to go."

15. "why does he not go into the shed? how stupid of him to stand there! and why did he not stay with mr. smith, i wonder?"

"i suppose he could not help thinking about us, and that is why he came back," said mercy. "perhaps mr. smith has no little girls to pet him, and maybe he is not so good to him as father was."

write: two little girls went to their warm beds. as they looked out at the window they saw a donkey. it stood out in the cold.

questions: 1. what sort of night did peter think it was? 2. what was his wife so glad to think of? 3. what did mercy say about the hens' house? 4. what did the children see when they looked out at the window? 5. what did mercy think was the reason why the donkey had come back?