Part 2 (2/2)

To every duty imposed by Him uponit How s should I not have to say to you on this subject, if you were older? For the present, I will contenta comparison

When a h to do, of her own accord, so which it is nevertheless i to read, for instance, or to ith her needle, &c, she co when she has done well And thus God, who had not confidence enough inthe wants of hu in the shape of pleasure after every necessity; and in supplying the want, man finds the reward

You will hardly believe that what I have here explained to you so quietly by a childish comparison, has been, and alas! still is, the subject of terrible disputes arown-up people If hereafter they reach your ears, reed in the tongue and its surroundings, is a plaything, but a plaything given to us by God; and that we irl has had a plaything given to her by herit or throwing it into a corner?

No, certainly not: she would know that in so doing she would be going directly against her mother's intentions and wishes Nevertheless she would amuse herself with it in play hours, with an easy conscience, and, if she is amiable, she will remember while she does so, that it comes to her from her mother, and will thank her at the bottom of her heart

It is the sa

But, ranted that she is a good little girl) will notthe business of her whole day, the object of all her thoughts; she will not forget everything for it, she will leave it unhesitatingly when her mamma calls her Neither will she wish to be alone in her enjoyladly see her little friends also enjoy siood for her ood for others too

It is thus that s; but, alas! this is what he does not by any reat deal has been said against theirls, in particular, are apt to fail on this point, and that is how the dreadful word _gluttony_ caet punished fro the consequence of the misuse I speak of

If people who call to see your ht up stairs to her, to establish the with him, do you think she would be much flattered by their visits? And yet this is exactly what people do hen eating, attend only to the porter He is so pleasant, this porter; he says such pretty things to you, that you go on talking to him just as if he were the one out of your head

You heap sugar-pluar-plu that pleases the porter, but is of no use whatever to the ets angry soroeary of these visits, which are of no use to his all the bells, makes no end of a noise in the house, and forces that traitor of a porter who has engrossed all his company, to do penance You are ill--yourThewhich has been reat care taken not to do the saht, ive to this little detail of its beginning, a place proportioned to your interest in it You see by what I have said, that you are not altogether wrong in following your taste; but neither otten that this part of the business is not in reality the , and that the porter is not the ood friend's acquaintance, ish him farewell, and I will presently introduce you to his coed on the two sides of the door, to make the toilettes for the visitors who present the received in the drawing-room You will see there some jolly little felloho are also very useful in their way, and whose history is no less curious They are called TEETH

LETTER IV

THE TEETH

When you were quite little,behind your lips but two little rosy bars, which were of no service for gnawing an apple, as they were not supplied with teeth

You had no need of these then, since nothing but ained for your having teeth to bite with

You see that God provides for everything, as I have already said, and shall often have occasion to point out to you

But by degrees the little infant grew into a great girl, and it beca more solid than milk to eat; and for this purpose she required teeth Then soerms, which had lain dormant, concealed within the jaoke one after another, like faithful work of the clock Each set to work in his little cell, and with the help of soan to make itself a kind of white arer from day to day

You knohat li in large troughs where themortar; it is with this that your little masons build your teeth

As to phosphorus, I am afraid you may never have seen any; but you ist's in the forer; they have a disagreeable, garlicky sed to be kept in jars of water, because they seize every opportunity of taking fire; so I advise you, if ever you do see any phosphorus, not to , it sticks closely to the skin, and there is the greatest difficulty in the world in extinguishi+ng it, and the burns it ive you this caution, because phosphorus possesses a very curious property, which irls Wherever it is rubbed, in the dark, on a door, or on a wall, it leaves a luminous trail of a very peculiar appearance, which has been called phosphorescent, from the name of the substance which produces it And in this way one can write on walls in letters of fire, to the terror of cowards Now, come; if you will promise to be very wise, and only to make the experiment when your mamma is present, I will teach you how to gist's! There is a small quantity of phosphorus in lucifer ently in the dark on a bit of wood, and you will see a ray of light which will shi+ne for soaerous amusement, and one hears every day of terrible accidents caused by disobedient children playing with lucifer matches

And while we are on the subject, letthem into your mouth Phosphorus is a poison, and such a powerful one that people poison rats with bread-crumb balls in which it has been introduced

”Oh dear me! and that poison makes part of our teeth?”

Exactly so, and it even forms part of all our bones, and of the bones of all animals; the best proof of which is, that the phosphorus of lucifer hter-house

One could h of them

Now I see what puzzles you, and well ityourself how those little tooth-et hold of this terrible phosphorus, which is set on fire by a , and which we dare not put into our mouths; where do they find the lime which I also protest is not fit to eat, and yet of which we have stores fro, too, to think of its being forthco in the jaws just when it is wanted there