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[Illustration: Cover]




Olive Leaves




[Illustration: The Indian Chief.--_P._ 229.]




    OLIVE LEAVES.

    OR,

    SKETCHES OF CHARACTER.

    BY

    MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.

    GALL & INGLIS.

    London:
    25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

    Edinburgh:
    20 BERNARD TERRACE.




PREFACE.


An Olive Leaf was the first gift of the Earth after the Flood, to the
sole survivors of a buried race. It was borne by the Dove, spreading a
timid wing over the surging waters, so lately without a shore.

The plant thus honoured, as the love-token of a World, rising in
freshness from the wrecks of the Deluge, has long been a consecrated
emblem of peace. It then brought the joyful tidings to the voyagers in
the lonely Ark, of a home once more upon the green earth; and has since
cheered many a Christian heart, with the assurance that the bitter
waters of strife had abated.

These, my simple "Olive Leaves," would fain be love-tokens to you, sweet
young friends, who may chance to take them in your hand. Buds of the
olive and of the rose, are ye: pour forth the spirit of peace and love,
as ye unfold and ripen on the pilgrimage of life, that you may be
gathered at its close, where their bloom is eternal.

    L. H. S.

    _Hartford, Connecticut._




CONTENTS.


                                              Page

    PREFACE,                                     3

    THE LOST AND FOUND,                          9

    CHILDHOOD'S PIETY,                          18

    FRANK LUDLOW,                               19

    VICTORY,                                    35

    SILENT PEOPLE,                              37

    LAURA BRIDGMAN,                             53

    HUMBLE FRIENDS,                             55

    BUTTERFLY IN A SCHOOL-ROOM,                 61

    A BRAVE BOY,                                63

    MAY MORNING,                                66

    THE HUGUENOT GRANDFATHER'S TALE,            67

    THE OLD WATCH,                              86

    ENTERTAINING BOOKS,                         88

    THE NEW YEAR,                               91

    CYRUS,                                      93

    ROME AND ITS RULERS,                        97

    THE PLOUGHING OF THE SWORD,                105

    THE GOOD AND BAD EMPEROR,                  108

    BONAPARTE AT ST. HELENA,                   120

    POLYCARP,                                  124

    CHRISTMAS HYMN,                            127

    THE FRIVOLOUS KING,                        128

    TO A PUPIL LEAVING SCHOOL,                 131

    PIOUS PRINCES,                             132

    EVILS OF WAR,                              138

    THE LIBERATED FLY,                         143

    THE GOOD BROTHER AND SISTER,               146

    THE WAITING CHILD,                         155

    THE ADOPTED NIECE,                         156

    THE ORPHAN,                                160

    THE ONLY SON,                              163

    LIFE,                                      175

    A REMARKABLE CHILD,                        177

    THE DYING SUNDAY SCHOOL BOY,               187

    THE PRECOCIOUS INFANT,                     189

    THE LAST ROSE BUD,                         195

    THE CHERUB'S WELCOME,                      197

    THE BABE, AND THE FORGET-ME-NOT,           199

    TREATMENT OF ANIMALS,                      201

    THE TREMBLING EYELID,                      207

    PEACEFUL DISPOSITIONS,                     213

    JOHN AND JAMES WILLIAMS,                   220

    THE INDIAN KING,                           227

    THE DOVES,                                 232

    THE WAR-SPIRIT,                            236

    EARLY RECOLLECTIONS,                       238

    HUGUENOT FORT,                             243

    I HAVE SEEN AN END OF ALL PERFECTION,      252




OLIVE LEAVES.




The Lost and Found.


I have something to say to the young, about the advantage, as well as
duty of obeying their parents. My story will be of an interesting boy,
by the name of Charles Morton. He had a pleasant temper, and almost
always wore a smile. He ardently loved his sister Caroline, who was
several years younger than himself; and whenever he came from school,
would ask for her, and take her in his arms, or guide her tottering
footsteps.

But Charles, with all his kindness of heart, had a sad fault. He would
sometimes disobey his parents, when he was out of their sight. He did
not remember that the Eye of God always saw him, both in darkness and in
light, and would take note of the sin that he committed, though his
parents knew it not. At a short distance from his home, was a beautiful
river, broad and deep. His parents had strictly charged him never to
venture in, and had explained to him the danger which a boy of eight
years old would incur, in a tide so strong. Notwithstanding this, he
would sometimes seek a spot where the banks, or the trees upon the
shore, concealed him, and take off his shoes, and step into the water.
He grew fond of wading, and would