hurrah speak gentle
angry to-day often
father echo playmate
i
1. Albert was at play all by himself in a field near a wood.He was so happy that he called out, “Hurrah! hurrah!”
2. A voice from the wood said, “Hurrah! hurrah!”
3. Albert thought the voice came from some boy in the wood. He looked all about, but could not see any one. Then he called out, “Who are you?”
4. “Who are you?” said the voice.
5. “What is your name?” called Albert.
“What is your name?” came back from the wood.
“Hurrah! hurrah!”
6. Albert was getting angry. So he called out at the top of his voice, “You are a goose.”
Back came the voice, “You are a goose.”
7. At this Albert was very angry. He looked everywhere; no one was to be seen.
ii
8. So he went home and told his father that some one in the wood had called him names.
“Did he speak first?” asked his father.
9. “No,” said Albert. “I was just calling out ‘Hurrah!’ and he began to say ‘Hurrah!’ too. I could not see him, so I asked ‘Who are you?’ Then he called out ‘Who are you?’ And everything I said he said after me.”
10. “There was only one boy there, Albert,” said his father, “and that was yourself.
“What you heard to-day was the echo of your voice. If you had used kind and gentle words, you would have heard kind and gentle words from the echo.
11. “This was the echo from the wood, Albert But you will often hear an echo from your playmates. They will speak to you as you do to them. Try always to speak to them as you wish them to speak to you.”