Early Lessons Author:Maria Edgeworth Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE TWO PLUMS. " What are you looking for, Rosamond ? " said her mother. Rosamond was kneeling upon the carpet, and leaning upon both her hands, looking... more » for something very earnestly. " Mamma," said she, pushing aside her hair which hung over her face, and looking up with a sorrowful countenance, "I am looking for my needle; I have been all this morning, ever since breakfast, trying to find my needle, and I cannot find it." " This is not the first needle that you have lost this week, Rosamond." " No, mamma." " Nor the second." " No, mamma." " Nor the third." Rosamond was silent; for she was ashamed of having been so careless as to lose four needles in one week. " Indeed, mamma," said she, after being silent for some time, " I stuck it very carefully into my work, when I put by my work yesterday, I think, but I am not quite sure of that." " Nor I either," said her mother; " I cannot be sure of that, because I know you have the habit of leaving your needle loose, hanging by the thread, when you leave off work." " But I thought that I had cured myself of that, mamma: look here, mamma, I can show you in my work the very holes where I stuck my needle; I assure you it falls out after I have stuckit in, because I shake my work generally before I fold it up." " Then I advise you to cure yourself of shaking your work before you fold it up; then the needle will not drop out; then you will not spend a whole morning crawling upon the ground to look for it." " I am sure I wish I could cure myself of losing my needles ; for I lost, besides my needle, a very pleasant walk yesterday, because I had no needle, and I could not sew on the string of my hat: and the day before yesterday I was not ready for dinner, and papa was not pleased with me: and do you ...« less