His mother's observation was very true; he was obliged to take a walk all alone; and as he did not like to go into the lanes, or high roads, for fear of meeting with something that would frighten him, he rambled about the fields, where he unfortunately met with a drove of cows. Some of them were a little skittish, and one of them was running up towards Tommy, who in his fright, in order to avoid her, scrambled up a small tree which stood close by. The drover called to him to come down, telling him the cows would do him no harm, but he said he would rather stay where he was till they were gone by. The drover only laughed at him; but while the cows were passing underneath the tree, the branch on which Tommy sat, so safely as he supposed, gave way, and Tommy, and branch and all, came tumbling down amidst the drove of cows. The cows were now frightened in their turn, and went kicking and scampering about. The hoof of one of them struck poor Tommy, as he lay on the ground, and hurt him sadly. The drover took him up in his arms, and carried him home to the house, where he was put to bed, and the doctor sent for. His poor mother was sadly grieved at this accident, and the more so when she found that it was merely owing to her son's cowardice. Tommy suffered a great deal of pain from being bruised by the cattle, and having sprained his ankle in the fall, was obliged to keep his bed for some days. He had then a great deal of time to think, and he often thought how unlucky he was to meet with so many accidents; but as he was thinking, it came into his mind that there was more folly than ill-luck, and when he began to count over his misfortunes, he found that, excepting the thorn in his finger, they all arose from his cowardice. Oh, how he longed to get rid of his cowardice! But still he felt that he had not the courage to do so. One day as he was lying in bed with his eyes shut, his mamma, who was sitting in the room at work with his grandmamma, thinking that Tommy was asleep, said,-- "What would I give, if my poor child could get rid of that sad fault. It makes his life unhappy, and mine too, I am sure; for I am always afraid of some accident happening to him, and then it grieves me to the heart that he should be so weak and foolish." Grandmamma tried to comfort her, and said that she hoped, as he grew older, he would get more courage.