Mrs. Merton (to Mr. Merton)." Of a truth, my dear, I do not know what to make of this boy; he says such strange things!"

The man had let fall a large gold cup, for which Mrs. Merton took him to task for his want of care. Mrs. Merton then gave Hal a glass of wine, and bade him drink it off.

Hal said with thanks that he did not wish to take it.

"But, my dear," said she, "this is sweet and nice, and as you are a good boy, you may drink it up."

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Ay!" said Hal; "yet Mr. Barlow said at church that we ought not to eat and drink, save when we stand in want, and that this was what the good men of old were taught by our Lord."

"And pray,"

Here Mr. Merton drew back in his chair. said he, "do you know who these men were?" Hal.-"Oh, yes, sir, to be sure I do." Mr. Merton.-"And who were they?" Hal.-"Why, sir, there was a time when men had grown so bad that they did not care what they did. The great folk were proud, and the poor would not work nor be taught. And then there came a man from God, whose name was Christ, and he went from place to place to do good, and cure men of all sorts of ills, and taught them what they ought to do. He chose out twelve men to go with Him and do the same things. These twelve men did not care what they ate and drank for food they had dry bread, and they drank from the wells. They told all whom they met to love God, and to do His law; to heal the sick, feed and clothe the poor, and to love all men. And so the world was more kind and good through the means of Christ our Lord."

"On my word!" said Mr. Merton, "I should be glad if Mr. Barlow would take our Tom to teach him, for it is time for him to learn to read. Tom, should you like to be a like our young friend here?"

sage

"I don't know what a sage means; but I should like to be a king, for he is rich and fine, and all men wait on him and fear him."

"Well said, my dear!" quoth Mrs. Merton, as she rose

to give her child a kiss. "And a king you ought to be! And here's a glass of wine for you. Should you not like to be a king, Hal?

"I don't know what that is," said he; "but I hope I shall soon go to the plough and work for my own bread, and then I shall have no need of men to wait on me."

"But should you not like to be rich, my dear?" said Mr. Merton.

"No, sir.

"No, you goose?"quoth Mrs. Merton; "and why not?" Hal went on-"Well, there is but one rich man that I know, and that is Squire Chase, and he rides through folk's corn when he hunts, and kills their dogs, lames their cows, and swears at the poor; and they say he does all this for that he is rich, though they dare not tell him so to his face. Oh, I would not have men hate me as they hate him for all the world!"

Mrs. Merton threw up her eyes at this speech of Hal's, but said no more.

At night Hal went home to the farm, and Mrs. Sandford kept him up till it was quite late, to hear what he had to say of the folk at the great house.

"They were all kind to me," said Hal; "but I would quite as soon have been at home, for I had hard work to get a meal. There was a man to take my plate, a man to give me drink, and a man to stand by my chair, just as though I had been lame or blind. And I was made to sit still two whole hours to hear Mrs. Merton talk to me, but not as Mr. Barlow does; for she thought I ought to love fine clothes, and wish to be a king or a rich man (and to have all the folk hate me, as they do Squire Chase)." While Hal told all this to Mrs. Sandford at the

farm, at the great house much of the talk ran on young Hal.

Mr. Merton thought that Hal might put to shame boys who were in a high rank of life. "A grace of dress and a way of the world," said he, "a man may soon pick up; but the real seat of good taste must be in the heart and mind, not in dress and fine airs."

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My dear," said Mr. Merton, "I think this boy of the farm has in his mind the seeds of a true and great man. And I know of no one thing that would give me more joy than to find that our child did not fall short of Hal Sandford of the Farm House.

'It is our fault that Tom has not been taught to read, and to learn what most boys of his age know. I have long seen all this, but have not as yet told out my thoughts to you. I have made up my mind to place Tom with Mr. Barlow, if he will take him. And I mean to ask Sandford if he will let me pay to have his son taught by Mr. Barlow for a few years while Tom is there, if Mr. Barlow will take the boys in hand." Mr. Merton said this in so firm a tone, that his wife at last made up her mind to part with her dear boy.

They wrote to ask Mr. Barlow to dine with them, that they might know what he thought of the plan, and he told them that he would do his best to teach their son, but not if he was paid for it. He said he would take Tom in his house as a friend, till he could find out if those faults which he saw in him would yield to his will. So, in a short time Tom was sent to his house, where Hal had been for a week

or more.

1

CHAPTER II.

THE next day Mr. Barlow took a spade, and gave Hal a hoe, that they might set to work and dig up the weeds. "All that eat should work," said Mr. Barlow. "See here, this is my bed, and that is Hal's. We both work at them for some time each day, and he that can raise the best crops will fare the best. Now, Tom, I will mark you out a piece of ground, and all that grows on it shall be your own.'

"No," says Tom, "I don't choose to slave like a boy at the plough.'

"Just as you please," said Mr. Barlow; "but Hal and I will mind our work."

By and by Mr. Barlow said it was time to leave off, and he brought out a dish of ripe plums, and gave one half to Hal, while he ate the rest. Tom thought he should have had his share; but when he saw that he was left out, he flew in a rage, and burst out with sobs and cries. "What do you cry for?" said Mr. Barlow.

So.

Tom said not a word.

Well, sir, if you don't choose to talk, you need not do No one need talk in my house if they do not like it." Mr. Barlow and Hal then went for a walk in the fields, and Hal saw a kite on the ground, which had a young chick in her claws. The kite flew off when Hal came up to it, and left the chick much hurt, but still it had life in it.

"Look, sir," said Hal, "see how he bleeds and hangs his wings! I will take him home when I go to the farm, where he shall have part of my meals till he is well."

Hal's first care was to put his chick in a cage with some