no friends except among the poor, who can be of no use to such as are poor like themselves; and she had scarcely any money to hire a lodging, or buy a meal to eat.

9. But something she must do; and therefore, she went to the house of a humble farmer, a good man who had known her in better times, and he readily agreed to give her shelter in a small room, that looked out on an orchard at the back of his house, in which there was a bed for herself, and in a little closet behind it a crib for her boy.

10. It was also settled that they should share the plain food which the farmer and his wife were contented to eat; and by way of paying for these comforts, the poor lady undertook to do as much for them, as she was able to perform. By degrees she made herself useful; and she was so gentle and so sweettempered, and had so little pride, that at last they perceived they could not live happily without her.

11. Any spare time she had, she employed in teaching her boy to read and write; and at night, when he was in bed and asleep, and she thought no one observed, she would many a time, sit down and weep, then pray to God for pity, and at length go to sleep herself. In this manner, and walking with her boy in the orchard, and conversing with the farmer and his wife, and seldom being heard of or spoken to by anybody else, some years passed away.

12. Her son was not only the chief object of her affection, but her constant companion; and so fond was he of his mother, and so grateful to her, which is a strong proof of his having a noble mind, that he would hardly ever leave her; and while he was seated by her side, as children must do something, he used to amuse himself with cutting little bits of wood into different shapes, or molding a lump of bees-wax, which the farmer had given him, into the resemblance, as he thought, of birds, cows, and so forth.

13. He at last finished the likeness of a goat in wax, so much to the satisfaction of his friends, that the farmer grew

proud of showing the little figure to gentlemen and others passing by.

14. One day, an old gentleman, plainly clad, stopped for many minutes to look at the goat, as it stood in the parlor window, and presently coming in, asked very humbly to be allowed to examine the waxen figure. The farmer was pleased with this, and said, "Sit down, sir, and look at it as long as you like."

15. The old stranger sitting down, desired the farmer to tell him, if possible, who made the goat. The farmer said he would soon do that; and calling the boy from his mother's little room, introduced him to the old man, who made many inquiries about him; as, who he was, how old, and who was his teacher.

16. The boy answered that he lived with his mother, at the house of the good farmer where they then were; that he was nine years of age, and had learned to read and write from his mother, but had not been taught to carve or mold by any one.

17. The stranger then asked, with great humility, to see his mother, who immediately came out to him, and repeated the information which the boy had already given him.

18. The old man said he seemed to be a good child and rather ingenious; that he himself had once, in his better days, a turn for carving sticks and stones, and was pleased with anything of the kind; that he knew a stone-mason in the next village, who would, he thought, give the poor boy something to do in his way, if his mother had no objection; and that, with her leave, he would speak of him to the mason on his road home.

19. The boy, who seldom smiled, smiled now at the notion of having something large to carve. The mother was thankful to the old stranger, only she was rather sad at the thought of her boy being absent from her for some hours every day, as he must be if employed; but the good-hearted farmer and

his wife advised her not to refuse the offer, if the mason would agree to the old man's plan; and so he went away.

QUESTIONS, 2. What caused the clergyman's wife to be beloved? 3. How did the clergyman gain the good will of his people? 6. What happened to the clergyman? 8. What means of support had the clergyman's wife now? 9. Who gave her shelter? 11. How did she employ her spare time? 12. How did her son amuse himself? 18. What did Mr. N. offer to do for him? 19. How was the boy pleased with the proposal?

ERRORS. 2. De'sunt for de'cent; 2. coun'try-mun for coun'try-man; 3. sev'ral for sever-al; 3. o-be'je-ent for o-be'di-ent; 6. us'yal-ly for us'u-al-ly; 9. mod'l for mod'el; 10. mis'tris for mis'tress; 11. gownd for gown; 13. fort'nit for fort'night; 14. lyvery for liv'er-y; 20. gin'er-ous for gen'er-ous.

1. In a few days after this visit from the old stranger, the boy's mother received a letter signed N., but nothing more, telling her that, if her son would go along with the messenger who left the letter, he would take him to the mason they had spoken of together; and as the distance was but about half a mile, the exercise of walking would do him good.

2. A decent looking countryman waited for him; the mother sighed, but let him go; the boy went, half joyful, half melancholy, and the farmer, who greatly liked the child, went with him, and promised to bring him back on his return from market.

3. For several months, this obedient child continued to attend his master the mason, and was always regular in returning to his mother, at the end of three or four hours, each day. To her the first sound of his foot and sight of his face, were always welcome.

4. He was as respectful and tender toward her as ever, and in fact in nothing was he changed, except in what is now to be mentioned. He said he was exceedingly fond of the work he had to do, and that his master praised him; but still he made a sort of secret of what he was doing while away.

5. He was a boy of uncommon character, and had the serious face and the sensible words, in talking, of boys three years older than himself; insomuch that his observing mother felt a sort of respect for him, and allowed him to keep his secret as long as he chose.

6. Some more time had passed in this manner, when toward the sunset of a fine summer's day, as the melancholy widow was sitting outside of the cottage door, now and then talking to her son, and often looking up at the streaks of crimson and gold, which adorned the sky, the farmer came home much later than he usually did, and said he had a letter for the boy's mother, which he was desired to give into her own hands.

7. The widow took the letter into her apartment; but, presently afterward, rather ran than walked out again, giving the letter to the farmer and his wife to read, whilst she herself, shedding many tears, threw her arms round her boy's neck, and kissed his cheeks, crying out, "My dear,-my excellent child!"

8. The farmer having read the letter, seemed as much astonished and rejoiced as she herself was. And it was no wonder that those who loved the boy, and wished him well, should be pleased with the news in the letter.

9. It was, as before, signed N., and informed the delighted

mother, that her son had made a model" in clay for a statue, and sent his performance to him in London; that he had shown it to several great judges of the art; and that they, as a reward, had sent the mother, for the use of her ingenious boy, the sum of fifty pounds.

10. This was indeed a sum much larger than she had been mistress of for many a long day, and at once gave her independence. Her generous and now proud and happy boy put a bank note for the money into his mother's hand, and was going to speak, but could not; some tears fell from his eyes on his mother's cheek as she embraced him; and both went, as the mother said, to walk together in the orchard, but perhaps it was to sit down and weep for joy.

11. They could now afford, in some measure, to reward the kind farmer and his wife for their former friendly behavior, by making them a handsome present; and accordingly the widow bought a fine, but not too fine, gown for the wife, and a most beautiful young spotted cow for her husband.

d

12. But wonders, instead of ending with what had just happened, were only beginning. In a year or two after, the ingenious youth, who was more and more pleased with his employment, made a statue of white marble, and wrote to his friend N. to tell him what he had done, and to say he was ashamed to show his work to any one except him, but greatly wished that he could see it.

13. In about a fortnight from this time, as he was returning to the cottage after finishing his work for the day, and had just reached the door, he heard the noise of carriage wheels, and scarcely had he entered, and while he was yet holding his mother's hand in his, a chariot drove up and stopped.

14. A servant in rich livery opened the carriage door, and

NOTES.-a Before sculpturing a statue of stone, it is the practice of sculptors to make a representation of their design, by molding it in clay or some other soft substance. b See London, page 87, note a. c Fifty pounds are equal to about 242 dollars. d Marble; limestone or carbonate of lime, of various colors, as green, red, black, white, &c.; the white is commonly used for statuary.