He Could Be Trusted.


ALFRED was missing one night about sunset.

His mother was getting anxious, for

she always wished him to be home early. A

neighbor, coming in, said a number of boys

had gone to the river to swim, and he

thought Alfred was safe enough to be with

them.

"No," said the mother, "he promised me

he would not go there without my leave, and

he always keeps his word. He never told

me a lie."

But seven o'clock came, then eight, and

his mother was still watching and listening

for the step of Alfred; but it was half-past

eight before his merry shout and whistle

were heard, when he ran in through the gate.

"Confess, now," said the neighbor, "that*

you have been to the river with the other

boys, and so kept away till late."

How the boy's eye flashed, and the crimson

mounted to his cheeks!

"No, sir! I told my mother I would never

go there without her leave, and do you think

I would tell a lie? I helped James to find

the cows which had strayed into the -wood

and did not think I should be so late."

James, coming up the street just then

came in to tell us he was afraid we have

been alarmed; they had been so far in the

wood it made them late in getting home.

The neighbor, turning to the mother as he

took his hat to go home, said, "I think there

is comfort in store for you, madam. Such a

boy as that will make a noble man." 



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Work.


"WORK well done is twice done." Never

mix up things; do one thing at a time; begin

one thing and finish one thing make

clean work as you go. Have order, system,

regularity; a place for everything, and everything

in its place. Whatever you do, do

it well. A job slighted, because it is apparently

unimportant, leads to habitual neglect,

so that men degenerate, insensibly, into bad

workmen.

Training the hands and the eyes to do

work well leads individuals to form correct

habits in other respects, and a good work

man is, in most cases, a good citizen. No

one need hope to rise above his present 

situation, who suffers small things to pass by

unimproved, or who neglects, metaphorically

speaking, to pick up a cent because it is not

a dollar.

A rival of a certain great lawyer sought to

humiliate him publicly by saying, "You

blacked my father's boots once."

"Yes," replied the lawyer, unabashed,

"and I did it well."

Everything in nature and grace is active,

full of life and motion, on the wing. The

sun, the moon, the sparkling heavens, the

floods, the rippling brooks and flowing

founts; the birds warble on every tree in ecstasy

of joy; the tiny flower, hidden from

all eyes, sends forth its fragrance of full 

happiness; and the mountain stream dashes

along with a sparkle and murmur of pure

delight. The object of their creation is

 accomplished, and their life gushes forth in

 harmonic work.



Idleness is the bane, the moth, the gangrene,

the curse of life. 



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