“But, Delia, the cloak would not really be yours until you had paid for it, and I would feel kind of cheap wearing a cloak that didn’t belong to me. If I were you I would stick to the old cloak until I could pay the money down for a new one. That’s what I would do.” And that is exactly what anybody should do who wants a new cloak. It is what people should do, no matter what they want. I know a boy fifteen or sixteen years old who had the courage and the manliness and the honesty to wear a very shabby old overcoat all of last winter rather than buy one on the “no money down” plan. It is his plan always to “pay as he goes,” and be debtor to no one. I heard the other day of a young fellow who goes two or three blocks out of his way to avoid passing certain stores because he owes the proprietors of those stores money that he cannot pay. That boy, I know, is miserable night and day. Mr. Longfellow, in his “The Village Blacksmith,” tells us that the honest old blacksmith could look “the whole world in the face,” because he did not owe anybody anything--he was out of debt. And boys and girls, if you are level-headed, you will fight shy of the “no money down” plan. By choosing the “money down” plan, you will save your self-respect and your good name. TOMMY’S BABY BROTHER. For several months Deacon Tadpole’s little son, Tommy, had made constant and repeated reference to the fact that he had no little baby brother or sister to play with. One day, when he was feeling unusually sad over his misfortune, he said to his father,---- “Papa, I ain’t got no little baby brother to play with--you might at least buy me a little pony.” “Papa can’t buy a pony, son;” said the deacon. “A pony costs too much. I thought you wanted a little brother or sister.” “I do,” said Tommy, “but if I can’t get what I want I’m willing to take what I can get.” “But, you would rather have a little brother than a pony, wouldn’t you?” asked Mr. Tadpole. Tommy thought awhile and then said he thought he would rather have a little baby brother than to have a pony. “You see,” he said, “it costs so much to keep a pony, and we would have to build a stable for him, wouldn’t we, papa?” “Yes,” answered his father, “and we haven’t got any room in the backyard for a stable.” “And we’d have to buy hay, too,” said the child. “Yes,” said his father. “Well, I’d rather have the little brother.” [Illustration: “PAPA, WON’T YOU BUY ME A LITTLE PONY?”] So the matter was left in abeyance until a month ago, when little Tommy was told one morning that a little brother had come to him. He was delighted. He danced around in the hall and made such a racket on the stairs that the nurse threatened to have him sent away. When he was permitted to see the baby, Tommy went into ecstasies. He wanted to kiss the baby, and cried because they wouldn’t let him hold it in his arms.