[Illustration: THE EFFIGY.] Wallace laughed to hear this story. "Then in a minute," continued Phonny, "the boy pointed off in another direction, and there his mother saw Fanny playing safely upon the grass." "And what did his mother say?" asked Wallace. "She was frightened at first," replied Phonny, "when she saw what she supposed was Fanny up in such a dangerous place; but when she saw how it really was, she laughed and went into the house." "Do you think he did right, Wallace?" asked Stuyvesant. "What do you think, Phonny?" asked Wallace. "Why, I don't know," said Phonny. "Do you think, on the whole, that his mother was most pleased or most pained by it?" asked Wallace. "Most pleased," said Phonny. "She was not much frightened, and that only for a moment, and she laughed about it a great deal." "Were you there at the time?" asked Wallace. "Yes," said Phonny. "What was the boy's name?" said Wallace. "Arthur," said Phonny. "Another day," continued Phonny, "Arthur was taking a walk with Fanny, and he persuaded her to go across a plank over a brook, and when she was over, he pulled the plank away, so that she could not get back again. He danced about on the bank on the other side, and called Fanny a savage living in the woods." "And what did Fanny do?" asked Wallace. "Why, she was very much frightened, and began to cry." "And then what did Arthur do?" asked Wallace. "Why, after a time he put up the plank again and let her come home. He told her that she was a foolish girl to cry, for he only did it for fun." "And do you think he did right or wrong?" said Wallace. "Why, wrong, I suppose," said Phonny. "Yes," said Wallace, "decidedly wrong, I think; for in that case there is no doubt that his fun gave his sister a great deal of pain. It is very right for boys to love frolicking and fun, but they should be very careful not to let their fun give other people trouble or pain." "But now, Phonny," continued Wallace, "you are to be shut up for perhaps a week, and here is an opportunity for you to show some marks of manliness which we always like to see in boys." "How can I?" asked Phonny. "Why, in the first place," said Wallace, "by a proper consideration of the case, so as to understand exactly how it is. Sometimes a boy situated as you are, without looking at all the facts in the case, thinks only of his being disabled and helpless, and so he expects every body to wait upon him, and try to amuse him, as if that were his right. He gives his mother a great deal of trouble, by first wanting this and then that, and by uttering a great many expressions of discontent, impatience and ill-humor. Thus his accident is not only the means of producing inconvenience to himself, but it makes the whole family uncomfortable. This is boyishness of a very bad kind. "To avoid this, you must consider what the true state of the case is. Whose fault is it that you are laid up here in this way?"