"Mother!" exclaimed Mr. Smithers, as he came into the parlor about supper time one winter evening, "that boy's a fool." Mrs. Smithers, who was a quiet-looking, blond little woman, about thirty-five years of age, looked up from a book she was reading, and regarded her husband with a weary air. "What boy?" she asked, languidly. "As if you didn't know?" replied Mr. Smithers. "We have two," she said, calmly. "Oh, that boy, Tommy." "What has he done now?" "Done! why he is always doing something absurd. I told him this morning, before I went out, to cut up all the wood in the yard." "I'm sure he'd do anything you'd tell him," said Mrs. Smithers, in a tone of conciliation; "he's only too anxious to please. I am positive that he has been hard at work all day, for I heard him chopping and sawing." "Yes," answered Mr. Smithers, "he's chopped and sawed a little too much. Not only did he cut up the wood, but he's pulled down the fences on both sides of the yard, torn up the supports of the grapevine, and even made firewood of the sawbuck." "He's too full of zeal; in fact, the poor boy wants to do too much," Mrs. Smithers rejoined. "You oughtn't to blame him for that; as he grows older he'll know better." "I doubt it, ma'am. I doubt it very much," replied her husband, seating himself before the stove. Mr. Smithers was a tall, consequential man, in the prime of life, dark in complexion and not bad looking. His wife was a widow when he married her, and she had one son, the Tommy of whom Smithers was now complaining. Our friend was commonly called "Soft" Tommy, on account of the simplicity of his nature and the numerous mistakes he was constantly making. His age was thirteen, and he was a pale, delicate-looking boy, with a mild voice and a dreamy eye, fair hair, thin lips and an undecided sort of mouth. By her marriage with Mr. Smithers, Tommy's mother had two children, a boy and a girl, who had respectively received the high-sounding names of Harold Stamford Smithers and Alice Regina Smithers. Mr. Smithers himself was a clerk in a New York dry-goods house, and he resided in a quiet part of Jersey City, about half a mile from the ferry. He prided himself upon being high-toned, and above all things boasted that he was master in his own house. Poor little Mrs. Smithers knew this to her cost, for she received many a scolding, especially on Tommy's account, without daring to "talk back." Smithers was very fond of his own two children, Harold Stamford and Alice Regina, both of whom he spoiled dreadfully. One was eleven, the other ten, and they were as disagreeable, self-willed and conceited as overindulgence could make them. Perhaps Smithers had a stepfather's dislike for Tommy. One thing is certain, he frequently beat him and rarely said a word to the others. Mrs. Smithers always looked sad and worried, which was no wonder, as she had to put up with a great deal from her husband.