"May the charity of God and the care of His angels go with him,
keep him from poverty, shield him froln sickness, guard him from
evil, and ever fill his heart with warmth and joy, as he has
filled mine this day! I'll work no more to-day. I'll go home to
my wife and children, and they shall join me in calling for
blessings upon their kind helper." He put on his shoes,
shouldered his ax, and departed.
Then the two watchers had a little dialogue.
"Now I call this the best kind of fun," said the tutor. "Why,
boy, what are you sniveling at?"
"You are sniveling, too," said the boy.
"Well, then, both of us are sniveling," said the tutor. "So, you
see, fun may lead to sniveling as well as to laughing. Of all the
pleasures of life, those are the most blessed which are expressed
by tears rather than laughter."
"Come on!" said the boy.
"Where next?" asked the tutor.
"Why, to follow him, to be sure. I want to know where they live
and who they are. Do you think I will let his wife be sick and
his grandchildren be hungry if I can help it? I have learned a
new kind of fun, and I want more of it."
"My dear boy, I don't for a moment think you will stop with one
good joke of this kind. Youth, with a heart like yours, never
does things by halves."
So they followed the subject of their joke to his home, and the
young nobleman, by means of his well-filled purse, found means to
enjoy much more of his new-found variety of fun.
DEFINITIONS:--Tutor, teacher. Grimace, distortion of the face.
Impressive, touching. Invoked, called down.
TWO WAYS OF TELLING A STORY.
BY HENRY K. OLIVER.
In one of the most populous cities of New England, a few years
ago, a party of lads, all members of the same school, got up a
grand sleigh ride. The sleigh was a very large one, drawn by six
gray horses.
On the following day, as the teacher entered the schoolroom, he
found his pupils in high glee, as they chattered about the fun
and frolic of their excursion. In answer to some inquiries, one
of the lads gave him an account of their trip and its various
incidents.
As he drew near the end of his story, he exclaimed: "Oh, sir!
there was one thing I had almost forgotten. As we were coming
home, we saw ahead of us a queer-looking affair in the road. It
proved to be a rusty old sleigh, fastened behind a covered wagon,
proceeding at a very slow rate, and taking up the whole road.
"Finding that the owner was not disposed to turn out, we
determined upon a volley of snowballs and a good hurrah. They
produced the right effect, for the crazy machine turned out into
the deep snow, and the skinny old pony started on a full trot.
"As we passed, some one gave the horse a good crack, which made
him run faster than he ever did before, I'll warrant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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