Ben was very pleased with the texts, and said he would pin them up over his bed. CHAPTER VI. BEN'S BATTLE BEGINS. Perhaps my little reader thinks that if he were a boy like Ben he would have no trouble after he reached such a happy home as Wood Cottage. But that is a mistake. When little children or grown-up people start on the narrow pathway they meet many foes who try to hinder them and make them unhappy. First there is Satan himself, who does not honour the blood of Jesus, and who tries to make those unhappy who do. And then we find that though our sins are all forgiven, and there is no judgment for us, yet our sinful hearts are still with us, and unless we are watchful, Satan will tempt us to grieve the Saviour. Now I will tell you of some kinds of difficulties little boys and girls have to contend with. Ben had lived very much as he pleased, or rather as best he could, in the old days when his parents were absent; and his thoughts were generally taken up with how to find bread for Kit and himself. Suddenly he was placed in a new home with kind friends, and food and clothes provided, and after a few days he almost longed to get roving about for himself again. Not that he really wanted to get away to Peters Street, but _sometimes_ he cast a wistful eye back to the days when he brought home his coppers so proudly, and had little Kit "all to himself." Have we never after a change of circumstances looked back a little regretfully to the past scenes, though they were shady ones, when there was some little peculiar joy that made up for the trial? Yes, many of us have! Kit was glad the first week or two to sit on her mother's knee, for she felt weak and weary, and it was a new pleasure for her to feel strong and loving arms around her. Ben, who was weeding the garden, could see them through the open door; and he would say to himself a little bitterly--"Kit doesn't want me now." But it was only sometimes he felt jealous, for there were happy busy mornings when Ben made himself useful chopping sticks, carrying in coal, cleaning windows, weeding and tidying up the garden, and Kit would sit in her little chair and watch him and say, from time to time, "You is the bestest boy for work, Ben." After his work was done he would put on the two children's sun hats, and take them away into the meadows to gather daisies; and then all three would be very happy together. Mrs. Gray said she found him a great help, and she didn't know what she would do without him, for he ran all her messages, and was "so handy on a washing day."