He inquired about the matter, of Isaac, and learned that George had been deceived, or rather had deceived himself.  He warmly commended Isaac for his new mode of taking his enemies “in hand,” and advised him to continue to practice it.  A few days afterward, as Isaac was on his way to school, he met Jim driving some cattle to a distant field.  The cattle were very unruly, and Jim made little headway with them.  First one would run back, and then another, till he began to despair of being able to drive them to pasture.

[Illustration:  “The cattle were very unruly.”]

He burst out crying, and said, “Oh dear, I can’t make them go, and father will kill me if I don’t.”

Isaac pitied his distress, and volunteered to assist him.  It cost him a good deal of running, and kept him from school nearly all the morning.  But when the cattle were safe in the pasture, Jim said, “I shan’t stone you any more.”

When Isaac reached the schoolhouse he showed signs of the violent exercise he had been taking.

“What has Isaac been about?” was the whispered question which went round.  When put to him he replied, “I have been chasing cattle to pasture.”  He was understood to mean his father’s cattle.

After school, he waited till all the pupils had left the schoolroom, before he went up to the teacher to give his excuse for being late at school.

“What made you so late?” asked the teacher.

“I was taking Jim in hand again, sir;” and he gave him an account of his proceeding, adding at the close, “I thought you would excuse me, sir.”

“Very well, you are excused.”

Reader, if you have enemies who annoy you, take them in hand in the same way that Isaac did, and you will be certain, if you persevere to conquer them.

[Illustration:  Learning the Printer’s Trade]

OVERWORKED BOYS

The boys of our time are too much afraid of work.  They act as if the honest sweat of the brow was something to be ashamed of.  Would that they were all equally afraid of a staggering gait and bloated face!  This spirit of laziness builds the gambling houses, fills the jails, supplies the saloons and gaming places with loiterers, and keeps the alms houses and charitable institutions doing a brisk business.

It doesn’t build mammoth stores and factories, nor buildings like the Astor Library and Cooper Institute.  The men who built such monuments of their industry and benevolence were not afraid of work.

All the boys have heard of the great publishing house of the Harpers.  They know of their finely illustrated papers and books of all kinds, and perhaps have seen their great publishing house in New York City.  But if I should ask the boys how the eldest of the brothers came to found such an illustrious house, I should perhaps be told that he was a “wonderfully lucky man.”