[Illustration:  Max wagged his tail and began to trot home—­]

Max wagged his tail and began to trot home.  Johnnie Jones trotted after Max, and the policeman after Johnnie Jones.  It was not very long before they could see the house, and there was Mother standing at the gate, looking up the street, and down the street, and across the street, for her little boy.  When she saw him she ran to meet him and clasped him in her arms.

“Mother dear,” said Johnnie Jones, “I was lost, and the policeman found me, and then Max found us both, and I shall never again go to see a circus by myself.”

Mother told him that the band of music he had heard did not belong to a circus, but was the Citizen’s Band on its way to the park, and that, since so much time had passed while Johnnie Jones was lost, it was too late for him to go to the park that day.  Of course the little boy was sorry to miss the treat, but he was very glad to be at home once more.

Mother shook hands with the policeman, and thanked him for being kind to her boy.  As soon as he had gone, she and Johnnie Jones went into the house for their lunch, and, afterwards, the little fellow was so tired that he fell asleep in Mother’s lap and dreamed that he was a tall policeman finding lost boys.

* * * * *

Mother’s Story of the Princess and Her Pigeon

“Mother,” asked Johnnie Jones, “what is a carrier pigeon?”

“A pigeon which is trained to carry messages from one place to another,” Mother answered.  “In the olden times, as there were no trains, or steamboats, or postmen, or telegraph offices, people would very often take pigeons with them when they started off on a long journey.  As soon as they reached their journey’s end they would write a letter to the family so far away, tie it to a pigeon, and release him.  Then the pigeon would fly away home with the message.”

“Once, in that olden time, there lived a beautiful princess whom her father and mother, the king and queen, decided to send away on a visit to her grandmother.  They gave her a milk-white pony to ride, and sent many servants to take care of her.  Now this princess had a pet pigeon which she loved very dearly, and which she insisted upon taking with her, though the queen was afraid it might prove troublesome on so long a journey.  The princess knew it would be a comfort to her, however, so she was allowed to tie it to her saddle before she bade her parents good-by, and started off.

“The princess had never been away from home before, and was very much interested in everything she saw.  She and her companions had to travel through a great forest, and only the guides knew the way.  One night everyone was lying fast asleep on the ground in the thick woods, except the princess, who was wide awake in her tent.  At last she wearied of lying there alone, so she rose, dressed herself, and went out into the woods, carrying the pigeon in her arms.