“Now, Stepka was a good-hearted fellow, as I’ve said, and he never thought of remembering how badly this very man had treated him an hour or two before, but just told him the whole story right out, exactly as I tell it you now.  The other hardly waited to hear the end of it, but set off full speed to find these wonderful charcoal-burners and try if he couldn’t get some gold out of them, too.  And, as there had been more than a few listeners at the door while the tale was being told, it ended with the whole village running like mad in the same direction.

“When they got to the burners’ camp, the charcoal men looked at them rather queerly, as well they might, to see such a procession come to ask for a light all at once.  However, they said nothing, but signed to them to lay their coats on the ground, and served out two shovelfuls of burning wood to each; and away went the roguish villagers, chuckling at the thought of getting rich so easily, and thinking what they would do with their money.

“But they had hardly gone a quarter of the way home, when the foremost suddenly gave a terrible howl and let fall his load; and in another moment all the rest joined in, till there was a chorus that you might have heard a mile off.  And they had good reason; for, although the fire had lain in Stepka’s coat, it wouldn’t lie in theirs—­it had burned right through, and their holiday clothes were spoiled, and their hands famously blistered, and all that was left of their riches was a smoke and smell like the burning of fifty tar-barrels.  And when they turned to abuse the charcoal-burners, the charcoal-burners were gone; fires, camp and men had all vanished like a dream!

“But as for Stepka, his gold stuck by him, and he used it well.  And always, on the day of his visit to the charcoal-burners, he gave a good dinner to as many poor folk as he could get together, saying that he must be good to others, even as God had been good to him.  And that’s the end of my story.”

[Footnote A:  The three great dainties of the Russian peasant.]

[Footnote B:  One third of a penny; one hundred kopecks equal one rouble.]

[Footnote C:  The Easter greeting, and reply.]

[Footnote D:  The Russian word is “tchervontzi”—­gold pieces worth five dollars each.]

PARLOR BALLOONING.

BY L. HOPKINS.

[Illustration]

There goes the toy balloon man!

Here, take this ten-cent piece; run after him as hard as ever you can, and bring me one of those over-grown ripe-cherry-looking things, and I will show you a few queer tricks the toy balloon can do, which, I’ll venture to say, the inventor of toy balloons himself never thought of.

Ah!  I see you have picked out a fine plump one.  Now for a bit of paper—­any kind will do.  This, torn from an old newspaper at random, will serve the purpose admirably.