I went up and asked the boy with the broom if he knew the children.  “I never saw them before in my life,” said he; “but such little ones can’t get across without help.”

“You are a good boy,” said I.  “I think you must have a good father.”

“I had one once,” said he; “but now I have only a good mother.”

“Well, Henry,” said I, “give her this shilling, and tell her I send it to her for teaching her boy to do good when he can get a chance.”

Tears came to the boy’s eyes.  A shilling seemed a good deal of money to him, and it pleased him all the more because it was given him for his mother.

“Thank you, sir; thank you!” said he, and he ran back to his work one of the happiest boys in London, I think, at that moment.

JANE OLIVER.

* * * * *

“IN A MINUTE.”

If you asked Dora to do any thing, she would reply, “In a minute.”  It was a bad habit she had.  “Dora, please bring me a drink of water.”—­“In a minute.”—­“Dora, go up stairs, and bring me down my comb.”—­“Yes, mother, in a minute.”—­“Dora, come to your dinner.”—­“In a minute.”

One day the bird was hopping about on the floor.  Somebody went out, leaving the door open, just as “somebody” is always doing.  Dora’s mother said, “Dora, shut the door, or the cat will be after your bird.”

“Yes, mother, in a minute,” said Dora.  “I just want to finish this line in my drawing.”  But the cat did not wait till this was done.  In he popped, and with one dart he had the bird in his mouth.

Down went the slate on the floor, and away went cat, bird, and Dora.  There was a wild chase on the lawn.  “In a minute” Dora came back weeping, with the poor bird in her hand, but, oh! the life had all been shaken out of him.

[Illustration:  Dora and the bird.]

How Dora cried!  Mamma was sorry for her, but said, “A great many things may happen ‘in a minute,’ Dora.  I hope the next time you are told to do a thing, you will do it at once.”

MARY ADDISON.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

[Illustration:  THE CHRISTMAS TREE]

    Spring and Summer and russet Fall
      Come and go with a varied cheer;
    Each has something, and none has all,
      Of the good things of the year.

    Winter laughs, though the trees are bare,
      With a kindly laugh that is good to see;
    For of all the forest is none so rare
      As his merry Christmas-tree.

    It blooms with many a taper’s flame;
      And hidden under the leaves of green
    Are fruits of every shape and name,
      The funniest ever seen,—­

[Illustration:  Another Christmas Tree]

    Book and bundle, and scarf, and shawl,
      Picture and peanuts, skate and saw,
    Candy and album, and bat and ball,
      Hatchet, and doll, and taw,