"No," said Nell, "I mean his old mother. She's lame. She came to church one Sunday, and the master's boys, all six of 'em, were wanting to take a hand at helping her. You would have laughed. Only I cried," whispered Nell, for she had a tender heart, "to see them all loving her so. But they say the boys never saw their grandfather. He never come back

from sea."

"the

"Do you rememher," said Nancy, Christmas supper master give us? Wasn't it jolly? And what he told us about that little boy. See: I believe it was him. And he makes his boys work now. And he won't have any work done bad. And he gives away such money! and he does like to talk to children; and everybody likes him-Why, gracious!—where are we?"

The girls might well say so, for they had been so busy talking about their master, whom they

liked very much, though he often made them do their bad work over again, that they had walked right into a puddle of water and mortar !

"Are y' over shoe-tops?" said Nancy.

"No, not quite," replied Nell, standing on one foot and struggling to loose the other that had got stuck.

"No more am I," said Nancy, as she stamped her feet to shake off the dirt and wet.

"What a good job we got good shoes on, or we'd been wet-shod," laughed Nelly.

some cleaning,

my tea."

And it was as

'Ay, but," said Nan, looking down at her wet, dirty shoes, "them'll need won't they? Ta-ta! I'm off to And so the two separated. they said. Their good master was chosen mayor of the town. All men of all sorts did him honour. Working men honoured him, too, for he was himself a worker. Some great man had spoken a good word to him once when he was a boy.

He never forgot it.

tell

He did three things

He worked; and learned; and saved. Shall I you who he was? Did you ever hear of Kif, the shoe-black? It is the same boy

'For men are only boys grown tall,

And hearts don't change much after all.'

And I wonder if-when Christopher Diamond, Esq., sat in the splendid chair, and they robed him in splendid robes, and adorned him with a great gold chain, and he rode in a splendid carriage, and the people cheered, and the great men bowed to him, and 'his Worship' was to have spoken and he couldn't find the words-I wonder which place he liked best, under the arch, cleaning boots, or in that grand Seat of Honour, governing a town?

Boys! which would you choose? The last! But, mark you, the first must come before the How did Kif Diamond come to be Mayor?

last.

f

By blacking boots well.

By doing his work well. And that's the secret. Try it! Say to your little self, that wherever you be, your motto shall be

"Shine!"

A LITTLE BIT.

"A little bit of patience often makes the sunshine come,
And a little bit of love makes a very happy home;
A little bit of hope makes a rainy day look gay,
And a little bit of charity makes glad a weary way."

KATIE'S CAT'S KITTEN.

KATIE always said that the old cat was hers. But, by and by, the cat had kittens. Thenwhose were the kittens ? Katie couldn't tell.

She only knew that the cat belonged to her. And if the kittens called the old cat their

mamma, what was Katie to be? Why, grandmamma, to be sure!" That was what her father said. And so Katie said she would be.

I

Well, she had to give the kittens names. think her father helped her, though. The old cat was called Mrs. Felis. The eldest kitten was Miss Felis. And the youngest she was the prettiest puss of all, a soft, sweet, frisky tabby-she was christened (oh, yes, she was christened under the water-tap) Miss Topsy Wopsy Felis. Now, it's about Topsy Wopsy I'm going to you.

tell