his unusual conduct, stood at her door, watch

ing him on his way.

When he reached Mr. Green's house, he found himself rather awkward, and hastily said to Mrs. Green, "Here is a melon my wife has sent to you, and we hope it is a fine one." She thanked him kindly, and invited him to sit down; but he felt at a loss, and stood playing with the latch of the door. At last he asked if Mr.

Green was at home. "He is at the pump, and will be in directly," she replied; and before she had well done speaking, in he came, and, stepping right up to Reuben, shook him cordially by the hand, and bade him be seated.

"Thank you, I cannot stop," replied Reuben. He pushed his hat on one side, looked out at the window, and then, making an effort, said suddenly, "The fact is, Mr. Green, I did not behave right about the horses."

"Never mind-never mind," replied Mr.

Green; "perhaps I shall get into the bog again one of those rainy days. If I do, I shall know whom to call upon."

"Why, you see," said Reuben, still very much confused, "the neighbours here are very ugly. If I had always lived by such neighbours as you are, I should not be just as I am."

"Ah, well, we must try to be to others what we wish them to be to us," rejoined Simeon. "You know the good Book says So. I have learned by experience, that if we speak kind words we shall hear kind echoes. If we try to make others happy, it fills them with a wish to make us happy. Perhaps you and I can bring the neighbours round in time to this way of thinking and acting. Who knows? Let us try, Mr. Black; let us try."

The two went out into the orchard, and chatted together for some time; and Reuben at length feeling quite at his ease, went home,

and shewed by his conduct afterwards that he really wished to imitate his neighbour. As for Mr. Green, he was too magnanimous to go and boast to every one that Reuben Black had given in, and confessed that he was in the wrong. On the contrary, he never told any of the neighbours anything about Reuben's confession; he merely remarked, with a smile, to his wife, when he returned from the orchard, "Well, I thought we should kill him after a while."

Adapted from a Tract by the
Religious Tract Society.

COMPASSION.

AND from the prayer of want and plaint of woe,

Oh, never, never turn away thine ear!

Forlorn in this bleak wilderness below,

Ah! what were man should Heaven refuse to hear!

To others do (the law is not severe)

What to thyself thou wishest to be done;

Forgive thy foes, and love thy parents dear,

And friends, and native land; nor these alone

All human weal and woe learn thou to make thine own.

BEATTIE.

SELF-DENIAL.

SELF-DENIAL is the giving up of some pleasure for the sake of a duty. If a boy should stay away from a game at cricket or football, in order to write his exercise or prepare his lessons; or if a girl, when asked out to play with her companions, should prefer to remain at home and assist her mother, that boy and girl would be practising self-denial. Self-denial is always unpleasant at the time; for we feel it hard to cross our inclinations— to lose some pleasure which we are anxious to enjoy, or submit to some hardship which we would much rather avoid.

If self-denial is so very unpleasant, why should we be told to practise it? For three

very good reasons. The first is, that if we were always to do whatever pleases us at the time, we should very often do what was wrong-what was injurious to others, and what we should very much regret afterwards; for this is what we see in the case of those who act in this way. And, worse than this, if we refuse to do anything that seems

troublesome or unpleasant, we shall by and bye find out that we have left many things undone which it would have been very much for our own interest to have done, however much trouble they might cost.

The second reason is, that when we are young we ought to learn those things which will be of service to us when we grow up and have to work for ourselves, and manage our own business or our own houses. Now, those who have seen much of the world, and are able to give us good advice, all tell us that if we wish to do well when we grow up, we must learn the habit of self-denial.