or an imperfect one, Miss Hill will change my seat, I know. Every thing has gone wrong this week. I suppose it's what Cousin Bella calls a Fate."

Poor Susy! she got both, the tardy mark and the imperfect one; for that French lesson was an awful boggle. "What does ail you, Susy?" said Miss Hill, as Mademoiselle Le Brun reported her angrily.

14. "She has de grand talent, but she is not attenteev!" cried Mademoiselle, in her broken English, and her little shrill, impatient voice.

“I am afraid that is it, Susy," said Miss Hill, kindly.

Susy burst into tears. A dim consciousness was stealing over her, that the "every thing going wrong" wasn't Fate exactly.

15. Her eyes were so red from these tears when she went home that Aunt Cathy asked the same question Miss Hill had asked, but with a different solicitude, "What does ail you, Susy?"

Then Susy told her troubles: how she had missed yesterday in her geography, and to-day in her French; how she had been marked tardy just for being a second behind the last bell-ringing; and then the dreaded result of all,-losing her seat beside Fanny Hamlin.

16. Aunt Cathy heard her gently and patiently, but at the end she did not say much; she felt sure that Susy was finding out for herself the cause of these troubles, and she thought this would be better for her in the end than to have her fault held up before her by somebody else. That time, at least, Susy was on her guard. She took her history lesson into a little back room, where she could neither see the boys playing at marbles, nor Tom flying his kite, nor Fanny Hamlin if she passed; and then she put her mind upon her task, and was astonished to find that, by this steady, uninterrupted application, she had accomplished in an hour what she had many a time spent three hours over.

17. When she went down stairs, Tom was crossing the hall whistling one of his favorite negro melodies; and, remembering her ungraciousness of the morning, she said to him, “I want to see your new kite, Tom."

"O, you're over your hurry, are you? Well, the new kite's

gone to bed for to-day, you'll have to wait till to-morrow; and away he went towards the parlor, looking rather "huffy " and injured still.

18. Susy followed him, and found Aunt Cathy reading aloud to little Kit. It was a pleasant story, and Aunt Cathy was a pleasant reader; and after the reading, which both Susy and Tom had enjoyed as much as little Kit, they all began looking over the engravings in the book; and here. Susy came across a picture of St. George and the Dragon. "Who was St. George, Aunt Cathy?" she asked.

19. "St. George? O, he was a saint or hero, whose story belongs to the age of the crusades. The crusaders, you know, were those who fought in what are called 'The Holy Wars,' for the conquest of Palestine. Palestine, you see, was in the hands of unbelievers, and the Christians were horrified that the land where Jesus had lived and taught and died,

should be in such possession; so for years they disputed this possession by fighting these battles.

20. "The legend of St. George is, that he was a renowned prince, whose greatest achievement was the slaying of an enormous dragon, by which exploit he effected the deliverance from bondage of Aja, the daughter of a king. His story and character were so popular with the ancient Christians, that they bore the representation of the knight upon their standards. And at this day the badge of the famous Order of the Knights of the Garter, in England, is the image of St. George.

21. "To every one now it is a symbol of victory of some kind, the victory gained over any weakness or sin; for we all of us have some weakness or sin which is a dragon for us to fight. Thackeray, the great novelist, whom your father admires so much, said he had not one dragon, but two, and that they were Indolence and Luxury; and he said it in connection with this picture of St. George, which had just been. given him, and which he declared he should hang at the head of his bed, where he could see it every morning.'

22. As Aunt Cathy concluded, Susy's face grew very grave and earnest, and, bending over the picture of St. George, she looked at it a long time in silence; but it was not until she was alone with Aunt Cathy that she spoke what was in her mind.

23. The boys had both gone to bed, and she still held the picture before her, regarding it with great interest, when she said: "Aunt Cathy, I've found out my dragon. It is that long word beginning with P, that little Kit was trying to spell the other day; and it means, to keep putting every thing off till another time, that ought to be done right away."

"I know. Procrastination, that is the word, Susy." 24. "Yes, that is it; that is my dragon, and it's been the cause of all my troubles, Aunt Cathy. Now I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask father if he will let me have this picture cut out and framed, and I'll hang it at the foot of my bed, and try to remember, when I look at it, that I've got a battle to fight every day; for I have, Aunt Cathy.

25. "O, you don't know what hard work it is for me to

sit and study. If it isn't one thing it is another that makes my mind wander. Sometimes it's little Kit at his marbles, or the school-girls passing, or what people are saying: and then at the end of an hour I don't know a word of my lesson, and the tea-bell will ring, or somebody'll call for me to go somewhere, and I'll think, 'O, well, I can get the lesson tomorrow.'

26. "And then when to-morrow comes, all sorts of things will happen, so there won't be a scrap of time; and that's the way the dragon has gone on beating me, ever and ever so long; and I don't know, Aunt Cathy, but-but he always will." And here Susy began to choke a little; the next moment she burst out bravely, in a determined voice: "But I shall try real hard to beat him, any way !

27. "That's it, Susy!" Aunt Cathy exclaimed. "Try real hard; it's all any body can do ; and in trying I know you will win the battle, my dear."

And Susy was true to her word. She did try "real hard,” and at last she won the battle.

What

QUESTIONS.-What is the "trailing arbutus"? other name has it? What was Susy tempted to do when she saw Fanny? Was it right for her to leave her French and go to the woods? Why? Did Susy think she was doing right? Did Aunt Cathy? [Read the third paragraph.] Was Susy happy while looking for the arbutus? Why did she wish Bridget to call her at five o'clock? Is it easy for people who are not used to it to rise early in the morning? Why? Does Tom tell the truth about Susy in the eleventh paragraph? What kind of a boy does Tom seem to have been? How ought the word “Mademoiselle" to be pronounced? What does it mean? Who is "Miss Hill"? What was the real reason of Susy's missing in geography, and getting a tardy mark, and losing her seat? Did Susy finally escape from her troubles? How? Tell the story about "St. George and the Dragon." What is a dragon? Of what did the picture remind Susy? What is "procrastination"? Why is it like a dragon? What lesson does this piece teach? Is this an important lesson? Why?

XVIII. THE MILLER OF MANSFIELD.

ANONYMOUS.

King. (Enters alone, wrapped in a cloak.) No, no, this can be no public road, that's certain. I have lost my way, undoubtedly. Of what advantage is it now to be a king? Night shows me no respect, I can not see better than another man, nor walk so well. When a king is lost in a wood, what is he more than other men? His wisdom knows not which is north, and which is south; his power a beggar's dog would bark at, and the beggar himself would not bow to his greatness. And yet how often are we puffed up with these false attributes! Well, in losing the monarch I have found the man. But hark! Somebody sure is near! What were it best to do? Will my majesty protect me? No. Throw majesty aside, then, and let manhood do it.

(Enter the Miller.)

Miller. I believe I hear the rogue. Who's there?
King. No rogue, I assure you.

Miller. Little better, friend, I believe. Who fired that

King. (Aside.) Lie, lie! how strange it seems to me to be talked to in this style. (Aloud.) Upon my word, I don't,

sir.

Miller. Come, come, sirrah, confess; you have shot one of the king's deer, haven't you?

King. No, indeed; I owe the king more respect. I heard a gun go off, to be sure, and was afraid some robbers might have been near.

Miller. I am not bound to believe this, friend. Pray, who are you? What's your name?

King. Name!

Miller. Name! ay, name.

You have a name, haven't

you? Where do you come from? What is your business here?

King. These are questions I have not been used to, hon

est man.