"Frank set off with the empty pails, and soon returned with them, filled with water

Page 8.

Working and Waiting;

OR,

PATIENCE IN WELL-DOING.

A TALE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "CHILDREN AT HOME,"
"ALMOST PERSUADED," &c.

SEELEY, JACKSON, AND HALLIDAY, FLEET STREET;

BENTON SEELEY, HANOVER STREET.

WORKING AND WAITING,

&c. &c.

CHAPTER I.

"Then homeward all take off their several way;
The youngling cottagers retire to rest;

The parent pair their secret homage pay,
And proffer up to Heaven the warm request
That He who stills the raven's clamorous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flowery pride,
Would in the way His wisdom sees the best,
For them and for their little ones provide;
But chiefly in their hearts with grace divine preside."

BURNS.

"How horribly cold it is!" exclaimed in a whining, petulant voice, a boy of about fourteen years of age, as in company with a troop of other lads he emerged from a stone schoolhouse that stood upon a village green, and prepared to take his way homewards. He certainly only said what was true, for the snow lay thick upon the ground, and there was a biting frost, and very disagreeable he

B

and all the other boys seemed to find it as they came forth from their warm schoolroom, and faced the piercing wind of that bleak December afternoon. "How horribly cold it is!" again exclaimed the young lad; "I wish there was no such thing as winter, that I do."

"It just is cold,” replied a merry voice behind him; "but I think, if we had no such thing as winter, we should lose a good deal of fun, too—all our skating on Farmer Jones's pond, and our famous snow-balling. Come, Stephen, you and I go the same road. Let us have a walking-match, and see which gets to the turnpike first. It's the best thing in the world to warm one's blood."

"It's all very well, Frank, for you to talk about walking-matches; my feet are so dead I can scarcely creep, much less walk."

"Well," replied Frank, "a good run would bring them to life again, and set you to rights in no time. Come, let us set off."

But there was evidently no idea of setting off in Stephen Barton's mind that afternoon, and Frank Elston did not quite like to leave him alone in his misery, and start off by himself; all the other boys having dispersed in different directions towards their own homes.

Frank Elston and Stephen Barton lived at some distance from the school, in a little hamlet