ever, and so were both her father and mother. They thought there never had been so beautiful a girl in the world. In short, Laura_was_completely spoiled. Well, after a time, when Laura was about fifteen years of age, and was full of high expectations, a terrible misfortune took place.

She was seized with small-pox, and only recovered from the illness with the illness with the entire loss of her beauty. Her face, instead of being smooth and fair, was now deeply marked; and her hair, which once flowed over her shoulders in ringlets, and which she was so vain of combing at the glass, was now cut very short, and afterwards grew of a coarse quality. To add to her misfortunes, her father died, leaving little or no property, and so Laura and her mother were almost destitute.

We shall now see what was the fate of poor lame Emma. When only fourteen years of age, she was placed by her mother as a teacher in a school for girls, where she was greatly esteemed for her good temper and ability, and was very happy. One day, a gentleman who was an eminent surgeon in London, went to the school to see the children examined; and he was so much pleased with Emma's manners and skill in teaching, that he offered to try to cure her lameness.

Emma was very thankful for the offer, and so, to the surprise of every one, Emma's foot was speedily put to rights; and now she was as handsome in person as she was amiable in mind. Το make her still more happy, she became the wife of the surgeon, and went to live in the very house which had once

been Mr Belmore's, and from which Laura had just gone away. But Emma was not puffed up with pride, notwithstanding this good fortune. She was kind to all about her, and not the least of her good actions was taking care of Laura. She instructed her in many things which she knew; and as Laura's pride was now humbled, she was glad to become a teacher of children, as Emma once had been. And in this useful calling she spent the rest of her life.

THE BOY, THE DOG, AND THE ASS.

A certain little boy called Tommy, whose paраrents were very poor, often thought how much he should like to have a little dog of his own; for he had no brother, nor sister, nor any thing to love besides his parents. "Oh!" he used to say to himself, "if I might but have a little

dog, I think I should be quite happy; but still I know that my father and mother could not afford to keep one, therefore I must try to be contented."

Now, one day, as Tommy was crossing the common, there came a pretty dog fawning upon him and licking his hands. And he felt very glad, for he thought the dog must love him or it would not have seemed so pleased. When he drew near his mother's door, the dog was still by his side, and his heart began to beat, and a tear started to his eye, as he thought of having to drive the dog away, for he felt as if he could not bear to part with any thing that loved him.

So he put the animal into an out-house for the night; and next day he went about asking if any one had lost a little dog like the one he had found. No one owned the dog, and the boy hoped he should have been able to keep it, but his mother forbade him doing so, as they could not afford to give it food.

The boy, therefore, went and opened the small out-house, and calling the dog, he went slowly along the lane, not knowing how he should send it away. As he stood looking sorrowfully at his favourite, a very kind-looking gentleman came up, and asked the cause of his grief; and when he had heard the cause, he offered to give the boy a shilling a-week to come and pluck weeds and work in his garden; and with this money he might buy food for his dog. The boy thankfully accepted the offer, and went three days every week to the gentleman's garden, and every Saturday he received a shilling for his work.

Now, the dog's food only cost fourpence a-week, so that the boy had eightpence left out of the shilling: this eightpence he always laid by in a corner of the box wherein he kept his clothes, meaning to save it for six months, and at the end of this time to buy something with it for his mother. Now, this eightpence a-week came to two shillings and eightpence a-month, and at the end of six months he had saved sixteen shillings.

With this money he meant to buy a gown and a shawl for his mother, without letting her know; and so, one fine morning when going on an errand, he put the money into his pocket, intending to spend it before he came back.

On the way he saw three boys driving an ass, and beating it in a most cruel manner. One boy was urging it on by striking it behind with a prickly furze bush, and two were pulling it by a halter in front, and otherwise abusing it. Tommy now ran up and called upon the boys to give over; but they told him the ass was stupid, and that they must drive it onward to the town to be sold.

Tommy knew that his father had often wished he could afford to buy an ass to carry his plants and fruits to market; and the thought came into his mind, that if he had money enough to purchase this nice-looking donkey, perhaps he should be doing more real good than by buying a gown and shawl for his mother; for his father was an old man, and not very able to carry his goods to market himself.

E

And so, Tommy asked one of the boys how much the ass would be sold for? He said they could not tell, but that his father would overtake them in a few minutes, and he could tell him. Meantime, Tommy patted the beaten sides of the ass, and hoped that the price of it would not be more than the sum he had in his pocket.

After a little time, the man came up; and when Tommy asked what was the price of the ass, he said that it was eighteen shillings. Now, this was two shillings more than the good little boy had to give, and he was exceedingly sorry. And he told the man that he had no more than sixteen shillings, which he would willingly give in exchange for the ass.

The man refused at first, but afterwards he accepted the offer, and gave the halter of the ass into the boy's hand. Tommy was now one of the happiest boys in the world, for he felt that he had been able to do a good action with money which he had honestly earned. So he led away the ass in triumph through the village.

But when he came to his own cottage door, neither his father nor his mother could imagine what was the matter, and the boy could not tell them, for his heart was full, and his eyes were in tears. He could not speak for joy, though he wished to say-Father, I have bought you an ass with my savings. So he sat down on the door-step, and fancied how his poor old father would look when he first took his grey ass with him to market, and would no longer be faint from carrying too heavy loads.

Although Tommy did not speak, his father at