ing to
the top of the cage, evidently in terror of his life, for below appeared
a sad yet funny sight. The big crab had wedged himself into the little
recess where Polly's cup used to stand, and there he sat eating one of
his relations in the coolest way. All the claws of the poor victim were
pulled off, and he was turned upside down, his upper shell held in
one claw close under the mouth of the big crab like a dish, while he
leisurely ate out of it with the other claw, pausing now and then to
turn his queer bulging eyes from side to side, and to put out a slender
tongue and lick them in a way that made the children scream with
laughter. Mrs. Jo carried the cage in for Dan to see the sight, while
Demi caught and confined the wanderers under an inverted wash-bowl.

"I'll have to let these fellers go, for I can't keep 'em in the house,"
said Dan, with evident regret.

"I'll take care of them for you, if you will tell me how, and they can
live in my turtle-tank just as well as not," said Demi, who found them
more interesting even that his beloved slow turtles. So Dan gave him
directions about the wants and habits of the crabs, and Demi bore them
away to introduce them to their new home and neighbors. "What a good
boy he is!" said Dan, carefully settling the first butterfly, and
remembering that Demi had given up his walk to bring it to him.

"He ought to be, for a great deal has been done to make him so."

"He's had folks to tell him things, and to help him; I haven't," said
Dan, with a sigh, thinking of his neglected childhood, a thing he seldom
did, and feeling as if he had not had fair play somehow.

"I know it, dear, and for that reason I don't expect as much from you as
from Demi, though he is younger; you shall have all the help that we can
give you now, and I hope to teach you how to help yourself in the best
way. Have you forgotten what Father Bhaer told you when you were here
before, about wanting to be good, and asking God to help you?"

"No, ma'am," very low.

"Do you try that way still?"

"No, ma'am," lower still.

"Will you do it every night to please me?"

"Yes, ma'am," very soberly.

"I shall depend on it, and I think I shall know if you are faithful
to your promise, for these things always show to people who believe in
them, though not a word is said. Now here is a pleasant story about a
boy who hurt his foot worse than you did yours; read it, and see how
bravely he bore his troubles."

She p