xious to do themselves, and nearly
all the objectionable pastimes they had formerly engaged in were
laid aside. No one ever went fishing just for the pleasure of
throwing the panting, struggling fish on the grass; no one ever
tormented frogs, or pulled the wings off the poor flies nowadays.

The boys of the Hill-top school had taken all living things under
their protection, and you may be sure that they put down all kinds
of thoughtless cruelty.

It was just a year from the day on which they made their bargain
with Mr. Patterson that the fountain was set up. It was shrouded
in a great flag until it should be finally unveiled.

It was a great day in the village, I can tell you. Never before
had the Hill-top schoolboys been so looked up to. The fountain was
their gift to the village. They had earned it faithfully and well.
They were all there, drawn up in a circle about the fountain,--Ralph
and Dick and Tommy and Master Sunshine, and all the other pupils
of the school. Close by were gathered their relatives and friends;
for the formal unveiling was felt to be a most important matter,
and the whole village had turned out to witness the ceremony.

Mrs. Norton was looking very pleased and happy over some words
that Mr. Patterson said quietly in her ear, while Lucy, now a baby
no longer, cried out from her post on her father's shoulder, "It's
dee Suns'ine's fountain, it's dee Suns'ine's fountain;" and Almira
Jane dressed in her best bib and tucker, and Jacob dressed in his
Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, looked across at each other very
kindly.

Presently Mr. Patterson in a few words told of the events that had
led to the erection of the fountain, and Mr. Sinclair called on
Master Frederick Norton to pull down the great flag that veiled
the fountain from view. A cry of admiration went up from the crowd
as the fountain, a most beautiful work of art, burst on their
view.

At a second signal from Mr. Sinclair, plenteous streams of
sparkling water gushed into the troughs and basins, while the boys
of the Hill-top school burst into a song which their teacher had
especially prepared for the occasion.

Gyp and Tim meantime, who had followed their young masters from
home, suddenly realized what all the disturbance was about, and
with one accord they made their way through the crowd, and began
to lap up water from the dog-basins with as little concern as if
they had been used to these luxuries all their lives.

Master Sunshi