rips," the others answered.

Elizabeth spent the remainder of the afternoon with the children, who
were glad to have her because she played fair. Elizabeth herself was
very happy. She was even glad that she wasn't a princess or a grown-up
lady; glad that she was just a little girl who had learned to play with
other children.

* * * * *

Johnnie Jones and the Hoop-Rolling Club

One day, all the children of the neighborhood decided to form a
hoop-rolling club. Each child was to buy a hoop and decorate it with
bells and ribbons. Then, every Saturday morning, all of them were to go
to the park and have a procession. They were to try their best to turn
square corners, to roll their hoops in a straight line, and to keep them
from falling down. No matter where they rolled them, up hill or down
hill, over smooth ground or rough, they were not to let the hoops fall.

The one who could do all these things the best was to be the captain and
lead the procession wherever he wished. He could go swiftly or slowly,
just as he liked, and all the rest were to follow in the same manner.
The captain was to remain captain only so long as he could roll his hoop
better than anyone else in the club.

The children were delighted with their plan, and ran to the shop to buy
the hoops.

All except poor little Johnnie Jones! He was not quite as old as the
others, and he could not manage a hoop. He had tried to roll one
belonging to Sammy Smith, one day, but he had been unable to prevent its
falling down every time he struck it. Of course he wanted to join the
club, and he asked Mother what she thought he had better do.

Mother went with him to the grocery-store, and bought a small hoop, much
smaller than Sammy Smith's. Then she told Johnnie Jones that no one
could teach him to roll it. "You must just try and try until you
succeed, little boy," she said.

Johnnie Jones tried, all the way home, but he was as unsuccessful with
the new hoop as he had been with Sammy Smith's old one. The other
children watched him, but they did not know how to help him, much as
they wished to do so. One big boy was rude enough to laugh at him,
which hurt his feelings so much that he went out into his back yard to
practise. There he tried, and tried again, until he was very tired.

Every day while the other children were decorating their hoops or were
playing together, Johnnie Jones would practise all alone in the back
y