ith _me_!" burst out Nelly.

"And to think," burst out Lizzy, with a sly laugh, "that it is _you_ who
have introduced Angela to Marian's good graces, and that it is _you_,
after all, who have been made the April fool, and not Angela!"

THE THANKSGIVING GUEST.

CHAPTER I.

"It is such a lovely idea, such a truly Christian idea, Mrs. Lambert.
How did you ever happen to think of it?"

"Oh, _I_ did not think of it; it wasn't _my_ idea. Didn't you ever hear
how it came about?"

"No; do tell me!"

"Well, my husband, you know, was always looking out for ways of doing
good,--lending a helping hand,--and he used to talk with the children a
great deal of such things. One day he came across a beautiful little
story that he read to them. It was the story of a child who made the
acquaintance of a poor, half-starved student and brought him home with
her to share her Thanksgiving dinner. It made a deep impression on the
children. They talked about it continually, and acted it out in their
play. But they were in the habit of doing that with any fresh story that
pleased them, so it was nothing new to us, and we hadn't a thought of
their carrying it further. But the next week was Thanksgiving week; and
when Thanksgiving Day came, what do you think those little things
did,--for they were quite little things then,--what do you think they
did but bring in just before dinner the half-blind old apple-pedler who
had a stand on the corner of the street?

"They were so happy about it, and they thought we should be so happy
too, that we couldn't say a word of discouragement in the way of advice
then; but later, when we had given the old fellow his dinner, and he had
gone, we had a talk with the dear little souls, when we tried to show
them that it would be better to let us know when they wanted to invite
any one to dinner or to tea,--that that was the way other girls and boys
always did. They were rather crestfallen at our suggestions; for, with
the keen, sensitive instinct of children, they felt that their
beautiful plan, as they thought it, had somewhere failed, and, though
they promised readily enough to consult us 'next time,' we could see
that they were puzzled and depressed over all this _regulation_, when we
had seemed to have nothing but admiring appreciation for the similar act
of the child in the story. My husband, seeing this, was very much
troubled to know just what to say or do; for he thought, as I did, th