won't do that."

15. "If we were to run all the way, would you be too late?" said Jenny.

16. "If we were to run all the way to the bridge, and I were to run all
the way back, I should not get to school till after copy time. I expect
every minute to hear the school bell ring," said Andrew.

17. "But what can I do, then?" said poor little Jenny. "I can't wait here
till school's out, and I don't want to go up to the schoolhouse, for all
the boys to laugh at me."

18. "No," said Andrew, reflecting very seriously, "I must take you home
some way or other. It won't do to leave you here, and, no matter where you
might stay, your mother would be very much troubled about you."

19. "Yes," said Jenny, "she would think I was drowned."

20. Time pressed, and Jenny's countenance became more and more overcast,
but Andrew could think of no way in which he could take the little girl
home without being late and losing his standing in the school.

21. It was impossible to get her across the stream at any place nearer
than the "big bridge;" he would not take her that way, and make up a false
story to account for his lateness at school, and he could not leave her
alone or take her with him.

22. What was to be done? While several absurd and impracticable plans were
passing through his brain, the school bell began to ring, and he must
start immediately to reach the schoolhouse in time.

23. And now his anxiety and perplexity became more intense than ever; and
Jenny, looking up into his troubled countenance, began to cry.

24. Andrew, who had never before failed to be at the school door before
the first tap of the bell, began to despair. Was there nothing to be done?

25. Yes! a happy thought passed through his mind. How strange that he
should not have thought of it before! He would ask Dominie Black to let
him take Jenny home. What could be more sensible and straightforward than
such a plan?

26. Of course, the good old schoolmaster gave Andrew the desired
permission, and everything ended happily. But the best thing about the
whole affair was the lesson that the young Scotch boy learned that day.

27. The lesson was this: when we are puzzling our brains with plans to
help ourselves out of trouble, let us always stop a moment in our
planning, and try to think if there is not some simple way out of the
difficulty, which shall be in every respect perfectly right. If we do
this, we shall probably find a way more easy and satisfacto