ly, and there, indeed, was William gathered
once more with his brothers and sisters around the great
cooking-stove, tears of joy flowing down the grateful mother's cheeks.

All this great grief which William's father and mother endured--all
the anxiety felt throughout the town--and all the sufferings of the
boy himself, were occasioned by William's stopping to play, when he
ought to have gone directly home!

Children often think they are quite as capable of judging for
themselves, as their parents are for them. Sooner or later this
opinion will lead them into trouble. William thought it was safe to
stop and see the boys play marbles, but he found, to his sorrow, that
it would have been far better to have resisted temptation and denied
himself the short pleasure he enjoyed.

Every human heart is grieved when a child like William strays from
home. We do not wonder that his mother should be fearfully anxious in
regard to his fate. But, oh! how much more bitter tears a loving
mother sheds, when her dear ones stray from the path of virtue, and
become disobedient and wicked! I hope none of the children who read
about William will go astray from the right path, but will ever choose
that which is pure and lovely and of good report, and which, through
the grace of God in Christ Jesus, will safely lead them home to
heaven.

[Illustration]

THE UNPLEASANT NEIGHBOUR.

Eddie's father has a disagreeable neighbour. In one way or another he
is a constant source of annoyance. Sometimes his pigs will creep
through the fence, and root up the smooth green lawn. His part of the
fence he will not keep in repair, and the hungry cows, in search of
food, will break into the garden, and make sad havoc among the
cabbages and other vegetables. His fine bay horse, whom he knows will
jump over any ordinary fence, is permitted to run in a pasture, where
he can eke out his scanty meal by a hearty lunch among Mr. Dudley's
corn. All these aggressions, and many more, have been borne with the
greatest patience.

Mr. Dudley has often been advised to resort to the law as a means of
defence, yet he has been reluctant to do so. The children have
sometimes felt very indignant when they have been obliged to chase the
pigs or the cows out of the yard or field, but their parents have
endeavoured to teach them Christian forbearance.

At one time Eddie had been thinking about Mr. Morrison,--for by that
name I shall call the unpleasant neighbour,-