l boastings and exaggerations,
backbiting, abuse, and evil speaking; slang phrases and oaths in
conversation; depreciate no man's qualities, and accept
hospitalities of the humblest kind in a hearty and appreciative
manner; avoid giving offense, and if you do offend, have the
manliness to apologize; infuse as much elegance as possible into
your thoughts as well as your actions; and, as you avoid
vulgarities, you will increase the enjoyment of life, and grow in
the respect of others."

KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES.

Here is a story which I heard a girl tell her little sister the other
day, but I don't believe the girl told it altogether right. Can any of
my youngsters straighten it out? This is the story:

King Alfred, after his fatal defeat at Marston Moor, having taken
refuge in an oak-tree, was so absorbed in watching a spider which had
tried to weave its web eleven times and succeeded on the twelfth, that
he allowed the cakes to burn; whereupon, the herdsman's wife, rushing
in, exclaimed:

"Oh, Diamond! Diamond! what mischief hast thou done?"

To which he meekly replied: "I cannot tell a lie; I did it with my
little hatchet."

"Take away," cried she, "that bauble!"

"I have done my duty, thank heaven!" said he, but he never smiled
again.

A LITTLE SCHOOLMA'AM.

DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I should like to tell the Little
Schoolma'am about _our_ little schoolma'am.

She is a young lady of about twenty-one years, and looks too
delicate to govern such a school. But she does it; and though as
fond of fun as any of us at the right time, yet in school she
insists on attention to business, and will not tolerate idleness or
disobedience. She is very kind and gentle, but firm and decided,
and we all know that she means what she says, and must be obeyed
implicitly. She says she wants us to love and trust her as a
friend, and we do. Out of school she seems as young as we do, for
she is full of fun and likes us to have a good time. She tries to
make school pleasant to us, and a while ago she put a box on her
desk, and said, when we had any questions to ask, or complaints to
make, we might write them on a slip of paper and put it in that
box, which was locked and had a hole in the top. Sometimes she
answers the questions publicly, and sometimes she writes them and
puts them in the "letter-box." The scholar who has the b