s hiding it from his father and
his mother, and his conscience is pricking him all the time, then he
cannot be sunny and healthy like a growing tree. He becomes cross and
easily provoked, and is sulky and wilted.

If you have done something wrong, which you ought to tell your parents
about, do not go to sleep until you have told them. If you do, you will
wake in the morning with dread, and you will go around all day with a
dull ache which will spoil all the sunshine. Moreover, if you begin
keeping secrets from your parents in this way you will have no one to
check you in your misdeeds. Your parents may punish you, but they are
the best friends you have. And besides, there is no punishment like
hiding a feeling of guilt. The next best thing after keeping from doing
wrong is to own up to it in an honest way when you have done wrong. Many
a boy and girl would have been saved untold trouble if they had only
been frank with their parents. One of the saddest days in any boy's or
girl's life is when they first keep a guilty secret from their parents.

ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS

When you boys and girls get older and further along in school, you will
probably learn of a famous Greek whose name was Ulysses. He was noted as
a heroic seaman, who travelled over dangerous seas and into unknown
lands.

In one of the seas where Ulysses sailed was an island known as the Isle
of the Sirens. The sirens would attract sailors to their shores by
beautiful music. But when the sailors drew near the land they would
irresistibly cast themselves into the sea, to their destruction.

Now Ulysses had heard of the sirens through Circe, and he wanted to hear
the maidens sing, but he did not want to come within their power. So
this is the way he managed it. One day he put wax in the ears of all his
sailors, so that they could not hear the music, and then had himself
strapped to the mast. Then he ordered the sailors to row near enough to
the island for him to hear the music. In this way he heard the singing,
but did not get caught.

That was a clever way of getting tempted, and yet not getting caught,
was it not? But someone has said in a joke it would have been better if
Ulysses had had an orchestra on board which would have made better music
than the sirens. Then neither Ulysses nor the sailors would have been
tempted to go too near the dangerous isle.

That is a pretty good way of dealing with all kinds of temptation,--not
by trying to k