his seat
in the cars.

The clock struck three, and the train started. One hundred and eleven
miles seemed to Oscar a long distance to travel, at one stretch,
especially after riding all the forenoon; and, indeed, he did begin to
feel quite tired, long before he reached the end of the journey. To
add to his uneasiness, a particle of cinder from the locomotive flew
into his eye, and lodged there so firmly that all his efforts to remove
it were in vain. In a little while, the eye became quite painful, and
he was obliged to keep it closed. A kind-looking gentleman, who sat
near him, noticed his trouble, and offered to assist him in removing
the mote; but it was so small that he could not find it. He advised
Oscar not to rub the inflamed organ, and told him he thought the
moisture of the eye would soon wash out the intruder, if left to
itself. Oscar tried to follow this advice, but the pain and irritation
did not subside, and he closed his eyes, and resigned himself to
darkness.

The nine o'clock bells of Boston were ringing, as Oscar left the depot
and turned his steps homeward. He hurried along through the familiar
streets, and had just turned the corner from which his home was in
sight, when somebody jumped suddenly from a dark passage-way, and
seized him by the hand. It was Ralph, who had been on the watch for
his brother half an hour, and, concealed himself just as he saw him
approaching. Each gave the other a cordial greeting, and then they
hastened into the house, where Oscar found the rest of the family
waiting to receive him. The general commotion that followed his
arrival, aroused Tiger from the comfortable nap he was taking on a mat,
and on hearing the well-remembered tones of his master's voice, he
sprang toward Oscar, and nearly knocked him over with his
demonstrations of welcome.

So Oscar was at home again; and from the welcome he received, he
learned that there is pleasure in getting back from a journey as well
as in setting out upon one. His inflamed eye soon attracted the notice
of his mother, and she examined it to see if she could detect the cause
of the irritation; but the troublesome atom was invisible. She then
said she would try the eye-stone, and, going to the drawer, she got a
small, smooth, and flat stone, and told Ella to go down into the
kitchen and bring up a little vinegar in a saucer. On putting the
stone into the vinegar, it soon began to move about, as though it were
posse