koned the boys to come into his office. He had
been making inquiries about them for several days, and one of the
queerest of his many queer plans was soon unfolded to the wondering
boys.

"I've noticed that you seem to admire that wheel in the window of
Stark Brothers a good deal," he said, "and I'm going to give you each
a chance to win it. I'll offer it as a prize if you are willing to
work for it on my conditions. I've heard that you will each be in
business for yourselves in a small way this summer, and I'll make this
offer. If each of you boys without any help from any one, will choose
a good proverb or text out of the Bible for a business motto, I'll
give the wheel to the boy who makes the best choice. You can select
any three business men in Bardstown to be the judges; but the proof of
a pudding is in the eating, you know, so you must apply that motto to
your own business faithfully for two months, and the excellence of the
motto will be judged by the results."

The boys looked at the judge in open-mouthed surprise. They thought he
surely must be joking, but nothing could be more serious or dignified
than the way in which the white-haired old gentleman repeated his
offer. So, after awhile, the boys succeeded in naming three business
men to be the judges, who were satisfactory to all of them. They chose
a grocer, a druggist, and a livery-stable proprietor, who were located
on the same street with Stark Brothers.

"Ain't it the funniest thing you ever heard of?" said Chicky Wiggins,
when they were once more on the street. "It'll be a long time to keep
a secret, and I'll be aching to know what mottoes you kids have picked
out. I'll bet it's just a trap to get us to read the Bible. He's one
of your pious kind."

"Well, it's a trap worth walking into," answered Abbot, "if it's
baited with something as tempting as a bicycle. The only trouble is
that it will take so long to find a motto. The Bible is so full of
them that a fellow'd feel like he ought to read it clear through, for
fear of skipping the very one that might take the prize, and we have
only a week to make a choice."

Abbot did not have to search long for his verse. He found it the
second day, and chose it the instant his eye caught the sentence on
the page. "Why, I've heard uncle say that a dozen times!" he
exclaimed, as he read the familiar line, "_'The hand of the diligent
maketh rich.'_ That worked all right in uncle's case, and it will be
an easy