d failed to be at the school door before
the first tap of the bell, began to despair.

Was there nothing to be done?

Yes! a happy thought passed through his mind. How strange that he
should not have thought of it before!

He would ask Dominie Black to let him take Jenny home.

What could be more sensible and straightforward than such a plan?

Of course the good old Schoolmaster gave Andrew the desired
permission, and everything ended happily. But the best thing about the
whole affair was the lesson that young Scotch boy learned that day.

And the lesson was this: when we are puzzling our brains with plans to
help ourselves out of our troubles, let us always stop a moment in our
planning, and try to think if there is not some simple way out of the
difficulty, which shall be in every respect _perfectly right_. If we
do that we shall probably find the way, and also find it much more
satisfactory as well as easier than any of our ingenious and elaborate
plans.

THE WILD ASS.

[Illustration: WILD ASSES.]

If there is any animal in the whole world that receives worse
treatment or is held in less esteem than the ordinary Jackass, I am
very sorry for it.

With the exception of a few warm countries, where this animal grows to
a large size, and is highly valued, the Jackass or Donkey is
everywhere considered a stupid beast, a lazy beast, an obstinate
beast, and very often a vicious beast. To liken any one to a Jackass
is to use very strong language.

In many cases, this character of the Donkey (with the exception of the
stupidity, for very few Donkeys are stupid, although they try to seem
so) is correct, but nevertheless it is doubtful if the animal is much
to blame for it. There is every reason to believe that the dullness
and laziness of the Donkey is owing entirely to his association with
man.

For proof of this assertion, we have but to consider the Ass in his
natural state.

There can be no reasonable doubt but that the domestic Ass is
descended from the Wild Ass of Asia and Africa, for the two animals
are so much alike that it would be impossible, by the eye alone, to
distinguish the one from the other.

But, except in appearance, they differ very much. The tame Ass is
gentle, and generally fond of the society of man; the wild Ass is one
of the shyest creatures in the world; even when caught it is almost
impossible to tame him. The tame Ass is slow, plodding, dull, and
lazy; the wild Ass is as s