ays," began the new
teacher with a patronizing air, which ruffled his pupil as much as the
opprobrious term "little chap."

"I'll be--whew--if I do!" whistled Ben, stopping an oath just in time.

"It is not polite to whistle in company," said Thorny, with great dignity.

"Miss Celia told me to. I'll say 'Confound it,' if you like that better,"
answered Ben, as a sly smile twinkled in his eyes.

"Oh, I see! She's told you about it? Well, then, if you want to please
_her_, you'll learn a hymn right off. Come now, she wants me to be clever
to you, and I'd like to do it; but if you get peppery, how can I?"

Thorny spoke in a hearty, blunt way, which suited Ben much better than the
other, and he responded pleasantly:

"If you wont be grand I wont be peppery. Nobody is going to boss me but
Miss Celia, so I'll learn hymns if she wants me to."

"'In the soft season of thy youth' is a good one to begin with. I learned
it when I was six. Nice thing; better have it." And Thorny offered the
book like a patriarch addressing an infant.

Ben surveyed the yellow page with small favor, for the long _s_ in the
old-fashioned printing bewildered him, and when he came to the last two
lines he could not resist reading them wrong:

"The earth affords no lovelier _fight_
Than a religious youth."

"I don't believe I could ever get that into my head straight. Haven't you
got a plain one anywhere round?" he asked, turning over the leaves with
some anxiety.

"Look at the end and see if there isn't a piece of poetry pasted in? You
learn that, and see how funny Celia will look when you say it to her. She
wrote it when she was a girl, and somebody had it printed for other
children. _I_ like it best, myself."

Pleased by the prospect of a little fun to cheer his virtuous task, Ben
whisked over the leaves and read with interest the lines Miss Celia had
written in her girlhood:

"MY KINGDOM.

"A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard I find the task
Of governing it well.
For passion tempts and troubles me,
A wayward will misleads,
And selfishness its shadow casts
On all my words and deeds.

"How can I learn to rule myself,
To be the child I should,
Honest and brave, nor ever tire
Of trying to be good?
How can I keep a sunny soul
To shine along life's way?
How can I tune my little heart