s proper
place, and to murmur would be sinful. He concluded by saying that he
would be diligent and faithful, trying in all things to please his
master, until his term of apprenticeship should have expired. "Then,
dear George, I will go back to M----. I never shall want to stay in a
big city; for although there are many fine things here, finer than I
ever saw in our little village, there is more wickedness, and it is
harder to be good where there is so much bad example."

At this moment his mistress called him to come and make the fire, and
hastily directing and sealing his letter, he thrust it into his pocket
and proceeded to do her bidding.

Notwithstanding considerable languor hung about his bodily frame, and
his bones and muscles still ached from the effects of the boating, he
felt a more peaceful frame of mind than he had known for weeks before.
The knowledge of having done wrong is always the first step toward
amendment. He not only felt that he had been guilty of more sins than
lying, but, viewing those minor faults in a different light than
formerly, he determined to watch over his heart carefully, and avoid
giving any cause of complaint in future. "Watch that you may pray, and
pray that you may be safe," were words that floated in his mind all
the morning as he sat hammering shoe soles; and he would not laugh at
any joke of Jem Taylor's against his master, although for some time
past he had enjoyed hearing him ridiculed.

Late in the afternoon Mrs. Walters came in, and, giving him a pair of
leather boots, told him to take them to Mrs. Bradley, the wife of a
market gardener who lived outside the city. It was fully three hours
after his scanty dinner had been eaten, and supper would be over ere
he returned. Growing boys are always hungry, and he was about to
venture to ask Mrs. Walters for a lunch to serve in place of the
evening meal, when he remembered the rolls given him by Mrs. Burton,
and which were still in his trunk. He hid the little packet in his
bosom, intending to eat its contents on his way home; and after having
put his letter in the post-office, he set off to accomplish his
errand.

One might have thought the walk, and the variety always met with in
the streets of a large city, would have exhilarated him; but, whether
owing to the condition of his bodily health, this was not now the
case. He passed the picture-shops without noticing the treasures in
the windows; the silver-ware and fanciful orn