as if he meant to jump over the moon! When he was in the
water, Oh! then was the time for fun! such a splashing and
dashing and thrashing as the water got! Such a noise! you
could hear him squealing with delight all over the house, and
very often every body in the house would come up to look at
him; even the cross old cook. She was never cross to Johnny;
she would come in the room, and opening her eyes would exclaim:
"My Sirs! if Johnny don't look just like the gold Koopid,
straddling over the top of the looking glass in the parlor."
He did look like a little fat Cupid. Any picture of a little
fat Cupid will show you how Johnny looked when he was a baby.

When Johnny was almost a year old, his mamma and papa took him
to church to be christened. Do you know what that means? It
means that they would promise before all the people in church,
and what is a great deal more solemn, before God, our Father
in Heaven, to do their best to make little Johnny a good
child, to teach him to love, fear, and serve Him all the days
of his life. They would give their dear child to God.

When the time came for them to go to the church, Johnny had
clasped tight in his fat fingers, a little wooden horse, about
half as long as Minnie's arm, with only one leg, and a very
short stump of a tail. The little fellow had managed to break
off the long tail and three legs, but _he_ didn't care, not
he! one leg was enough for him; he loved the horse dearly, and
sucked his head very often and banged it against the floor,
and kissed it and took it to bed with him every night, and
plunged it, sometimes head-first, sometimes tail-first, into
his cup of milk every day, so that the old horse had a very
nice time.

When they tried to take it away from him, Johnny began to cry
as loud as he could. He was only a baby you know, and did not
know that an old broken wooden horse ought not to go to
church, so he puckered up his face in such a dismal manner,
that his mamma thought it best to let him keep it; and he
carried it to church in a state of perfect delight, sucking
the head all the way.

When Johnny's mamma and papa stood up with him before the
minister, what do you think happened? Something surprising!
for he let his nurse take the old horse out of his hand and
never missed it. He kept perfectly still.

The truth is, that he was wondering very much what in the world
the good minister had on the top of his nose. It shone like a
looking-glass every