so that, when Alice or any of
the young members of the flock seemed about to stray on the forbidden
ground, they should be ready to descend, like two wolves on the fold,
remorselessly change the subject of conversation, and carry all before
them.

Thus tenderly was that prodigal son received back to his father's house.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

CANADA AGAIN--AND SURPRISING NEWS.

It is most refreshing to those who have been long cooped up in a city to
fly on the wings of steam to the country and take refuge among the
scents of flowers and fields and trees. We have said this, or something
like it, before, and remorselessly repeat it--for it is a grand truism.

Let us then indulge ourselves a little with a glance at the farm of
Brankly in Canada.

Lake Ontario, with its expanse of boundless blue, rolls like an ocean in
the far distance. We can see it from the hill-top where the
sweet-smelling red-pines grow. At the bottom of the hill lies Brankly
itself, with its orchards and homestead and fields of golden grain, and
its little river, with the little saw-mill going as pertinaciously as if
it, like the river, had resolved to go on for ever. Cattle are there,
sheep are there, horses and wagons are there, wealth and prosperity are
there, above all happiness is there, because there also dwells the love
of God.

It is a good many years, reader, since you and I were last here. Then,
the farm buildings and fences were brand-new. Now, although of course
not old, they bear decided traces of exposure to the weather. But these
marks only give compactness of look and unity of tone to everything,
improving the appearance of the place vastly.

The fences, which at first looked blank and staring, as if wondering how
they had got there, are now more in harmony with the fields they
enclose. The plants which at first struggled as if unwillingly on the
dwelling-house, now cling to it and climb about it with the affectionate
embrace of old friends. Everything is improved--Well, no, not
everything. Mr Merryboy's legs have not improved. They will not move
as actively as they were wont to do. They will not go so far, and they
demand the assistance of a stick. But Mr Merryboy's spirit has
improved--though it was pretty good before, and his tendency to
universal philanthropy has increased to such an extent that the people
of the district have got into a way of sending their bad men and boys to
work on his farm in order tha