time; this done, two little boys found themselves robed more
rapidly than they had ever before been. Arrived at the breakfast-table,
they eyed with withering contempt an irreproachable cutlet, some
crisp-brown potatoes of wafer-like thinness, and a heap of rolls almost
as light as snowflakes.

"_We_ don't want done of _this_ kind of breakfast," said Budge.

"Of course we don't," said Toddie, "when we's so awful full of uvver
fings. I don't know where I'zhe goin' to put my _dinner_ when it comes
time to eat it."

"Don't fret about _that_, Tod," said Budge. "Don't you know papa says
that the Bible says something that means 'don't worry till you have
to.'"

Mrs. Burton raised her eyebrows with horror not unmixed with inquiry,
and her husband hastened to give Budge's sentiment its proper Biblical
wording. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Mrs. Burton's
wonder was allayed by the explanation, although her horror was not, and
she made haste to say:

"Boys, we will have a little Sunday-school, all by ourselves, in the
parlor, immediately after breakfast."

"Hooray!" shouted Budge. "An' will you give us a ticket an' pass around
a box for pennies, just like they do in _big_ Sunday-schools?"

"I--suppose so," said Mrs. Burton, who had not previously thought of
these special attractions of the successful Sunday-school.

"Let's go right in, Tod," said Budge,"'cause the dog's in there. I saw
him as I came down, and I shut all the doors, so he couldn't get out. We
can have some fun with him 'fore Sunday-school begins."

Both boys started for the parlor-door, and, guided by that marvelous
instinct with which Providence arms the few against the many, and the
weak against the strong, the dog Jerry also approached the door from the
inside. As the door opened, there was heard a convulsive howl, and a
general tumbling of small boys, while at almost the same instant the dog
Jerry flew into the dining-room and hid himself in the folds of his
mistress's morning-robe. Two or three minutes later Budge entered the
dining-room with a very rueful countenance, and remarked:

"I guess we need that Sunday-school pretty quick, Aunt Alice. The dog
don't want to play with us, and we ought to be comforted some way."

"They're grown people, all over again," remarked Mr. Burton, with a
laugh.

"What do you mean?" demanded Mrs. Burton.

[Illustration: TODDIE LOOKED RATHER GUILTY, BUT BUDGE DISPLAYED THE
SMILE OF THE FULLY JUSTIFI