ere quite interested in
the lesson.

At the end of an hour and a half the boys stopped for the evening.

"You're learning fast, Dick," said Fosdick. "At this rate you will
soon learn to read well."

"Will I?" asked Dick with an expression of satisfaction. "I'm glad
of that. I don't want to be ignorant. I didn't use to care, but I do
now. I want to grow up 'spectable."

"So do I, Dick. We will both help each other, and I am sure we can
accomplish something. But I am beginning to feel sleepy."

"So am I," said Dick. "Them hard words make my head ache. I wonder
who made 'em all?"

"That's more than I can tell. I suppose you've seen a dictionary."

"That's another of 'em. No, I can't say I have, though I may have
seen him in the street without knowin' him."

"A dictionary is a book containing all the words in the language."

"How many are there?"

"I don't rightly know; but I think there are about fifty thousand."

"It's a pretty large family," said Dick. "Have I got to learn 'em
all?"

"That will not be necessary. There are a large number which you
would never find occasion to use."

"I'm glad of that," said Dick; "for I don't expect to live to be
more'n a hundred, and by that time I wouldn't be more'n half
through."

By this time the flickering lamp gave a decided hint to the boys
that unless they made haste they would have to undress in the dark.
They accordingly drew off their clothes, and Dick jumped into bed.
But Fosdick, before doing so, knelt down by the side of the bed, and
said a short prayer.

"What's that for?" asked Dick, curiously.

"I was saying my prayers," said Fosdick, as he rose from his knees.
"Don't you ever do it?"

"No," said Dick. "Nobody ever taught me."

"Then I'll teach you. Shall I?"

"I don't know," said Dick, dubiously. "What's the good?"

Fosdick explained as well as he could, and perhaps his simple
explanation was better adapted to Dick's comprehension than one
from an older person would have been. Dick felt more free to ask
questions, and the example of his new friend, for whom he was
beginning to feel a warm attachment, had considerable effect upon
him. When, therefore, Fosdick asked again if he should teach him a
prayer, Dick consented, and his young bedfellow did so. Dick was not
naturally irreligious. If he had lived without a knowledge of God
and of religious things, it was scarcely to be wondered at in a lad
who, from an early age, had been thrown upon his o