ne spoke too
sharply, for I don't think the harm lies in giving to and receiving from
our friends, but in neglecting the poor. But you don't care what I think,
you want to know what the cane said.

"I'm pretty well acquainted with Scripture," said Old Ebony, "having
spent fourteen years in company with a minister. Now won't you please
read the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the fourteenth chapter of----"

But before the cane could finish the sentence, Willie heard some one
opening the door. It was his father. He looked round in bewilderment. The
oil in the lamp had burned out, and it was dark. The fire was low, and
the room chilly.

"Heigh-ho, Willie, my son," said Mr. Blake, "where's your light, and
where's your fire. This is a cold reception. What have you been doing?"

"Listening to the cane talk," he replied; and thinking what a foolish
answer that was, he put on some more coal, while his mother, who was
lighting the lamp, said he must have been dreaming. The walking-stick
stood in its corner, face to the wall, as if it had never been a talking
stick.

IV.

MR. BLAKE AGREES WITH THE WALKING-STICK.

Early on Sunday morning Willie awoke and began to think about Sitles, and
to wish he had money to buy him a broom-machine. And then he thought of
widow Martin. But all his thinking would do no good. Then he thought of
what Old Ebony had said, and he wished he could know what that text was
that the cane was just going to quote.

"It was," said Willie, "the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the
fourteenth chapter of something. I'll see."

So he began with the beginning of the Bible, and looked first at Genesis
xiv. 12, 13. But it was about the time when Abraham had heard of the
capture of Lot and mustered his army to recapture him. He thought a
minute.

"That can't be what it is," said Willie, "I'll look at Exodus."

In Exodus it was about standing still at the Red Sea and waiting for
God's salvation. It might mean that God would deliver the poor. But that
was not just what the cane was talking about. It was about giving gifts
to friends. So he went on to Leviticus. But it was about the
wave-offering, and the sin-offering, and the burnt-offering. That was not
it, and so he went from book to book until he had reached the twelfth and
thirteenth verses of the fourteenth chapter of the book of Judges. He was
just reading in that place about Samson's riddle, when hi