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Then stepping softly she took the broom,
And swept the floor, and dusted the room;
Busy and happy all day was she,

Helpful and cheerful as child could be.

"I love you, mother," again they said -
Three little children going to bed.
How do you think the mother guessed
Which of them really loved her best?

OLD DOG TRAY1

ELLEN E. KENYON

Dog Tray has been away for two days. He never stayed so long before.

Dog Tray is a hunter. Sometimes he goes to look for the naughty fox that eats the chickens, and the fox leads him a long chase. When he returns, every one is glad. Even baby crows at sight of him.

What do you suppose he is saying to baby? And what is baby saying to him? Do you think they understand each other?

Dog Tray is often left to watch baby asleep in the cradle. No harm can come while he is there. When the children go chestnutting, he goes, too. He knows he may be needed to take care of them.

One afternoon they wandered too far and stayed too long. It grew dark, and they could not tell the way home. If they had been alone, they might have gone the wrong way. Then, getting farther and farther into the wood, they would have been lost indeed.

But Dog Tray was with them. All they had to do was to say, "We're going home, Tray!" The wise dog was glad to hear it, for he knew it was growing late and they

1 From Charles Dudley Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature. By permission of The Warner Library Company.

had far to walk. He gave a glad sniff, as if to say, "Come this way then!" and trotted off. The children followed, for they knew they could trust Tray.

Every once in a while Tray would pause and look around, as if to say, "Am I going too fast for you?" Then he would trot along.

Mamma knew that Tray was with the children, or she would have been worried about them. As it was, when they reached home, she only said: "Come, hurry, children! Your supper is waiting."

Old Dog Tray 's ever faithful;
Grief cannot drive him away.
He is gentle, he is kind,

And you'll never, never find
A better friend than old Dog Tray.

NOVEMBER: PERSEVERANCE

For the Teacher:

COLUMBUS1

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

Endurance is the crowning quality,

And patience all the passion of great hearts;
These are their stay, and when the leaden world
Sets its hard face against their fateful thought,
And brute strength, like the Gaulish conqueror,
Clangs his huge glaive down in the other scale,
The inspired soul but flings his patience in,
And slowly that outweighs the ponderous globe.

Suggestions for morning talks

Tell of Edison's perseverance in discovering the best material to use for filaments of electric lights, and of 1 From Complete Poetical Works. Houghton Mifflin Co.

how many times Burbank tries before he can get a successful new plant. For stories of both, see The Wonder Workers, by Mary H. Wade. Little, Brown & Co. The work of Darwin, and in fact, of any great scientist, gives examples of perseverance. See The Children's Book of Moral Lessons, by F. J. Gould. Watts & Co., London.

Tell how Columbus showed great perseverance in his attempts to get ships to try the voyage across the Atlantic.

Describe Helen Keller's efforts in learning to speak. Refer to Miss Sullivan's account, in The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller, page 386. Doubleday, Page & Co.

Edison, Darwin, Burbank, Helen Keller, Clara Barton persevered in great and hard tasks; what made them persevere? They loved their work, but do you think they never grew tired of it? What did they do then? What chances have children to be persevering? Is it harder to be persevering in learning arithmetic or in learning to skate? Is it harder still to persevere in being helpful to all the neighbors every day? Learn: "Excelsior," by Henry W. Longfellow. R.L.S. No. 11. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Read: "The Rope Wears the Stone," in Lesson X, and "William Edwards," in Lesson IX, The Chil

dren's Book of Moral Lessons, F. J. Gould. Watts & Co., London.

"Industry," and "The Water Lily," in Ethics,

Julia M. Dewey. Educational Publishing Co. "The Tortoise and the Hare," in The First Book of Stories for the Story-Teller, F. E. Coe. Houghton Mifflin Co.

"Teenchy Duck" (at the castle), in The Second Book of Stories for the Story-Teller, F. E. Coe. Houghton Mifflin Co.

"Bruce and The Spider," in Fifty Famous Stories Retold, James Baldwin. American Book Com

pany.

"The Squirrel's Devotion," in Ethics for Children, Ella Lyman Cabot. Houghton Mifflin Co.

"The Hill," in The Golden Windows, Laura E. Richards. Little, Brown & Co.

A pocket-handkerchief to hem -
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
How many stitches it will take
Before it's done, I fear.

Yet set a stitch, and then a stitch,
And stitch and stitch away,

Till stitch by stitch the hem is done;
And after work is play!

C. G. ROSSETTI.

PERSEVERANCE WINS 1

ANONYMOUS

About thirty years ago I stepped into a book shop in Cincinnati. While there, a ragged little boy, not over twelve, came in to ask how much geographies cost. "One dollar, my lad."

"I have only sixty-two cents," said the boy eagerly; "will you let me have the book, and wait awhile for the rest of the money?"

When the man refused his request, the lad seemed to

1 Abridged from A School Reader, Fourth Grade. Copyright, 1908, by Fanny E Coe. By arrangement with the American Book Co., Publishers.

shrink within his ragged clothes. He looked up at me with a poor attempt at a smile and left the store. I overtook him.

"What now?" I asked.

"I shall try another place, sir."

"Shall I go, too, and see how you succeed?"

"Oh, yes,

if you like," said he in surprise.

Four different stores I entered with him and four times he was refused. "Will you try again?" I asked. "Yes, sir; I shall try them all, or I should not know whether I could get the book.”

We entered the fifth store, and the little fellow told the gentleman just what he wanted and how much money he had.

"Why do you want the book so much?" asked the proprietor.

"To study, sir; I cannot go to school, but when I have time I study at home. My father was a sailor and I want to know something about the places that he used to go to."

"Does he go to those places now?"

"He is dead," replied the boy softly. Then he added, "I am going to be a sailor, too."

"Well, my lad," said the proprietor, "I will let you have a geography that is not new for fifty cents."

"Are the leaves all in it, and is it just like the others, only not new?"

"Yes, it is as good as the new ones."

"It will do just as well, then; and I shall have twelve cents left towards buying some other book. I am glad that they did not let me have one at any of the other places."

The bookseller looked up inquiringly, and I told him what I had seen of the little fellow. When he brought the book along, I saw a nice new pencil and some clean white paper with it. "A present, my lad, for your perse

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