how could he leave the dear child to a terrible death without making an effort to save him? These were the hurried thoughts that rushed through his mind. Then he remembered the mill-pond, the boy and the mad dog, the child in the spring and his brave brother, and what his father had said about being courageous. It took scarcely an instant of time for all this to be presented to the frightened boy. By a strong effort he composed himself, and then ran back to where his brother was still upon the sledge. The bull was now very near; but Edward, though he had taken the child in his arms, was able to run so fast as to reach the fence and climb over it before the mad creature could reach them. In less than a quarter of a minute after he was beyond the reach of danger, the bull came dashing up to the fence, foaming and bellowing with rage.

"Well and bravely done, my noble boy!" exclaimed Edward's father, who, seeing his children's danger, had been running toward them unperceived. Just as Edward landed, with his brother still clasped in his arms, safely on the right side of the fence, he came up.

Edward turned quickly toward his father, who saw that his face was very pale, and that his lips were quivering.

"It was a narrow escape, my son," said Mr. Jones, "a very narrow escape. But Heaven is always on the side of those who seek to save others that are in danger. If you had hesitated a moment about acting courageously, our dear little Willie would now have been bleeding, it may be, upon the horns of that mad animal. How thankful I feel that you had the bravery to do as you have done."

"And I am thankful too, father," said the boy, in a trembling voice. "O! if in my cowardice I had permitted Willie to be killed, I should never have been happy again in all my life."

After such a trial and triumph, Edward was able in the future to act with becoming presence of mind in all cases of danger and peril that happened to occur.

BUY THE TRUTH AND SELL IT NOT. Prov.

The Boy who Told the Truth.

NE cold, bleak day in winter, during study hours, the pupils of Mr. Wise's school heard the sound of a carriage coming toward the school-house. A moment after, and it was before the door; and the loud voice of a man called for Mr. Wise. He went to the door, heard what the man had to tell him, came back into the room with a much sadder face than he had left it, and said,—

"Boys, I have just now been told that a very dear friend of mine is very ill, and wishes to see me. Mr. Bird, the man who is at the door, has asked me to ride back with him; and as my friend lives five miles from here, and I know of no other way of going there, I would like to accept his offer. I can dismiss you all in a short time; but I do not like to oblige Mr. Bird to wait for me until I put away my books and papers, and lock up the school. Now, I wish to leave three boys here to do it in my place; and those who think they can do this in a proper manner, and would like to do a favour for me, may hold up their hands."

Nearly every boy in the room, large and small, raised one hand. Mr. Wise smiled, and said,—

THE SCHOOL-ROOM.

"I am glad to see so many of you ready to oblige me, but three will be quite enough for the work; and I shall select from among you those whom I regard as the most trusty."

He then named Thomas Jones, George Evans, and James Black.

"James Black is not so old as many others here," he said, "but I think I can rely upon him to do what is right; and if any harm should happen, I know he will tell me the exact truth about it."

Mr. Wise then sent all the boys home, but the three whom he had chosen to remain; and after having given these last a few orders as to where they should put the keys, &c., he left them, jumped into the carriage, and was soon riding along at a swift rate to visit his sick friend.

The boys had begun to put away the things in nice order, when they heard a loud halloo. They turned to find out from whom it came, and saw four of their school-mates at the door.

"Go away, Edward West, and the rest of you boys," said Thomas Jones.

"No, indeed!" said they; "we are not going quite yet."

"Now, I dare say you want to know how we came here, and what we want," said Edward West, who seemed to be the leader of the party; "and to save you the asking, I'll just tell you. We hid behind the school-house until the master was out of sight, and then we came out to pay you a visit; and you ought to be very glad to see us. Our reason for doing so was to have some fun, of course; and now you have the whole story."

"Well, we'll just tell Mr. Wise, and see what he will have to say about it," said George Evans.

"Oh, we don't mean to do any harm," said Edward. "We only want to have a little play; and you would not tell unless we do wrong. Would you, George?"

"What shall we do about these boys?" asked George aside, speaking in an undertone to Thomas and James.

"I am sure I cannot tell," said James; "for I am afraid they will not go away for us."

"That is what I think," said Thomas; "and we may only get into a quarrel with them, and do no good by it. How would it do for us to tell them they may stay, if they will give us their word of honour not to behave badly?"

"Yes, that is all we can do," said George.

"Well, boys," said Thomas aloud, "I think it would be much better for you to go home; but if you promise to behave, we will not object to your staying here with us, though I am not quite sure that Mr. Wise will like it."

"Well, on the whole, I call that a polite speech," said Edward, "and I give my hand to the bargain."

"Yes; we all agree to behave well," cried the others; and they began to mount the desks, and perform sundry little antics. At first the three boys who had stayed in to work went on doing their duty, as if their wild school-mates were not there at all, except now and then, when they would pause to smile at some of their odd tricks, or speak a few words to them. When they became too rude and noisy, George or Thomas called them to order, by giving them a hint of the bargain which had been made. Very soon they began to argue upon some point that seemed hard to settle, from the loud tones with which they spoke.

"What is the matter?" asked James Black, for he heard his own name used in the debate.

"Why, Hiram says you cannot jump over that stool, and I know you can," said Edward.

James looked at the stool. It was a high one, and stood on a clear space, not far from the desk of Mr. Wise.

"Yes, I can jump over it, and at the first trial too, as I will