for the two scholars. They usually appeared at about a quarter before nine, but it was now within a few minutes of nine, and I had not yet seen them. Nine struck, and still no scholars came, but as I had made up my mind to see them, I remained at my post, and just as ten was striking they came in sight. They were dressed in their best, and knowing the custom of the place, I concluded this must be the day of the public examination at the conclusion of the session. I resolved to follow them, and found my conjecture was right. The school-room was filled with the parents of the children, and the clergyman of the parish was ready to examine the scholars. My little friend William was, I saw, dux of the school, and every one seemed delighted with his knowledge, intelligence, and attention, especially as he was the smallest boy in his class. Poor Peter, too, was very conspicuous; his thoughtless face was seen over the heads of his school-fellows, his

vacant eye never for a moment rested on his book, and his foolish answers excited the smiles of the company, and covered himself with confusion. At the conclusion of the proceedings, William received a handsome book as a reward of his industry, and the clergyman encouraged him to continue in the same career which he had so well begun. For some years I constantly saw the two scholars; William, though his parents could ill afford it, had sent him to a higher school, where he was equally diligent, and of course equally successful. Peter was at home idle; his mother did not care about sending him to learn a trade, and as he had no pleasure in reading, he spent his time in playing himself; and often in the evening, when at my studies, was I disturbed by the noise which he and a troop of idle boys, his companions, made under my windows in the course of their unruly amusements.

On finishing my studies I left the town,

and only revisited it a few days ago. It was the market-day, and while walking along the street in which I formerly resided, and which was in the neighbourhood of the cattle-market, my thoughts naturally turned to former days, and especially to my old acquaintances Peter and William. My meditations were somewhat rudely disturbed by a bullock which, escaping from the adjacent market, was rushing furiously along the street, pursued by a drover, two dogs, and a crowd of idle lads. To escape from the animal, I stood in a doorway, and allowed the mob to run past; but what was my surprise when I recognized in the drover, as he rushed on, brandishing a huge stick, and bellowing at the top of his voice, the well-known features of my old friend Peter! There was no mistaking the long red hair, the round ruddy cheeks, and the thoughtless good-natured face; and his greasy coat, his calf-skin vest, and his general appearance, made it quite

plain that his idle habits had reduced him to the low profession of a drover. And what, thought I, has become of William ? He surely will have come to something better than his idle schoolfellow. I found out all about him in the afternoon. I was walking with a friend, when quite unexpectedly we met William coming out of a bookseller's shop. He was dressed as a clergyman; and my friend, who knew him, at once gratified my curiosity. "That," said he, " is our new clergyman; he has just come from the university, where he made a great figure; and though he has been but a short time with us, he is very highly respected. You can hear him preach if you stay till Sunday." I determined, when I returned home, to tell my boys what I had seen, and I hope they will learn from it to be attentive to their lessons,

66

EVERYBODY is so well convinced that it is not only wrong and sinful, but foolish and cowardly to say what is untrue, that it is quite surprising that falsehoods should be so very common in the world. We know that if we tell a lie in order to hide a fault, or to screen ourselves from punishment, we are almost certain to be detected, and then we shall be covered with shame, and lose far more than any false