from prison. When she heard consent given, a bright color flushed her cheeks. She was evidently of an impressible temperament, for good or evil. "Now mind and behave yourself," said aunt Hetty; " and see that you keep at work the whole time; if I hear one word of complaint, you know what you will get when you come home." The rose color subsided from Peggy's pale face, and she answered, “Yes, ma'am," very meekly.

In the neighbor's house all went quite otherwise. No switch lay on the table, and instead of," Mind how you do that; if you do not, I will punish you," she heard the gentle words, "There, dear, see how carefully you can carry that up stairs. Why, what a nice, handy little girl you are!" Under these enlivening influences, Peggy worked like a bee, and soon began to hum much more agreeably than a bee. Aunt Hetty was always in the habit of saying, "Stop your noise, and mind your work." But the new friend patted her on the head, and said, “ What a pleasant voice the little girl has! It is like the birds in the fields. By and by, you shall hear my music-box." This opened wide the windows of the poor little shut-up heart, so that the sunshine could stream in, and the birds fly in and out, carolling.

She kept at work, however,

The happy child tuned up like a lark, as she tripped lightly up and down stairs, on various household errands. But though she took heed to observe all the directions given her, her head was all the time filled with conjectures as to what sort of a thing a music-box might be. She was a little afraid the kind lady would forget to show it to her. and asked no questions; she only every thing that resembled a box. At last, Mrs. Fairweather said, “I think your little feet must be tired by this time. will rest a while, and eat some gingerbread." The child took the offered cake, with an humble little courtesy, and carefully held out her apron to prevent any crumbs from falling on the floor. But suddenly the apron dropped, and the crumbs were

looked very curiously at

We

all strewed about.

"Is that a little bird?" she exclaimed, eagerly. "Where is he? Is he in this room?" The new friend smiled, and told her that was the music-box; and after a while she opened it, and explained what made the sounds. Then she took out a pile of books from one of the baskets of goods, and told Peggy she might look at the pictures, till she called her.

The little girl stepped forward eagerly to take them, and then drew back, as if afraid. "What is the matter? 99 asked Mrs. Fairweather; "I am very willing to trust you with the books. I keep them on purpose to amuse children." Peggy looked down, with her finger on her lip, and answered, in a constrained voice, "Aunt Turnpenny will not like it if I play." "Do not trouble yourself about that. I will make it all right with aunt Hetty," replied the friendly one. Thus assured, she gave herself up to the full enjoyment of the picturebooks; and when she was summoned to her work, she obeyed with a cheerful alacrity that would have astonished her stern relative. When the labors of the day were concluded, Mrs. Fairweather accompanied her home, paid for all the hours she had been absent, and warmly praised her docility and dili gence. "It is lucky for her that she behaved so well," replied aunt Hetty; "if I had heard any complaint, I should have given her a whipping, and sent her to bed without her supper."

LESSON LXXII.

The Same, continued. IDEM.

POOR little Peggy went to sleep that night with a lighter heart than she had ever felt since she had been an orphan. Her first thought in the morning was whether the new neigh

bor would want her service again during the day. Her desire that it should be so soon became obvious to aunt Hetty, and excited an undefined jealousy and dislike of a person who so easily made herself beloved. Without exactly acknowledging to herself what were her own motives, she ordered Peggy to gather all the sweepings of the kitchen and court into a small pile, and leave it on the frontier line of her neighbor's premises. Peggy ventured to ask timidly whether the wind would not blow it about, and she received a box on the ear for her impertinence.

It chanced that Mrs. Fairweather, quite unintentionally, heard the words and the blow. She gave aunt Hetty's anger time enough to cool, then stepped out into the court, and after arranging divers little matters, she called aloud to her domestic, "Sally, how came you to leave this pile of dirt here? Didn't I tell you Miss Turnpenny was very neat? Pray, make haste and sweep it up. I would not have her see it on any account. I told her I would try to keep every thing nice about the premises. She is so particular herself, and it is a comfort to have tidy neighbors." The girl, who had been previously instructed, smiled as she came out, with brush and dust-pan, and swept quietly away the pile that was intended as a declaration of frontier war.

But another source of annoyance presented itself, which could not be quite so easily disposed of. Aunt Hetty had a cat, a lean, scraggy animal, that looked as if she were often kicked and seldom fed; and Mrs. Fairweather also had a fat, frisky little dog, always ready for a caper. He took a distaste to poor poverty-stricken Tab the first time he saw her, and no coaxing could induce him to alter his opinion. His name was Pink, but he was any thing but a pink of behavior in his neighborly relations. Poor Tab could never set foot out of the door, without being saluted with a growl, and a short, sharp bark, that frightened her out of her senses, and made her run into the house, with her fur all on end. If she

even ventured to doze a little on her own door-step, the enemy was on the watch, and the moment her eyes closed, he would wake her with a bark, and a box on the ear, and off he would run. Aunt Hetty vowed she would scald him. It was a burning shame, she said, for folks to keep dogs to worry their neighbors' cats.

Mrs. Fairweather invited Tabby to dine, and made much of her, and patiently endeavored to teach her dog to eat from the same plate. But Pink sturdily resolved that he would be scalded first. He could not have been more firm in his opposition, if he and Tab had belonged to different parties in politics. While his mistress was patting Tab on the head, and reasoning the point with him, he would at times manifest a degree of indifference amounting to toleration; but the moment he was left to his own free will, he would give the invited guest a hearty cuff with his paw, and send her home spitting like a small steam engine. Aunt Hetty considered it her own peculiar privilege to cuff the poor animal, and it was too much for her patience to see Pink undertake to assist in making Tab unhappy. On one of these occasions, she rushed into her neighbor's apartments, and faced Mrs. Fairweather, with one hand resting on her hip, and the forefinger of the other making very wrathful gesticulations. "I tell you what, madam, I will not put up with such treatment much longer," said she; "I will poison that dog; you will see if I do not; and I shall not wait long, either, I can tell you. What you keep such an impudent little beast for, I do not know, without you do it on purpose to plague your neighbors!"

"I am really sorry he behaves so," replied Mrs. Fairweather, mildly. "Poor Tab!"

"Poor Tab!" screamed Miss Turnpenny. "What do you mean by calling her poor? Do you mean to fling it up to me that my cat does not have enough to eat?

"I did not think of such a thing," replied Mrs. Fairweather

"I called her poor Tab, because Pink plagues her so that she has no peace of her life. I agree with you, neighbor Turnpenny; it is not right to keep a dog that disturbs the neighborhood. I am attached to poor little Pink, because he belongs to my son, who has gone to sea. I was in hopes he would soon leave off quarrelling with the cat; but if he will not be neighborly, I will send him out into the country to board. Sally, will you bring me one of the pies we baked this morning? I should like to have Miss Turnpenny taste of them.”

The crabbed neighbor was helped abundantly, and while she was eating the pie, the friendly matron said many a kind word concerning little Peggy, whom she praised as a remarkably capable, industrious child.

"I am glad you find her so," rejoined aunt Hetty; "I should get precious little work out of her if I did not keep the switch in sight."

"I manage children pretty much as the man did the donkey," replied Mrs. Fairweather. "Not an inch would the poor beast stir, for all his master's beating and thumping. But a neighbor tied some fresh turnips to a stick, and fastened them so that they swung directly before the donkey's nose, and off he set on a brisk trot, in hopes of overtaking them.”

Aunt Hetty, without observing how very closely the comparison applied to her own management of Peggy, said, "That will do very well for folks that have plenty of turnips to spare."

"For the matter of that," answered Mrs. Fairweather, whips cost something, as well as turnips; and since one makes the donkey stand still, and the other makes him trot, it is easy to decide which is the more economical. But, neighbor Turnpenny, since you like my pies so well, pray take one home with you. I am afraid they will mould before we can eat them up."

Aunt Hetty had come in for a quarrel, and she was astonished to find herself going out with a pie. “Well, Mrs. Fair