uch
exploits as stopping up the keyhole of the door, upsetting the teacher's
inkstand, or fixing something to his desk to make a noise and interrupt
the school.

It so happened that there was a standing feud between the boys of his
neighborhood and those of another situated a mile or two from it. By his
malicious activity he had stimulated this quarrel to a high pitch, and
was very obnoxious to the boys of the other party. One day, when taking
a walk, the teacher observed a number of boys with excited looks, and
armed with sticks and stones, standing around a shoemaker's shop, to
which his poor pupil had gone for refuge from them. They had got him
completely within their power, and were going to wait until he should be
wearied with his confinement and come out, when they were going to
inflict upon him the punishment they thought he deserved.

The teacher interfered, and by the united influence of authority,
management, and persuasion, succeeded in effecting a rescue. The boy
would probably have preferred to owe his safety to any one else than to
the teacher whom he had so often tried to tease, but he was glad to
escape in any way. The teacher said nothing about the subject, and the
boy soon supposed it was entirely forgotten.

But it was not forgotten. The teacher knew perfectly well that the boy
would before long be at his old tricks again, and was reserving this
story as the means of turning the whole current of public opinion
against such tricks, should they again occur.

One day he came to school in the afternoon, and found the room filled
with smoke; the doors and windows were all closed, though, as soon as he
came in, some of the boys opened them. He knew by this circumstance that
it was roguery, not accident, which caused the smoke. He appeared not to
notice it, however, said he was sorry it smoked, and asked the
mischievous boy--for he was sure to be always near in such a case--to
assist him in putting up the wood of the fire more compactly. The boy
supposed that the smoke was understood to be accidental, and perhaps
secretly laughed at the dullness of his master.

In the course of the afternoon, the teacher ascertained by private
inquiries that his suspicions were correct as to the author of the
mischief. At the close of school, when the studies were ended, and the
books laid away, he said to the scholars that he wanted to tell them a
story.

He then, with a pleasant tone and manner, gave a very minute,