u, and one-tenth is just one-tenth of it, and that's all there is
about it."

"The whole of what, Winny?"

"The whole of anything. It takes ten-tenths to make a whole one."

Poor puzzled Tode! What strange language was this that Winny talked?
Suppose he hadn't a whole one after all, since it took ten-tenths to
make it, and he couldn't even find out what _one_ of them was. Suppose
he should never have a whole one in his life, ought he not then to give
anything to help on all those grand doings which Mr. Birge told about?

"I don't understand a bit about it," he said at last, in a despairing
tone.

"Well, I knew you wouldn't," Winny answered, touches of triumph and
complaisance sounding in her voice. "You musn't expect to understand
such hard things until you get to them."

And now the dear old mother, who had never studied fractions out of a
book in her life, came suddenly to the rescue.

"Have you been reading about the tenths in your Bible, deary?" she
asked, with winning sympathy.

"No, I didn't know they were there till to-night, but I've been hearing
about them, how the folks always used to give one-tenth, and Mr. Birge
made it out that we ought to now, but I don't know what it is."

The old lady dived down into her work-basket and produced a little blue
bag full of buttons, of all shapes and sizes.

"Let's you and me see if we can't study it out," she said,
encouragingly. "You just count out ten of the nicest looking of them
white buttons, and lay them along in a row."

Tode swiftly and silently did as directed, and waited for light to dawn
on this dark subject. The old lady bent with thoughtful face over the
table, and looked fixedly at the innocent buttons before she commenced.

"Now suppose," she said, impressively, "that every single one of them
buttons was a five dollar bill."

"My!" said Tode, chuckling, in spite of himself, at the magnitude of the
conception, but growing deeply interested as his teacher proceeded.

"And suppose the money was _all_ yours. Well, now, it's in ten piles,
_ain't_ it? Well, suppose you take one of them piles away, and make up
your mind to give it all to the Lord. Now, deary, I've studied over this
a good deal to see what I ought to give, and it's my opinion that if you
did that you'd be giving your tenth. Now, Winny, haven't we got at
it--ain't that so?"

"Of course," said Winny, leaving her book and coming around to attend to
the buttons. "Isn't that exactly wha