uld steal among them,
Softest light I'd shed,
Until every lily
Raised its drooping head.

2. "If I were a sunbeam,
I know where I'd go;
Into lowly hovels,
Dark with want and woe:
Till sad hearts looked upward,
I would shine and shine;
Then they'd think of heaven,
Their sweet home and mine."

3. Are you not a sunbeam,
Child, whose life is glad
With an inner brightness
Sunshine never had?
Oh, as God has blessed you,
Scatter light divine!
For there is no sunbeam
But must die or shine.

SECOND READER. 35

LESSON XIV.

sup port' a long' boots be long' dol'lar years

man'age taught cor'ner no'tice mon'ey black'ing

gen'tle men hon'est (on'est) quite buy earned

[Illustration: Boy offering to shine man's shoes.]

HENRY, THE BOOTBLACK.

1. Henry was a kind, good boy. His father was dead, and his mother was
very poor. He had a little sister about two years old.

2. He wanted to help his mother, for she could not always earn enough to
buy food for her little family.

3. One day, a man gave him a dollar for finding a pocketbook which he had
lost.

4. Henry might have kept all the money, for no one saw him when he found
it. But his mother had taught him to be honest, and never to keep what did
not belong, to him.

5. With the dollar he bought a box, three brushes, and some blacking. He
then went to the corner of the street, and said to every one whose boots
did not look nice, "Black your boots, sir, please?"

6. He was so polite that gentlemen soon began to notice him, and to let
him black their boots. The first day he brought home fifty cents, which he
gave to his mother to buy food with.

7. When he gave her the money, she said, as she dropped a tear of joy,
"You are a dear, good boy, Henry. I did not know how I could earn enough
to buy bread with, but now I think we can manage to get along quite well,"

8. Henry worked all the day, and went to school in the evening. He earned
almost enough to support his mother and his little sister.

LESSON XV.

tread whis'per soft'ly talk cheer ful' care'ful

DON'T WAKE THE BABY.

[Illustration: Script Exercise:

Baby sleeps, so we must tread
Softly round her little bed,
And be careful that our toys
Don not fall and make a noise.

We must not talk, but whisper low,
Mother wants to work, we know,