g his forefinger, "that is very
strange. You _had_ to? Who, then, told you to?"

Katie still looked down; and her face grew redder still.

"Look me in the face, my child," said the master gravely. "Are you
telling the truth?"

Katie tried to raise her brown roguish eyes to his face: but, ah! the
consciousness of guilt weighed down her eyelids like lead. She could not
look at her teacher: she only shook her curly head.

"Katie," said the master kindly, "you were not sent to pick berries: you
ran into the woods to pick them for yourself. Perhaps this is your first
falsehood, as it is the first time you have been late at school. Pray
God that it may be your last."

"Oh, oh!" broke forth the little culprit, "the neighbor's boy, Fritz,
took me with him; and the berries tasted so good that I staid too long."

[Illustration: At Teacher's Desk]

The other children laughed; but a motion of the master's hand restored
silence, and, turning to Katie, he said, "Now, my child, for your
tardiness you will have a black mark, and go down one in your class;
but, Katie, for the falsehood you will lose your place in my heart, and
I cannot love you so much. But I will forgive you, if you will go stand
in the corner of your own accord. Which will you do,--lose your place in
my heart, or go stand in the corner for a quarter of an hour?"

The child burst into a flood of tears, and sobbing out, "I'd rather go
stand in the corner," went there instantly, and turned her dear little
face to the wall.

In a few minutes the master called her, and, as she came running to him,
he said: "Will you promise me, Katie, never again to say what is not
true?"

"Oh, yes, I will try--I will try never, never to do it again," was the
contrite answer.

Then the master took up the rosy little thing, and set her on his knee,
and said: "Now, my dear child, I will love you dearly. And, if you are
ever tempted to say what is not true, think how it would grieve your old
teacher if he knew it, and speak the truth for his sake."

"Yes, yes!" cried the child, her little heart overflowing with
repentance; and, throwing her arms around the master's neck, she hugged
him, and said again, "Yes, yes!"

FROM THE GERMAN.

THE DOLL-BABY SHOW.

Our doll-baby show, it was something quite grand;
You saw there the loveliest dolls in the land.
Each girl brought her own, in its prettiest dress:
Three pins bought a ticket, and not a pin less.