ild, raising
himself up, and lifting his eyes earnestly to his mother's face.

"But your father has forbidden you to go to her house, Andrew."

"Won't he let Emily come to see me?" urged the child.

"No, dear. He wants you to play with some one else."

"But I don't want to play with any one else. Emily is a good girl,
and I like her so much. Indeed she ain't bad, mother. She's good."

"I know, dear," answered the perplexed mother. "I know that Emily is
a good girl. But--"

"Then why won't father let me play with her?" was Andrew's quick
interrogation.

"He doesn't wish you to do so, my child, and you must be an
obedient, good little boy, and then your father will love you."

"He don't love me!" said Andrew in a tone and with an emphasis that
startled his mother.

"Oh yes, he does! He loves you very much. Isn't he your father?"
replied Mrs. Howland in an earnest voice.

"He wouldn't have whipped me so hard if he had loved me! I'm sure he
wouldn't, mother."

And tears gushed from the eyes of the child at the remembrance of
his father's stern face, and the pain he had suffered.

"Andrew musn't speak so of his father," said Mrs. Howland in a
chiding voice. "Andrew was disobedient; that was the reason why his
father punished him. Andrew must be a good boy."

"I ain't bad, mother," sobbed the child. "I'm sure it ain't bad to
play with Emily. She never does anything naughty."

"It is bad if your father forbids your doing so," replied Mrs.
Howland.

"No--it can't be bad to play with Emily," said the little fellow,
speaking half to himself. "She's so good, and I love her."

All in vain proved the mother's effort to make her boy see that it
was wrong to play with Emily. He wanted a reason beyond the
command of his father, and that she was not able to give. The more
she talked with him, the more plainly did she see that rebellion was
in his young heart, and that he would act it out in the face of all
consequences. Deeply saddened was she at this conviction, for she
well knew that obedience to parents is the good ground into which
the seeds of civil and religious obedience in manhood must be sown.

As for herself, Mrs. Howland had no objection to little Emily
Winters as the companion of Andrew. She was, as the boy said, a good
girl, and her influence over him was for good. But the stern
prejudice of Mr. Howland had come in to break up the friendship
formed between the children, and his inflexible will would br