ng," added a third.

"How if you do _not_ follow their ways?"

"Some thinks you won't never get along, nohow."

"What is your opinion, Lawrence?"

The boy shifted his position a little uneasily. "They _say_ you won't,
teacher."

"So Daniel's friend was afraid _he_ would not get along, if he did not
eat the king's meat. Girls, does the temptation come to you?"

There was a general chorus of "Yes, sir," and "Yes, sir."

"Have you tried following the Lord's word against people's opinion?"

Again "Yes, sir"--came modestly from several lips.

"Do you find any ill come from it?"

"Yes, sir, a little," said a girl who might have been two or three
years older than Matilda. "You get made game of, and scolded,
sometimes. And they say you are lofty, or mean. Sometimes they say one
to me, and sometimes the other."

"And they plague a feller," said a boy; "the worst kind."

"Is it hard to bear?"

"I think it _is_," said the girl; and one or two of the boys said
again, "Yes, sir."

"Reckon you'd think so, if you tried, teacher," another put in. "They
rolled Sam in the mud, the other day. There was six of 'em, you see,
and he hadn't no chance."

"Sam, how did it feel? And how did you feel?"

"Teacher, 'twarn't easy to feel right."

"Could you manage it?"

"I guess not, at first. But afterwards I remembered."

"What did you remember?"

"I remembered they didn't know no better, sir."

"I think you are mistaken. They knew they were doing wrong; _how_
wrong, I suppose they did not know. Well, Sam--'if any man suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this
behalf.' Were you ashamed?"

"No, sir."

"God says, 'Them that honour me, I will honour;' and,--'Be thou
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.' The honour
that he gives will be real honour. It is worth while waiting for it.
Now our time will be up in two minutes--Peter, what lesson do you get
from all this? for yourself?"

"To be more careful, sir."

"Of what, my boy?"

"Careful not to have anything to do with bad ways."

"Can't be too careful; the temptation comes strong. Ellen, what is
_your_ lesson?"

"I never saw before how much a good example is."

"Ay. God often is pleased to make it very much. Well, Dick."

"Teacher, I don't think New York is like that 'ere place."

"Don't you? Why not?"

"Folks can't get along that way in _our_ streets."

"How do you find it, Sam? and what is your co