ut she was trying to be as
cheerful as a certain good woman she had heard of, and so the queen had
that name for her, though she did not let her know it for a long time."

"That's not bad for a Sunday story, but there might have been more
about the princes, seems to me," was Frank's criticism, as Jill lay
very still, trying to hide her face behind the carnation, for she had
no words to tell how touched and pleased she was to find that her little
efforts to be good had been seen, remembered, and now rewarded in this
way.

"There is more."

"Then the story isn't done?" cried Jack.

"Oh dear, no; the most interesting things are to come, if you can wait
for them."

"Yes, I see, this is the moral part. Now keep still, and let us have
the rest," commanded Frank, while the others composed themselves for the
sequel, suspecting that it was rather nice, because Mamma's sober face
changed, and her eyes laughed as they looked at the fire.

"The elder prince was very fond of driving dragons, for the people of
that country used these fiery monsters as horses."

"And got run away with, didn't he?" laughed Jack, adding, with great
interest, "What did the other fellow do?"

"He went about fighting other people's battles, helping the poor, and
trying to do good. But he lacked judgment, so he often got into trouble,
and was in such a hurry that he did not always stop to find out the
wisest way. As when he gave away his best coat to a beggar boy, instead
of the old one which he intended to give."

"I say, that isn't fair, mother! Neither of them was new, and the boy
needed the best more than I did, and I wore the old one all winter,
didn't I?" asked Jack, who had rather exulted over Frank, and was now
taken down himself.

"Yes, you did, my dear; and it was not an easy thing for my dandiprat to
do. Now listen, and I'll tell you how they both learned to be wiser. The
elder prince soon found that the big dragons were too much for him, and
set about training his own little one, who now and then ran away with
him. Its name was Will, a good servant, but a bad master; so he learned
to control it, and in time this gave him great power over himself, and
fitted him to be a king over others."

"Thank you, mother; I'll remember my part of the moral. Now give Jack
his," said Frank, who liked the dragon episode, as he had been wrestling
with his own of late, and found it hard to manage.

"He had a fine example before him in a friend, and