boys in front of
him, Grayson said, "I'm very sorry, sir, but I was knocked down for
nothing, unless it was brushing against him by mistake."

"Was that the cause, Sharp?" asked Mr. Morton.

Bert hung his head a little lower, which is a way that all boys have
when they are in the wrong; so the teacher did not question him any
farther, but said:

"Boys, Grayson is a stranger here. I know him to be a boy of good habits
and good manners, and I give you my word that if you have any trouble
with him, you will have to begin it yourselves. And if you expect to be
gentlemen when you grow up, you must learn now to treat strangers as you
would like to be treated if away from your own homes. Grayson, Sharp, go
to your seats."

"May I speak to Sharp, sir?" asked Grayson.

"Yes," said Mr. Morton.

"I'm sorry I hit you," said the new boy. "Will you shake hands and be
friends?"

[Illustration: THE RECONCILIATION.]

Bert looked up suspiciously without raising his head, but Grayson's hand
was outstretched, and as Bert did not know what else to do, he put out
his own hand, and then the two late enemies returned to their seats,
Bert looking less bad-tempered than usual, and Grayson looking quite
sober.

Somehow at the afternoon recess every boy treated Grayson as if he had
known him for years, and no one seemed to be jealous when Grayson
invited Bert to play marbles with him, and insisted on his late
adversary taking the first shot. But the teacher's remarks about
Grayson had only increased the curiosity of the boys about their new
comrade, and when Sam Wardwell remarked that old Mrs. Battle, with whom
the teacher and his pupil boarded, bought groceries nearly every evening
at his father's store, and he would just lounge about during the rest of
the afternoon and ask her about Grayson when she came in, at least six
other boys' offered to sit on a board pile near the store and wait for
information.

As for Grayson, he sat in the school-room writing while the teacher
waited, for more than an hour after the general dismissal, to hear Bert
Sharp recite those detestable four pages of history, and Bert was a
great deal slower at his task than he would have been if he had not had
to wonder why Grayson had to do so much writing.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

HOW A CRAB CHANGES HIS CLOTHES.

BY ALLAN FORMAN.

"Say, now, you leave my dinner alone, or I'll tell mamma."

"You can tell, if you have a mind to. I don't care, tell-tal