t into our 'little box.' If my children got a penny at
school for a reward to buy gingerbread, they brought it home, they
said, to help me to buy the boat--for they would have no gingerbread
till father had got his boat again. Thus, from time to time, our
little store insensibly increased, till one pound only was wanting of
the five, when the following accident happened.

"Coming home one evening from my work, I saw in the road a small
pocketbook: on opening it, I found a bank-note of ten pounds, which
plainly enough belonged to my master, for his name was upon it, and I
had also seen him passing that way in the evening: it being too late,
however, to return to the house, I went on my way. When I told my
family of the incident, the little ones were thrown into a transport
of joy.

"'My dears,' said I, 'what is the matter?'

"'Oh, father, the BOAT! the BOAT! we may now have two or three boats!'

"I checked them by my looks, and asked them if they recollected whose
money that was. They said, 'Yours, as you found it.' I reminded them
that I was not the real owner, and bade them think how they would all
feel, supposing a stranger was to take our box of money, if I should
happen to drop it on the day I went to buy back the boat.

"This thought had the effect on their young minds that I desired; they
were silent and pale with the representation of such a disaster, and I
begged it might be a lesson to them never to forget the golden rule of
'doing as they would wish others to do by them;' for by attention to
this certain guide, no one would ever do wrong to another. I also took
this opportunity to explain to them, that the possession of the boat
by dishonest means would never answer, since we could not expect the
blessing of God upon _bad deeds_."

[Illustration]

"To go on with my story: The next morning I put the pocketbook into my
bosom, and went to my work, intending, as soon as the family rose, to
give it to my master; but what were my feelings when, on searching in
my bosom, it was nowhere to be found! I hasted back along the road by
which I came, and looked diligently all the way, but in vain; there
was no trace of any such thing. I would not return into my cottage,
because I wished to save my family the pain I felt; and in the hope of
still recovering the book, I went to my work, following another path
which I recollected I had also gone by. On my return to the
garden-gate, I was accosted by the gardener, who,