hat way
than by giving a good deal one time and nothing at all another."

"Oh! I'll _never_ come to the time when I wont give anything," Marty
declared emphatically.

And she then truly believed she never should.

CHAPTER V.

THE EBONY CHAIR.

For a few weeks everything went smoothly. Marty attended the meetings of
the band, in which she took great interest, and put two or three pennies
in her box every Sunday morning. But there came a time when she began to
find it hard to give even that much. There seemed to be so many little
things she wanted, and it was just the season of the year when she had
very few presents of money. She generally got some on her birthday, in
August, and again at Christmas; but as she could not keep money very
well, that was soon spent, and during the latter part of the winter she
was very poor. Once or twice nothing went in the box but the strict
tenth, and once she had a hard struggle with herself before even that
went in; in fact, she had a very bad time altogether. It was all owing
to a tiny chair.

"O girls!" exclaimed Hattie Green, one day at recess, "have you seen
those lovely chairs in Harrison's window?"

"What chairs?" inquired the girls.

"Oh, such lovely little dolls' chairs! Carved, you know, and with
_beautiful_ red cushions. I came by there this morning, and that's the
reason I was late at school, I stopped so long to look at those cunning
chairs."

"Let's all go home that way," suggested Marty, "and then we can see
them."

"All right," said Hattie.

So after school quite a crowd went around by Harrison's toy-store to see
the wonderful chairs.

There they were, rather small, to be sure, but ebony--at least they
looked like ebony--and crimson satin. The girls were in raptures with
them.

"They are beauties!" cried Edith.

"How I should love to have one!" said Marty.

"I wonder how much they are," said Rosa Stevenson.

"You go in and ask, Rosa," said Edith.

"Yes, do, do," urged the others.

Rosa went, and came back with the information that they were twelve
cents apiece.

"Well, that isn't so much," said Edith. "I think I can afford to get
one. I'll see when I go home."

"I know I have enough money to buy one," said Rosa, "but I never buy
anything without asking mamma about it first."

"She'll let you get it," said Edith.

"Oh, you girls always have some money saved up, and I never have,"
sighed Marty. "And I do want one of those chairs so ba