ake my little Dicky strong,' Mary said softly.

'And who is Dicky?' asked the pretty grand-daughter; and she looked so
sympathetic that somehow the whole story came out, for Mary's heart was
full, and words came readily in response to this touch of kindness.

'I shall call and see him,' the girl promised, when she had inquired
where Mary lived. And so the misfortune of the broken flower-pot turned
out to be the best bit of good fortune Mary had ever enjoyed. Not only
did her new friend come laden with delicacies for the invalid, but she
interested herself in having him sent with some other children for a
month to the sea-side. And when Dicky returned, brown and rosy, and full
of life and spirits, Mary felt she could sell her flowers with a smiling
face again, and look forward to the future with a light heart.

M. H.

[Illustration: "'Who'll buy?'"]

[Illustration: "Just as Lord Massereene was leaving the prison, he was
arrested."]

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

True Tales of the Year 1805.

V.--LORD MASSEREENE'S IMPRISONMENT.

'Truth is stranger than fiction,' says a very old proverb, which is
certainly illustrated by the following tale of an eccentric nobleman's
life.

Lord Massereene was born in 1742, and in due course sent to Cambridge
University, where, however, he learnt next to nothing except how to row
on the river, and this he did to perfection.

On coming of age, he started off to do the 'Grand Tour,' as it was
called--a leisurely visit to the various capital cities of European
countries. This was a custom much in vogue amongst the young men of the
wealthier classes a hundred years ago. Our young friend, however, went
no further than Paris, for that fascinating city was too much for the
foolish fellow, and he spent his money right and left, till he was
almost penniless. He then fell into the hands of an unscrupulous
adventurer, a native of Syria, who put before him a plausible tale of
how easy it would be to make a fortune by importing salt from Syria to
France. Lord Massereene, in the hope of regaining the money he had
wasted, invested all he could lay his hands on in this wild scheme, and
of course, as it was a fraud, lost every penny.

The next misfortune that happened to him was an arrest for debt, and he
made acquaintance with the inside of 'La Chatelet,' one of the largest
prisons in Paris. He could, however, have satisfied his creditors, and
been released from prison, had he been willing t