ing and fretting were very
bad for him. So he had his own way in everything, and if we children
had anything he wanted, we had to give it to him, and let him break it
to pieces, for he would scream as loud as he could, if we refused him.
This was the way he got to be so selfish; and now he thinks we must
humor him just as we did when he was sick."

"There is some little excuse for him, if he fell into the habit when he
was very young and sick," observed Mrs. Lee; "but he is old enough and
well enough now to know better, and ought to be broken of the fault."

"Father and mother have tried to break him of it," replied Alice, "but
they have not succeeded very well yet. They have talked to him a good
deal about it, but it does no good."

The next day, the children found the bag of corn, and their mother told
George she should punish him for his selfishness by not letting him
have any more of it. The corn was accordingly divided among the other
children, and thus George, in trying to get more than his share,
actually got less than the others did.

It was about this time that Oscar came into possession of the pup which
Alfred Walton had promised him two or three weeks before. He at first
had some difficulty in obtaining the consent of his mother to bring it
home. She thought it would be troublesome, and tried to dissuade him
from taking it; but Oscar's heart was so strongly set upon the dog,
that she at length reluctantly assented to its being admitted as an
inmate of the family.

Fastening a string to the neck of the dog, Oscar led him to his new
home, where he received every attention from the younger members of the
family. Quite a grave discussion at once ensued, as to what the name
of the new-comer should be. Each of the children had a favorite name
to propose, but Oscar rejected them all, and said the dog should be
called "Tiger;" and so that became his name, but it was usually
abbreviated to "Tige."

[Illustration: Tiger's Countenance.]

Tiger had grown very rapidly, and was now about twice as large as he
was when Alfred promised Oscar one of his litter of pups. He was a
handsome fellow, especially about the head, as you may see by his
portrait. At times, he looked as old and grave as his mother; but for
all that, he was a great rogue, and there was very little dignity or
soberness about him. He was brim-full of fun, and would play with
anybody or anything that would allow him to take that liberty. He