, and were locked in that way. There was a narrow, sliding
door, four feet from the floor of the car, and, in some way or other,
old Ned pushed this door open, crawled through it, and tumbled out on
the ground. When I was coming from school, I saw him walking along the
track. He hadn't hurt himself, except for a few cuts. He was glad to see
me, and followed me home. He must have gotten off the train when it was
going full speed, for he hadn't been seen at any of the stations, and
the trainmen were astonished to find the doors locked and the car empty,
when they got to Hoytville. Father got the man who bought him to release
him from his bargain, for he says if Ned is so fond of Riverdale, he
shall stay here."

The president asked the boys and girls to give three cheers for old Ned,
and then they had some more singing. After all had taken their seats, he
said he would like to know what the members had been doing for animals
during the past fortnight.

One girl had kept her brother from shooting two owls that came about
their barnyard. She told him that the owls would destroy the rats and
mice that bothered him in the barn, but if he hunted them, they would go
to the woods.

A boy said that he had persuaded some of his friends who were going
fishing, to put their bait worms into a dish of boiling water to kill
them before they started, and also to promise him that as soon as they
took their fish out of the water, they would kill them by a sharp blow
on the back of the head. They were all the more ready to do this, when
he told them that their fish would taste better when cooked, if they had
been killed as soon as they were taken from the water into the air.

A little girl had gotten her mother to say that she would never again
put lobsters into cold water and slowly boil them to death. She had also
stopped a man in the street who was carrying a pair of fowls with their
heads down, and asked him if he would kindly reverse their position. The
man told her that the fowls didn't mind, and she pursed up her small
mouth and showed the band how she said to him, "I would prefer the
opinion of the hens." Then she said he had laughed at her, and said,
"Certainly, little lady," and had gone off carrying them as she wanted
him to. She had also reasoned with different boys outside the village
who were throwing stones at birds and frogs, and sticking butterflies,
and had invited them to come to the Band of Mercy.

This child seemed