and two and five, you won't mind that, but keep on trying until
you succeed."

"Mother wants to know if my little brother can't join your company,"
asked a dear boy whose name was James; "but he don't learn sums; he is
too small."

"O, yes, indeed!" said mamma; "Frankie has a cap like the rest, and
your brother shall have one too, and a star on his shoulder."

"May I carry my drum?" eagerly asked Willie.

"Certainly, my dear; but wait a little. I have not told all the rules
yet. My company must try, too, when they are at play. If James throws a
ball, and hits John, he must _try_ not to do so again. And if John feels
a little angry, and thinks it very hard for James to hurt him, he must
_try_ to put all these naughty thoughts away, and call it an accident,
and say 'I don't believe he meant to do it.' Then, if James or Willie
wants to be captain, and the company choose another, James or Willie
must _try_ to be pleased and good humored about it."

"I thought you were to be captain, mother," cried Willie.

"I am afraid you would all laugh," said mamma, "to see me marching
round at the head of such a troop of boys."

"We would _try_ not to," exclaimed Willie, laughing.

Mrs. Gray laughed too; and then she said, "I want to see whether you
understand about my rules; so I shall ask you a few questions. I once
saw a boy sawing a stick of wood. It was a very large stick, and the saw
went hard; the little fellow sat down and looked at it. 'It's too
large,' said he; 'I can't get through it. I may as well give up first as
last.' But presently he said, 'I'll try once more though;' and he
started up, and sawed away, up and down, up and down, until the stick
fell in two. Then the boy laughed and wiped his forehead, which was
quite wet with perspiration, and said, 'There, I'm right glad I tried
again. I never should have done it without trying.' Now tell me, could
that little fellow be admitted into the Try Company?"

"Yes, ma'am, O, yes, ma'am!" answered all the boys.

"He ought to be the captain," said one.

Willie blushed, and held down his head.

"I knew another boy, who was winding some silk for his mother," said the
lady. "He jerked it so much that it snarled badly. He pulled it, and
twitched it, and made it worse than ever; and then he said; 'I can't do
any thing with it.' When his mother came back for the silk, there it was
upon the chair, so tangled up that she could not use it."

"He can't belong," called out t