are not to be trifled with.'

Mr. Random then ordered the servant to go for a coach, in which Dicky
most certainly would have been sent off had not word been brought back
that there was not a coach on the stand. During this time Dicky had
fallen on his knees, entreating that he might remain at home, and
offering promises to be less heedless in future; nay, he was willing to
yield up all his toys to the maimed little gardener.

The boy's father, though but a labouring man, had a generous mind; he
wanted nothing of this kind, but only wished him to be more cautious in
future, as the same stones, thrown at random, might have either blinded
his son or fractured his skull, instead of merely hurting his leg. Mr.
Random then insisted on Richard's giving him half-a-crown, and asking
pardon for the misfortune occasioned by his carelessness.

This heavy sum was directly taken out of the hoard which had been laid
by for the purchase of a set of drawing instruments, but he had a yet
heavier account to settle with his father for damaging the
cucumber-frame. He had broken as much of it as would come to fifteen
shillings to mend, and as payment was insisted on, or close confinement
until the whole was settled, he was compelled to transfer to his father
all his receipts for the ensuing five months before he could again
resume his scheme of laying by an adequate sum to purchase the drawing
utensils. Independently of which he always carried a strong memorial of
his folly on his nose, which was so scarred that he endured many a joke,
as it were, to keep alive in his memory the effect of his folly. Indeed,
he never looked in the glass without seeing his reproach in his face,
and thus at length learned never to play without first thinking if it
were at a proper time and in a proper place.

The Months

Who is this, clad in russet-brown? His distant step sounds hollow on the
frozen ground; no beam of beauty is on his face, but his look is
healthy, and his step is firm. As he approaches the peasant bars his
door and renews his fire. The sparkling home-brewed goes round and
mantles in the foaming jug, the oft-repeated tale is told, the rain
patters against the casement, but the night passes away, and the storm
is no longer heard.

Bright in his career the sun arises. Millions of gems seem suspended
from the leafless branches. The familiar robin and the bolder sparrow
seek the abode of man. Swift fly the balls of snow; the ruddy yo