he ran along the passage, 'Oh,
Willie!' she exclaimed, catching him by the arm, 'if the soldiers come
up little by little, they will be seen by everybody, and if they spring
up all at once, they will frighten every one. Fancy the garden full of
armed men, and nobody knowing where they come from!'

'They are sure to grow up, all at once,' replied Willie, after a
moment's reflection. 'Just like mushrooms, you know. They are men toys,
not baby toys, so they must spring up men. But they _will_ frighten
everybody; what shall we do, Ella?'

Poor Ella! Even her busy brain was puzzled for a moment. But, of course,
being a genius, she found a solution even to that difficulty, and Willie
was obliged to admire her more than ever.

'Let's write a letter to the General,' suggested she a little while
before they went to bed, 'and ask him to go away quietly, without
frightening any one. If we bury the letter beside the soldiers, as soon
as they become alive they will find it, and read it. We can ask him to
come secretly into our room and salute us before he goes.'

(_Concluded on page 122._)

[Illustration: "The great work was soon accomplished."]

[Illustration: "He placed a sovereign on the counter."]

THE HONEST SAILOR.

Many years ago, a young sailor entered a shop in Glasgow, to make a
purchase. As he was about to leave, he placed a letter upon a counter
near the window, and was sticking a postage stamp upon it, when he
clumsily knocked his elbow against the window and broke one of its
panes. The poor fellow was much confused when he saw the damage which he
had done. He had no money to pay for a new pane, as he had spent his few
last coppers in preparing this letter for his mother. He apologised to
the shopkeeper as best he could, and promised to pay for the broken
square when he returned from his next voyage. The shopkeeper accepted
his promise, though he may very well have doubted whether he would ever
see the sailor again.

Months and years passed by, and the shopkeeper forgot all about the
sailor and the broken square of glass. One day, however, a seaman came
into the shop, and looking the shopkeeper full in the face said, 'Do you
know me?'

The shopkeeper replied that he did not.

'Well, I am the lad who broke that square,' said the seaman, pointing to
the window. 'I have been to China and the Indies since then, but I have
not forgotten my debt. Here is the money.'

He placed a sovereign on the counter