a sinful course, if Kate's reply is taken for a rule of conduct.

As soon as a boy listens to conversations at school or on the
playground, which he would fear or blush to repeat to his mother, he is
in the way of temptation, and no one can tell where he will stop. Many a
man dying in disgrace, in prison, or on the scaffold, has looked back
with bitter remorse to the time when he first listened to a sinful
companion who came between him and a pious mother.

Girls, if you would be respected and honored in this life and form
characters for heaven, make Kate's reply your rule:--

"_What I cannot tell my mother is unfit for me to know."_ No other
person can have as great an interest in your welfare and prosperity as a
true, Christian mother.

Every girl should always remember that a Christian mother is her best
earthly friend, from whom no secret should be kept.

HIGHEST aim and true endeavor; Earnest work, with patient might; Hoping,
trusting, singing ever; Battling bravely for the right; Loving God, all
men forgiving; Helping weaker feet to stand,--These will make a life
worth living, Make it noble, make it grand.

[Illustration]

A STORY OF SCHOOL LIFE

* * * * *

"Oh, girls! I shall just die, I know I shall!" exclaimed Belle Burnette,
going off into a hysterical fit of laughter, which she vainly pretended
to smother behind an elegant lace edged handkerchief.

"What is it, you provoking thing! Why don't you tell us, so we can laugh
too?"

"Well--you--see," she gasped out at last, "we've got a new pupil--the
queerest looking thing you ever saw. I happened to be in madam's room
when she came. She came in the stage, and had a mite of an old-fashioned
hair trunk, not much bigger than a band-box, and she came into madam's
room with a funny little basket in her hand, and sat down as if she had
come to stay forever.

"'Are you Madam Gazin?' she asked.

"'Yes,' replied the teacher, 'that is my name.'

"'Well, I've come to stay a year at your school.'

[Illustration: "_That is just the amount, I believe_.']

"And then she pulled a handkerchief out of her basket, and unrolled it
till she found an old leather wallet, and actually took out $250 and
laid it in madam's hand, as she said:--

"That is just the amount, I believe; will you please give me a receipt
for it?'

"You never saw madam look so surprised. She actually didn't know what to
say for a minute, but she gave her