it was one of the most
laughable sights I ever saw; and now as I write, and a sort of a
daguerreotype likeness of Jack, just emerging, like a ghost, from that snow
bank, comes up to my mind, I have to stop and laugh almost as heartily as I
did at the scene itself, when it occurred.

A GARDEN OVERRUN WITH WEEDS.

"Father, I don't like to go to school," said Harry Williams, one
morning. "I wish you would let me always stay at home. Charles Parker's
father don't make him go to school."

Mr Williams took his little boy by the hand, and said kindly to him, "Come,
my son, I want to show you something in the garden."

Harry walked into the garden with his father, who led him along until they
came to a bed in which peas were growing, the vines supported by thin
branches that had been placed in the ground. Not a weed was to be seen
about their roots, nor even disfiguring the walk around the bed in which
they had been planted.

"See how beautifully these peas are growing, my son," said Mr Williams.
"How clean and healthy the vines look. We shall have an abundant crop. Now
let me show you the vines in Mr Parker's garden. We can look at them
through a great hole in his fence."

Mr Williams then led Harry through the garden gate and across the road, to
look at Mr Parker's pea vines through the hole in the fence. The bed in
which they were growing was near to the road; so they had no difficulty in
seeing it. After looking into the garden for a few moments, Mr Williams
said--

"Well, my son, what do you think of Mr Parker's pea vines?"

"Oh, father!" replied the little boy; "I never saw such poor looking peas
in my life! There are no sticks for them to run upon, and the weeds are
nearly as high as the peas themselves. There won't be half a crop!"

"Why are they so much worse than ours, Harry?"

"Because they have been left to grow as they pleased. I suppose Mr Parker
just planted them, and never took any care of them afterward. He has
neither taken out the weeds, nor helped them to grow right."

"Yes, that is just the truth, my son. A garden will soon be overrun with
weeds and briars, if it is not cultivated with the greatest care. And just
so it is with the human garden. This precious garden must be trained and
watered, and kept free from weeds, or it will run to waste. Children's
minds are like garden beds; and they must be as carefully tended, and even
more carefully, than the choicest plan