ver the largest fire that could be made, and complaining of
cold, while the labourers out of doors were stripped to their shirts to
work, and never minded it in the least.

_Harry._--Then I should think that exercise, by which a person can warm
himself when he pleases, is an infinitely better thing than all these
conveniences you speak of; because, after all, they will not hinder a
person from being cold, but exercise will warm him in an instant.

_Tommy._--But then it is not proper for gentlemen to do the same kind of
work with the common people.

_Harry._--But is it not proper for a gentleman to have his body stout
and hardy?

_Tommy._--To be sure it is.

_Harry._--Why, then, he must sometimes labour and use his limbs, or else
he will never be able to do it.

_Tommy._--What! cannot a person be strong without working?

_Harry._--You can judge for yourself. You very often have fine young
gentlemen at your father's house, and are any of them as strong as the
sons of the farmers in the neighbourhood, who are always used to handle
a hoe, a spade, a fork, and other tools?

_Tommy._--Indeed, I believe that is true, for I think I am become
stronger myself since I have learned to divert myself in Mr Barlow's
garden.

As they were conversing in this manner, a little boy came singing along,
with a bundle of sticks at his back; and as soon as Harry saw him, he
recollected him, and cried out, "As I am alive, here as I am is Jack
Smithers, the little ragged boy that you gave the clothes to in the
summer! He lives, I dare say, in the neighbourhood, and either he or his
father will now show us the way home."

[Illustration: "As I am alive, here is Jack Smithers, the little ragged
boy that you gave the clothes to in the summer!"

_P. 202._]

Harry then spoke to the boy, and asked him if he could show them the way
out of the wood. "Yes, surely I can," answered the boy; "but I never
should have thought of seeing Master Merton out so late in such a
tempestuous night as this; but, if you will come with me to my father's
cottage, you may warm yourself at our fire, and father will run to Mr
Barlow to let him know you are safe."

Tommy accepted the offer with joy, and the little boy led them out of
the wood, and in a few minutes they came to a small cottage which stood
by the side of the road, which, when they entered, they saw a
middle-aged woman busy in spinning; the eldest girl was cooking some
broth over the fire; the fa