7. I often look back with a most thankful heart to the day that I met
him at the inn-door, and my wife has always a pat, a loving word, and a
treat in the shape of some nice bone, for our Trusty.

* * * * *

_Write:_ When the poor man waked from his sleep he found himself in a
room. The dog had been tied up in a stable, but was soon let loose.

Questions: 1. Where did the poor man find himself when he
woke? 2. Where had the dog been tied up? 3. What did the man
say when he heard the dog howling? 4. What did the doctor
tell him about the dog? 5. When was the birthday feast held,
and who enjoyed a taste of each dish? 6. What did the dog
become, and what was he named?

OUT IN THE COLD.

1. POOR OLD BROWNIE.

1. "What a sharp night it is, Peter, to be sure!" said a pale woman to
her husband, as she sat rocking her baby in its cradle by the fire.

[Illustration]

2. She had been but poorly, and had felt the cold very much. "Very
sharp, indeed!" said her husband. "I feel pains in all my poor old
bones."

3. "If you and I feel cold here," said he, "by the warm fire, after our
good supper, what must it be outside, for those poor souls that have
nothing to eat, and no fire?"

4. "Ah, bad indeed!" said his wife. "And for the poor dumb beasts, too.
How glad I am that we had that nice dry house made for the cow this
summer, and the new place for the cocks and hens!

5. "They would have been half frozen under that broken roof as it used
to be when we first came here."

6. Her eldest child, a little-girl, looked up from her knitting. "The
hens are all quite snug, mother, Fluffy and Biddy and the rest. I
peeped in just now, after they were gone to roost."

7. "You are always a kind little one to the dumb things," said her
father, stroking the soft brown head of Mercy, who had just spoken.
"And so is my little Nelly, too," he added, looking fondly at the
second child, who sat on his knee.

8. "It is getting late for the children, Peter," said his wife. "Shall
Mercy read a bit, before we go to bed?" So Mercy, who was a good
scholar, took the Bible from the shelf and read aloud a few verses
which her father found for her.

9. They told of the manger, and of how the ox and the ass stood by one
bitter night like this, when the infant Christ was laid in it long ago.
"Thank you, dear," said her mother, when Mercy had done. "Now run up to
your warm bed."