xiety for her boys.

"Tom Brown just suits mother, and me too, so I wish Mr. Hughes would
write another story as good," said Archie.

"You don't find things of this sort in Tom Brown; yet these books are
all in the Sunday-school libraries" and Mrs. Jessie read the following
paragraph from the book she had taken from Will's hand,

"'In this place we saw a tooth of John the Baptist. Ben said he could
see locust and wild honey sticking to it. I couldn't. Perhaps John used
a piece of the true cross for a tooth-pick.'"

"A larky sort of a boy says that, Mum, and we skip the parts where they
describe what they saw in the different countries," cried Will.

"And those descriptions, taken mostly from guidebooks, I fancy, are the
only parts of any real worth. The scrapes of the bad boys make up the
rest of the story, and it is for those you read these books, I think,"
answered his mother, stroking back the hair off the honest little face
that looked rather abashed at this true statement of the case.

"Anyway, mother, the ship part is useful, for we learn how to sail
her, and by and by that will all come handy when we go to sea," put in
Geordie.

"Indeed, then you can explain this manoeuvre to me, of course," and Mrs.
Jessie read from another page the following nautical paragraph,

"The wind is south-south-west, and we can have her up four points closer
to the wind, and still be six points off the wind. As she luffs up we
shall man the fore and main sheets, slack on the weather, and haul on
the lee braces."

"I guess I could, if I wasn't afraid of uncle. He knows so much
more than I do, he'd laugh," began Geordie, evidently puzzled by the
question.

"Ho, you know you can't, so why make believe? We don't understand half
of the sea lingo, Mum, and I dare say it's all wrong," cried Will,
suddenly going over to the enemy, to Geordie's great disgust.

"I do wish the boys wouldn't talk to me as if I was a ship," said Rose,
bringing forward a private grievance. "Coming home from church this
morning, the wind blew me about, and Will called out, right in the
street, 'Brail up the foresail, and take in the flying-jib, that will
ease her.'"

The boys shouted at the plaintive tone in which Rose repeated the words
that offended her, and Will vainly endeavoured to explain that he only
meant to tell her to wrap her cloak closer, and tie a veil over the
tempest-tossed feathers in her hat.

"To tell the truth, if the boys must have