arret she mentally consigned Helena.
There, beyond the reach of her loving eyes and arms, she should lie in
banishment until her heart became callous.

But there was something so repulsive in the idea of smothering human
Helena under layers of old garments, that Mollie finally thought of a
better way. Helena should no longer be Helena, dear to her heart in
all her little feminine adornings and her sympathetic, tender traits
of character. She should undergo a change; a radical reform. She, too,
should become a boy, and her name should be Thomas. Thenceforth Mollie
spent her leisure moments in manufacturing garments suitable for the
change; and at last she saw a boy-doll, in roundabout and pantaloons,
occupying the chair where Helena had so long sat in dainty dresses.
The sight was a perpetual offense to her eyes; but she bore it
bravely, keeping in store for herself a reward of merit in Mr. John's
approval. She did not fail to mention to him Helena's reform the
next time they met, which was one morning before breakfast. She was
sweeping the front steps when he came and leaned over the fence and
called her.

She shouldered the broom, as she had seen men shoulder implements of
labor,--hoes, rakes, etc.,--and tramped toward him. Mr. John watched
her, with an expression of disgust under his mustache.

"Well, Bob," he said, "I'm glad to see you out so early. Form good
habits before you're grown, and when you come to manhood you'll make
money by it. Where are your Bloomers to-day? It isn't possible your
mind's not made up to them yet?"

There was something in Mr. John's tone and manner which did not seem
quite courteous to Mollie; but she had hardly hung her head when he
began to talk in his old half-fatherly, half-brotherly fashion; and
then, in the lively conversation, she found a chance to introduce
Thomas. Mr. John gave her a long, solemn, searching look.

"Mollie," he said, "I am very much afraid you will never succeed as a
boy. It seems to me that even an ordinarily masculine girl of your
age would have been clear-headed enough to see the absurdity of your
little farce. It is nothing but a farce, mere babyishness. You have
been playing with yourself and with your doll. No boy could have done
it."

There was a short pause; then Mollie's voice piped out into a humble
question as to what course a boy would have pursued in the matter.

"Why, that is clear enough," said Mr. John. "If you want to do what a
boy would d