ost beautiful of all stories.

"I will tell it to you just as it was; and you may, if you please,
repeat it for the benefit of any one."

When I had returned home I wrote the story down, just as I
remembered it, as she had given me leave to do.

The Christian name of our hero was Henry, and so we will call him.
His parents lived in Hamburg, in Germany. They were very poor. His
father was a cabinet maker, with a very small business. Henry was
the second of eight children. As soon as he was eight years old, his
father, in order to raise a few more shillings to support his
family, sent him into the streets to sell little pieces of ratan,
which the people there use to beat the dust out of their clothes.

Henry got about a cent and a half apiece for the sticks. If he sold
a great number of these little sticks, he was allowed, as a reward,
to go to an evening school, where he could learn to read. This was a
great pleasure to him; but he wanted also to learn to write. For
this, however, something extra was to be paid, and Henry was very
anxious to earn more, that he might have this advantage.

There is a fine public walk in Hamburg, where the fashionable people
go, in good weather, to see and be seen; and where the young men go
to wait upon and see the ladies. These gentlemen were fond of having
little canes in their hands, to play with, to switch their boots
with, and to show the young ladies how gracefully they could move
their arms; and sometimes to write names in the sand. So little
Henry thought of making some very pretty canes, and selling them to
these young beaux.

He soaked his canes for a long time in warm water, and bent the tops
round for a handle, and then ornamented them with his penknife, and
made them really very pretty. Then he went to the public walk, and
when he saw a young man walking alone, he went up to him, and with a
sweet and pleasant voice, he would say, "Will you buy a pretty cane,
sir? Six cents apiece."

Almost every gentleman took one of the canes.

With the money he got for his canes he was able to pay for lessons
in writing. This made him very happy, for it was the reward of his
own industry and ingenuity.

As soon as Henry was old enough, his father employed him to carry
home the work to customers. The boy had such a beautiful
countenance, was so intelligent, and had such a pleasant manner,
that many of the customers wanted to have him come and live with
them, and promised to take g