THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

how to make a volcano, or burning
mountain, and they would show him
how, if he would help them get some
powder and matches. George thought
this must be fine sport, and he bought
some powder with his own spending
money. ‘The boys knew that their pa-
rents would not allow them to have
anything to do with powder ; and they
selected a spot ata little distance from
the house, where they thought they
should not be observed, and commenced
their business. Did they forget that

though they could get out of the sight

of their mothers, they could not escape
from the eye of God?

They collected a small heap of dry
chips and shavings, on the top of which
they laid some papers inclosing powder ;
and having surrounded the whole with
a pile of light wood and chips, they
covered it with earth, and placed a large
straw, filled with powder, in the hole
which they had left on the top, for a
crater. George stole, unobserved, into
the house, and succeeded in getting a
match without any one knowing it.
James undertook to light the volcano,
which he said he knew how to do very
well. He set fire to the straw, and
some light pieces of wood which were
left at the crater, and the boys ran away.
They waited some time; but instead of
a burning mountain, they saw only a
slight smoke, and they gathered round
to see what was the matter. Kneeling
close to the pile, the other boys watched,
while James examined it, to see what
was wrong. In an instant more, some
men, who were at work not far distant,
heard an explosion like the noise of a
gun, and hastening to the spot, they
found the dirt and fuel strewed around,

were not
dirt, soon began to scramble up; but
poor James still lay on the ground, bleed-
ing and black, and did not attempt to
rise.
bore him toward his uncle’s house,
while George and Henry followed in
sadness and sorrow, fearing much that
James would never be able to see or
speak again.
alarmed ; but she was @ woman of much
fortitude, and immediately set about
dressing her boy’s wounds. After washing
off the powder, blood and dirt, she found
that the insides of his hands were very
badly burned, that his eyelashes and eye-
brows had disappeared, and that much
of his face had suffered severely. She
found that his eyes were not materially
injured ; and she was thankful that her
dear boy was not rendered blind for life,
for his recklessness and disobedience.

 

 

63

and the boys scattered in different: direc-
tions, all so frightened that they scarcely
knew whether they were hurt or not.

George and Henry, finding that they
hurt, but only covered with

Two of the men took him up, and

Mrs. Holt was very much

To think of going home was now out
of the question. For more than a week
their return was deferred; and a dull
week it was to James. The most of the
time he was obliged to lie on his back,
with his hands and face all wrapped up.
Several people in the neighborhood, who
had heard of the accident, called to see
him; and his mother related the whole
story, adding, with a great deal of em-
phasis, “If he had been a boy of good
principle, the accident would not have
happened.”

To James this was worse than the
pain he suffered.

Gradually his wounds began to heal ;
and by the middle of the next week,