THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

and he often passed the whole day think-
ing, while he was gathering the juniper-
berries, what he could possibly do to
please the schoolmaster, in the hope of
getting some lessons.

One day, when he was walking sadly
along, he saw two of the boys belonging
to the school, trying to set a bird-trap,
and he asked one what it was for? The
boys told him that the schoolmaster was
very fond of fieldfares, and that they were
setting a trap to catch some. This de-
lighted the poor boy, for he recollected
that he had often seen a great number of
these birds in the juniper-wood, where
they came to eat the berries, and he had
no doubt but he could catch some.

The next day the little boy borrowed
an old basket of his mother, and when
he went to the wood he had the great
delight to catch two fieldfares. He then
put them in the basket, and tying an old
handkerchief over it, he took them to the
schoolmaster’s house. Just as he arrived
at the door, he saw the two little boys
who had been setting the trap, and with
some alarm he asked them if they had
caught any birds? They answered in
the negative; and the boy, his heart
‘beating with joy, gained admittance into
the schoolmaster’s presence. In a few
words he told how he had seen the boys
setting the trap, and how he had caught
the birds to bring them as a present to
the master.

“ A present, my good boy !” cried the
schoolmaster; “you do not look as if you
could afford to make presents. Tell me
your price, and I will pay it to you, and
thank you besides.”

“T would rather give them to you, sir,
if you please,” said the boy.

The schoolmaster looked at the boy

 

377

 

who stood before him with bare head and
feet, and ragged trousers, that reached
only half-way down his naked legs.

“You are a very singular boy,” said

he, “but if you will not take money, you
must tell me what I can do for you, as I
cannot aecept your present without doing
something for it in return. Is there any-

thing I can do for you!” .

“Oh yes!” said the boy, trembling

with delight; “you can do for me what I
should like better than anything else.”

“ What is that?” asked the master.
“Teach me to read,” cried the boy, .

falling on his knees; “ oh, dear, kind sir,
teach me to read !” |

The schoolmaster complied. The boy

came to him at all leisure hours, and
learned so rapidly that the teacher recom-

mended him to a nobleman residing in

the neighborhood. This gentleman, who
was as noble in mind as in birth, patron-
ized the poor boy, and sent him to school
at’ Ratisbon.
opportunities ; and when he rose, as he
soon did, to. wealth and honors, he adopt-
ed two fieldfares as his arms.

The boy profited by. his

“ What do you mean?” cried the. bish-

op’s friend.

“I mean,” returned the bishop, with a

smile, “ that the poor boy was MYSELF.” —

Selected.

 

Time.

The bell strikes One. We take no note of Time

. To give it then a tongue

Is wise in man. As if an angel spoke,

I feel the solemn sound. If heard aright,.

It is the knell of m departed hours:

Where are they? With the years beyond the flood.
It is the signalithat domands despatch :

How much is to be done? My hopes and tears
Start up alarmed, and o’er life’s narrow space,
Look down—on what? a fathomless abyss 5

A dread eternity! how surely mine!

And can eternity belong to me,

Poor pensioner un. the bounties-of an hour +-—~ Young