THE BEAUTIFUL SOUL. 145

around with something very like fear beating
at her heart. Perhaps it was this very ap-
pearance of timidity which attracted the notice
of two rude boys, one of whom exclaimed,
‘Old Mother Hippity-Hop! Old Mother Hippity-
Hop !”

The other, laughing boistcrously, called out,
“Hit him on the head with your crutch, lame
girl—hit him on the head with your crutch !”

“She can’t catch me—Old Mother Hippity-
Hop!” the cruel boy who had first addressed
her continued to cry, while he ran around her,
now springing almost within her reach, and
then bounding off in the most provoking man-
ner possible. Lucy stopped short, and turned to
face her tormentor. If he truly read the pas-
Sionate sparkle of her eye, the quivering of her
frame, and the decp, crimson flush upon her
cheek, he might well have feared to come within
her reach, for, had Lucy’s strength been equal
to her will, she would have struck him to the
earth at her feet, and cared little, for the moment,
whether he ever rose agein.

Let us never forget, whcu we are tempted te

K