THE PREMIUM. 165

“Hush, Emma!” said Mary, as she saw her
cousin entering; ‘‘Sister Lucy has a headache,
and we must not make a noise.”

“T am better now, Cousin Mary,” said Lucy,
“and I want to hear more about the premiums.
What are your class to have ?”

““We are to have two premiums: one in his-
tory—that will be a portfolio, and Mrs. Butler
says we can keep our notes on history in it;
and one to the author of the best composition—
that is the one I like best of all; it is to be a
handsome morocco case, made like a bookcase,
with glass doors, and in it are Miss Edgeworth’s
‘Popular Tales’ and ‘Parent’s Assistant.’ Oh!
I wish you were going to school, for I know you
would get that."

‘Perhaps you will get it,” said Lucy.

‘‘T—oh, no! I do not hope for that, though I
think I may get the one in history; I mean to
try for it.”

“But you will have to write a composition, will

you not?” asked Lucy.
“Yes; and I want you to tell me what I shail

write about; see, here is the list of subjects.”