“I began work before I was sixteen.
S - will have to do the same, that is all.”

- That day the mother and son spoke no more to-

gether. It was as much as they could do to bear
their trouble, without talking about it, and besides,
Donald was not a boy to “make a fuss” over
things. He could meet sorrow when it came, that
is, the little of it he had ever known, but he disliked
speaking of it, and perhaps he was right.
So he just “ made himself scarce” till bedtime,
and never said a word to anybody until his mother
came into the boys’ room to bid them good night.
There were three of them, but all were asleep ex-
cept Donald. As his mother bent down to kiss him,
he put both arms round her neck.

My son

   
   
 
  
   
 
   
  
  
    

“ Mother, I’m going to begin to-morrow.”
“ Begin what, my son?”
“Facing the world, as you said I must. I can’t
go to school again, so I mean to try and earn my
“ How?”
“Y don’t quite know, but I'll try. There are
several things I could be, a clerk — or even a mes-
“sage-boy. I shouldn’t like it, but I’d do anything
_» Yather than do nothing.”

-- Mrs. Boyd sat down on the side of the bed. If

. she felt inclined to cry she had too much sense to

Show it. She only took firm hold of her boy’s

--hand, and waited for him to speak on.

» “Pye been thinking, mother, I was to have a new
Suit at Christmas, will you give it now? And let
it be a coat, not a jacket. I’m tall enough — five
feet seven last month, and.growing still; I should
look almost a man. Then I would go round to
every office in Edinburgh and ask if they wanted a

~elerk. I wouldn’t mind taking anything to begin

~ with, And I can write a decent hand, and I’m not
-.-bad at figures ; as for my Latin and Greek ” —
“Here Donald gulped down a sigh, for he was a
pital classic, and it had been suggested that he
should go to Glasgow University and try for “the
ell” which has sent so many clever young Scots-
men to Balliol College, Oxford, and thence on to
ime and prosperity. But alas! no college career
_Was now possible to Donald Boyd. The best he
could hope for was to earn a few shillings a week
as a common clerk. He knew this, and so did his
. mother, But they never complained. It was no
: “fault of theirs, nor of anybody’s. It was just as
: they devoutly called it, “The will of God.”

 

 

 
 
  
 
 
  

 

 

LACING THE WORLD. 1

“Your Latin and Greek may come in some
day, my boy,” said Mrs. Boyd cheerfully. “ Good
work is never lost. In the meantime, your plan is
a good one, and you shall have your new clothes at
once. Then, do as you think best.”

“ All right; good-night, mother,” said Donald,
and in five minutes more was fast aslcep.

But, though he was much given to sleeping of
nights — indeed, he never remembered lying awake
for a single hour in his life—during daytime
there never was a more “wide awake” boy than
Donald Boyd. He kept his eyes open to every-
thing, and never let the “golden minute” slip by
him. He never idled about — play he didn’t con-
sider idling (mor dol). And Iam bound to confess
that every day until the new clothes came home
was scrupulously spent in cricket, football, and all
the other amusements which he was as good at as
he was at his lessons. He wanted “to make the
best of his holidays,” he said, knowing well that
for him holiday time as well as school time was now
done, and the work of the world had begun in
earnest.

The clothes came home on Saturday night, and
he went to church in them on Sunday, to his little
sister’s great admiration. Still greater was their
wonder when, on Monday morning, he appeared in
the same suit, looking “quite a man,” as they
unanimously agreed, and almost before breakfast
was done, started off, not saying a word of where
he was going.

He did not come back till the younger ones were
all away to bed, so there was no one to question
him, which was fortu-
nate, for they might
not have got very
smooth answers. His
mother saw this, and
she also forbore. She
was not surprised that
the bright, brave face
of the morning looked
dull and tired, and
that evidently Donald
had no good news of the day to tell her.

“J think I'll go to bed,’ was all he said,
“ Mother, will you give me a ‘piece’ in my pocket
to-morrow? One can walk better when one isn’t
so desperately hungry.

“Ves, my boy.” She kissed him, saw that he

 

DONALD LOYD.