2. "Minnie," she said, "I wish you would show me how to do these sums; I can not understand them, "I am sorry, Ella,” they are so hard!" was the reply; "but I can not help you to-day. My head ached so last night, that I could not study, and I shall have to prepare my own lessons now." 3. "O dear! your head always aches when I need a little showing. You have plenty of time to help Hattie Hanson and the other girls." “No, Ella; that is a mistake. You know I have aided you quite as much as any of the others; and I should be glad to do so now if I could." 4. The angry girl moved quickly away, exclaiming, "Well, never mind! I'll not trouble you again for lessons or anything else." Minnie's eyes filled with tears, as they followed her schoolmate out of the door, near which she saw a number of girls gather around Ella, to ask her what was the matter. 5. Minnie dropped her eyes upon her lesson, not yet learned; but she was not able to place her mind upon it sufficiently to lose the sound of Ella's excited voice, as she told her mates of Minnie's unkindness to her, in not helping her with her lesson. "She is cross and selfish, and I will never speak to her again," she said. 6. Poor Minnie's heart was sorely grieved at her friend's injustice; and the thought of it pained her all through the day. When the school was over, the girls did not walk home together, as usual; and Ella was careful to seem very merry as she passed Minnie at her mother's gate. 7. The latter had lingered a little at the gate, hoping the trouble might be settled before they parted for the night. But Ella did not seem to know she was waiting for her, and passed quickly on. 8. That night, while Ella slept, Minnie tossed on her little bed in all the pain of a burning fever. Sometimes she moaned and talked of school, saying, "O Ella! I am not unkind! I could not help you! O, do not tell the girls not to love me! " 9. In vain Minnie's mother tried to soothe the troubled child. The excitement of the day had increased the fever, and she grew rapidly worse. The next day, Ella occupied her seat alone. She found no one to help her, and failed in most of her lessons. 10. As she left the school that day, she was out of temper and displeased with herself. Her conscience told her she had been unjust to her school-mate; but, although she feared Minnie was very sick, she was too proud to ask, and she hurried past the cottage of Mrs. Ford, on her way home. 11. The third morning came; and the girls took their seats in the school-room without any of the usual laugh and clatter and merry greeting. They had all heard the sad news which the teacher was waiting to tell them; and they knew that in the little white cottage at the foot of the street, Minnie Ford lay at the point of death. 12. There was but little study that day. The hearts of the girls were all too sad, waiting for the mournful tidings which they were afraid would come to them. Every one of them remembered the patient face, the worn dress, and the gentle voice of the widow's daughter. Alas! some of them could not forget the scornful looks and unkind words with which they had often greeted her. 13. O, how glad would Ella Lee have beer to "take back" all she had said, to "make up" with her little school-mate, and to thank her, too, for helping her so often with her lessons! But this was not to be; Minnie never entered the school-room again. 14. When the fourth morning came, the children, with hushed breath and beating hearts, passed in at the door of the cottage, to take a last look at the face of Minnie Ford, now pale in death. 15. The birds sang in the apple-tree by the door; the morning-glories shone purple and white by the window; and the roses, so often tended and so much loved by her who had departed, bloomed freshly, and filled the air with their fragrance. But these lovely objects of nature only served to make the scene within more sad and impressive. 16. The face of the dead had lost its look of pain, and there was a sweet smile around the mouth, as if no unkind look or word had ever made the lips quiver. The little trembling fingers that held the pencil so nervously on the last day of her school life, now held white rose-buds, and seemed to grasp them firmly. The faded dress had been put aside, and the child was robed in white. 17. The girls stood around the casket, and gazed sadly at the remains of their school-mate; but Ella Lee's heart was very full. Minnie Ford had helped her learn a lesson she could never forget. DEFINITIONS. Єåsk' et, a small chest or box. Con' science (-shens), knowledge of our own thoughts or actions; sense of right and wrong. Neg leet' ed, not attended to; unheeded. Nēr vous ly, with weakness; not firmly. Ex çit' ed, aroused; moved to Ŏe' eu pied, employed; possessed. 1. Suppose, my little lady, Your doll should break her head, |