DICK AT HOME.
"I'D give a hundred dollars if my boy had been here to see Dick," said Mr. Follinsby. "He'll make his mark in the world. He's got the true grit."
"I'd give ten thousand if I had one like him," said the other. "The idea of Christmas decorations on this hot day!" And he ha-ha'd, till the ceiling rang with his mirth.
"We shall hear of Mr. Richard Monroe Stuart again; or I'm mistaken," he added presently.
In the mean time Dick, who had accompanied a neighbor to the city, hurried back to the main street to be in time to ride home with him in the covered wagon. But finding by the clock on the great steeple that he had still an hour, he set off on a tour of inspection through the streets.
In a small purse at the bottom of his pocket there was a fourpence-ha'penny, an old fashioned coin for which the half dime and a penny have long been substituted. This had been given him by his mother to spend as he pleased, and it was a matter of grave importance with him, that it should be well expended. He passed up and down the main street, gazing in at the windows, smiling at the many objects of interest, laughing outright at the swarthy figure of a man holding cigars at a shop door, laughing again at the toys displayed in a large window; but never dreaming of changing his coin for any thing he saw. He held it tightly in his hand, walking back and forth until it was time for him to meet the neighbor at the stable, and then with a smile concluded to give it back to his mother again.
Once more inside the wagon, he pulled from under the cushion a small paper bundle, and taking out a cake said, as he ate it with a relish—
"Nobody makes such good ginger snaps as mother does."
At home there were three boys younger than Dick all of whom were daily taking lessons of industry and thrift, as well as lessons in practical godliness.
Richard, though only a few months past twelve, had already made up his mind to be on the Lord's side. To be sure he knew little of the great army of foes arrayed against the Captain of his Salvation; the world, the flesh and the Devil; but he knew well the iniquity of his own heart. He knew how much easier it was to do wrong, to be lazy and selfish and unkind to his brothers when his interest crossed theirs, than to be diligent, generous, and thoughtful of their wishes; but he had also learned by a happy experience the delight of conquering himself, for the sake of pleasing his dear Saviour.