"Just a minute, mamma. I want to speak to him." And then the driver stopped and Charley jumped out.
The boys talked earnestly for a few minutes, and then Charley said, aloud,—
"Oh, I'm so glad! I'll ask mamma to let me come again. I knew you would."
"Charley! Charley!" called Oscar, as the carriage was driving away. "Do you like birch whistles? 'Cause father showed me how to make 'em, and I'll make you one."
"I should admire one!" shouted back Charley, and then he told his mother that Oscar had begun to pray, and how happy he was because he was trying to be good.
A day or two after this, Mrs. Monson and Charley went to the city for a visit. They often talked about Oscar, and wondered how he was getting on. The lady determined to urge his mother to send him to school regularly, and to form habits of industry in her boy.
One day they went to a hat store, and Mrs. Monson made Charley very happy by giving him a nice cap for his friend, to wear to Sunday school.
They reached home Saturday evening, and, of course, had no time to see Oscar; but the servant said he had been there, and left a parcel of whistles. She said, too, that he seemed dreadfully disappointed not to see Charley.
The next day they were scarcely seated in church, when a man, woman, and boy walked up the aisle, following the sexton to one of the wing pews.
Charley pulled his mother's dress, his eyes sparkling with pleasure; while Oscar, in a nice new suit of clothes, sat gazing around with great interest. I suppose you can hardly believe it; but, though living scarcely a mile from church, this was the first time he had ever been inside its walls.