Next came Willie, full of wonder at the contents of the package which he had found in the box where he kept the corn for his chickens.
“Only think, Arthur,” said he; “the door of the chicken-house was locked, so no one could have got in last night, and yet I feel sure that this was not there when I fed the chickens at supper-time. Such nice candy! Do you think it will be right for us to eat it, or must we try to find out to whom it belongs?”
There was such a roguish look on Arthur’s face, as he replied that he thought there would be no harm in eating it, that Willie began to understand the joke; and, well pleased, he divided the candy with his brother and sister.
But Arthur felt still more pleased when little Jane took up her work-basket with a sigh, saying,—
“I will try to hem the handkerchief you wish me to, mother; but my thimble has such a great hole in it, that the head of my needle pricks my finger every few minutes.”
What a joyful surprise,—to find the old thimble missing, and a bright new one in its place! It would have been hard to tell which felt the most pleased, Jane or Arthur. Both were delighted; and we are very sure that Arthur did not once regret that he had spent his half-dollar for his sister’s pleasure.
When evening came, and Mr. Willard was at leisure to sit down with his children, Arthur had many funny stories to tell of the pleasant jokes which he had played through the day.
Charley Mason, one of his schoolmates, had torn a large hole in his kite when they were flying it at recess. At noon, he hurried home for his dinner; intending, if possible, to return in season to mend the kite, and have another play, before school commenced in the afternoon. Arthur, having brought his dinner with him in the morning, was not obliged to return home; and he carefully mended the kite while Charley was absent.
“It was such fun to see him turn it over and over, and look for the hole!” continued Arthur, as he told the story to his father; “and Johnny Gardiner looked almost as funny when he found a long slate-pencil in his desk, which I had slyly slipped in, just as he had made up his mind to go and tell the teacher the old story,—that he had no pencil. Johnny does not like to tell Miss Grant that very well, for he is famous for losing his pencil.
“And, father, I played a nice joke on Miss Grant. She thought I could not learn so long a lesson in geography as she had given to the rest of the class, because I am younger than the others, and have never been through the book before. So she told me to take half of the lesson; but I studied hard, and learned the whole. When we were reciting, she stopped when she had heard about half, and said, ‘You may take your seat now, Arthur.’