The big policeman and the spectators began to laugh boisterously, and the complainant at the bar trembled so violently with mingled indignation and fright that the marbles in his little green bag rattled together.
The Justice, however, rapped sharply on the desk, and quickly brought everybody to dead silence. "You did perfectly right, my boy," said he gravely, "to come here and tell me about it. You have as much right to your six marbles as the richest man in this city has to his bank account. If every American citizen had as much regard for their rights as you show there would be far less crime. And you, sir," he added, turning to the big policeman, who now looked as solemn as a funeral, "you go with this little man to that butcher and make him pay for those marbles, or else arrest him and bring him here."
You see this boy knew that his rights had been interfered with, and he went to the one having authority to redress his wrongs. He did not throw stones or say naughty words, but in a manly, dignified way demanded his rights.—Selected.
HOW THE FIRST PANSY WAS MADE.
AN angel's thought flew down to earth,
Borne on a golden beam of light;
And pausing, rested in the heart
Of a sweet, blue-eyed violet bright.
And finding there a flower-soul
Free from all taint of earthly pride,
The angel's thought would fain remain,
And in the Pansy still doth hide.
And so these gold and purple flowers,
The soft-eyed Pansies which we love,
Sprang from the violet which received
An angel's thought from heaven above.
Lydia Hoyt Farmer.