had made; till from words they got to blows. We parted them with some trouble: but the last words we heard the lad say, and those with an oath, were, that he would never lay another wager with the other young fellow. And true enough his words were; for before the same hour the next day he was a corpse: the rope broke as he went down into the pit on Monday morning, and he was dashed to pieces without having time to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner!' I helped to carry him to the grave, poor lad! His rents made great mourn over him. He lies at the foot of the yew tree down by yonder little church. Well, the evening he was laid in the ground I told my mother how I had spent the last Sunday evening, for it lay heavy on my conscience.

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"Son,' said she, repeat to me that answer which you learned in the little child's catechism, beginning, Then I shall be a child of God.'

"So I answered- Then I shall be a child of God, and have God for my Father and Friend for ever.'

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"When I had answered, she said, 'My lad, this world is not our place of rest; we are pilgrims travelling to another world. In a few years every thing in this world will have come to an end for ever; death will soon put a close to all our pleasures as well as our sorrows. All that will then signify will be, whether we have served God, or whether we have served him not. Choose God's service then, my boy; walk in his way, honour his day, go to his church, love his book; and he will be your Father and Friend for ever. He will take care of you all your life long; and when you die, he will take you to his kingdom, where you shall shine forth as the stars for ever and ever.""

I do not know whether Tom and Sally listened to these words of William Dainty; but, almost before he had done speaking, they got up, and Sally made haste to tie up her bacon and cheese. And then they wished William and Mary a good night, saying that it was time to be at home.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Moreover, by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward."-Psalm хіх. 11.

A FEW days after this, as little John Wylde and James Dainty were coming home, for their fathers worked in the same pit together, and they often went down with them, James said to John, "I sha'n't go to work to-morrow, for father is going into Staffordshire, and I am to go with him.”

"That's like your father," answered John, "going on a Friday, instead of a Sunday."

"Father says he would not travel on a Sunday, if he was to get all the ale by it that is drunk at our wake. And what did you get by travelling last Sunday ?" said James.

"I did not get much," answered John, "but mother got bacon and cheese; and it was very nice cheese. We have toasted

it for supper every night, and it is all gone

now."

James. Master Marten talked to us so prettily about that answer in the little catechism And what if you do not fear God, nor love him, nor seek to please him?” And he made me repeat the answer, for, you know, you were not there to answer it; and he made me say it after him till I could say it perfect.

John. What was it?

James. Then I shall be a wicked child, and the great God will be very angry with me.' Then he told me how good God is, and how great he is, and that I ought to strive to please him in every thing I do. And he told me what a shocking thing it is to make God angry with us, and how he could strike us dead in a moment.

John made no answer, but began presently to whistle a song-tune.

Before daylight the next morning, William Dainty and his little boy set out on the mule for Staffordshire. They passed Tom and his little boy on their way to the pit. "Good

morning, Tom," says William; "we shall have a fine sun-rising."

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"Good morning to you," answered Tom. Why, there's not another man in the country that would lose a day's wages for nothing.”

"I don't know that," answered William; "I have seen many a man sit half a day in the sunshine, playing, when he might have been earning his half-day's wages.

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"Well, well," said Tom, who loved to drink half a day in the public-house as well as any one, a man must have a little play now and then: but I reckon it is not for that you are going out now?"

"No, truly," answered William, "with my family, I can't afford much of that: but I have business, you know."

"Well, if I had been you," answered Tom, "I would have done my day's work to-day, and gone into Staffordshire on Sunday."

"Come, come," answered William, in a good-humoured way, "let's have fair play. Your friends take a day or two every fort