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the wheels, you could sit still at your work; and would not the people give us the halfpence? and could not we bring them to you? Do, pray, dear grandmother, try us for one day-tomorrow, will you?" "Yes," said the old woman, "I will try what you can do; but I must go up along with you for the first two or three times, for fear you should get yourselves hurt.”

So the next day the little boy and girl went with their grandmother, as they used to call her, up the steep hill; and she showed the boy how to prevent the wheels rolling back, by putting stones behind them; and she said, "This is called scotching the wheels;" and she took off the boy's hat, and gave it to the little girl to hold up to the carriage windows, ready for the halfpence. When she thought that the children knew how to manage for themselves, she left them, and returned to her spinning-wheel. A great many carriages happened to go by this day, and the little girl received a great many halfpence. She carried them all in her brother's hat to her grandmother in the evening, and the old woman smiled and thanked the children. She said they had been useful to her, and that her spinning had gone on finely, because she had been able to sit at her wheel all day." But, Paul, my boy," said she, "what is the matter with your hand?"

"Only a pinch, only a pinch that I got as I was putting a stone behind the wheel of a chaise; it does not hurt me much, grandmother, and I've thought of a good thing for to-morrow. I shall never be hurt again, if you will only be so good as to give me the old handle of the broken crutch, grandmother, and the block of wood that lies in the chimney-corner, and that is of no use. I'll make it of some use if I may have it." "Take it, then, dear," said the old woman; "and you'll find the handle of the broken crutch under my bed."

Paul went to work immediately, and fastened one end of the pole into the block of wood, so as to make something like a dry rubbing-brush. "Look! grandmother, look at my scotcher; I call this thing my scotcher," said Paul, "because I shall scotch the wheels with it. I shall never pinch my fingers again; my hands, you see, will be safe at the end of this long stick; and sister Anne, you need not be at the trouble of carrying any more stones after me up the hill; we shall never want stones any

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more; my scotcher will do without anything else, I hope. I wish it was morning, and that a carriage would come, that I might run up the hill and try my scotcher." "And I wish that as many chaises may go by to-morrow as there did to-day," said the little girl, "that we may bring you as many halfpence, grandmother." "So do I, my dear Anne," said the old woman, "for I mean that you and your brother shall have all the money that you get to-morrow; you may buy some gingerbread for yourselves, or some of those ripe plums that you saw at the fruitstall the other day as you were going to Dunstable. I told you then that I could not afford to buy such things for you; but now that you can earn halfpence for yourselves, children, it is but fair that you should taste a ripe plum and a bit of gingerbread for once in your lives."

"We'll bring some of the gingerbread home to her, sha'n't we, brother?" whispered little Anne. The morning came, but no carriages were heard, though Paul and his sister had risen at five o'clock, that they might be sure to be ready for early travellers. Paul kept his scotcher poised upon his shoulder, and watched eagerly at his station at the bottom of the hill; he did not wait long before a carriage came. He followed it up the hill, and the instant the postillion called to him, and bid him stop the wheels, he put his scotcher behind them, and found it answered the purpose perfectly well. Many carriages went by this day, and Paul and Anne received a great many halfpence from the travellers. When it grew dusk in the evening, Anne said to her brother: "I don't think any more carriages will come past to-day; let us count the halfpence, and carry them home to grandmother."

"No, not yet," answered Paul; "let them alone-let them lie still in the hole where I have put them. I dare say more carriages will come by before it is dark, and then we shall have more halfpence." Paul had taken the halfpence out of his hat, and had put them into a hole in the high bank by the roadside; and Anne said that she would not meddle with them, and that she would wait till her brother liked to count them; and Paul said, "If you will stay and watch here, I will go and gather some blackberries for you in the hedge in yonder field; stay you hereabouts half way up the hill; and the moment you see any

carriage coming along the road, run as fast as you can and call me."

Anne waited a long time, or what she thought a long time, but saw no carriage; and she trailed her brother's scotcher up and down till she was tired; then she stood still and looked again, and she saw no carriage. So she went sorrowfully into the field, and to the hedge where her brother was gathering blackberries, and she said, "Paul, I am sadly tired, and my eyes are quite strained looking for chaises: no more chaises will come to-night, and your scotcher is lying there of no use upon the ground. Have I not waited long enough for to-day, Paul?" "0 no," said Paul; "here are some blackberries for you; you had better wait a little bit longer; perhaps a carriage might go by while you are standing here talking to me." Anne, who was of a very obliging temper, and who liked to do what she was asked, went back to the place where the scotcher lay; and scarcely had she reached the spot, when she heard the noise of a carriage. She ran to call her brother; and to their great joy they now saw four chaises coming towards them. Paul, as soon as they went up the hill, followed with his scotcher; first he scotched the wheels of one carriage, then of another; and Anne was so much delighted with observing how well the scotcher stopped the wheels, and how much better it was than stones, that she forgot to go and hold her brother's hat to the travellers for halfpence, till she was roused by the voice of a little rosy girl, who was looking out of the window of one of the chaises: "Come close to the chaise-door," said the little girl; "here are some halfpence for you."

Anne held the hat, and she afterwards went on to the other carriages. Money was thrown to her from each of them, and when they had all got safely to the top of the hill, she and her brother sat down upon a large stone by the road side to count their treasure. First they began by counting what was in the hat-"One, two, three, four halfpence."

"But, O brother, look at this!" exclaimed Anne; "this is not the same as the other halfpence."

"No, indeed it is not," cried Paul; "it is no halfpenny; it is a sovereign—a bright golden sovereign!" "Is it?" said Anne, who had never seen a sovereign in her life before, and who did not

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know its value; "and will it do as well as a halfpenny to buy gingerbread. I'll run to the fruit stall and ask the woman, shall I ?"

"No, no," said Paul; “you need not ask any woman or anybody but me; I can tell you all about it as well as anybody in the whole world."

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The whole world! O Paul, you forget! not so well as my grandmother."

"Why, not so well as my grandmother, perhaps; but, Anne, I can tell you that you must not talk yourself, but must listen to me quietly, or else you wont understand what I am going to tell you; for I can assure you that I don't think I quite understood it myself the first time my grandmother told it me, though I stood stock still listening my best."

Young Scholars' Compositions.

SUMMER.

SUMMER, with all its beauties, has once more returned. The pretty little songsters awake us each morning with their cheerful warbling. All nature seems delighted at the return of summer. The fields, trees, and shrubs are drest in their brightest green. To see the full charm of summer we must be in the country. There everything seems to praise the Hand that made it. There we see the cows quietly grazing in the meadows. Often the voice of the cuckoo is heard. It is very pleasant after sunset to go in groups to hayfields, and help to turn over the fragrant heaps of hay, and after it is sufficiently dried to see the carts well laden with it taking it to the barns. Then there is the delicious smell of honeysuckle and sweetbrier; besides the numberless other varieties of flowers which meet our gaze on every side. ALICE JACKSON, aged 12 years.

Wesleyan School, Cowhill, Oldham.

I believe this composition to be the work of the girl whose name it bears.

G. WADE,

Certificated Teacher, Wesleyan School, Cowhill.

No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before.-Dean Swift.

WOULD a writer know how to behave himself with relation to posterity, let him consider in old books what he finds that he is glad to know, and what omissions he most laments.-Dean Swift.

Editor's Examinations.

Answers should reach the Editor by the 10th instant. They should be written on only one side of the paper, and should not contain a larger number of words than would fill one-half or three-quarters of a page of this Magazine. Each answer should be signed by the writer, and should state his age from his last birthday. Boys and girls who have completed their twelfth year are eligible to answer the first question; boys and girls under twelve must confine themselves to the second question. The papers written by scholars of the same age will be examined together, and the names of forty of the best essayists, with the addresses of their schools, published in each division. The prizes will be awarded to the papers that excel most within the limit of the prescribed ages, varying from eight to fifteen years inclusive. Papers sent from schools should contain a certificate from the teacher that they have been honestly worked; in the cases of writers who are receiving their education at home, a certificate from the parent will suffice.

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FOR SENIORS.-(Boys and girls of the ages of 12, 13, 14, and 15.) Give a short history of the coinage of England.

FOR JUNIORS.-(Boys and girls of the ages of 8, 9, 10, and 11.) Write out, in your best handwriting, the poem entitled "The Burial of Sir John More."

The Publisher has much pleasure in giving PRIZES to the writers of the two best answers to each question in every number. The first prize will be a book of the value of FIVE SHILLINGS; the second, a book of the value of THREE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE. Two books of each kind will be given-four in all; but a Scholar, after taking one prize, cannot obtain another until an interval of six months has elapsed. Should his paper during that time obtain the distinction which would otherwise entitle him to a prize, it will be printed in its proper position, but the prize will be awarded to the Scholar who has written the answer next in merit.

Prizes

FOR ESSAYS PRINTED IN THIS NUMBER.

A five shilling book each to ALEXANDER LAURIE, British School, Derby; and W. G. ROGERS, Alvediston, Salisbury.

A three shilling and sixpenny book each to CHARLES TOPHAM, Wesleyan Schools, Harby, Lincoln; and H. E. WORTHINGTON, Abercromby House School, 66, Oxford Street, Liverpool.

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