A BAD SON.

        To hit the mag-pie was not all the ill the gun did. The old man of the cot was not far off, and, sad to say, the gun hit him; yes, it hit him, and he lay on the sod, as if to die! Bob did not see the gun hit the old man; but it had cut him on the leg: and tho' he did not cry for the cut, yet, as he lay on the sod, he did cry to see one who was his own son so bad a boy.

        Bob, now, as the mag-pie lay on the sod, saw how far a gun can go; and he saw, too, how bad it is to set one off; yet he was not so sad for the old man, as for his own pet mag-pie: and he said, "Oh! why did the gun go so far? why did it not hit the old cur who had his lip on it, and who bit my pet?--why did it not hit him?" So he did cry and sob, and was sad.

        But Sam said to him, "Do not cry, Bob: the mag-pie may not die. It can fly yet, you see; and, may be, it is not so ill as to die."

        Bob.--"Oh! yes, sir, my mag-pie is ill; you saw it try to fly, but it can not get up. You may see it now fix its eye on me, as if to ask why I let off the gun at it? No, no, my mag-pie can not fly, nor can it sit. It can but lie on the sod and die. And now I see it die! Oh! how sad I am!" And Bob lay on the sod by his pet; and did cry, and sob, and hit the sod, as as we oft see a bad boy do.

A SAD PA-PA.

        The old man of the cot saw Bob lie on the sod: and, ill as he was, he got up, to ask if he was hit by the gun: but, as he saw his son was not hit at all, he said to him, "Oh! Bob, you are a bad boy: I saw you set off the gun; and you see how it has hit me, and cut my leg! You let it off to hit Red Leg, and did try to aim it at him; but it did not go off so as to hit the dog; no, it hit the mag-pie you had for a pet, (as was fit for it to do,) and you saw it die.

        "Now, you see the gun has hit me too, and I may die, as the mag-pie did; and, if I do, who can be to you as I am? A bad boy can get no one to aid him, and how can you get on if I am not by you? Oh! my son, my son! bad as you are, I am sad for you!"

        Bob got up off the sod, and did fix his eye on the cut his pa-pa had got. It was not for his pet mag-pie he was now sad. No! he was in woe to see his pa-pa so ill.

        Sam was sad to see the old man ill and sad to see Bob in woe; and he said, "Bob is in woe, sir, to see you so ill; and he is sad, too, I see, for his own sin; so he may yet get off his bad way, and be as a son to you. Do not, I beg, let him see you in ire. He may be of use to you now you are ill; and he can not be so sad, if you let him be of use to you."

        Bob.--"Oh! do not ask him to let me be of use to him. I am too bad a boy. I, who set off the gun, and hit him, can not be as his son."

        Sam.--"You can try to be of use to him, and to be as a son to him now he is ill; can you not?

        Bob did not say yes, or no; but he did cry as he saw

the sad cut on the leg of his own pa-pa; and the old man said to him, "You see, Bob, the eye of GOD is on us all. Sin can not be hid: for GOD can see all who sin. He saw you hit the gun, and set it off, as you sat on the sod: and He did to you as you did try to do to Sam. You did try to vex him, and GOD saw fit to vex you. But GOD did it to let you see how bad you are, so as not to let you go on in sin."

        Bob.--"Oh! I was bad! bad to Sam, who can vex no one; but, oh! how bad I am to you! You can not now let me be as a son to you."

THE END.

        The old man, and Bob, and Sam, got in-to the cot; and as Bob saw his pa-pa so ill, and the cut on his leg so red, he ran to his bed, and lay on it in woe, and did ask GOD not to let his pa-pa die.

        "Oh, GOD! I am a bad, bad boy," said he "a boy of sin! But I am sad for all the ill I did, and now I ask Thy aid to get me out of the way of sin. Thy Son can see all we do, and He has an ear to all we say; oh! let all I now do be fit for His eye; and let all I say be fit for His ear. And, oh! do not let my pa-pa die! But say I may yet be a son to him; and let me be Thy son now and to my end.--Amen."

        So Bob got up, and ran to his pa-pa to try to be of use to him; and GOD let him be of use, and let him get all he had to ask for; and in a day or two the old man was not ill, and he said to Bob,

        "You do not vex me now, my boy, for you try, I see, not to be bad; and you see how GOD can aid

us all to get out of the way of sin, if we but try to do so."

        Then Bob said to Sam, low in his ear, "Oh! Sam, I am in joy now; pa-pa said, 'my boy.' Oh! I see he can let me be his son yet."

        "Yes," said the old man, "I can let you be my son. You are my own son now. May GOD let you be His son too."

LESSONS IN FOUR LETTERS.

        

nice	book	bead
dice	cook	read
fice	hook	lead
lice	look	meed
mice	nook	then
rice	rook	when
vice	took	glen

        

keep	must	well
deep	bust	bell
peep	dust	cell
weep	gust	dell
good	just	fell
hood	lust	sell
here	rust	tell