OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 751, 23 July 1886, Page 4

OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

BERTIE’S THREEPENCE. * I say, Bertie, don’t they look good 2 There’s rock, and toffy, and pear drops, and all the sorts. Shouldn't you just like some V * ! Tis no use,’ replied Bertie, dolefully, ‘ for I’ve no money ; have you, Dick?’ ‘ Oh, well, no,’ said Dick ; * but ’tis easyenough to get some. When mother sends me to the shop, I run back and tell her the thing comes to a penny more, and of course she gives me the extra penny. So I’ve always got some halfpence in my pocket for sweets, do you see ? That’s clear, ain’t it ? * Oh, Dick !’ Bertie began, but on looking round Dick was gone. He had caught sight of his Sunday-school teacher coming round the corner, and as he did not care to see, he made off like a bad boy as he was. It was a good riddance for Bertie, at any rate, and as he turned away from the tempting shop window where the two boys had been standing, he said to himself that he would not have anything more to do with a lad who could boast of thus cheating his mother. And then the thought of his own good mother, and what she would say to such conduct, quite made his color come as he hastened home to dinner. We have nothing more to do with Dick, but have a story to tell about Bertie. Not long after this, he got a situation as errand boy at a small hotel ; he was the eldest boy of a large family, and as there were so many mouths to feed, and his father was not strong, Bertie was very pleased to leave school and begin life in earnest. All his earnings were brought home, and as he was industrious and steady, he got on nicely and gave his master satisfaction. Very often he got a little extra from those who sent him on errands, and this was always taken home, as well as the regular wages he received on Saturdays. One day he had been somewhere for a gentleman staying at the hotel, and ft was dark when he got back. ‘ That’s for you, my boy,’ said the gentleman, and put threepence in his hand.

Bertie touched his cap and made of! home, 'for it waß rather late. As he went along he stopped at the first lamp-post, and took the threepence out of his pocket to look at it. Threepence? No ; there was twopence certainlyf but the third piece was a half-crown ! A rush of pleasure came into Bertie’s heart, and off he set toward home quicker than before. And yet what was it in his heart now ? Something heavy ; the joy had all gone. He paused. Was the half-crown his ? Of course it was ;* it had been given .him so he would stick to it? so on he went again. But his step was slower the -struggle was hard between right and wrong. Which, oh ! which will gain the victory ? It would not do. He could stand it no longer ; he turned round and ran back to the hotel as fast as he could go. ‘ Please, sir,’ he said, as soon as he could get breath, ‘the gentleman gave me this, but is it mine V and he held up the money to the master as he stood in the entrance. * Heyday, boy,’ he said, rathe puzzled, I guess not ; come in,’ and he took him into a room where the gentleman was at supper. ‘ What did you give the boy just now, sir. will you tell me?' he asked, ‘ Threepence,’ replied the gentleman ™ this tor the third penny,’ and he showed him the half°r ‘Really, really, did I V cried the gentleman : and he began to fumble in his pocket to find if there was a half-crown missing. < Well of course, 1 did not mean it, but he is a brave, honest boy to bring it back, and so he shall keep it; and may he always find, as he has found now, that honesty is the best of policy. , We need not tell you that Bertie s heart was light enough now, and you may fancy how his father and mother when he got home, called him brave and honest too, and how they thanked (Sod that He had helped him to do what was right, and, like St. Paul. ‘ keep a conscience void of ottence. There will be many things, as you travel along through the year, which you will not be able to keep. Pleasure passes away; sometimes dear friends pass away, too ; the flowers will fade in your grasp, and summer give place to winter. But you can keep a clear conscience ; not in your own strength, but in the strength which God gives. Child’s Companion.