climb, or peep over, they could only judge of the garden by the fruits
which were parceled out to them on Christmas-day.

You can judge, then, of the sensation among the young folks, and older
ones, for that matter, when one evening there appeared hung upon a
conspicuous place in the garden-hedge, a broad strip of white cloth
trimmed with evergreen and printed with the following notice in
evergreen letters:

"WANTED--By the Christmas Monks, two _good_ boys to assist in garden
work. Applicants will be examined by Fathers Anselmus and Ambrose, in
the convent refectory, on April 10th."

This notice was hung out about five o'clock in the evening, some time
in the early part of February. By noon the street was so full of boys
staring at it with their mouths wide open, so as to see better, that
the king was obliged to send his bodyguard before him to clear the
way with brooms, when he wanted to pass on his way from his chamber of
state to his palace.

There was not a boy in the country but looked upon this position as
the height of human felicity. To work all the year in that wonderful
garden, and see those wonderful things growing! and without doubt any
body who worked there could have all the toys he wanted, just as a boy
who works in a candy-shop always has all the candy he wants!

But the great difficulty, of course, was about the degree of goodness
requisite to pass the examination. The boys in this country were no
worse than the boys in other countries, but there were not many of
them that would not have done a little differently if he had only