ADAPTED FROM MRS. EWING.

"With the genuine story-teller the inner life of the genuine listener
is roused; he is carried out of himself, and he thereby measures
himself."--FROEBEL.


Benjy was a very naughty, disagreeable boy! It is sad to say it, but
it is truth. He always had a cloudy, smudgy, slovenly look, like a
slate half-washed, that made one feel how nice it would be if he could
be scrubbed inside and out with hot water and soap.

Benjy was the only boy in the family, but he had two little sisters
who were younger than he. They were dear, merry little things, and
many boys would have found them pleasant little playmates; but Benjy
had shown how much he disliked to play with them, and it made them
feel very badly. One of them said one day, "Benjy does not care for us
because we are only girls, so we have taken Nox for our brother." Nox
was a big curly dog, something like a Newfoundland.

Now Benjy was not at all handsome, and he hated tubs and brushes and
soap and water. He liked to lie abed late in the mornings, and when he
got up he had only time enough to half wash himself. But Nox rose
early, liked cold water, had snow-white teeth and glossy hair, and
when you spoke to him he looked straight up at you with his clear
honest brown eyes. Benjy's jacket and shirt-front were always spotted
with dirt, while the covering of Nox's chest was glossy and well kept.
Benjy came into the parlor with muddy boots and dirty hands; but Nox,
if he had been out in the mud, would lie down when he came home, and