"I do not know whose hat it was. If the boy who did it is willing to rise and tell me, it will help us to decide this question."

The boy, knowing that a severe punishment was not in such a case to be anticipated, and in fact, apparently pleased with the idea of exonerating himself from the blame of wilfully injuring the property of another, rose and said:

"I suppose it was I, sir, who did it, and it was my own hat."

4. "Well," said the master, "I am glad you are willing to tell frankly how it was; but let us look at this case. There are two senses in which a hat may be said to belong to any person. It may belong to him because he bought it and paid for it, or it may belong to him because it fits him and he wears it. In other words a person may have a hat as his property, or he may have it only as a part of his dress. Now you see, that according to the first of these senses, all the hats in this school belong to your fathers. There is not in fact a single boy in this school who has a hat of his own."

5. The boys laughed. "Is not this the fact?"

"Yes, sir."

"It certainly is so, though I suppose James did not consider it. Your fathers bought your hats. They worked for them, and paid for them. You are only the wearers, and consequently every generous boy, and in fact every honest boy, will be careful of the property which is intrusted to him, but which strictly speaking is not his own."

LESSON IX.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ONE WHO WAS ALWAYS BEHINDHAND.

1. "COME, Emma, I cannot wait any longer for Maria; if she is not ready, we must go without her." "She is almost ready, do wait one minute more," said Emma; "for you know you promised to tell us, in our walk, something about the sugar plantation, you visited last week, and Maria wants to make that the subject of her composition next week."

2. Maria has a sad habit," said her father, "of always being a little behind the time; I have suffered much inconvenience several times lately, from her tardiness, and I have resolved not to wait for her any more, but always to start precisely at eight, whether she is ready or not."

"But she is particularly desirous to walk with us this morning," said Emma, "to hear what you have to say about the plantation, and if you will indulge her once more, perhaps she will be more careful in future."

3. "No; I am afraid it will be a long while," returned her father, "before she corrects this fault, unless she suffers some inconvenience of this kind; and if we go without her to-day, she will be likely to remember it." So saying, he left the house, accompanied by Emma.

4. The school which Emma and Maria attended was about a mile and a half from their father's house. This walk, formerly very tedious to them, had been rendered lately not only tolerable, but very pleasant, by the removal of their father's place of business, which afforded them his company a large part of the way.

5. There was another advantage in this change. The sisters, like some other school girls, would sometimes get engaged in the morning, in reading, studying, or some pleasant employment, and forget when the time for school arrived, and they were thus often made tardy when they might have been in season.

But now, as it was necessary for their father to be at his office, at just such an hour, which was twenty minutes before their school commenced. they were sure to be in season if they accompanied him.

6. Yet, Maria would sometimes delay preparation, until the moment for starting was just upon them, and then she would bustle about, and hurry, and try to persuade her kind father to wait "just one minute."

7. Her father observed this fault, but, being unwilling to deny her request, when he saw how desirous she was to accompany him, he had yielded to her, from time to time, and delayed taking any decisive step to cure her. But he soon found that, in this way, he was submitting himself to much inconvenience, besides strengthening his daughter in a bad habit. He therefore resolved to try a different plan, and it was on the morning when our story begins, that he began to act upon his new resolution.

8. Poor Maria! She heard her father's words as she was searching for her gloves in the next room. She opened every drawer, looked in her bag, workbox, and everywhere; but they were not to be found. "Well," said she at last, "father has gone, and I don't care if I am late to-day. I'm sure, I don't see what has set him out to be so very particular to-day; it is only five minutes after eight now, and he waited twice as long yesterday !"

9. Impatient and dissatisfied, Maria went to seek her mother, to ask if she had seen any thing of her gloves. On her way, she met her little sister, who said, "Why, Maria, Emma has gone, and father, and you will have to go to school all alone, this morning." "Well, it need not concern you, whether I go alone or not," said Maria; "I wish you would not always interfere with my affairs,"

10. "Why, Maria," said her mother, who was within hearing, "what makes you speak so to your sister? She said nothing but what was perfectly proper."

"I wish you would tell me where to look for my gloves," said Maria, without answering her mother's question, or apparently attending to what she said.

"I know where they are," said Ellen; "I saw them this morning under the entry table," and ran to get them.

11. Ellen now returned, and Maria, as she took her gloves from her, tried to say, "I thank you," but her good-nature was not yet sufficiently restored, for her to go quite so far in confessing herself in the wrong, and she only looked a little ashamed, and went quickly out of the room. She walked slowly on her way, thinking of what her conduct had been, and by the time she reached the school door, ne mild air, and pleasant sun, seemed to have had the effect to restore, in some degree, her usual composure.

12. She met her teacher on the door step, talking to a lady; and he said to her in a tone of regret, "What, tardy again, Maria? I was really in hopes that you were trying to reform in this respect."

The colour came to Maria's face as she heard these words, and all her unpleasant feelings returned. "I wonder," said she, to herself, "what is the matter with every body this morning; I am sure I have not done any thing in particular to displease them, but it seems as if I could get nothing but scolding, on all sides. I don't care much for it, though."

13. Maria's class was reciting, when she entered the room. She took her seat with the rest, but the excited state of her feelings prevented her from recollecting the answer to the first question, which came to her, and she resolved not to try to answer the rest. "I may as well miss the whole, as a part," thought she, "and Miss W. always passes the question so quick."

14. Maria had been accustomed to give way to her feelings, and it was not until very lately, that she had attempted to put any restraint upon them. She found this very hard work, and, at first, only partially succeeded. When she took her seat at her desk, she thought how foolishly she had acted, and that, perhaps, after all, it was she that had been most in fault, instead of her parents and teacher. "But still," thought she, " if my father had only waited one minute for me, which he might have done as well as not, all this trouble would have been avoided."

15. She took out her writing-book, but felt unwilling to go and ask her teacher to mend her pen; so she tried to write with it, just as it was. But,