SCENE.-Schoolroom, Monday, 8 a.m.

FRANK and JOHN

seated at a table, with books, papers, ink, pens, &c.

FR

RANK. Well, old fellow, I am glad to tell you that you have pulled through your exam., the papers came on Saturday and Mr. Birchall sent to tell me the results.

JOHN. Hurrah! That is splendid news. along that I should fail.

I was afraid all

FRANK. Well, you worked hard enough for a youngster.
JOHN. I suppose you are all right?

FRANK. O yes, I have passed.

JOHN. How grand you must feel to be in your fifth year! I wish I was.

FRANK. Well my boy, so you will be some day, if you work hard enough,

JOHN. Then we will all have passed. Len and Wesley Bailey have of course, have'nt they?

FRANK. I am very much astonished about them; they have actually failed, both of them; such clever lads as they are, too; it puzzles me how it happened.

JOHN. Both failed? There must be some mistake.

FRANK. Mr. Birchall could not understand it; he said he would write about it; he never for a moment thought they could fail.

JOHN. The third year is very hard, is'nt it, Selby? Perhaps there was something they could'nt do.

FRANK. Well, a beginner like you might find it difficult, but it ought to be nothing to lads like the Baileys.

[Enter LEONARD and WESLEY.]

LEONARD (throwing his books on the table). That map of yours

looks well, Selby; I guess you spent some time over it. Can you help me with this problem, we can't make it out.

FRANK. I'll look at it in a minute. The report has come down. (LEONARD and WESLEY change colour).

WESLEY. Well, what news for us?

JOHN (hurriedly). Selby has passed, and I have; you have both failed.

FRANK. Yes, that is true, though you need'nt have been in such a hurry to tell it, Jack.

WESLEY. I don't care.

LEONARD. Nor I.

FRANK. Nonsense; you both care more than you would like to show; but how did it happen? Two lads like you ought to have passed easily enough. There must be some

reason.

WESLEY (gloomily). Yes, there is a reason; but we don't care, do we, Len? We won't let mother or anyone know we have failed.

LEONARD. No; we are going to run away to sea, now we know it is all up with us.

FRANK. That's rubbish, boys; but let us hear all about it. JOHN. Perhaps they did'nt examine the papers fairly. LEONARD. Silence, Kingsby, you know nothing about it. Wesley, tell them how it happened.

WESLEY. Tell them yourself.

LEONARD. Well I don't mind so much now. You see on the morning of the exam., Wesley and I thought we would walk to Birtly and be in as soon as the early tram. Sam Causer overtook us and we walked along with him. The Institute was not open when we got to Birtly, it was too early; and Sam asked us to wait at the Golden Lion with him. Well, we each had a glass of beer, and then Sam would drink success to us, and we all had a glass of wine. We are not used to beer or wine, so it got into our heads, and we were muddled while we were doing our papers, that's all.

WESLEY. 1 should think we were muddled; my head felt so confused and strange, I couldn't remember anything. My arithmetic must have been a perfect jumble.

LEONARD. I did'nt even attempt the Euclid or Algebra, and I know I put the Ganges in Australia.

JOHN. Well, but if you told them how it was, perhaps they would examine you over again.

FRANK. I am very sorry indeed to hear this, but I cannot understand your utter indifference.

LEONARD. Well, but we have made up our minds to run away to sea; we don't want to vex mother about our failure; and I know she will be grieved.

FRANK. And you will mend matters a great deal by running away, I daresay! have more courage and try to make amends to your mother by your future conduct. Would you break her heart by your folly?

WESLEY. It is all very well for you to talk, Selby, but suppose you had failed, how would you have liked to have gone and told your mother so? Besides there are two of us, and we have been looked upon as two such promising young men.

FRANK. All the more reason why you should prove there was something in you, by trying to amend matters, instead of talking a lot of nonsense; boys are so apt to think that running away from their troubles will get rid of them.

LEONARD. But, Frank, what shall we do? We must give up teaching now; Mr. Birchall will never have us after failing in our third year.

FRANK. Nonsense; take my advice, tell him exactly how it happened; work hard and make up your mind to pass a higher examination next year. And another thing, boys, guard against temptation; see what mischief a glass of beer and wine has caused.

LEONARD. Thank you, Frank, I don't think we could do better than to follow your advice. Another thing, Wesley, let us sign the pledge.

WESLEY. Agreed, but there is no Band of Hope here; Benton is such a small place, I suppose it is'nt worth while getting one up.

JOHN. We could go to Birtley and sign, and attend the meetings every week; Birtley is only four miles,

FRANK. Better than that, we could start a Band of Hope here ourselves, and get the scholars to join. I am sure Mr. Birchall would offer no objection; perhaps he would lend us the schoolroom one evening a week, and give us instructions how to commence.

LEONARD. What a glorious idea.

WESLEY. You move the question, Selby, and we will be your able supporters.

FRANK. That's right; are you willing to join us, Jack?

JOHN. Of course I am; we will have some splendid meet ings; I went to one once in Birtley.

[Enter Mr. BIRCHALL.]

Mr. BIRCHALL. I am sorry I am so late this morning, boys, but I see you have commenced work. John, my boy, I am glad to tell you that you have passed your examination,

JOHN. Yes, sir, Selby told me.

Mr. BIRCHALL. Leonard and Wesley Bailey, I wish to speak to you both; there is something I cannot understand concerning your papers. Come this way. [Exeunt Mr. BIRCHALL, LEONARD, and WESLEY.]

JOHN. I wonder what he will say to them.

FRANK. Depend upon it coming all right if they explain properly. But how lazy we have been; let us to work now, Jack. (Both busy themselves with their books.)

[Re-enter Mr. BIRCHALL, LEONARD, and WESLEY).

Mr. BIRCHALL. I am much grieved at the temptation into which these boys fell. You see the evil caused by drink. And that was but the first false step. I am pleased with the manner in which they confessed their fault, and the way in which they propose to amend. Selby, I must thank you for suggesting the Band of Hope; they have told me of it. It is an excellent plan; (then turning to LEONARD and WESLEY) this is a hard lesson for you, my boys, but one I hope you may never forget. And some day if you steadily adhere to your resolution, and never be induced to touch intoxicating drink again, you may thank God you failed in this examination.

LEONARD. Yes, sir, "there is some soul of goodness in all, things evil, would men observingly distil it out."

Mr. BIRCHALL. Exactly: well you haven't forgot your Shakspeare, it seems. Now we will say no more about this, and next year I hope to see you pass with credit. Concerning the Band of Hope, if you will come and talk it over with me this evening, Selby, we can make arrangements. And the rest of you may try and get as many as possible to our first meeting. Now we must get to lessons. Leonard, bring me that problem and I will explain it.

(Exeunt).

I

AM surely dying, mother, will you not hold my hand?
For I can scarcely see your face to night, though by my
side you stand.

Mine has not been so bright a life that I should care to stay,
And yet I find the parting hard, when I must go away.

I have sinned, but I have suffered: Oh! you will never know
How bitter has that suffering been or how intense my woe;
God seemed so cruel, mother, He gave the joy to me,
And then He took it from my heart, when it had come to be.

All that I cared or lived for, Ah! there's the sin I know;
I lost God in His creature, and when He found it so,
He took away my idol. It should have raised my heart
Up, closer unto Heaven, but in the bitter smart

I thought His love had failed me. That mood is long since past;

It was too wild and bitter, too madly rash to last;

And God was very gracious, He would not let my hands,
In all their wicked strivings, burst from His loving bands.

Now I can thank Him for it. Earth's scenes are dim and

drear,

But from the angel's side, mother, I see these things so clear;
I think my soul is rising, and in that purer air

I seem to read Heaven's meanings before I enter there.
God sent in love my sorrow. He saw that I had grown
To worship but a mortal, that in my love were sown
Seeds for my soul's destruction, for now I sadly see

I quite forgot the Giver in what He gave to me.

He meant my loss to chasten me, to draw me nearer Heaven, That humbled, saddened, softened, my whole life might be

given

A service to His glory. I would not have it so,

I let it harden me instead, and now too late, I know
The life that He is taking might have been spent to win
Poor, reckless, erring wanderers, souls perishing in sin
Back to their waiting Saviour, who loves them through it all,
And still is gently calling, though they will not hear His call.
To bind the broken-hearted, to make the wounded whole,
To speak peace to the weary, to soothe the troubled soul;
This is the great and noble thing He meant my life to be,
The end for which, in His great love, He sent my loss to me.