THE IMAGE-BOY.

go MASTER, please to let Pedro go out to-day, and let me do his work at home.” The speaker was Leo Barnossi, and Pedro was another Italian boy who worked with the same master—Pedro generally moulding the images which Leo and two or three other boys took out on their boards to sell. “You lazy fellow !” said the hard master, in reply to his request, “if you don’t take your board and be off, I'll give you the strap !” Leo took up the tray loaded with white and bronzed images, but it was done with a very ill grace, and his master called after him to be careful or he would let it fall off his head. Leo was an Italian boy who had been brought to England, under fair promises, by the image-maker for whom he worked. He had been in London long enough to speak English pretty well, yet still there were many words which he pronounced in a very strange, foreign way; and so it sometimes happened that he was laughed at by boys in the street when they heard him talk, and then Leo's hot blood boiled, and he brought more teasing on himself by showing how it vexed him. This morning he had not cried “Imagees! Imagees" very long, before he was beckoned to a house by a lady who wished to look at his stock. She spoke kindly to him, and asked a great many questions as to how they were made ; and Leo was so interested in explaining the process to her, that he was less careful than usual of the way in which he pronounced his words, neither did he notice two mischievouslooking boys who were standing close by ; but no sooner had the lady paid him and gone indoors, than these boys burst into a loud laugh, and repeated, in mocking tones, some of the broken English he had used. Leo's temper was roused in a mo

ment, and turning short round, he struck one of them so sharp a blow that his companion took to his heels and ran down the street. Leo set off after him, leaving his images on the door-step. “Now I'll have my revenge,” said the boy whose ears Leo had boxed, and he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, and going up to the board, knocked off the largest image there was on it, and then made off with all speed. Poor Leo, when he came back and saw the pieces of the broken image lying about on the steps, burst into tears, for he knew that his master would beat him without mercy for the loss. He took up his board and went on down the street, but he was very unhappy all day; thoughts of his angry master and the thick strap were constantly coming into his mind, and it was not until long after dark that he ventured to go home. As soon as he had got in-doors and set his tray down, his master came to count the images. “You’ve had a bad day,” he said; “only sold three little ones and the Venus. How much did you sell that for " Poor Leo trembled as he took the money out of his pocket to give his master, he did not venture to answer him. The master counted the money. L “This is not all,” he said, looking at eo. “Yes, it is,” answered the boy. “I didn't sell the Venus, a boy knocked it off the tray and broke it.” “You mean you did it yourself, because I made you go out,” said his master, fiercely. “I might have known you would do something from the temer you were in this morning.” And F. caught up the strap which lay on a shelf near. Leo in vain said he did not do it, and pleaded for mercy; his master beat him savagely for some minutes, and then, thinking that punishment was not enough, he seized him by the arm, pushed him out-of-doors, and told him that he should not come home any more. The poor boy sat down by the wall outside, and cried, partly with pain, and partly with passion, until he was almostexhausted. A crowd had collected round him, who cried “Shame!” upon his master for beating him, and one poor woman offered to let him come and sleep at her house, which offer poor Leo was glad to accept. The next morning the woman gave him some breakfast, and then told him she thought he had better go and ask his master to let him come back to his work again, but this Leo determined he would not do. He went out, and wandered about, until, being very wearied, he thought he would go and rest himself in a church, the doors of which he had often seen open as he passed to and from his master's house in Baldwin's Gardens, where so many Italians live. He went quietly into the church, and thinking of the church to which he had always gone with his parents when they }.} in Milan, visions of his own bright land and his sunny home there rose before him, and he murmured in his own language, “My Italy my Italy. I wish I were there again.” But softly as the words were spoken, they were not unheard ; and perhaps no one could better have sympathized with the feeling they expressed than the kind minister who now asked him if he loved Italy very dearly. “Oh, yes, sir,” said the boy; “I was happy there, we always went to church there on Sundays, and afterwards walked out with father and mother under the orange-trees or through the myrtle-groves.” “But,” said the minister, “do you not go to church now 7" “No," said the boy, sadly, “my master says this is a land of heretics— you do not worship God.” “Oh, that is a great mistake,” said the clergyman; “we do worship God,

and His Son Jesus Christ. See, we have a book to teach us all about them.” And he took out of his pocket a Bible and showed it to the boy, but he shook his head. “I can't read it, sir,” said he, sadly; “I wish I could.” “Do you?” said the minister; “then why don't you go to school? Would you go if I paid the school-money for you?” “Yes, sir, that I would,” said the boy; his whole countenance brightening at the thought of learning to read an English book. “Well then,” said the kind-hearted gentleman, “if you come here this afternoon at two o'clock, I will take you; but you must mind all that is said to you, and be very regular and attentive.” Leo promised that he would, and the minister went his way. “Now,” thought Leo, “I must not go home, because my master won't let me go to school; but what must I do for my living 1 that's it.” Ah! that was it, he was beginning to feel hungry already : what was he to do to get food if he was at school all day? He got a piece of bread given him for his dinner, and was at the church waiting for the minister, at least half-an-hour before the time. But a fresh trial awaited him. When he got to the school the master said that he had made some inquiries about the boy, as the clergyman had wished, and that he had heard that the boy had so violent a temper that he was afraid to take him in, for fear he should injure the other boys. Leo's dark eyes flashed when he heard this, and he raised his hand, as though he would have struck the master then and there, for saying it; but at that moment he saw the ministerlooking at him with so much love and pity, that his hand dropped at his side. The action was noticed by his friend: “Come with me into the class-room for a minute,” he said, and beckoned Leo to follow him. “Now,” said he, when he had closed the door, “you hear what the master says, and #. I feel sorry for you. Do you not think if you were to try you might govern your temper which brings you into so much trouble I think you could ; indeed I am sure you could, if you asked God to help you.” “I will ask Him, sir,” said #. boy, “and I will try not to go into passions if the master will only try me; and perhaps, sir, he would tell the boys not to call me names because I can't speak quite so plain as they can, if you asked him; that's what makes me go into a passion.” “I’ll ask him to speak to the boys," said the minister; and he left him and went into the school-room again. He returned in a few minutes. “The master will take you, Leo,” he said, “but upon condition that I am responsible for your good behaviour; so think, whenever you are tempted to give way to your passionate temper, that it will bring trouble to another as well as yourself.” A month passed, and Leo had not once broken his promise, although several times tempted to do so. Perhaps he had less spirit than before, for he was now often hungry, and he looked pale and ill from want of food and from exposure, for he had to sleep under an arch or cart, or anywhere he could ; he had never been near his former master since the night he was turned out, and he was more than ever afraid to go now, but he was regular in coming to school in time, and attentive while he was there. One day it was very wet, and so Leo asked if he might stay in school during the dinner hour. “Now, Barnossi,” said one of the boys, “bring your dinner and let's have it together by the fire.” Leo did not move; this was what he had dreaded, the boys questioning him why he had nothing to eat.

“Come on," said the boy, and he went to pull him. “No, I can't,” said Leo ; and then summoning up all his courage, he said, “I may as well tell you at once, I haven't got any dinner.” The boy opened his eyes: “Are you not hungry 7" he said. “Yes,” answered Leo, sadly; “but I must put up with that.” The boy went to his companions and told them of Leo's distress, and they all cheerfully agreed to give him part of their dinners, and also arranged that they would each bring him a slice of bread, or something, each day. They were poor themselves, but they had been taught to be kind one to another; and so they spared some of their own food for the half-starved Italian boy. Happily Leo did not very long require to depend upon them, for he got employment out of his school-hours with an image-maker who was the father of one of his schoolfellows. His new master is a different kind of man from the former one. He has found out that Leo is likely to make a good scholar, so he is anxious that he should keep at school. He allows him to work at moulding the images when the school-hours are over, and to go out with his board on Saturdays, or when the school is closed; and he pays Leo wages enough for him to live with a poor widow, who loves Italy; and one of Leo's brightest dreams is, that he may be able to save money to take her back, when he goes himself. In the meantime, the progress he has made at school, and the improvement in his whole character, have established him as a general favourite both with master and boys; and his good friend the minister, when he sees him sittin in church joining in the service an worship of God, feels more than repaid for the little trouble he has taken with Leo Barnossi, the Italian image-boy, whom God's good providence brought in his way.