It is a poor rule that will not work both ways.  At least, so thought Mrs. Fletcher, though her son, Ralph Fletcher, did not seem to be of the same opinion until he had first tasted some of his own medicine.

“I wish you would pick up that book, Ralph.  You have stepped over it twice and have still left it on the floor,” Mrs. Fletcher said to her son one morning.

“I did not drop it, mother; it was Grace,” Ralph replied.

“And because you did not drop it, you think you should not pick it up?  It would be a very unhappy world, Ralph, if all worked on that principle.  However, as you seem unwilling to be polite and brotherly, I must ask Grace to place the book on the table again.”

A few mornings afterward, Ralph went to his mother, saying: 

“Mother, dear, will you take a stitch in this ball for me?  I ripped it playing with Frank Danver.  Will you do it now? because I’m in a hurry.”

“I did not rip the ball, and so I see no reason why I should mend it,” Mrs. Fletcher said.  “You did the damage; you must repair it.”

“Oh, mother—­” Ralph began, then stopped suddenly.

“Yes.  It is not quite as nice a rule for others to work by, is it, Ralph?”

“No; and it won’t be nice for me after this, if I can help it,” Ralph replied with a blush.

After which, one may be sure, the mother’s fingers went to work quickly upon the ball.  But that is a way mothers have, of ever standing ready to give help and encouragement to their boys and girls.

SWINGING.

BY ELIZABETH LINCOLN GOULD.

     Swing, swing, under the apple tree,
     Down in the orchard when apples are red;
     Catch the rope tightly then up and away you go,
     Up to the green, spreading boughs overhead.

     Swing, swing under the apple tree,
     Up till you see the sky through the green;
     Down till your feet sweep the grass growing under you,
     Up, up again to the wide, leafy screen.

—­Youth’s Companion.

[Entered at the Post Office at Elgin, Ill., as Second Class Mail Matter.]

Price of Dew Drops.—­In lots of five or more, to one address, 20 cents per copy per year, or 5-1/2 cents per copy per quarter.  Address,

David C. Cook Publishing Co., Elgin, Ill.