food has not only to feed you in the same way as the food of grown-up people has to feed them, but it has to make you grow bigger. You know that you are growing every day; you do not notice it much, perhaps, but when you are measured, you find that you are an inch or two taller than you were a year ago; and if you try to put on the boots that you wore last year you find that they will not go on, for your foot is larger than it was, and what fitted you a year ago will only fit a younger child now. You have grown taller and bigger in every way; your bones have grown larger, your muscles have grown thicker and stronger, and your skin has grown in order to cover the larger bones and thicker muscles. You have

had plenty of good food to eat, and so this has all come about without any difficulty to you. Your bones, muscles, and skin, are all made of tiny masses of that wonderful living stuff we mentioned in our first talk; and when these little masses, which are called cells, are well fed, each can divide into two cells, and so the whole bone or muscle grows bigger. If you eat and drink even more than is needed for your mending and growth, then the extra food may go to make fat, and you become plump little people. But those of you who are growing very fast are usually thin, for your growth takes up so much of your food that little is left to make fat.

So here is one of the most important things that your food does it helps you to grow.

And think of the bargain, Ladies and Gents: This pin for a dollar and fifteen cents!"

Then Ned's eyes burned, and his heart beat fast;

He thought of his mother, and visions passed

Before him of her, whom he held so dear, Wearing that pin. He could almost hear Her voice, as she looked in the box to see His gift (and he knew what her smile would be)

"Why, Ned, is this beautiful pin for me?" The man went on: "I say it's the chance Of a lifetime. You can see at a glance These gems are beauties, Ladies and Gents, And all for a dollar and fifteen cents!"

That settled Ned. He made up his mind, If he could borrow, or beg, or find

A dime and a nickel- the dollar was there. But what did he own, from his boots to his hair,

Worth three whole nickels? His kerchief? No; His mother embroidered the letters. Oh!

VOL. XXIV.-87.

lunch.

And there, by good luck, was cross-eyed Pete, Always hungry, and ready to eat. Ned called, as Pete lazily passed the tents: "Say, want my luncheon for fifteen cents?' The fat boy eagerly looked it through. There were cinnamon rolls and crullers, too; And hungry and hungrier he grew.

He searched his pockets many a time,
But all he could find was a little dime.
The voice of the man grew loud and high;
But he watched from the corner of his eye
To see if the youngster meant to buy.

At last he called, in a jocular way: "Look here, you, sonny, come here, I say; I see that you want this pin; well, then, "I'll sell it to you for a dollar ten."

'T was done. Pete took the lunch and was off. The man was seized with a sudden cough, As he put the dollar and ten-cent piece In a wallet, by no means free from grease. And he held the pin in the sun's bright rays Till every gem seemed to flash and blaze Before little Ned's enchanted gaze.

Of the latest song, from an organ ground.
Only five cents for a thrilling spin!
Ned sighed, but smiled as he felt the pin
Quite safe in his pocket; for, after all,
At the thought of his gift even this seemed
small.

At last, in the heat of the afternoon,
Ned traveled homeward an hour too soon
Tired and hungry, and dusty and hot,
And cross he might have been were it not
For the beautiful gift all ready to give,-
It seemed to him he could hardly live
To place his offering in her hand.