"Dead, sir; died last night," was the low reply. “Ah, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, here's a youngster that can take his place." Mr. Saunders looked up slowly, put his pen behind his ear and glanced curiously from Tommy to Mr. Towers. "Oh, I understand," said the latter. "Yes, he is small, very small indeed, but I like his pluck. What did Number Four get?" "Three dollars, sir," said the still astonished clerk. "Put this boy down for four dollars. There! Youngster, give him your name, and run home and tell your mother hat you have a place at four dollars a week. Come back on Monday, and I'll tell you what to do. Here's a dollar in advance; I'll take it out of your first week. Can you remember?" "Work, sir work all the time?" "As long as you deserve it, my man.” Tommy shot out of that shop. If ever broken stairs that had a twist through the whole flight creaked and trembled under the weight of a small boy - or perhaps, as might be better stated, laughed and chuckled on account of a small boy's good luck — those in that tenementhouse enjoyed themselves thoroughly that morning, as Tommy ran up to his mother's room. "I've got it, mother! I'm took! I'm a cash-boy! Don't you know when they take parcels the clerks call 'Cash'? Well, I'm that. Four dollars a week! And the man said I had real pluck courage, you know. And here's a dollar for breakfast. And don't you ever cry again, for I'm the man of the house now." The house was only a little ten-by-fifteen room, but how those blue eyes did magnify it! At first the mother looked astonished; then she looked - Well, it passes my power to tell how she did look as she took her little manly boy in her arms, and hugged and kissed him; the tears, meanwhile, were streaming down her cheeks. But they were the tears of thankfulness. THE MANLIEST MAN. GEORGE W. BUNGAY. The manliest man of all the race, Puts forth his hand to help another. 'Tis the true heart which beats within Which makes the man a man and brother. His words are warm upon his lips, He is a friend and loyal neighbor. He earns his bread with honest labor. He lifts the fallen from the ground, Of dreaming Jacob's starry ladder, He strikes oppression to the dust, He battles bravely for the right, For that is mightier than might, Hail to the manly man! he comes Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; -- HEROIC DEEDS. Every word, look, or thought of sympathy with heroic action helps to make heroism. CAPTAIN D'ASSAS. On the 15th of October, in 1760, the French army, which was assisting Austria in the war against Prussia, was encamped near Klostercamp. Captain d'Assas, of the Auvergne regiment, was sent out to reconnoiter, and he moved cautiously in the direction where they feared the enemy might be, until he was some distance from his regiment. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a number of soldiers, whose bayonets pricked his breast, and a low whisper in his ear said: "Make the slightest noise and you are a dead man.” In a moment he understood all. The enemy was near. The soldiers were advancing silently so as to surprise the French. He had only to keep quiet and his own life would be spared, but many of his friends and countrymen would be slain. Only a moment for prayer, not indecision, and he shouted: "Auvergne! Here are the enemy!" By the time the cry reached the ears of his men, he was dead; but his death saved an army. The enemy retreated, knowing they could not conquer when the surprise failed. They never fail who die in a great cause. Byron. THE YANKEE BOY. JOHN PIERPONT. JOHN PIERPONT (1785 – 1866), of Connecticut, published in 1816 "Airs of Palestine," and in 1840 "Airs of Palestine and Other Poems.” The Yankee boy, before he's sent to school, No little part that implement hath had. His pocket-knife to the young whittler brings To these succeed His bow, his arrow of a feathered reed, His wind-mill, raised the passing breeze to win, |