Year: 1867

MAY AND FAY.-In the white house
/ on the top of the hill, half mile. from
Aunt Rutb's, lived two of Hopes
! friends, May and Fay Bond. These


were not their true names, but the pet


names by which all the folks at home,
and all the friends who knew them well
! called them. Their true names were so
/ long that will not stop to spell them.


May and Fay were sweet girls. They
/ had light hair and blue eyes, and a
| skin as white as snow. May was ten
| years old, and had long curls. Fay
! was but six, and her hair was cut quite
short, for she had been sick-sO sick
that they had to cut off all her long
fine curls. When Fay got we'll, and
I found her curls all gone, she felt bad,
and could not keep the tears from her
eyes,. But her ma said to her, "Why,
my love, we could not have kept you
| bDth-yOu and the curls--so we thought
we would let the curls go, and keep
you" And as she said this with
such a sweet smile, that the child 8mil-
ed, too, through her tears, and said,
AIl right, ma" She was so weak she
could not say much. And from that
day she did not speak of her curls.


Hope loved these two, I think, more
than all her young friends, They were
more Like her, They had been taught
of God, and were, I am sure, the lambs
of Christ's flock. So that when Hope
was with them, she felt that she could
speak just as she thought, aud they
would know what she meant. Do you
not love those the most that think and
feel as you do ? THt


One day, Hope was sent for to come
and see those two friends Of hers. How
pie tsed she wasi All her tasks were
well done, that day, I can tell you; and
when the hour came far her to go, she
was dressed in her white frocS, and
blue sash, and went Off as gay as a
queen, with her doll in her arms.


"Don't stay till it grows dark, my
dear, " said kind Aunt Ruth, who was
glad as Hope was, at the nice time she
was going TO have; "but come home as
soon as you have some tea. It is a long
walk from the Bond house here"


Then she stood at the door and watch
ed Hope, as, with Light step, she trip
ped OF. From the green lane, Hope
burned to the road, brown, bare, and
full of dust, and went on, till she came
to the bridge. How cool and nice it
was on the bridge; for it was made
with a roof like a house, and so kept
on the hot rays OF the sun. From the
bridge the road turned once more, and
Hope walked on till she came. out where
she could look down and see her own
home, the small, brown. house, with the
trees all around it. And Aunt Ruth
had stood in the door till she saw the
white dress come out from the trees,
and pass through the gate, up the lawn
to the house of her two friends. But
she could not hear, it was so far Off, the
glad sounds that Mrs. Bond heard, as
her two little girls rushed to the door,
and caught Hope in their arms.


"Dear Hopel good HOpel I'm so
glad you have come Have you brought
your doll ? Can she speak2 Bell told
me she could. o let us hear her ~


They talked so fast, that Hope could
not tell them at first what they wished
to know but they all three laughed,
and looked so full Of joy, thGt it would
have done you good tosee them.


Three hours Of good play, not once
spoiled by a cross word or a sour look,
and then they had their tea and when
tea was done, the first thing Hope said
was,


''Now, I must go home"


mot yet, not yet,n cried both the
girls and Mrs. Bond, too, said, 'fEOt
vet, my dear. 1t is not late. You can
stay till eight, am sure, for It viii not
be dark till then"


Hope, in a sweet voice. "Aunt Ruth
told me to be sure and start for home
as soon as Z had some tea, and dare
say she is in the porch now, on the
watch for me. VIII go now, il you
please"


''You are a dear, good child. Go, my
love, and come next week to sec the
girls-Will you ?"


Aunt Ruth did watch for the white
dress from out the dark, green trees,
and as soon as she saw il, she said, in
a low voice, to her own self,


"You are dear good child, Hope.
You make and keep me glad all the
time"


Boys and girls, are you so good that
you make and keep your friends glad
all the time II. y. B.