Alice and Eva were sitting together in the pleasant sitting-room, one engaged in reading and the other in arranging an almost countless variety of pieces of calico destined to form, at some future time, a quilt which might fitly have had written upon it the motto of our country, E pluribus unum—one composed of many. So completely was Eva surrounded by the bright stripes of cloth that, at a distance, one might have supposed her to be clothed in a garment very much like that which Joseph wore—a "coat of many colours." She was considering whether or not it would be a proof of good taste to place a red block next to a blue one when she happened to remember a piece of green chintz which some one had given her, and which, with the red calico, would form precisely the contrast she desired. But the chintz was, unfortunately, in her own room, and how she should rise to go after it without displacing the groups which had been formed so carefully was a problem which Eva was unable to solve. While she was puzzling over it her brother, two years younger than herself, came into the room. He was a bright-eyed, active boy who thought nothing too difficult when fun was in prospect, but, as we shall see, was not always as ready to exert himself in order to oblige others.

"Oh, Willie," Eva exclaimed as soon as she saw him, "I am so glad you've come! Won't you please go up stairs and get something for me?"

"Well, I guess you can go after it just as well as I can," was the unbrotherly reply. "You girls seem to think that all a boy is good for is to wait on you, and I think you might just as well learn to wait on yourselves."

Eva did not answer, but wisely concluded to do without the chintz as well as she could. Willie sat down and began to whittle, taking care to let some of the splinters fall among his sister's work. Eva seemed to take no notice of this, but went quietly on with her cutting and planning. She grew tired of it, however, before long, and made up her mind to rest a while. So she began in silence to gather up her work. As she did so it would have been very easy for her to pick up the few chips which were scattered here and there about her, but Eva had not yet forgiven her brother for his want of kindness; so she said to herself: "Willie can pick up his own whittlings if he wants to. I'm not going to do it for him. I think it would be just as well to let mother see how he makes the room look when she is out. If he does not care, I am sure I needn't, and so I will let them remain just as they are."

What an affectionate brother and sister! and how they disobeyed the command, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ"! Willie, failing to find any more amusement in the use of his jack-knife, put it away, and began to study his French lesson for the next day.

Eva, on her part, commenced reading a story-book. But either it was less interesting than she had expected to find it, or her conscience would not allow her to enjoy it, for she soon laid it aside, and, for want of better employment, leaned her head on the window and watched the passers-by. Willie also failed to make such progress as he had intended, and after some time had passed exclaimed in a sort of despair, "Oh dear! I cannot translate this at all! Eva, won't you just read it to me?" Eva had now an excellent opportunity of showing her brother that she knew how to return good for evil, for she was a fine scholar and might easily have given him all the help he needed. But she resisted the "still small voice" which pleaded with her to do so, and chose rather to "pay him back" for the manner in which he had treated her. "Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh," and as Eva felt cross it was not strange that she spoke crossly: "If you will not do anything for me, you can't expect me to do anything for you. You may learn your lesson the best way you can. I'm not going to help you." Alice, who had all along been watching the conduct of her brother and sister without remark, now thought it time to interfere.

"Bring your book here, Willie," she said; "perhaps I can help you."

Willie eagerly accepted this offer, and with Alice's aid the translation was made easily and quickly. The lesson, which was a passage from a celebrated French author, happened to be the history of a savage race who lived long ago in a far-off country. These people, so the history went, having killed their rulers and thus freed themselves from the power of law, resolved that in the future every one should attend to his own interests without respect to those of his neighbours. Each one said: "Why should I kill myself by working for people for whom I do not care? I will only think of myself; I will live happily; what difference does it make to me what others may be? I will satisfy all my needs, and, provided that I have what I wish, I do not care though all around me are miserable."

So when the time came for planting corn every one said to himself: "I will plant only enough for my own wants; a greater quantity would do me no good; and why should I take trouble for nothing?" Now, the country where these people lived was divided into lowlands, which were well watered and fertile, and mountainous districts, which were less fruitful. Well, it happened that the first season was a very dry one, and while the people who lived in the valleys had plenty of food, those who lived on the mountains, having no harvest, suffered from famine. The next year the case was entirely different. This time the season was a rainy one, and the inhabitants of the lowlands were as much troubled by too great a supply of water as their fellow-countrymen had been by the want of it. And now the mountaineers rejoiced in plenty while their brethren starved. These foolish men continued their system of selfishness both when they were attacked by foreign enemies and when disease came upon them. Each one refused help to every other, and finally the whole nation perished.

"One would suppose that this story had been written expressly for you and Eva," Alice remarked when she had finished reading it.

"Why, I hope you don't think we are as bad as those savages!" exclaimed Willie, indignantly.

"Well, I think you have been acting very much like them. Don't you think so, Eva?"

Eva's face turned crimson, but she did not exactly like to confess the truth, so she made no answer.

"Well," said Willie, more frankly, "perhaps we haven't been very kind to each other to-day, but then we wouldn't keep on acting so all our lives, as those people did."

"No, I should hope not," Alice replied, "for I believe you see the folly and wickedness of such conduct. You know if we act selfishly and unkindly, it is not because we have never been taught to do better, for we have all read often of the example of Christ, who 'went about doing good,' and of whom it is written that 'he pleased not himself.' Surely we ought not to be unwilling to perform little acts of kindness toward others, although it may cost us some trouble and self-denial to do so. And even when we think that we have not been treated rightly ourselves, there is no reason why we should act unkindly in return; at least I never heard of any, did you?"

Willie answered "No," very emphatically, but Eva still kept silence. Yet the next morning when she, as usual, recited a Scripture text to her sister, Alice noticed that she had chosen this: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

THE END.