brother, father against son; trade was neglected, homes were deserted, and the land left uncultivated-the cruelties and horrors of civil war had visited our now happy and prosperous country. But we must hasten on. Charles the Bold

married Margaret, sister of the Queen of England. Caxton, previously to her marriage, and afterwards, was in her service; and while in it was troubled at the idle life which was almost forced upon him, and suited very badly with his industrious habits. He determined, that he might pass his time profitably, to translate a book. He proceeded some distance in it, but thinking his translation bad he gave it up, and for two years did not again touch it. One day his royal mistress sent for him, that she might have a little talk with him. He went, and after a while, with great modesty and misgiving, he showed to her what he had done; and she, correcting him in his English, commanded him to finish it, which he did. While in the court of his royal countrywoman it is thought that he saw some of those first printed books which were beginning to make such a stir in Germany and the places about; and his practical mind saw at once of what vast use printing could be made in trade. He fell in with some of the printers who had been dispersed when Mentz was besieged and taken."

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'What, with Guttenberg ?" asked Lizzy, pleased to think that perhaps she was again to hear of the man in whom before she was so much interested.

"No, not with him?"

"With Faust or his son-in-law, Peter, that found out how to cast the types ?" said George. "Nor with them, either."

"It is thought, with a man named Wynkin de Worde, and two or three others."

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How delighted he must have been!" exclaimed Alexander, "to find there was a much quicker way of producing books than he had ever before seen.

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"He must. And he earnestly set to work directly, and though rather an old man he began to learn, at great trouble and expense, a trade which was to be of such lasting benefit to his country."

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"How I should like to have seen him com

pose," said George; "I dare say it was a long time before he could pick up types as quickly as that young man we saw in the printing-office."

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He persevered and learned to be a printer, bought some type, and established a printingpress at Cologne in Germany, employed some workmen to assist him, finished translating a book he had been engaged on, printed it, and presented it to his mistress. This involved no little labour; for he says, in writing of the same, 'My pen is worn, mine hand weary and not stedfast, mine eye dimmed with overmuch looking on the white paper, and my courage not so prone and ready to labour as it hath been, and that age creepeth on me daily, and feebleth all the body." "Poor man!" exclaimed Lizzy.

"And yet it was when an old man, and in this condition that he began to be a printer, and for many years wrought so industriously at translating and printing books that people are astonished at the number he produced, considering the great disadvantages under which he must have laboured. But we must leave him at Cologne till our next meeting, as it is quite time for you all to go to bed.'

E. B.

appeared in a great variety of colours. Then we noticed the vessels which were on it. There were large ships and steam-packets, fishing smacks and pleasure boats, and they were moving about so prettily, that we thoroughly enjoyed the prospect. Then we saw the children at play on the shore. Martha Browning and her sister were there too, with the shovels papa bought for them, and their brother Tommy, who was drawing his horse and cart along with a string. At last, while all the rest were amusing themselves, we made up our minds to have a good game."

"And I have had as much as I could do," added William, "to take care of my sisters; for they seemed to forget everything but their spades and the sand."

Oh, it was such fun!" exclaimed little Emma, "for we dug great holes and buried ourselves in them. And when we were tired of that, we walked about in search of shells. See what a number we have found."

"It was very pleasant to be buried in the sand, and very nice to pick up shells; but I liked to hear the poor sailor boy talk," said Mary.

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But," inquired Mrs. Harvey, "what was it you heard that interested you so much?"

Mary was so anxious to speak, that she could hardly wait while the question was put to her. "He showed us the shells he was trying to sell, and told about others much larger and more beautiful than we have ever seen.'

دو

'I asked him," said William, "why he wandered from place to place, selling shells, instead of going in a ship, like the rest of the sailors; and he informed me, that while he was out on a voyage some boiling water fell over him, and scalded him so dreadfully, that the captain was obliged to leave him ashore,"

"Yes; and we believe it was true; for he uncovered his poor arm; and it looked quite shocking," said little Emma.

Her mamma inquired, "Has he any parents ? Only a mother, but no father."

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"Poor boy! I imagine he was very sad, was he not?" said Mrs. H.

"Oh, no, mamma, not at all," cried both her daughters at once.

"He seemed as happy as a bird," said William. Mary continued the story: I said to him, 'I suppose you have had a great many customers, as you seem so merry,' and he replied, 'I sold this morning as many shells as came to one shilling and eight pence; but as I was sitting counting the halfpence, I dropped the shilling and lost it in the sand!' Poor fellow! He said, It is of no use to fret about it; I must try the harder to sell the rest before I go home. But I must have my dinner now.' He then went away, and sat upon a heap of chalk; and we saw him take a piece of bread-dry bread-out of his pocket, and eat it for his dinner; but he looked so contented; and every time he left off eating he began to sing."

"I think I shall never forget his cheerful face,' said William. "I have often thought that we required plenty of money to make us happy, but I now believe we may be so if we are contented, even though we have very little; yet I should like to help the poor sailor boy, by giving him some of the money papa gave us, and so make up for the loss."

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'Perhaps," said Mrs. Harvey, "it would be better to purchase a few of his shells instead of giving him money, as it is desirable to encourage him to be industrious, rather than to rely upon charity. But to-morrow we will see what we can do for him. What you have witnessed to-day, however, should