Tiny and Johnny were planting their gardens, and Jim Brady was them. Johnny had happened to mention to Jim that he liked a garden very well, after the things were up, but that he did hate digging; and Jim, after thinking hard for a minute, had said,——  
“See here! If you’ll teach me some of the things you’re learning at school, of evenings, after my day’s work is done, I’ll dig your garden for you, and do it better than you can, for I’m a good sight stronger than you are, and I’ll help you keep it clean all summer, too. Is it a bargain?”
 
Johnny hesitated. He did not like Jim’s tone. It was quite true that Jim was the stronger of the two, but Johnny thought it showed bad taste to mention it in that sort of manner. And he did not see any particular fun in teaching Jim, especially on summer evenings. But it would be a great thing to have such good help with his garden as he knew Jim would give, so he swallowed his pride, and said, as graciously as he could,—
 
“All right. You come up after tea this evening, and we’ll begin. We have tea at six, and I’ll hurry through mine, and then, when it’s too dark to work any more, we can come into the playroom and have the lesson.”
 
You will remember that it was this Jim Brady who had given Johnny his first, and—there is reason to believe—his last cigar, and so led him, though quite unintentionally, into his first act of deceit to his mother. And the remembrance of this act was a very sorrowful one, for although Johnny, as you know, had both confessed and , and had been freely forgiven, the act remained, never to be . Do you ever think of that, when you are to do some mean, wicked thing?
 
Mrs. Leslie had called on Jim, at his bootblacking stand, soon after this occurrence, and had a long talk with him, and the next time the boys met, Jim had said, severely,—
 
“If I had an Angel for a mother, Johnny Leslie, I’d be shot before I’d behave anyhow but on the square to her, and now I’ll put you on your honor—if you find you’re learning anything she wouldn’t like, from me, you’ve only to let me know, and I’ll cut you dead!”
 
This was a rather mixed statement, but Johnny understood it, and felt himself blushing. It seemed to him that Jim had somehow got things backward, but his recent downfall had him, in more ways than one, so instead of replying, as he was greatly tempted to, that if anybody did any cutting, he would be the person to do it, he merely said, rather shortly,—
 
“Very well, I guess I know a little more about my mother than you do, so you attend to your mother-minding, and I’ll attend to mine!”
 
“Glad to hear it,” said Jim, easily, “but my mother’s what the dictionary-talkers call a traydition; I never saw her, so I’d[91] find it a little impossible to mind her, don’t you see? But I’ll tell you one thing—if your mother ever cares enough about me to give me a little extra minding to do for her, I’ll see what I’m equal to in that line, perhaps!”
 
Johnny had reported this speech to Mrs. Leslie, and she had begun to work on the suggestion. Jim had already set his mark to a promise not to smoke until he was twenty-one, and, although he did not know it, Mrs. Leslie was trying to find him a situation where he would have a certain, if small, salary, and be less exposed to temptation than he now was. She was very glad when she heard of the bargain which Johnny had made, and she presented the new scholar with a and spelling book, at once. She also gave the schoolmaster a little advice.
 
 
“You must remember, Johnny,” she said, “that Jim has had no chance to learn anything, compared with your chances, and you mustn’t look superior, whatever you do. Whenever you feel very grand, just imagine how it would be if papa should write to you in Greek, and talk to you in French and Latin, and then call you a little stupid because you could not understand him.”
 
Tiny looked rather mournful when she heard of the new arrangement, but she brightened up, presently.
 
“Is he a very big boy indeed, Johnny?” she asked.
 
“Why, no,” said Johnny, considering, “at least, he’s not much bigger than I am, Tiny. He’s only about half a head taller, but he’s a good deal thicker.”
 
“What did you say you’d teach him?” pursued Tiny.
 
“Oh, all the things I’m learning at school, I s’pose!” replied Johnny, “we didn’t settle about that, exactly, for I don’t know yet how much he knows—he can’t write, but maybe he can read a little—I hope so, for it must be stupid work to teach people their letters. But why do you want to know, Tiny?”
 
“I have a reason,” said Tiny, nodding her head wisely. “You needn’t think you know all of everything, Johnny Leslie!”
 
“I never said I did!” retorted Johnny, warmly; then he looked at Tiny, and began to laugh, she was so little, and was trying so hard to look wise and elderly.
 
“You may laugh if you like,” she said, , “I don’t mind. But if you don’t know what you are going to teach him, perhaps you know what you’re not. Are you going to teach him to sing?”
 
Johnny accepted Tiny’s gracious permission, and laughed a good deal, but at last he answered,—
 
“No, Tiny, I’m not going to teach him to sing. I am quite sure about that. Mamma says I can sing straight ahead first rate, but she never knew me to turn a yet. I wish I could sing the way you do,” he added, regretfully, “I’m so full of sing sometimes that I don’t know what to do, but I can’t make it come out.”
 
They were sitting on the back porch, pasting their scrap-books, and Mrs. Leslie was sewing at the window.
 
“Never mind, Johnny,” she said, consolingly, “you’ll not ‘die with all your music in you’ while you do so much shouting.”
 
 
“Very well, then,” said Tiny, with a look of great satisfaction, “when Jim comes, I shall tell him that if he will dig my garden for me, I will teach him to sing.”
 
Mrs. Leslie expected to hear Johnny first laugh, and then try to Tiny from carrying out her plan, but to her surprise, he did neither. He said,—
 
“I shouldn’t wonder if he’d do it, Tiny; he’s all the time whistling, and he whistles just like a blackbird, so very likely he’ll be glad to learn to sing, too.”
 
When Jim came that evening, Tiny and Johnny were both in the garden, and as Tiny had not yet met Jim, Johnny introduced them thus,—
 
“Tiny, this is Jim. Jim, this is my sister Tiny, and she wants to be in our bargain, too. Go ahead, Tiny.”
 
And so encouraged, Tiny went ahead.
 
“I have a garden, too,” she said, “but Johnny knows more of everything than I do, except singing, and I thought perhaps you’d like to learn to sing, and if you would, I’ll teach you that, and then, if you think it is worth it, will you just do the hard digging for me? I can do the rest myself, watching you and Johnny.”
 
A very gentle look came over Jim’s bold face, as he answered,—
 
&............