"If you are, I know you will give me a kiss." Zack hesitated again--then suddenly reached up, and gave his mother a hearty and loud-sounding kiss on the tip of her chin.

"And now you will learn your lesson ?" continued Mrs.Thorpe.

"I have always tried to make _you_ happy, and I am sure you are ready, by this time, to try and make _me_ happy--are you not, Zack ?" "Yes, I am," said Zack manfully.

His mother took him at once to the table, on which the "Select Bible Texts for Children" lay open, and tried to lift him into a chair "No!" said the boy, resisting and shaking his head resolutely; "I want to learn my lesson on your lap." Mrs.Thorpe humored him immediately.

She was not a handsome, not even a pretty woman; and the cold atmosphere of the dressing-room by no means improved her personal appearance.