JOHNNY'S REASON.
A CIRCUS came to town, and everybody knows how the music and the grand tent and horses set all the boys agog. Quarters and shillings are in great demand; and many a choice bit of money have the circus-riders carried away which was meant for better purposes.
A little boy was seen looking around the premises with a great deal of curiosity. "Halloo, Johnny," said a man who knew him, "going to the circus?"
"No, sir," answered Johnny, "father don't like 'em."
"Oh well, I'll give you money to go, Johnny," said the man.
"Father don't approve of them," answered Johnny.
"Well, go in for once, and I'll pay for you."
"No, sir," said Johnny, " my father would give me the money if he thought 'twere best; besides, I've got twenty-five cents in my strong box, twice enough to go."
"I'd go, Johnny, for once; it's wonderful, the way the horses do," said the man. "Your father needn't know it."
"I can't," said the boy.
"Now why?" asked the man.
"'Cause," said Johnny, twirling his bare toes in the sand, "after I'd been, I couldn't look my father right in the eye, but I can now."
Anon.