TELL THE TRUTH.
"Lose your situation? How did it happen, my boy?" "Well, mother, you'll say it was all my own carelessness, I suppose. I was dusting the shelves in the store, and in trying to hurry up matters, sent a lot of fruit jars smashing to the floor. Mr. Barton scolded, and said he wouldn't stand my blundering ways any longer; so I packed up and left."
His mother looked troubled.
"Don't mind, mother; I can get another situation soon, I know. But what shall I say, if they ask me why I left the last one?"
"Tell the truth, James, of course. You wouldn't think of anything else?"
"No; I only thought I'd keep it to myself. I'm afraid it may stand in my way."
"It never stands in one's way to do right, James, even though it may seem to sometimes." He found it harder than he had expected to get a new situation. He walked and inquired, until one day something really seemed to be waiting for him. A young-looking man, in a clean, bright store, newly started, was in want of an assistant.
Things looked very attractive, and so neat and dainty that James, fearing that a boy who had a record of carelessness might not be wanted there, felt sorely tempted to conceal the truth. It was a long distance from the place from which he had been dismissed, and the chances were slight for a new employer's hearing the truth. But he thought better of it, and frankly told exactly the circumstances, which had led to his seeking the situation.
"I must say I have a great preference for having neat-handed, careful people about me," said the man good humoredly, "but I have heard that those who know their faults, and are honest enough to own them, are likely to mend them. Perhaps the very luck you have had may help you to learn to be more careful."
"Indeed, sir, I will try very hard," said James earnestly.
"Well, I always think a boy who tells the truth, even though it may seem to go against him, —
Good morning, uncle. Come in, sir." He spoke to an elderly man who was entering the door, and James, turning, found himself face to face with his late employer.
"Oh, ho!" he said, looking at the boy, "are you hiring this young chap, Fred?"
"I haven't yet, sir."
"Well, I guess you might as well try him. If you can only," he added, laughing, "keep him from spilling all the wet goods, and smashing all the dry ones, you'll find him reliable in everything else. If you don't like him, I'll be willing to give 'him another trial myself."
"If you think that well of him," said the younger man, "I think I shall keep him myself."
"O mother," said James, going home after having made an agreement with his new employer, after such a recommendation from his old one,
"you were right, as you always are. It was telling the truth that got it for me. What if Mr. Barton had come in there- just after I had been telling something that wasn't exactly so!"
"Truth is always best," said his mother; "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
The Standard.