consoled themselves on the score of the housemaid's ignorance of their true value, and held themselves more stiffly and grimly than ever.

One morning, when the shutters were opened, they were surprised to find a new-comer among them. A square, thick Hassock, covered with brightcoloured drugget, stood sturdily in the midst of the room, most irreverently near the great Round Table! The very Rug rolled itself up in dismay, and the Curtains rustled so that their rings quite clattered on the rod.

"Take it away," said the Table, in great indignation, but the Chairs were so petrified with horror that they could not move.

"Go away, you impertinent intruder," said the Sofa, with dignity.

"Who and what are you?" said the Cheffonier, blandly, for he was very calm-he was quite aware that he was new and imposing, and understood his position perfectly.

"Dear me!" exclaimed the Hassock, astonished, "what a fuss about nothing-why, I am a Footstool, of course!"

"A Footstool, indeed!" observed the Ottoman, contemptuously; "pray where are your legs? I have four carved balls for supports, but you don't seem to me to have a leg to stand on!"

"Oh, I am firm and fat enough to stand alone, I don't want any legs," grunted the Hassock, sturdily.

"How shocking!" sighed the Sofa; "no legs! why, I have four."

"So have we," chimed in the Chairs.

"I am enabled to dispense with so many,' drawled the Table, grandly; "I possess one, but it is as large as four common ones, and I have three very handsomely carved claws as a sign of my rank!"

"Why, even I have three elegant slender legs, and painted green, too!" muttered a wire Flowerstand, a mere summer intruder. She was just tolerated in the summer to hold a few geraniums and heliotropes, but was scouted in winter with the empty flower-pots.

"I don't possess legs, certainly," said the Bellrope; "but then I have a very superb gilt handle!"

"Neither have I," remarked a large China Vase in a corner; "but then I am a distinguished foreigner, and have two lids!"

"She's only a preserved ginger jar," whispered the Bell-rope, loudly.

Meanwhile, the Hassock calmly sat through all the hubbub, and then said coolly,

"My good people, at any rate you seem not to

know I have a couple of ears for handles, and really they almost feel deafened!"

May I ask what you are stuffed with?" asked the Sofa, compassionately. "Hay, I suppose!" "Ugh!" groaned the Table; "how shall I bear the odour of horrid musty hay?"

“I have flock in my inside!" observed the Ottoman, complacently.

"And we are stuffed with hair," screamed the Chairs in chorus.

"And I am filled with down," chuckled the Sofa-pillow" beautiful soft white down!"

"Well," answered the Hassock, "if you do want to know, I am stuffed with shavings, and very firm and comfortable they are."

The noise that now arose beggars all description -the Table groaned as if he had been spread for a collation; every Chair had a separate creak; the Curtains rustled and jingled worse than ever; while the Sofa shook as if in an ague, so as to upset Bolster and Pillow; and the Bell-rope pulled the Bell so vigorously, that Mary ran in, thinking her mistress was up earlier than usual, and wanted her breakfast.

When peace was a little restored, and Mary had gone again, they began their series of questions again. "Have you a Cushion and a Bolster?" asked the Sofa.

"No," owned the Hassock, "I do my own business in the soft line. I am a Squab."

"Have you got pretty chintz covers like ours?" screamed the Chairs.

"Or a handsome worked one like mine?" said "I keep my chintz cover only for

the Ottoman.

a dressing-gown!"

"Have you a gilt frame and a carved eagle?" demanded the Looking-glass, joining in the debate for the first time. He was a great dandy, and rarely troubled himself about other folks' affairs, merely reflecting on what he saw.

"Hav'n't you a drawer?" asked the Cheffonier. "What can you do without a drawer ?"

"No," said the Hassock, "I am just what you see. I have a brightly-coloured drugget dress, made very plainly, and I am stuffed with shavings!" “Then, what have you got of your own?" asked the Sofa, in despair.

say

"Well," said the Hassock, thoughtfully, "I have nothing more than you see; but I dare I can do something to amuse you. Shall I tell you a story ?"

"Oh yes, pray do," exclaimed the Table, eagerly, for he led a dull life of it, and saw no change or variety except when he was covered with a fine white cloth, and adorned with good things for

breakfast. And then his friend, the Tea-urn, brought him a little news, and the Teapot talked to him. But this only happened once in the day, and there was yet nearly an hour to breakfasttime.

"I must begin," said the Hassock, "I suppose, with what I remember first. In a narrow street hard by here, there are two or three little cottages inhabited by poor people. In one of them lives a poor hard-working carpenter, a quiet, thin man, who goes out jobbing by the day, or turns his hand to anything that will bring in a few shillings to support his sickly wife. He had a little daughter, who had also been delicate from her birth, and she was now lying dead in the lowly room, while her father was making her little coffin. It is a sad thing for a father to do, and he had loved her very dearly. The Nails said they knew they should be rusty in no time, from the tears that had dropped on them as he drove them in. It was soon done, and ready to receive its little owner.

'Dear

"It's the last thing I can do for her,' said the poor man, 'and I only wish it was for myself.' "The poor sickly mother stood by him. John,' she said, softly, 'I think we are better off in one way in our trouble than rich folks are. When they lay their darlings down to their last