"
"I like working," answered Ned; "nothing makes me so dull as being idle.
Besides, as grandmother says, people are far more likely to do wrong
when they are not employed. You know the lines in the hymn,--
'For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do,'"
Tom looked down and coloured.
Ned, who had not meant to give him pain by what he said, added, on
observing Tom's confusion--
"I have so many things I like to do when I go home after work, that I
don't deserve praise for not being idle."
"I wish I had anything I liked to do when work is over," returned Tom;
"but I have nothing to do but play, and I soon get tired of that."
"So do I," rejoined Ned. "I like a game of ball or cricket every now and
then as well as anybody; but it is a great waste of time, to say the
least of it, to spend all one's spare hours in play; besides, as you
say, we get tired, and do not enjoy play if we have too much of it."
"What do you do of an evening, that is so pleasant?" inquired Tom.
"Why I keep our little garden in order;--that takes up a good deal of
time; and I write a copy, and do a sum or two, and read the Bible to
grandmother."
"I should like that very well," observed Tom, "all except reading the
Bible.
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