One warm December afternoon, Edward lay in the shadow of the live-oak behind the house, deeply engaged in his book. The children, full of merriment, came running to him, but he did not hear them until they were close by. "Look! you young book-worm," cried Anna, holding her apron full of pecans, "see how many I've got."

"And these belong to the company," said Henry, as he swung a well filled sack from his shoulder.

"Yes," said little Mary, "one-third is mine, and another Sarah's, and another Willie's, and another Henry's." Her brothers and sisters laughed so heartily over Henry's share that Mary resolved in future to try harder than ever to learn her arithmetic lessons.

"Now," asked Anna, "don't you wish you had gone with us instead of poring over that old history?"

"No," answered Edward, "I can get pecans any day, but it is not often that I can borrow such a book as this. I would not give what I have learned about Alexander the Great for all your pecans."

"O Edward!" said Henry, "tell us a story about Alexander, and we will each give you fifteen pecans, now that's a good offer. How many in all, Mary?"

"Seventy-five," answered Mary, promptly and proudly.

The children sat down on the dry grass before Edward. He began by asking who could tell anything about Alexander. Henry thought a few moments and replied. "Alexander the Great lived between three and four hundred years before Christ. He was ruler over Macedonia and Greece, and was so successful in war that in ten years he had made himself master of half the world. He died in the thirty-third year of his age from the effects of a drunken frolic."

"Did he conquer people because they had bad rulers, and he wanted to make them freer?" asked Willie.

"No indeed, he conquered them to increase his own power and glory," replied Henry.

"Now I call that selfish, I don't call that great," said little Mary.

"Gen. Stonewall Jackson fought from very different and infinitely higher motives," remarked Anna, "but of course he was not a great man in the least, compared with Alexander." Mary looked puzzled.

Edward told her of the immense wealth Alexander took from the nations he subdued, and the magnificence in which he lived upon it.

"O! I see," cried Mary, brightening, "he was a great jayhawker." The boys laughed, and Edward commenced the story.

"Alexander had an old officer called Clitus, who, years before, had served under his father, Phillip. Clitus was the brother of Alexander's nurse, whom he tenderly loved, and moreover, had, with his own hand, saved the young king's life.

"One night, at a feast, at which Clitus was present, Alexander drank a great deal too much--"

"What! a great man drink a great deal too much?" asked Mary.

"Why, certainly," answered Henry, "didn't I tell you that he died from the effects of a drunken frolic? Do keep still, Mary,"

Edward continued; "Alexander drank too much wine, and began to brag of his own great and mighty deeds."

"To brag," whispered Mary.

"He said that Philip, his father, was not near so great a soldier as men had thought; that the most famous victory which Philip had been said to win, had been gained by himself; that his father was, however, too mean to give him the honor of it; that once, in a fight, his father, in order to save his life, fell down as if dead, and that he, Alexander, covered him with his shield, and with his own hand killed those who would have killed Philip. He added, that his father was never willing to give him the credit of having saved his life, and he said many other similar things."

"Had he ever learned the commandments--the one that says 'Honor thy father and mother?'" asked Mary.

"Whoever heard of a drunken man caring anything for the commandments?" said Anna.

Edward explained to the younger children that Alexander knew nothing of true religion, and was, therefore, much less to blame for doing wrong than we are.

"Go on with the story," said Henry.

"Well, Clitus was much displeased to hear Alexander speak thus of his father, a brave and skillful general, and he began, in a loud voice, to relate to those who sat around him Philip's wars in Greece, and to say that no one had fought so well, or acted so nobly.

"As Clitus also had been drinking too much wine, he proceeded to insult Alexander, saying what he knew would offend him most. At last, the king, who I think controlled himself, for a while, very well, commanded Clitus to leave the table. 'He is in the right,' said Clitus, rising up, 'not to bear free-born men at his table, who can only tell him the truth.' And he added other and ruder words.

"Alexander could no longer restrain his anger, but snatcluing a javelin from one of his guards, would have killed Clitus then and there had not the friends of the latter thrust him out of the hall. However, he came immediately back by another door, singing verses which bemeaned and ridiculed Alexander.

"As soon as he had come within reach, the king, striking him with his javelin, laid him dead at his feet. But the moment he saw that he had killed Clitus, his rage left him, and he was seized with the deepest remorse. Throwing himself upon his friend's body, he drew out the javelin, and would have killed himself with it had it not been wrested from him by one of the guards.

"For several days, he lay speechless and in tears on the floor of his chamber. He had determined to starve himself, and it was with great difficulty that his friends persuaded him to eat. To comfort him, the Macedonians passed a decree that he had killed Clitus justly."

"Others flattering him ought not to have comforted his conscience," said Anna. "Well, taken altogether," she added, "it is the old story of the ruin and folly that is likely to come from getting intoxicated. Boys, I do pray that you may never learn to drink."

"In what way was Alexander great?" asked Mary.

"Why, as a conqueror," answered Henry.

"I have read his history pretty carefully," said Edward, "and I cannot see that he was truly great. He used his talents only to promote his own selfish ends, and he sadly abused his naturally generous spirit. He was great in a wicked, heathen way, instead of in a Christian way. Such men can never--"

"Be great in the kingdom of Heaven," said Anna.