Which line from the story shows a change in Fred's outlook? Fred Miller was an only child. His father and mother had to work and could not spare time to amuse their boy. “You must play in the garden and not run about the streets,” Mr. Miller would say to Fred.

Fred was thankful when there were errands to be done. It was better to fetch flour or potatoes from the shop than to play by himself. But the errands were soon over, leaving him face to face with the old question, “What shall I do?”

“Fred,” called Mrs. Marshall, one day—she lived in the next house to Mr. Miller's—“can your mother spare you to go to the library for me? ”

Now it happened that Fred had never been to the library. So, he was eager to take Mrs. Marshall's book, and he listened carefully to the instructions she gave him. He repeated to himself all the way the title of the book he was to try to get in exchange.

Books had until then meant nothing but lessons to Fred. However, when he saw the rows of volumes on the library shelves, he woke up to the knowledge that they might mean something more. He opened one, at random; it was full of pictures. He began to read. He discovered that it was about strange places and people. It told him of dense forests and great rivers of some far-off land.

The clock struck twelve—it was a good thing for Fred that the sound was loud enough to startle him. He put back the volume of travels with a sigh of regret, found, with some trouble, the book Mrs. Marshall wanted, and ran all the way home to make up for lost time.

Though he would have been too shy to talk about them, his mind was full of the wonders he had been reading about. “I never knew there were such things; it's like—it's like having a new world to look at! I wish I could read some more; but perhaps Mrs. Marshall won't ever ask me to go again,” he thought.

Mrs. Marshall, however, did more than that. 'Why don't you get your mother to let you have a library card, Fred?' she asked, when Fred, flushed and breathless after his run, presented himself before her.

“Me! Why, I couldn't, Mrs. Marshall; I'm not grown up,” said the little boy, wistfully.

“Oh, that doesn't matter in the least,” Mrs. Marshall assured him. “Come now, Fred,” she added, “I owe you a good turn; I'll do my best to get you a card.”

Mrs. Marshall was as good as her word, and Fred, the proud possessor of a card of his own, was soon a regular visitor to the library. He had come to the end of his dull days.