and stockings, and his mummery and flummery, to a
portion of your father's estates--though, for the matter of that, there
is nothing to prevent their appointing him to the Moon, except the
difficulty of getting him there! And so, your poor father's affairs have
been brought to this crisis: that he has to deal with an insult which is
perfectly absurd, and yet which he must, for the sake of his family in
all time to come, decisively and seriously deal with, in order to detach
himself, once and forever, from those Bulls of Rome; and show how
impotent they are. There's difficulty and vexation, you have helped to
bring upon your father, you bad child!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Master C. J. London. "Oh, I never went to do it. Oh,
oh, oh!"

"Hold your tongue!" said Mrs. Bull, "and do a good exercise! Now that
your father has turned that Pussy out of doors, go on with your
exercise, like a man; and let us have no more playing with any one
connected with those Bulls of Rome; between whom and you there is a
great gulf fixed, as you ought to have known in the beginning. Take your
fingers out of your eyes, sir, and do your exercise!"

"Or I'll come and pinch you!" said little John.

"John," said Mrs. Bull, "you leave him alone. Keep your eye upon him,
and, if you find him relapsing, tell your father."

"Oh, won't I neither!" cried little John.

"Don't be vulgar," said Mrs. Bull. "Now, John, I can trust _you_.
Whatever you do, I know you won't wake your father unnecessarily. You
are a bold, brave child, and I highly approve of your erecting yourself
against Master Wiseman and all that bad set. But, be wary, John; and, as
you have, and deserve to have, great influence with your father, I am
sure you will be careful how you wake him. If he was to make a wild
rush, and begin to dance about, on the Platform in the Hall, I don't
know where he'd stop."

Little John, getting on his legs, began buttoning his jacket with great
firmness and vigor, preparatory to action. Master C. J. London, with a
dejected aspect and an occasional sob, went on with his exercise.

WAITING FOR THE POST.--INTERESTING ANECDOTES.

In the village in which we were at one time residing, there dwelt, in a
small cottage commanded by our windows, a lieutenant in the navy on
half-pay. We were a child at the time, and one of our amusements was to
watch from our play-room the bees that worked in that cottage-garden,
and the "old gentleman"--as we styled him,