irls were nurses,
playmates, and teachers by turns. Jeremiah wheeled him in the
wheelbarrow, and suffered him to kick his shins, and might often be seen
sedately at work hoeing or raking, with the child sitting astride on
his shoulders, and drumming with sturdy heels against his breast. One
member of the family alone resisted the sovereign charm of childhood;
one alone held aloof in cold disdain, refusing to touch the little hand
or answer the piping voice. That one was Samuel Johnson. The great
Doctor was deeply offended at the introduction of this new element into
the household. He had not been consulted; he would have nothing to do
with it! So when Miss Wealthy introduced Benny to him the day after the
child arrived, and waited anxiously for an expression of his opinion,
the Doctor put up his great back, expanded his tail till it looked like
a revolving street-sweeper, and uttering an angry "Fsss! spt!" walked
away in high dudgeon.

Benny was delighted. "Funny old kyat!" he cried, clapping his hands.
"Say 'Fsss' some more! Hi, ole kyat! I catch you."

Hildegarde caught him up in her arms as he was about to pursue the
retiring dignitary, and Miss Wealthy looked deeply distressed.

"My dears, what shall we do?" she said. "This is very unfortunate. If I
had thought the Doctor--but the little fellow is so sweet, I thought he
would be pleased and amused. We must try to keep them away from each
other. Or perhaps, if the little dear would try to propitiate the
Doctor,--you have no idea how sensitive he is, and how he feels anything
like disrespect,--if he were to _try_ to propitiate him, he might--"

"Vat ole kyat,
He's too fat!"

shouted Benny, stamping his feet to emphasize the metre,--

"Vat ole kyat
He's too fat!
_He_ ought to go
AND catch a rat!"

"Come, Benny!" said Hildegarde, hastily, as she caught a glare from the
Doctor's yellow eyes that fairly frightened her. "Come out with me and
get some flowers." And as they went she heard Miss Wealthy's voice
addressing the great cat in humble and deprecatory tones. As she walked
about in the garden holding the child's hand, Hildegarde tried to
explain to him that he must be very polite to Dr. Johnson, who was not
at all a common cat, and should be treated with great respect.

But Benny's bump of reverence was small. "Huh!" he said. "_I_ isn't
'fraid of kyats, sing-girl! You 's 'fraid, but I isn't. I had brown
k