home again.

"School begins to-morrow. Oh, dear!" sighed Jack, as he looked up his
books in the Bird Room, a day or two after their return.

"Don't you want to go? I long to, but don't believe I shall. I saw our
mothers talking to the doctor last night, but I haven't dared to ask
what they decided," said Jill, affectionately eying the long-unused
books in her little library.

"I've had such a jolly good time, that I hate to be shut up all day
worse than ever. Don't you, Frank?" asked Jack, with a vengeful slap at
the arithmetic which was the torment of his life.

"Well, I confess I don't hanker for school as much as I expected. I'd
rather take a spin on the old bicycle. Our roads are so good, it is a
great temptation to hire a machine, and astonish the natives. That's
what comes of idleness. So brace up, my boy, and go to work, for
vacation is over," answered Frank, gravely regarding the tall pile of
books before him, as if trying to welcome his old friends, or tyrants,
rather, for they ruled him with a rod of iron when he once gave himself
up to them.

"Ah, but vacation is not over, my dears," said Mrs. Minot, hearing the
last words as she came in prepared to surprise her family.

"Glad of it. How much longer is it to be?" asked Jack, hoping for a week
at least.

"Two or three years for some of you."

"What?" cried all three, in utter astonishment, as they stared at Mamma,
who could not help smiling, though she was very much in earnest.

"For the next two or three years I intend to cultivate my boys' bodies,
and let their minds rest a good deal, from books at least. There is
plenty to learn outside of school-houses, and I don't mean to shut you
up just when you most need all the air and exercise you can get. Good
health, good principles, and a good education are the three blessings
I ask for you, and I am going to make sure of the first, as a firm
foundation for the other two."

"But, mother, what becomes of college?" asked Frank, rather disturbed at
this change of base.

"Put it off for a year, and see if you are not better fitted for it then
than now."

"But I am already fitted: I've worked like a tiger all this year, and
I'm sure I shall pass."

"Ready in one way, but not in another. That hard work is no preparation
for four years of still harder study. It has cost you these round
shoulders, many a headache, and consumed hours when you had far better
have been on the river or in the fields. I canno