polite, and even formal, rather than free-and-easy
and rude. She taught him to be a man. He must not be what brave boys
called a molly-coddle: like most womanly women, she had a veneration
for man, and she gave him her own high idea of the manly character.

Natural ability, and habitual contact with a mind so attractive and so
rich, gave this intelligent boy many good ideas beyond his age.

When he was six years old, Lady Bassett made him pass his word of honor
that he would never go into the stable-yard; and even then he was far
enough advanced to keep his word religiously.

In return for this she let him taste some sweets of liberty, and was
not always after him. She was profound enough to see that without
liberty a noble character cannot be formed; and she husbanded the curb.

One day he represented to her that, in the meadow next their lawn, were
great stripes of yellow, which were possibly cowslips; of course they
might be only buttercups, but he hoped better things of them; he
further reported that there was an iron gate between him and this
paradise: he could get over it if not objectionable; but he thought it
safest to ask her what she thought of the matter; was that iron gate
intended to keep little boys from the cowslips, because, if so, it was
a misfortune to which he must resign himself. Still, it _was_ a
misfortune. All this, of course, in the simple language of boyhood.

Then Lady Bassett smiled, and said, "Suppose I were to lend you a key
of that iron gate?"

"Oh, mamma!"

"I have a great mind to."

"Then you will, you will."

"Does that follow?"

"Yes: whenever you say you think you'll do something kind, or you have
a great mind to do it, you know you always do it; and that is one thing
I do like you for, mamma--you are better than your word."

"Better than my word? Where does the child learn these things?"

"La, mamma, papa says that often."

"Oh, that accounts for it. I like the phrase very much. I wish I could
think I deserved it. At any rate, I will be as good as my word for
once; you shall have a key of the gate."

The boy clapped his hands with delight. The key was sent for, and,
meantime, she told him one reason why she had trusted him with it was
because he had been as good as his word about the stable.

The key was brought, and she held it up half playfully, and said,
"There, sir, I deliver you this upon conditions: you must only use it
when the weather is quite dry, becaus