est shoe-black--Reynolds made every picture best--Buxton's
sports in boyhood, and Sir Walter Scott's--Wellington's
remark--Nat's remark twenty-five years after--Nat saving
a boy from drowning--his picture of the scene--how he used
his experience in athletic games 48-56

CHAPTER VI.

A MISTAKE.

Winter school again--the skating proposition--the proposed grammar
class--Nat does not accede--discussion on the way to the
pond--Nat the best skater--the palm yielded to him--home to
supper--teacher's remarks next day about grammar--advice to
Nat and Charlie--his reference to Benjamin Franklin and Patrick
Henry--Nat and Charlie join the class--conversation
among the boys, and with Nat in particular--Sam put into the
objective case, and his mischief-making propensity--tying a tin-pail
to a dog's tail--the delight of Sam--the sorrow of Nat, and
verdict of the boys--Sam an _im_proper noun--the end of
school 57-68

CHAPTER VII.

PROSPECT HILL.

Proposed visit to Prospect Hill--a hundred churches--situation
and description of the hill--view from the top--Trip accompanies
them--meeting with Sam and Ben Drake--Sam's assault
upon Trip--Frank's feelings--Nat's love of nature--this
characterizes youth generally who become renowned--Sir Francis
Chantrey--Robert Burns--Hugh Miller--more hope of boys
who love the beautiful of nature and art--reaching the summit--a
fire in the city--Sam's anger--counting the churches--Sam
kicks Trip down the precipice--Frank and Nat crying--Sam's
ridicule--Sam and Ben leave--Nat tells a story--carrying
dead Trip home 69-82

CHAPTER VIII.

THE END OF SCHOOL-DAYS.

The agent of the factory wants Nat--picker-boy in Lowell a short
time--his home-sickness--a good sign for boys to love home,
and why--bad boys do not love home--the young man in
prison--such lads sneer at home-sickness--interview of Nat's
father and mother on the subject--their conclusion to put him into
the factory--end of school-days 83-89

CHAPTER IX.

OPENING THE SUBJECT.

Nat coming home--telling the sad news to his mother--sifting
Sam Drake's character--going to Frank's to bury Trip--asking
permission of parents--how some take advantage--Frank's
arrangement for the burial--Trip's coffin--buried
in the garden--Nat's funeral oration--going to supper--the
difficult lesson in arithmetic--stunned by the announc