give other people trouble. But we like
to see them full of life, and joy, and activity, for we know that that
is best for them. If a boy of twelve were to be as sage and demure as
a man, always sitting still, and reading and studying, we should be
afraid, either that he was already sick, or that he would make himself
sick."

"Then I think that you ought to be concerned about Stuyvesant," said
Phonny, "for he is as sage and demure as any man I ever saw."

Wallace laughed at this.

"There is a boy that lives down in the village that is always making
some fun," said Phonny. "One evening he dressed himself up like a poor
beggar boy, and came to the door of his father's house and knocked;
and when his father came to the door, he told a piteous story about
being poor and hungry, and his mother being sick, and he begged his
father to give him something to eat, and a little money to buy some
tea for his mother. His father thought he was a real beggar boy, and
gave him some money. Then afterward he came in and told his father all
about it, and had a good laugh.

"Then another day he got a bonnet and shawl of his sister Fanny, and
put them upon a pillow, so as to make the figure of a girl with them,
and then he carried the pillow up to the top of the shed, and set it
up by the side of the house. It looked exactly as if Fanny was up
there. Then he went into the house and called his mother to come out.
And when she got out where she could see, he pointed up and asked her
whether Fanny ought to be up there on the shed."

[Illustration: THE EFFIGY.]

Wallace laughed to hear this story.

"Then in a minute," continued Phonny, "the boy pointed off in another
direction, and there his mother saw Fanny playing safely upon the
grass."

"And what did his mother say?" asked Wallace.

"She was frightened at first," replied Phonny, "when she saw what she
supposed was Fanny up in such a dangerous place; but when she saw how
it really was, she laughed and went into the house."

"Do you think he did right, Wallace?" asked Stuyvesant.

"What do you think, Phonny?" asked Wallace.

"Why, I don't know," said Phonny.

"Do you think, on the whole, that his mother was most pleased or most
pained by it?" asked Wallace.

"Most pleased," said Phonny. "She was not much frightened, and that
only for a moment, and she laughed about it a great deal."

"Were you there at the time?" asked Wallace.

"Yes," said Phonny.

"What was the boy's n