r hare, first--catch it.

Sophia desired earnestly to have a share in the culinary government;
but having shown on her first trial, too decided a leaning towards
puddings and pancakes, her second essay was put off till she became
more thoroughly penetrated with the value of the eternal precept
_utile dulci_, which signifies that, before dessert it is requisite to
have something substantial.

As soon as they had finished their afternoon meal, Willis departed on
one of his customary mysterious excursions; and Jack, who, like the
birds that no sooner hop upon one branch than they leap upon another,
had also disappeared. It was not long, however, before he made his
appearance again; he came running in almost out of breath, and cried
at the top of his voice,

"I have discovered him!"

"Whom?" exclaimed half a dozen voices.

"The inhabitant of the moon?" inquired Ernest.

"No."

"I know," said Sophia playfully, "your go-cart and my doll."

"No, I have discovered Willis' secret."

"If you have been watching him, it is very wrong."

"No, father; seeing some thin columns of smoke rising out of a
thicket, I thought a bush was on fire; but on going nearer, I saw that
it was only a tobacco-pipe."

"Was the pipe alone, brother?"

"No, not exactly, it was in Willis' mouth; and there he sat, so
completely immersed in ideas and smoke, that he neither heard nor saw
me."

"That he does not smoke here," remarked Becker, "I can easily
understand; but why conceal it?"

"Ah," replied Mrs. Wolston, "you do not know Willis yet;--beneath that
rough exterior there are feelings that would grace a coronet: he is,
no doubt, afraid of leading your sons into the habit."

"That is very thoughtful and considerate on his part."

"He was always smoking on board ship, and it must have been a great
sacrifice for him to leave it off to the extent he has done lately."

"Then we shall not allow him to punish himself any longer; and as for
the danger of contagion from his smoking here, that evil may perhaps
be avoided."

"Do not be afraid, father; it will not be necessary to establish
either a quarantine or a lazaretto on our account."

"Besides, any of the boys," said Mrs. Becker, "that acquire the habit,
will, by so doing, voluntarily banish themselves from my levees."

"It is an extraordinary habit that, smoking," observed Mrs. Wolston.

"Yes," said Becker; "and what makes the habit more singular is, that
it holds out no allureme