the part of sensible parents toward our little
boy. He never stepped inside of a school-house until he was seven
years old, and, when he did so, it was to stay only a brief while. It
was six months before he became acquainted with every letter of the
alphabet, and no youngster of his years ever ruined more clothing than
he. The destruction of shoes, hats, and trousers was enough to
bankrupt many a father, and it often provoked a protest from his
mother. I have seen him, within a half hour after having his face
scrubbed until it shone like an apple, present himself in such ragged
attire and with so soiled a countenance, that it took a second glance
to identify him.

And yet, as I sit here writing by the evening lamp, I am glad to recall
that I never scolded Bob. I would have been sadly neglectful of my
duty had I failed to reprove and advise him, and I am sure he honestly
strove to obey my wishes; but the sum and substance of it all was, he
couldn't do it. He was a vigorous little fellow, overrunning with
animal spirits, high health, and mischief; and it was a pleasure to me
to see him laying the firm foundation of a lusty constitution, which,
in later years, could laugh at disease.

And then when he did take a start in his studies, he advanced with a
speed that astonished his teacher. At the age of twelve there was not
a girl or boy in school (and some of them were several years older than
he) who could hold his own with him. I took some credit to myself for
all this, for I believed it was largely due to the common-sense I used
in his early youth. The foundation was strong and secure, and the
building erected upon it was upon solid rock.

During the last two or three years I suffered from a great fear.
Between the school-house and our home was a mill-pond, which in many
places was fully a dozen feet deep. I knew what a temptation this was
to the boys during the long, sultry summer weather, and there was not a
day when a dozen youngsters, more or less, were not frolicking and
splashing in it.

One afternoon, when I sauntered thither, I found fully a score of them
in the height of enjoyment, and the wildest and most reckless fellow
was my Bob. When he observed me standing on the shore he was so
anxious to astonish me that he ventured into the water up to his chin,
I shouted to him to come to shore, for he was in fearful peril, and it
needed only a few inches further advance for him to drown before help
co