wn was very different from it, or any more
creditable. I had no time to spend even in pious reflection, however.
Budge was quite wet, his shoes were soaking, and he already had an
attack of catarrh; so I took him to his room and re-dressed him,
wondering all the while how much similar duties my own father had had
to do by me had shortened his life, and how, with such a son as I was,
he lived as long as he did. The idea that I was in some slight degree
atoning for my early sins, so filled my thoughts, that I did not at
first notice the absence of Toddie. When it DID become evident to me
that my youngest nephew was not in the bed in which I had placed him, I
went in search of him. He was in none of the chambers, but hearing
gentle murmurs issue from a long, light closet, I looked in and saw
Toddie sitting on the floor, and eating the cheese out of a mouse-trap.
A squeak of my boots betrayed me, and Toddie, equal to the emergency,
sprang to his feet and exclaimed:--

"I didn't hurt de 'ittle mousie one bittie; I just letted him out, and
he runded away."

And still it rained. Oh, for a single hour of sunlight, so that the mud
might be only damp dirt, and the children could play without tormenting
other people! But it was not to be; slowly, and by the aid of songs,
stories, an improvised menagerie, in which I personated every animal,
besides playing ostrich and armadillo, and a great many disagreements,
the afternoon wore to its close, and my heart slowly lightened. Only an
hour or two more, and the children would be in bed for the night, and
then I would enjoy, in unutterable measure, the peaceful hours which
would be mine. Even now they were inclined to behave themselves; they
were tired and hungry, and stretched themselves on the floor, to await
dinner. I embraced the opportunity to return to my book, but I had
hardly read a page, when a combined crash and scream summoned me to the
dining-room. On the floor lay Toddie, a great many dishes, a roast leg
of lamb, several ears of green corn, the butter-dish and its contents,
and several other misplaced edibles. One thing was quite evident; the
scalding contents of the gravy-dish had been emptied on Toddie's arm,
and how severely the poor child might be scalded I did not know. I
hastily slit open his sleeve from wrist to shoulder, and found the skin
very red; so, remembering my mother's favorite treatment for scalds and
burns, I quickly spread the contents of a dish of mashed