e I for a sodger?" intimating, at the same time,
that I was "bigger than that there chap," pointing to the little fifer.
Incensed at this indignity, the boy of notes was so nettled, that he
commenced forthwith to impress on my face and head striking marks of his
irritation in being thus degradingly referred to. This I felt that I
could have returned with compound interest; but, as my antagonist had
the honour of wearing his Majesty's livery, I deemed it wiser to pocket
the affront, with my marbles, and make the best of my way off. I
accordingly made a retrograde movement towards home, full of the scene I
had just witnessed, and vociferating, as I went along, "Left, right;"
"Right, left;" "Heads up, soldiers;" "Eyes right;" "Eyes left," &c. In
short, I had thus suddenly not only been touched by the military, but
got the military touch; and from that day forth I could neither say nor
do anything, but in what I thought a soldier-like style: my play
consisted chiefly of evolutions and manoeuvres, and my conversation of
military phrases.

Shortly after this adventure, I was sent to live with a farmer in the
town, whose heart was as cold as the hoar-frost which often blighted his
fairest prospects. Fortunately for me, however, his wife was of a
different disposition. This good dame proved almost a second mother to
me, and frequently screened me from the effects of my master's rage;
but so restless and untoward (to say the truth) were my inclinations
and propensities, and so imperious in his commands, and unrelenting in
his anger, was my master, that in spite of my kind mistress's
intercession in my favour, I seldom passed a day without being subjected
to his cruel lash. This treatment was but little calculated either to
conciliate my affections, or to effect a reformation in my conduct. My
feelings became hardened under the lash of oppression; and my desire to
leave a place so little congenial with my disposition increased daily.
Meantime, all the cats and dogs in my master's house were made to go
through military evolutions; the hoes and rakes were transformed into
muskets, and the geese and turkeys into soldiers. Even my master's whip,
which was always in requisition at the conclusion of these performances,
could not eradicate my propensity for "soldiering." Every time his back
was turned, my military exercises were resumed; and when I could not by
possibility find time to be thus actively engaged, I solaced myself with
whi