ulged in repartee without having bestowed much preliminary study and
thought upon it.

I have mentioned our youngest son, Erasmus; he was born to us while we
were members of Plymouth Church, and we gave him that name in
consideration of the wishes of our beloved pastor, who was deeply
learned in and a profound admirer of the philosophical works of Erasmus
the original. Both Alice and I hoped that our son would incline to
follow in the footsteps of the mighty genius whose name he bore. But
from his very infancy he developed traits widely different from those
of the stern philosopher whom we had set up before him as the paragon
of human excellence. I have always suspected that little Erasmus
inherited his frivolous disposition from his uncle (his mother's
brother), Lemuel Fothergill, who at the early age of nineteen ran away
from the farm in Maine to travel with a thrashing machine, and who
subsequently achieved somewhat of a local reputation as a singer of
comic songs in the Barnabee Concert Troupe on the Connecticut river
circuit.

Erasmus' sense of humor is hampered by no sentiment of reverence. For
the last five years he has caused his mother and me much humiliation by
his ribald treatment of the subject that is nearest and dearest to our
hearts. In fact, we have come to be ashamed of speaking of "the house"
in Erasmus' hearing, for that would give the child a chance to indulge
in humor at the expense of a matter which he seems to regard as
visionary as the merest fairy tale. Now Galileo and Herschel are very
different boys; they are making famous progress at the manual training
school. Galileo has already invented a churn of exceptional merit, and
Herschel is so deft at carpentering that I have determined to let him
build the observatory which I am going to have on the roof of the new
house one of these days. Galileo and Herschel are unusually proper,
steady boys. And our daughters--ah! that reminds me.

Fanny is our oldest girl. She is going on fifteen now. She favors the
Bakers in appearance, but her character is more like her mother's side
of the family. If I do say it myself, Fanny is a beautiful girl. If I
could have _my_ way Fanny would be less given to the social amenities
of life, but the truth is that the dear creature naturally loves gayety
and is bound to have it at all times and under all conditions. Her
merry disposition makes her a favorite with all, and particularly with
her schoolmate