hearth), and, to our horror, thrust the handsome borrowed book into the flames, and held it there with the tongs until it was entirely consumed. Oh, how we did cry! It seemed such a terrible thing to burn a book—a precious book—of which we had so few. And then our honour was touched to the quick, for we had borrowed it. But for those very reasons the lesson cut deep, and made the impression that was intended. I for one would gladly have taken a whipping instead, to be allowed to return the book uninjured.[1]
Another punishment that was never forgotten was this. Finding I had quite a taste for natural science, my dear father had given me a fine microscope, of which I was very fond, and one day some instrument-maker sent an elegant brass-mounted telescope about twice my length, and of sufficient power to show the rings of Saturn, and the moons of Jupiter. Papa told me if I would learn how to handle the big telescope at the Observatory, and how to find any star I wanted by obtaining the right ascension and declination from the Nautical Almanac, and how to make and record an accurate observation thereon, he would give me this beauty in its handsome mahogany box for my own.
I joyfully acceded to these terms, and in less than a month I came into possession. Oh, how proud I was when, on a clear night, I would mount my prize on its polished tripod, on a big stone pillar in the garden, and show my little friends anything they called for that was then within our horizon! But one sad Saturday Satan entered into me, and I neglected to do my task of mending in the time allotted to it, being occupied with my dear telescope. I was called up, reprimanded, and told to have my task done in an hour and a half. Going back upstairs to the library, I went sky-scraping, through the big north window, with my
- ↑ He carefully concealed then from us the fact that he replaced the volume, and years passed before we found it out.
