Foachim the Mimic. 69

fuch way to the paftime, that he was always hunt-
ing up abfurdities in his friends and neighbours, and
no one felt fafe. |

It was a long time before Joachim found out
the change that was taking place, for there were
ftill plenty of loud laughers on his fide ; but once
or twice he had a feeling that all was not right :
for inftance, one day when he mimicked the awk-
ward walker to the boy who {poke badly and ftut-
tered, and then in the afternoon imitated the ftut-
terer to the awkward boy, he had a twinge of
confcience, for it whifpered to him that he was
a {neak, and deceitful ; particularly, as both thefe
boys had often helped him in doing his fums
and leflons when he was too idle and too funny
to labour at them himfelf. In fa@, he had
been fo much helped that he was fadly behind
hand in his books, for all the fchool had been
willing to affift “ that good fellow ‘‘Foke him, ”’ as
they called him.

At laft a crifis came. A new boy arrived at
the fchool ; very big for his age, and rather furly
tempered, but a hard working, perfevering lad, who
was ftriving hard to learn and get on. He had
one defect. He lifped very much, which certainly
is an ugly trick, and founded filly in a great ftout
boy, nearly five feet high: but he -had this excufe;
—his mother had died when he was very little, and
his good Father had more important bufinefs on
hand in fupporting his family, of which this boy
was the eldeft, than in teaching him to pronounce