238
Miah wanted me to be at work so con-
stantly. Could it have been to keep

me out of mischief? I was a tolerably
good boy, and not particularly inclined
to be sowing wild oats. So I thought

then; and so, I must add, I think now.

Why did he want me to be delving at

something from early morning till night ?
and why did he seem to be in such dis-
tress, when, for a half hour, there happen-
ed to be no work for me on the docket ?
Perhaps this intense anxiety was owing
to his strong desire to make a great
farmer of me. Let us hope that this is
the solution to the enigma.

After all, though, Uncle Miah was
cenerous—in his way. A striking exam-
ple of the kind of generosity he used to
exhibit, ever and anon, at this moment
occurs tome. Our geese had been miss-
ing for several days. Inquiries had been
made for them all over the neighborhood,
but no one had seen them, no one had
heard anything about them. Could they
have taken it into their heads to travel?
Were they making a summer tour for
the benefit of their health? It was
thought, in the circumstances, not im-
probable. They had just been picked,
and under the picking operation, one of
the veteran ganders belonging to the
flock had uttered some noisy cacklings,
the meaning of which was understood
to be about the same as the speech
which that noted frog made in the olden
time: “This may be sport to you, but
it is death to us.” There was very lit-
tle doubt that the geese had gone abroad,
for reasons connected with the picking
they had undergone, or on some other
account ; and it seemed to be necessary
to despatch a messenger after them, with
full powers to arrest them and bring

   

THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

them home. I was chosen for this im-
portant mission.

It was a fine day in midsummer, just
after dinner, when I was called to re-
ceive my charge and outfit. “ Theo-
dore,” said Uncle Miah, with rather less
than usual of that dignity for which he
was so remarkable, and which sometimes
frightened me; “Theodore, have you
raked up that clover in the orchard ?”
«Yes, sir.” “ Well, that’s right. You
have been a good boy lately. You may
go a-fishing this afternoon.” “Good !” I
thought ; “that is just what I have been
wanting foralong time.” The trout were
plenty in a stream not more than half a
mile from the house; and one day, when
we had “changed works” with Squire
Price, and I was raking hay in his mea-
dow, I had repeatedly seen them come
to the surface of the stream, on the mar-
gin of which I was at work, and catch
the grasshoppers which had fallen into
the water. Nothing could have been
proposed more acceptable to me than
this visit to the Squire’s meadow; and
I was running with all my might to get
my hook and line, when Uncle Miah
called pleasantly after me, “Stop a mo-
ment, Theodore. Those geese! they
ought to be found, that’s a fact. Let
me see. You may go and hunt them
up—it wont take long, | guess—and
when you drive them home, you may
go a-fishing, and stay all the afternoon,
till milking-time.”

There is another specimen of Uncle
Miah’s indulgence which is still fresh in
my mind. One Saturday afternoon, the
hay being all raked up, and there being
a most lamentable scarcity of work on
hand, I was permitted to walk two miles
to the village store, to-buy a jack knife.