160 PEEP AT OUR NEIGHBORS.

As you may surmise, this urchin was a
laughing character. In fact, he laughed
as if it was a business he had taken up
for life, and one by which he intended
to get his living. If things went on well
with him, he laughed. He laughed, too,
quite as heartily, if they went ill. I
have known him absolutely convulsed
with laughter, while the village school-
master was giving him a sound drubbing
with one of the seasoned hickory sprouts,
which had been laid up for three months
‘n his desk. So you see William Scott
came pretty honestly by the title which
the boys gave him.

He was a kind, good-natured boy.