PEEP AT OUR NEIGHBORS. 161

Few of our number ever had any quar-
rels with him ; and if any one did so for-
get himself as to commence a battle with
him, just as likely as not Bill would set
his laughing engine in motion, and do
his part of the fighting with that.

He was, on the whole, a pretty good
scholar, though it happened too fre-
quently, I used to think, that he would
come to school with a very bad lesson.
For that, however, he generally managed
to make up pretty soon, probably as early
as the next day, when he would havea
better lesson, perhaps, than any other
boy in school.

As William lived in the immediate