PERSEVERE AND PROSPER.

who left his office half an hour earlier than
usual, to see his brother-in-law, and have a
chat with him before dinner. If laughter
be a good preparative for the business of
digestion, there: was enough of it in Mrs.
Reynolds’ drawing-room that half hour
before dinner, to enable all the family to
live like ostriches for a week to come, if
they were so disposed. I dare say you know
that ostriches are able to eat, and digest
easily, things which other animals cannot.

At last, dinner was announced, and the
children were left to amuse themselves.
The younger ones went up to the nursery,
to play at “School,” and Fanny and Arthur
squeezed themselves, in what they consi-
dered a comfortable manner, into a large
easy chair by the drawing-room window.
This chair was what they called their
council-seat, and they always sat in it
together, whenever they had anything parti-
cular to talk about. On the present occa-
sion, they both ran to the council-seat, as
soon as the little ones were fairly gone.

18