102 CAROLINE.

 

tenement Mee nd

The carving of the cow. The children assemble in the ‘hall.

 

 

So Beechnut took a sharp knife out of his pocket, and
began, at the same time, to carve out the form of the
cow from the material which Livingston had given him,
and. to tell his story. Annie sat next to. him, watching
the progress of his work, and paying little attention to the
tale. Ellen sat next to Annie; she, on her part, listened
to the story, while she still, from time to time, observed
how the carving went on. The others were variously
interested, some in one of Beechnut’s operations, and
some in the other, but all in attitudes of close attention.

The telling of the story occupied about half an hour.
At length, Beechnut came to the conclusion, and rising
from his seat, he said,

«That is the end of the story, and now we will go and
see what they are doing in the hall.”

Beechnut gave the cow to Livingston as they went in.
He had succeeded in making a much better image than
could have been reasonably expected, considering the
nature of the material out of which he worked. Living-
ston took it in his hand and followed the rest of the
company in. They found, when they entered the hall,
that the children that were there had ceased playing, and
were all now taking their seats around the room. The
time had arrived, in fact, for the party to end, and as was
the usual custom, they were taking their places in ex-
pectation that Mrs. Keep would come into the room
where they were, and say a few words to them by way of
bidding them good-night, before they went away.

Mrs. Keep had not yet come in, and so Livingston
beckoned to Annie to come over to his seat. Annie
asked Ellen if she might go, and having obtained per-
mission, she ran across to where Livingston was sitting.