102 TRIALS OF THE EMIGRANT SCHOOL-BOY.

boys made any allusion to their plans for his relief,
which were now happily frustrated.

Some of the duller and coarser boys thought it odd
that Carl should frequently be caught with wet eyes,
at a time when he had so much cause for joy. They
perhaps learned to understand the thing better when
they grew older. As for Carl himself, I will not under-
take to explain his emotions. It is an effect of early
grief to give the appearance of greater age; and Carl
had, at fifteen, gone through more vicissitudes, seen
more countries, and learnt more lessons, than many a
ivan of forty. Well was it for him that he had a gay,
elastic temper ; and better still, that he had been bred
in the right ways of the Lord. See him, in the dusk
of the evening, in his chamber. The shadow is deepened
by the enormous oak which extends its branches almost
to the eaves of the house. The vociferous sports of the
school below form a contrast to the silence of the
chamber. Carl sits in the window with his arms folded,
while next his bosom he has two miniatures, and a
letter in one of his hands. What can he be thinking
about, if not the blessed days when he sat with his
father and mother under the lime-trees of his native
town? As he mused, he grew sadder and sadder, till
at length he was about to become quite womanish in
his tenderness, when, all of a sudden, a smart blow on
the shoulder woke him from his reverie, and he looked
up to discover that Barry stood over him.