Lom prepares a New Surprise. 243

finished the History of England, and could
talk Latin and Greek, and knew all that other .
boys knew, and-could do all that other boys
could do, he intended to be a great man.
This, he believed, would be the very greatest
and nicest surprise he could possibly give his
papa and mamma—much greater and nicer
than the picture he painted and laid on her
dressing-table when he was a little boy, a long
time ago. And he meant-to say nothing at
all about it till he had everything quite ready.
When he was in London he had settled to be
a shoe-black, and wear a red jacket, and have
a little pot of blacking, and two blacking
brushes of his very own. But since then he
had begun to change his mind, for he liked
to change his mind a great many times before
he ever settled anything. He was not quite
sure whether he would be a great soldier, like
the Duke of Wellington; or a great sailor, like
Lord Nelson; or a great policeman, which his
cousin Jack wanted to be; or a great shoe-
black ; or great in some hidden work like the
cripple Walter, in his story-book; or great