16 TANGLEWOOD PORCH.

that, old gray-bearded grandsires pore over them, In
musty volumes of Greek, and puzzle themselves with try-
ing to find out when, and how, and for what they were
made.” |

“Well, well, well, well, Cousin Eustace!” eried all
the children at once; “talk no more about your stories,
but begin.”

“Sit down, then, every soul of you,” said Eustace
Bright, “and be all as still as so many mice. At the
slightest interruption, whether from great, naughty Prim-
rose, little Dandelion, or any other, I shall bite the story
short off between my teeth, and swallow the untold part.
But, in the first place, do any of you know what a Gor-
gon is P”

“I do,” said Primrose.

“Then hold your tongue!” rejoimed Eustace, who had
rather she would have known nothing about the matter. -
“Hold all your tongues, and I shall tell you a sweet
pretty story of a Gorgon’s head.”

And so he did, as you may begin to read on the next
page. Working up his sophomorical erudition with a
good deal of tact, and incurring great obligations to Pro-
fessor Anthon, he, nevertheless, disregarded all classical
authorities, whenever the vagrant audacity of his imagina-
tion impelled him to do so.