respected and beloved than Samuel Bissell. When I
saw him last, he had just been elected the second time to a seat in
the legislature of the State. I think he is a member of the Senate
now.

I wish you could visit his place in the country, and see his fine
garden and fine house. If you ever should happen that way, and should
learn where he lives, you must not fail to make him a visit, and to
tell him that Uncle Frank asked you to call. You will see there one of
the happiest families that you ever came across in your life. Mr.
Bissell sometimes amuses his children with stories about his boyhood,
and they are perfectly delighted with these stories.

[Illustration: MR. BISSELL AND HIS CHILDREN.]

Don't forget to inquire for the good old peddler, as soon as you
get into the house. "What! is he living yet?" To be sure he is, and
Samuel has fitted up for him one of the pleasantest rooms in the whole
house. His hair is very white, and he was very feeble when I saw him
last. But his heart was as young as ever; and he laughed, and played,
and frolicked with his grandchildren just as merrily as if he had been
a child himself.

Another thing I must tell you, while I think of it. There is a cupola
on the top of Samuel's house, and I want you should go into that, if
you can get a chance. There you will see quite a number of things
which are worth seeing. One of them, perhaps, when you come to know
what it is, will interest you more than all the rest. It is the very
telescope which used to belong to Captain Lovechild, and which made
Samuel's heart throb so, when he was a child--"put a new soul" into
him, to use his own language. The old gentleman, some time since, left
this world, I trust for a better and a happier one. Just before he
died, he made a will, in which he remembered many of his friends, and
Samuel, among the rest, to whom he gave the old telescope. Mr.
Bissell has more than once been heard to say, that he would not part
with that telescope for a good farm.

[Illustration]

CHAP. XV.

THE WINDING UP.

If I should undertake to tell my readers what lessons this story
teaches, I am not sure but they would laugh at me. I fancy I see their
bright eyes twinkle, as I begin to talk about these lessons, and I
almost hear them say to one another, that Uncle Frank might as well
carry a lantern in broad daylight, as to spend his time in telling us
what this story teaches. Some of them wonder, perhaps, if Un