the lash!" said Mrs. Royden, angrily.

"I won't have it out any more!" and Sam put it in his pocket.

"Give it to me, I say!"

"I don't wan't ter; you'll hit me with it."

Mrs. Royden could not bear to be argued with on such occasions. She made
a seizure of one of Sam's ears, and pulled it until he screamed with
pain.

"There!" said she, "will you mind next time, when I speak?"

"Yes. I don't want the old thing!" and Sam threw the contested property
across the room, under the sink.

He knew, by the flash of Mrs. Royden's eye, as she hastened to grasp it,
that danger was impending; and, starting from his chair with surprising
agility, he hopped out doors. But his lame ankle incapacitated him to
endure a long chase. Mrs. Royden pursued into the yard, and, coming up
with him, laid the lash soundly upon his head and shoulders, until he
keeled over on his back, and, holding his lame foot in the air, pleaded
for mercy. There, as she continued to beat him, he caught hold of the
lash and pulled it away from her; upon which she returned in her worst
humor, to the kitchen.

It was sad to see James escape to the barn when he saw the storm, and
Sarah make an errand up stairs.

Poor Hepsy went silently and industriously to work to avoid reproofs,
while her blue eyes filled with sorrowful tears. Georgie got his ears
boxed for some slight offence, and his crying awoke the baby, which he
had but just rocked to sleep.

At this crisis, Mrs. Royden called Lizzie; but Lizzie dreaded her
presence, and hid in the garden, with the book Father Brighthopes had
given her; and she made Willie lie down behind the currant-bushes and
look at the pictures in his primer, while she read.

Mrs. Royden was casting around for some one besides the weak Hepsy to
vent her ill-humor upon, when Chester made his appearance.

"I wish you would take that baby, Chester, and get it still! You must
not be afraid to take hold and help while you stay at home. What have
you got on those pantaloons for, this busy morning? Go and put on an old
pair. You needn't think you are to walk about dressed up every day."

"I am going to take Father Brighthopes to ride," answered Chester,
briefly.

"It is just as I expected!" exclaimed his mother. "Half your father's
time and yours will be taken up in carrying him around, and half of mine
in trying to make him comfortable here at home."

"I hope _the children_ will learn a little sweetness of temper of him,
in r