ortunate name, (no a'thegither so unfortunate
either, since it helped me to sic a wife,) and I maun stop; but it's for
want o' room, and, I assure you, no for want o' matter. What I hae
tell't ye is no a tithe o' the sufferings I hae endured through this
unhappy patronymic o' mine. In truth, it was but the beginnin o' them.
The rest I may relate to ye on some future day. In the meantime, guid
reader, I bid ye fareweel, wi' a sincere houp that yer name's no Willie
Smith.

THE PROFESSOR'S TALES.

PHEBE FORTUNE.

I have now been upwards of forty years minister of the parish of C----.
Soon after I became minister, I stumbled one morning upon a small parcel
lying in a turnip field adjoining the manse. It appeared to me at first
to be a large hedgehog; but, upon further investigation, I found that it
was a seemingly new-born infant, wrapt carefully up in warm flannel, and
dressed in clothes which indicated anything but extreme poverty. There
was a kirk-road through the turnip field--my wonted passage to my glebe
land every morning; and the infant had manifestly been deposited with a
reference to my habits. I could not possibly miss seeing it--it lay
completely across my path--a road almost untrod by anybody save myself.

As I happened to have a young, and a pretty large--or, in other phrase,
small--family of my own, I hesitated at first how to proceed; but a
moment's reflection taught me the necessity of acting rather than of
thinking; and I gathered up the little innocent in my arms, and hastened
back, with all possible speed, to the manse. The little hands of the
helpless existence were moving backwards and forwards, up and down; and
its lips plainly indicated a desire for its natural beverage.

"Bless me!" said my dear wife, as I entered; "bless me, my dear, what's
that you are bringing us?"

"It's a child," said I; "an infant--beautiful as day--only look at it."

"None of your nonsense," said spousie, looking somewhat archly in my
face. "I'm sure, ye ken, we hae mae weans than we hae meat for already.
But where in all the world did you pick up this sweet little
darling?"--for, by this time, my wife had opened the flannel coverings,
and examined the features of the young stranger carefully.

My second youngest girl, about four years of age, had joined us, and,
falling down on her knees, kissed the foundling's cheeks all over. In
fact, the news spread all over the manse in less than no time; and I had
my tw