ssly
and hurriedly thrust them in one enclosure, and forgot to remove the
phonetic specimens before mail time. It ran thus:--

"MY DEAR FATHER: In lieu of the usual essay required of pupils on this
day, my preceptor allows me to write a letter to you, which he hopes may
serve to evince my progress in the art of composition, the improvement
in my penmanship (to which he devotes special attention), and to inform
you of my continued health. Indeed, in this delightful locality, nothing
else could be expected, as Whelpville, being 796 feet above tide-water,
is entirely free from those miasmatic influences which unfortunately
affect the sanitary condition of those institutions of learning that are
less favorably situated. The only case of sickness that has occurred
since my arrival, and for a long time previously, was that of my
room-mate and friend, Richard Gillander, whose father has recently
purchased an estate in our neighborhood, principally on account of the
salubrity of our climate. But Richard had doubtless contracted the
disease, which was of an intermittent character, at his former school,
which was the Riverbank Classical Academy, at Swamptown. Our kind
preceptor allowed Richard to return to his father's house until his
health should be entirely restored. He is now decidedly convalescent,
and has written me an urgent invitation to visit him on Saturday next.
As this invitation is corroborated by a letter from Mr. Gillander to our
preceptor, I should be much pleased to accept it, with your approval. If
you have no objection to this arrangement, therefore, I will thank you
to enclose me one dollar by mail, as the railway fare to Richard's home
amounts to nearly this sum.

"Hoping for a favorable reply, and promising myself the pleasure of
writing you a full account of this visit one week hence,

"I remain,

My dear parent,

Your dutiful Son,

THEOPHILUS."

This letter breathed such an air of lofty morality that I was quite
overcome. I enclosed the required dollar, of course, and wrote a line to
Doctor STUFFEM complimenting him upon the manifest improvement in his
pupil. I am looking with some anxiety for the promised letter recounting
the incidents of the projected visit, and have some misgivings induced
by Master DICK'S hints concerning the gun, powderhorn, and
percussion-caps. I infer, however, from the last letter, that such a
change has been wrought upon THEOPHILUS, that he will probably spend his
holid