sn't his true name, inherited
from his father, as my husband afterward discovered. But not suspecting
anything wrong, he engaged the lad, and took him with him on the voyage.

"And the lad behaved well aboard the ship, and he used to carve
wonderfully well--as you may see by looking at these articles--just with
a jack-knife, and finally--keeping at it in his leisure moments--he made
all these articles, carving them out of sharks' teeth.

"You can see he must have had genius; hadn't he? and yet he'd run away
from home to go to sea, as my husband afterward had good reason to
believe."

She made a long story of it, spinning out her yarn until the first set
had examined the carved work to their satisfaction.

Then, "Reverse yourselves," she said, indicating by a wave of her hand,
that they were to give place at the table to the rest of the company.

When all had had an opportunity to examine the specimens of the lad's
skill, the young girl was ordered to restore them to the box, but first
to count them.

That last clause brought an amused smile to nearly every face in the
audience, but Lulu frowned, and muttered, "Just as if she thought we
would steal them!"

Next, Mrs. Mack began the circuit of the room, carrying a long slender
stick with which she pointed out those which she considered the most
interesting of her specimens or articles of virtu.

One of these last was a very large, very old-fashioned back-comb, having
a story with a moral attached, the latter recited in doggerel rhyme.

She had other stories, in connection with other articles, to tell in the
same way. In fact, so many and so long were they, that the listeners
grew weary and inattentive ere the exhibition was brought to a close.

The afternoon was waning when they left the house. As Captain Raymond
and his family drove into the heart of the town on their way home, their
attention was attracted by the loud ringing of a hand-bell, followed now
and again by noisy vociferation, in a discordant, man's voice.

"So the evening boat is in," remarked the captain.

"How do you know, papa?" asked Grace.

"By hearing the town-crier calling his papers; which could not have come
in any other way."

"What does he say, papa?" queried Lulu. "I have listened as intently as
possible many a time, but I never can make out more than a word or two,
sometimes not that."

"No more can I," he answered, with a smile; "it sounds to me like 'The
first news is um mum,