; but a thrill, pulsated through infinitude,
of that joy of life which wells forever from the exhaustless fountain of
the Central Heart; a scintillation, from how afar off! of the
Immeasurable Love, of the Eternal Pity; though it seemed hardly more
human than the play of kits and puppies, or than the _anerithmon
gelasma_ (the soulless, uncontrollable titter) of the tossed spring
spray, or the blue, breezy ripple, for which overhaul your _Prometheus_,
master Tom, and when found, make a note of it.'

'Well, that's not so bad,' allowed Hepsibah, a good deal mollified.
Greek, I have observed, always has an excellent effect upon her.

'And it has a good moral, my dears,' said grandmother, 'I always like a
good moral.'

'And was the bear always good to him?'

'Well, my dear, I am sorry to say that he had once bitten off three of
his fingers. You may think this was proceeding to extremities; but, on
the whole, I give him credit for great moderation. They will bite
sometimes, however--_me teste_, who once in my proper person verified
the old proverb, which I had always taken for a bit of unnatural
history.'

'I know; 'been a bear, 'twould a bit you,' eh?'

'Your customary sagacity, Tom, is not at fault. Yes, the bear bit me.'

'Dick,' said my uncle, 'it strikes me, all this wouldn't make a bad
magazine article, if you'd only leave out your confounded speculations;
and Tom, as your cousin says, I wish you _would_ stick a little closer
to your classics.'

'Cousin Dick!'

'Well, little No-no!'

'You tell a real good story.'

'Do I? then come and pay me for it.'

'No-o! you sha-a-ant! aeou!! there now, tell us another; tell us about
the bear that bit you?'

'There isn't much to tell about that either. It was on a steamer, in the
Gulf. On the forecastle lay a stout oaken box, and in it--all his
troubles to come--was a young bear. In the top of it was an inch
auger-hole, and at this small port the poor devil used to keep his eye
all day so pitifully, that I had compassion on him, saw he would get
etiolated, and besought the captain to let him out.

''Not if I know it,' responded Dux, severely, 'he'd clear the decks in a
minute! We had one aboard once before--a big rascal, in a cage, 'tween
decks--and one dark, stormy night, he broke adrift and stowed himself
away so snug that we never found him till next day. You may judge what a
hurrah's nest there was, every body knowing this d----d bear was
_somewhere_ aboard, a