, and catches that sounded as silly as
they were tiresome and impertinent.

And ill-mannered as this was, Mr. and Mrs. Skratdj never put a stop
to it. Indeed, it was only a caricature of what they did themselves.
But they often said, "We can't think how it is the children are always
squabbling!"

THE SKRATDJS' DOG AND THE HOT-TEMPERED GENTLEMAN.

It is wonderful how the state of mind of a whole household is
influenced by the heads of it. Mr. Skratdj was a very kind master, and
Mrs. Skratdj was a very kind mistress, and yet their servants lived in
a perpetual fever of irritability that just fell short of discontent.
They jostled each other on the back stairs, said sharp things in the
pantry, and kept up a perennial warfare on the subject of the duty of
the sexes with the general man-servant. They gave warning on the
slightest provocation.

The very dog was infected by the snapping mania. He was not a brave
dog, he was not a vicious dog, and no high-breeding sanctioned his
pretensions to arrogance. But like his owners, he had contracted a bad
habit, a trick, which made him the pest of all timid visitors, and
indeed of all visitors whatsoever.

The moment any one approached the house, on certain occasions when he
was spoken to, and often in no traceable connection with any cause at
all, Snap the mongrel would rush out, and bark in his little sharp
voice--"Yap! yap! yap!" If the visitor made a stand, he would bound
away sideways on his four little legs; but the moment the visitor went
on his way again, Snap was at his heels--"Yap! yap! yap!" He barked at
the milkman, the butcher's boy, and the baker, though he saw them
every day. He never got used to the washerwoman, and she never got
used to him. She said he "put her in mind of that there black dog in
the _Pilgrim's Progress_." He sat at the gate in summer, and yapped at
every vehicle and every pedestrian who ventured to pass on the
high-road. He never but once had the chance of barking at burglars;
and then, though he barked long and loud, nobody got up, for they
said, "It's only Snap's way." The Skratdjs lost a silver teapot, a
Stilton cheese, and two electro christening mugs, on this occasion;
and Mr. and Mrs. Skratdj dispute who it was who discouraged reliance
on Snap's warning to the present day.

One Christmas time, a certain hot-tempered gentleman came to visit the
Skratdjs. A tall, sandy, energetic young man, who carried his own bag
from the railway. The