no cousin to the vulgar hop-toad, whose presence in the garden,
in spite of his usefulness, is an affront. He is a creature of romance;
he is going a-wooing,--whatever that may be;--he only knows that it is
something dangerous. And what a glorious line that is,--

Whether his mother would let him or no.

It thrills him like the sound of a trumpet. And great, glorious Anthony
Rowley! It needs no footnote to tell about him. It is enough to know
that Rowley is a great, jovial soul, who, when the poetry is going to
his liking, cries, "Heigh ho!"--and when Rowley cries, "Heigh ho!" my
Philosopher cries, "Heigh ho!" too, just to keep him company. And so the
poem goes on "with a rowly-powly, gammon and spinach," and nobody knows
what it means. That's the secret.

Now I should not wish my Philosopher always to look upon "A frog he
would a-wooing go" as the high-water mark of poetical genius; but I
should wish him to bring to better poetry the same hearty relish he
brings to this. The rule should be,--

Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both.

When I see persons who upon the altar of education have sacrificed
digestion, appetite, and health, I cannot but feel that something is
wrong. I am reminded of an inscription which I found on a tombstone in
a Vermont churchyard:--

Here lies cut down like unripe fruit
The only son of Amos Toot.

* * * * *

Behold the amazing alteration
Brought about by inoculation:
The means employed his life to save
Hurled him, untimely, to the grave.

Sometimes the good housewife has chosen carefully every ingredient for
her cake, and has obeyed conscientiously the mandates of the cookbook.
She has with Pharisaic scrupulosity taken four eggs and no more, and two
cups of sugar, and two teaspoonfuls of sifted flour, and a pinch of
baking powder, and a small teacupful of hot water. She has beaten the
eggs very light and stirred in the flour only a little at a time. She
has beaten the dough and added granulated sugar with discretion. She has
resisted the temptation to add more flour when she has been assured that
it would not be good for the cake. And then she has placed the work of
her hands in a moderately hot oven, after which she awaits the
consummation of her hopes. In due time she looks into the moderately hot
oven, and finds only a sodden mass. Something has happened to the cake.

Suc