e eyes sunken, and the blithe sparkle
that was so full of infectious joy is lost forever in that exhausting
blaze of girlhood. But we make no prophecy in regard to the future of
our little friend Rose. Adele thinks her very charming; Reuben is
disposed to rank her--whatever Phil may think or say--far above Suke
Boody. And in his reading of the delightful "Children of the Abbey,"
which he has stolen, (by favor of Phil, who owns the book,) he has
thought of Rose when Amanda first appeared; and when the divine Amanda
is in tears, he has thought of Rose; and when Amanda smiles, with
Mortimer kneeling at her feet, he has still thought of Rose.

These four, Adele, Phil, Rose, and Reuben are fellow-attendants at the
school of the excellent Miss Betsey Onthank. The schoolhouse itself is a
modest one, and stands upon a cross-road leading from the main street of
the village, and is upon the side of the little brook which courses
through the valley lying to the westward. A half-dozen or more of
sugar-maples stand near it, and throw over it a grateful shade in
August. In March these trees are exposed to a series of tappings on the
part of the more mechanically inclined of the pupils,--Phil Elderkin
being chiefest,--and gimlets, quills, and dinner-pails are brought into
requisition with prodigious results. In the heats of summer, and when
the brook is low, adventurous ones, of whom Reuben is chiefest,
undertake to dam its current; and it being traditional in the school
that one day a strange fisherman once took out two trout, half as long
as Miss Onthank's ruler, from under the bridge by which the high road
crosses the brook, Reuben plies every artifice, whether of bent pins, or
hooks purchased from the Tew partners, (unknown to Aunt Eliza, who is
prejudiced against fish-hooks as dangerous,) to catch a third; and
finding other resources vain, he punches two or three holes through the
bottom of his little dinner-pail, to make a scoop-net of it, and
manfully wades under the bridge to explore all the hollows of that
unknown region. While in this precarious position, he is reported by
some timid child to the mistress, who straightway sallies out, ferule in
hand and cap-strings flying, and orders him to land; which Reuben,
taking warning by the threatening tone of the old lady, refuses, unless
she promises not to flog him; and the kind-hearted mistress, fearing too
long exposure of the lad to the chilly water, gives the promise. But
with