e torment of my life."

"Mamma," chimed in Anna, while a smile twinkled in the corner of her
eye, "Cousin Jehoiakim has ruined my beautiful French wreath, and has
broken my Chinese pagoda, and my exquisite Chinese mandarins, and
soiled my Book of Beauty, and has broken my new set of chess-men that
Uncle Eb. brought from the East Indies, and has--dear mother, can you
not think of some means of sending him to Uncle Abiram's, or to
Halifax?"

"Yes, mother," said Brother Dick, with a laugh, "Hoiky has been here
mischiefizing long enough; do invent some means of packing him off. We
have been victimized long enough. He has broken every fishing-rod I
have, and has lost my hooks, and he has lamed my beautiful pony Caesar,
and ruined my gun, and yesterday, in shooting game, he shot my dog
Neptune, that I have been offered fifty dollars for, and would not
have taken one hundred."

"Wife," said our dear papa, coming into the room, "it is of no use, I
can be patient no longer, you _must_ devise some method of letting
Nephew Jehoiakim understand we do not wish his presence any longer.
Poor fellow! I would not for the world be unkind to him. I will give
him an annual stipend that will support him liberally during his life,
willingly, gladly, but I cannot have him here any longer. He is
utterly incorrigible."

"What has he done now?" asked our dear mamma.

"He left the bars down that led into my largest, best field of wheat,
and half the cattle in the country have been devouring it. They have
ruined at least a couple of hundred dollars worth. The money is not
what I care so much for, but it was the best wheat-field for miles
around, and I had a pride in having it yield more than any field of my
neighbors. I have borne with him day after day, hoping he might do
better. Poor fellow! he is sorry enough always for his mistakes. The
other day he left the garden-gate open, and the cows got in and eat
all my cabbages and other vegetables; then he leaves the barn-door
open, and the hogs go in and the calves come out."

"We will see," said our dear mamma.

The next morning at the breakfast-table said our dear mother--

"You will have a delightful day to ride in, dear nephew."

Cousin Jehoiakim opened wide his eyes, inquiringly.

"Richard, my son, I hope you did not forget to tell Mr. Grimes to let
the stage stop here this morning. It will be very inconvenient for
your cousin to be obliged to stay another day. I packed your trunk
t