in the servants'
hall?"

"Regular mutiny, sar--ab swear dat dey no stand our nonsense, and dat we
both leave the house to-morrow."

Jack went to his father.

"Do you hear, sir, your servants declare that I shall leave your house
to-morrow."

"You leave my house, Jack, after four years' absence! No, no, I'll
reason with them--I'll make them a speech. You don't know how I can
speak, Jack."

"Look you, father, I cannot stand this. Either give me _carte blanche_
to arrange this household as I please, or I shall quit it myself
to-morrow morning."

"Quit my house, Jack! No, no--shake hands and make friends with them; be
civil, and they will serve you."

"Do you consent, sir, or am I to leave the house?"

"Leave the house! Oh, no; not leave the house, Jack. I have no son but
you. Then do as you please--but you will not send away my butler--he
escaped hanging last assizes on an undoubted charge of murder? I
selected him on purpose, and must have him cured, and shown as a proof
of a wonderful machine I have invented."

"Mesty," said Jack, "get my pistols ready for to-morrow morning, and
your own too--do you hear? It is possible, father, that you may not have
yet quite cured your murderer, and therefore it is as well to be
prepared."

Mr. Easy did not long survive his son's return, and under Jack's
management, in which Mesty rendered invaluable assistance, the household
was reformed, and the estate once more conducted on reasonable lines.

A year later Jack was married, and Mesty, as major domo, held his post
with dignity, and proved himself trustworthy.

* * * * *

Peter Simple

"Peter Simple," published in 1833, is in many respects the
best of all Marryat's novels. Largely drawn from Marryat's own
professional experiences, the story, with its vivid
portraiture and richness of incident, is told with rare
atmosphere and style. Hogg placed the character of "Peter
Simple" on a level with Fielding's "Parson Adams;" Edgar Allan
Poe, on the other hand, found Marryat's works "essentially
mediocre."

_I.--I am Sacrificed to the Navy_

I think that had I been permitted to select my own profession in
childhood, I should in all probability have bound myself apprentice to a
tailor, for I always envied the comfortable seat which they appeared to
enjoy upon the shopboard. But my father, who was a clergyman of the
Church of England and th