y_ father.' How could that be?"

"It could not be, Charlie!--how could it?" said Lewis.

"It might be, if the person happened to be his mother," answered Mary,
with a laugh.

"It is that, of course--how silly we all are!"

"My first is on the table, and under the table; my second is a kind of
grain; my third and fourth combined, form what the most romantic people
cannot well dispense with; and my whole is one of the United States."

"Let us see--California? no. Massachusetts will not do, nor Connecticut.
Oh, I have it: it is _Matrimony_--not always a united state, however!"

"You think not, Ellen? Then here is a piece of advice for you, and to
make it more emphatic and intelligible, I will write it upon a card."

Be [A] meddling man family wife.

[Illustration: Word puzzle]

"I have it! _eureka_!" cried Tom Bolton. "Be above meddling in a family
between man and wife."

"Why are pens, ink, and paper like the fixed stars?"

"They are stationary."

"A gentleman visited a prisoner; and, pointing to him, said to the
bystanders,

"'Brothers and sisters have I none;
But this man's father was my father's son.'

What relationship was there between them?"

"A slight one--only that of father and son," answered Cornelia.

"What glorious fun we have had this week!" cried George. "It will be
hard work to go back again to _hic, haec, hoc_--I wish Christmas holidays
could come once a week!"

"So do not I, much as I love them," replied Mr. Wyndham, smiling. "It is
the alternation of grave and gay, of diligent study and active duty with
lively social intercourse, which will make you complete men and women. I
would not have you to be mere drudges, in the most useful work; nor
book-worms at home, only in the library, and unfit for mingling with
your fellow-men. But much less would I like to see you
triflers--butterflies--living only for amusement. I hope you will become
earnest men and women: choosing great and good aims in life, and working
your way upward continually to greater usefulness, and to a higher moral
elevation. But amusement is not wasted time: it may be so indulged as to
be improving to the wits, and never to transgress the line of innocency.
I have often felt the benefit of a hearty laugh, when my brain has been
overtasked: it is recreation, in the strict meaning of the term--it
gives new life to the exhausted spirits. Yes, I approve of
entertainment, in its place."

"So do I, heartily, m