d too. We hadn't found the treasure; we had been
cheated out of our trip to St. Louis, for they wouldn't let us go back
to Havaner to get the boat; we hadn't seen Tom Sawyer. And Mr. Miller
had told Mitch a lot of stories of Shakespeare and had set him to
readin', and Mitch had read a lot of it, and told me about Hamlet who
lost his father, and killed his step-father, and saw his mother drink
poison; and had lost his girl too, and lost everything. And Mitch says,
"Pa says that is about the way. This life is sorrow, you always lose,
you never win, and if you do, it's worse'n if you lost; and you're just
bein' put through a kind of schoolin' for somethin' else. For if you
have trouble, then you are made wise and kind, maybe, or at least you
can be; and so there's something after this life where you can use your
mind as it has been made better by this life."

Well, you see, I couldn't believe this. How about John Armstrong and
Col. Lambkin, and the captain? Warn't they happy? Wasn't my grandma
happy and my grandpa? There must be a way. Some folks must have luck,
even if others don't; so I did my best to cheer Mitch up.

But now we was separated a good deal. For to watch me, pa took me to his
office where I had to sit all day mostly, and tell where he was, if I
knew; and run errands, go over to the clerk's office for papers. And
just now there was a good deal to do for court was comin' on, and they
were getting ready to try Temple Scott for killin' Joe Rainey.

At last the judge came. He came right in to see my pa. He lived way off
in Jerseyville in a different county. I don't believe Mitch and me was
ever any gladder to see each other than pa and the judge. They talked
politics and cases and about makin' speeches to juries; and they agreed
that when you get up to talk you don't know what you are goin' to say,
but you get started and you know when you get the swing, and are really
cuttin' ice. So the judge was invited to our house for dinner, and ma
bought a new lamp for the center table on account of it; and Myrtle was
all dressed up, and so was I. And ma put on a lot of airs, stretchin'
things a lot about her folks and her do'n's in society and pa's
wonderful speeches--some the judge hadn't heard. And pa told some
stories that I had heard him tell before; and when the judge spoke,
every one was quiet and scared like, even pa seemed a little
embarrassed. The judge asked me if I was goin' to be a lawyer, and I
said no, a