be repeated--and in the next, although Mrs Easy thought that she never
could have survived the parting with her own son, she soon found out
that she was much happier without him. A spoiled child is always a
source of anxiety and worry, and after Johnny's departure, Mrs Easy
found a quiet and repose much more suited to her disposition. Gradually
she weaned herself from him, and, satisfied with seeing him occasionally
and hearing the reports of Dr Middleton, she at last was quite
reconciled to his being at school, and not coming back except during the
holidays. John Easy made great progress; he had good natural abilities,
and Mr Easy rubbed his hands when he saw the doctor, saying, "Yes, let
them have him for a year or two longer, and then I'll finish him
myself." Each vacation he had attempted to instil into Johnny's mind
the equal rights of man. Johnny appeared to pay but little attention to
his father's discourses, but evidently showed that they were not
altogether thrown away, as he helped himself to everything he wanted,
without asking leave. And thus was our hero educated until he arrived
at the age of sixteen, when he was a stout, good-looking boy, with
plenty to say for himself,--indeed, when it suited his purpose, he could
outtalk his father.

Nothing pleased Mr Easy so much as Jack's loquacity.--"That's right;
argue the point, Jack--argue the point, boy," would he say, as Jack
disputed with his mother. And then he would turn to the doctor, rubbing
his hands, and observe, "Depend upon it, Jack will be a great, a very
great man." And then he would call Jack and give him a guinea for his
cleverness; and at last Jack thought it a very clever thing to argue.
He never would attempt to argue with Mr Bonnycastle, because he was
aware that Mr Bonnycastle's arguments were too strong for him, but he
argued with all the boys until it ended in a fight which decided the
point; and he sometimes argued with the ushers. In short, at the time
we now speak of, which was at the breaking up of the Midsummer holidays,
Jack was as full of argument as he was fond of it. He would argue the
point to the point of a needle, and he would divide that point into as
many as there were days of the year, and argue upon each. In short,
there was no end to Jack's arguing the point, although there seldom was
point to his argument.

Jack had been fishing in the river, without any success, for a whole
morning, and observed a large pond w