mad with a desire to gain the better of the argument
now going on between him and Mr. Browne. Mr. Browne is still, however,
holding his own. He generally does. His voice grows eloquent. _All_ can
hear.

"I shall tell my story, Tommy, in my own way, or I shall not tell it at
all!" The dignity that Mr. Browne throws into this threat is hardly to
be surpassed.

CHAPTER IX.

"Sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge."

"Tisn't right," says Tommy.

"_I_ think it is. If you kindly listen to it once again, and give your
entire attention to it, you will see how faulty is the ignorant
conclusion to which you have come."

"I'm not one bit ignorant," says Tommy indignantly. "Nurse says I'm the
dickens an' all at my Bible, and that I know Genesis better'n _she_
does."

"And a very engaging book it is too," says Mr. Browne, "but it isn't
everything. What _you_ want to study, my good boy, is natural history.
You are very ignorant about that, at all events."

"A cow _couldn't_ do it," says Tommy.

"History says she can. Now, listen again. It is a grand old poem, and I
am grieved and distressed, Thomas, to find that you refuse to accept it
as one of the gems of truth thrown up to us out of the Dark Ages. Are
you ready?

"'Diddle-dee, diddle-dee dumpty,
The cow ran up the plum-tree.
Half-a-crown to fetch her----'"

"She _didn't_--'twas the _cat_," cries Tommy.

"Not in _my_ story," says Mr. Browne, mildly but firmly.

"A cow _couldn't_ go up a plum-tree," indignantly.

"She could in _my_ story," persists Mr. Browne, with all the air of one
who, even to avoid unpleasantness, would not consent to go against the
dictates of his conscience.

"She _couldn't_, I tell you," roars Tommy, now thoroughly incensed. "She
couldn't _climb_. Her horns would stick in the branches. She'd be too
_heavy_!"

"I admit, Thomas," says Mr. Browne gravely, "that your argument sounds
as though there were some sense in it. But who am I that I should dare
to disbelieve ancient history? It is unsafe to throw down old landmarks,
to blow up the bulwarks of our noble constitution. Beware, Tommy! never
tread on the tail of Truth. It may turn and rend you."

"Her name isn't Truth," says Tommy. "Our cow's name is Biddy, and she
never ran up a tree in her life."

"She's young," says Mr. Browne. "She'll learn. So are _you_--_you'll_
learn. And remember this, my boy, always respect old legends. A
disregard for them will so un