y out the breakfast things.

"Laura," said Mr. Fenelby, "I lay awake a long time last night
thinking about the tariff, and something has got to be done about
it! I cannot, as the father of Bobberts, let it go on as it is
going."

"I lay awake too," said Laura, "and I think exactly as you do, Tom."

"I knew you would," said Mr. Fenelby. "The way Kitty and Billy are
acting is not to be borne. They acted last night as if you and I
were not capable of raising our own child! I really cannot put
another cent in that bank under the tariff law, Laura. Just think
how it looks--_we_ are not to be trusted to provide Bobberts with an
education; _we_ are not fit to decide how to raise the money for
him. No, Kitty and Billy are to be his guardians. They don't trust
us; they insist that we shall keep ourselves bound by the tariff
system. They think we don't love dear little Bobberts, and they
think they can make us provide for him, just because they have the
balance of power!"

"Yes," said Laura sympathetically. "I thought of all that, Tom, and
I don't think it does them much credit. It is easy enough for them
to say there must be a tariff, when they bring hardly anything into
the house that they have to pay duty on, but _we_ have to keep the
house going. _We_ have to have vegetables and meat and all sorts of
things, and they are making _us_ pay duty, while all they have to do
is to eat and have a good time. Bobberts is our child, Tom, and it
ought to be for us to say what we will save for him, and how we will
save it."

"That is just what I think," said Mr. Fenelby feelingly, "and I am
not going to stand it any longer. I am going to have another meeting
of congress this afternoon--"

"They will vote just the same way," said Laura, hopelessly.

"Probably," said Mr. Fenelby. "But if they do we will end the whole
thing."

"We can't send them away," said Laura. "We couldn't be so rude as
that."

"No," said Mr. Fenelby, "but we will secede. You and I and Bobberts
will secede from the Union. I never believed in secession, Laura,
but I see now that there are times when conditions become so
intolerable that there is nothing else to do. We will give them a
chance to vote the tariff out of existence, and if they don't we
will just secede from the Commonwealth of Bobberts. We will have a
free trade commonwealth of our own, and Kitty and Billy can do as
they please."

"Tom," said Mrs. Fenelby, "that is just what we will do!" And s