e only now wished to know how we should get hold
of the old lady, and what we should do on this joyful occasion.

Hardy said he had several pounds of gunpowder, and would sell us all
squibs and crackers. But these we did not so much want. What we wanted
was an old chair, an old jacket, hat, and other matters to dress up
the old lady when we could catch her. But how to get her into the
chair was the difficulty, and some proposed one thing and some
another. Sapskull said, "We must make her merry with some beer."
Hardy said, "We must tie her down." But I proposed to ask her to sit
for her picture as a guy, and then to carry her off. Master Quidd was,
however, more cunning than any of us, and said, "I know how to nab
her; I have a plan, and a capital one it is, too."

"What is it? what is it?" said all of us.

The fact was old Dame Clackett was a very staunch churchwoman, and
used always to go both on Wednesdays and Fridays, Rain or sunshine,
hot or cold, nothing could keep her away from her church, and we silly
boys laughed at her for it. Poor old creature! she felt more real
pleasure in this than we could imagine.

"I will tell you what we will do," said Quidd. "There is in our
outhouse an old wheeled chair which my mother used to ride about in
when she was so long ill, a year or two ago. Now, I know old Dame
Clackett is very lame just now, from having let fall her fender on her
foot. I will take this chair down, and offer to draw her to church in
it, and then, when we have once got her in the chair, we can do as we
like with her. Hurrah!"

"Won't that be fun?" continued Quidd. "Let us do it--let us do it.
There is no law against it; the thing was never thought of. It is just
like the law that was never made among the Romans that I read about in
my lessons yesterday: there was no law against a child killing his own
father. I tell you," said he, "if there were twenty old women to be
seized and burnt, nobody could be hurt for it. But you do not mean to
burn her, I suppose, do you?"

"Oh no," said we; "we only want to have some fun. We should like to
make a guy of her, that is all, and rare fun it will be."

"Let me join you," said one; "Let me join," said another, till at last
the whole school entered into the plot.

We all forgot what we should have remembered--namely, that, instead of
despising or ridiculing people who are old and helpless and poor, we
ought to treat them with kindness, respect, and consideration