oment when all its wonders should be revealed to him. In fact, he
waked up about two hours earlier than usual to think of the treat in
store for him.

Paul, as he had promised, closed up his business at twelve o'clock and
came home. At half-past one the three were on their way to the museum.
The distance was but short, and a very few minutes found them in the
museum. Jimmy's eyes opened wide as they took in the crowded
exhibition room, and he hardly knew what to look at first, until the
approach of a giant eight feet high irresistibly attracted him. It is
a remarkable circumstance that Barnum's giants were always eight feet
high _on the bill,_ though not always by measure. Sometimes the great
showman lavishly provided two or three of these Titans. Where they
came from nobody knew. It has been conjectured by some that they were
got up to order; but upon this point I cannot speak with certainty. As
a general thing they are good-natured and harmless, in spite of their
formidable proportions, and ready to have a joke at their own expense.

"Oh, see that big man!" exclaimed Jimmy, struck with awe, as he
surveyed the formidable proportions of the giant.

"He's bigger than you will ever be, Jimmy," said Paul.

"I wouldn't like to be so tall," said the little boy.

"Why not? You could whip all the fellows that tried to tease you."

"They don't tease me much, Paul."

"Do they tease you at all?" asked his brother quickly.

"Not very often. Sometimes they call me Limpy, because I am lame."

"I'd like to catch any boy doing it," said Paul energetically. "I'd
make him see stars."

"I don't mind, Paul."

"But I do. Just let me catch the next fellow that calls you Limpy, and
he won't do it again."

By this time a group had gathered round the giant. Paul and Jimmy
joined it.

"Was you always so large?" asked a boy at Paul's side.

"I was rather smaller when I was a baby," said the giant, laughing.

"How much do you weigh?"

"Two hundred and seventy-five pounds."

"That beats you, Jimmy," said Paul.

"Were you big when you were a boy?"

"I was over seven feet high on my fifteenth birthday," said the giant.

"Did the teacher lick you often?" asked one of the boys shyly.

"Not very often. He couldn't take me over his knee very well."

"What an awful lot of cloth you must take for your clothes!" said the
last boy.

"That's so, my lad. I keep a manufactory running all the time to keep
me supplied."

"Do you th