hed eyes, while mother, with some
difficulty, rescued the bill from his grasp; but, before any one could
at all anticipate his purpose, he dashed in among the small change with
such zeal as to send it flying all over the table.

"Hurrah! Bob's a smasher!" said the father, delighted; "he'll make it
fly, he thinks;" and, taking the baby on his knee, he laughed merrily,
as Mary and her mother pursued the rolling coin all over the room.

"He knows now, as well as can be, that he's been doing mischief," said
the delighted mother, as the baby kicked and crowed uproariously: "he's
such a forward child, now, to be only six months old! O, you've no idea,
father, how mischievous he grows;" and therewith the little woman began
to roll and tumble the little mischief maker about, uttering divers
frightful threats, which appeared to contribute, in no small degree, to
the general hilarity.

"Come, come, Mary," said the mother, at last, with a sudden burst of
recollection; "you mustn't be always on your knees fooling with this
child! Look in the oven at them biscuits."

"They're done exactly, mother--just the brown!" and, with the word, the
mother dumped baby on to his father's knee, where he sat contentedly
munching a very ancient crust of bread, occasionally improving the
flavor thereof by rubbing it on his father's coat sleeve.

"What have you got in that blue dish, there?" said George, when the
whole little circle were seated around the table.

"Well, now, what _do_ you suppose?" said the little woman, delighted: "a
quart of nice oysters--just for a treat, you know. I wouldn't tell you
till this minute," said she, raising the cover.

"Well," said George, "we both work hard for our money, and we don't owe
any body a cent; and why shouldn't we have our treats, now and then, as
well as rich folks?"

And gayly passed the supper hour; the tea kettle sung, the baby crowed,
and all chatted and laughed abundantly.

"I'll tell you," said George, wiping his mouth; "wife, these times are
quite another thing from what it used to be down in Georgia. I remember
then old mas'r used to hire me out by the year; and one time, I
remember, I came and paid him in two hundred dollars--every cent I'd
taken. He just looked it over, counted it, and put it in his pocket
book, and said, 'You are a good boy, George'--and he gave me _half a
dollar_!"

"I want to know, now!" said his wife.

"Yes, he did, and that was every cent I ever got of it; an