"What is this?" cried he, picking up a little pamphlet, with a cover
of colored paper, which was lying on the path near the opening in the
hedge. "Oh! it is one of those tracts they leave about everywhere; it
will do very well to load my gun;" and so saying, he put the tract
into his pocket, and ran on as before.
But when he approached the village where they were shooting,
dancing, playing, and making a great noise, he suddenly stopped, for
he recollected that if he should meet with his father, who was there,
he would certainly beat him, and send him home again, in presence of
all the people who might be assembled; besides, his brother Peter was
there also, and he might see him, and tell his father. He therefore
kept at a distance, behind a hedge, not daring to advance any farther.
"Supposing I read this book!" said he, at last, after having vainly
racked his brain to find out how he could be at the fete without
being discovered. "There is nothing in it but nonsense, I know
beforehand; however, it will occupy me for a while."
This tract was called "The Happy Family," and Mark became so much
interested in it, that he not only read the whole, but many parts of
it twice over.
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