The things we do!

"Oh, what a piano! Why, it is as cracked as Miss Quigley's voice!"
"My dear!" says mamma. The little languid boy bursts out into a jolly
laugh.
"What funny pictures, mamma! Action with Count de Grasse; the death of
General Wolfe; a portrait of an officer, an old officer in blue, like
grandpapa; Brazen Nose College, Oxford: what a funny name!"
At the idea of Brazen Nose College, another laugh comes from the invalid.
"I suppose they've all got brass noses there," he says; and explodes at
this joke. The poor little laugh ends in a cough, and mamma's
travelling-basket, which contains everything, produces a bottle of syrup,
labelled "Master A. Newcome. A teaspoonful to be taken when the cough is
troublesome."
"'Oh, the delightful sea! the blue, the fresh, the ever free,'" sings the
young lady, with a shake. (I suppose the maritime song from which she
quoted was just written at this time.) "How much better this is than
going home and seeing those horrid factories and chimneys! I love Doctor
Goodenough for sending us here.


Pages:
217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241