could be a member of parliament any day in new thus i fear that we cannot lay claim to any special high in but are as susceptible as the rest of the world to filthy and its charms he and his wife abode a month at the mount the guests of the and then they went back to new taking the old man with them mrs told me that he went with them as pleased and happy as a child and that it was a sight to see the three together and for twelve months was without its adam then there came a letter to mrs which did not surprise her very much l i into bloom all the hall woods and the burn with the white snug little cottage on the p bum all ready for a new tc that i was at the for and mrs was kin see through it i never ss little place and the had a quaint window on the road had in it some of old bits of furniture from w reluctantly not knowing tt stored in one of mrs more important still who was less able than of y taste of youth had a christmas feast noon when brought his father back to the little prepared for him but of which he was till that day in ignorance peter was hanging in his cage at the door and standing within the porch all smiles though her spectacles were dim with tears what s this john asked the old man as his son set wide the painted garden gate where are you taking me to your own home father since your heart has been here so long and i pray god you may have health and comfort in it for many a day then peter who had been singularly and languid all day his rusty feathers and gave vent to the familiar followed by an extraordinary burst of speech weather for the keep up your then in tones and with a peculiarly knowing gleam in his seeing eye a s worth o an a back having thus emptied himself of his whole in one fell burst peter into his customary state of dignified silence and spoke no more till the day of his death the land the so the old man content and satisfied now that he had seen the new world and his son s settled down happy as a king among his bees and his flowers and is the picture of content to this day among the treasures he proudly shows to his many friends are the photographs of his two who have been early taught to love and his name and on the new mail day he may be seen at the quarter to four o clock in the afternoon crossing the bridge on his way to the post office to await the out of the letters and though sandy nothing of keeping the himself waiting while he reads all the and draws his own conclusions regarding handwriting and he is always ready for the both with his letter and a cheery word there ye are news to ye an plenty o t the old man has lived forty two years in one place without making an enemy or rousing the of the most yet some of us can hardly live a week without casting out with somebody a christmas feast god grant then that adam be long spared for on the day that we carry him down the to the a sweet will be lost to which could never be restored but for him when that day shall come it will be but a joyful step higher into the larger room m my aunt my aunt in my boyhood i stood considerably in awe of my aunt otherwise miss of the my father was at the fits and we lived in a but very dreary house right in the middle of the rows our outlook was upon refuse heaps and hills and my mother to the last day of her life the terrible difficulties of housekeeping in such surroundings in these circumstances it was a great treat to me to get away up to the for a few days or even for a saturday afternoon especially as my grandfather and i were great old as he was familiarly called was one of the most genial and good hearted of men and at a certain stage in my career the playing stage i loved him a good deal better than my own father whose ideas of justice and discipline i considered extreme many a time has my dear old stood between me v daughter aunt wc my mother was a little face which never lost its aunt was very her manner her st and reserved in the extreme her very with i know that her order capable of heroism and self sacrifice appalled my mother s without to still one of my sweetest po it should be but a memory was always delicate aunt that she had never had a d but though the sisters j t jt j t j a my aunt the offices at the mine were large and and there was work sufficient for a dozen clerks among so many there was a good deal of change and variety and when i was old enough to begin my career on a stool there i soon learned that it is possible to run the whole of human nature within the four walls of a counting house we were generally on pretty good terms with the office fellows � that is my father encouraged them to come about the house and my mother did what she could to make them feel that in her they had a friend aunt came a good deal too of course and no doubt she was an attraction � two or three of them were always in love with her at one time 