learning do? Ere long the son got as far as syntax, about which time
the father began to lose ground, in consequence of some ugly quotations
which the son threw into his gizzard, and which unfortunately stuck
there. By and by the father receded more and more, as the son advanced
in his Latin and Greek, until, at length, the encounters were only
resorted to for the purpose of showing off the son.

When young Denis had reached the age of sixteen or seventeen, he was
looked upon by his father and his family, as well as by all their
relations in general, as a prodigy. It was amusing to witness the
delight with which the worthy man would call upon his son to exhibit his
talents, a call to which the son instantly attended. This was usually
done by commencing a mock controversy, for the gratification of some
neighbor to whom the father was anxious to prove the great talents
of his son. When old Denis got the young sogarth fairly in motion, he
gently drew himself out of the dispute, but continued a running comment
upon the son's erudition, pointed out his good things, and occasionally
resumed the posture of the controversialist to reinspirit the boy if he
appeared to flag.

"Dinny, abouchal, will you come up till Phadrick Murray hears you
arguin' Scripthur wid myself, Dinny. Now, Phadrick, listen, but keep
your tongue sayin' nothin'; just lave us to ourselves. Come up, Dinny,
till you have a hate at arguin' wid myself."

"Fadher, I condimnate you at once--I condimnate you as being a most
ungrammatical ould man, an' not fit to argue wid any one that knows
Murray's English Grammar, an' more espaciously the three concords of
Lily's Latin one; that is the cognation between the nominative case and
the verb, the consanguinity between the substantive and the adjective,