because that was the easiest road to fame, and
disposed of him in marriage to one of the most
distinguished families of the land. She
cautiously suggested this to her husband when he
came to take his seat at her bedside; but to
her utter astonishment she found that he had
been indulging a similar train of thought, and
had already destined the infant prodigy for the
army. She, however, could not give up her
predilection for literature, and the Colonel, who
could not bear to be contradicted in his own
house, as he used to say, was getting every
minute louder and more flushed, when, happily,
the doctor's arrival interrupted the dispute.

As Ralph grew up from infancy to childhood,
he began to give decided promise of future
distinction. He was fond of sitting down in a
corner and sucking his thumb, which his mother
interpreted as the sign of that brooding disposition
peculiar to poets and men of lofty genius.
At the age of five, he had become sole master
in the house. He slapped his sister Hilda in
the face, or pulled her hair, when she hesitated
to obey him, tyrannized over his nurse, and
sternly refused to go to bed in spite of his
mother's entreaties. On such occasions, the
Colonel would hide his face behind his newspaper,
and chuckle with delight; it was evident
that nature had intended his son for a great