in his bed.

It so happened that the good nurse was a sort of family friend, and
had been a great deal in the house of Jonathan's cousin, a very
roguish boy who was always getting into some kind of scrape.

Jonathan was never satisfied with hearing of Ned's frolics. One I
will relate. "At one time," said the nurse, "his father had been ill
for some days, and the order of the house was to be very quiet, as
sleep was essential to the recovery of the invalid. Now poor Ned was
rather in the habit of making a good deal of noise everywhere, but
he loved his father, and was very anxious not to disturb him. In the
house, he could not avoid making some little noise; so he passed
much of his time out of doors, wandering about alone when he could
find no playfellow.

At last, Ned remembered that he had some money left of his last
allowance for pocket money. This was a rare thing; usually Ned's
money burned in his pocket so that there was no comfort for him till
it was spent for something or other. Often--it must be told in Ned's
favor--his pocket money was given to some poor little boy or girl
whom he saw in the street, or who might happen to come to his
father's house to ask charity. Ned's father, though not rich, gave
him pocket money, that Ned might be able to give for himself if he
had the inclination so to do. Well, it so happened that neither
charity, nor sugar-plums, nor any other sweet thing had taken off
Ned's money; he had as much as seventy-five cents in his pocket,
and, for the want of something better to do, he went into a shop,
called, in the country town in which they lived, a 'Variety Shop.'