any thing with Tommy at his age, and it was because we managed him
rightly. You can do any thing with children you please."

"Indeed, then, Mrs. Little, it is more than I can say," remarked
Mrs. Manly. "If my children could be made any thing at all of, they
would have been different from what they are; and yet, I believe,"
she added, with a feeling of maternal pride, "they are not the worst
children I have ever seen."

"Good-nights" were now exchanged, and, after Mr. and Mrs. Manly had
walked a few steps, the former said,

"Well, this is a curious world that we live in. Ten years ago,
Pelby, then a trim bachelor, as nice and particular as any of the
tribe, said, in allusion to Tommy Little--'If that were my child, I
would half kill him but what I'd make a better boy of him!'"

"He did?"

"Yes, those were his very words. We were spending an evening at Mr.
and Mrs. Little's, and when Tommy was about two years old or so; and
Pelby was terribly annoyed by him. He acted pretty much as all
children do--that is, pretty much as Henry did to-night. But Pelby
couldn't endure it with any kind of patience."

"Ha! ha!" laughed out Mrs. Manly, in spite of herself. "How
completely the tables have been turned!"

"Yes, they have been, certainly. But what is a little singular is,
that neither of the parties concerned seem to have gained wisdom by