Then the priest gave absolution. Outside the church Israel found the
companions whom he had left waiting for him.

"Well, how did you get on?" they asked.

"Bully!" answered Israel. "But if he'd said ducks he'd have got me."

Cousin James Lowell said: "See how a negro appreciates the advantages of
the confession."


DEAR L.,--A family council was held yesterday, and it is now quite decided
that mama is to take me to Europe, and that I shall study singing with the
best masters. We will first go to New York for a visit of ten days with
Mr. and Mrs. Cooley. I shall see New York and hear a little music; and
then we start for Europe on the 17th in the _Commodore Vanderbilt_.


NEW YORK.

DEAR AUNT,--We have now been here a week, and I feel ashamed that I have
not written to you before, but I have been doing a great deal. The Cooleys
have a gorgeous house in Fifth Avenue, furnished with every luxury one can
imagine. The sitting-room, dining-room, library, and a conservatory next
to the billiard-room, are down-stairs; up-stairs are the drawing-rooms
(first, second, and third), which open into a marble-floored Pompeian
room, with a fountain. Then comes mama's and my bed-room, with bath-room
attached. On the third floor the family have their apartment. We have been
many times to the opera, and heard an Italian tenor, called Brignoli, whom