But it was in the winter time, in the miserable month of March especially, that the little study assumed its most snug appearance. Pile up the fire, pull down the white blind, and draw the chintz curtains; never mind soiling your fingers with that obstreperous candle-lamp, which will always fly up to the ceiling like an unfettered "Jack-in-the-box:" common candles will do for to-night; draw the red baize curtain across the door, to keep out any vagrant winds, and pull out the home hamper from under the sofa, and let us be jovial!

What an event the arrival of that hamper was! how all the house envied you when they saw your name written in a female hand on the card attached to it! It was carried up-stairs as if it were no weight at all, and eagerly cut open regardless either of the value of string to a schoolboy, or of your chum's penknife to him. Pouncing on the large "pièce de resistance" in the middle, we never thought of opening the letter accompanying the good things till each had received a cordial welcome; but a sisterly hand was recognized in the packing, as every crevice

was found filled up with oranges, nuts, or apples; and the little pot of fresh butter must have been the thought of the housekeeper, who held up her hands with horror last holidays at the imaginary description of the butter at school. What delight to find the hint that the last pie went very fast, had been understood to mean that a pickled round of beef would be preferred. Then every pot of marmalade was stored in the little cupboard, and the recipient and his chums sat down to begin the consumption of the homebaked brown loaf, than which no cake was ever better, and the fresh-made butter, every step in whose production, from the field behind the kitchen-garden to the wooden scales in the dairy, was known by heart. And, I shame to write it, the letter came last: not that our boyish appetites prevailed over our home affection, for every parcel in the hamper was a long sentence of some one's love to us; but because we were all impatience to see what each paper and each pot contained, and we could imagine almost all the contents of the letter laying on the top.

After tea is over-and that night it would

be much prolonged-we have to go down to answer our names, and shout "Here!" to the presiding monitor as he calls out all the list. In how many different keys did the "Here!" resound in the echoing hall. Every age, from nine to nineteen, sent forth its different-toned answer; there was the off-hand "Here!" of the regular elder boy; the gasping "Here!" of the youth who is always too late for everything, and who by rushing in, crushing endless toes in his progress, is but just in time to escape a heavy imposition; the timid "Here!" of the little boy, who fears to listen to his own voice, and seems startled at having had the courage to speak at all; and the dull, absent "Here!" of the student, who considers these musters as grievous interruptions, and wonders how any one can ever be expected to write a Latin essay, who has to be continually answering to his name. Then there is the trembling, guilty "Here!" of some one who is taking advantage of the dusky evening to answer to the name of a friend, and who pays a severe penalty for his good nature if he is found out, as is generally the case; and lastly,

there is the "Here!" of our waggish friend, repeatedly nightly in every different key, often in the tones of another voice wonderfully well mimicked, but always sure to elicit roars of laughter from the assembled house, and to receive, if not to merit, a severe reproof: not to mention a rough handling after the calling over is done.

Then we must forget home and hampers for a time, as all to-morrow's lessons must be learned; the two occupants of the study may now be seen lying in every variety of posture, from that of the baboon in his cage, to that of a Yankee in his native land, while hard lines are learned, or difficult problems solved. Harby men don't work much, but they work hard; and for real hard work to be seen in perfection, a study in our house, between eight and nine in the evening, may be recommended as a good "point de vue.”

CHAPTER XIII.

AN EXCEPTIONAL CASE.

"Audi alteram partem."

Chamont." There is no color of reason that makes for him: Had he discharged the trust committed to him

With that experience or fidelity

He practised heretofore, it could not be."

MASSINGER'S Unnatural Combat.

DURING the early part of my stay at Harby there was a most disagreeable monitor, and as he exercised a very considerable influence over my happiness, and was the cause of the only unjust licking I ever received, I ought to mention him; especially as he was an instance of misplaced authority, and of power abused for oppression. He was a tall boy, or rather a young man, six feet high; for he was one of the oldest in the school, as well as one of the elders of it, having