boy or girl may do grievous injury to another by fostering hasty and prejudicial suspicions, which a little thought would have dispelled. | but a few doors off, prompted by a spirit of admiration or envy, purchased, at a considerable expense, some Aylesbury ducks, exactly similar to my own, and our respective pets craved the admiration of the good people of Somerford, as the village was called. With the intention of making my waddling favourites as comfortable as possible, I devoted my half-holidays and all available time to the construction of a habitation for them a perfect duck's palace, into which I drove the happy inhabitants every night, releasing them at an early hour in the morning, by means of which both myself and little family became much improved in our health and habits. Shipley was unfortunately a very lazy boy, who never could be induced to do more than was absohe was too slothful to have it decently mended; if Ihis ball became undone, he never thought of stitching it up; and as long as his ducks remained alive, he cared but little what became of them. No house had they in which to dwell-homeless vagabonds, they sailed down the river, or patrolled the village in a most disorderly manner, for the most part spending their evenings among some timber in a yard adjoining the house. If my ducks occasionally levied black mail on the gardeners, his devastated whole regions, and became special objects of ill-will to the inhabitants of Somerford. The kind reader must picture me promoted from frocks and pinafores to the dignity of jacket and trousers, having, in fact, succeeded in attaining to the rank of Roger Morley, schoolboy, vice a child of that name superannuated, as the official gazettes have it. Very proud indeed was I of my habiliments; and though I have been successively attired in frock-coat and dress-coat, I never remember any kind of dress which, to my taste, was so admirably made as this my first boy's costume. The school (a day establishment only) to which I was attached was attended by some forty or fifty boys of about my own age, with whom I have played the most en-lutely indispensable. If his jacket had a hole in it, joyable games of cricket, leap-frog, and fives, the latter of which was my favourite amusement. think most children, and certainly all good ones, are fond of, and therefore kind to, animals; and the system of entrusting them with some pets to tend is no bad inducement to those habits of humanity, without which a man is worse than a brute. Some boys kept silkworms, and displayed numerous skeins of delicately soft silk as the produce of their favourites' toil; these pets, however, were never peculiarly popular, on account of the shortness of their lives. Guinea-pigs found some admirers, by reason of their odd appearance; dormice and squirrels, from It often struck me, that my birds would remontheir elegance; and rabbits and poultry a more ex-strate with those of my friend on their very dissitended circle of patrons, from their superior advan-pated habits, but as apparently their well-intentioned tages as profitable things; of course, no eggs were so fine or so good as those produced by our own hens, and as they only cost us about double their market worth, they were considered remarkably cheap. As there was a large and beautiful river which ran immediately behind the garden attached to my father's house, I was permitted to keep ducks for my special amusement; and although the gardener some times complained that all the vegetables were devoured by my web-footed friends, I thought that a matter of very little importance compared to the pleasure I derived from witnessing the swimming powers of my wonderful ducks. They were all snowy-white, perfect Aylesbury's, of unwonted plumpness, and were much valued as the gift of a kind uncle. Of course I told all my school companions what beautiful birds I had; and, indeed, had they been ostriches or phoenixes, they could not have been more precious in my eyes. On half-holidays, during the spring season, I used to invite my more intimate friends to my father's garden, from which we admired the ducks, and wherein we made paper boats, which we floated down the stream. Unfortunately, some of the admiring friends determined on keeping ducks also, and as I could urge no arguments against such a course, there were soon more web-footed birds than fish in our river. A lad named Shipley, who lived hints were not acted on, my respectable ducks seemed to "cut" their vagrant neighbours, and passed them on the water with the utmost unconcern. I would gladly have stated that the conduct of my well.regulated waddlers had a good effect on the ill-conducted vagrants; but it was not so; they looked fat and happy, and plundered with the utmost indifference. I was looking forward with the greatest anxiety for the first duck's egg which should reward my exertions, when, on taking my satchel to school in due course, I met Frank Shipley in the playground, holding something in both hands, and calling on the by-standers to name what was concealed; one named an orange, another an apple, but the answer to each was, "Guess again." "A top!" I exclaimed, thinking I must be correct. "Not a bit of it," he replied; "it is something you have not got." 66 A duck's egg," I hinted, gathering my cue from his hint. Hereupon one hand was removed, and a fine, white duck's egg was displayed to the admiring gaze of the schoolboys. "There, Lord Roger de Duckhouse," said the owner, laughing; "have your domesticated birds done better than my roving blades?'" "You are certainly earlier than myself," answered I; "but, perhaps, I shall have as much success as you in the long-run." These words I uttered in the utmost innocence, but | Roger; one out of seventeen makes but little difit seemed my companions regarded them as ominous, ference, and the rest are doing remarkably well.” as several remarked-"Fair play, Roger!" while "I should not be surprised," I added, "if you one speculative youth, of somewhat vulgar tastes, lost more." the son of the village innkeeper, cried out-"Two to one on Shipley's quacks, barring murder or poison!" Shipley was really a good-natured boy, and as he did not wish to pain me by appearing to think I would harm him or his ducks, he said-" Come, Roger, if my quacks are better layers than yours, you are the best fives' player; let us choose in two on each side." I, having accepted the challenge, and selected my partners, Shipley, in his usual careless manner, dropped his treasured duck's egg on a little heap of sand in a corner of the fives-court, and commenced the game. Very unluckily, in running after a ball, stuck with much dexterity in an unexpected corner, I trod on the egg. Poor Shipley's sorrow was immense the first production of his ducks deserved a better fate; but he controlled any tendency to anger, and seizing my hand, checked my sincere expressions of regret by saying, the accident was his fault; and that I could not help it. This was undoubtedly true; but I was much pained at the circumstance, the more especially as it might seem I had the destruction of his treasure in view when I remarked that I might possibly be equal with him in the long-run. Notwithstanding that I was still eggless, I was somewhat pleased to find that Shipley's duck continued to produce one daily, until he had fully a dozen eggs before I was in possession of one. The first one I had-a fine delicate white egg-I persisted in his accepting, in lieu of the one I had been so unlucky as to destroy. To satisfy me, he acquiesced in my wish; and in due course sat, as it is termed, his vagrant duck, by permitting her to brood over the eggs in a nettle-bed in the yard. To avoid tiring my readers with a needless repetition of what befel our respective favourites, I may mention that when a strong, promising troop of waddlers, the property of my friend, had attained their majority, . e. twenty-one days, a much smaller family gladdened my duckhouse. My unlucky allusion to my probable better success seemed almost forgotten, or remembered only to form the subject of a laugh against me, when, unfortunately, one of Shipley's happy family, which was the subject of but very little care, was missing. Search was made in every nettle-bed, every garden, each orchard: all the planks in the yard were removed, to ascertain if the lost one or his carcase could be found; but, alas! no trace could be discovered, and the fate of the duckling remained a mystery. I begged Frank to guard against future loss, by shutting up the young folks nightly in some place of safety. To this he only replied:-" Nonsense, my dear It pleased Frank to assume a kind of belief in fate, the better to excuse his own idleness, and he only responded-" What must be will be; locking ducks up won't save them if they are to die." The next morning Frank came to school with a somewhat rueful countenance, and proceeded to inform his friends that a further loss of two fine ducklings had befallen him, and that he was, as before, utterly unable to account for the circumstance. Again I recommended that he should build some shed, and send his favourites in every night, but I observed that on this occasion his voice assumed a more spiteful tone, as he remarked:—“ Though I have lost three, my brood is stronger and finer than yours.' Well," I answered, in all innocence, "I hope you may continue to say so, but still I have my doubts.' 66 Here I must slightly break off the thread of my narrative, for the purpose of informing the reader that, notwithstanding my endeavours to live on good terms with all my schoolfellows, there was one whose friendship I could never gain. I believe our respective fathers had, on one occasion, had a misunderstanding, and Joseph Huntley could never forgive me for being my parent's son. Joined to this cause of anger-he being an idle fellow—I had, though much his junior, succeeded in keeping a higher place in the class than himself. Frank Shipley, whose faults were certainly not of a mean order, had hitherto kept aloof from Huntley, and only joined him in games from which he could not escape. Knowing this, I was somewhat surprised to find, on my return from the morning school, that the two were walking home, arm in arm, talking apparently in the most confidential strain. I had certainly no wish to overhear their conversation, but I could not avoid catching, as I passed them, some such sentences as these: "Morley's ducks are never lost, Shipley. I wonder how that is? Perhaps he knows something of the going of yours." "No! I should think not," was the answer, delivered in a hesitating manner. "What, did he say his would do as well as yours in the long-run? As I passed the pair hurriedly, I heard no more; but I was sorry to find that Shipley's confidence in meseemed shaken by his apparent friend's expression of doubt. The succeeding day being a whole holiday, I went that evening to visit Uncle Barnaby at the Snuggery, and on my return to school I was informed by Shipley, in a slightly offensive tone, that during my absence the ducklings had been safe, as, indeed, had mine, thanks to the care my sister Mary had taken of them during my short absence. nor is it fitting that a full account of the horrors of that ordeal, through which some have passed, should be here detailed. Strange to say, this state of things did not last long. The two following days brought a diminution of one each in the little band of waddlers; and from coldness towards me, it seemed their owner went on to positive dislike. One evening I was accosted by Huntley, who affected much concern respecting the loss Shipley had sustained, and begged me, if I found an opportunity, to watch the ducklings, and endeavour to discover the cause of the misfortune. Accordingly at about dusk, having safely shut up my own pets, I strolled down the banks of the river to see what had become of Ship-attests its former magnificence. The place is conley's. They appeared all safely swimming about, their white shapes being distinctly visible, when on a sudden, as I approached, a splashing sound was heard in the water, and before I could ascertain what it was, Shipley and Huntley appeared from behind a hedge, and taxed me most warmly with having thrown a stone at the ducks. This I stoutly denied, protesting that my object in looking for them was only to assure myself of their safety, as requested by Huntley; but my defence was drowned in cries of "Sneak," "Who'd kill another boy's ducks?""Envious!" and various other gratifying and complimentary remarks. Maddened with rage, I rushed at Huntley, who was the leader of the two in his comments, and gave him some vigorous blows; but I was soon dragged from him by his ally, who coldly remarked: No fighting! I shall tell Mr. Johnson of it to-morrow." As our schoolmaster was a man of known impartiality, I could not object to such a course, and replied hurriedly but earnestly : "Do as you like, Shipley; but I assure you I did not throw a stone." He replied, "I am positive of it ;" and his words were echoed by his ally. The steps the friends took to punish me for my supposed offence, I shall relate in the next chapter. (To be continued.) INDIA. No. I. ALLAHABAD. SOME of our young readers know something about India from their geographical studies; some, we fear, have relatives in peril in that country, and all have heard of the fearful mutiny of the native soldiery. Happily, there are those who have escaped from the fate that has overtaken hundreds of unsuspecting fathers, mothers, and children, a few of whom have already been able to set their foot upon "happy English ground." Those who are accustomed to the comfort and security of English homes, can scarcely realise to themselves the position of the sufferers, Allahabad is the capital of a province of the same name, and is situated at the junction of the rivers Jumna and Ganges. The fort is of stone, and extensive, being erected on a tongue of land at the junction of the two rivers, so as completely to command the navigation. A great part of the present buildings are of mud, erected on the ancient foundations of substantial brick edifices, while much of the soil in the neighbourhood, consisting of materials used in buildings, and fragments of earthenware vessels, sidered by the Brahmins to be the most holy of all the sacred confluences of rivers in Hindostan. On arriving at this sacred part, the pilgrim seats himself on the brink of the river, and has his head shaved, so that each hair may fall into the water, the sacred writings of the Hindoos promising a residence in paradise of one million years for each hair so deposited. Many pilgrims are so impressed with the sanctity of the place, and the purity which it im-. parts, that they here convey themselves in a boat to the exact spot where the rivers unite, and plunge into the stream with three pots of water tied to the body, so that they inevitably sink to the bottom. The East India Company now or lately levied a tax of three rupees (about 5s. 73d.) on each of these pilgrims, and more than 200,000 have been known to pay the tax in one year. Allahabad is 820 miles from the sea, following the course of the Ganges, but the travelling distance between the city and Calcutta is only 550 miles in a north-west direction; from Benares, 53; from Lucknow, 127; from Delhi, 212; and from Agra, 296 miles. Mr. Hay, an American missionary, who escaped from Allahabad, and who has arrived in England, thus describes the commencement of the outbreak: Some Allahabad contained about 100,000 inhabitants at the time of the mutiny. There had been several panics in the city for some time before the revolt broke out there; and three weeks before there was any fighting, the city was patrolled, and European women and children were ordered into the fort. At times the alarm died away, and the women would come out of the fort. The expectation was that the city would be attacked by mutineers from Benares. At length a chief raised the standard of insurrection. No European knew who he was. said he was a Moulvie—that is, a Mahommedan religious teacher; others, that he was a native officer; others, that he was a weaver by trade. He, however, represented himself as a viceroy of the King of Delhi. He commanded about 4000 of the mutineers. Mr. Hay speaks in the highest terms of Major Brazier and Colonel Neil. Major Brazier rose from the ranks. He commanded the Sikhs at Allahabad, and exercised great influence over them. It was to him that the Europeans were indebted for preventing the rebels from taking the fort. Had they done so, scarcely anything would have driven them out of it, for it is constructed on European models. |