It was at length decided to exchange the close, smoky, pent-up city for the free, pure, royal atmosphere of the country; and this change was for the benefit of my mother's health. A small dwelling was engaged, at the distance of ten miles; and one sunshiny day, the last of May, we departed thither. A new existence seemed to dawn upon us as we emerged from the paved streets and high brick rows of houses to the open spaces of the suburbs; then, as the horses sped along, the city lay far behind us, like a great cloud of smoke, while green fields and blossoming trees began to open all around us. The singing-birds, too! How we looked, and how we listened, and how joyful were our exclamations! 'Is not God good, to give us the country?' cried Neddy, with a religious reverence quite peculiar to him. Alas! I was upon the point of praising the speed of the horses. I very practically argued. They brought us here,' 'You look better, already,' declared aunt Fanny to my mother, 'I knew the country air would work wonders for you;' and we all beheld the rose-tint upon her cheek. She never looked more beautiful, a pale, young mother, as she was. Behold us in our new home, a cottage-home, at the extremity of a green plain, which ran through the village. Aunt Fanny had many old friends there, and our father, when he left us, felt we were not among strangers. What goats were Ned and myself! Through the livelong day we frisked here and there, sometimes scampering |