H. He pins them against the wall in his bed-room.
M. Why do you not ask William to come home, sometimes? As you are such great friends I should think he would be glad to come to see you.
H. Why, mamma, William says he does not feel so comfortable here; he is always afraid of you.
M. How so?
H. Why, mamma, you are so wise, that he is afraid to say just whatever comes into his head.
M. But Thomas always seems very happy when he is here.
H. Oh, he is so wise, we call him the Judge: we have always called him so since the day we went to see farmer Martin.
M. But why do you call him so?
H. You know, mamma, that we must cross the long meadow to go to farmer Martin’s. To save the trouble of going all the way round to the gate, William said we had better scramble through the hedge and make a short cut across the grass. Thomas looked as grave as a judge, and told us that the hedge was made on purpose that people should not scramble through it, and that it was not right to trample down the grass. William said, that we should not do much harm, and that many others had often done so before us. Thomas asked him if we were to do wrong because others did the same? William directly jumped over the hedge and ran across the meadow crying out, “Who cares for cowards; not I, for one.”
M. Did you follow William?