Part 30 (1/2)

Toil would never dare tohi that ht

”Make haste Quick, quick!” cried he ”There he is again!” ”Who?” asked the stranger, very quietly

”Old Mr Toil,” said Daffydowndilly, tre the carpenters 'Tis er cast his eyes where Daffydowndilly pointed his finger; and he saw an elderly man, with a carpenter's rule and compass in his hand

This person went to and fro about the unfinished house,out the work that was to be done, and continually exhorting the other carpenters to be diligent And wherever he turned his hard and wrinkled visage, the men seemed to feel that they had a task-master over them, and sawed, and hammered, and planed, as if for dear life

”Oh, no! this is not Mr Toil, the schooler ”It is another brother of his, who follows the trade of carpenter”

”I alad to hear it,” quoth Daffydowndilly; ”but if you please, sir, I should like to get out of his way as soon as possible”

Then they went on a little farther, and soon heard the sound of a drum and fife Daffydowndilly pricked up his ears at this, and besought his co the soldiers Accordingly they made what haste they could, and soon aily dressed, with beautiful feathers in their caps, and bright muskets on their shoulders In fronton their dru such lively ladly have followed them to the end of the world And if he was only a soldier, then, he said to himself, old Mr Toil would never venture to look hiruff voice

Little Daffydowndilly started, in great dismay; for this voice which had spoken to the soldiers sounded precisely the same as that which he had heard every day in Mr Toil's school-roo his eyes to the captain of the coe of old Mr Toil hiold epaulets on his shoulders, a laced coat on his back, a purple sash round his waist, and a long sword, instead of a birch rod, in his hand And though he held his head so high, and strutted like a turkey-cock, still he looked quite as ugly and disagreeable as when he was hearing lessons in the school-room

”This is certainly old Mr Toil,” said Daffydowndilly, in a tre voice ”Let us run away for fear he should ain, er, very composedly ”This is not Mr Toil, the schoolmaster, but a brother of his, who has served in the army all his life People say he's a terribly severe fellow; but you and I need not be afraid of him”

”Well, well,” said little Daffydowndilly, ”but if you please, sir, I don't want to see the soldiers any er resumed their journey; and, by and by, they came to a house by the road-side, where a nuirls, with s to the sound of a fiddle It was the pleasantest sight that Daffydowndilly had yet met with, and it comforted him for all his disappointments

”Oh, let us stop here,” cried he to his companion; ”for Mr Toil will never dare to show his face where there is a fiddler, and where people are dancing andmerry We shall be quite safe here!”

But these last words died away upon Daffydowndilly's tongue; for, happening to cast his eyes on the fiddler, who a fiddle-bow instead of a birch rod, and flourishi+ng it with as much ease and dexterity as if he had been a fiddler all his life! He had somewhat the air of a Frenchman, but still looked exactly like the old schoolmaster; and Daffydowndilly even fancied that he nodded and winked at hins for him to join in the dance

”Oh, dearpale, ”it seems as if there was nobody but Mr Toil in the world Who could have thought of his playing on a fiddle!”

”This is not your old schooler, ”but another brother of his, as bred in France, where he learned the profession of a fiddler He is ashaenerally calls himself Monsieur le Plaisir; but his real name is Toil, and those who have known hireeable than his brothers”

”Oh, take me back!--takeinto tears ”If there is nothing but Toil all the world over, I o back to the school-house!”

”Yonder it is,--there is the school-house!” said the stranger, for though he and Daffydowndilly had taken a great ht line ”Coether”

There was so in his companion's voice that little Daffydowndilly now ree that he had not re up into his face, behold! there again was the likeness of old Mr Toil; so that the poor child had been in co his best to run away from him Some people, to whom I have told little Daffydowndilly's story, are of the opinion that old Mr Toil was ahimself into as many shapes as he saw fit

Be this as it ood lesson, and froent at his task, because he knew that diligence is not a whit more toilsome than sport or idleness And when he becaan to think that his ere not so very disagreeable, and that the old schoolmaster's smile of approbation made his face almost as pleasant as even that of Daffydowndilly's mother

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

THE SANDPIPER