On the whole it is no wonder that Uncle Peabody wearied of his schooling.
One day when Uncle Peabody went for the mail he brought Amos Grimshaw to visit me.

I had not seen him since the day he was eating doughnuts in the village with his father.

He was four years older than I--a freckled, red-haired boy with a large mouth and thin lips.

He wore a silver watch and chain, which strongly recommended him in my view and enabled me to endure his air of condescension.
He let me feel it and look it all over and I slyly touched the chain with my tongue just to see if it had any taste to it, and Amos told me that his grandfather had given it to him and that it always kept him "kind o' scairt." "Why ?" "For fear I'll break er lose it an' git licked," he answered.
We went and sat down on the hay together, and I showed him the pennies I had saved and he showed me where his father had cut his leg that morning with a blue beech rod.
"Don't you ever git licked ?" he asked.
"No," I answered.
"I guess that's because you ain't got any father," he answered.

"I wish I hadn't.