Then the children said pitying things and wept--and at dinner we finished the tragedy which the turtles had begun.

Thus, as will be seen--out of season, at least--it was really the turtles that gave us so much ducks.

At my expense.
Papa has written a new version of "There is a happy land" it is-- "There is a boarding-house Far, far away, Where they have ham and eggs, Three times a day.
Oh dont those boarders yell When they hear the dinner-bell, They give that land-lord rats Three times a day." Again Susy has made a small error.

It was not I that wrote the song.

I heard Billy Rice sing it in the negro minstrel show, and I brought it home and sang it--with great spirit--for the elevation of the household.
The children admired it to the limit, and made me sing it with burdensome frequency.