TEDDY.

TEDDY was a small Australian boy.

His appearance was more interesting than beautiful. He had not reached the stage of sailor-suit or knickerbockers; he still wore petticoats, and very short and bunchy petticoats they

were.

His knees seemed to come together, and then his sturdy little legs were spread well apart and planted very firmly. There was character and determination in those legs. His head was rather large, very long and narrow, and though his face was neither pretty nor handsome, it was attractive and very funny. The expression was very shrewd and knowing, and his quick little eyes seemed to be everywhere, and nothing escaped them.

In his own home Teddy was lord and master. His father and mother, his brothers Carl and Cuthbert, and all the servants obeyed every wish of his and every command. He had a way. with him it was impossible to resist. He was clever, very clever -too clever, in fact. He was not childish enough, and had a wonderful knowledge of the world, picked up no one knew how or where. I always maintained that he was in reality a very old and knowing man, who somehow had crept into a small body.

I went on a visit to Teddy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Seton, at their station in the bush.

This was a large estate in the country, where sheep were bred for their wool-known in Australia as a sheep-station. There were perhaps thirty thousand sheep, but as well some hundreds of cattle-bulls, cows, and calves-and a hundred horses.

The house was only one story high, but large and roomy, and surrounded by broad verandahs and a large conservatory, and the verandah posts were all clothed with creeping plants, such as roses, fuschias, clematis, jasmine, and many others. It stood on a hill, so that the gardens sloped away down on every side. -gardens full of roses and palms, locust and orange trees, all

sorts of beautiful tropical, semi-tropical, and hardy plants. There was a long rose hedge, quite high and covered all the year round with a thick mass of pink roses. It was very beautiful, and Teddy loved this rose hedge, for spiders and flies, and bees and butterflies lived in the rose cups and had fairy palaces there. There were long walks covered with vines, where nice juicy bunches of grapes hung within reach, and where Teddy loved to wander before they were ripe, and pick hard green sour ones to eat and make himself ill-just out of pure mischief.

All sorts of fruit grew there, and it was a dear old garden in the summer.

Now, this place did not really belong to Mr. and Mrs. Seton, as it belonged to my father, but Mr. Seton paid him a large sum of money every year to rent it. So when I was going there on a visit, Mr. and Mrs. Seton used to talk of my coming to Teddy and his brothers, and tell them they must do no mischief to my house or gardens.

Teddy, however, was full of mischief, and liked to do whatever he pleased. When he did anything wrong, his mother would

say

This is Hilarion's house; he will be so angry when he comes!'

Teddy used to say nothing, but would smile to himself as if he did not care; but Carl and Cuthbert became quite frightened about this dreadful Hilarion, who was always so angry. They did not want me to come, and were very much afraid of me. Of course I did not know this, and I had nothing really to do with the place, so would have said nothing.

There were long corridors in the house, up and down which Teddy used to run races with his brothers, mounted on a walking-stick. He always got a very long start and always won, so he was very proud of himself. However, he and his stick knocked holes in the plaster of the walls, and did much damage. Then he took to making holes in the plaster, and pulling bits out to see if he could get right through! He was punished for this, but it was no good. If Teddy were missed he was sure to be found hard at work with a stick or anything that came handy, breaking bits of plaster off.

'Hilarion will be so angry at you for destroying his walls, Teddy; it is very, very naughty!' But Teddy would only laugh. The very day I arrived he was found-naughty as ever-hard

at work on the wall. There had been two holes, and he had pulled and knocked away all the plaster between them, joining them so that there was a hole as large as a plate.

'Oh! Teddy, you naughty, wicked boy!' his mother cried, when she saw it. What have you done?'

'Well,' said Teddy, quite coolly, 'isn't one hole better than two?'

His mother could only laugh at Teddy's good way of getting out of it.

I was having afternoon tea in the drawing-room with Mrs. Seton, when the three boys came in and were told to shake hands with me.

Carl and Cuthbert sat in chairs and stared at me. They were very shy, were afraid of me, and were quite prepared to dislike me; they thought I would be always cross with them.

Teddy, however, walked straight up and stood right in front of me, with his legs far apart and his hands behind his back. He looked at me very hard, just to see what I was like.

'How are you?' I said. 'Are you going to make friends with me?'

Teddy did not answer, but he began to smile and to-sneer! I began to get uncomfortable; I was afraid of Teddy. It seemed to me that he could read my very soul and knew all I was thinking.

'Pooh!' said Teddy, at last, with great contempt, 'I'm not afraid of you!' And suddenly he jumped on my knee and pulled my nose.

After that we became great friends; but Teddy did not respect me at all, he only laughed when I told him not to do or say anything.

I soon became great friends with Carl and Cuthbert also, who were fine, gentlemanly boys. They saw that they need not be shy or afraid of me.

The three boys took me out to show me the garden, the stables, and all round the place. That is, Teddy took me, and the two others followed. Teddy called everything his.

'This is my horse "Sandy," he said.

Sandy was the largest horse I have ever seen- —a great big brute, with a long head. Small Teddy stood in front of Sandy and called, 'Come here, Sandy.'

Big Sandy came up, and putting his head down sniffed at small Teddy, who sniffed up at him in return, and I began to

laugh, for they did look so comical. Why, Teddy was not as large-bunchy petticoats and all-as Sandy's head!

'I suppose you'll ride Sandy when you are a big man, Teddy,' I said.

'I won't be a big man. I'm going to be a horse-a horse much bigger than Sandy.'

'But little boys don't become horses when they grow up.'

'But I am going to become a horse,' said Teddy, with dignity. 'I'll win all the races, and jump, jump over houses!'

Then we went on to a stable where, in a loose box, was a beautiful chestnut horse, and I lifted Teddy up to stroke its

nose.

'I'll give you a ride on this some day,' said Teddy, patronisingly, 'that is, if I like you.'

'Thank you, Teddy,' I replied humbly.

'Come and see my dogs now,' went on Teddy; and we saw the dogs, the poultry, the pigs, the peacocks-in fact, all sorts of things, and Teddy claimed them all as his.

'Are they all yours, Teddy?' I asked.

'It's all mine,' said Teddy, waving a stumpy arm round, indicating the house and gardens, the distant hills and forest. 'And have Carl and Cuthbert nothing?'

'I'm the best, and the wee-ist, so I get everything,' said Teddy, coolly.

Carl and Cuthbert only laughed.

'Let's see what's in your pockets,' said Teddy; and he emptied them all. Carl and Cuthbert can have these;' and he handed them my pencil and other things. 'I'll have the knife and the cigarette-case.'

But I objected to this cool distribution of my property, much to Teddy's surprise.

'I'll buck you off, when I'm a horse!' he said viciously.

'Then I'll never get on your back, Teddy, if you're going to buck me off.'

Well, then, I'll kick you just like this;' and lifting his leg he tried to kick me; but just as he did it, I caught his foot, and lo! Teddy lay on his back on the grass!

He got up, turned round and looked at the grass, then rubbed the back of his head, and turned and stared at me with surprise.

'I think I won't-kick you!' he said slowly. 'Let's go to the garden.'

Very soon I was just as much Teddy's slave as any one else in the house, and he ordered me about as if I belonged to him.

Sometimes I would be out riding, and I would meet the nurse with the three boys walking in the paddocks. I always had to take Teddy up on my saddle and give him a ride. He just loved horses, and couldn't keep away from them, and was often in danger of being kicked by them or trodden on, but somehow escaped.

There were plantations of firs, pines, and other trees near the house, but the boys were never allowed to enter these, as there were dangerous and poisonous snakes in them, whose bite was death. Teddy was really afraid of snakes, so did not dare go into any plantation, yet would have liked very much to, just because he was told not to. Sometimes he thought he must go in-but those snakes!

I was passing the nursery one night and looked in. Teddy in his nightgown was kneeling at the nurse's knee saying his prayers, and I listened. Now he was saying the prayer which is called 'The Lord's Prayer,' and there is part of it which goes like this lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Teddy was very solemn, but when he came to this part he went on quickly, changing it to suit himself: 'lead me not into the plantation, and deliver me from evil. Amen. Please, God, make Carl and Cuthbert good!'

This made me laugh very much, for Teddy was so solemn, and then his little prayer-his very own prayer-at the end, to make Carl and Cuthbert good,' was so funny. Teddy did not think that he himself needed to be any better.

'I will buck you off, when I'm a horse, because it is wicked to laugh when I say my prayers,' said Teddy seriously to me; so of course I said I was very sorry and would never do it again.

One Sunday night his mother was telling him stories from the Bible, and Teddy was sitting on a low stool staring solemnly into the fire. Suddenly he interrupted her.

'Mother, do people have dinner in heaven? ' Poor Mrs. Seton did not know what to say. 'I-I-suppose so, Teddy.'

'Do they have a late dinner?'

'Well, I-I-don't know. I don't think so.'

'Then they must have eggs for their tea!' cried Teddy, triumphantly. He could not conceive any other state of being different from his own.

VOL. 88 (VIII.-NEW SERIES).

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NO. 526.