But Mr. Christopher Sandboys had yet to tackle the moral part of his subject; and as, in the process of shaving, he laid hold of himself by the nose the better to accomplish the razorial fancy-work round the corners, he frankly acknowledged, that to run away from the metropolis, after what they had experienced, would betray a deficiency of moral courage on their parts, which would be utterly unworthy of the sturdy mountain race to which they belonged. Besides, it was the sure criterion of a weak mind to give way to the force of circumstances; and he asked himself and his wife, what was nobler than to see an honest man driving his head, like a moral battering-ram, against a thick wall of difficulties, and ultimately overthrowing it. Then, as he called to mind the fortitude of the Grecian and Roman heroes of his college days, he added—“Did not moral greatness consist merely in bearing and subduing the misfortunes that beset us, and certainly not in packing up our boxes and running from them by the first express train.” And as Mr. Sandboys delivered himself of this heroic sentiment, he, in the ardour of his enthusiasm, gave his head so self-satisfied a jerk, that, forgetting the perilous act in which he was engaged, he inflicted a gash that put his powers of endurance severely to the test, and immediately dissipated the whole of the stock of courage upon which he was priding himself. The upshot of the above conjugal consultation was, that there was passed that morning at the breakfast-table a resolution, proposed by Mr. Sandboys, seconded by his darling Aggy, and carried with acclamations by the Major and the entire family, declaring that one more attempt should be made to visit the Great Exhibition, and expressive of the opinion of the meeting, that the sooner such attempt was made the better. Accordingly, it was finally arranged, as the weather at that time looked particularly promising, that the whole family should “slip on their things” immediately after breakfast, and start for the Crystal Palace by the first omnibus. Again the Sandboys were, one and all, in high glee at the prospect of witnessing the “World’s Show” at last, and Elcy and Jobby immediately lost their appetite in expectation of the coming treat. The morning meal finished, the boy flew up the stairs four at a time, dragging his laughing sister after him, and kept bobbing in and out of her room all the while she was dressing, intent upon playing her some monkey trick or other. Now, to his sister’s horror, he would seize her white drawn-bonnet, and putting it on the crown of his head like an apple-woman’s, scamper off with it, sliding down the banisters; then he would bounce suddenly into her room again, and dab down a cup of sour milk on her dressing-table, telling her she would find that a plummy thing to bathe her freckles with.