make a mistake in spelling, and let me keep at the head until school was over, I would give him three cents; Flop consented, and broke down on beef, which he spelled _b-e-a-p-h-f-e_, for which the teacher boxed his ears, and made him see ten thousand sparkling stars; I got sixpence from my father, and gave Flop half of it; there was a full class the next day, and down I went to the foot, my usual place; my father learned of my collusion with Flop, and gave me a tremendous whipping; the next day I went several miles down Providence river, in a canoe with Elias Smith and Joseph Fuller, and was gone four days, and all the town was terribly excited lest we were lost; but Mr. Proud, a neighbor, of whose peaches and melons I was very fond, stuck to it like beeswax, that I would never be drowned, while hemp grew in Kentucky; the day after my return, my step-mother whips Albert for stealing a small lump of sugar, at about 11, A. M.; father usually came to dinner at 12, M.; Ally cried for a long time; but he began to lull, and I was afraid he wouldn’t hold out until father got home; so, I got Ally down cellar, and pinched him, and pulled his hair, to make him keep it up, until father got home; it being near twelve o’clock, and my step-mother knowing my influence over Ally, told me if I would pacify him before father came to dinner, she would give me as much sugar as I wanted for a whole week; I accepted the bribe,—but Al overheard us, and declared that he would cry like thunder, until father came, if I didn’t give him half the sugar; we finally compromised, by allowing Ally a quarter of all the lumps I got; a few days after, while returning from a Saturday excursion down the river, my brother Bill cut up so, that the boat capsized, in very deep water, a short distance from the shore; Jim Baker and myself got on the bottom of the boat, while Bill’s feet and head were entangled in the ropes and sail; Sam Thurber and others swam to the shore; Jim Baker and myself couldn’t swim, and we expected to be lost; and we bellowed murder like fury; amid this awful scene, the owner of the boat came down the shore, and cried: “Pay for that boat, you rascals, pay for that boat;” he had scarcely breathed these brutal words, when down went Jim Baker and myself to the river’s bed; I rose to the surface first, and went down again, when Jim grabbed my leg, and we came up together, and a noble sailor seized and bore us to the shore, where we were put in barrels, and pints of water squeezed out of us; Jim and myself open our dewy eyes, shake hands, and walk home arm in arm, with the sailor behind, thrashing the boat proprietor for demanding pay, instead of coming to our rescue, whose unparalleled inhumanity the gallant tar couldn’t tolerate. I went to bed, and had a horrid night-mare, and dreamed of sharks and whales. On the day after the boat calamity of Jim Baker and myself on Providence river, I arose with the glorious sun, ate a spare repast, and went to school.