“With some pride, I announced my intended exhibition to Mr. Y----; and he appointed that evening for seeing it, saying that none but his own boys should be present at the first representation. It was for them alone it was originally designed; but I was so charmed with my newly-finished work, that I would gladly have had all Exeter present at the exhibition. However, before night, I was convinced of my friend Mr. Y----‘s superior prudence: the whole thing, as the carpenter said, _went off_ pretty well; but several disasters happened which I had not foreseen. There was one stiff old fellow, whose arms, twitch them which way I would, I could never get to bend: and an obstinate old woman, who would never do any thing else but curtsy, when I wanted her to kneel down and to do her work. My children sorted their heaps of rubbish and ore very dexterously; excepting one unlucky little chap, who, from the beginning, had his head, somehow or other, turned the wrong way upon his shoulders; and I could never manage, all the night, to set it right again: it was in vain I flattered myself that his wry neck would escape observation; for, as he was one of the wheelbarrow boys, he was a conspicuous figure in the piece; and, whenever he appeared, wheeling or emptying his barrow, I to my mortification heard repeated peals of laughter from the spectators, in which even my patron, notwithstanding his good-natured struggles against it for some time, was at last compelled to join. “I, all the while, was wiping my forehead behind my show-box; for I never was in such a bath of heat in my life: not the hardest day’s work I ever wrought in the mine made me one half so hot as setting these puppets to work. “When my exhibition was over, good Mr. Y---- came to me, and consoled me for all disasters, by the praises he bestowed upon my patience and ingenuity: he showed me that he knew the difficulties with which I had to contend: and he mentioned the defects to me in the kindest manner, and how they might be remedied. ‘I see,’ said he, smiling, ‘that you have endeavoured to make something useful for the entertainment of my boys; and I will take pains to make it turn out advantageously to you.’ “The next morning I went to look at my show-box, which Mr. Y---- had desired me to leave in his study; and I was surprised to see the front of the box, which I had left open for the spectators, filled up with boards, and having a circular glass in the middle. The eldest boy, who stood by enjoying my surprise, bid me look in, and tell him what I saw. What was my astonishment, when I first looked through this glass--‘As large as the life!--As large as the life!’ cried I, in admiration--‘I see the puppets, the _wheelbarrows_, every thing as large as life!’