brown paper cocked hat stuck on his head, or even, perhaps, with his face blacked all over with burnt cork, and covered with large bits of the red wafers I had for the black-beetles; while if, to give one an air above the common, I made him carry the prayer-books for me to church, I should be certain either to hear half-a-dozen of the young monkey’s marbles roll all down the aisle in the very middle of the sermon, or else, if I took the precaution of making him empty his pockets before he went there, as sure as sure could be, he would go fast asleep, and snore as I well knew _he_ alone could snore, and until I fancied every eye in the church was fixed upon me. Positively it was as much as one person could do to keep that shocking scapegrace of a Wittals from going about in actual rags; and the whole of my mornings used to be entirely taken up in repairing his dress livery. Either I should have to try to fine-draw the knees of his trousers, for the twentieth time--till they looked like the heels of a pair of old stockings--or there’d be a piece as big as the palm of your hand torn out at the foot where the strap buttons had been--or one of the pocket-holes slit nearly down to his knees--or else the jacket would have one of the cuffs half off--or one of the sleeves almost out--while as for those beautiful three rows of sugar-loaf buttons, I declare almost every other one was missing before the week was out, and even they were sure to be with all the silver rubbed off of them, and as coppery looking as the plated ornaments on the harness of a hackney coach horse.