How they sung 'Life on the Ocean Wave,' 'Bounding Billow,' and
'Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep!' How Jack chanted, -
'I wish I were a fish,
With a great long tail;
A tiny little tittlebat,
A wiggle or a whale,
In the middle of the great blue sea. Oh, my!'
'Oh, how I long to be there!' exclaimed Philip, 'to throw aside all
the formal customs of a wicked world I abhor, and live a free life
under the blue sky!'
'Why, Philip Noble! I never saw you inside of a house in my life,'
cried Polly.
'Oh, yes; you're mistaken. I've been obliged to eat most of my meals
in the house, and sleep there; but I don't approve of it, and it's a
trial to be borne with meekness only when there's no remedy for it.'
'Besides,' said Jack, 'even when we are out-of-doors we are shelling
the reluctant almond, poisoning the voracious gopher, pruning grape-
vines, and "sich." Now I am only going to shoot to eat, and eat to
shoot!'
'Hope you've improved since last year, or you'll have a low diet,'
murmured Phil, in an undertone.
'The man of genius must expect to be the butt of ridicule,' sighed
Jack, meekly.
'But you'll not repine, although your heartstrings break, will you?'
said Polly, sympathisingly; 'especially in the presence of several
witnesses who have seen you handle a gun.'
'How glad I am that I'm too near-sighted to shoot,' said Geoffrey,
taking off the eye-glasses that made him look so wise and dignified.
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