So Hardy looked all over the book, but to no purpose; there was no description of a guy manufactory.  It was of no consequence; we had a guy in our head, and we only now wished to know how we should get hold of the old lady, and what we should do on this joyful occasion.

Hardy said he had several pounds of gunpowder, and would sell us all squibs and crackers.  But these we did not so much want.  What we wanted was an old chair, an old jacket, hat, and other matters to dress up the old lady when we could catch her.  But how to get her into the chair was the difficulty, and some proposed one thing and some another.  Sapskull said, “We must make her merry with some beer.”  Hardy said, “We must tie her down.”  But I proposed to ask her to sit for her picture as a guy, and then to carry her off.  Master Quidd was, however, more cunning than any of us, and said, “I know how to nab her; I have a plan, and a capital one it is, too.”

“What is it? what is it?” said all of us.

The fact was old Dame Clackett was a very staunch churchwoman, and used always to go both on Wednesdays and Fridays, Rain or sunshine, hot or cold, nothing could keep her away from her church, and we silly boys laughed at her for it.  Poor old creature! she felt more real pleasure in this than we could imagine.

“I will tell you what we will do,” said Quidd.  “There is in our outhouse an old wheeled chair which my mother used to ride about in when she was so long ill, a year or two ago.  Now, I know old Dame Clackett is very lame just now, from having let fall her fender on her foot.  I will take this chair down, and offer to draw her to church in it, and then, when we have once got her in the chair, we can do as we like with her.  Hurrah!”

“Won’t that be fun?” continued Quidd.  “Let us do it—­let us do it.  There is no law against it; the thing was never thought of.  It is just like the law that was never made among the Romans that I read about in my lessons yesterday:  there was no law against a child killing his own father.  I tell you,” said he, “if there were twenty old women to be seized and burnt, nobody could be hurt for it.  But you do not mean to burn her, I suppose, do you?”

“Oh no,” said we; “we only want to have some fun.  We should like to make a guy of her, that is all, and rare fun it will be.”

“Let me join you,” said one; “Let me join,” said another, till at last the whole school entered into the plot.

We all forgot what we should have remembered—­namely, that, instead of despising or ridiculing people who are old and helpless and poor, we ought to treat them with kindness, respect, and consideration.  We forgot that we, if suffered to live long enough, should also become old, and that it would be hard for us to bear the coldness and neglect of the world, but much harder to endure the ridicule and ill-behavior of wicked children.  Ay, we were thoughtless lads, and so we suffered for it, as you will afterwards hear.