“Saw the hatchet?”

“No, saw the apple tree.  And he said, ’Who has cut down my favourite apple tree?’”

“What apple tree?”

“George’s father’s.  And everybody said they didn’t know anything about it, and—­”

“Anything about what?”

“The apple tree.”

“Oh!”

“And George came up and heard them talking about it—­”

“Heard who talking about it?”

“Heard his father and the men.”

“What were they talking about?”

“About the apple tree.”

“What apple tree?”

“The favourite tree that George had cut down.”

“George who?”

“George Washington.”

“Oh!”

“So George came up and heard them talking about it, and he—­”

“What did he cut it down for?”

“Just to try his little hatchet.”

“Whose little hatchet?”

“Why, his own, the one his father gave him—­”

“Gave who?”

“Why, George Washington.”

“Oh!”

“So George came up, and he said, ’Father, I cannot tell a lie, I—­”

“Who couldn’t tell a lie?”

“George couldn’t.”

“Oh, George; oh, yes.”

“It was I who cut down your apple tree; I did—­”

“His father did?”

“No, no; it was George said this.”

“Said he cut his father?”

“No, no, no; said he cut down his apple tree.”

“George’s apple tree?”

“No, no; his father’s.”

“Oh!”

“He said—­”

“His father said?”

“No, no, no; George said, ’Father, I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet.’  And his father said, ’Noble boy, I would rather lose a thousand apple trees than have you tell a lie.’”

“George did?”

“No, his father said that.”

“Said he’d rather have a thousand apple trees?”

“No, no, no; said he’d rather lose a thousand apple trees than—­”

“Said he’d rather George would?”

“No, said he’d rather he would than have him lie.”

“Oh, George would rather have his father lie?”

We are patient and we love children, but if Mrs. Caruthers hadn’t come and got her prodigy at that critical juncture, we don’t believe all Burlington could have pulled us out of the snarl.

And as Clarence Alencon de Marchemont Caruthers pattered down the stairs, we heard him telling his ma about a boy who had a father named George, and he told him to cut down an apple tree, and he said he’d rather tell a thousand lies than cut down one apple tree.

THE LOSS OF THE “BIRKENHEAD.”

(February 25, 1852.)

SIR FRANCIS HASTINGS DOYLE.

[The Birkenhead was lost off the coast of Africa by striking on a hidden rock, when the soldiers on board sacrificed themselves, in order that the boats might be left free for the women and children.]