“I’ve had such a jolly good time, that I hate to be shut up all day worse than ever.  Don’t you, Frank?” asked Jack, with a vengeful slap at the arithmetic which was the torment of his life.

“Well, I confess I don’t hanker for school as much as I expected.  I’d rather take a spin on the old bicycle.  Our roads are so good, it is a great temptation to hire a machine, and astonish the natives.  That’s what comes of idleness.  So brace up, my boy, and go to work, for vacation is over,” answered Frank, gravely regarding the tall pile of books before him, as if trying to welcome his old friends, or tyrants, rather, for they ruled him with a rod of iron when he once gave himself up to them.

“Ah, but vacation is not over, my dears,” said Mrs. Minot, hearing the last words as she came in prepared to surprise her family.

“Glad of it.  How much longer is it to be?” asked Jack, hoping for a week at least.

“Two or three years for some of you.”

“What?” cried all three, in utter astonishment, as they stared at Mamma, who could not help smiling, though she was very much in earnest.

“For the next two or three years I intend to cultivate my boys’ bodies, and let their minds rest a good deal, from books at least.  There is plenty to learn outside of school-houses, and I don’t mean to shut you up just when you most need all the air and exercise you can get.  Good health, good principles, and a good education are the three blessings I ask for you, and I am going to make sure of the first, as a firm foundation for the other two.”

“But, mother, what becomes of college?” asked Frank, rather disturbed at this change of base.

“Put it off for a year, and see if you are not better fitted for it then than now.”

“But I am already fitted:  I’ve worked like a tiger all this year, and I’m sure I shall pass.”

“Ready in one way, but not in another.  That hard work is no preparation for four years of still harder study.  It has cost you these round shoulders, many a headache, and consumed hours when you had far better have been on the river or in the fields.  I cannot have you break down, as so many boys do, or pull through at the cost of ill-health afterward.  Eighteen is young enough to begin the steady grind, if you have a strong constitution to keep pace with the eager mind.  Sixteen is too young to send even my good boy out into the world, just when he most needs his mother’s care to help him be the man she hopes to see him.”

Mrs. Minot laid her hand on his shoulder as she spoke, looking so fond and proud that it was impossible to rebel, though some of his most cherished plans were spoilt.

“Other fellows go at my age, and I was rather pleased to be ready at sixteen,” he began.  But she added, quickly,—­

“They go, but how do they come out?  Many lose health of body, and many what is more precious still, moral strength, because too young and ignorant to withstand temptations of all sorts.  The best part of education does not come from books, and the good principles I value more than either of the other things are to be carefully watched over till firmly fixed; then you may face the world, and come to no real harm.  Trust me, dear, I do it for your sake; so bear the disappointment bravely, and in the end I think you will say I’m right.”