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clasping her withered hands over her knees. "I Ve always told you that you'd better tell the older children about it yourself, John."

"No, Jean; your uncle wasn't hung," said the old man; "but he got into trouble, and we all believe he is dead. He was the pride and joy of us all. He was so promising that we gave him all the education that ought to have been distributed evenly through the family."

"But John and Mollie took a notion to get married young, and you know that ended their chances," interposed the mother.

"Your uncle's trouble would never have come upon him and us if he had stayed out o' that college," exclaimed the great-grandmother, who did not approve of the course the family had taken with Joseph at the beginning of his college days.

"That's true, grannie," replied the father; "but he ought to have kept out o' the scrape, college or no college."

"Do go on," cried Jean.

"Your Uncle Joe got mixed up in a hazing frolic, or something o' that sort," resumed the grandfather. " One or two of the students got hurt, one of 'em so bad that he died,—or it was given out that he died,—and the blame fell on Joe. He declared he wasn't guilty, but the college authorities had to fix the blame somewhere, though the case was uncertain. They never proved that the boy was dead, but we raised the money and bailed Joe out o' jail. When the story was started that the fellow had died, Joe skipped his bail and left us all in a hole. That was what made and has kept us poor."

"Did you never hear of the other man, grandpa?"

"Oh, yes; he turned up, but too late to do Joe or the rest of us any good."

"Poor dear Uncle Joe!"

"You'd better say poor dear all the rest of us," cried