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his matter was exhausted ; a long pause ensued, which I at length broke, by bursting into a loud fit of laugh- ter Duncan roſe haſtily, and without once lifting up his head, went crying to his bed, and as I continu- ed to indulge in laughter, my mother, for my irreve- rent behaviour, ſtruck me acroſs the ſhoulders with the tongs; our evening devotions terminated exceedingly ill, I went crying to my bed after Duncan, even loud- er than he, and at sing him for his useless prayer for which I had been icarly felled. By the time that we were recalled from school to herd the cows next summer, we could both read the Bible with considerable facility, but Duncan far excel. led me in perſpicacity; and to fond was he of reading Bible history that the reading of it was now our con- ſtant amusement. Often have Mary, and he, and I, lain under the ſame plaid, by the ſide of the corn or meadow, and read chapter about on the Bible for hours together, weeping over the failings and fall of good men, and wondering at the inconceivable might of the heroes of antiquity. Never was man ſo delighted as Duncan was when he came to the history of Sampſon, and afterwards of David and Goliah; he could not be satisfied until he had read it to every individual with whom he was acquainted, judging it to be as new and as interesting to every one as it was to himſelf.. I have seen him standing by the girls as they were milking the cows, reading to them the feats of Samſon; and, in ſhort, haraſſing every man and woman, about the hamlet, for audience. On Sundays, my parents accompanied us to the fields, and joined in our delight- ful exerciſe. Time paſsed away, and so also did our youthful de- lights! but other cares and other pleasures awaited us. As we advanced in years and ſtrength, we quitted the herding, and bore a hand in the labours of the farm. Mary, too, was often cur aſſiſtant. She and Duncan were nearly of an age-he was tall, comely, and affable;