"Well, here. No, Ben; now don't; I'm afeared-"

"I'll give you all of it."

Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while Ben worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with; and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor, poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had, beside the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jewsharp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six firecrackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass door-knob, a dogcollar-but no dog,-the handle of a knife, four pieces of orangepeel, and a dilapidated old window sash.

Tom had had a nice good idle time all the while-plenty of company-and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.

He said to himself that it was not such a hollow world after all. He had discovered a great law of human action without knowing it-namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make it difficult to attain.

If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this, he would now have comprehended that work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do, and this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a tread-mill is work, while rolling ten-pins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement.

WASE

WASHINGTON IRVING.

ASHINGTON IRVING was born in the city of New York, April 3, 1783, and he passed to the higher life on November 28, 1859. He was purely a self-made man, having received only a common-school education. He studied law for a time, but his chief studies were "Robinson Crusoe," collections of voyages, also Chaucer, Spenser and other English classics.

Irving's literary record is as follows:-In 1802 he commenced writing for the newspaper conducted by his brother. His next venture was a publication entitled "Salmagundi,” conducted by himself and his brother William, and James K. Paulding. It was filled with satire upon the follies of the day, and it became quite successful. Next followed his History of New York, probably the best sustained burlesque ever written. For two years he conducted the "Atlantic Magazine" in Philadelphia. His Sketch Book was partly made up of articles from the "Magazine." His Sketch Book was published in New York in 1818, and subsequently, in London. This work was at once accepted as classic and the author's reputation was placed upon a permanent basis; it was considered a literary event. In 1822 Bracebridge Hill, written in Paris, appeared in London. In 1824 appeared the Tales of a Traveller; 1828, History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, followed by Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus. While in Spain he collected the materials for Conquest of Grenada, The Alhambra, Legends of the Conquest of Spain, and Mahomet and His

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Successors. From his trip beyond the Mississippi came, A Tour on the Prairies. This was followed by Astoria, The Adventures of Captain Bouneville, and a volume of miscellanies, entitled Wolfert's Roost. He also published the Life of Margaret Davidson, and his biography of Oliver Goldsmith. His last great work is his Life of Washington, in five volumes. The words Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow and Knickerbocker are familiar to all.

For pleasure and for material for his works, Irving traveled quite extensively. In 1804 he started on his tour through Europe. He visited Genoa, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Paris, Brussels, arriving finally at London. In 1814 he went to Europe the second time. He made a tour of the continent, and enjoyed a special literary companionship in London. He also traveled quite extensively in this country.

Irving's civil record is brief but important. He served for a short time as aid-de-camp to Governor Tompkins in 1814. He was commissioned, by Alexander H. Everett, minster to Spain, to make translations of the newly discovered papers in Madrid referring to Columbus. In 1829 he was appointed secretary of legation to the American embassy in London. In 1842 he was appointed minister to Spain.

In closing this sketch we quote from Underwood:

"It is not difficult to assign Irving's place among our authors. Thackeray happily spoke of him as 'the first embassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old.' In our lighter literature he is without a rival as an artist. He is equally happy in his delineations of scenery and charater; he moves us to tears or to laughter at his pleasure. His works have all an admirable proportion; nothing necessary is omitted, and needless details are