ON BOARD. 275 



ing Age, then the Noisy Age, then the Teasing Age, and, 

 last of all, the Romantic Age. The Romantic Age has not 

 come for you yet." 



At this point in the conversation the carriage stopped. 

 They had arrived, it seemed, at the pier. So they descend- 

 ed from the carnage, and, after paying the fare and attend- 

 ing to their baggage, they went on board. 



" Lead the way, John," said Lawrence, as they stepped 

 from the gang-plank to the deck, " and find the place where 

 you would like to sit. We have more than half an hour 

 yet before the steamer will start." 



John replied that he would like to sit where he could 

 see the people come on board ; and, so saying, he led the 

 way up to the after promenade deck, and there, choosing 

 two comfortable arm-chairs, he brought them to the side 

 of the deck next the pier, where he could see the carriages 

 and carts as they arrived, and the foot people, and the 

 orange-women, and the news-boys, and witness at his ease 

 all the exciting scenes and incidents which usually attend 

 the sailing of a North River steamer from a New York pier. 

 As soon as he and Lawrence were comfortably established 

 in their seats, he asked Lawrence to go on with what he 

 was saying about the ages of childhood and youth. 



So Lawrence went on to explain what he meant by the 

 various ages that he had specified. The Wondering Age, 

 he said, continued from infancy till the boy was seven or 

 eight years old. Up to that time the world was all new 

 to him, and his mind was chiefly occupied with curiosity 

 and wonder. He went about prying into every thing. 

 He believed every thing that he heard, so that it was very 

 easy to make a fool of him. He liked fairy tales, and the 

 more absurd and impossible they were, the better he was 

 pleased with them. 



" Next comes the period from seven or eight to ten or 



