66 
WAYSIDE LECTURES. 
ties of the country. Sometimes in the 
course of these rambles he would gather a 
moss or fungus, or pick up some little in¬ 
sect, and give them a lecture upon it more 
full of wonders than a fairy-tale. It must 
be confessed 1 that the boys and girls often 
came home from their rambles with sun- 
flushed faces and scratched hands, not to 
mention torn dresses and dirty aprons; and 
once or twice more serious misfortunes had 
happened. Once the whole party, Mr. 
Crediton included, had been severely stung 
by yellow-jackets, and came home with 
their eyes swollen out of their heads and 
their faces plastered with mud,—the very 
best remedy, let it be remembered, for all 
such stings. On another occasion, while fish¬ 
ing, with Mr. Crediton’s cane, for a water-lily, 
Sidney had tumbled head-foremost into the 
river and been fished out wetter, if possible, 
than was the kitten Jessie when we first 
made her acquaintance; and again Kate 
Crediton, who, it must be confessed, was 
something of a romp, found herself fast in a 
black-walnut tree, and was rescued at the ex¬ 
pense of a considerable portion of her dress. 
But the dress was only a ten-cent calico, 
