KATE CREDITON. 
67 
and an old one besides; and nobody was, 
after all, much the worse for the stings. 
The children brought home so many new 
ideas and so much health and enjoyment 
from their excursions that wise parents 
thought them cheaply purchased by a few 
scratches and tatters, and believed them¬ 
selves extremely favoured in having a 
minister who possessed so much influence 
over young people and could interest them 
to such a degree. Mr. Crediton was rather 
celebrated as a preacher: he preached very 
much as he talked; and at some of his illus¬ 
trations drawn from Natural Science, which 
struck older people forcibly for their beauty 
and originality, you might see the children 
glance at each other with half a smile, as 
much as to say, “ We have heard that before.” 
Kate Crediton, his only daughter, was 
Annie’s great friend, though they were as 
different as children could well be. Kate 
was, as has before been hinted, something 
of a tom-boy, and sometimes quite shocked 
Annie’s strict notions of propriety; but she 
was an excellent scholar,—better than Annie 
herself. She was, for her age, quite a won¬ 
derful little housekeeper; and—best of all— 
