Page:Tales of my landlord (Volume 2).djvu/11

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TALE II.


OLD MORTALITY.



CHAPTER I.

Preliminary.

Why seeks he with unwearied toil
Through death's dim walks to urge his way;
Reclaim his long-asserted spoil,
And lead oblivion into day?
Langhorne.

"Most readers," says the Manuscript of Mr Pattieson, "must have witnessed with delight the joyous burst which attends the dismissing of a village-school on a fine summer evening. The buoyant spirit of childhood, repressed with so much difficulty during the tedious hours of disci-