Poor Jacob Doodle-calf, in floods of tears, had pressed upon him with spluttering earnestness his lame pet hedgehog (he had always some poor broken-down beast or bird by him); but this Tom had been obliged to refuse, by the Squire's order.

He had given them all a great tea under the big elm in their playground, for which Madam Brown had supplied the biggest cake ever seen in our village; and Tom was really as sorry to leave them as they to lose him, but his sorrow was not unmixed with the pride and excitement of making a new step in life.
And this feeling carried him through his first parting with his mother better than could have been expected.

Their love was as fair and whole as human love can be--perfect self-sacrifice on the one side meeting a young and true heart on the other.

It is not within the scope of my book, however, to speak of family relations, or I should have much to say on the subject of English mothers--ay, and of English fathers, and sisters, and brothers too.

Neither have I room to speak of our private schools.