CHAPTER IV.
CHANGED PROSPECTS.
Twelve years have passed since that stormy night when Titus Bright Toodleburg--for the young gentleman as I have said before, was named after the inn-keeper, came into the world.

Great changes have taken place since then.

Tite, as the neighbors all call him, is now a bright, intelligent boy, and a great favorite in the village.

Hanz and Angeline are proud of him, and he promises to be the joy of their declining years.

Hanz had always held to the opinion that men with too much learning were dangerous to the peace of a neighborhood, inasmuch as it caused them to neglect their farms and take to pursuits in which the devil was served and honest people made beggars.