CHAPTER IV.
HE DOES HIS DUTY AS A CITIZEN.
Babbletown began to be very lively as soon as the weather got cool, the fall after I came home.

We had a singing-school once a week, a debating society that met every Wednesday evening, and then we had sociables, and just before Christmas a fair.

All the other young men had a good time.

Every day, when some of them dropped in the store for a chat and a handful of raisins, they would aggravate me by asking: "_Aren't_ we having a jolly winter of it, John ?" _I_ never had a good time.

_I_ never enjoyed myself like other folks.
I spent enough money and made enough good resolutions, but something always occurred to destroy my anticipated pleasure.