began to run into my mouth, and so I shut it up. Remember, when you are bathing, if you meet with a shark, the best way is to bite off his legs, if you can, before he walks away with yours; and pray, pray, pray take care of yourself in the sea, for in some places, they say, it has not even a bottom to go to.

"Could you bring me a little crab off the beach? If you would catch one for me, and teach it to shake hands without nipping and biting, it would make me quite happy, for I have not had any toys or playthings in a long time. It would be a good plan to hire a little crab to teach the baby to crawl, if he can't walk yet. Bless him! But I must not write on him any more; he is so soft, and I have nothing but steel pens.

"Now good-by; give my love to everybody, and my compliments to all the rest, and believe me, up hill and down dale,

Then I put my letter in a flag envelope, sealed it up tight, and wrote on it, "To my dear Neighbor Nelly," and had the maid take it to her.

Presently I could see two little figures flitting about in one of the upper chambers, and soon after all four of us, Nelly, Jimmy, I, and Gipsey, were in the street. Gipsey was a "toy terrier" that ought to have belonged to "Commodore Nutt," the dwarf at "Barnum's," and ran along on three legs most of the time, with the fourth, and his cork-screw tail elevated in the air for joy at being allowed to join the party; while the children were all hop, skip, and jump, and kept tight hold of a hand of mine apiece, as though they were afraid of flying away if they let go. Meanwhile, I walked quietly along, with my market basket on my arm, a sober old bachelor. I expect the people who passed us in the street thought me a rather incongruous addition to such a frisky party; but then, you know, children must caper about. Bless your heart! it would never do in the world to see children mincing solemnly along, like little old men and women; it would be as absurd as to have my Neighbor Nelly wearing her great-grandmother's coal-scuttle bonnet! The last idea struck me as so odd, that I drew a little picture of Neighbor Nelly in this guise when I got home, and here it is. How do you like it?

We thought we would go to market first. So we walked slowly down Fourth Avenue, and crossed over to the market where the Seventh Regiment armory is, opposite the Cooper Institute.

"My cousin is a Seventh Regimenter!" said Jimmy as we climbed up the iron steps; "he often let us look on at his company drills last winter, and afterward Nelly and I drilled in our yard. The big boy who comes to see the old ladies next door, looked over the fence and laughed at us, but we didn't care; and we mean to fight for our country like everything when we are bigger; that is, I mean to, and Nelly would like to, but she's only a girl, you know."

"Only a girl!" repeated Nelly, tossing her long curls; "girls are a great deal of use, too; I mended all his stockings and all papa's this week—think of that, neighbor Oldbird!"

"That was really splendid!" said I; and just then we entered the market.

The very first thing we met was a horrid big dog, that belonged to some butcher; and, bless me! how he began to show his great rows of teeth, and growl at Gipsey! Nelly gave a little scream, and tried to hide behind me; Jimmy valiantly flew at the big dog with my walking stick; and poor little Gipsey nearly stood on the end of his tail with fright, and squealed dismally. What a fuss we were all in, to be sure! So at last, to quiet the disputants, I caught Gipsey up, and put him in my coat pocket, where he sat, looking out at the top, very much comforted.

Then we turned to the right, and went by the brightest and prettiest stall in the whole market. It was kept by a Frenchman, who, in his own language, would be called a "charcutier;" but Jimmy and Nell shouted out together "Oh, there's the pig man!" as loud as ever they could, and then stopped, blushing very much, because they were afraid the pork merchant heard them. I expect he did; for he looked very funny when we came close, and smoothing down his snowy apron with his fat hands, said "Bonjour, mademoiselle!" and laughed good humoredly. There was a great "head cheese" on the pig man's marble counter, moulded in the shape of a boar's head. The tusks were made of white carrots, the eyes of red jelly, and the sides of the dish it was on were beautifully ornamented with white roses, cut out of turnips, and parsley foliage. Then there were ever so many pork pies, with the most elegant wreaths of flowers on the top crust, comical little hams already cooked, and fat dumplings of sucking pigs, as pink as baby himself!

When we had looked about us a little, we concluded to buy a pork pie of the pig man; and while that was being nicely packed up in paper, out popped Gipsey from my pocket, and stood triumphant on the counter, in the midst of the little pigs and savory pastries. I don't know what forays he would not have made upon them, if he had not been captured by the pig man, Jimmy, and me; but he did contrive to jump right into the very middle of another pork-pie! and then we had to pay for that, too; and wipe the gravy off Gipsey's feet and the ends of his tail and nose, and button him up tight in the market basket for half an hour, as a punishment for his naughtiness. As to the pie we had bought, Jimmy carried that, and Gipsey cut up so many antics inside the basket, that he nearly wriggled it out of my hand altogether.

After that we went on, and found, dear me! such a comfortable old market woman, who sold us a nice little chicken, and some fresh vegetables, and gave the children each a great handful of cherries; but we had to tell her to send them home, with our pie, because Gipsey had the basket in possession.

Then we walked into the street again, and when we had let Gipsey out of prison, concluded to leave the basket at my baker's, and take a walk in Broadway. Dear, dear me! what quantities of shop windows there were to stare into, and how we flattened our three noses, and spread our six hands all over every one of them, while we admired the splendid picture books, the stores of sugar plums, or the wonders of toys they contained! While we were occupied in this way, a little girl, poorly dressed, and lugging a large bundle of work in both arms, came along, and stopping beside us at the window of the most splendid toy shop, stood looking wistfully in.

Neighbor Nelly straightway twitched my hand, and whispered, "Oh look, Neighbor Oldbird! what a poor little girl! I don't suppose she ever saw a doll before in her life. How she must wish she had one!"

"Suppose we ask her?" I said.

"Will you ask?" she answered; "I don't like to."

"Nonsense! ask her yourself; she won't eat you, or Gipsey either;" for Gipsey was sidling away between my feet, as if he were alarmed too; the saucy scamp!

Thereupon Nelly moved closer to the poor girl, and said, in a kind, little, timid voice, "Do you like dolls?"

"Yes, very much!" said the child, with