- Obvious printer errors, typos and missing punctuation fixed. Misspellings in the pupil’s speech in the Stephen and his Adult Pupil story have been retained, as have archaic spellings and inconsistent hyphenation.
- The cover has been created by the transcriber and placed in the public domain.
- The table of contents has been created and added by the transcriber.
| Early Boyhood and its Merry Pastimes. | 1 |
| The Alligator Lives for Another Week. | 2 |
| Stephen and his Adult Pupil. | 3 |
| Stephen H. Branch, in his Cell at Blackwell’s Island—A Mournful Scene. | 3 |
| Advertisements | 4 |
STEPHEN H. BRANCH’S
ALLIGATOR.
Early Boyhood and its Merry Pastimes.
I remember the woman’s school at four years old, and the meritedchastisement of the school marm; my desperate descent onthe sugar bowl; the military company of which I was commander;my annual cries in the trundle bed at 12 o’clock and one second,A. M.: “I wish you merry Christmas, Ma,—I wish youhappy New Year, Pa,—now gim me cent;” with my father’s:“Go to sleep, you young rascal, or I’ll come and spank you;” thetwo cents I always got on the 4th of July, if I had been a goodboy, and the solitary penny if I hadn’t; the death of my motherof twins; the copious tears of my father and Aunt Lucy; mygrief at her sudden demise; the country boarding school, and theblast of lightning that felled me to the earth, while whittling onthe summer green; my eyes soon open on the glories of the luriduniverse, and I scamper into the pretty cottage, and bound intothe arms of my aunt, who nearly smothers me with affectionateembraces; the storm passes; a bow appears, with crimson arrows,and lingers on the concave’s rosy verge, till Venus gleams throughthe twilight leaves, when its gorgeous hues are vailed by the revolvingspheres, and it descends the dazzling west.
the moon ascends the east in matchless splendor, and roams intranquil beauty through infinitude, spreading its snowy light onvale and mead, that vie with lakes of liquid silver; my aunt lingersat my bed, while I say my evening prayer, and invests myheart with sacred feelings; myself and brother William, on ourway to school, through a drear