“Who will pull off my riding boots?” he asked, throwing himself into a chair, stretching out his legs, and gazing admiringly at his new spurs.  Wili and Lili sprang quickly from their seats, delighted at the chance of doing something that was not a lesson, and each seized a foot and began to pull with such force that before Jule knew what they were about he found himself slipping from his chair.  In the next second he had grasped the side of his chair with the result that that also was pulled along the floor.  He called out hastily “Stop!  Stop!” while little Hunne, who saw the situation from his corner, now flew to his elder brother’s assistance, hung on to the chair from behind, planting his little feet firmly on the ground, and throwing his weight backward as well as he knew how.  His efforts were insufficient, however, and he was dragged along the floor as if he were on a coast.  Wili and Lili were determined to finish their undertaking, and kept on pulling and pulling.

    “Stop!  Stop!  Wiling and Liling
     You terrible twinning”

cried Jule, while little Hunne added his voice to swell the tumult.

At this the mother made her appearance upon the scene, and the uproar was stilled at once.  Jule swung himself panting back into his chair, and Hunne slowly regained his equilibrium.

“My dear Jule, why do you make the children behave so badly?  You ought to know better at your age,” said his mother reprovingly.

“Certainly, mother, certainly, in future I will do better, but if you will look at it from another side, I am doing something, in affording the twins an opportunity to be of use, instead of carrying on their usual mischievous pranks.”

“Jule, Jule, that does not look like doing better,” said his mother warningly.  “Lili, go down stairs and practise your exercises until Miss Hanenwinkel has finished Paula’s music lesson.  Wili, go on with your studying, and the best thing you can do, Jule, to help me, is to amuse the little one until I am at leisure.”

The “big Jule” was ready to help to restore order after his bit of fun, and Lili ran down stairs to the piano as she was bidden.  She found herself too much excited after the exertion of playing boot-jack for her brother, and her exercises did not run smoothly, so she took up one of her “pieces” to work off her superfluous energy upon, and began to play with great emphasis,

    “Live your life merrily,
      While the lamp glows,
    Ere it can fade and die,
      Gather the rose.”

Uncle Titus and his wife were just finishing their breakfast in a neighboring house when the affair of the boots began.  Uncle Titus hastened to his room, closing the windows and fastening them against the noise.  His wife summoned their hostess rather peremptorily, and asked her “just to listen to that” for herself.  It did not seem to make much impression upon Mrs. Kurd however, who only said smilingly,