I  am  afraid  because,  for  some  unknown  reason,  he  al-
ways got  the  candy  in  the  pool !  .  .  .  But  we  thought
the  best  game  of  all  with  him  was  lag,  and  that  al-
ways came  oif  just  after  dinner  before  he  went  back  to
his  oflQce.  There  never  could  be  again  such  a  noise
as  we  made,  and  your  poor  grandmamma  would  have  to
shut  her  ears  and  hide  herself  from  the  tumult.  We
always  ended  by  rushing  after  him,  sometimes  far  into
the  street,  and  would  not  give  up  until  he  allowed  him-
self to  be  tagged  the  last.  But  although  he  was  so
frolicsome  and  bubbling  up  with  fun  when  with  us


442  MEMOIR  OF  RTIFUS  CHOATE.  [Chap.  XI.
alone,  he  would  change  wholly  if  any  '  outsider '  by
any  chance  were  with  us.  If  one  of  our  playmates
came  in  during  our  game  of  tag,  he  at  once  stopped  the
game,  took  his  green  bag  and  was  off.
