to punish it, o what resolutions it makes! the tears run down its little cheeks; it will promise almost anything to avoid punishment—"i will never do it again, i will never do it again; i will be so good, so good." how long? how long? perhaps not half-an-hour. and thus our resolutions, if we make them, are not much better than the promises of a child. i have long given over making any. but if we are so foolish as to make resolutions, how long will they last? just as long as a feather lies quiet upon the roof of a house; it only waits for the first puff of 