The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-28 00:00:00

twa.lve years, an.d !As mot.tiZia

..... -
The following Christmas, too, I was present at the
marriage of O'Hara'. fair daughter with the heir to an
immense amount of wealth, which, according to my coach-
man. his father had spent for him, thus giving him the trouble
of making an independent fortune for himself and those
coming after him, which he has done years ago.
. . • . . - - •
It is AIR another, and another Cluistmai eVe, and I am
again, and again, seated before the fire of my hospitable
Mend O'Hara. An the dear faces of old are ar and me, and
new faces that I had never peen before as well. Chubby
faces these new ones, with entering pearls in their mouths
and shining gold upon their beads. I call these stranger',
babies, but the mother calls them angels : and angels they
are mayhap, for they prsttle in a language that only mothers
and the angels seem to understand.
These reflections make me melancholy when I recollect
that, in this year of Grecs, 1820, l am a very old bachelor
and never can be other uow ; but the melancholy is chased
away when I hear playing upon the panes of our trate
flowered windows the melody I love so well, and a general
chorus of voices more musical than the bells in yonder
steeple, proclaim that Robert Donnelly is playing na the
Christmas Curfew.

_
one Inin-Gst and two. The agent was amazed at this show-
ing, and fancied that he had got 811 excellent supject, but
feeling somewhat dubious, remarked that the man came of
• very long-lived family —"Oh, you see, sir," replied the
applicant, " my parents died ninny years ago, but' if hying'
would he as aged as there put dowp."—" UM heel" said the
agent.
PLIASANT BANISIMENT.—One day, at the parade of
his guard, the Emperor eaul I of Resale was excessively in-
dignant with one of his officers who was not. good horse-
man.—" Cashier Mtn, mid send him to his estate," said he to
the commanding genera—. Pardon me, sire," answered the
latter, "he is a poor mai, and has no estate I "—"Then give
him one !" exclaimed the emperor, as he rode away. This
answer was not only original but imperial. for having been
once uttered, the emp-ror must Twee his promise. The
Milder, therefore, was made possessor of an estate, in order
to live in banishment upon it.
How TO GET OUT cm A DIFFICULTM—An M.P., who
owned extensive estates, and possessed considerable per-
sonal celebrity, was spending a few days at the residence of
a noble family. There were several internam( and accom-
plished young ladies In the family, to whom the honourable
m_ member, as in duty bound, showed every attention. Just as
i he was about to take his leave, the nobleman's wife pro.
CHSPTER In. GAME AND THE CROPS. ceeded to consult hlin in • matter which, Me alleged, was
Time to My promise and desire, I, on the Chrlstmaeeve of , causing her no little diatreas. "It is reported," said the
Mr. Franels Francis (an authority well entitled to rpeak on
1790, found lanai occupying the boa seat next to the driver conotess, " that you are to marry my daughter L—.
of one of the two stage coaches which daily plied between gach I'll°lB°lkm gent thel°ll°Wing Wm to the Srandaga , What shall we do I—what shall we say about it—Oh."
Dublin and the town close to where my friend O'Hara for publication : ' quietly responded the considerate if, P. "just say she re.
resided. I may observe that the drivers of both competing "Will you allow me to point out, in reference to ' fused me!"
Coaches were excellent Mends In private, but most per.
'latent enemies on the read. Aa the coach on which I the game question, one fact, which democratic econo- Fon Owens DlASONs.—Whenpreachers do indulge
mists always appear to lose sight of? Game is not I in jokes, they generally let off good ones. Herein a opal.
seated started from the hotel, the opposition conveyan was
ce • raised on agriculttwal produce alone; pheasants and men—Away down Eat, • clergyman was recently charged
rattled round the corner from the next street ; and -
every passenger on either coach seemed In asosider his partridges and other game birds, more or less, for the with having violently dragged his wife from • revival meet-
t g, and compelled her to go home with him. The clergy-
personal dignity involved in the cones* at ant place Most part feed, and fatten too very largely, on animal innan let the story travel along until he had a fair Opportunity
between the two teams. food. It may be taken MI about a fair average that to give it • broadside. 11„^3'u being charged with the off mica
Through the town and out of the town into the open One-third of the food of partridges and pheasants il ,he replied m follows t—" In thairst place,l neva attempted
country warped at break-neek speed, behind four of the most animal, one-third agricultural produce, and one-third !to influence my wife in her views, nor her choice of a meet-
miserableelooking quadrupeds I ever beheld—hones whose other matters, as acorns, grass seeds, and hedge berries,
hip-bones were at right-eagles with their and whose
whole skinny anatomy was, ea it were, laid bare Mrum r universal dtc. I have myself taken as many aa ten large acorns lug. Secondly, my wife has not attended any of the revival
meetings in Lowell. lu the third place, I have not myself
Inspection. It seemed as if the poor thin hail felt the effects """ "I est. et the crop of one pheasant Now if you attended any of the meetiogs for any purpose whatever. To
gs conclude— neither my wif e nor my if has an y inclination to
of the recent scourges which had 'went the land. This how. abolish pheasants and partridges, two -third of the go to these meeting.. Mealy, I never had a wife.
ever, in tio way afNcted Manpower. of progression, for they food ,yr, wbich the game is reared will be simply
tore along with an energy that seemed never to tire, and at the warded and made no use of at all. For nothing else AN INGENUOUS CURATE.—A curate of • London
end of the first seven miles, stage they scarcely seemed to parish, of most exemplary conduct, was accustomed to omen-
that cen,,get at it, and is of any value to us, will eat grate very freely withany of hispeople whose life was not what
have turned a hair. Both drivers were excellent whips, and it Will the one-third of agricultural produce put into
the contest was continued with varying fortune, till the op. •
wheat o p nitst could
have been. They wished much to get rid of him,
position coach branched off on a detour, to touch, certain htr cattle produce the same weight of food that u find DO pretext for complaint, either to the rector
town where mydriverapropeletor was no favourite. It seemed the whole three-thlrds will in game? This is the or the bishop. They therefore hit upon this cunning plan—
to me that in every manner of baileess in this country as well question. And that is not all the question. Much of , they drew up and signed a memorial to the bishop, setting
I forth the admirable character of the curate, lamenting that his
as in every ie of politico, the Public was broken up foto the agricultural prodUce which fattens the birds so : eminent worth should not be rewarded, and earnestly recom-
parties. Certain It was that our driver knew full well , Well in September and October consists of scattered
whether each party waiting by the read-side with their lug- mnding him for preferment. Soon after, this very living quite
I ears and rains of wheat barley, and oats which only uneepectedly became vacant, whereupon the bishop, con.
gage meant to patronize him or Lot, and if the latter he g . Y., s
never slackened page in the futile attempt to do his corn- ' partridges and pheasants could pick up (so as to I3e of stelerleg how acceptable, as well an deserving, he appeared
vomiter out of a fare, any value to us) after the gleaners, pigs, and geese to be, presented him with it, informing him of the memo-
Tide same driver tumashed me with a vast amount of In. have done with the field. And still that is not all the dal. the good man thanked his people with tearful eyes,
rejoicing that they had taken In good part his freedom of
formation on all sorts of subjects along the road. He gave question. What does the animal food which they so speech, and assuring them that he would continue all hi,
me the personal history (always complimentary) of his own largely devour COneist of ? Insects and the larva* Me the course which had won their approbation.
customers ; and the personal history (always the reverse) of thereof, many of which are the worst enemies the
the customers of his rival. IN GAOL YOB DEBT.—The following anecdote is
farmer has to contend with, and which he cannot con- told of M. Mertz, the celebrated German painter :—After
"Yo seen," he observed, "the young gentleman that got tend with in any other way than by keeping up a good having finished the portrait of the old aristocratic Countess
Inside when we changed horses at the' Cram Keys ;" well
that's one of the mildest funnies in these parts, and heir to head or partridges and pheasants. Remember, if de Ill—, who pretended to be only thirty when nearly sixty
a fine property ; but his tathermpent it for him, and now the haree or rabbits wfil damage a turnip crop or a wheat years of age, she refuted to accept the panting, saying that
young gentleman in obliged to take to the Attorney trade, Crop, Hattie.% nentorum, the turnip beetle, or wire it did not look anything like herself, and that her most tall'
worse luck'" worm, which is the larva of the elicit beetle, will in a mate Mends would not recognise a single feature of hers 021
that piece of canvass. Wierta smiled kindly at the remark,
"There, now" ho exclaimed suddenly, "p. see that wonderfully short space clear them off entirely and and as a true knight of old reconclacted gallautly the lady
epalpeen In the fur coat waitin' for Macarthy rill driver leave the field as bare as my hand. Probablyoursis the to her Caniage. The next morning there was a grand dim
of the other coach), e non ha aa. yao the coaai wout id only country in the world, we might aimed hay, in tarlance In the Rue de la Madeleine. A big crowd was
a peeny-plant to bless himself, ,a
and he has swiped °week to- which the crops are not habitually ravaged at intervals gathered before a window, and the following words were
my inside meltwater'. family for hundreds of years."
gether to buy op the beet part of the estatw that belonged by insect pests, and there cannot be the shadow of a whi.pered from ear to ear ;—" la the Countess de Al—
to
With chat such as this he beguiled the time until we ap-
doubt that we owe this to a very large extent indeed really in gaol for her debts ?"—Wiertz had exercised a little
proached our dealnatium when I emm hi ired of m whether an to the abundance of waged game. If any one vengeance towards hie noble but unfair customer. As soon
as she had refused the portrait, he had set to work and
he hail been acquainted with one Robert Donnelly. will take the trouble to calculate the weight of a painted a few iron bars on the picture, with these words,
"Oh, I mind him well," replied my Interlocutor ; "as nate pheasant or partridge's daily food--- take • third of it in goal for debt." Re exhibited the painting in a jewel-
• boy as there was in the parish, and well liked by priest and for animal food, count out that third into individuals, lees window, in the principal street of Brussel.
uuTthemffeet
parson. 'Tam him that maid play the bells on Chrlatinam and then multiply them by the days in the year, they was inatantaneous. A foe hours later
ithr7n tillior easts was
so ish
eve ; and, more betoken, sir, it was this day bat year he was will begin to get me distant notion of the valuable bsck in Wiens studio, pou ng irivective
taken before Mr °Mara and si et to prison, on the oath of pressure to have exhtbited lier under such mends-
semicee which only tine pheasant Or partridge renders ' et ions, ..., am.—" Most noble lady," was the artist's reply,
the traitor Walumou. Mr. O'Hara is • good man, air,
that every oue likes and respects, but he ought to have known to the farmer, and if this is multiplied by the yearly "you sail the painting did not look anything like yourself,
bather than to senil a daceut boy to prison on the word of existing heed of game in the whole kingdom, can any , anti that your most intimate friends would not haveraencog.
a blaek-hearted villyan like that.' one even gneiss at the stupendous total, or estimate the ton c
toned a single one of your features in the picture. . I - t—
•d
imply to test the truth of your statement—that is all ?
"Why, you don't m-an to say that the man Wilkinson mischief those inseet pests would have done to the ,
T
completed perjory 1" tasked, farmer? lam perfectly satisfied that if game were he portrait WU taken away, the city laughed, the artist
" Well, sir, that's a dangerous word to use of a King's ea- swept away—instead of its increasing the food of the tehhear,;eistyd.double price, out gave the amount to the poor of
dence," replied my milieus coachman ; " but if lid hail people it would diminish it to a very appreciable ex.
credit tor .y clevs mess in the counthry, it was for the pos. tent. Of course we may have too muck of a geod THE Po-
his last account; rest his sowl I " thing, and hares and rabbits, particularly the latter, hoed of wedlock about six years, having been somewhat
"Is he dead?" tasked. when overdone, do mischief, and they should be kept mutually disagreeable of late, the husband, In his anger,
"Aye air," answered my delver enrtly, "he came to a bad within reasonable bounds; or if wanton injury be done hastened to a lawyer and took steps to obtain a divorce
and bloody end, they say, in a foreign cowitiary, without to a farmer's crops, what is really wanted is some easy from his wife. Otte day, he came home to his wife, and
tat log many to mourn hi fate" and astinfactory method of estimating the damage au,' to her, " Ba.sey, I have f ultaled your wish. You sad
s you wished you were separated from me. Here is the decree
"Anti what has become," I inquired, "of the prism/er's and recovering it, without the doubtful, troubleliome, of divorce."
mother and sweetheart!" and expensive remedy of an action at law. His wife was at lint surprised, but far too in.
Moment to betray any emotion. She said she was ready to
"Oh, fax, your lumeer knows all about it," said he, "Lord Malmeebury will be rendering most valuable leave. She needed only to pack up her goods. She wished
looking sharply at use, and then resumed.—" They are well service to the satisfactory solution of the game question he would be present to see that the took nothing except
taken care of by the lord of the soil and his ag, nt, but the by any reliable statistics which he can collect. No- what was her ow. He &Moped into the adjoining room
with ha
old woman Is greatly broken, and the colleen, they say, thing your agitator has such a dread of as being brought roceede where the bureau acid clotheapress were. Thing in silence to take out the clothes, when middwife
eelf
never stales now." face to face with figures which he can neither shirk nor Eer eyes fell upon a small siren, and quits overcome, she
" Then she is not married yet t" controvert. There is an inexorable logic in the fact broke out in convulsive weeping. The husband, hitherto an
" Yet ! No, nor never will be,• he answered, sharply, that "two and two make four" that in strong enough indifferent observer, remarked her emotion, and discovered
" althengh she has had tote of offers, and amongst them one to demolish Odger, Peter Taylor, and Citizen Dilice at the cause. It was the dress of their only child, a little
from the scoundrel who has brought all this misery upon er of three years who had died almost three years
a blow—at any rate for the time being, and a simple
her and them she loved." and hand y formula which could be produced at stump aton.ghTt he husband was years,
lens affected by the sight than
his wife. He embraced her with emotion, begged her par-
At this stage of the conversation we entered the long street
meetings would really be most serviceable." don again and again, tore the decree of divorce into • thou-
which forms the town uncle memorable to me by the
events of the previous year—the wiry hones put on a last sand pieces, hastened to the clerk's Aim, took out • new
geliget spurt, to the great admiration of the inhabiraots, ii, marriage-license, said was married immediately to hislate
whom the arrival of the Duette coaches was a daily event , wife,
of great importance, and drew up in trout of the ' 'Nigh EQUAL TO THE OCCASION !—A certain French actress
,
Arm' where we were received by a crowd of shoutillg never would tell her ago and of eoune the more she refused
urchins, to tell it the more curious people where to know it. By
In no particular could I observe any change in the appear- good luck—as the multitude thought—she was summoned as
ance of the place. It was as if only a short day bad elapsed, a witness on a trial. The gossips rubbed their hands and
Instead of a lung eventful year, eine° I Mei been there before. ' chuckled. "Abs !we shall know it now. She must tell.
Having made a hasty toilette—for, in truth, I was nervously or go to prison for contempt of court." The court was
anxious to clasp the Mod hands of my last year's friends crowded with open-eared listeners. In French coarts of
again—l proceeded to O'Hara's residence. Justice the witness does not stand in a Waste give evidence,
but sits on a stool, in the middle of the floor of the court, in
Here I was mi t at the door, not by servants in formal front of the president's desk, and with no barrier or separ-
livery, but by the younger members of the family—a beaming ation between it and himself. The lady was ushered in, raised
weld ,me in every eye. The younger girl was the nest to her right hand to heaven, took the oath to speak the truth,
greet me. She c into bounding down the *tans, her hair and then seated herself on the witness-stool. " Your
waning like a golden hatmer .hall behind her. Before I could name ?" asked the president. " Angelique Tonjounfleurie."
speak I was dragget into the by this fair young beouiy, —" Your pretension I'—" Artiste dramatique."—" Your
and munediaMly found myself surrounded by a group of joy-
ona faces. Therewas the lady of the house herself, with the age 1" You Might have heard a pin drop In court, and every
same sweet cordial smile lighting op her face, and words ot eye was bent on the lady. She was driven into • corner at
kindly gramme on her lips. There was her lovely daughter last ! Foolish Parisian public to think so ! Angelique
—her own prototype ; her Eton boy, upon whose upper lip simply rose from her mat, walked straight up to the prat-
the down of early maphoud WAS tome:tone to show—a refer- dent's desk, and whispered the secret in his ea. He nodded,
ence to which brought the colour to his cheeks. then the made the entry in his private notes, and smiling, conthiued
by that was so sickly last year, now grown quite ruddy ani the rest of his interrogatory as soon as she had resumed her
rohmt ; and, as I have already mei& oned, the fair young place on the stool. The public retired with mingled feelings
amp whom everyone was chiding and encouraging in a of disgust and admiration. The trial had lost all further
breath. And so aurroun led with kindly caresses I was led interest; and the president was known to he a men of
Into the cosy, comfortable dining parlour, which I remem- honour and gallantry, who would never lets pretty woman's
tiered so well. Here I was surprised tit tied a stranger, arid cat escape from his presidential bag.
yet not a atranger, for it was my fellow Inside-pauun,er, A CLEAN SELL—A countryman was in London the
wooni my loge miens coachman had Informed me was the other day—gawky, uncouth, and innocent enough In appear-
hart° a splendid properly which his father had sou in dered ance, but In reality, with his eye teeth cut. Passing up
P w him. I was intraluced to Mr. Butler by Mrs. °Maim Houndsditch, he was continually encountered with oppor-
Institetivel I looked from his face to that of the leashing Mettles to buy. From almost every shop semeone rushed
dam htor ofy the home. Aye, the old, old story I I read it, out, in accordance with the anneyieg custom of that street,
truly, although I was still but a bichelor. to seize upon aud try and force nim to purchme. At last.
"And wherein lir. O'llarar I inquired, looking e end. one dirty-looking fellow caught him by the arm and
"Oh, papa said we were not to tell you," impetuously clamorously urged him to beciene a customer. "Have you
bent in nip young friend of the golden hair, any shirts I" Inquired the countryman, with a very innocent
look. "A splendid assortment, air. Step In, sir. Every
" Agnes, dear'" said the mother In =Mug rebuke. The price, sir, and every style. The cheapest in the street, sir."
addressing me, Mr.. O'Hara said," My husband woe mddeply . "Are they clean ?" " ro be mere, sir. Step in, sir." "Then,"
called away to Eitgland on urgent business three sveeks ago, resumed the countrymen, with perfect gravity, "put on one,
Ile gave us strict Injunctions that you were not to be in. for you need it. The rage of the shopkeeper may be
formed of the fact until you arrived, fearing that such in- Imagined, as the countryman, turning upon his heel, quietly
fornmtion would elm you au excuse to break the promise of pursued his way.
your visit to us—the more especially that he hoped to be
able to rejoin usithfor this deception f " almmt as noon NS you. You will not,
Duma publish
A NOVEL CURE pon CONSUMPTION.—AIexand a
I hope, be angry wns s ed norm time ago,daily
ha Pais aper, •
I was about to make such sort of suitable reply as slag novO, in which the heroine, prospaons and ppy, isr assailed
gaited itself on the moment, when my tongue was stopped by consumption. All the slew and gradual symptoms were
most mouse v end touchlngly described, anti the greatest
and the whole party startled, by a piercing scream proceed-
ing from the servant's hall. We all stood transfixed, arid Internist was felt Mr the heruine. One day the Marquis de
lookei pale and seared in the fretwork of light and shade, D slomleu called on him. "Items,," said he, "have you
mused by the flicker of the coal fire battling with the mid, composed the end of the stem now being published in the
grey twilight of a treaty Chilliness eve, that still forced it. —O 01 course." '. Does Me heroine die at the end?"—
way through the uubiluded windows. "Of course—dies of consumption. Alter such symptoms as
I have described, how could she live?" " You must make
Again the fearful scream was repeated, and yet once
again My frolicsome little friend buried her golden head in her live Vim must change the catastrophe."—" I cannot."
the folds of her mother's silk dress; her elder sister, per. " Yee you must ; tor on your heroine's life depends mydaughter's."--" Your daughter's I" " Yea; she hoe all the
haps unconscionsly, clutched the arm of my stage-coach vorwas symptoms of consumption which you have described,
and watches mournfully tor every Lumber of your novel,
acqmintance, who seemed nothing loandtio,rtorramv.atil
whilst
fourof
the opportunity of clueing her ale . , remling her own fete in your heroine's. Now, it you make
your heroine live, my danghter, whose imagination has
Eton hero, his sprouting moustache notwTahhestencdoldg,bsnmwesid
remark...My uncertaia !sheet the tomes.
the b lotus' he hounded d.,wn the stone steps into the
been deeply impressed, will live too." "Come, a life to
save is a temptation—"—" Not to be resisted." Dumas
es
heti susel was bock in a Olio shouting— Changed his last chapter. His heroine recovered, and was
happy. About five years afterwards, Dumas met the mar-
" Mamma, mamma! Granny Donnelly Is dying." quip at a party.—" Al,, Dames r he exclaimed ; "let me
Mr.. O'Hara, taking her youngest child by the hand, introduce you to my daughter. She owes her life to o en.
quitted the rimm rapidly, followed by all of us, the Mon There she Is !" " Mist lane, handsome woman, who M..k.
boy i vid,utly inspired with a meld en affection Mr me, if I ilro Joanne MArc ?"—" Yes. She is mamied, and has hat
might judge from the manner In which he clutched my arm. four children." " " And my neva four editions," said Dimas:
A. we entered the servant.' ball, half hung with the un- so we are quits.
finished evergreen armory of christmas, the eye fell upon a
gmrip 4 A awe-snick-. DU II and Women gathered round a
figure draped in black, that of an old woman, whom I re.
cog. ized as the ',hewed mother of Robert Donnelly. Above
her leant, also dressed in mourning, the graceful figure, and
pale bet still beautiful face of the orphan Mary, the poor
lairs awe Meat.
"Oh my buy, my boy, my beautiful boy I" moaned the
Old woman, as she rocked hermit to and fro.
"What lithe matter I" asked Mrs. O'Hara.
"Oh, misthress, Mein' ," replied one of the servant-madds,
..liabla to the sign I The poor boy's bowl hs gone to heaves,
and the angels is riegife his favourite tone upon the bells."
We listened, and sure enough there came floating faintly
and sweetly over the crisp waves of air the notes that I re-
membered an well of " the Gramechree,"—poor Donnelly's
Christmas Corfew. Gradually, an gradually that we c -uhut
not tell when actual sound ceased, and the echo of memory
commenced—the mysterious melody died away. Still the
pother moaned aloud.
" My boy, my darling boy, has left his mother for ever ! It
is his
crane. Oh, my ell to hls ould mother moth that will soon join !Ono in
the
Ii ,bert, why did they murder you? Why
went not cold and stiff in my coffin first 1"
"Mother, mother I' said the gentle Mary, pillaring the
old worean's head upon her bosom, and weeping the while,
e don't speak so; we will both soon join him in heaven, soon,
soon !"
The scene was in tonching for the presence of a thy M.
or any sound save the inarticulate soh, in tbet sympathetic)
crowd. I. don't know how many times I wiped my moistened
eyes whilst witnessing that tender sorrow of the living for
the dead, whilst in item were mime queer prismatic lights,
whlch seemed to make everybody float about me with con.
stantly changing forms and features ; but my ears conid not
be deceived, and the moans of the mother, and the bitter
sobs of the spectators still went on.
I cannot tell how long this lasted, when the latch of the
door at the opposite end of the hall was lilted, the doom
km
opened, and Mr. 011ara iedneed Well WTlGfed In limmums

A FLAT. —A candidate for a district school in Ala-
bama, being asked by one of the examiners, "Do you think
the world Is round or flat !" enthusiastically responded,
"Yes, sir, I do."—Which lett?" asked the examiner.—" Well,.
salt the candidate, "some folks thing one way, and some
folks another, and I'll teach round or fiat, lust as the parents
wish."
SHARP PllACTlCE.—Wbittaker is one of the richest
each in Ohio, awl has made his money by driving sharp bar- '
gains. 111, hired wan was one day going at ,ng with a load
of hey, when he overturned it upon a cow. The poor thing
was smothered to death before they could get her out. Her
owner, Jones, called upon Whittaker the next day and de-
mand,l payment for the loss of his cow.—" Certainly," call
Wh•ttaker, "what do you thiek she was worth ?"—" Well,
about ten dollars," rail Jones.—" How much did you get
for the hide and tallow 1"—" Ten dollars and a half, sir."—
"Oh, well, then you owe just fifty cents."--Jones was myttl-
fled, and Whit,aker very fierce In his demand and before
Jones c ,ul 1 get the thing straight in his mind, he forked
over the money.
Ax ABSTRACTED Gun'?.—" Old Bumblebee," was the
well-known and universally recognised cognomen of Mr. T , of
Newburyport. He gained the title from the fact of his catch.
ing a bumblebee, one day, ashe was ahingling his barn, and, in
attempting to destroy the insect with his hatchet, cut off the
ends of his thumb and forefinger, letting the insect go un-
harmed. Other mishaps happened to the old codger, on the
sam4 barn In one of his abstractlona, he shingled over his
spare hatchet ; ant cutting a small aperture in the building,
to let a little daylight in, this man w'etually set in a wooden
pane, as being economical, and not likely to be broken !
Undo T., in one of his oblivious freaks, nailed his left arm
so firmly betwixt two boards of a fence he was putting up,
that he had to call for help to get extricated from his self-
imprisonment. Ile once put a button on a gate, instead of
the post. Rut the rarest freak of all, was when he ran
through the streets, with hie hands about three feet amulet,
held before him. bonen, Ih• natiets-by not to disturb hies,
Ika had got On mama at • isaa-way plk bias.