Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1856-05-07
EDGEFIELD, S. c., MAY Z, 1856.


oh Pebbles! Nay. man, never grumble-thl
betters have been so tilted up before thee
These stools Of thine are but humble joint
stools-three.legged wooden stools-lowly
ones; but thy betters have fallen from high
er. Did not Lord ThistIedown strive tc
keep his balance and obtain office with Con
servative and Liberals When, To-! away
glid The two stools, and down came my
Lord upon the floor of the House, amid
peals Of " inextinguisbable laughterp Nay
more, when mighty nations were at variance
have not certain little petty, Pettifogglng
Kinglings striven to appear neutral, and to
balance between the contendiug parties
And have not they had their fall, or will they
not soon! Aye, Panurgus, and therefore
bless thy stars that thou didst fall from a
ioint.stool instead of lofty throne
But to return to our story.
After short time Pebbles began to make
friends in his college, and before long be.
came popular man, because he was use.
full man Was man wanted to make up
an eleven at short notice, Bales was sure to
apply to Pebbles. Was a man in the Eight
or Torpid laid up for time, who should
pull in his place but Pebhless Did the De-
batting Society wish to give supper, whose
rooms should they borrow but Pebbles
And so Pebbles was popular, bugged him
self with the idea that be was liked for him.
self, and was therefore all the more ready
to help Bales, or Featherwel, or De Bates the
President of the last.named Society, on an
emergency.
So time went on, and Pebbles got through
his Little Co." as it was called then, in
in those happy days when contradiction
though it eeem) the examinations were easI-
or, because they were without Moderations.
Pebbles, we say, got through his Little
Co." but when he went in for his Great
Ditto" we are sorry to say that, judging
from his superficial knowledge of all his sub.
Jets, that Pannrgus had not done his duty in
reading for the examination Ia conjecture in
which they were not far wrong) the exami.
ners gave into the hands Of the Clerk Of the
Schools no testamur for Mr.. Pebbles Of ST..
Marks
Pebbles was plucked! They call it
ploughed now, but the sensations after the
operation are, we believe, the same. They
consist, we are told, of kind of desire to
meet the examiners in blind alley some
dark night-a conviction that they have
conspired to cheat you, and a general in.
tense disgust of everybody and everything
in the world.
Pebbles was plucked! And no sooner
was it whispered in Oxford than the trades
people began to dropin for their pickiugs. and
they were no slight ones With his usual
motley disposition, Panurgus had dabbled
in all the pursuits and amusements of
University Life.
His rooms were hung with proofs.before.
letters, that We'd in cost (although they
were, in pictorial point of view, not very
vaIuable) with the choice engravings of
Burin, the great amateur artist ofSt Marks
His Madonnas, and Oak Crosses, and Saints,
excited the envy Of Reredos Of Orel while
Snaffle, of Merton, did not turn out in bet
ter pink or brighter boots than Pebbles, al
though the latter seldom did more than ride
to the meet and back.
Featherwell admired Panurgus's gig, as
she Hoated at her moorings by the barge,
and he vowed she was well worth the money,
much as it was, at which she was valued.
D. Villiers, of Ch: Ch:, had not more cost
ly furniture than our hero, whose rooms
nevertheless were consummation of bad
taste. BookstaIl, of Ballio, did not lay
ont more on his library than Pebbles, whose
numerous volumes were merel costly rub
bish notwithstanding. In short, as Jack Of
all trades had he set up in Oxford and no
small sum did it cost him to purchase bis
stock in all, so that when he came to survey
his position, he found himself considerably
in debt, and without a testamur. In disgust
and despair he took his name off the Col
lege books, and returned home.
The Squire, after great deal of storming,
paid bis sons debts. .remarkiug to his wife,
"Well, Mistress Pebbles. always said that
Watts's hymns would do the boy no good
TN books and work, and healthful play,
May my first ours be past,
That may give for every day
good account at last
A good account-by Jove, ma'am-he's S
brought me plenty of accounts to pay for
his books, and work, and healthful play" "
"Pebbles, my dear, you are profane" |"
was all the poor lady could say. TO send
Pauurgus to College had been her pet
scheme, for she wanted her son TO be an ac.
complished gentlemen. The old Squire, on the
other hand, had opposed it, saying that he new.
er went to College, nor his father before him,
yet they made good Squires without it, and
why should not Panurgus; so that, with the
exception of the bills, he was not greatly
vexed at our hero's failure at Oxford. But
he did not live long to be either vexed or
pleased at anything; for the next year Pa.
nurgus saw him laid in the family vault at
Bedeigh Minister; and not long after, the
mother followed him.
So Pebbles came into bis property, not q
little lessened by the payment of his debts;
for many patriarchal elm aud many an an
cient oak went into the pockets of the
tradesmen in the shape of cheques aud bauk
notes. Not few old trees, that stauJing
in the Park, had seen generations Of Peb-
bles' carried to christening, bringing home
brides, borne slowly forth to burial, felt with
shudder through all their limbs aud leaves
and Rbres, the edge Of the ringing axe, and
/ l.. ,on1;n,, f,1linu u,ith "a Cpddan oul