Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1874-07-16

pint Of porter essA. ma we shah do wel
until ws gst to Tsisisoham.' SO : IA s.
why. uhae o. earth should We 70 d
Tviekenham for 2 cried I, aghass at the
idea OF completing the wreck Of our for.
tune for the benefit ofs railway company
-'Ok. is's I'll right replied Mss. i
hsss ffieaa there Who viii be sure 10 In
viss u 10 dine. and I know can borrow
. sovereign from him-he 10 one Of the
best fellows In the world. - a4- isls
This news restored my eheerfalusm,
and vs strsiehtvay vent 10 . pastry cook q
shop. and each Of m had two seoues,
which were. however. % dry that 10 could
scarcely get the last two or three nouths.
I'll down. Al soon - 10 had Suaa -,
however, we flushed od 70 Z .neishborins
tavern. and sluiccd our throats With I
pint Of porter apiece. This made US an
right again. and We marched OF in high
spirits. paid our halfpennies. crossed Wa.
serloo bridge. and reached the station,
shcre We arrived just in time to catch the
train; 50. having taken our third .claas re-
turns, which reduced our wealth to the
amount Of twopence, except the bad shil-
ling, We boldly entered the train, aud
wonderful ss it may seem in these days,
reached ocr delightful destination With
out An accident.
On our arrival We atonce oct of to my
friends friend-or perhaps victim might
be the more appropriate tern-for, Is Mat
Justly observed:
He may 60 out for IN afternoons 6ah-
ing. and then We should lose him
This remark put horrible idea in my
head. and I exclaimed:
My goodness, Mat, how do you know
he is at home st all Z
'Confound you. George. for . regular
vet blanket - was the indignant reioin-
der. What right has he to Be cut. I
should like to knowt'
On this l held my peace. but held much
inward misgiving. which lasted until We
came to beautiful little house, which
Mat looked up to with the air Of Gro.
sus, and gave knock which might have
been heard at Toddington. After short
delay. the door was opened by . very
frowsy- looking old woman, whose aspect
made my heart stand still.
All my forcbodings turned ont to be
true. The family were all away at the
seaside, aud would not be back for ten
days. groaned aloud. and even the ir-
Mat looked blue. Here We
were with twopenee in our pockets. one
penny of which We should have to pay to
recross Waterloo bridge on our return,
and no dinner
Slowly and sadly We walked away. when
suddenly bright thought struck me. I
knew man who lived on the other side
of the river, . little above Toddington
Lock. and We determined to risk our all
and spend the rest Of our cash in crossing
the river to seek my friend. aud, in case
We were ngain to the other side. dumped
out, and loft Mat, Who was treasurer, TO
settle with our Charon. ... .--.
This he did, though seemingly he had
somc trouble to find the sum, for he was
much longer than necessary in handing
over that imposing amount; but he soon
rejoined me with broad grin on his face,
for which inquired the reason.
It's all right. my dear fellow. he said.
Il gave him that doubtful shilling Of mine.
and he meant to cheat rs. for he only gave
mo ninepence change, passing of two old
halfpennies for two pennies. and showing
the shilling in his pocket. has hurried
across the river again to avoid being taxed
With it; but shall not trouble him, for I
always like to reward sharpness.
For the life of me, could not help
laughing at this. for it was diamond cut
and Mat was in no way disturb
cd BY the immortality Of his act and deed,
and absolutely stru,.ed along tha happy
possessor of eleven pence.
On getting nearly opposite Pope's VII
Ia, Mat drew my attention to an elderly
gentleman. who was standing up in q
skin about ten yards from the shore. ana
fishing where l knew the water D BE- less
than four feet deep.
Look there said Mat. What nice.
clcan-shaven. rosy -gilled, white waistcoat-
ed old gentleman! III be bound he has
got lot Of money, And will soon 60 home
to gorgeous repast. While our chance is
as slender as his fishing rod
Just ss be bad done speaking. down
came a large barge's boat with seven or
eight young men in it. Who had evident.
y come up from somewhere below Lon.
don bridge for holiday. as they all seemed
half drunk. They had large lugsail to
their boat which they had hoisted. as
there was fresh wind blowing. and as
they were tacking down they seemed to
me to be going to run the old gentleman
down. for he had his back toward them.
and did not see them.
l Imentioned my fear to Nat, who at
once exclsimed-
Il only wish to goodness. they would.
It would be the making Of u.s.
had no time to make any reply to this
extraordinary remark. for just then. in
rnino ahnnt the sailinR boat caueht the