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But you shall hear an odd affair indeed!
And that it happened, they are all agreed:
Not to detain you from a thing so strange,
A gentleman, that lives not far from 'Change,
This week, in short, as all the alley knows,
Taking a puke, has thrown up three black crows."
"Impossible!"—"Nay, but it's really true,

I had it from good hands, and so may you."
"From whose, I pray?" So having named the man
Straight to inquire his curious comrade ran.
"Sir, did you tell "-relating the affair-
"Yes, sir, I did; and if it's worth your care
Ask Mr. Such-a-one, he told it me;

But, by-the-by, 'twas two black crows, not three."
Resolved to trace so wondrous an event,

Whip to the third, the virtuoso went.

"Sir," and so forth-"Why, yes; the thing is fact, Though in regard to number not exact;

It was not two black crows, 'twas only one;
The truth of that you may depend upon.

The gentleman himself told me the case."

" Where may I find him?" "Why, in such a place.
Away he goes, and having found him out,-
Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt."
Then to his last informant he referred,

And begged to know if true what he had heard.
"Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?"

"Bless me! how people propagate a lie!

"Not I !"

Black crows have been thrown up, three, two, and one,
And here I find at last all comes to none !

Did you say nothing of a crow at all ?"
"Crow-crow-perhaps I might, now I recall
The matter over." "And pray, sir, what was 't?
*Why, I was horrid sick, and, at the last,
I did throw up, and told my neighbors so,
Something that was as black, sir as a crow."

THE CHEAP SUPPER.-FROM THE GERMAN BY J. N. McE.

1x a neat little village not far from Berlin,

Was a house called THE LION-a very good Inn:
The keeper a person quite ready to please;
Each customer serving with infinite ease.

There entered his house once, quite late in the day,
A fine looking fellow, spruce, beauish and gay,
Who ordered-and thrice did the order repeat,
A supper first rate, e'en a supper of meat!

"Beefsteak for my money!" he pompously said;

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Bring cheese for my money, bring butter, bring bread !"

"And wine?" said the host; "Will your honor have wine?"

"Yes, wine," he replied, if it's really fine.

The supper was brought,

He showed his approval

By quickly effecting

Its utter removal;

Eating hearty, I mean, as hungry folks do,

With a great deal of haste and a great deal of gout.
When supper was ended, and time came to pay,
In the hand of the landlord a sechser * he lay,
Saying "Here is my money, good fellow ;-good day!"
“What, sir, do you mean?" said the host in dismay,
"A dollar you owe me ;—you 've a dollar to pay !"
"A dollar?" said dandy, with air very funny,
"I asked you for supper and wine for my money!
Not a cent had I more, when hither I came,
And, if you 've given me too much for the same,
The fault is your own; sure, I'm not to blame."
He probably thought

It a witty conceit,
Thus meanly a person,

Not thinking, to cheat;

But, in my humble notion, 'twas no wit at all;
'Twas what you may careless and impudent call,-
* A coin v orth about a cent and a half.

}

A thing very fitting a reckless outlaw,
Obedient alone to the calls of his maw.
The landlord was wrathy; abused him aloud;
Called him dandified puppy, conceited and proud.
But now hear the best of the story by far :-
"Though scamp," said the Landlord, "undoubted you are
I'll give you the dinner, which justly you owe,
And with it a dollar, if straightway you go,

To my neighbor who keeps THE BEAR o'er the way,
And do again there what you've done here to-day."
It seems from THE BEAR,

Or the house of that name,
TO THE LION dissatisfied

Boarders oft came;

And this put their keepers at war, as we say,
Each injuring the other, and that every way.
Well; soon as the landlord his offer had made,
On the money the sly guest his dexter hand laid,
While his left took the door, as he smilingly said:-
"Good day, my dear fellow! I've been to THE BEAR;
And what I've done here, the same I've done there;
For your neighbor engaged me by offers quite fair,
To do at THE LION what I did at THE BEAR!"

SPEECH OBITUARY.-CLARK'S KNICK-KNACKS.

NOTHING could more thoroughly impress us with the fact, that it is pretty impossible to communicate to others those ideas "whereof we ourselves are not possess-ed of," than the following funereal discourse, which was recently delivered in the Florida House of Representatives. The duty of making it was voluntarily assumed, and even insisted upon, by the speaker, to the no small wonder of the House, his utter incompeteney being notorious:

"Mr. Speaker: Sir! Our fellow citizen, Mr. Silas Higgins,

who was lately a member of this branch of the Legislature, is dead, and he died yesterday in the forenoon. He had the brown-creaters, (bronchitis was meant.) and was an uncommon individual. His character was good up to the time of his death, and he never lost his woice. He was fifty-six year old, and was taken sick before he died at his boarding-house, where board can be had at a dollar and seventy-five cents a week, washing and lights included. He was an ingenus creetur, and in the early part of his life had a father and mother. He was an officer in our State militia since the last war, and was braves and polite and his uncle, Timothy Higgins, belonged to the Revolutionary war, and was commissioned as lieutenant by General Washington, first President and commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, who died at Mount Vernon, deeply lamented by a large circle of friends, on the 14th of December, 1799, or thereabout, and was buried soon after his death, with military honors, and several guns were bu'st in firing salutes.

"Sir! Mr. Speaker: General Washington presided over the great continental Sanhedrim and political meeting that formed our constitution: and he was indeed a first-rate good man. He was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts. of his countrymen: and, though he was in favor of the United States' Bank, he was a friend of edication: and from what he said in his farewell address, I have no doubt he would have voted for the tariff of 1846, if he had been alive, and had n't ba' died some time beforehand. His death was considered, at the time, as rather premature, on account of its being brought on by a very hard cold.

"Now, Mr. Speaker, such being the character of General Washington, I motion that we wear crape around the left arm of this Legislature, and adjourn until to-morrow morning, as an emblem of our respects for the memory of S. Higgins. who is dead, and died of the brown-creaters yesterday in the forenoon !"

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THE MONSTER OF MANY NAMES.-ANON.

Charles. I have heard it said, William, that our language is, of all others, the most difficult for foreigners to learn. you account for it?

Can

William. I cannot, indeed, unless it is because there are so many words which signify the same thing. For instance, when a fellow feels a little out of sorts, and thinks it is be cause he is dry, he goes to the store and calls for his "bitters," "black strap," "sling," "four o'clock," &c. ; the liquor-sellers all understand him, he wants some strong drink.

C. You are right; but the terms you mention are rather out of date, I believe. They have got an entire new list of names for that thing now-a-days. But this only increases the difficulty I referred to.

W. Yes; and some of them are very appropriate.

C. Some, I think, call it Samson.

W. Samson! I suppose that's because it's so strong; is it not?

C. Yes; but that is not the only reason. Samson, you know, deceived the people about his strength, and it was a long while before they found out where it lay. Besides this, Samson was a great man-slayer; but where Samson slew his thousands, strong drink has slain its tens of thousands.

W. I have heard of a certain Quaker who called it Pharaoh; for I perceive, said he, it will not let the people go.

C. You remind me of a sailor I saw the other day. Jack was already "half seas over," when he went into Smith's and called for an ounce of old tangle-legs. Thinks I,—What is that? So I kept my eye on the scales; but Smith understood him; so he gave him a glass, you see, and off he went.

· But, dear me, I guess it was tangle-legs! First he went this way, and then that, zigzag, like a Virginia fence, till his legs got into a complete tangle, and down he went.

W. You see old Pharaoh had got hold of him, and by tangling his legs he wouldn't let him go. But that's not the

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