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THE BLIND AND LAME.

"How warm the sun!" cries blind old John;

"How bright he shines!" says poor lame Will;
"How pleasant, neighbour, to have gone,
On such a day, to Greenwich Hill!

"The Easter folk are crowding there,
'Tis hard that we must prisoners be."
"Ay, true," sighs John, "I liked the fair,
When Bessy lived, and I could see.

"But she is dead, and I am blind,

And thou, old comrade, art as bad;
So we must sit, with mournful mind,
And dream the joys that once we had."

"Not so," says Will, "we two as one,
Will see the fun, and climb the hill."
"I'll be to you as feet! cries John,
"And I to you as eyes!" cries Will.

Away they trudge-no happier pair

The hill they reach, with friendly chat, And while Will's eves roam o'er the fair, Well pleased, John hears of this and that.

On sunny bank, with daisies spread,

Now rests the lame; the blind stands by,
Strong as a tree, with high-raised head,
And eyelids twinkling merrily.

Poor souls to see them kindly smile,

And hear them talk,-'twas worth a pound!
How meekly they their griefs beguile;
What wise conclusions they have found!

"Thus all the blind, and all the lame,
("That's all the world," suggested Will),
Should just," said John, "go do the same,
And learn of us to climb the hill."

MARY BENNETT.

THE COUNTRYMAN AT ST. PAUL'S.

FORTUNATE among Londoners is he who can enjoy the country, and is able to quit Town for it when he pleases. Especially fortunate is he, if, young, healthy, and fond of field-sports, he has permission to shoot over a well-stocked manor. This may be not the less gracious when accompanied by an invitation to the manorhouse but the sportsman will often find sufficiently good quarters in that of another landlord. Gently fatigued by the day's exertions, in stretching his legs by the fire of a clean, comfortable, old-fashioned village public-house, he will experience the perfection of taking his ease in his inn. The retrospect of a good day's shooting has something in it akin to an approving conscience. We speak of fair sport,—the instinctive pursuit of Man as a hunting animal,—and not of the murderous battue; wherein the pillows of all who have been implicated deserve to be more spectre-haunted than a RICHARD'S. We include, too, among the sportsman's reminiscences, those of sunlight and shadow, moss, lichen, and fern ;-the æsthetics of the field and cover:—for if insensible to these, he is a mere slaughterman, and no better than the son of a gun. Nor do we disconnect from his felicity eggs and bacon, and the further accessories of home-brewed ale, and, perchance, a pipe. Another attraction is incidental to the village ale-house. Generally, in the company frequenting it, it affords no little entertainment, over and above that which it promises to man and horse.

Comfortably, according to the above sketch of comfort, sat a young brother of the ramrod, temporarily established at "The Three Horseshoes." This was the sole hostelry of a retired village in Hampshire. The grey shadows of an October evening were closing in over the bit of garden ground, visible from its one sitting-room. A wood fire exhaled the sweet savour of the country. From an old plum-tree outside the little bay-window, the yellow leaves were falling noiselessly; whilst a robin-redbreast was hopping about on an adjacent faggot-pile, perking his tail, and alternating, with his peculiarly reiterated" click," the snatches of his autumnal song.

All else was silent save the ticking of a quaint

old clock in a corner, and a distant sound of frying. From a roughly-carved oak beam that went across the ceiling depended divers hams, wrapped in brown paper. These, and the ancient tables, and benches, and Windsor chairs, which comprised the primitive furniture, glimmered with a dark-red light emitted from the glowing embers; and the place looked, no less than felt, warm and snug in the extreme.

With his hands in the pockets of his velveteen shooting-jacket, and his feet, resting on the heels, extended towards the front of the fire, the occupant of the apartment had been for some time sitting alone. At length, a stout man entered, rusty black to the waist, and dingy drab to the feet, in a broad-brimmed beaver hat. "Good evenun' to 'ee, zur," said the stout man. The sports

man returned his salutation.

"Bring us a jug o' zixpenny,-woot, maaid?" requested the new-comer of a red-armed rosy-cheeked servant girl, who answered the thump of his crabstick: and a vresh pipe and a bit o' backy, there's a good lass."

"Had good spoort, zur?" he inquired of his fellow-guest, who answered, "Pretty good."

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Another individual of large bodily proportions, but which were enveloped in fustian, now came in. How bist, naighbour?" he said to his fellow-countryman, and greeted the stranger with "Zarvant, sur.

"The days be a draw'n in," observed the gentleman in black and drab.

"'Ees they be," assented his friend in fustian. He then went to the door, and vociferated through it an order similar to his compatriot's, after which he sat down opposite to that personage; and the wherewithal having been furnished, they both began to smoke and sip their liquor.

Other arrivals, similar to the foregoing, having taken place, the room began to be tolerably full; and by this time the candles were lighted. The illustrated Christmas carols on the wall over the fire now appeared to advantage, as did an amateur drawing in red ochre, apparently meant to represent a man and a horse.

The terrible times, the dreadful weather, and the failure of the potato crop, were the principal topics of conversation, which by no means proceeded at the pace of those new-fangled railways, in whose deprecation it also in part consisted. Grey heads were slowly shaken, and gloomy predictions delivered, at long intervals,

with respect to the future prospects of the nation; and malisons, not very loud but remarkably deep, were pronounced on the heads of ministers. The wind, which now began to moan without, mingled, not discordantly, with the grumblings of the agriculturists within.

Animation had hitherto certainly not been the characteristic of the assembly; but now occurred an event that imparted to it something like excitement. This was the addition, apparently unexpected, to it of another member, in the person of a robust, middle-aged man with a broad, red face; in a blue coat with metal buttons, black waistcoat, leather breeches, and top-boots, all nearly new, although it was Saturday evening, and not Sunday. His hat, extensive and capacious, was bound with black crape. "Hallo!" cried several gruff voices at once; 'What, Will

Forder!"

"Ees," answered the unfooked-for visiter; "here I be." "Well and how bist thee, Willum? Thee look'st peart," said an individual of the society.

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'Why I be smartish," answered Mr. Forder; "but I shall be the better for a drap of beer and a whiff." And he desired Betsy that those wants should be supplied.

'Well, and hast thee bin all this here while in Lunnun?" inquired his friend.

"Ah!-ees I have," was the answer.

"What 'st bin about, then, Bill ?" asked another.

Why about that little matter o' properdy as my old 'ooman come into tother day-wait'n to get it zettled: 'twur all along o they lawyers. Darn'd if they dont crawl on in their bis'nus like era'avishes."

"Happy," observed a rustic moralist, "is them as keeps out o their cla'as."

"Well," said another of Mr. Forder's neighbours, "thee 'dst bin up so long, mun, we begun to think thee wust never com'n down."

"Ah!" ejaculated the farmer, for such was William Forder; "I tdthink thee 'oodst, if thee'dst sin where I was t'other day."

Why where wast, then, mate?"

Up top 'o Saint Paul's," answered Mr. Forder, plugging his pipe.

Top o' Saint Paul's! Why, that are's higher nor Catturn Hill, baint ut?"

"Catturn Hill!" echoed the respondent, scornfully. "A precious zight higher nor that, or any other hill as ever you zee. “Well, and what didst zee, Willum ?" demanded the other. "Come now," said a second, "tell us all about ut, woot." "There's a good chap," added a third; and the meeting generally joined in the request.

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Fust, here's to 'ee," cried Farmer Forder, nodding first to the right and then to the left, and then taking a pull at his liquor. After that, he cleared his throat, next expectorated, and then commenced the account of his adventure.

"'Fore I gooes any vurder," he began, "I'll tell 'ee how 'twas I zeed Saint Paul's as zoon as I did, 'caws as how I meant to keep he for the last. I'd zin the Zoho Logical Gardens and the 'Dustrious Vleas, and all that ere, and now I says, I'll goo and zee the Collozeum. That come into my head while I was a goo'n' down Vleet Street. I didn't know how to git to 'un, zo, hear'n that when a feller wanted to ax his way in Lunnun, his best plan was to step into a shop, I pops into one the right hand zide goo'n down, wi' a gurt pictur' in the winder, and a image wi' a hunch a top of his back in vront on 't. There was some fellers inside behind the counter, and one afore it; and this chap was a read'n a zort of peea'aper, wi' queer heads dra'ad upon 'un, droo eye-glasses. I sez, Plaze, gen'l'men, can you tell me the way to Collozeum? Whereupon the chap wi' the glasses cocks 'em up and look'n' droo 'em at me, 'a sez, Are you vrom Hamp. shur, vriend? Eees, zur, I sez, I be. Well, a sez, what med your countrymen vetch in Zmiffield Markut? As much agin as ha'af, zur, I sez; and I tdthinks as how I had 'un there."

"That thee hads't. Well done, Willum!" exclaimed several of his audience: whilst the sportsman laughed outrageously.

"Thinks I," continued Mr. Forder, "I be a match for your Lunnun za'as my buck! Well, I sez, but how about the Collozeum? I'll tell 'ee, sez eye-glasses. Come here :—and 'a takes me to the door. There, 'a sez, point'n down to the right, you goo stra'aight a head; that takes ye to Ludgut Hill; goo up the hill; and there you 'll zee a gurt big build 'n afore ye wi' a round ball a top of 'un and a gilt cross a top o' that. That's the ColloThankee zur, I zays. I zee one o' the t'other chaps clap his hand afore his mouth, and when my back was turned I tdthought I heer'd 'un laugh'n. But talk'n 's dry work. Here's to 'ee agin, mates."

zeum.