THE YOUTH’S CABINET.

ture between these two deaf old men;

and, with the nephew at our head, away
we went, helter-skelter, his laugh the
loudest of all, and ringing out above all
others, as if the entertainment had been

got up for his sole amusement. Up he

ran, rubbing his hands, and kicking his
heels with delight, as he shouted, “ Now

they’re going to begin: take your places!

Act first, Billy Barton stole uncle’s
chickens ; Act second, enter uncle to

rob Billy Barton’s apple-tree,—which,

17

Then came old Barton, with, “I turned
your uncle’s pigs out, did I!” Bang.
Then again the uncle chimed in, with,
‘I robbed Billy Barton’s apple-tree,
did I!” Thump. Then again Barton
took up the chorus, with, “I stole your
uncle’s chickens, did I!’ Whack. And
all this was diversified with an accom-
paniment of cuts and capers on the part
of the culprit—now a shoulder up, and
then a leg. His uncle said, when he
had done, “that he had made him, for
once in his life, dance without a fiddle ;

you know, we did for him. Up go the
sticks; now for it! a real fight this
time! Lay on, uncle! Strike hard,
Billy!” And, without hearing, they
both took him at his word; for they
seized him in an instant, each laying
hold of one side of his collar; and need
I tell you, that we, who had so often
laughed at his wickedness, were de-
lighted to see him caught in his own
trap? And, instead of pitying him, we
only echoed his own words, and ex-
claimed, “ Lay on, uncle! strike hard,
Billy !’—and, although they broke no

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

and it would be a great pity, after telling
so many tales, that they should be left
without a moral.” Everybody in the
whole village said that it served the
nephew right.—Boy’s Own Library.

 

The Spirit of Liberty.

oon after the close of the war, a
boy was offering some caged birds

bones, I can assure you they gave him
such a thrashing as caused him to re-

deaf old men together by the ears,

_ the astonished look of the nephew when
they seized upon him—how he turned
up the whites of his eyes first at one,
then at the other, while his visage length-
ened; and said, as plain as a counte-
‘hance can speak, «“ caught at last !”
‘But what made it most effective was,
that both the old men laughed heartily
the whole of the time they were beating
him. First, the uncle began with, «]
get drunk every night, do I!” Tap,

member the day when he first set two

And long as it is since, I can scarcely
refrain from laughing, while recalling

for sale in a market-town, when a

sailor came up and inquired the
price of them. ‘Sixpence a-piece,”
replied the boy. ‘I did not ask how
much a-piece, but how much for the
lot.” The boy, after some calculation,
answered, “Six shillings and sixpence.”
The sailor instantly handed him the
money, and opening the cage door, per-
mitted the birds to escape. The boy in
astonishment cried out, “ What are you
doing? you will lose your birds.”—
“Very well,” said the sailor, “I have
been shut up three years as a prisoner

of war, and I am resolved never to see
anything confined in prison that I can
make free,” _