v] HARRY’S DREAM. 237

 

town, as all the world knows, not two miles from
’ Northwell, and one which boasted a school which
called itself a college, and the boys whereof, as boys
should be, were much given to cricket. The two
elevens were supposed to be pretty equally matched,
for Northwell had a very tolerable club of its own,
fostered and supported as it was by the squire’s two
sons, Harry and George Sanderson, who both agreed
that there was nothing in the whole world to be com-
pared with cricket, and no such glorious fun as a
cricket-match. On the present occasion, however,
Harry’s ‘glorious fun’ had been cut short by the
decision of the umpire belonging to the other side, who
had given him ‘ out’—‘ leg before wicket.’

Now I have been given to understand that there
are three individuals never yet encountered in
society :—-A man who thinks himself a fool, a woman
who believes she is absolutely ugly, or a boy who is
satisfied that he was fairly given ‘out’ leg before
wicket. Harry, being no exception to this general
rule, was, J am sorry to say, in no very good temper
when he left the wicket. What made it more pro-
voking was the fact that his side only wanted twenty
runs to win, and there were only two more wickets to
follow him. He had been ‘ well in, and, but for this
misfortune, felt certain that he could have won the
match off his own bat. But fate, and the umpire,
prevented this, and Harry, too much of a gentleman
to show any ill-temper in the field, retired to his tent
in no very. amiable frame of mind. Nor was the
latter by any means improved by the remarks and
condolences of his friends. ‘A horrid shame!’ ‘I