tractions superior to those of the country." "Ah, young fellow," I
said, perhaps a little sharply, not relishing his somewhat round-about
way of putting things, "when you are as old as me or my esteemed
master, you will not be so cock-sure of things. Our Parliamentary
Session begins on the threshold of Spring; we stop in Town hard at
work, through the pleasantest months of the year; we toil through
Summer nights, see August out, and, somewhere about the first week
in September, when the days are growing short, the air is chill, and
Autumn gets ready to usher in Winter, we go off to make holiday."

"Dear me, dear me!" cried _Mr. P._, "how very sad. How deliberately
foolish. We manage things much better than that down in our tight
little Earth. When we take that in turn, you will find, my good TIME,
that we burrow at our legislative work through the Winter months,
getting it done so as to leave us free to enjoy the country in the
prime of Spring, and amid the wealth of Summer. But come along, TOBY,
let's get on to your House."

"It will be no use going now," said TIME, holding up his hour-glass;
"it is five o'clock; the working day is practically over, and we shall
find these sensible dogs travelling off to take a turn in the park,
or pay a round of visits in search of the culinary receptacle that
cheers, but does not intoxicate."

[Illustration]

"Wrong again, young Cock-sure," I said; "we shall just find our house
of Commons settling down to the business of the night. We begin about
four o'clock in the afternoon, and peg away till any hour to-morrow
morning that one or two Members please. It is true we have a rule
which enjoins the suspension of business at midnight; but instead of
suspending business we can (and do) suspend the Rule, and sometimes
sit all night."

"Ah!" said _Mr. Punch_, gravely shaking his head, "we manage things
much better than that at Westminster."

Got my two friends with some difficulty across Palace Yard, eyed
suspiciously by the police-dogs on duty. One concentrated his
attention on _Mr. Punch's_ dorsal peculiarity.

"We have strict orders from the Sergeant-at-Arms," he said, "to
examine all parcels carried by strangers."

"That's not a parcel," I said, hurriedly, and taking him on one side,
succinctly explained the personal peculiarity of my esteemed Master.
"Humph!" said the police-dog. "Exactly," I responded, and he let us
pass on, though evidently with lingering apprehension that