ward her husband, she said,
emphatically, "Samuel, don't you ever let me catch _you_ swallowing a
sword!"

"I won't, my love, I won't; and I will try to chew my meat more,"
replied the very thin glutton, in a feeble tone.

Toby thought that perhaps the skeleton might keep the first part of that
promise, but he was not quite sure about the last.

It required no little coaxing on the part of both Toby and Mrs. Treat to
induce Mr. Stubbs to come down from his lofty perch; but the task was
accomplished at last, and by the gift of a very large doughnut he was
induced to resume his seat at the table.

The time had now come when the duties of a host, in his own peculiar way
of viewing them, devolved upon Mr. Treat, and he said, as he pushed his
chair back a short distance from the table, and tried to polish the
front of his vest with his napkin,

"I don't want this fact lost sight of, because it is an important one:
every one must remember that we have gathered here to meet and become
better acquainted with the latest and best addition to this circus, Mr.
Toby Tyler."

Poor Toby! As the company all looked directly at him, and Mrs. Treat
nodded her enormous head energetically, as if to say that she agreed
exactly with her husband, the poor boy's face grew very red and the
squash-pie lost its flavor.

"Although Mr. Tyler may not be exactly one of us, owing to the fact that
he does not belong to the profession, but is only one of the adjuncts to
it, so to speak," continued the skeleton, in a voice which was fast
being raised to its highest pitch, "we feel proud, after his exploits at
the time of the accident, to have him with us, and gladly welcome him
now, through the medium of this little feast prepared by my Lilly."

Here the Albino Children nodded their heads in approval, and the
sword-swallower gave a grunt of assent; and, thus encouraged, the
skeleton proceeded:

"I feel, when I say that we like and admire Mr. Tyler, all present will
agree with me, and all would like to hear him say a word for himself."

The skeleton seemed to have expressed the views of those present
remarkably well, judging from their expressions of pleasure and assent,
and all waited for the honored guest to speak.

Toby knew that he must say something, but he couldn't think of a single
thing; he tried over and over again to call to his mind something which
he had read as to how people acted and what they said when they were
expected to spe