was still more astonished when I recognized in
this lad my old and long-sought playmate. 'DICK, my boy!' said I, grasping
his hand warmly. DICK seemed a little embarrassed at first; but after a
moment's hesitation, he threw down his load spitefully, and seizing my
hand returned my grasp as cordially as it had been given. 'For GOD's sake,
DICK,' inquired I, 'how long is it since you commenced walking backward?'
'Not a great while,' replied he, with a grin. 'To tell you the truth,
FRANK, I saw you looking in the jeweller's window there, and knew you at
once; and as I didn't care to be seen by an old comrade with a sheep on my
back, I was in hopes to escape your observation by walking in the manner
in which you saw me.' 'And that was the very thing which led me to
discover you,' I replied; 'you might have passed me in the ordinary way,
nineteen times in every twenty, without being recognized.' 'Well, it's all
one now, since you have found me out,' said DICK. 'But what, after all,
are you going to do with that measly-looking animal?' I inquired. 'Eat
it,' replied he, with a comical twist of the nose; 'I have to lug one home
every day; we apprentices live on them altogether. I'm a sheep myself,
almost; _b-a-a-h_!' and here he imitated the cry of that animal so
naturally, that I had no doubt of the truth of his statement. After a few
moments' conversation, chiefly about home, the clock struck ten, when DICK
suddenly resumed his load, and after giving me the directions to the 'old
man's' house, and exacting a promise to call and see him in the evening,
he started for home. At the appointed hour in the evening, I called to see
him, as agreed upon, and found him waiting for me. But what a
different-looking personage from the one I met in the morning! He was now
very smartly dressed in a small black frock-coat, and drab gaiter-trowsers
strapped tightly over a pair of nicely-polished boots. On his head a black
velvet cap, from which two enormous tassels were swinging, was setting
jauntily on one side, while in his hand he carried a little silver-headed
cane, with which he occasionally rapped his legs. In my unsophisticated
eyes he was a very paragon of gentility, and I couldn't help contrasting
him with my own countrified appearance. However, I had but a moment for
reflection; for sallying into the street, with me at his heels, DICK at
once proposed going to the theatre. I agreed without hesitation, for the
big play-bills had been s