t he was perfectly
insensible from drink. I looked up to the landlord for counsel. He was a
short, _squab_ man, with a bulbous excresence growing out from between his
shoulders, that I suppose passed for a head, though it looked like a wen;
a kind of expletive, to wear a hat on, or to fill up the hollow of a
shabby wig. 'What shall we _do_ with him?' said I. 'Hustle him out!' cried
he; 'hustle him out! he didn't get his liquor here: I've no room for such
company!' I then endeavored to put my companion upon his feet, but his
legs bent under him, and his whole body seemed as limber and lifeless as a
wet rag. 'You can't do any thing with him in _that_ way,' continued the
landlord; 'if you want to get him home to-night, you must take him on your
back and carry him there yourself. He'll be bright enough in the morning.'
I saw no other way of proceeding; and so, being strong and athletic
myself, while DICK was of slight proportions, I managed, with the
assistance of the landlord, to get him upon my back, and then started for
his master's house. As my burthen was perfectly speechless, I had plenty
of time for uninterrupted thought as I trudged along; and I couldn't help
contrasting the apprentice of the morning with the apprentice of the
present moment. _Then_, though rather coarsely dressed, and smooched with
the marks of labor, he blushed at being caught with a sheep on his back,
though he had come honestly by it; but _now_, though bedecked in the
habiliments of a gentleman, he was being carried home himself like a beast
on the back of a companion. On reaching his master's house I laid him down
upon the door-sill, where he commenced breathing intensely through his
nose, while I fumbled round for the handle of the bell, which I rang. The
'old man' himself came to the door, and looking down at his apprentice,
shook his head sorrowfully. Then turning to a black domestic, who with a
candle in her hand stood grinning behind him, he said, 'Here's DICK come
home drunk again, Dinah; you must take him up stairs and get him to bed in
the best way you can.' The old gentleman turned away with a tear in his
eye, and I also departed, leaving DICK, who had come to his senses a
little, struggling in the arms of the brawny black, and vainly trying to
kiss her polished cheek. Thus ended my first youthful adventure in a
city.'

GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.--We encounter in our personal
correspondence not a few comments, pro and con