herein, and amid great rejoicing at his extraordinary "luck" he set
forward. But now comes the sad part of the story:

"The wheelbarrow broke--my wife had a fall."

And what a fall was there, my countrymen! Words are inadequate. The
scene was indescribable, and we leave a blank that each may picture it
to suit themselves.

After the excitement occasioned by the catastrophe was somewhat abated,
he picked up the pieces and tried to put the wheelbarrow together again.
But it was too far gone; it was un-put-togetherable, and so he, more in
sorrow than anger, stood gazing at the wreck, while his wife, being a
woman, could not resist the impulse to cry exultingly, "I told you so; I
knew it." That on top of all the rest of his trouble was a little too
much; and after fumbling over the pieces a while, "I told you so"
ringing in his ears, he completely lost his temper, and vented his
passion in the words:--

"The deuce take the wheelbarrow."--

and then in a low voice, cautiously turning his head aside, he added:--

"My wife and all."

Together they trudged homeward. Fearful misgivings as to the wisdom of
his step came swooping down upon him, and he almost wished he had not
tried to mend matters, but had patiently borne with the rats, when
suddenly--the vision of a _cat_ swept athwart his mind, and he groaned
aloud in bitterness of spirit.

Not even the ever after clean hearth-stone, with the dead bodies of his
enemies, the rats, piled thereon, could make him forget that one moment
of agonizing consciousness, when he realized for the first time that he
had burdened himself with a wife when a cat would have answered as well.

* * * * *

HURLY-BURLY.

No wonder that the folks turn pale
And preachers talk of doom,
Since by each telegram and mail
Come words of awful gloom:

Explosions of N. glycerine;
Expulsion of the Pope;
Earthquakes along the Eastern line
And THE PACIFIC SLOPE.

Surely the world is upside down,
Its framework out of joint;
At coming change all things of town
And country seem to point:

The very sea some day may try
To climb the mountain side,
And hill-folks yet be staggered by
THE MOANING OF THE TIED.

* * * * *

OUR PORTFOLIO.

By Diligence from Paris to Versailles--Fastest Time on Record--Happy
Travelling Companions--Mud, Misery, and