A CONFIDING CORRESPONDENT. 75- 



of that wonderful menagerie were in turn described; 

 as well as various occasional articles upon a variety 

 of subjects dear to the boyish heart. I do not 

 know that he much enjoyed the work of editing, 

 which had too much of the mechanical element in 

 it to satisfy him ; and certainly he never referred to 

 it afterwards with any expressions of pleasure. But 

 after the end of twelve months or so the arrange- 

 ment was suddenly brought to an end hy the bank- 

 ruptcy of the publisher; and the editorship of an 

 " Annual," which he had also taken over, came to 

 an untimely end owing to the same cause. 



Some of the correspondence connected with the 

 magazine was very amusing. There was the orthodox 

 column upon the last page, devoted to "Answers to 

 Correspondents," and questions of the most ridiculous 

 character naturally came in by almost every post. 

 Of one in particular my father was very fond of tell- 

 ing. A boy wrote in great tribulation to say that 

 he was exceedingly short for his age, that he had 

 ceased growing, and that his deficiency in stature 

 preyed very much upon his mind and spirits. Could 

 the editor ofier any suggestions as to ways and means 

 by which this deficiency might be made good ? The 

 editor politely replied, through the ordinary medium 

 of the correspondence column, to the effect that the 

 case was a very sad one, that he deeply regretted 

 his inability to advise upon a subject of so much 

 importance, and that all he could suggest was the 

 daily use of the rack ! The answer duly appeared 



