I PEEACH TO THE 

 PAESON. 



^^ It is no use telling me that it is a harmless amusement/' 

 said the parson. " I will be bound to say that your 

 cricketers are in that room there at the Green Lion, drink- 

 ing and playing cards now, as I hear they are every 

 Saturday evening ; the police ought to indict the house," 



We were passing the Green Lion, a good old-fashioned 

 village inn, in which the principal common room was 

 bravely lit up, and from the shadows on the red blind there 

 ■evidently was a numerous company. 



" Now look here, parson ; you go on, and I will come in 

 presently, and tell you who are there and what they are 

 doing ; for I want to speak to them about a match next 

 week. I shall find most of them there." 



The parson walked on to the vicarage, and your humble 

 servant went through the bar into the common room — ■ 

 or, more strictly speaking, the icncom.m.on room, as it Avas 

 only for the use of the landlord's regular customers, and 

 strangers could not get in — and was greeted with a chorus 

 of " Good evening, sir ; what's the news ? " Not to spin 

 out this article with " padding," as is the custom in three- 



L— 2 



