I04 ^omt iEvftttng; fHomtnt^. 



great and small matters as these I do not purpose 

 to deal, although they (who will not aver ?) are to 

 their respective principals exciting enough. 



Some of your worst moments have, I think, been 

 spent when whizzing on wheels through the narrow 

 streets of a thickly-populated market town ; your 

 charioteer being a fair one, whose compan}^ at any 

 other time, or under any other circumstances, you 

 would have deemed yourself almost unduly blessed to 

 possess. But, alas ! when wielding those answering 

 ribbons, as totally unconscious of her own incapacity 

 as of your mutual danger — not to speak of that of 

 the startled population, and corporation lamp-posts — 

 all that is changed ! How each flick with the now 

 knot-entangled lash causes you involuntarily to start, 

 round your toes within your boots, or inadvertently 

 clutch the side of the carriage ! * "" * But there ! 

 you both survived it, although the rein did at length 

 assume the position usuall}' allotted to the crupper, 

 and the consequences were, to some extent, disastrous. 

 " It is an ill wind that blows no one good," however ; 

 so it is not surprising that the carriage and harness 

 makers w^ere more gratified by the manner in which 

 you eventually terminated that drive than yourself, 

 who are so persistentlyreminded of the circumstances 

 from time to time by those confounded rheumatic 

 twinges in your shoulder. 



