BEGGARS 0.\ HORSEBACK. 



manded that he should be brought to the mount- 

 ing-block. Tom, a three-year-old of precocious 

 gravity, erstwhile bearer of the kettle-drum and 

 possessed of the serious good looks of one of Mrs 

 Sherwood's curates, reluctantly approached the 

 hoary limestone block, with a horrified eye fixed 

 on Miss O'Flannigan as she awaited him in her 

 safety skirt. Persuasion failed to bring him within 

 three yards of a garment which, as he doubtless 

 expressed it, would have made Mrs Sherwood turn 

 in her grave ; and Miss O'Flannigan was finally 

 pitched on to his back from an indefinite spot 

 near the stable door, whither, with one foot in the 

 stirrup, she had hopped in pursuit of her steed. It 

 was damping to find that the name of the chemist's 

 pony was Tommy, but we felt sure that in the first 

 few minutes of our first journey we should think 

 of something clever with which to re - christen 

 both. We subsequently spent several hours of 

 several journeys in this endeavour, but their bap- 

 tismal names have not as yet been improved on. 

 " He iss a little unused to the town, marm," said 



