42 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



the Level that curious-looking thing on three 

 sticks worse than the old gentleman that walks 

 upon two. What if I could reconcile these two 

 great opposing authorities by one timely stroke 

 make him Master-of-arts on the spot, before the 

 eyes of all his men? Shorter and less earned 

 degrees have been taken in the world. The oppor- 

 tunity was irresistible. I had it brought ; adjusted 

 it ; and told him to look through it and give me 

 his opinion of the Fall. If you ever saw a dog 

 put his nose to a wasp's nest, you may form some 

 idea of the mistrustful curiosity and hesitating 

 aversion with which he brought his face into close 

 contact with his arch-enemy. 



A long, indescribable process ensued ; a most 

 determined effort to close the left eye with the 

 right hand then the right eye with the left 

 hand then a dead stillness, and a long, fumbling, 

 breathless view of the world turned upside down, 

 and his men standing on their heads for the first 

 time, in spite of the forty years' experience to the 

 contrary : and then 



" Well I do n't know out what you ^re right Sir : 

 the Fall does want a leetle easing at the bottom ! " 



The success was complete. In half an hour 

 every tile was uncovered. The men worked as 



