100 THOUGHTS ON THE DINNER. 



After a while the better part left the 

 table, and went into another room for cof- 

 fee; but a many stopped to hear the London 

 singers, who seemed quite as ready to sing 

 dirty songs as the company that was left 

 was to listen and laugh and cheer. It was 

 late before the squire came away, and I 

 waited; for he'd told me to ride home be- 

 hind the carriage, and send the boy back 

 with the light cart. 



As I kept walking about the inn-yard, 

 waiting to go home, I saw the company 

 leave, and it set me thinking a good deal ; 

 for I turned some of 'em in my mind into 

 poor men, and thought what a deal would 

 have been said about them and their noise, 

 and the money they'd been wasting in drink, 

 that ought to have been spent in better 

 ways. And like master, like man ; for I 

 saw a pretty many servants that, if the 

 horses hadn't had more sense in their 

 brains than the drivers had got left in 

 theirs, more would have slept in the ditches 

 than in their beds that night. Our coach- 

 man said it didn't end there; for many a 

 poor horse, after rough riding or driving, 

 would have to put up with very little but 



