GOOD-BY, JOE. 57 



bad habits? You know the old story about the 

 worm : if he hadn't been out, he wouldn't have 

 been caught." 



" True enough, nor the bird have had his break- 

 fast." 



" Did it ever occur to you, Charlie, that Nature 

 in the abundant disposal of her gifts, and in her 

 ample provisions for the lower orders, had so organ- 

 ized and perfected her plans as to as to to " 



" No, I never did ; that is, hardly. Ask me an 

 easier one ; reserve, my boy, such an abundant flow 

 of natural eloquence till after breakfast, do : a 

 vacancy exists here, which even that half a cracker 

 failed to fill, and I fear to dwell long upon so ab- 

 struse a subject. Pass the tar, please : the flies are 

 up early, at all events." 



"The flies, Charlie, these, now, are another 

 illustration, and show the wisdom of" 



" Bringing along the tar? " 



And thus did the disturbed elements in the 

 young man's frame show themselves as we trudged 

 along over the well-trod road to the cove. 



"There, that's the last time I ever cast a fly 

 before breakfast," was the next remark I heard from 

 those amiable lips, as about an hour afterwards, 

 after superhuman efforts to get a rise, he reeled up 

 his line, and thus gave vent to his feelings in a 



