THE WASTE. 7 



miscs and vows made from my youth up, and take it 

 in hand that is, in a bailiff's hand, which certain 

 foregone experiences had led me to conceive was of 

 all things in the world the most out of hand, if that 

 may be called so which empties the hand and the 

 pocket too ! Such seemed the only alternative : at 

 first it was an impossibility then an improbability 

 and then, as the ear of bearded Corn wins its forbid- 

 den way up the schoolboy's sleeve, and gains a point 

 in advance by every effort to stop or expel it, so did 

 every determination, every reflection counteract the 

 very purpose it was summoned to oppose, and, in 

 short, one fine morning I almost jumped a yard back- 

 ward at seeing my own name on a wagon ! 



A Sketch introductory. 



