OO TALES AXD TRAITS 01- SPORTING LIFE. 



^^To tlie Judg-e-and-Juiy, perhaps?" said the othei'; 

 with his usual grin. 



*^To the Polytechnic !" burst out Billy in a scream ; 

 and the young* reprobate laid his head on the table^ and 

 laug'hed till he cried at the very notion of having- been 

 provided with an evening's amusement at that justly 

 celebrated exhibition of art and science. 



''They did, by Jupiter!" he Vv^ent on, when his men- 

 tion of the fact would allow him to proceed : '^ Great guns 

 there, too ; regular subscribers ; gave me a personal in- 

 troduction to the Diving Bell, who took off his helmet to 

 show he was mortal, and looked ^ beer' at us ; but I was 

 too hard-up, and Aunties of course did'nt understand 

 him." 



" Many people there, Billy ?" 



*' Oh, lots, of a sort, you know; ladies in spectacles; 

 servant-gals in their second-best shawls and every-day 

 dresses ; and ' well-read' looking men in white ties, which 

 no doubt had been uncommon smart on Sunday," 



^' See anybody you knew ?" 



''Yes! I'll be dashed if I did'nt! old 'Punctuality 

 White' in our department, that slow-and-sure-coach, who 

 does everything by rule ; dinner, half-an-hour to eat it ; 

 quarter- of- an-hour to read the paper and chew the cud ; 

 ten minutes to reckon up within himself the score, before 

 he asks the waiter, in an awfully grand way, 'what's to 

 pay?'" 



"By himself?'' 



" Oh, no ! — elderly lady, who somehow or other had 

 managed to ' smug ' in her umbrella, and was hug'ging it 

 for very life ; and young swell of six or seven, in Charles 

 the Second hat, very 'heavy' gTeat coat, and Flying- 

 Dutchman plaid gaiters. And there was Old Punctualit}': 



