BUYING A WATCH. 



iai 



He (Mr. Upton) related the circumstances con- 

 nected with the purchase. But as he did not know 

 the person's name, could not give it, and walked off 

 with the policeman on his way to the station. But 

 just before arriving there, he met the man and gave 

 him into custody, and of course was at once liberated. 

 The thief, I may add, was duly tried and convicted. 

 Mr. Upton's experience in the matter must have 

 taught him the need of caution in dealing with a 

 stranger. 



Mr. Parker's association in the afternoon as well as 

 evening with a jovial little fellow like Owen Swift, 

 gave him a taste for boxing; and he became, I believe, 

 one of the best amateurs of his day in England. 

 Though by no means bad-tempered naturally, at 

 times when he had taken a little to drink he was 

 inclined to be quarrelsome, and would then fight any- 

 one, though he were big as a giant. But he was by 

 no means averse to having ' a set-to ' with anyone at 

 any time for the love of the science, and seldom got 

 the worst in the encounter. On one occasion he had 

 a few words with a tailor, which ended in an un- 

 decided battle that lasted nearly all the afternoon. 



I am reminded, when I call to mind Mr. Parker and 

 his doings in those clays, of the change that has come 

 over our habits. If there be fast living in the present 

 day, it is carried on in a different way. Then was, in 

 fact, the era of fast living; and the turning of a large 

 portion of the night into day. After dinner came the 



