458 MR. THOMAS ROBINSON. 



' " Mr. Barratt wanted a soo-o-sow pig, and not a 

 foxhound puppy." 



' " Well," replied Mr. Dobedee, " I sent him one." 



'"No you didn't, sir; you sent him a foxhound 

 puppy, and here he is," shooting him out, as he 

 thought, in the kitchen. 



' " There," said Mr. Dobedee, " I knew I sent him 

 a sow pig. Have some dinner, Tommy, and take her 

 back again." 



' Tommy, staring with astonishment, replied : " Oh, 

 no ; she can be a sow pig when she likes and 

 she can be a foxhound puppy when she likes," 

 stuttering the while ; nor would anything induce 

 him to carry her back, though the distance was not 

 far. 



' Frank afterwards, on meeting Mr. Dobedee, told 

 him the story, over which they had a good laugh, and 

 so it ended.' 



This was the chairman's story, and as such received, 

 I need not say, with deafening applause. How shall 

 I tell how he kept us alive afterwards — how he 

 sang with great pathos his favourite, ' Auld Lang- 

 syne ;' how, in the absence of Harker, who, as he 

 said, ' was engaged that night at a banquet with his 

 Royal Highness the Duke of a town close by,' he 

 gave ' All friends round St. Paul's,' and made the 

 evening go, till it was clear from general appearances 

 that, as our hunting friend old Carter would say, 

 'the pace was good, and that settles them'? Then 



