3S4 THE HISTORY OF 



sic?,' J)ut which has J)een,, in, reality, the most iJiatl^Qjv, 

 heartless, unreasonable, silly and bottomless humbug that 

 grown-up men have ever been cajoled with, since the hojir 

 when. Adam was fooled by the accomplished and coquetting 

 Eve!" (Cries of "You're more 'n half right!" "That's 

 a fact!" "Exactly— just so!") • 



" There is now living in Melrose, Mass., gentlemen, a 

 breeder who begun at the beginning of this excitement, who 

 has since followed up the details of this hum with a zeal 

 worthy of a better cause ; and who has accumulated a hand- 

 some competency in this traffic, by attending strictly to his 

 own affairs, while he has uniformly acted upon the princi- 

 ple that this world. is sufficiently capacious to accommodate 

 all God's creatures, without jostling. If you should chance 

 to meet this now retired fowl-fancier, he will tell you that 

 he has had, and believes he still has, many personal friends ; 

 .but the very best 'friend' he has ever known is the enjoy- 

 ment of his present income of. eight per cent, interest, per 

 annum, upon thirty thousand dollars. But this is a digres- 

 sion, and I beg pardon for the allusion. 



"I look back with no regrets at the past, gentlemen. 

 We have seen a great many merry days, and, in the midst 

 of the competition and humbuggery in which we enlisted, 

 we • have often differed in sentiment. But here. — at the 

 close of the route on which- we have so long been journey- 

 ing, — let us remember only the good traits that we any of 



