EXPERIENCES OF MR. STALE. 
bridge;” it would be all done in a day, and if it oame a 
S2)Ojte next day, it would just be gone again. We are 
of opinion that if an account were correctly gone into of 
all the expenditure in renewing and repairing that “ &tjck 
bridge,” of all the valuable trees and timber of which the 
bridge was always renewed, of the time, stoppages and 
detentions at that ford during the rainy seasons, it would 
pay the cost of a good many bridges ; and that it was a turn 
in the times for the better, at least for those on the South 
side, when a meeting was held at “ Harrow Bungalow,’ * 
where the planters, in ‘‘solemn conclave assembled,’* 
resolved to purchase and erect a bridge, that Mr, Kershaw 
should be asked to furnish one, and that ^ the man to look 
after the work, and see it properly carried out, because he 
was fond of worjc, should be 
P. D. Millie. 
CHAPTER XLII. 
HOW MR. STALE PEOFOSED TO BUILD A CHIMNEY TO HIS 
BUNGALOW— MAN-TRAPS— GARDENS— MINATCHI AND THE 
MARIGOLDS AND HER LOVERS — CASTE AMONG COOLIES—* 
DRUNKENNESS AMONG THE WORKING-CLASSES IN CEYLON 
AND BRITAIN. 
The facility with which sticks -were always obtained 
induced and produced many a stick in the mud in 
more senses than one. Now, wKat do you think they 
Boiuetimes made of sticks ? You would never guess, 
so I may as well tell you at once : they made chimneys I 
Mr. Fresh — “ What ! ” you exclaim, “Mr. Fresh again t 
W^e are sick of that silly fellow, Well, if you are, 
call him by his right name at once, which, if what 
you say is correct, is of course, Mr. Stale. 
It was a cold evening in the month of February 
the wind whistled through the crevices in the mud 
walls of the luit, which out of respect to its worthy 
occupant w’as called “ the bungalow the walls, 
of course, were neither plastered nor white washed, 
and occasionally a large piece of baked mud would 
tumble d.own on the top of the writing or side tables, 
for there were no side boards in those times, and 
at every crash Mr. Stale looked to see if the halfbot^ 
tie of brandy and the cracked tumbler were all right, 
and if the ink bottle was not overturned, until at last, 
he got up and put these articles under the tables, out of 
risk of damage. No sooner had he put in practice these 
very needful precautions, when a sudden gust of wind 
made the whole house crack and shake, and the room, 
all at once became illuminated in such a manner as 
to throw altogether in the shade the dusky 
