Page 329 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

his head and face, and gasping for breath. “ I fell upon my bade, J
couldn’t get on my feet at first.’'
The day upon so much of Mr. Pickwick's coat as was yet visible
bore testimony to the accuracy of this statement; and, as the fears of
the spectators were still further relieved by the fat boy's suddenly
recollecting that the water was nowhere more than five feet deep,
prodigies of valor were performed to get him out. After a vast quan­
tity of splashing and cracking and struggling, Mr. Pickwick was at
length fairly extricated from his unpleasant situation, and once more
stood on dry land.
Mr. Pickwick was wrapped up, and started off for home, present­
ing a singular phenomenon of an elderly gentleman dripping wet, and
without a hiit, with his arms bound down to his sides, skimming over
the ground without any clearly-defined purpose, at the rate of six
good English miles an hour.— C h a k les D ic k e n s,

A TUXEDO ROMANCE,

7 W A S at Tuxedo— let me see—
In late September, long ago ;
Yes, eighteen hundred eighty-three.
But liowtime ilies; and yet I know
It’s nine years since T passed my nights
Here at Tuxedo— filled my glass
Of life with pleasures and delights*
And let some golden chances pass.

For they were golden, if we count
A in opportunity to wed
A stunning girl, and wedding mount
The social scale, Who was it said—
And said it wisely, if he knew it? --
" Ambition is a dangerous tool,
When used too freely we may rue it,
By sovereign, or sage or fool.”