THE WATERING PLACES.

Punchinello's Vacations.

Sometimes Mr. PUNCHINELLO is very busy. Not only has he upon his
shoulders the ordinary labors of conductor of a great journal, but he
has much to do for other people. His editors, his printers, his binders,
his artists, his engravers, his corps of clerks, his office and errand
boys, and all connected with his extensive establishment, come to him
from time to time for advice in regard to the investment of their
surplus earnings, and between assisting in the purchase of a farm for
this one, a house for the other, and all sorts of stocks and bonds for
the rest, he is often terribly pressed for time.

No one who is not looked up to by a crowd of grateful dependents, all
fattening in the shadow of his prosperity, as it were, can understand
Mr. P's. feelings of responsibility at such times.

Such an unusual demand upon his time occurred last week, and Mr. P.
found that he would not be able to spend a few days as usual at some
fashionable watering place. But be must have some recreation, so he
determined to have a day's fishing among the celebrated Thousand Islands
of the St. Lawrence. He put some luncheon in a basket, and set off quite
early in the morning. Finding that some twenty hours were consumed in
the transit, Mr. P. thought that, considering his hurry, he had better,
perhaps, have gone to Newark for a day's fishing off the piers. But he
was at the St. Lawrence now, and it would not do to complain. He hired a
boat, lines, bait and two navigators, and set out bravely.

He sailed among a crowd of islands where either the bowsprit or the boom