[Illustration: COLLAPSE OF "CORNER MEN."

(_As understood by Our Christy Minstrel Artist in Black and White._)

[Mr. ---- was a prominent operator on the Market, in connection
with an attempted great "Cotton Corner." ... The Corner ended in
a collapse.]]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

In consequence of the taking in or taking out of Nobodies' luggage,
the train had been considerably delayed, and this delay had been
protracted by the thirsty condition of the panting and enfeebled
engine. Stopping to water the horses in the olden days took much less
time, I should imagine, than stopping to supply the engine with water
in our own day. Be this as it may, the stoppages had already been
considerable, and the Baron was ruminating on the best method of
passing his valuable time for the next two hours, when it occurred
to him that in his bag he had been carrying about for some time past
three books, in the hope that there might occur some opportunity, of
which the Baron could avail himself, to peruse these works, and remark
upon them for the benefit of the select reading public. He took up
the first, read a few sketches of _Our Churchwardens_, but failing
to appreciate the subject, returned it to the bag, and went in for
_Monsignor_. Perhaps the weak state of health in which our engine
found itself, had not been improved by the additional weight imposed
on it, owing to having to carry _Monsignor_. "Uncommonly heavy," said
the Baron, when he arrived at the hundredth page; "I will keep it in