tones, the quick and ready responses now? Her spirit is quenched. Her
manner has become subdued, depressed,--shall I say it?--yes, even
sulky.

Ah! I see your courage will not brave laughter. You steal to the
table, half ashamed of yourself as you set down your untasted peach.
Your sudden zeal to relieve those ladies of their plates serves as a
very good excuse for the relinquishment of your own. You have rescued
yourself very well from your dilemma this time. Remember my advice for
the future. Never accept a peach in company.




MISERIES.

No. 2.

A DARK NIGHT.


There are some people who seem to have the faculty which horses and
dogs are said to possess,--of seeing in the dark. But I, alas! am
blind and blundering as a beetle; I never can find my way about house
in the evening, without a lamp to illumine my path. Many smarting
remembrances have I of bruised nose and black eyes, the consequences
of attempting to run through a partition, under the full conviction
that I have arrived at an open door. My most prominent feature has
been rudely assailed, also, by doors standing ajar, unexpectedly,
which I have embraced with both outstretched arms. Crickets, tables,