wish that he should be reinstated in public esteem. And then there was
a resolution which declared that Johnson Sides's drunk should be and
was thereby repealed, destroyed, wiped out, for ever and ever, and that
all statutes not in accordance with that act were thereby annulled from
that time forth. They passed it through both houses unanimously, and
the next day I published the bill verbatim and all the proceedings in
our paper.

"Johnson's face fairly shone with joy when I read it to him. It was
his patent of respectability, and he stowed it away in his breast
pocket as carefully as if it had been his passport to heaven. He
carried it there until it was worn out, and then he came after another.
He's worn out three or four since then, but he always keeps one in his
pocket.

"The scheme worked like a charm; for his redemption has been complete,
and he 's been a good Indian, sober, industrious, and respectable--but
not nearly so interesting--ever since."




A PIECE OF WRECKAGE

Delay not thy coming, my love, my own!
Though patient I wait thee, my love unknown,
Yet long I thy figure to see, and know
What form thou wilt have, and what face be thine,
And when thou wilt clasp me, dear love of mine;
For all that is left me is thy cold breath,