The Compassionate Physician



A KIND-HEARTED Physician sitting at the bedside of a patient
afflicted with an incurable and painful disease, heard a noise
behind him, and turning saw a cat laughing at the feeble efforts of
a wounded mouse to drag itself out of the room.

"You cruel beast!" cried he. "Why don't you kill it at once, like
a lady?"

Rising, he kicked the cat out of the door, and picking up the mouse
compassionately put it out of its misery by pulling off its head.
Recalled to the bedside by the moans of his patient, the Kind-
hearted Physician administered a stimulant, a tonic, and a
nutrient, and went away.



Two of the Damned



TWO Blighted Beings, haggard, lachrymose, and detested, met on a
blasted heath in the light of a struggling moon.

"I wish you a merry Christmas," said the First Blighted Being, in a
voice like that of a singing tomb.