he might some day become 'the great Sam.' A second song was called
for and granted; a third--but Mr. Coppock intimated that it did not
become him to keep other talent in the background. The chairman made
a humorous speech, informing the company that their friend would
stand forth again later in the evening. Mr. Dick Perkins was at
present about to oblige.

The Vice was a frisky little man. He began with what is known as
'patter,' then gave melodious account of a romantic meeting with a
damsel whom he had seen only once to lose sight of for ever. And the
refrain was:

She wore a lov-e-lie bonnet
With fruit end flowers upon it,
End she dwelt in the henvirons of 'Ol-lo-w'y!

As yet only men had sung; solicitation had failed with such of the
girls as were known to be musically given. Yet an earnest prayer
from the chairman succeeded at length in overcoming the diffidence
of one. She was a pale, unhealthy thing, and wore an ugly-shaped hat
with a gruesome green feather; she sang with her eyes down, and in a
voice which did not lack a certain sweetness. The ballad was of
springitime and the country and love.

Underneath the May-tree blossoms
Oft we've wandered, you and I,
Listening to the mill-stream's whisper,
Like a stream soft-gliding by.

The girl had a drunken mother, and spent a month or two of every