In the third line, we are afforded an insight into the manner in which
he partook of the Christmas delicacy:

"He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum."

Interesting scene! Here we have at least an inkling of the hero's powers
of discrimination, and his regard for the little niceties of life. We
have also a beautiful metaphorical allusion to the postulate that
"fingers were made before forks," an assertion respecting the truth of
which some antiquarians have expressed a doubt. We are not prepared to
decide as to the propriety of leaving the substantial of life and
employing sweets and frivolities to pamper the appetite--and there are
other questions that naturally arise from the interesting circumstance
noted above by the poet, but we will not dwell upon them here.

We proceed to the concluding verse.

The descriptive part of the narrative is ended, and we naturally expect
a catastrophe in the _denouement_. We may at least suppose that HORNER
made himself sick, if he did not actually choke to death from one of the
plums he was voraciously eating. By no means. We are spared so painful a
recital. All we know is, that he made a remark, evidently in soliloquy,

"And said, 'What a good boy am I!'"

This concluding line, pointless as it may appear, partially clears up
the mystery as to his being in a corner. He certainly was not there for
misdemeanor; for he was a "good boy," at least in his own estimation.
What a happy faculty it is, in this world, for a man to have a good
opinion of himself! It relieves life of much of its bitterness. We thus