s, and
consists of a few streets, the principal of which runs along a terrace,
which, being a continuation of the one on which we were lately standing,
commands the same lovely view. But, small as is the village, it has four
churches, an academy, two banks, two newspaper offices, and a telegraph
office. What a slow coach you are, John Bull!

One day I was taking a drive with an amiable couple, who, having been
married sixteen or seventeen years, had got well over the mysterious
influences of honeymoonism. The husband was acting Jarvey, and I was
inside with madame. The roads being in some places very bad, and neither
the lady nor myself being feather-weight, the springs were frequently
brought down upon one another with a very disagreeable jerk. The lady
remonstrated:

"John, I declare these springs are worn out, and the carriage itself is
little better."

"Now, Susan, what's the good of your talking that way; you know they are
perfectly good, my dear."

"Oh, John! you know what I say is true, and that the carriage has never
been touched since we married."

"My dear, if I prove to you one of your assertions is wrong, I suppose
you will be ready to grant the others may be equally incorrect."

"Well, what then?" said the unsuspecting wife.

"Why, my dear, I'll prove to you the springs are in perfectly good
order," said the malicious husband, who descried a most abominable bit
of road ready for his purpose; and, suiting the action to the word, he
put his spicy nags into a hand-canter. Bang went the springs together;
and, despite of all the laws of gravitation, madame and I kept bobbing
up and down, and into one another's laps.

"Oh, John, stop! stop!"

"No, no, my dear, I shall go on till you're perfectly satisfied with
the goodness of the springs and the soundness of the carriage."

Resistance was useless; John was determined, and the horses would not
have tired in a week; so the victim had nothing for it but to cry
_peccavi_, upon which John moderated his pace gradually, and our elastic
bounds ceased correspondingly, until we settled once more firmly on our
respective cushions; then John turned round, and, with a mixed
expression of malice and generosity, said, "Well, my dear, I do think
the carriage wants a new lining, but you must admit they are really good
springs." And the curtain fell on this little scene in the drama of
"Sixteen Years after Marriage." May the happy couple live to re-enact
the same sixt