ad posted themselves upon some moss-covered, slippery
stones, and with a sudden spasmodic effort, the man with the hook
planted it firmly into the suction hole of the fish, while his companion
held on to a rope fast to the hook. Before Pat could say Jack Robinson,
of course he was jerked off his feet, and, letting go the iron, the
other Paddy and the sturgeon set sail, having all the fun to themselves!
This proved, or very nearly so, a serious _denouement_ to the
sturgeon-catching by hand, for Paddy was carried clean and clear off
soundings, and so repeatedly immersed in deep water, that his life was
within an ace of being wet out of his body. The rope parted at last
(poor Pat never thought of letting go his "hould"), and being dipped out
of the liquid element and rolled over a barrel until his insides were
emptied of the water, and heat restored through the influence of
whiskey, he recovered, and further experimenting on sturgeons, that
season, in the Kennebec, ceased.

Mixing Meanings--Mangling English.

There is an individual in Quincy Market, "doing business," who is down
on customers who don't speak proper.

"What's eggs, this morning?" says a customer.

"_Eggs_, of course," says the dealer.

"I mean--how do they _go_?"

"Go?--where?"

"Sho--!" says the customer, getting up his _fury_, "what for eggs?"

"Money, money, sir! or good endorsed credit!" says the dealer.

"Don't you understand the English language, sir?" says the customer.

"Not as you mix it and mangle it; I don't!" responded the egg merchant.

"What--is--the--price--per--dozen--for--your--eggs?"

"Ah! now you talk," says the dealer. "Sixteen cents per dozen, is the
price, sir!" They traded!

Waking up the Wrong Passenger.

In "comparing notes" with a travelled friend, I glean from his stock of
information, gathered South-west, a few incidents in the life of a
somewhat extensively famed Boston panoramic artist--one of which
incidents, at least, is worth rehearsing. Some years ago, the South-west
was beset by an organized coalition of desperadoes, whose daring
outrages kept travellers and the dwellers in the Mississippi valley in
continual fear and anxiety. "Running niggers" was one of the most
popular and profitable branches of the business pursuits of these
gentlemen freebooters, and, next to horse-stealing, was the most
practised.

At length, the citizens "measured swords" with the freebooters, or land
pirates, more