ily rose to his feet.

"A sheep!" he exclaimed; "did you call a sheep a peaceful animal? I tell
you, sir, it is the most ferocious and unruly beast in existence. Sir, I
had a ram once--"

"My dear sir," cried the astonished lecturer, "on the authority of our
most distinguished writers, the sheep is an emblem of peace and
innocence."

"An emblem of the devil," interrupted the squire, boiling over. "You are
an ignorant impostor, and your science a humbug. I had a ram once that
would have taught you more in five seconds than you've learned from
books in all your lifetime."

And so Squire Hardy put on his hat and walked out, leaving the lecturer
to rectify his blunder as best he might.

DE STOVE PIPE HOLE[7]

BY WILLIAM HENRY DRUMMOND

Dat's very cole an' stormy night on Village St. Mathieu,
W'en ev'ry wan he's go couche, an' dog was quiet, too--
Young Dominique is start heem out see Emmeline Gourdon,
Was leevin' on her fader's place, Maxime de Forgeron.

Poor Dominique he's lak dat girl, an' love her mos' de tam,
An' she was mak' de promise--sure--some day she be his famme,
But she have worse ole fader dat's never on de worl',
Was swear onless he's riche lak diable, no feller's get hees girl.

He's mak' it plaintee fuss about hees daughter Emmeline,
Dat's mebby nice girl, too, but den, Mon Dieu, she's not de queen!
An' w'en de young man's come aroun' for spark it on de door,
An' hear de ole man swear "Bapteme!" he's never come no more.

Young Dominique he's sam' de res',--was scare for ole Maxime,
He don't lak risk hese'f too moche for chances seein' heem,
Dat's only stormy night he come, so dark you can not see,
An dat's de reason w'y also, he's climb de gallerie.

De girl she's waitin' dere for heem--don't care about de rain,
So glad for see young Dominique he's comin' back again,
Dey bote forget de ole Maxime, an' mak de embrasser
An affer dey was finish dat, poor Dominique is say--

"Good-by, dear Emmeline, good-by; I'm goin' very soon,
For you I got no better chance, dan feller on de moon--
It's all de fault your fader, too, dat I be go away,
He's got no use for me at all--I see dat ev'ry day.

"He's never meet me on de road but he is say 'Sapre!'
An' if he ketch me on de house I'm scare he's killin' me,
So I mus' lef' ole St. Mathieu, for work on 'noder place,
An' till I mak de bee