After listening to this for a few moments the mother heard the girl say:

"Now, Polly, you pass the collection plate, and nobody must put in
lozengers, and then we will all go to the dancing school."

The whole thing was so ridiculous that the mother attempted to rush down
stairs three at a time, to have her husband come up to prayer meeting,
when she stubbed herself on a stair rod, and--well, she got the black
eye on the journey down stairs, though what hit her she will probably
never know. But she said when she began to roll down stairs she felt
in her innermost soul as though she had broke up that prayer meeting
prematurely.

SHOOTING ON SUNDAY, WITH THE MOUTH.

There is nothing in the world that is so beautiful as to see a sporting
man, one who loves to shoot the wild prairie chicken and chase the
bounding duck over the plains, have a respect for the Sabbath day. There
are too many of our sporting friends who, if they are out for a week's
shooting, forget that they should lay away the deadly breech loader
on Sunday, after oiling it, and busy themselves reading good books, or
loading cartridges.

However, we are proud to number among our acquaintances one sporting
gentleman who would sooner cut a dog in two than to hunt on Sunday. It
is related of him that on one occasion while in camp in a deer country,
that his hounds got after a buck one Sunday morning, and that our friend
was so incensed at the dogs that he seized his gun and shot one of the
dogs dead, besides wounding the deer, and that he had to follow the deer
over four miles before he could overtake the animal and put it out of
its misery.

A wicked companion said that he shot at the deer and killed the dog
accidentally, but those who know Mr. Van Brunt would not believe the
story for a moment. Not long since this gentleman left his home at
Horicon and went to Owatonna, Minn., for a few weeks' hunt. He hunted a
good deal in town, and became somewhat acquainted with the fair sex as
well as the chickens and other ducks of the prairies. However, Sunday
came, and while the other wretches went out snooting on Sunday, our
friend hied himself to the Sabbath school. His presence was observed
by a teacher, and he, by the way, observed _her_ presence, and being a
stranger and a pious looking man, she invited him to help her teach her
class. He accepted, and seated beside the fair teacher, he chipped in an
occasional remark to the class, while he looked i