tters arterward I haint the most distant idee. I reckon they eended
thar days in the neest, which ye can still see up thar, an' ef they dud,
I reckon the buzzarts wudn't be long afore makin' a meal o' 'em."

With my eyes directed to the top of that tall cypress-tree, and fixed
upon a dark mass of dead sticks resembling a stack of faggots, I
listened to the concluding words of this queer chapter of backwoods
adventure.

_Mayne Reid._

[Illustration]

[Illustration: Round the Evening Lamp

A Treasury

of

Charades, Puzzles, Problems and Funny Things.]

CHARADES.

NO. 2.

My _first_ is, in sound, the odd creature that goes
Into Hottentots' traps when he follows his nose:
But in sense 't is an adjective, short, spick and span,
Well hated by Hunkers and kept under ban.
My _second_ it qualifies, also my _third_,
Though a _high fen_ between can't be crossed nor be stirred.
Now my _next_, like a swindler when cleaned out of tin,
Has always its tick, and takes most people in.
Amphibious its habit, as frequently found
Beneath the blue sea as on top of the ground:
Yet, oddest caprice out of destiny's cup,
Just when in full feather 't is always "sewed up."
What is forced and affected most all people spurn,
Yet they like this because 't is a made-up concern.
Best friend when our sunshine to gloom is converted,
Yet the moment we rise in the world we desert it.
Best friend, yet precisely its stead you can find,
To which, strange to say, you are never inclined.
And the warmer you get when a lieing you take it,
The more you wink at it, the less you forsake it.
Wet blankets you throw over swells, but not so
O'er my _second_, however puffed up it may grow.
My _third_ is so shallow you'll guess it before
I've told you how many smart folks pass it o'er;
Even Caesar went o'er it and by it and through it,
And lived long enough, the baldpate, to rue it.
Tho' shallow it is, yet the bravest and best
By keeping it give of their wisdom a test.
And the hotter it gets in dispute, yet the most
Courageous is he who wont let it be crossed.
On the whole, though 't is often a subject of strife,
More people it joins than it parts in this life.
My _whole_ is a place I forbear now to flatter;
It thrives upon those whose dearest and best
Severely