The truth of _that_ you may depend upon.
The gentleman himself told me the case.'--
'Where may I find him?'--'Why, in such a place.'

Away goes he, and having found him out,
'Sir, be so good as to resolve a doubt;'
Then to his last informant he referr'd,
And begg'd to know, if _true_ what he had heard,
'Did you, sir, throw up a black crow?'--'Not I.'
'Bless me! how people propagate a lie!
Black crows have been thrown up, _three_, _two_, and _one_:
And here, I find, all comes, at last, to _none_!
Did you say _nothing_ of a crow at _all_?'
'Crow--Crow--perhaps I might, now I recall
The matter over.'--'And, pray, sir, what was't?'
'Why I was horrid sick, and, at the last,
I did throw up, and told my neighbour so,
Something that was--_as black_, sir, as a crow.'"

An Englishman and a Yankee were once talking about the speed at which
the trains travelled in their respective countries. The Englishman spoke
of the "Flying Dutchman" travelling sixty miles an hour.

"We beat that hollow," said the Yankee. "Our trains on some lines travel
so fast that they outgo the sound of the whistle which warns of their
coming, and reach the station first."

Of course the "Britisher" gave the palm to his American cousin, and said
no more about English locomotive travelling.

Hyberbolism is a fault too much cultivated and practised among the
"young ladies" of our schools and homes. They think it an elegant mode
of speaking, and seem to rival each other as to which shall best
succeed. An ordinary painting of one of their friends is "an exquisitely
fine piece of workmanship, and really Reynolds himself could scarcely
exceed it." And that bouquet of wax flowers on the side-board "are not
surpassed by the products of nature herself." That young man lately seen
in company at the house of Mrs. Hood "is one of the handsomest young
gentlemen that I ever beheld; indeed, Miss Spencer, I never saw any one
to equal him in reality or in picture." To tell the truth, courteous
reader, this said "young gentleman" was scarcely up to an ordinary
exhibition of that sex and age of humanity; but this young lady, for
some reason or other, could not help speaking of him as the "_highest
style_ of man."

Our children are even found indulging in this exaggerated mode of
speech, as the following may illustrate:--

"Oh, mother," said Annie, as she threw herself into a chair, on her
return from a walk, "_I cannot stir ano