y dregs.

"Ha! ha! ha!" ejaculated Jenkins, "I say, Fred, you are completely
cornered up, Henderson's as good a philosopher as yourself."

"That may be so," replied Fred, "but I wish you, and Henderson
also, to bear in mind that reason may be twisted into sophistry.
He must first prove the premises of his arguments to be correct,
namely, 'that spirituous liquors are conducive to the happiness of
mankind'--otherwise, the syllogism must be false. To attempt such an
undertaking would be a more fool-hardy task than that of Hercules to
carry the globe upon his back. My dear sir, you would soon find that the
universal evidence of the world would be against you. The horrid shrieks
of suffering humanity would denounce the falsity of your arguments,
while myriads of skeletons would startle from their graves with horrid
indignation!"

"Hold on, hold on, I say, Fred," shouted Henderson, "you are firing away
your balls at random and never look at the target."

"I think he has made a good many bull-eyes in your head," exclaimed
Stevens.

"Come, come, boys, we'll have a _horn_ on the _head_ of the subject,"
cried Jenkins.

"Yes, yes, that's the talk," responded some of the others.

"Hold on, hold on, gentlemen," exclaimed Henderson, slightly irritated.
"I must have fair play in the game."

"By all means," said Fred, "I shall see that you shall."

"Well, sir," said H., "allow me to inform you, that in your arguments
you deviated from the proposition I made, namely--that liquor as a means
is conducive to human happiness. I mean the proper use of it; but you
immediately darted off to the furthest extremity of the subject, and by
a sort of superlative sophistry of your own, you attempted to conjure up
a horrid array of evils arising from the abuse of that spiritual gift,
which is the very essence of those cereals designed by the Author of
Creation as the principal sustainer of animal life."

"You accuse me, sir, of doing injustice to your proposition, by
representing the consequences of abusing that spiritual gift, as you
very improperly term it," said Fred. "Your proposition, let me tell you,
embraces only the germs; but I look forward to the fruits thereof. He
would be but a very foolish farmer indeed, who would sow tares or
imperfect seed for the mere pleasure of seeing his fields adorned with
verdure, without looking forward to the consequences. Every good farmer
anticipates an abundant harvest and accordingly sows the be