ustration: Fig. 1.]

This wonderful bait was made of wood, and painted yellow, or covered
with gilt paper, and presented an appearance like the annexed engraving.

[Illustration: Fig. 2.]

But under this innocent exterior lurked Tom Hood's joke. The fish was
made of two pieces of wood, like Fig. 2, glued or gummed together, only
one of which was attached to the line, and on this piece was burned,
with a red-hot knitting-needle, the words, "_O, you April fool!_" Of
course, after the sportsman had dragged this about in the water for some
time, the glue melted, the loose half of the bait floated away, and when
he hauled in his line to see how things were getting along, he
discovered the inscription, and at the same time that he had been made a
_fool_ of, whether it happened to be April or not.

THE CLOCK BEWITCHED.

I was once at one of those little social gatherings which the Scotch
call a "cooky-shine," and the English a "tea-fight," where two young
ladies appeared escorted by a rustic beau (for be it known this was in
the country), who, like many beaux from both city and country, had a
very well-developed opinion of his own shrewdness and sagacity, of which
opinion he gave several rather obtrusive illustrations during the course
of the evening. This peculiarity, added to the fact that, quite early in
the festivities, he displayed an anxiety to hurry the young ladies home
in the midst of their enjoyment, made him anything but popular. The fact
was that the young man, having exhausted his limited stock of
conversation, grew bored and sleepy, and wanted to go home himself. Not
being able to accomplish this, he seated himself in an obscure corner
of the room, where he soon dropped off into a doze. Now among the
company was a little imp of a boy, a son of the hostess, who seemed to
feel himself called upon to amuse the rest of the guests. He whispered a
few words in his sister's ear, and then left the room. In about fifteen
minutes the drowsy beau woke up with a start, and asked what o'clock it
was.

"I really don't know," responded one of the ladies. "What time was it
when you went to sleep?"

"Sleep--sleep! I haven't been to sleep--'wake all the time."

"Indeed you have," chorussed the party; "nearly two hours, and saying
all sorts of things."

[Illustration: WHAT TIME IS IT?]

The youth looked blank, and rather frightened, but tried to brave it
out. "Oh, pshaw! two hours. Sleep!--why, I haven't been to sleep