gger had fallen, the side of the box flew out, and let
off--TWO GREY CARRIER PIGEONS!

Little more need be said. It is not a subject on which I care to dwell.
The whole thing is too utterly disgusting and absurd. Perhaps the best
thing I can do is to retire gracefully from the scene, and let the
sporting correspondent of the New York Herald fill my unworthy place.
Here is an extract clipped from its columns shortly after our departure
from America:--

"Pigeon-flying Extraordinary.--A novel match has been brought off last
week between the birds of John H. Flannigan, of Boston, and Jeremiah
Muller, a well-known citizen of Lowell. Both men have devoted much time
and attention to an improved breed of bird, and the challenge is an
old-standing one. The pigeons were backed to a large amount, and there
was considerable local interest in the result. The start was from the
deck of the Transatlantic steamship Spartan, at ten o'clock on the
evening of the day of starting, the vessel being then reckoned to be
about a hundred miles from the land. The bird which reached home first
was to be declared the winner. Considerable caution had, we believe, to
be observed, as some captains have a prejudice against the bringing
off of sporting events aboard their vessels. In spite of some little
difficulty at the last moment, the trap was sprung almost exactly at ten
o'clock.

"Muller's bird arrived in Lowell in an extreme state of exhaustion on the
following morning, while Flannigan's has not been heard of. The backers
of the latter have the satisfaction of knowing, however, that the whole
affair has been characterised by extreme fairness. The pigeons were
confined in a specially invented trap, which could only be opened by
the spring. It was thus possible to feed them through an aperture in the
top, but any tampering with their wings was quite out of the question.
A few such matches would go far towards popularising pigeon-flying in
America, and form an agreeable variety to the morbid exhibitions of
human endurance which have assumed such proportions during the last few
years."

JOHN HUXFORD'S HIATUS.

Strange it is and wonderful to mark how upon this planet of ours the
smallest and most insignificant of events set a train of consequences in
motion which act and react until their final results are portentous and
incalculable. Set a force rolling, however small; and who can say where
it shall end, or what it may lead to! Trifles d