ng! Miss
Scragg, meanwhile, stuck to her graymare, and went bumping along to the
admiration of all beholders, and was soon out of sight: luckily a joskin,
who witnessed my dear aunt's immersion, ran to her assistance, and, with
the help of his pitch-fork, safely landed her; for unfortunately the pond
was not above three or four feet deep! and so she missed the chance of
being an angel!"

"And you the transfer of her threes!--what a pity!" said the sympathizing
Mr. Timmis.

"When I heard of the accident, of course, as in duty bound, I wrote an
anxious letter of affectionate enquiry and condolence. At the same
period, seeing an advertisement in the Times--'To be sold, warranted
sound, a gray-mare, very fast, and carries a lady; likewise a bay-cob,
quiet to ride or drive, and has carried a lady'--I was so tickled with
the co-incidence, that I cut it out, and sent it to her in an envelope."

"Prime! by Jove!"--shouted Mr. Crobble--"But, I say, Wallis--you should
have sent her a 'duck' too, as a symbolical memorial of her accident!"

CHAPTER X.--The Pic-Nic.

--had just spread out their prog on a clean table-cloth, when they were
alarmed by the approach of a cow.

"People should never undertake to do a thing they don't perfectly
understand," remarked Mr. Crobble, "they're sure to make fools o'
themselves in the end. There's Tom Davis, (you know Tom Davis?) he's
always putting his notions into people's heads, and turning the laugh
against 'em. If there's a ditch in the way, he's sure to dare some of
his companions to leap it, before he overs it himself; if he finds it
safe, away he springs like a greyhound."

"Exactly him, I know him," replied Mr. Timmis; "that's what he calls
learning to shave upon other people's chins!"

"Excellent!" exclaimed Mr. Wallis.

"He's a very devil," continued Mr. Crobble; "always proposing some fun or
other: Pic-nics are his delight; but he always leaves others to bring the
grub, and brings nothing but himself. I hate Pic-nics, squatting in the
grass don't suit me at all; when once down, I find it no easy matter to
get up again, I can tell you."

Hereupon there was a general laugh.

"Talking of Pic-nics," said Mr. Timmis, "reminds me of one that was held
the other day in a meadow, on the banks of the Lea. The party,
consisting of ladies only, and a little boy, had just spread out their
prog on a clean table-cloth, when they were alarmed by the approach of a
cow. They