were over-anxious to see the orangsay he eats olives, oranges, orgeates, durate, and it is difficult to force him He evidently has great objection to sance, and is quite outrageous when to make him put on overalls. Adieu LETTER XXVII. ROM A. B. TO C. D. C. D. PETERBOROUGH, July, 1865. nd, I have been permitted to ens and pastimes of a picnic, in part its pains and penalties. We had eamer Poughkeepsie, in which we lphia to make some purchases, when at the draw of Percival Bridge was tially we procured shelter, from the ys of the sun, under a projecting saw a crowd of children rushing ge. They were all plentifully supder, which they carried in panniers, nafores. Not being able to pass, and pulled each other in a most ner, until a pedantic personage drove flock of pigeons, upon a narrow perls amused themselves with making royal and pentadactyls, and the boys ogs, and pulling and pounding every thing upon which they placed their hands. A phalanx of them persisted in playing with some putrescent fish, which occasioned such a pestiferous odor, as caused me to fear the renewal of my pharyngeal trouble: however, having a phial of homopathic pills in my pelisse, and a pharmacologist at my side, I sat placidly waiting the result. A pettifogger said, that, in all probability, we should form a sort of phalansterianism, at least for the day; so the puerile portion of the party attacked their provender most persistently. Pears, peaches, pomegranates, pineapples, plums, puddings, pies, pastry, pound-cake, et cætera, caused some prevarications and disputes among hungry brothers and their sisters, who had been previously cautioned by their parents to beware of the prevalent custom of children, of eating up their provisions all at once. A philanthropic, patriarchal woman proposed to some of the children, poorer as a palliative, I supposed, for their small proportion of edibles,that they should play school; but a gentleman, who appeared to be patrolling the party, pronounced her proposal preposterous. In lieu, thereof, he ordered one of the boys to procure a peck of roasted pea-nuts, and parched corn, for which he paid from his own pocket. You should have heard the little plebians shout their thanks, as he poured it out in their midst. I must confess that I was very much prejudiced in his favor, notwithstanding all his provincialisms. In the midst of the prevailing hilarity, the draw unexpectedly closed, and a car, propelled by four powerful horses, appeared: there was a general stampede, so that in a few minutes we were left in quiet possession of the premises. The proprietor of our protective asylum proffered us some pulse; and, as I am not very punctilious, I was easily prevailed upon to accept of his politeness. Do you notice that I am prone to make mistakes in my punctuation? How much patience is required to do things properly. Ever yours, LETTER XXVIII. FROM C. D. TO A. B. A. B. PORTSMOUTH, Aug., 1865. My dear Friend, What a queer child you are, to talk of experiencing pleasure in company with querulous children, near a quagmire! Really, you are the quintessence of quixotism. I think you must have felt a little queachy and quesy when you questioned that quack. This morning a quarrier brought me a piece of rose-quartz of a quadrangular form, and quite as large as a queening. He says, that the whole quarry back of our house is quartziferous. Last evening we played in quartette, producing quite a sensation in the neighborhood. They say that the queen-dowager, who was riding by, ordered her postilion to stop; and that she quietly listened for more than half an hour in a most quiescent state. Is not that quite complimentary? Quintilius brought me a querquedule. I hardly know what quality of food it requires: I put it with the quails, and noticed that it ate up a quartern of barley in a few moments. When Quintius receives his quarterage, he means to quit his present studies, and qualify himself for the law. He begs you to give yourself no qualms on his account, as he is in no quandary as to the propriety of such an avocation. I am told that his interests have quadrupled; therefore there need be no trouble about the quantum to meet expenses. You know that I am not querimonious; yet, I could with difficulty refrain from quarrelling with Quintius's mother when she queried about giving him a quarto volume of the history of Quebec, and actually went to a second-hand bookstore in search of a copy. By the by, Quintius is now quirister of the Quaker Church. Our quince-trees are all dead. My flower-beds are filled with quitch-grass: the seeds of quakinggrass which you sent me did not grow; please save more for another season. Truly yours, LETTER XXIX. FROM A. B. TO C. D. C. D. Your racy letter, in which you reproach me of not reminding you to reclaim the residuary payments belonging to your brother Ra phael, is received, and my reply is, that I hear that the law which secured it was rescinded. Uncle Richard has just returned from a visit to Boston, where he was much gratified with the reception of our troops: he says, "The regulars returning from Richmond were reviewed in the rear of the Revere House. They looked remarkably well in their new royal blue uniforms, and received the most roaring applause for their perfect evolutions. They resumed their march, and reached their camp to repose from their fatigues." These men richly deserve the reward which a grateful nation renders them for their gallantry in their defence of a righteous cause Roxana Richardson has been here; she really looked charming, with her ruby lips and rosy cheeks: she was dressed in a red riding-hood, made of ratteen instead of ratinet. Poor child! she was terribly frightened, having been in the midst of a rabble of ragamuffins, roughs, and rowdies, who were running after a rhinoceros which had escaped from a menagerie. The proprietor, fearing that their reiterated shouts would prevent the recapture of the animal, repeatedly remonstrated with them, and finally offered a reward, which proved more efficacious than all his reasoning. After raising such a riot, the refractory creature took refuge in a refreshment saloon, and was recaptured by means of a reconciliatory meal, which he devoured with great rapacity. I will not recapitulate the articles of food he is said to have eaten, for it is not rational that a rhinoceros should relish roast beef, raw mutton, rumpsteak, ra |