course; and when the tiger tried to slip it in again, he gave such a tug at the barrel that over it went, nearly throwing the youths to the ground in a sprawling attitude, and bolted off, dragging the cask attached to his prehensile attribute along with him, while still seated on the top of the vehicle the boys rode through a sea of jeopardy, a forest of terror, and a valley of anguish (as the Easterns say), to they knew not whither.

A nice place to go to, you will say, but away they went. A dog with a tin kettle tied to his tail is good sport for the vulgar; but what must it be to see a real live Bengal tiger linked to a hogshead, or whatever you may please to call it, with two noble youths, their hair standing on end, oscillating on the top of it, and holding on by the edges and sides, or hoops, or what not? Seated not so elevated as in a houdah, on the back of an elephant, or so dignified as some are between the bumps of a camel, over a wide desert they stumbled, through a sea of sand they tumbled, till, by a circumbendibus hardly to be described, the tiger came back again towards the confines of Calcutta, dashing through the streets, frightening the whole population into fits, and at last coming to the great market-place, into which he dashed, and then among the Asiatic and European population, much like a ball through the pins at a game of skittles, knocking to the right and to the left, and to the left and the right, every one in his way, and going the whole tiger among the palanquins and other vehicles which thronged the public way, till at last the tub dashed exactly into the equipage of the Governor-general, who was going in grand state to do the palaver in the big house, and say a great deal of nothingness to no purpose. The Governor-general was not capsized, luckily, but the tiger made mincemeat of his retinue and of

I

the Arabic princes, the cream of Tartars, and other sweetmeats; but at this moment the tiger slipped the knot in his tail through the bunghole of the cask, which speedily let down our heroes into the road. Then hurry-scurry on all sides—the tiger's eyes glaring, his bleeding tail flashing like a coachwhip, high in the air, his teeth looking more savage than his eyes, till at last one of the native princes, who was nobly armed, and looking the very cauliflower of his race, made a charge at Tippoo, who immediately turned upon his enemy and capsized him, horse and all, in the twinkling of a bedpost, as Horace says; but at this same moment a flunky of some sort or other, for he was bedizened with jewels and gold lace, gave master Tippoo a pill in the ear-and he fell like a hero who could not help it, cocking up his tail till he couldn't.

So much for the tale of a tiger; but there are many tales to be told about tails. It is a pretty thing to go into the woods and to behold the squirrels sitting on their haunches among the trees, with their tails gracefully arched over their heads, and cracking nuts as if they were old jokes. I have heard of these creatures linking their tails together so as to form a bridge of tails over a stream; and I have heard also of rats lying down on their backs and loading their bellies with an egg or two, and being drawn by other rats, after the manner of a cart, by their tails-or tail, as the case may be. I have heard, too, of rattlesnakes and their tails, and of the escapes of those who had heard their 'larum. I have also, in my many rambles or voyages, both seen and heard of fishes' tails, particularly of the tail of a whale, and how he lifts up a ship by it, turns it topsy-turvy and lets it down with a whack, and so makes chips of it. And I have heard of the tail of the beaver, which he makes use of to erect his submarine habitations;

What a

and I have heard how foxes fish for crabs with their brushy tails; and of monkeys which use their tails to hang themselves with, not by the neck but by the tail, and delight in swinging for amusement. Then there is the tail of a comet, some millions of miles long, which could sweep out the stars and planets like a brush. (The word "comet" has been derived by some from the Latin coma, a tail; but the better derivation is comma, because it can never come to a full stop. comet is we do not exactly know; it is certainly an eccentric body, but there are so many eccentric bodies in these days that this hypothesis affords us no assistance. Comets are generally called periodical bodies, because their tails are so exceedingly lengthy, like those which are continued from month to month in the periodicals; they differ, however, in one respect, the former being very luminous, and the latter destitute of brilliancy.) The funniest of all is that defunct of all defunct things-the pigtail of an old country gentleman. But more celebrated, more wonderful, more entertaining, more droll, more everything, are Peter Parley's original tales, now nearly forty years long, and as numerous as the hairs on the head-although they grow in it-to be perpetual talismans to every boy who is fond of "amusement," dovetailed with instruction, to last for years to come, and to future generations.

SPORTS AND GAMES,

OLD ENGLISH AND MODERN.

No. I.

A Word to Begin With-Foul Play and Fair Play-Hoops, Tops, and Hummers-The Police in a Quandary-Hoops, Proper and Improper-Leaping and Walking on Poles-Slinging Stones, and how this Game may be Played without Danger-Bows and Arrows-The Days of old English Archery-The Lady Archeresses-London Bowmen-Modern Riflemen.

OYS will be boys; and it is right that they should run and jump, and play and sport about. They should also be merry, and cheerful, and light-hearted, for boyhood is the spring-time of life.

Birds sing, and fly, and

hop about cheer

fully in the spring, and so should boys. Lambs skip, and dance, and frisk in the meadows, and so should boys. In spring-time the flowers are beautiful, and the skies are blue, and the sun is bright and warm; and, like the flowers, the

skies, and the sunshine, boys should be cheerful, and loving, good-tempered, and happy.

There is not a more delightful thing in the world than the sight of a group of lively, merry-hearted boys at play. Their looks are so full of life and joy, their motions so graceful, their shouts so full of rapture, and their hearts so warm with ardour, that the middle-aged and the old long to be boys again. Ah! boyhood is indeed a happy time.

To be merry and wise is a good maxim for boys. When I was a boy, I was often very merry, but not often wise. Now I am getting an old man, I often look back to the days of my youth, and I remember many of my doings with pleasure, but some with regret. I was very fond of fun then, very thoughtless, and very giddy, and so I often got into what are called "scrapes."

When I was a boy, I was not so fond of taking advice as I ought to have been. I thought I knew better than other folk, and scorned the wisdom of people older than myself. I was also sometimes very "self-willed," and liked to have my own way. I rarely stopped to inquire what my actions would lead to, and many a sad trouble has come upon me suddenly. Ay, many a "rap of the knuckles" have I received when I least expected it.

As I grew older and began to think and reflect, I found that I was a very great simpleton in many things. The raps on the knuckles I had got took a good deal of the conceit out of me. I began to learn things by experience, and to find that persons older than myself knew more than I did.

By and by I found out that the way to be happy was to submit myself to the advice of those who loved me,-not to be self-willed, headstrong, or conceited, but to be quiet, humble, and tractable to those who had authority over me, and who