"Not at all. Try a bit."
I took the candle out of the lantern, and extended it toward my confederate, who shrank back with disgust.
"Well," I said, "if you won't have it, I'll eat it myself." And so saying, I put it into my mouth and munched it up, amid the cries of surprise and horror of the assembled party. Two old maids insisted on looking into my mouth to see whether it was not concealed there.
A RIDDLE IN RHYME.
On one occasion, while at a dinner party, Dr. O. W. Holmes composed the following riddle:
"My initials show my date to be
The morning of the Christian year;
Though fatherless, as all agree,
I am a father, it is clear:
A mother too, beyond dispute;
And when my son comes,
He's a fruit.
Now, not to puzzle you too much,
'Twas I gave Holland to the Dutch."
A WARM DAY IN THE COUNTRY—SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF VILLAGE SCHOOL-MISTRESS, AND EQUALLY SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF SCHOLARS.