Elder. "Na, na. We're no Partickler to a Bawbee here!"
THE END OF GEORGIE'S AND JACKY'S HOLIDAYS.
(A Second Extract from the Note-Book of Mr. Barlow the Younger.)
Now that the summer vacation is drawing rapidly to a close, it may be as well to record the end of the holidays of my two interesting charges, Georgie and Jacky. Some little time since I wrote the story of one of their exploits. The two lads do not live a very eventful life even in their hours of recreation. During the mid-annual recess I usually choose some delightful spot for our temporary home, combining the joint charms of change of scene and increased economy. The fashionable watering-place of Drainville-on-Sea has a suburb in which apartments may be obtained at a very reasonable figure. The reason for this lowness of price is no doubt to be traced to the fact that many of the residences are in the habitation of the superfluous live stock of a very prosperous pork merchant, having his house of business in the neighbourhood. However, in spite of our distance from Drainville-on-Sea, my lads have been fairly contented with their lot. They have been able to fish, to climb trees, and to take long walks.
"Revered Sir," said, on one occasion, Georgie, who is generally accepted as the spendthrift of my brace of students, "it would give great pleasure to Jacky if you were kindly to give me a shilling with which to purchase Japanese caramel cannon-balls. I have reasons for believing that his medical attendant, Dr. Coffyn Blockhead, considers that this delicious sweetstuff, or, I should say, pleasing physic, would be of much benefit to him."
"Why is the lad ill?" I asked, with an anxiety tempered with incredulity.
"No, revered Sir," promptly replied Georgie; "and I fancy that Dr. Coffyn Blockhead regards the composition, which may be obtained at a penny the ounce, or two ounces for three halfpence, rather as a preventative than a curative. Were Jacky to have a shilling's-worth, he would not only possess enough to ward off the shaft of the destroyer himself, but would be able to give me a sufficient quantity to parry the insidious dart of disease; and that you might be satisfied that the money was expended in the life-protecting compound in question, I would willingly undertake to make the purchase."
Here Jacky protested that he was quite old and conscientious enough to be trusted with the cash himself.