And, zooks! he sent Dick sprawling!
When Moll and I helped Wildair up,
No longer trim and jolly--
"Feelst not, Sir Dick," says saucy Moll,
"A Pious Melancholy?"




THE LOAFER AND THE SQUIRE

BY PORTE CRAYON


The squire himself was the type of a class found only among the rural
population of our Southern States--a class, the individuals of which are
connected by a general similarity of position and circumstance, but
present a field to the student of man infinite in variety, rich in
originality.

As the isolated oak that spreads his umbrageous top in the meadow
surpasses his spindling congener of the forest, so does the country
gentleman, alone in the midst of his broad estate, outgrow the man of
crowds and conventionalities in our cities. The oak may have the
advantage in the comparison, as his locality and consequent superiority
are permanent. The Squire, out of his own district, we ignore. Whether
intrinsically, or simply in default of comparison, at home he is
invariably a great man. Such, at least, was Squire Hardy. Sour and
cynical in speech, yet overflowing with human kindness; contemning
luxury and expense in dress and equipage, but princely in his