A Peculiar Case.

He never knew what o ' clock it was , but constantly asked everybody he met for " the time o' day . " When informed , and the hour announced did not approximate dinner-time , he became , discouraged and low-spirited , but revived at the sight of a

chance apple or cucumber lying on the ground near by . I have seen him blossom into slow activity when unexpected food has been offered to him "between meals . ' ' His stomach rose to any occasionand

, coped with all emergencies . We used to try him with a heavy slice of beef and mustard at nine o ' clock in the morning , and he settled upon it at once with stolid avidity , cobra-fashion . He yearned for family picnics where there was no walking

to be done , where the viands were apple , and nobody had occasion to bear along the baskets . He Avas constitutionally susceptible of double-meals . His faA'ourite localities could always be recognized by the d 6 bris of comestibles streAA'n around . Rinds of Avater-melon , egg-shells , and applecores , betrayed his Avhereabouts . When ofjf duty at the kitchen table he was ever

devouring something from out of a huge pocket which adorned his trousers on the right side , bulging it out like a wen . The protuberance became so enormous , that one day I felt constrained to ask him if he had a cannon ball in his thi gh . No , it was

only a couple of turnips he was " a-goin' to eat bum-by . " Every edible thing that grew Avas tributary to him . His taste was catholic . He fed largely and promiscuously . He was matchless in his depredations on cooked or uncooked . He Avasin

, short , the lineal descendant of Pliny ' s " Annihilator , " the great food destroyer of antiquity ! Born in the country , he was ignorant as a sign-post of what came out of the soil . When set to work in the garden he pulled

up everything but the weeds . He would mistake worniAvood for parsley , and mustard for mint . Interrogatories disquieted him . When asked a question about what should have concerned him mosthis

un-, blushing reply was " Don ' t knoAV 1 " He had adroitness in delegating jobs about the place to unsuspecting lads of his acquaintance that was both amusing and exasperating . He would saunter along to .

the cottage in the morning , bringing Avith him two or three shabby-looking varletg of his OAVU age , or a little younger , perhaps and hide them aAvay behind the rocks until their services might be required . At the proper time he Avould carry out the new

hoe , or the new faugled rake , to shoAv them . Then he would gradually toll the boys up to some gap in the avenue that needed filling , or allure them- to a lot of hay that must be gathered for the barn . HemeauAvhileAvould lie on the ground in

, , a state of flat contentment , making the most of himself , and regarding the boys Avith supine satisfaction , as they accomplished the task he ought himself to be engaged in . Coming upon him unexpectedly once while thus disporting his

lazy length , I asked for an explanation of his conduct . He replied that he " Avas obleeged to lay daoAvn on accaount of a jumpin' teAvth-ache that bed jess sot in . " His subterfuges Avere endless and invincible .

They revolved about him in a perpetual cycle , ready for use at any moment , and so he Avas never caught disfurnished Avith an excuse . Evasion was his armature , quiddity his defence . To upbraid him was a loss of time and patience . It would be a shrewd master indeed AVIIO could circumvent him .

Choate Avas not more wary , or Webster more profound , than Cyrus Avhen he Avaa brought to bay . He Avas full of illogical intrepidities . He eluded reproof Avith a conversational dexterity beyond the ordinary bent and

level of his brain . He changed the current of discourse at will . When remonstrating Avith him one day on his short comings and long goings , he interrupted the strain of remark by inquiring if I had "heerd that 'Siah Jones ' s boss got cast t ' other

night , and took four men to drag him aout by the tail . " On another occasion he cut short my admonition , just as the homily was culminating , by asking me if I "knowed that Abel Baker wore false teeth in his maouth , and sometimes put ' em in upside daown , cos he did'nt understand ' em . "

In the middle of a colloquy Avith him one morning on his unpunctual appearance at the cottage , he threw me completely off thetrack by casually " wondering if I had " ever run acrost the Sea sarpUfit