Killed By The Natives.

round of beef , which a pale , perspiring man , in his shirt sleeves , and those turned up , was perpetually slicing , within . Then it as suddenly went into the equivocal photograph fine ; and anon—I believe some investigation at the Middlesex Sessions led to the change—endeavoured to combine law-abiding and fine art promulgation by appearing in an eruption of cheap and tawdry valentines , some of a character not too refined . I have a notion that it at one time flourished—well , let us say took its shutters down each

day for a few weeks—under the joint proprietorship of a phrenologist , a learned pig that told fortunes , ancl a bearded woman ; and here it was , with barrels of bivalves displayed , snowy-white napery draped in front of marble-painted counters ; attractive announcements of " Best Colchester natives , 3 s ., Scotch , 2 s ., ordinary , Is ., a dozen ; " shining castors , crystal cruets , little plates , tiny white loaves , fascinating diminutive pats of butter . No—stop . There was no butter displayed to tempt the hungry oyster-eater , and

this hiatus led to my first , or nearly my first , enquiry as I entered the establishment . The shop appeared to be kept by an oyster merchant—sex uncertain—age apparently about rising three . This pettieoated locum tenens was amusing itself with the very oddest toy vehicle I ever saw in the whole course of my life . It was a cedar box , which had presumably originally contained a hunched cigars , branded all over with the charcoally indentations verifying the Floras des Cabanas , etc ., etc ., formerly within . This , mounted wheels and attached to of dirt

on a yard y reel tape , was being dragged about the shop floor by the baby , who on seeing me began to cry . " Is there nobody but you minding this shop , my dear ? " I enquired , in as reassuring a tone as I could assume . 'The imp left off blubbering , toddled to a sort of wooden-screened ladder in one corner , and screamed , up it , " Father !"— " Father ! " at the top of its voice . There was no reply . To set my little host at bis—or her—easeI pretended to

ex-, amine the display on the counter . " Why , there is no butter here , " I exclaimed . " Ask your father , my clear , if he hasn't any butter . " The baby stared for a second or two , then toddled , or climbed rather , up two or three of the steep stairs ancl ejaculated some disconnected syllables , in which I fancy I detected the words , " Cus'mer "— " Gentl-man " — " Father "— " Butter , " ancl so on .

Still no reply . Three minutes' interval ! Then gruesome sounds above—as of gurgling—as of grumbling—as of furious invective—as of fierce objurgation—horrible so uiids—naughty sounds—expletives and self-commination ; ancl from all only to be collected the intelligible syllables , " In bed !" " What do you mean ! " I bellowed up the stairs , " Are you in lied , or do yon keep the butter in bed ? " The child recommenced crying ; the muffled thunder above went on rumbling ; but I distinctly heard , enunciated through the storm , the awesome words , "Under the bed . ' "

Certain commercial negotiations , not wholly unconnected—as the penny-a-liners say—with a transfer of a portion of the impecunious Mr . Mieawber's library , werethe readers of "David Copperfield" will remember—not infrequently transacted with the vendee in bed . I recalled the scene , " The keeper of this ' bookstall , who lived in a httle house behind it , used to get tipsy every night , and to be violently scolded by his wife every morning . More than once , when I went there early , I bad ' audience of him turn bedstead

m a -up , with a cut in his forehead or a black eye , bearing witness to his excesses over " night ( I am afraid he was quarrelsome in his drink ) , ancl he , with a shaking han ^ endeavouring to find the needful shillings in one or other of the Pockets of his clothes , which lay upon the floor , while his wife , with a baby in her arms and her shoes down at heel , never left off rating him . Sometimes he nad lost his money * , ancl then he would ask me to call again ; but his wife had always got —had taken his dare

some , I say , while he was drunk—ancl secretly completed the bargain on the stairs , as we went clown together . " But the row above more forcibly suggested another episode in poor little Davy's career , when he timidly essayed to sell his jacket at the marine store dealer ' s shop ' in uiatham . Do you remember that dreadful old man—how he swore , how he adored his viscera—how he yelled out the utterly inexplicable expletive " Goroo , " ancl 26