What Happened At A Christmas Gathering.

De Salis told him that if he had known Avhat a deuced bad-tempered old gal she was , he would never have slung his hammock alongside of hers . " " Oh ! " I said , " Jamieson , you can't believe Huttonwho is dreadfully afraid of

, his own Avifc ; ancl club stories are always canards . All ! can say is , if I had your chance I Avould not throAvit aAvay . " " Do you really think that she is amiable ancl pleasant to get on Avith ? " asked poor old Jamieson again ; and so I ventured to

remark that " I will not say that ; ancl I admit that there is a flash in her eyes Avhich says , ' Look out for squalls ! ' But you knoAV , Jamieson , " I also added , " you can find all that out before you put your head into the noose . If a chap can't find out

before he marries whether his Avife is good tempered or not , he deserves to be bullyragged all his life . " ' What a pretty girl , " he then remarked , "MissL'Estrange is . " " So she is , " I then said , " very pretty indeed ; but she has not much moneymore ' s the pity . " This Avas not quite true , but I considered it , under the circumstances ,

a Avhite lie . I knew that Jamieson , like a good many other men that you and I meet in society , thought his wife ought to have nioney , and would not marry Avithout money . A . sordid vieAV in my opinion , but it is a popular vieAV , and no doubt has

some common sense at the bottom of it , as we cannot , it is quite clear , live on "sentiment , " though it Avould be a very base ancl dirty world without it . Jamieson evidently felt what I had said , and after a little went and sat doAvn by the

beaming AA'idow , AVIIO rewarded him Avith one of her sweetest smiles . "Yes , old girl , " I thought to myself , '' those smiles are like a calm at sea , too often only the forerunners of a gale . But ' sufficient for the day is the evil thereof . '"

So far all had gone well with my little " coup de theatre , " and if any of my readers are sentimental enough to wish to knoAV the denouement , I recommend them to peruse the March number of the " Masonic Magazine . "

Old Jorum said , as we were retiring for the ni ght , "Jemmy will win in a canter , but I am afraid poor old Jamieson will be heavil y handicapped in the race . " ( To be continued . )

Notes On Liter Pure, Science, And Art.

NOTES ON LITER PURE , SCIENCE , AND ART .

BY BRO . GEORGE JlARKHAM TAVEDBELL , Fellow of the Royal Society of ' Northern Antiquaries , Copenhagen ; Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society , London ; Honorary Member of the Manchester Literary Club , and oj the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society & c , & c .

THE "Live Stock Journal and Fanciers ' Gazette " says : —¦'' The produce of a Che viot ewe and a Leicester tiqi makes a capital grazing sheep , fit generally for the shambles ere a year old , if Avell fed from the period of birth , and affording meat

Avith a much greater proportion of lean flesh than Leicesters , ancl much of the juiciness and fine flavour of Cheviot mutton . The best qualities of both parents are in fact exemplified , one affording early maturity , aptitude to fatten , good size and

Aveight ; the other superiority of meat , hardihood of constitution , & c . The cross is most generally employed on old draft ewes , that their produce , when not disposed of as fat lambs , may be grazed for the butcher the first yearto make sheep

, from fifteen to eighteen pouuds per quarter , when from a year to a year and a half old . " Bakewell did a good Avork Avhen he improved the breed of Leicestershire sheep

by judicious selection , ancl made them the principal flocks of long-Avoolled sheep in our island . Their white faces , hornless heads , and comely carcasses , add additional beauty to our finest landscapes ; and their early maturity is , Avell known to every breeder . Butas Mr . Oliphant Pringle

, Avell puts it , in his useful book on the Live Stock of the Farm , — "Sheep of this breed lay on much outside fat , aud , Avhen slaughtered young , the flesh is tolerabl y juicy ; but if kept until they have attained some age—say over two years , when they

Aveigh from 120 to 150 lb . eaoli—and extra high fed , they become too fat to suit consumers . The inside fat is not in proportion to the outside . The ewes are only middling nurses , and the lambs are tender ; and , for these reasonsthe pure Leicester

, is not a favourite Avith farmers AVIIO have rents to pay . " The Border Leicester , so common in Northumberland and Scotland , the rams of which bring high prices at