But not a foot of room was there,

The guests were wedg'd together;
They had no single thought to spare
From landlord's fire and landlord's fare,
Nor reck'd they now the weather.

The trav'ller rueful look'd about;
At length, with lungs most able,
He bids Will ostler carry out
A peck of oysters fresh and stout,
To Dobbin in the stable.

"A peck of oysters! oats, good heart!"
Cries Will, with peals of laughter:
"No! oysters, fellow ! quick, depart!"
Out runs the man-and at one start
The whole mob rushes after.

All mad to see this wondrous steed,
(By serious aspect cheated)

They guess him of some monstrous breed,
Some strange sea-horse; while now with speed,
The traveller gets seated.

Back posts the ostler; all, as fleet,
The troop of fools pursue him:
“Lord, sir?” said Will, “I never see't
Such a thing!-your horse wont eat
The oysters that I threw him."

"The deuce he wont! then faith, I must!
So place me here a table-

And bring me bread, both crumb and crust,
Pepper and vinegar; and I trust

That I'm both glad and able."

PARSON TURELL'S LEGACY: A MATHEMATICAL

STORY.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

[See p. 532.]

FACTS respecting an old arm-chair

At Cambridge. Is kept in the College there,
Seems but little the worse for wear.

That's remarkable when I say

It was old in President Holyoke's day
(One of the boys, perhaps you know,

Died, at one hundred, years ago.)
He took lodging for rain or shine
Under green bed-clothes in '69.
Know Old Cambridge? Hope you do,—
Born there? Don't say so! I was too.
(Born in a house with a gambrel-roof,-
Standing still, if you must have proof,—
"Gambrel ?-Gambrel ?"-Let me beg
You'll look at a horse's hinder leg,—
First great angle under the hoof,-
That's the gambrel; hence gambrel-roof.)
-Nicest place that ever was seen,
Colleges red and Common green,
Sidewalks brownish with trees between.
Sweetest spot beneath the skies

When the canker-worms don't rise,-
When the dust that sometimes flies
Into your mouth and ears and eyes,
In a quiet slumber lies,

Not in the shape of unbaked pies
Such as barefoot children prize.

A kind of harbour it seems to be,
Facing the flow of a boundless sea.
Rows of gray old Tudors stand
Ranged like rocks above the sand;
Rolling beneath them, soft and green,
Breaks the tide of bright sixteen,—
One wave, two waves, three waves, four,
Sliding up the sparkling floor;

Then it ebbs to flow no more,

Wandering off from shore to shore

With its freight of golden ore!

-Pleasant place for boys to play ;—

Better keep your girls away;

Hearts get rolled as pebbles do

Which countless fingering waves pursue,

And every classic beach is strown

With heart-shaped pebbles of blood-red stone.

But this is neither here nor there ;I'm talking about an old arm-chair. You've heard, no doubt, of Parson TurellOver at Medford he used to dwell; Married one of the Mather's folk; Got with his wife a chair of oakFunny old chair, with seat like wedge, Sharp behind and broad front edge,One of the oddest of human things, Turned all over with knobs and rings,

But heavy, and wide, and deep, and grand,-
Fit for the worthies of the land,-
Chief-Justice Sewall a cause to try in,
Or Cotton Mather to sit and lie-in.
--Parson Turell bequeathed the same
To a certain student, Smith by name;
These were the terms, as we are told:
"Saide Smith saide Chaire to have and hold.
When he doth graduate, then to passe
To ᎩᎾ oldest Youth in ye Senior Classe.
On Payment of "-(naming a certain sum)
"By him to whom ye Chaire shall come;
He to ye oldest Senior next,

And soe forever"-(thus runs the text),--
"But one Crown lesse then he gave to claime,
That being his Debte for use of same.'

Smith transferred it to one of the Browns, And took his money,-five silver crowns, Brown delivered it up to Moore,

Who paid, it is plain, not five, but four.
Moore made over the chair to Lee,
Who gave him crowns of silver three.
Lee conveyed it unto Drew,

And now the payment, of course, was two.
Drew gave up the chair to Dunn,-

All he got, as you see, was one,

Dunn released the chair to Hall,

And got by the bargain no crown at all.

And now it passed to a second Brown,
Who took it and likewise claimed a crown.
When Brown conveyed it unto Ware,
Having had one crown, to make it fair,
He paid him two crowns to take the chair;
And Ware, being honest (as all Wares be),
He paid one Potter, who took it, three.
Four got Robinson; five got Dix;
Johnson primus demanded six;
And so the sum kept gathering still
Till after the battle of Bunker's Hill—
When paper money became so cheap,

Folks wouldn't count it, but said " a heap,"
A certain Richards, the books declare,-
(A.M. in '90? I've looked with care
Through the Triennial,--name not there),
This person, Richards, was offered then
Eight score pounds, but would have ten;
Nine, I think, was the sum he took,-
Not quite certain,-but see the book.-

By and by the wars were still,
And nothing had altered the Parson's will.
The old arm-chair was solid yet,

But saddled with such a monstrous debt!
Things grew quite too bad to bear,

Paying such sums to get rid of the chair!
But dead men's fingers hold awful tight,
And there was the will in black and white,
Plain enough for a child to spell,

What should be done no man could tell,
For the chair was a kind of a nightmare curse,
And every season but made it worse.

As a last resort to clear the doubt,
They got old Governor Hancock out,

The Governor came, with his Light-horse Troop,
And his mounted truckmen, all cock a-hoop;
Halberds glittered and colours flew,

French horns whinnied, and trumpets blew.
The yellow fifes whistled between their teeth,
And the bumble-bee bass drums boomed beneath;
So he rode up with all his band,

Till the President met him cap in hand

The Governor hefted the crowns, and said,

66

A will is a will, and the Parson's dead."

The Governor hefted the crowns. Said he,-
"There is your p'int. And here's my fee.
These are the terms you must fulfil,-

On such conditions I break the will!"
The Governor mentioned what these should be.
(Just wait a minute and then you'll see.)
The President prayed. Then all was still,
And the Governor rose and broke the will!-
"About those conditions?" Well, now you go
And do as I tell you, and then you'll know.
Once a year, on Commencement-day,
If you'll only take the pains to stay,
You'll see the President in the chair,
Likewise the Governor sitting there.

The President rises; both old and young
May hear his speech in a foreign tongue,
The meaning whereof, as lawyers swear,
Is this: Can I keep this old arm- -chair?
And then his Excellency bows,
As much as to say that he allows.
The Vice-Gub, next is called by name;

He bows like t'other, which means the same.

And all the officers round 'em bow,

As much as to say that they allow.

And a lot of parchments about the chair

Are handed to witnesses then and there,
And then the lawyers hold it clear
That the chair is safe for another year.

God bless you, Gentlemen! Learn to give
Money to colleges while you live,
Don't be silly and think you'll try
To bother the colleges when you die,
With codicil this, and codicil that,

That Knowledge may starve while Law grows fat;
For there never was pitcher that wouldn't spill,
And there's always a flaw in a donkey's will.

I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER.

REV. R. H. BARHAM.

[See page 498.]

I REMEMBER, I remember,
When I was a little boy
One fine morning in December
Uncle brought me home a toy;
I remember how he patted

Both my cheeks in kindliest mood;
"Then," said he, "you little fat-head,
There's a top because you're good."

Grandmamma, a shrewd observer,
I remember gazed upon

My new top, and said with fervour,
"Oh! how kind of Uncle John!"
While mamma, my form caressing,
In her eye the tear-drop stood,
Read me this fine moral lesson,