' Yes —yes ; of course I have.' ' You'd better have dropped dead a sbickin' to that than stay alive doin' nothin' an' goin' on in the old way,' remarked Mrs Purki_. 'I don'b bhink that's very sympathetic for afellar'swife,'drawledPurkis,as he dropped on a bench. • Perhaps it ain't, Madison; yet if you think a while, I think you'll agree with me, that it's all true.' Purkis did think a while, with his elbows on his knees and his hands supporting his cheeks ; finally, when the contents of the pot were on tho table, Mrs Purkis ejacu lated : ' Set down.' Purkis rose from tho bench, leaned over his wife, pub his arms around her, and said : ' Well, Maria, 1 have thought about it. You're right. If I don'b sbick ib oub it will be because ib makes a corpse of me before 1 can get through. If ib does make a corpse of me, Maria, why all I've got to say is you'll have more comfort to put in my coffin bhan you'd ever have had before.' Mrs Purkis, rising from the table, re burnod hor husband's embrace and whis pered : ' I'll keep you oufc of yer coffin, if you'll 'bend bo the resb of ib. Counb on me for thab. I can change, as well as you can, and since 1 found thab I can sbick to these here lessons, as well as you can, I don'b propose bo have no man ever geb ahead of me again. Don'b you forget bhab, nuttier. Eozoic — paleozoic — mesozoic — c*enozoic. There !' CHAPTER VI. AMONG THE BACKSLIDERS. 'Enthusiasm doesn't amounb to much in this world, does ib, mobher?' said Alice Dawn, ab bhe breakfasb table one morning. 