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 the room I immediately made it speak. As I expected, directly the cobra heard the voice he slipped off the bed like a shot and went for the idol, while I seized the opportunity to bolt from the room." The cab proprietor congratulated him on his presence of mind, but after appearing to consult a well-worn book, declared that he had not a single vacancy. The applicant did not seem very disappointed, and having succeeded in borrowing twopence, departed.

Many aristocratic, military and professional men had at various times driven a cab for a livelihood, and usually they have been reduced to that strait through their own folly; but there have been cases of young, well-educated men driving cabs for a period until their prospects in life brightened. Only seven or eight years ago a student at one of our great London hospitals passed "final," and found himself in the painful position of being a qualified medical man without any money. Unable to obtain a locum tenens or an assistantship, he applied for and received a cabman's licence. Medical students and their friends made a point of patronising him, and for some months "the doctor" was one of the