Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/187

 gerous character; such as, 'Frisk in Fetters,' and 'Why are Incisors granted to Both Sexes?' A dreadful little ballad was composed, and sung by the strong-minded, whose number became daily larger and more formidable. I remember only a fragment, but it gives an idea of the whole:—

"The grammar," said October, "is defective, you observe. But that is little. Grammar and all other rules are defied by the strong-minded,—when they happen to be squirrels.

"This was last autumn. Just as I left, a lecture was announced upon 'The Royal Family an Excrescence!' What the state of affairs may be now I do not know, and I dare