Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/352

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" Well," said Sam, " good bye."

" Tar, tar, Sammy," replied his father.

" I've only got to say this here," said Sam, stopping short, " that if / was the properiator o' the Markis o' Granby, and that 'ere Stiggins came and made toast in my bar, I'd — "

" What ?" interposed Mr. Weller, with great anxiety. " What ? "

" — Pison his rum and water," said Sam.

" No I" said Mr. Weller, shaking his son eagerly by the hand, " would you raly, Sammy — would you, though ?"

" I would," said Sam. " I wouldn't be too hard upon him, at first : I'd just drop him in the water-butt, and put the lid on ; and then if I found he was insensible to kindness, I'd try the other persvasion."

The elder Mr. Weller bestowed a look of deep, unspeakable admira- tion on his son, and, having once more grasped his hand, walked slowly away, revolving in his mind the numerous reflections to which his advice had given rise.

Sam looked after him, till he turned a corner of the road, and then set forward on his walk to London. He meditated at first on the pro- bable consequences of his own advice, and the likelihood and unlike- lihood of his father's adopting it. He dismissed the subject from his mind, however, with the consolatory reflection that time alone would shew ; and this is just the reflection we woula impress upon the reader. '

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A GOOD-HUMOURED CHRISTMAS CHAPTER, CONTAINING AN AC- COUNT OF A WEDDING, AND SOME OTHER SPORTS BESIDE, ■WHICH ALTHOUGH IN THEIR WAY, EVEN AS GOOD CUSTOMS AS MARRIAGE ITSELF, ARE NOT QUITE SO RELIGIOUSLY KEPT UP, IN THESE DEGENERATE TIMES.

As brisk as bees, if not altogether as light as fairies, did the four Pickwickians assemble on the morning of the twenty-second day of December, in the year of grace in which these, their faithfully-recorded adventures, were undertaken and accomplished. Christmas was close at hand, in all his blufi" and hearty honesty; it was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness ; the old year was pre- paring, like an ancient philosopher, to call his friends around him, and amidst the sound of feasting and revelry to pass gently and calmly away. Gay and merry was the time ; and right gay and merry were at least four of the numerous hearts that were gladdened by its coming.

And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then re- united, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual good-will, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight, and one so incompatible with the cares and

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