Your wings against the bars, but
you can't get out." There was a long pause. I hoped that my guest
had sufficiently gratified her curiosity, when she again
commenced: -
"How do you get your money? Do you draw it from the old country, or
have you it with you in cash?"
Provoked by her pertinacity, and seeing no end to her
cross-questioning, I replied, very impatiently, "Mrs. R - -, is it
the custom in your country to catechise strangers whenever you meet
with them?"
"What do you mean?" she said, colouring, I believe, for the first
time in her life.
"I mean," quoth I, "an evil habit of asking impertinent questions."
The old woman got up, and left the house without speaking another
word.
THE SLEIGH-BELLS
'Tis merry to hear, at evening time,
By the blazing hearth the sleigh-bells chime;
To know the bounding steeds bring near
The loved one to our bosom dear.
Ah, lightly we spring the fire to raise,
Till the rafters glow with the ruddy blaze;
Those merry sleigh-bells, our hearts keep time
Responsive to their fairy chime.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, o'er vale and hill,
Their welcome notes are trembling still.
'Tis he, and blithely the gay bells sound,
As glides his sleigh o'er the frozen ground;
Hark!
