The hope of the visitor was, that a speedy death would follow this disconsolate harangue; but happy to relate, patients sometimes recover after doctors have devoted them to the yew-tree shade; and strange as it may seem, the patient in question suddenly improved, as though frightened by the undertaker into health instead of into his coffin. The next day he sat up in bed. On the second he sat by the window. The third day he took an airing on the veranda, and passed the time of day with the undertaker who happened to be going by. In ten days he took his carpetbag in his hand and bade good-bye to both doctors and undertaker, and started to join his friend in the country. [Illustration] [Illustration] SERMON ON A PIN. Give me that simple shining pin, So worthless in your hand, Here on my desk a place to win And as a lesson stand. Think you no moral may be found In such a common thing? That Fancy will not hover ‘round And apt allusions bring? The Poet, with observing eyes, Saw sermons in a stone; So in this pin a sermon lies, Of philosophic tone. We see it first, where placed in rows, The pins lie side and side; So children, wrapped in sweet repose, In peaceful homes reside. Soon from the rest it travels west, Or east, by land or sea; So loving households part in quest Of pleasure, fame or fee. Observe it well, with sober mind; The head, you see, is flat; Thus many heads in life you’ll find, Beneath a stylish hat. When new, how perfect, straight and neat, How finished, and how sound; So stands the upright man complete, With virtues circled ‘round. It has a point, and mission, too, ’Tis seldom made in vain; So men should have a point in view If they would glory gain. If wrongly placed ‘twill mar your thought, When one would fain be still; So man, if badly bred or taught, Will treat his neighbor ill. Its life of constant service tends To keep it clean and bright; Thus men are kept, my loving friends, By application, right.