As the young man finished his story, the captain puffed forth an enormous quantity of smoke, and the rest of our party retired to bed! [Illustration] Misitra and the Ancient Sparta. Misitra is a considerable town in Greece, and situated in the province of Laconia. It occupies the slope of a hill, and, as you approach it, has an imposing aspect. You would think it a very large and splendid capital; but as you enter it, the illusion vanishes, and you find yourself in narrow, winding, and dirty streets, where no fine buildings, ancient or modern, meet the eye. At the distance of a few miles are the ruins of ancient Sparta, the capital of the Lacedemonians, a brave, stern, warlike people, who adopted the laws of Lycurgus, and formed a great contrast to the gay, polished, fickle Athenians. But, alas! no monuments of the Spartans remain on the site of their ancient capital, and the place is only marked by the remains of Roman edifices, erected after the Spartans were subjected to the Roman yoke! Absence of Mind. The following cases of absence of mind are furnished by the newspapers: A short time since, a person engaged a butcher to come the next morning and kill a hog for him. The butcher told him to have the water boiled early, and he would attend. In the morning he came, asked if the water was boiled, and being answered affirmatively, killed the hog, and brought him to his scalding position. He then ordered the good man of the house to bring out the water, which he did by bringing out cold water. This surprised the butcher. “Where,” said he, “is your boiling water?” “Why, here!--Molly and I _boiled it last night_! Oh, now I know!--you can’t scald hogs without the water is hot!” Exit the man of the knife, in a rage!--_N. O. Pic._ * * * * * On Sunday morning, between the hours of one and two o’clock, as Inspector Donnigan, of the police, was going his rounds, he observed a man, stripped to his shirt, standing in a short, narrow, and uncovered passage in Denmark street, London. On approaching him, and asking what he was doing there, the man replied that he was getting into bed; and at the time he shook from head to foot with the cold, which was very intense. Donnigan asked him if he was aware he was in the street. He replied he was not, and that he fancied he was by his bed-side, and said his clothes were somewhere about. The officer, after searching for some time, discovered an excellent suit of clothes and a silk cravat on the sill of a window about thirty yards off, with shoes and stockings underneath, and a hat close by. The cold had by this time brought the man to his perfect senses, and, by the advice of the inspector, he put on his clothes, and, thanking him for his attention, proceeded homewards!