Invalid.—­To regain strength you should take means to increase the amount of iron in your blood.  Bark will do it, which accounts for the fact that the blood of dogs has a large per centage of iron.  Here in New York, the ordinary way of getting iron in the blood is to have a knife run into you by the hand of an assassin; but this is not considered favorable to longevity.

* * * * *

THE ROMANCE OF A RICH YOUNG MAN.

It happened, once upon a time, that there was a great city, and that city, being devoid of a sensation, yearned for a great man.  Then the wise men of the city began to look around, when lo! there entered through the gates of the city a certain peddler from a foreign country, which is called Yankee Land, and behold! the great man was found.  He dealt in shekels and stocks, and bloomed and flourished, and soon became like unto a golden calf, and lo! all the wise men fell down and worshipped him.  Now it happened that at first, like all great men, he was misunderstood, and the people ascribed his success to his partner, so that everybody said,

    The name is but the guinea’s stamp,
    The man’s a GOULD for all that;

but the people were soon disabused of this idea, and the name of JEAMES PHYSKE was in everybody’s mouth.

Now it came to pass that there was a certain devout man called DEDREW, who was the Grand Mogul and High Priest of a certain railroad corporation called the Eareye, because, while it was much in everybody’s ear, no one could see anything of it or its dividends.  So JEAMES PHYSKE went straightway unto DEDREW and said unto him, “Lo! your servant is as full of wiles as an egg is of meat.  Make me then, I pray you, your chief adviser, and put me in the high places.”  And DEDREW smiled upon him, as he is wont to do, and finding that he was a stranger, he took him in, and knowing that all were fish which came unto his net, he straightway put him in the high places in Eareye, saying unto himself, “I will take this lamb and fleece him.”  So PHYSKE sat high in Eareye.  But it came to pass very soon thereafter, that DEDREW and PHYSKE fell out, some say about the division of the spoils which they had taken from the enemy, which, being interpreted, is the people, while others do state that DEDREW attempted to cut the wool from PHYSKE, but that it stuck so tightly that PHYSKE caught him.  Anyhow, it came to pass, very soon, that DEDREW was sitting on the outside steps of Eareye, and PHYSKE was sitting on DEDREW’S throne.

Then PHYSKE ruled Eareye, and he took the stock and he did multiply it manifold, which is called, by some people, watering.  Now it happened that a certain man named PYKE did build him a costly mansion on the street which is called Twenty-third, and did therein have foreign singers and dancers, and players upon the violin, which is called the fiddle, and upon the bass viol, which is called the big fiddle, and upon