down on him wi' all their moight. Moi, how
savage the little fellar wos! He fowt, and
kicked, and stormed, and shook his stick, and
looked as red as a turkey-cock. The lads they
larfed; and when they couldn't break the link
o' their tew arms for the missus wos as tough
as he, and nearly went down on her 'nees
rayther than gie up— they let 'em alone.
"What a beautiful soight," sed Bull's-oi, for he
wos quite serious, " to see tew people a holdin'
tew each other in the struggle o' loife." " It
is," sez oi; " but doant yow know the feelosophy
of his holdin' on so toight?" " No," sez
he, " oi doant." " Well, then," sez oi, " it's
all because of t' shape o' that little fellar's nose."
"Law!" sez he. " It is," sez oi. "That little
chap's nose is loike a proper arch, and that
makes him stick to his woife; but if t' arch had
bin turned upside down, he would very loikely
ha' run away." "Dear me," sez Stumpy, who
had bin a lissenen to wot oi wos a sayin'; and
as he sed so, he put his finger on his own nose,
that happens to be loike t' bottom arch o' a
culvert, turning up'ard; but he did it so
quietly, thinkin' that oi shouldn't see him. But
oi did see him, though, and oi seed that he was
sorry for his formation; and so sez oi, by way
o' a little comfort, "But you must know that
eddication can be made to subdue natur'."
Poor fellar, he was glad for that little bit.

"To t' arch o' coal, lads!" oi shouted; " there
we must stand." And there we did stand. But we
had scarcely got there when t' guns fired, and
t' bells rung, and t' people shouted, and sed t'
Queen was cummin'. Oi shan't tell yow all
about t' solejers and t' gentlefolk, because yow
know all about 'em, and as t' stars are lost
soight on when t' sun gits up, so they all went
out a moi moind afore t' cummin' o' t' Queen.
Oi wos glad to see 'em all go through t' arch o'
coal; and when some on 'em stood up to git a
better soight on it, oi felt moi hart grow so big
that oi thowt it would bust t' buttons oi moi
weskit. "Oi knowed they'd loike it," sez oi; "and
now look at t' Queen. See! see! how she looks
at it and smoiles. Hooray! hooray!" oi shouted;
for oi wos wat yow call transported. T' Queen,
oi do believe, seed me, for she looked at me,
and shook her handkercher. When t' Queen
wos gone, oi looked down, for oi am higher than
Molly, and oi sez, "What do yow think on't,
Molly?" and she wos a cryin'. Sez oi, " Did oi
stamp your toes, Molly?" for oi thowt p'r'aps oi
moight ha' dun so in my joy. She sez, " No."
Then sez oi, " Wot are yow a cryin' for?" " Oi
doant know," sed she; " but if oi ha' sin t'
Queen, oi am a cryin' because oi am glad; and
if oi ain't sin hur, oi am a cryin' because oi am
sorry." Ooman's tears is queer things. "Not
sin her," sez oi, "Molly? whoy that wos hur, that
stout motherly-lookin' ooman, jest the thing
for a queen; for hur face sez that she's got a
mother's hart, and that she looks on us all as
bein' hur lads and wenches?" " Wos that hur?"
sedshe." Whoy she wos dressed plain." "Plain,"
sez oi, "Molly?" and oi put on such a look.
"Plain?" sez oi again; and oi stopped, for it wos
a solemn subject, and oi wished to make a
impression. " Would yow ha' her dressed
anything but plain? She ain't cum here tew day
as t' big folkses queen; she is cum as t' people's
queen. If she'd a cum all goold and feathers,
the big folks would ha' sed, ' She's ourn;' but
she's cum jest t' way to say tew us, ' Oi loike
yow, moi lads and wenches, as well as oi loike
others.' God bless hur!" sez oi; " and, Molly,
oi feel that if anybody wos a goin' to hurt hur,
that oi should let yow go home alone, and oi
should foight for hur until oi could neither see
nor feel." " Yow'd be ded then," sez Ole Crow.
"Deddish," sez oi.

We did hollor when t' Queen passed us, and
oi doant believe that in all Ingland she ever
went afore warmer harts. Oi doant say that
we could bow and scrape, and look on t' ground,
and whisper soft words, as sum other people
could. But they things is only t' ornamint of a
lovin' hart. Our harts war warm and lovin'
loike, though we hadn't got no ornamint. Well,
when t' Queen wor gone up to uncover t' stato,
we wor free to talk; and the missuses they
opened t' wallets, and we wor soon a feedin' our
faces. Eatin' is such a solemn toime; there is so
much earnestness about it that nobody has no
toime to say nothin'. After eatin' was o'er, oi
soon got moi poipe and baccy, and wor soon
lost in wot oi wor towd wor a peculiar state o'
moind, called a reverie— oi loike hard words,
and allus catch em when oi can— it wor a state
o' moind in which a koind o' lots o' things, made
up o' everything, keep a dancin' inside your hed.
Oi thowt fust on yumun greatness, and how
soon it fades away; and how soon kings and
princes ha' to leave their glory and honour to
sumbody else. Oi then thowt about Prince
Albert, and wot t' Queen would feel when she
uncovered the stato, and seed him she loved,
only in stone. Oi then hoped that t' parsons
around her would pray for hur, and oi wor
just a goin' to put the feelin's o' moi hart into
unheard words, and send em up in a skip, loike,
when Stumpy sez:

"Soleon, do you think that yow would loike
t' Queen less if yow'd got a vote?"

That wor a question; and afore oi answered
it, oi pushed moi baccy down in moi poipe wi
moi little finger, and then draw'd a long whiff,
and sed, "Stumpy, oi doant know as oi should."

"Oi think oi should," sez he. "Well, oi doon't
think yow would," sez oi. " There's a good deal
o' noise made about gi'en us votes, and howsomdever
well it sounds, oi ha'an't a great deal o'
faith in't." " Not faith in't, Soleon?" sez he.
"No," sez oi, " oi ain't. Sum on ye think yow
do wonders if yow'd got a vote; but oi can tell
yow, as long as yuman natur' is yuman natur',
and oi dessay that'll allus be, sumbody 'll sure
to be a top, and oi'd rayther some folk be a top
than others."

"But doant yow think we ought tew change
a bit, and let us ha' a turn?" " Oi tell yow wot it
is, Stumpy, you're a good man where yow are,
but yow doant know wot yow'd be if yow were to
get up where some folk are. A man who is