HALBERT H.
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A famous scholar of the last century, when a boy, was exceedingly fond
of the Greek language, and after he had been a short time at school, had
acquired so much of the sound of the language, that when at home at
dinner one day his father said, "Shall you not be glad, Harry, when you
can tell me the names of every dish on the table in Greek?" "Yes," said
he; "but I think I know what it must be." "Do you?" said the father;
"what do you know about Greek?"--"Nothing," said the boy; "but I think I
can guess from the sound of it what it would be." "Well, say then," said
the father. He quickly replied, "Shouldromoton, alphagous, pasti-
venizon." It appears the dinner consisted of a shoulder of mutton, half
a goose, and venison pasty.
* * * * *
SNUFF AND TOBACCO.
In the year 1797, was circulated the following proposals for publishing
by subscription, a History of Snuff and Tobacco, in Two Volumes:--
Vol. 1.--To contain a description of the nose--size of noses--a
digression on Roman noses--whether long noses are symptomatic--origin of
tobacco--tobacco first manufactured into snuff--inquiry who took the
first pinch--essay on sneezing--whether the ancients sneezed, and at
what--origin of pocket handkerchiefs--discrimination between snuffing
and taking snuff; the former only applied to candles--parliamentary
snuff-takers--troubles in the time of Charles I.
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