Cinder Path Tales

QUEERED THE "MILE" 71 glasses of different flavors, chosen with special reference to their baleful effects ; and so pleas­ ant and jolly was Kitty, andso happy was Black, that Iam not sure she could not have substituted a dose of rhubarb without his notice. It wasafter ten o'clock whenKitty put on her hat, and I afterward learned that she talked a full hour longer with him at her gate, an unheard-of thing for Kitty, whowas par­ ticularly careful of gossip, and it was mid­ night when he rolled into bed. He must have had the digestion of an ostrich not to have been immediately and positively ill; but he was not, and barring a little lack of color, he gave noindication of his previous night's extraordinary training, when he went to the mark for the mile. It had been a mighty busy day for me; the boys were young, some of them had never been contestantsbefore, andthey were nervous and uncertain. I got through the morning as best I could, giving advice here, answering a question there, telling some little fellow with a white face that there was no doubt of his winning, and another, whowas over-confident, that he had no chance unless he followed instructions to the dot. Dinner over(for at ourboarding-house we dined at noon) I started for the " grounds,"