THE following rather curious piece of composition was recently placed upon the blackboard at a teachers' institute, and a prize of a Webster's Dictionary offered to any person who could read it and pronounce every word correctly. The book was not carried off, however, as twelve was the lowest number of mistakes in pronunciation made:— "A sacrilegious son of Belial, who suffered from bronchitis, having exhausted his finances, in order to make good the deficit, resolved to ally himself to a comely, lenient, and docile young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race. He accordingly purchased a calliope and coral necklace of a chameleon hue, and, securing a suite of rooms at a principal hotel, he engaged the head waiter as his coadjutor. He then dispatched a letter of the most unexceptional calligraphy extant, inviting the young lady to a matinee. She revolted at the idea, refused to consider herself sacrificable to his desires, and sent a polite note of refusal, on receiving which he procured a carbine and a bowie-knife, said that he would not now forge fetters hymenæal with the queen, went to an isolated spot, severed his jugular vein and discharged the contents of the carbine into his abdomen. The debris was removed by the coroner." The mistakes in pronunciation were made on the following words: Sacrilegious, Belial, bronchitis, exhausted, finances, deficit, comely, lenient, docile, Malay, calliope, chameleon, suite, coadjutor, calligraphy, matinee, sacrificable, carbine, hymenæal, isolated, jugular, and debris.—Pacific Printer.