The Three Tradesmen.

A GREAT CITY was besieged, and its inhabitants were called together to consider the best means of protecting it from the enemy.

A Bricklayer earnestly recommended bricks as affording the best material for an effective resistance.

A Carpenter, with equal enthusiasm, proposed timber as a preferable method of defense.

Upon which a Currier stood up and said, “Sirs, I differ from you altogether: there is no material for resistance equal to a covering of hides; and nothing so good as leather.”

Every man for himself.