a minute before he had given to the sweeper of the crossing.

But while the light-hearted, white-waistcoated man thus bargained for the prime joints on the benches covered with clean cloths, I observed another bench which had no cloth at all upon it. It stood at one end outside the shop, almost like a separate concern... ...Hardly need I say that it was intended for the poor. It had upon it scarcely anything else than scraps of mutton.

The white-waistcoated man, I verily think, never saw them, never knew that they were there. If he had, he was as likely a looking man as any one I know to have given a hundred of them away to the poor. It is often rather want of thought than unkindness, that keeps the wealthy from performing deeds of charity. "Those scraps of mutton!" thought I; "those scraps of mutton!"

A poor, meek-looking woman, with famine in her face, passed by with an old basket in her hand, and she paused and looked at the scraps of meat wishfully, then ventured to lift up one of them, to turn it round, and to ask the price. I warrant you, by its appearance, that it had been handled by twenty people at least before her... The poor woman shook her head at the price, and walked slowly on. She returned, however, in a little time, and made a bidding, when the good-humored butcher told her to take it and make it out to him another time...But though this poor woman bore away her scrap of mutton, many others did not do so who appeared to be in as much need as she was. Some who had short tempers told the butcher that he ought to be ashamed to ask poor creatures so much for such wretched scraps; others went away in silence; and one tall, thin, sharp-faced man, very dirty and very ragged, seemed quite ready to beg, to borrow, or to steal...In a word, I saw in a little time a great deal of misery, and walked with a heavy heart. "Those scraps of away mutton!" said I, musing as I went along; "those scraps of mutton!"

Old Humphrey's Half Hours.

FEMALE HEROISM.

UPON the banks of the river Elkhorn, in the State of Kentucky, there was once a stockade fort* to which the settlers frequently resorted as a place of refuge from the savages... Its gallant defence by a handful of pioneers † against the allied Indians of Ohio, led by two renegade white men, was one of the most desperate affairs in the Indian wars of the West.

The pioneers had not the slightest idea of their approach, when, in a moment, a thousand rifles gleamed in the cornfields one summer's night... That very evening the garrison had chanced to gather under arms, to march to the relief of another station that was similarly invested.§ It was a fearful moment: an hour earlier, and the pioneers would have been cut off; an hour later, and their defenceless wives and daughters must have been butchered or carried into captivity, while their natural protectors were hurrying to the rescue of others... The Indians saw at a glance that the moment was not favorable to them; and having failed in surprising the Kentuckians, they attempted to decoy them from their fastness by presenting themselves in small parties before it... The whites were too wise to risk a battle till help should arrive, so they resolved to stand a siege. But the fort, which was merely a collection of log cabins, arranged in a hollow square, was unhappily not supplied with water, and the besieged were aware that the enemy had concealed his real force in ambush near a neighbouring spring... The sagacity of a backwoodsman is sometimes more than a match for the cunning of an Indian; and the heroism of a woman may baffle the address of a warrior... The females of the station determined to supply it with water from this very spring. But how? Woman's wit never devised a bolder expedient, and woman's fortitude never carried one

* Stockade fort, a fort defended by a line of stakes, or palisades. Pioneers, those who go first and pave the way for settlers. Renegade, an apostate, a deserter; here applied to a white man who had joined the Indians, and adopted their manners and customs. § Invested, surrounded by an enemy; beleaguered.

more hazardous into successful execution...These brave women, being in the habit of fetching the water every morning, saw that if armed men were now to take that duty upon them, the Indians would see that their ambuscade had been discovered, and instantly commence the assault, which, in that case, it would be useless to protract.

Morning came, and the random shots of the decoy party were returned with a quick fire from one side of the fort, while the women issued from the other, as if they apprehended no enemy in that quarter. Could anything be more appalling than the task before them?... But they shrink not from it; they move carelessly from the gate; they advance with composure in a body to the spring; they are within shot of five hundred warriors... The slightest alarm will betray them; if they show any consciousness of their thrilling situation, their doom is inevitable. But their nerves do not shrink; they wait calmly for each other till each fills her bucket in succession... The Indians are completely deceived, and not a shot is fired. The band of heroines retrace their steps with steady feet; their movements soon become more agitated; and are at last hurried. But tradition says that the only water spilt was as their buckets crowded together in passing the gate.

A sheet of living fire from the garrison, and the shrieks of the wounded Indians around the spring, was at once a signal that the women were safe, and of the triumph of the white men. Insane with wrath to be thus outwitted, the foe rushed from his covert, and advanced with fury upon the rifles of the pioneers...But who could conquer the fathers and brothers of such women? The Indians were foiled, and they withdrew their forces; but on counting the number of their slain, they burned with vengeance, and rallied once more to the fight. They were again and again repulsed...Assistance at last came to the pioneers, and the savages were compelled to retreat to their wildwood haunts

once more.

C. F. Hoffman.

THE CHINESE EMPEROR KANG-HI.

THE Emperor Kang-Hi was in his youth remarkable for his sincere love of his subjects, and his strong feeling of justice; and he never failed to protect the innocent, and to punish the vices of the mandarins.* Being one day engaged in hunting the favorite diversion of the Tartars † he had left his attendants, and proceeding along a lonely road, saw an old man sitting on the ground, and weeping bitterly. The young Emperor alighted from his horse, went up to the man, and asked the cause of his sorrow.

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"Since your good heart disposes you to inquire into the cause of my misery, I will tell you, master," was the reply... "I had a little property in the neighbourhood of the imperial residence. The governor of the palace found my estate to his liking, and seized upon it, and has reduced me to beg my bread...I had a son, too, who might have been the port of my old age, but the governor has taken him to make him a slave. These things are the cause of my tears." The young Emperor took the two hands of the unfortunate man in his, and said, "Calm your grief, venerable old man. This imperial palace-is it far from here?" "Five miles, master."

Very well; let us come together, and ask the governor to restore to you your property and your son."

"Ah! master," cried the old man, in a tone of despair, "have I not told you that this wicked man is the governor of an imperial palace? It would not be safe either for you or me to go to him. We should get nothing but insults

and ill-treatment."

"Take courage," said the Emperor; "I am determined to take this step, and I hope it will lead to good."

The old man remarked the frank and noble deportment of the young unknown, and began to feel more confidence, and he then said that he was ready to accompany his protector to the imperial palace; "but," he added, "I shall delay you a long time, master, for I am old, and I cannot follow the steps of your horse."

* Mandarin, a Chinese magistrate or official.

Tartars: the Mongol Tartars are sovereign over the Chinese proper, and the blood royal has long been Tartar.

"That is true," said Kang-Hi; "you have attained to a venerable age, but I am young and strong; so you shall mount my horse, and I will walk."

The old man, however, would not accept this offer, and Kang-Hi, therefore, had recourse to the expedient of taking him up behind him, and they were proceeding in this manner when some mandarins of the imperial suite came up... The sovereign addressed to them a few words in the Tartar language, and they retired, although not without often turning to observe the singular situation of their young Emperor...When the pair arrived at the imperial palace, Kang-Hi demanded to see the governor, and when he appeared, the sovereign dropped off his hunting dress, and showed the imperial dragon that he wore embroidered on his breast... The governor fell on his knees, and the old man tremblingly threw himself at the feet of his protector, who raised him with great affability. At this moment the mandarins and the grand dignitaries, who had been following the chase, issued from a valley, and came to range themselves round their imperial master. Kang-Hi determined to make this brilliant throng the witnesses of the punishment of the wicked mandarin...After having reproached him bitterly, he ordered him to be beheaded, and then addressing himself to the old man, who stood as if petrified, the Emperor said—“ Venerable old man, I restore to you the son and the estate which were taken from you, and from this moment I appoint you governor of this palace; but take care that prosperity effects no change in your feelings, in your conduct, or another may one day profit by your injustice."

Such, according to the annals, was the young Emperor, who, at the period of which we are speaking-in the second quarter of the seventeenth century-had just commenced his reign, and who was soon to become the protector of religious liberties.

Huc