Proteus," and continued to publish his curtain lectures | riodical can be good enough to recommend itself at pres- as well as the number of peasants on his estate; and, lintil they became too prosy for the public eye. We al-ent to "almost every farmer in this county."

Ways feel obliged and rather flattered by attentions of this sort, and though it would be impossible for us to imbibe all the notions of all our correspondents, still we may often thus receive such hints as, by dint of proper application, may be turned to good account.

The first clauses of the first paragraph of J. C. T are so judiciously constructed as they might seem the extenuation of those evils which are afterward spoken of But we must confess that our own pride would be somewhat humbled were we convinced of the influence of that "local pride" which our correspondent speaks of. Of the price, etc., mentioned in his second paragraph, we would be right glad to comply with it as a whole, but without the proviso in italics, its fulfilment would be ruination;—and, as we have satisfied ourself by twelve years experience that no newspaper establishment will ever be able to collect one quarter of its payments in advance, (until every citizen is provided with news at the public expense,) we must beg leave to dissent from its plausible requirements. The periodical literature of this county has long afforded provinder for the "insatiate credit system,” which has thus far exerted its fitful influence in the remotest characteristics of this country; and until the beauties of the Bentonian phllosophy are in perfect play, good subscribers must be taxed to make up the deficioncies of bad ones, and all tradesmen must put a price upon their wares to cover 'incidental losses' and 'bad debts.'

DESULTORY SELECTIONS.

RUSSIAN SERFS OR SLAVES.
The serfs of Russia differ from slaves with us in the
important particular that they belongs to the soil, and
cannot be sold except with the estate; they may change
masters, but cannot be torn from their connexions or
their birth-place. One sixth of the whole peasantry of
Russia, amounting to six or seven millions, belong to the
crown, and inhabit the imperial demesne, and pay an
annual tax. In particular districts, many have been
enfranchised, and become burghers and merchants; and
the liberal and enlightened policy of the present emper-
or in diffusing a more general system of melioration
among these subjects of his vast empire. The rest of
the serfs belong to the nobles, and are the absolute pro-
perty and subject to the absolute control of their masters,
as much as the cattle on their estates. Some of the
seigneurs possess from seventy to more than a hundred
thousand; and their wealth depends upon the skill
and management with which the labor of these serfs is
employed.

Sometimes the seigneur sends the most intelligent to Petersburgh or Moscow to learn some handicraft, and then employs them on his own estates, hires them out, or allows them to exercise their trade on their own account on payment of an annual sum. And sometimes, Our friend's third paragraph touches a point of much too, he gives the serf a passport, under which he is prodelicacy, and handles the prominent feature of the Mir-tected all over Russia, settles in a city, and engages in ror with rather a sturdy grasp. He says that it is wrong trade, and very often accumulates enough to ransom our paper should be neutral in politics, "for no man himself and his family. Indeed, there are many instances should be neutral in a country like ours." Now, if he of a serf's acquiring a large property, and even rising to would only glance at the mere contour of the Mirror, he eminence. But he is always subject to the control of his might discover that it is "no man" and according to his master;-and I saw at Moscow an old mong ik who had own ascertion "should be neutral." But if he intends acquired a very large fortune, but was still a slave. His to speak of the "beardless boy" who officiates weakly master's price for his freedom had advanced with his as the editor of the Mirror, it is another matter and must growing wealth, and the poor serf, unable to bring himbe treated in another manner. To the most of his pri- himself to part with his hard earnings, was then rolling vate friends the editor of this paper is known as being in wealth with a collar round his neck; struggling with as much of a jug-handle politician as any young man the inborn spirit of freedom, and hesitating whether to ought to be, but as for obtruding his partisan notions on die a beggar or a slave. the public, and attempting to exert a political influence at so unripe an age, he cannot consent to make himself so precociously obnoxious. Whatever remarks of a political character fall, perchance from our pen, may be traced in their spirit up to the writings of Jeffersonthat great apostle of democracy whose unadulterated conceptions were so sublimated above the masses of his age as to draw upon him the vindictive dealings of a powerful and corrupt party whose very name has since become a term of odium, and whose votaries (wherever they may be found) are ashamed of their ancient faith! But be it remembered that though both of the great political parties of the day are putting forth their polypus clutches and endeavoring to grasp the honors of the immortal Jefferson, neither of them are willing to pursue that course of untainted democracy by which he earned them. The jack-daw who stole the plumage or the peacock, was stripped of his unnatural beauty; the ass who stole the lion's skin was driven from the field by the very beasts whom he had terrified; and all that we hope to perform in the political vineyard at present is merely to use the pruning knife occasionally.

The admonitions of the fourth paragraph we feel to be quite appropos and seasonable. For much as we desire to see the ennobling science of Agricu ture properly exalted in the public eye, we must acknowledge our past remissness in this particular, and promise better for the future; although we very much doubt, whether any pe

upon receiving notice of an imperial order to that effect, the numbers required by the levy are marched forthwith from every part of the empire to the places of rendezvous appointed.

It might be asked, What have these men to fight for? They have no country, and are brought up on immense levels, wanting the rocks, rivers and mountains that ine spire local attachments. It is a singular fact, that, with the Russian serf, there is always an uubounded love for him who stands at the head of the system of oppression under which they groan, the emperor, whom they regard as their protector against the oppression of their immediate masters but to whatever cause it may be ascribed, whether inability to estimate the value of any change in in their condition, or a feeling of actual love for the soil on which they were born, during the invasion of Napoleon, the serfs presented a noble spectacle; and the spirit of devotion which animated the corps in the north extended to the utmost bounds of the empire. They received orders to march from St. Petersburgh to meet the advance of the French army; the emperor reviewed them, and is said to have shed tears at their departure.—— Arrived at the place appointed, Witgenstein ordered them to fall back to a certain point, but they answered 'No; the last promise we made the emperor our father was, that we would never fly before the enemy, and we keep our word." Eight thousand of them died on the spot;-and the spirit which animated them fired the serfs throughout the whole empire. The scholar may sneer, but I defy him to point to a nobler page in Grecian or Roman history.

NIAGARA SHIP CANAL.

We are glad to see that measures are "being teken" to authorize the construction of this important work. A bill introduced by Mr. Skinner, is before the legislature of this state, to allow the general government to construct it, at its own expense through our territory. This would open an extensive ship communication, from the upper lakes of the Atlantic.

The great lakes above the Niagara Falls, present a coast, within the United States, of over 3,000 miles in extent, and on the Canadian shore, over 2,000, developThe Russian serf is obliged to work for his mastering, in aggregate, a line of navigation of between 5 and but three days in the week; the other three he may work 6000 miles, nearly double the distance from New York for himself on a portion of land assigned him by law on to Liverpool; and that portion within the United States his master's estate. He is never obliged to work on territory is almost triple as long as our entire Atlantic Sundays, and every saint's day or fete day is a holyday. coast, including the gulf of Mexico on the south. The This might be be supposed to give him an opportunity Niagara ship canal, with those from the Hudson to Osof elevating his character and his condition; but, want-wego, and from Chicago to the Illinois river, would afing the spirit of a free agent, and feeling himself the absolute property of another, he labors gradually for his master, and for himself barely enough to supply the rudest necessaries of life and pay his tax to the seigneur. A few rise above their condition, but millions labor like beasts of burden, content with bread to put in their mouths, and never even thinking of freedom. A Russian nobleman told me that he believed, if the serfs were all free, he could cultivate his estate to better advantage by hired labor; and I have no doubt a dozen Connecticut men would cultivate more ground than a hundred posed. Those who receive such copics will please read them accordingly. Russian serfs, allowing their usual non-working holy- It would be difficult to name a subject that has puzdays. They have no interest in the soil, and the deso-zled the learned world so much and so long, as the aclute and uncultivated wastes of Russia show the truth curate delineation of the character of that wonderful and of the judicious reflection of Catharine II, "that agri- unchanging people, the Chinese. The English embasculture can never flourish in that nation where the hus-sies added something to our knowledge of the heretofore bandmand does not possess property."

ford an inland ship navigation, from New York city to New Orleans, which would not exceed in distance the route by sea, and thus would be formed an indissoluble golden chain between the different sections of the Union, binding them by interest, more firmly together, and breaking down by the facilities of intercommunication, those strong and sectional prejudices which have hitherto existed, and created so much mischief in the Union.

DUNN'S CHINESE COLLECTION.

In a few copies of this week's paper, the columns on the 27th page are trans

little explored interior of the country, and some light was diffused respecting the condition of agriculture, the habits, and the manufactures of the country. The works of the missionaries have also tended to make us more familiar with some of their pecularities; the best book,

however, which has been written respecting China, is | ter another he procured, either by purchase or as pres-
the recent work of J. F. Davis, who had long been a ents, those rare and costly articles constituting his col-
resident in China, and who accompanied the embassy of lection: how many of these are perfect novelties even
Lord Amherst to the capital city of Pekin. Mr. Davis to thousands who have visited China, let those decide
has concentrated much real information in a small space, who may soon have an opportunity of doing so; if in-
and has, with singular ability, developed the characteris-deed, that opportunity is not already in their power, be
tics of the three hundred million of people of this region; fore this hasty notice passes through the press. For one,
his volumes have been republished in Harper's Family the writer is free to say that but for the insight thus ob-
Library, and it is to them, and to the recent Fanqui intained, he should have remained as ignorant of the sub-
China, in Walde's Library, that we would direct the at- ject as other travellers. It is with a view of imparting
tention of the inquirer.
a portion of this satisfaction, that he ventures to put
them on paper.

Without further preface, we shall proceed to notice very briefly some of the peculiar features of this novel exhibition, enumerating a very small portion of the contents of the three hundred cases from which it has been now for the first time unpacked. The following are the principal groups.

articles in common use for domestic purposes, to ornament grounds, fish-ponds, or used as flower stands, seats, &c. A very interesting fact will be developed by this section, showing that the art of porcelain manufactures has been on the retrograde for the last century or two; it will also serve to show, that many of the most ornamental and beautiful specimens are rarely, if ever, exported. Formerly the emperors patronized the porcelain manufacture by very high premiums and extensive orders; the art has now dwindled to supplying commercial and domestic wants. There are here many hundred jars, vases, pipe-stands, and various services used by the Chinese, differing materially from those exported. The specimens of ware cracked on the surface by age, are interesting and costly. There must be several thousand pieces of fine China, including the thin egg-shell cup with its lettered inscriptions, octagon pipe-stands, three or four feet in height, inscribed landmarks, tile work,

"barbarians" new ideas on the subject of their manufactures, and probably new patterns for our artists.

Agricultural and other instruments.-We notice among the agricultural instruments the very crude plough that is drawn by the buffalo with his simple yoke and rope traces; the harrow, differing very materially from that of our country, is one of the accompaniments. There are forks, rakes, hoes, axes, shovels, spades of wood faced with iron for the sake of economy, &c., a complete set of carpenter's and joiner's, or cabinet maker's tools; of the superiority of these over our own, we cannot say much. There is a native shoemaker's shop complete ; a blacksmith's anvil, his curious bellows, &c., comprising the complete accoutrements of the travelling smith; the entire shop of the ambulatory barber, his clumsy, short razor, cases, &c. &c. The musical instruments of the Chinese, also figure in full among the curiosities. Castings of iron of very great beauty, consisting of pots, kettles, and other cooking utensils of universal use, and which, unlike our own of the same metal, may be mended at pleasure as easily as our own tin vessels.

Another new effort to open a fruitful source of information to the student is about to be made public, and on this occasion it is our own country which is to be gratified by the industry, zeal, and discriminating judgment, of one of her native merchants. Europeans have never succeeded in transporting a perfect or even a very respectable collection of Chinese curiosities. Those 'mpressions which would be received by a resident who The entrance Saloon, of China work, forms a vesti-screens, &c., in very numerous patterns; affording us had enjoyed the rare privilege of unrestrained intercourse bule, through the centre of which you enter the great with the better classes of Chinamen, have been denied saloon, one hundred and sixty feet in length, by sixtyto foreigners. It has been too much the custom of the three in width, and twenty four feet in height, with a natives and their visitors, mutually to despise each other, double colonnade; to the right and left of which are the and for both to seek for but little further communication numerous cases containing specimens of all that is rare, than that which the nature of their commercial transac-curious, or common, to be procured in the celestial emtions demands. The consequence has been, that the articles exported have continued to be principally those only which European and American every day-day life have required; while strangers have limited their purchases to the common article made to suit a foreign demand and taste, and their intercourse to the classes of natives who are appointed by government to serve or to watch over them. A few streets of the "outside" city of Canton are generally visited, and the stores in the vicinity of " Hog-lane," a place frequented by foreign sailors, are ransacked for the well known manufactures of gew-gaws, successfully carried off by every new comer, but possessing little novelty in any sea port. The interior of the city of Canton even is a sealed book; how much more the interior of China! This being the case, it became anteresting problem, as the Chinamen refuse to admit us in, how it would be possible to bring out what it was so difficult to get sight of; in other words, as foreigners were not permitted to inspect the workshops, the houses, private apartments, and manufactories of the empire, what was the next best thing that could could be done to enable those outside the walls, and at home, to become acquainted with the domestic affairs and tastes of these recluses. Certainly little could be expected from the natives, unless other methods than those heretofore practised could be adopted.

Nathan Dunn, Esq., of Philadelphia, who had reflected much upon this subject, and who, in the course of the very successful prosecution of his business at Canton, had learned to respect the ingenuity, and when called forth, the intelligence of the numerous Chinese with whom he was daily in contact, happily conceived the idea of transporting to his native shores, everything that was characteristic or rare, whether in the natural and artificial curiosities or in manufactures, no matter how costly they might be. And now came efficiently to his and those requisites that had been but too frequently wanting in the officers of the East India Company, or their agents, who had made the attempt to procure such a collection but had failed. Mr. Dunn, who, it will be admitted by every one on the spot, had conducted himself toward all classes in a manner to win their esteem and confidence, and to whose house and table were introduced so many of the most distinguished of ficers of government, either temporarily or permanently at Canton, soon discovered that it was in his power to obtain favors not usually granted to strangers. One af

pire. The screen is such as common among the wealthy
Chinese, in partitioning off a very large saloon from the
remainder of the great ground floor of their houses. It
is richly gilt, and ornamented with Chinese paintings
on silk, inserted in the pannels; and is mounted above
with small square gilt apertures; in these latter are in-
serted paintings of boats and gorgeous flowers. The
screen forms a beautiful termination to this end of the
room; the full effect bursts upon the eye of the visitor
after passing the folding door. Hours, nay days and
weeks, may be profitably employed in examining the de-
tails within this magnificent saloon, which brings the
most populous nation of Asia at once before the view of
the spectator.

Accurate likenesses in clay.-The visitor is first at-
tracted by the accurate and characteristic whole sized
Chinese figures of various ranks, from the mandarins to
the cooleys, from women of distinction to those sculling
their boats on the rivers. These are in number seventy
or eighty, and were made by a very experienced artist in
this line, from living subjects. The material of the face
and hands is a prepared substance so well adapted to
the operation of moulding, as to take impression perfect-
ly and re'ains it permanently; the faces are colored to
nature, and mounted with hair, &c., and each presents
a speaking countenance in a style of art perfectly novel
in this country or Europe. These figures are neatly ar-
ranged in groups, arrayed in their appropriate costumes,
some of them extremely rich, while others exhibit the
working and every-day dress of the lower order.

The effect of this department is to exhibit to the spectator the inhabitants of China as they really exist. Great care was taken in procuring the likenesses, and about three years of the time of the proprietor were occupied to bring them to perfection; his head carpenter, and other workmen about the factories, were pointed out to us, and many conspicuous characters of China street, &c. will be recognized at once by those who have been to Canton. Bearers of a sedan chair, itself a perfect specimen in all its parts of ornament and utility, are in the act of carrying a native gentleman, accompanied by his pipe bearer and footman.

Porcelain and earthen-ware manufacture.-In this department, endeavors have been successfully made to procure the best specimens of all the most expensive manufactures of the country, embracing several very ancient and highly esteemed articles. There are also the

Here is a study of Chinese manufacture perfectly novel to an American, who will be surprised to find that the most simple operation which he has been taught to believe can be performed only by an instrument of a certain form, is equally well executed by another of a totally different figure; the flat iron, for instance, is more like our chafing dish than what we employ for smoothing linen. We are amused to see the New England patent mouse trap, that has been used in China for ages. There are gongs, bells, metallic mirrors, and articles under this head which nothing short of a most copious descriptive catalogue would embrace.

Models of Boats.-The models of boats form a striking feature of the scene; first, we have the gorgeous flower boat with its numerous decorations, various furnished apartments of comfort and luxury, and painted and adorned in the peculiar style of the Asiatics.

Of the canal boat there three models of different sizes, of such as are used in conveying the articles of their produce, teas, salt, grain, and manufactured articles, to and from the distant points of the extensive empire, and in loading and unloading foreign ships. They are remarkable for strength and durability.

The man-of-war boat.-These tidewaiters' boats, or cutters, are always cruising about with the police of ficers, to keep order among the numerous residents upon the water, and to enforce the revenue laws.

The San-pans, or family boats, in which it is computed about 200,000 persons constantly reside on the waters before the city of Canton and suburbs. They are kept as clean as a milk-pail, and contain entire families, who are born and live to the end of their days on the river.—

THE RICHMOND COUNTY MIRROR:

A WEEKLY PAPER PRINTED ON STATEN ISLAND, DEVOTED TO SCIENCE, LITERATURE, & NEWS.

THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.

NEW BRIGHTON, FEBRUARY 23, 1839.

VOLUME III.-NUMBER IV.

SELECT TALES.

PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY;
OR, WHICH IS WHICH?

a diversity of expression which told the most careless | that by means of their success in the world, of which observer that there was a wide difference between their young men never doult, they should soon be able to characters. In the look of the elder there was a placid-place her in a state of comparative opulence. So they ness which indicated a disposition to give rather than to went on their way rejoicing, and forming various imagitake advantage, while the younger had that sharp, quick nations as to what manner of reception they should meet expression that shows symptoms of making a good bar- with in London. "Who knoweth what is good for a man in this life, 11 the days of his vain life, gain. In the elder there was a look of thoughtfulness,

A TALE FOR THE DISCONTENTED.

which he spendeth as a shadow 7"

so indeed was there in the younger; but the thoughtful- |
ness of the elder was contemplative, abstract, discursive
and benevolent,—that of the younger was indicative of
shrewdness and selfish calculation. The younger had
the readiest tongue, and while his brother was thinking,
he would speak, and oftentimes very much to the pur-
pose. When their father died, leaving their mother in
very narrow circumstances, and his two sons with no
profession, all the neighbors said that George might be
his mother's support, but that Robert would be her com-

fort.

THE sun was gone from the valleys, and its last languid rays were lingering upon the mountain tops, when there came forth from a cottage in one of the sweetest and humblest spots in Westmoreland, a widow whose weeds were but of yesterday! and at her side were two young men of pleasant aspect, grave in the sobriety of early sorrow, and graceful in the inartificial courtesy wi h which they paid reverential attention to the sadness of their widowed mother. At a little distance behind them walked a rustic servant, bearing a trunk upon his shoulders; he kept aloof from the mother and her sons, That they might be in a way to maintain themselves, not because of the haughtiness of those whom he serv- their mother was parting with them and sending them ed, but that he might not intrude on the sanctity of that to London, at the invitation of some friends and relasad moment when a mother parts from her children, and tions of their departed father. This was indeed a sad is on the brink of a solitude which may last forever. task. If it be one of the heaviest punishments that man The party proceeded by the side of a rivulet, and then can inflict upon a fellow-man, to take him from a cheercrossed a little bridge which brought them to a public ful and peopled home, and to immure him in a solitary house, at which the stage-coach was in the habit of stop-cell, where familiar faces are no more seen, and where ping. Andrew laid down his load on a plot of grass in friendly voices are no more heard-how much must a front of the house, while the mother and her sons went poor widowed mother feel when her own home is made into a small parlor to wait for the coach. The widow desolate, and when all she sees reminds her of those who sat down languidly, and endeavored to make her sorrow were once most dear unto her-when the dwelling that look more like bodily fatigue than mental anguish. once was musical with the sound of many steps and ma"The walk is almost too much for me," she said, and ny tongues, has now no other sound than the echo of accompanied the remark with a feeble effort at a smile, the widow's footsteps and the faint whisper of her sighs. which, like the sun peeping out in a day of clouds, made How does her heart swell when she sits down to her the gloom yet darker by way of contrast, and revealed solitary meal, and looks at the empty chairs of her cold the true character of the heaviness which lay upon her and cheerless parlor! She shivers at her own fire-side, soul. The young men had seated themselves on either and when she prays that God will bless her absent chilside of their mother, and the elder one took her by the dren, she prays with the bursting heart and the tearful hand, looking in her face as though he would speak, but cye, but words cannot find articulation. his lips trembled and he kissed her in silence. The younger then said—

---

Not many minutes had the party been in the house, when the sound of the coach wheels was heard, and the "You shall hear from us immediately on our arrival stage was at the door. Then the mother grew paler, in London, and I have no doubt that I shall give you a and had much difficulty to rule her sorrow and keep it pleasant account of our reception. London is the place down to the sobriety of a quiet sadness. Children are for young men of enterprise to make their fortunes. always children to the heart of an affectionate and senYoung James Burroughs, whose father was only an sitive mother; she can never forget the pretty days of innkeeper at Ambleside, is said to be now worth nearly their helpless infancy, their cradle wailings, and the ten thousand pounds; and surely, if the son of an inn- bright sunny smiles which gave token of their joy in keeper, whose education was none but the plainest, suc-existence; and when she parts with them, whether it ceeds so well, we, as the sons of a clergyman, having been so carefully instructed, may hope to find our way in the world. And then you shall choose whether you will come and reside with us in London, or whether we shall take a villa in Westmoreland."

be by the side of the vessel or carriage that shall bear
them from their home to distant scenes and novel inter-
ests, a pang is felt as though the better part of her life
was rent away from her.

So felt the widow of the Rev. Robert Stewart, when
having taken leave of her sons, she returned to the cot-
tage which some kind friends had fitted and prepared
for her reception after the death of her husband.

He who thus spoke was a finc-looking youth about nineteen years of age, of a light complexion, aquiline nose, handsome in its profile, but somewhat too thin and sharp, with light sandy hair, and forehead high but nar- It is not speaking disrespectfully of the young men, or ow. His look was that which you would say gave in- accusing them of any want of feeling, to say that they ication of considerable acuteness, and that kind of pen- did not experience quite so much sorrow at leaving their tration which is so exquisitely useful in mercantile af- mother as their mother did in parting with them. They airs. The elder brother, who was upwards of one and were young and full of hope, unchilled by any worldly wenty, was very much like the other, so far as a family experience; futurity was filled for them with fancy viskeness goes, but notwithstanding the featural resem-ions, all bright and glorious, and as they both had a real lance which proclaimed them to be brothers, there was affection for their mother, they were promising themselves

As they had never seen any larger city than Carlisle, London was indeed a strange sight to them; for though they had read of Rome, of Ninevah, of Babylon, and other large cities of historic interest, yet all this could not give then an idea of the dark and dusty reality of a great and actual metropolis. They were astonished at all they saw and heard, and not least of all at the welldressed livery servant who met them at the inn where the coach stopped, and announced himself to be sent by his master to conduct the young gentlemen to the house of Mr. Henry Alexender. The obsequious attention and almost reverential respect which the servant paid to them, so different from the clumsy, kind and smiling of ficiousness of their more intimate domestics in the north, produced on their minds the first strong and deep impression that they had ever felt of the cool diversities of rank. A handsome carriage was in waiting to convey them to the house of their opulent and distant relative, and after a short ride they were set down at the door of a well-built mansion in one of the western squares.— Mr. Alexander, at whose abode they had now arrived, was a merchant of high consideration in London, and had risen somewhat recently to opulence, not merely by the accident of lucky speculation, but by the exercise of a naturally strong judgment, and by the persevering application of decided diligence. As he was now past the middle of life, he was beginning to indulge himself in more leisure than heretofore and preparing to leave his business to his son, and having heard of the death of Mr. Stewart, and that the worthy man had left two sons of good ability and good education, but unprovided with a profession, it occurred to the merchant than an opportunity was now offered him of rendering a service to two orphans, and of procuring for his son some valuable and faithful help. The reception which their opulent relative gave them gratified them abundantly, for he was a man of great courtesy, and had no small pleasure in exhibiting to admiring eyes how calmly and coolly he enjoyed his wealth.

George Stewart, the younger brother, had not been many hours in the house before the admiration of wealth filled his whole soul and occupied all his thoughts. Anticipation of commercial success, and a delightful prospect of its high rewards, formed the topic of his first night's dreams and gave an impulse to his morning hopes. But Robert thought of his mother, of the distance which divided him from her, of the time which would elapse before he should see her again, and the cold and cheerless passing of her solitary hours.

Mr. Alexander's counting-house was in the city-in a narrow street-the darkest of the dark. Some counting-houses are fitted up with mahogany desks and brass railings, and even the very ledgers have a smirking, dandified look-but Mr. Alexander had no time and no inclination for these fopperies-all was sombre and serious at his house of business.

"How different is this scene," said Robert, "from the mountains of Westmoreland!'

"The mine is dark, but gold is bright,” said George.