the felicity you speak of is equally the object of my wishes. The three tombs of our parents are together in this place. If I marry elsewhere, I cannot visit morning and evening the sepulchre of my mother; and beside, my adopted parents treated me as if I had been their own child, so that if I should leave this dwelling which contained all that has been most dear to me, what joy should I experience the rest of my days? If you are pleased with me, let me remain with you, to watch the tombs of our parents and offer there their funeral sacrifices; this is my most ardent desire. But we shall violate propriety if we are united without the mediation of a matchmaker. We ought to screen ourselves from all suspicion, and not give any hold for malignity to fasten upon.'

After that evening they occupied separate chambers. The next day Ke went and told Kin of all that had passed, and begged his wife to act the part of a match-maker. Lian-Fang adopted her proper dress, and having chosen a happy day, went with Lian-Ke to the tombs of their parents to offer a sacrifice. They then lighted innumerable lanterns and prepared for their marriage with great splendor. The occurrence diffused joy throughout the village, and all praised the probity, filial affection and rare purity of manners of which old Lian and his two children had exhibited such models. After marriage, the two exhibited the same respect and affection as before. They acquired a large fortune, and their descendants are alive to this day. The village they dwelt in was afterward called The Village of the Three Just Ones.'

THE windows were fastened, and bolted the door;
One smouldering brand threw faint light on the floor,
When, followed by twelve heavy beats of the clock,
A spirit unseen at my casement did knock:

'Who is there?' 4 Who is there?' with a shudder I cried, And a VOICE, hollow-toned like the tempest, replied:

'Bright dew where the lost and the lovely lie low
He dropped, causing deeper the verdure to grow,
And sent golden sunshine and pattering showers,
While bright grew the desolate grave-yard with flowers;
But Earth, once so fair by his agency made,
Will furnish no cell where his bones may be laid.

January 1, 1847.

VII.

'Dark bearers will come at the blast of my horn,
His corse shall be gently to Shadowland borne,
And the Sexton of Time will a sepulchre build
In its valley by winter, the tyrant, unchilled,
While the newly-crowned year, a wild rioter, laughs
At the wassailing board, and a full bumper quaffs.

VIII.

'Revel on! revel on! with the youthful and gay,
Proud heir of the fallen! thy locks shall grow gray;
Though the days of thy life inexhaustible seem,
They will melt like the dew, they will pass like a dream:
The fields of delight stretch to deserts of grief,
For from spring-time to winter the journey is brief.'

IX.

The VOICE died away, and a trumpet was blown;
I looked from my window in terror I own,
And phantom-like forms by the snow-light beheld,
A dim figure leading them, hoary with eld;
The funeral it seemed of the friendless Old Year,
For borne in their midst was a shadowy bier.

THE BRAZILIAN

NEGRESSES.

BY HARRƆ-HARRINO.

ONE morning at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro I witnessed a most interesting scene.

Two Brazilians were writing in the coffee-room, with various documents lying on the table. There stood by them a middle-aged negress, whose shoes denoted that she was free, slaves not being allowed to wear them. She looked earnestly at the men, and seemed to be anxious for the completion of their work. She was tall and slender, and in African costume; having a colored stuff mantel tastefully thrown over her neck and reaching below her waist. At her side stood a young negress of the same slender form; and I thought of the same tribe, although her skin was of a deeper jet, caused by the freshness of youth. Both seemed to belong to the tribe of the Cabendas; their features being more distinguished, and the lower jaw less projecting than is the case with the negroes of other tribes. The features of the Cabendas indeed resemble those of Europeans, the mouth having a grave expression and the lips being smaller than those of the Mozambique negroes. The countenance of this fine people usually indicate reflection and great calmness of temperament.

The younger negress was barefooted, in token of her servile condition. In other respects she was well dressed. Indeed, good

habits and cleanliness in person and clothing characterize the blacks generally in the Brazils.

Several strangers and some people of the hotel stood by, but a dead silence prevailed while the two Brazilians wrote; I looked upon the whole group from a distance.

The quick heaving bosom of the young negress betrayed her deep emotion. But she stood like one amazed, with her arms hanging listlessly by her side, and her eyes gazing on the other negress. Near the door stood a black porter ready to put into his basket a little trunk which was on the ground, and upon the trunk lay a pretty straw bonnet.

When the writing was done, the elder negress put a large packet of bank-notes on the table without saying one word. At this the younger female breathed forth a deep-drawn sigh; and her whole frame was obviously affected in every limb, although she did not move from the spot she stood upon. The calm, deep feeling expressed in her features is indescribable. Her eyes became suffused; but so entirely was she absorbed by what was passing before her, that she was quite unaware of the gush of tears which followed.

My attention was riveted. One of the Brazilians took up the notes, which as far as could be judged of from where I stood, amounted to a large sum; and having counted them, he carefully put them into his pocket-book. The younger negress again stood perfectly still, and stared vacantly at the objects about her. The documents were now handed to the elder negress, who read and signed them, as did also the Brazilian who had received the money. She then for the first time looked at the young negress with an expression of gratulation and delight, mingled however with sorrow and a conflict of emotions. The latter clasped her hands and raised her eyes upward in silence.

Until now, not a word had all this time been uttered. At length one of the Brazilians growled in a surly tone to the young girl: You are free, you may go.'

But she stirred not. The other Brazilian, who seemed to be a notary, added:

She has been free since yesterday.' His companion again feeling his pocket-book in which the notes had been put, then asked him if he would take refreshment, which he refused. Hereupon the elder negress nodded to the porter, who snatched up the trunk, and put it on his head; and all left the room, except the individual who had received the money. He began to talk to one of the waiters of the hotel, when suddenly he rushed into the street, and followed at full speed, the party that had gone away.

Upon my asking the occasion of this new movement, the chief waiter, a Genoese, who had looked on with the rest, replied eagerly: 'The old negress recognized in the younger, who was brought a slave to Brazil, the daughter of an old African friend; and she redeemed the girl for six hundred milréas.'

But why,' said I, does the Brazilian run so fast after them?' Before an answer could be made, the whole party came in again.

The black porter had the little trunk in his basket, and put it down before them all.

The waiter then said, with a laugh: 'I don't know what the old fellow would be at. He has just inquired whether we have not missed something from the room where the young negress had slept for several nights; for her old friend brought her hither, as soon as she had discovered and redeemed her. That gentleman,' added the waiter, pointing to the old Brazilian, 'guaranteed the payment of the purchase money until the elder negress could fetch it from the country.'

Another waiter now went to the room in question to see if any thing had been stolen.

The accused, however, became very different from the subdued and almost stupified being she had before appeared to be. Her eyes were inflamed, her lips were livid, her cheeks put on the peculiar paleness of the blacks when deeply moved. She demanded of her former owner in quick, indignant tones, 'Did I ever rob you before? Did you ever before charge me with the petty theft?' These hurried questions were accompanied by a look such as I had never witnessed; and I have not been unobservant of the various expressions of human passions. It was a withering flash as of lightning; and the miserable master of this poor freed girl stood for a moment abashed under its influence. The habitual spirit of domination, however, did not fail him, and recovering his self-possession, he insultingly ordered her to open the trunk to be examined.

'Do so at once, my child,' said the eldest negress, with the fullest confidence in the offspring of the friend of her youth, who forthwith drew the key from her bosom; and kneeling down unlocked the trunk. While taking out her little store, she did not deign to look up at her accuser. Pride and sovereign contempt marked her features. As she lifted out article by article to be examined, she raised her head in a peculiar manner without looking up. A few books and some clothes formed the contents of the trunk; and shaking each article separately she laid them all quietly on the ground.

I was much struck and surprised at her sudden calm; at the complete transition from a fury of passion to the most perfect composure. It was the tempest-tossed lake become placid, and shone upon by the serenest glories of the bright moon, and freshened by the clearest atmosphere.

Her mother's friend had no doubt of her innocence; but she looked more in pity than in scorn at the Brazilian, so that he kept his eyes on the trunk in order to escape her gaze.

The waiter who went to examine the room, returned laughing, and then making some observation on his bootless errand, he gave the elder negress a pair of yellow shoes left by the young girl herself. Such shoes are worn by the freed negroes, and these with the other trifles were recently given to her. She seemed to have shrunk from putting them on, under an anxious feeling that her good fortune might not prove real.

When the trunk was emptied, and all the contents were seen to