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been in the larder, and there have left such marks as a side of bacon, a cask of butter, some fine cheeses. They have been in the garret, and deposited a load or two of flour, a bag of buckwheat, and another of meal. They have been in the study, and placed an easy chair, and a rug before it, for their pastor has left life's meridian behind him. They have been in the pantry, and left a barrel of sugar, a chest of tea, and a cask of molasses. The children find, with surprise, a nice new greatcoat hanging in the hall, as if it were quite at home; and on mamma's bed a web to make frocks, a beautiful new gown and cloak, and a piece for jackets for the boys.

In the midst of all the exclamations of joyful surprise and grateful conjecture as to the individual donors, the good man steps to the garden to breathe more freely under this load of kindness, when, lo! his wood-house is packed full of winter fuel, and the last waggoner stands at a loss, not finding room for his load. "Take it to my neighbour the Baptist minister down the hill there," says the grateful pastor; "I fear he is hardly so richly provided for as I am; and I am as much obliged to my friend as if I burnt every cord of it myself."

This, O tithe-paying people of England, is "A Bee!" How sweetly could many of your generous hearts fall into the humour of the country, and contribute your own pot of honey, and your blessing with it!

CHAPTER XII.

THE WEDDING.

ALL weddings are not so bright and gay as that I am about to describe; but every marriage, even amongst the poorest people, ought to be a mixture of the solemnity and the festival;-solemn, because it forms a bond life-long, and colouring eternal things; festive, because love, and hope, and sympathy are all in lively exercise.

Imagine one of the loveliest days of the "Indian summer," in the middle of November. The sun rising over New York, shaded in his lustre by a thin gauzy haze, which his ardent beams had before eight o'clock drank up, leaving neither shade, nor visible cloud, nor any mark but himself in all that blue vault, the depths of which the eye searched vainly to fathom, or conjecture what might be beyond. It was such a morning as in Britain would have had "the lark blythe waking at the daisy's side," and one would have watched him piercing the vault of heaven, till even the last speck had disappeared from the eye, while his rich warblings still

poured down upon the ear.

How is it that neither

skylarks, daisies, nor primroses frequent the lands of this intense blue sky, though they thrive and rejoice in our more cloudy region?

Imagine various households afloat by six or seven, and unwonted toilets and hair-dressings with wreathed lilies and roses before breakfast, and all the sprightly remark and lively anticipations of interested groups, preparing in various dwellings for a pleasant drive and pleasanter ceremony. Imagine the rough, unsightly, broken rocks, unfinished roads, and the half built up brick and mortar litter of the suburbs left behind, and a road gained which carries you from one elevation to another, now in view of the magnificent Hudson, with its flashing waters, its fleet sail-boats, and its steamers; now behind one of the innumerable knolls that rise upon its banks; now sheltered by a grove of noble trees, now fronted by a stern gray rock, and again greeted by a smiling village, a busy hotel, or a tasteful villa. These knobs on the banks of the great river, which whilom were islets that barely lifted their heads above waters which were gradually subsiding into the ocean, are many of them crowned by handsome shining white houses, with wide piazzas, and shading Venetian shutters of bright green. Without a gray curl of smoke in the air, or a yellow stain of it upon the walls, they look very brilliant, and are cheerful and open, so that the eye may often penetrate a whole suite of apartments, till it reaches shrubs, vases, and flowers

on its farther side. full of graceful beauty; and when brother Jonathan passes his age of utilitarian furor, and finds a scarcity of Irish labourers to split and tear down the rocks in the nearer environs of the city-in short, when he reaches the picturesque period of his existence-how he will regret some of his remorseless levellings!

These undulating grounds are

"Why," it was inquired of a gentleman of fine taste, as on another occasion we drove through some similar levellings among the spacious and handsome new avenues of Brooklyn-" why will you remove these lovely eminences? Let them level the avenues as much as they can, but do spare Nature's lines of beauty in those varied heights around. If a tree were scattered here and there on that slope-if that green were smoothed, and some of your touching weeping willows waved their tassels over it—if a grove crowned the height, and formed a background to those houses"- My dear madam,” interrupted my friend, "the people would not bear it. They would think we were turning exclusives, and perhaps cut up our trees." "Is this the method by which they preserve their liberty? Is this republicanism?" "It is neither the one nor the otherit is merely the notion of the time.” Within half a mile of us there lay a specimen of a lovely green, with its willows, unmolested by any zealous leveller. So I infer my friend uttered but a sentiment born of some momentary vexation. But what a "lie of

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ground" is there on the Brooklyn Heights! Were it placed in the hands of some capability man, it would be found capable of all manner of elegancies, as well as easy rising roads and convenient levels.

But while Brooklyn has risen up in fancy's eye, we have traced several miles of Manhattan Island, and reached a handsome villa which is situated on a height overlooking the river near the commencement of the palisades on the opposite shores.

Many carriages stud the surrounding park, many domestics stand round the stoop, and two or three zealous young masters of the ceremonies hasten to receive the parties as they alight.

The guests pass through a spacious hall, which is not furnished with mats and high-backed unresting carved chairs, or long antique oaken settles, surmounted by trophies of arms. The American hall looks like a place to lounge on a sofa in, and cool one's self, or to dine in on a hot day, having all the appliances of a chamber to be used, not of a place of waiting attendants, or of passage only.

In the farther depths of the spacious mansion we entered a fine drawing-room with windows on three sides, all opening on the piazza, giving varied views of the Hudson. At the top stood the pair whose circumstances drew all eyes and all hearts to them. Three bridesmaids stood on one side, each with a bouquet rather inconveniently large, and formally arranged, so as to rob the loveliest things in nature of all the graces of bending stalks and flowing leaves.

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