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sentiment, it lost none of its directness in passing through the lips of his agent; and hard must have been the heart that could have witnessed without emotion the cold shudder and compressed lips of Alice as she listened to her relative. Indifferent to the pain she caused, so she but gained her point, she urged her acceptance of the proposal in the most unqualified terms; and as she saw the agitation of her victim, hesitated not to intimate that if she wilfully threw away ease and independence, she should consider herself absolved from farther care of her; and that henceforth Charles, in despite of his delicate health, must earn his bread as an artisan.

Alice had listened with a tearless eye and bursting heart; but when she thought of this darling brother, with all his noble aspirations and high imaginings, chained to the work-shop, her resolve was shaken, and bitter thoughts flashed wildly through her brain. What should she do? There it stood, and it met her at every turn: school-keeping, matrimony, or starvation! The first she had tried, and the other two could scarcely be worse. To whom could she go? Alas! there were none in the wide, wide world to aid her; and bewildered and perplexed, it can be no matter of surprise that she so far listened to the importunities of her aunt as to consent to see the sister of her wooer.

This interview was far less painful than the preceding one. Mrs. Simmons dwelt with all a sister's pride upon the many noble and ingenuous traits of her brother's character; his unbounded liberality, his goodness of temper, (not a word of his malady ;) and though she touched lightly and with a woman's tact upon the disparity of their years, yet it was so shaded and mingled in with the advantages that she could bestow upon her youthful brother, that Alice was persuaded into a tacit acquiescence. But it was not without a conflict. It was true she was 'fancy-free,' for no serious preference had ever been awakened in her bosom; still there had been a bright dream of some young and gifted spirit, upon whom she would gladly lavish the rich treasure of her affections. And this she must forego; and not daring to trust herself with her own thoughts, she prepared to meet her wealthy suitor.

The evening set in cold and stormy on which Mr. Lintot was to hear his sentence from her own lips. Like others similarly circumstanced, she had often sought her mirror; but it was only to see if her tell-tale eyes too plainly revealed the tumult within. By a liberal distribution of threats and promises, the more noisy members of the family were constrained to a temporary absence; and it was a proud moment for Mrs. Benson when she found every thing in train and her guest fairly seated at her own hearth-stone. Twice was Alice called before she answered to the summons; and well was it that the failing vision of Mr. Lintot spared him the start which his appearance occasioned. It could not be said even by the most lenient to be particularly engaging. Fearful of making a change in his mortal habiliments on such an inclement night, he had turned out in his usual pepper-and-salt toggery; and as he sat, his giant limbs affectionately crossing each other, it was suggestive

of any thing but youthful grace and lightness. Wistfully had he surveyed his pedal extremities, and fain would he have endued them in more fitting guise; but human suffering was not to be trifled with, and with a sigh he plunged them into their usual roomy receptacles. Above them lay the rolls of a pied yarn stocking, as if they had slipped from their moorings to secure a good look-out on an occasion so tenderly interesting to their wearer. That this last-named habiliment is highly recessary for propriety, not to say comfort, far be it from me to deny; still it is not poetic, and I would defy the most sentimental to 'invest,' as one may say, a real blue yarn-stocking, and retain any very romantic associations connected with the owner. But a truce with such untimeous remarks, so little in unison with the scene; but I dare proceed no farther with the interview, for ignorant as I am of such affairs, and brimful of envy, I might unwittingly shock the feelings of the amiable reader.

The report is soon rife in the land that the portionless orphan has secured the hand of the rich widower, coupled with the epithets of selfishness and successful artifice. Let us enter her little chamber. Does that look like triumph and gratified ambition, as with clasped hands and blanched cheek she surveys her wedding paraphernalia? And the bridal hour arrived; and pale and fair as a young Diana, she was placed by the side of her venerable betrothed; and though the hand that rested in his was of the hue and feeling of marble, the fitting words were spoken and the sacrifice completed.

A distinguished writer, whose works, to the disgrace of the present generation, are now seldom looked into, very truly remarks: .There is nothing so interesting as an old man, unless it may be a young one.' Doubtless our heroine found it so; and never was there a more devoted or forbearing partner. She listened with exemplary patience and fortitude to his 'twice-told tales,' never knowingly trod on his gouty extremities, (I would, and have driven the disease to a more central position ;) and never, never once jogged his elbow as, standing braced up and Colossus-like before the glass, he was engaged in that most delicate and ticklish operation of shaving. A modern writer, in descanting upon the pleasures of courtship and wooing, intimates that it is one of the privileges of the lady to play with the tangles of her lover's hair!' If such a custom is prevalent, I have nothing to say, being a spinster; but I am free to confess that in reflecting upon the crops of the sex in general, the temptation does not strike me as one that with ordinary strength of mind could not be resisted; but I may be mistaken. If it is a privilege, Alice had it in perfection; for it was her daily task to cue up the sparse silver locks of her liege lord, and fasten them upon his crown with a comb; and though occasionally his face lost some of its placidity while under her hands, and the startling interjection, By George!' was wrung from his reluctant lips, yet we trust that the recording angel who flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath,' dealt as kindly by him as he did by My Uncle Toby,' when similarly overtaken.

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But these pious duties were of short duration; for not all the as

siduities of a nurse so tender and true could long ward off the fatal blow. His old complaint (every body has some 'old complaint,') returned with redoubled violence; and though medical talent and skill were earnestly invoked, it was all vain.

And now behold her a young and blooming widow, the cynosure of all eyes, the 'observed of all observers.' She was no longer that unhappy creature, a neglected female. Proposals of marriage came in every form, from the plain man of business, who unequivocally expressed his willingness to place himself at the head of her affairs, to the refined and elegant scholar, who in more fitting language ' indicated his views;' and surprised and grieved at her contumacy, wept salt, salt tears because he could not finger her property. If the father of a family had sustained a touching bereavement it was foolish to lament it, for here was one younger and fairer, who would doubtless rejoice at the opportunity to enter upon the maternal duties. And for the young and gentle youth, unable to meet his liabilities,' and unwilling to labor, here was a resource! Walk up, gentlemen-walk up!

But gracefully and firmly she declined them all. Not that she had any objection to man in the abstract; on the contrary, she thought him a most useful and respectable part of the human family, and wished him well; but she was sufficient of herself for herself, and would fain be left in quiet.

And she was happy; happy in the unrestrained freedom of her own will, and in the unfettered power of doing good. Endowed with an ample fortune, and unincumbered with the ordinary cares of her sex, it was her delight to gather about her all that is elegant and refined in life, and in contributing to the happiness of others.

Thus occupied in the active duties of life, and filled with goodwill to her fellow beings, she felt no loneliness of heart, and had little sympathy with unreal troubles. Nor was she without a legitimate object of interest; for in the training and education of her youthful brother she found a never-failing solace. repay it; for though years brought to him, as to and pursuits, yet the sacrifices and affection of were never forgotten.

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And well did he others, other ties sister so devoted

My tale is finished and my case made out. From it may be learned that happiness is not confined solely to the wedded, but that a woman may be reasonably happy without possessing that inestimable treasure—a husband.

то

THE MAN OF THE WORLD

AN EPIGRAM.

IF you are wise, just use your friend
Like a cigar, I say;
Suck him as long as you can draw,
Then throw the wretch away!

J. H. R.

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WOULD thou wert near me, ELLA!

The night is grand and gloomy, no stars are in the sky,
But the giant storm is passing, in might and majesty ;

No pale moonlight beams through the night, but the giant storm is there,
And his black steed's mane is dripping rain, as he paws the upper air;
And all his train are dripping rain that follow through the air:

Would thou wert near!

II.

Would thou wert near me, ELLA!

The tall oaks bending stately, accept the gauntlet cast;
The shock is past; and naked all they stand before the blast!

Their helms and greaves of autumn leaves around disjointed lie,

And heard are groans and bitter moans, with the victor storm's rude cry;
And naught but groans and bitter moans are heard with the storm's rude cry;
Would thou wert near!

III.

Would thou wert near me, ELLA!

In gazing from my casement into the wild black night,

By the fitful and uncertain gleam of my dim chamber light,

I hear wild voices near me, as of demons in the air,

And there I see each naked tree, float round me every where;
But dimly see the forest tree upsurging every where:

Would thou wert near!

IV.

Would thou wert near me, ELLA!

'Tis like the angry ocean contending with the storms;
I hear the thundering billows, I see their mighty forms;
With rudest shocks upon the rocks they dash in fierce array,

And I hear the toll of fog-bells roll, that warn from far away;
The mournful knell which the fog-bells tell of the breakers far away:
Would thou wert near!

V.

Would thou wert near me, ELLA!

For Life is such a tempest, as giant-like and drear,

Of ever-changing passions which strive against us here;

Of doubts and tears, and trembling fears, that bow the proud heart low;
Oft the beacon-light is dimmed by night; we see not where we go;
The guiding lamp, quenched by the damp of storms that round us flow:
Would thou wert near!

VI.

Would thou wert near me, ELLA!

Then thou should'st tell me sweetly of gentle love and ruth,
And of the magic needle, that ever points at truth;

Of the beacon-light that burns by night with never lessened ray,
Fog-bells that roll to the storm-tossed soul their warning far away;
Of bell-notes clear that whisper near of the breakers far away:

Cambridge, Mass., 1846.

Would thou wert near!

S. A S.

A

THE LATE JUDGE HITCHCOCK.

SKETCH OF THE 1IFE AND CHARACTER OF THE LATE PRINCIPAL OF THE YALE LAW SCHOOL.

BY ONE WHO KNEW HIM

PROBABLY there is no study which makes so permanent and deep impressions on the memory and feelings as the life of a great man. It is almost impossible for one who reads books to rid himself of a spirit which haunts him, urging him to profitable action or merely bewildering his fancy, in the shape of some departed hero. The form with which youthful ambition invests its ideal object of pursuit is not so often an original creation of the imagination, a compound of such and such virtues, the victor in such and such struggles, or the receiver of such and such particular honors; as it is a breathing image of some great or good man who has lived in another age or adorns our own.

'I would like to be a WASHINGTON, a NAPOLEON, an ADDISON, a FRANKLIN, a WORDSWORTH, a WASHINGTON IRVING, a ROBERT Peel, a MACAULAY,' is a wish often felt by youth, if rarely expressed. And when in the study of biography, the young man learns how greatness has been in nearly every instance the result of a self-making energy, the lesson which it teaches and the wish which it inspires are in the highest degree profitable. Seldom have men found distinction by following luxurious paths, or when wafted along by the zephyr-like breath of powerful friendship and patronage. Those seem to have succeeded best who have felt their way to be paved with difficulties, and with a spirit of adventure almost chivalrous, have thrown themselves into the war of circumstances, and disputed every inch of their march to fame. When we contemplate the career of such men, our prayer ceases to be for showers of extraneous advantages, for the bolstering care of friends, for wealth, (which pays the toll on the turnpike to distinction, but cannot set our limbs in motion,) or for the good fortune of being born to station. We supplicate rather in our silent hearts with some such petition as this: Let my lot, if it be the will of Heaven, be cast among the rugged scenes of life; let me pant and sweat in the race of my ambition, and step painfully over a rocky road; let me be compelled to acquire my means, before I commence to win my end; but give me the unconquerable will, contempt of ease, self-reliance, the grasp of restless energy which never stops to congratulate itself on its former progress, or to fall asleep in order to dream out the gorgeous future. Give me cloud and storm, and the strength to bear them; danger and difficulty, and the courage to meet them like a man.'

The subject of our present notice was one of those individuals, whose career in life awakens in the mind of him who studies it a

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