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would not wait. She offered, therefore, to borrow her neighbor's ass for him, and advised him to ride out daily a little way: it would look as though he had business in the country; it would look as if his time was precious; it would look well, and do his health good into the bargain. Jan liked her counsel; it sounded exceedingly discreet; he always thought her a gem of a woman, but he never imagined her half so able. What a pity a woman could not be trusted with a secret! else had she been a helpmate past all reckoning. The ass, however, was got-out rode Jan-looking amazingly hurried and half crazed with care, people fancied he was half crazed with stress of business. Work came in-things went flowingly on again; Jan blessed his stars; and as he grasped his cash, he every day stitched it into the crown of his cap. No more pots-no more hiding holes no more breeches-pockets for him; he put it under the guardianship of his own strong thread and dexterous needle. It went on exceedingly well. Accidents, however, will occur if men will not trust their wives; and especially if they will not avoid awkward habits. Now Jan had a strange habit of sticking his needles on his breeches' knees, as he sat at work; and sometimes he would have half a dozen on each knee for half a dozen days. His wife told him to take them out when he came down from his board, and often took them out herself, but it was of no use. He was just in this case one day as he rode out to take measure of a gentleman about five miles off. The ass, to his thinking, was in a remarkably brisk mood. Off it went, without whip or spur, at a good active trot, and not satisfied with trotting, soon fairly proceeded to a gallop. Jan was full of wonder at the beast commonly it tired his arm worse with thrashing it, during his hour's ride, than the exercise of his goose and sleeve-board did for a whole day; but now he was fain to pull it in. It was to no purpose

faster than ever it dashed onprancing, running sideways, wincing and beginning to show a most ugly temper. What, in the name of all Balaams, could possess the animal, he could not for his life conceive. The only chance of safety appeared to be in clinging with both arms and legs to it, like a boa-constrictor to its victim; when, shy! away it flew as if it were driven by a legion of devils. In a moment it stopped ;-down went its head-up went its infernal heels-and Jan found himself some ten yards off in the middle of a pond. He escaped drowning-you might as easily have drowned a rush; but his cap was gone-the dollars in the crown had sunk it past recovery. He came home dripping like a drowned mouse, with a most deplorable tale, but with no more knowledge of the cause of his disaster than the man in the moon, till he tore his fingers on the needles in abstracting his wet clothes.

Fortune now seemed to have said, as plainly as she could speak-"Jan, confide in your wife. You see all your schemes without her, fail. Open your heart to her ;-deal fairlygenerously, and you will reap the sweets of it." It was all in vain ;he had not yet come to his senses. Obstinate as a mule, he determined to try once more, But, good bye to the ass! The only thing he resolved to mount was his shop-board; that bore him well, and brought him continual good, could he only contrive to keep it.

His wife, I said, was from the mountains; she therefore liked the sight of trees. Now in Jan's backyard there was neither tree nor turf; so she got some tubs, and in them she planted a variety of fir-trees, which made a pleasant appearance, and gave a help to her imagination of the noble pines of her native scenes. In one of these tubs Jan conceived the singular idea of depositing his treasure. "Nobody will meddle with the tubs," he thought; so, accordingly, from week to week, he concealed in one of them

his acquisitions. This had gone on a long time. He had been out collecting some of his debts; he had succeeded beyond his hopes. He came back exulting; the sum was saved; and, in the gladness of his heart, he had bought his wife a new gown. He bounded into the house with the lightness of seventeen; his wife was not there; he looked into the yard-saints and angels!—what is that? He beheld his wife busy with the trees; they were uprooted, and laid on the ground, and every particle of soil was thrown out of the tubs. In the delirium of consternation he flew to ask what she had been doing"Oh, the trees did not flourish, poor things; they looked sickly and pining; she determined to give them some soil more suitable to their natures; she had thrown the other earth into the river at the bottom of the yard." "And you have thrown into the river the hoarding of three years the money which had cost me many a weary day, and many an anxious night-the money which would have made our fortunes-in short, that would have made me mayor of Rapps," exclaimed Jan, perfectly thrown off his guard to the exposure of his secret ! Why did you not tell me of it?" said his wife, kindly, gently, and self-reproachingly. "Ay, that is a question!" said he. And it was a question; for, spite of his apparent testiness, it had occurred to his mind some dozens of times; and now it came back with such an unction, that even when he thought he treated it with contempt, it had fixed itself upon his better reason, and never left him till it had worked a most fortunate revolution. He said to himself, "had I told my wife from the first, it could not possibly have happened worse; and it is very likely it would have happened better; for the future, then, be it so!" Wherefore he unfolded to her the whole history and mystery of his troubles and his hopes. Now Mrs. Jan Nadeltreiber had great cause to feel herself offended, most grievously

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offended; but she was not at all of a touchy temper. She was a sweet, tender, patient creature, who desired her husband's honor and prosperity beyond everything. So she sat down, and in the most mild, yet acute and able manner, laid down to him a plan of operations, and promised him such aids and succors, that, struck at once with shame, contrition, and admiration, he sprung up, clasped her to his heart, called her the very gem of womanhood, and skipped three or four times across the floor like a man gone out of his senses. The truth is, however, he was but just come into them.

From this day, a new life was begun in Jan's house. There he sat at his work-there sat his wife by his side, aiding and contriving with a woman's wit, a woman's love, and a woman's adroitness. She was worth ten journeymen. Work never came in faster, never gave such satisfaction, never brought in so much money; and, besides, such harmony. and affection was there in the house, such delectable discourse did they hold together! There was nothing to conceal; Jan's thoughts flowed like a great stream, and when they grew a little wild and visionary, as they were apt to do, his wife smoothed and reduced them to sobriety, with such a delicate tact, that, so far from feeling offended, he was delighted beyond expression with her prudence. The fifty dollars were raised in almost no time; and, as if the prognostic of their being the seed of a fortune were to be fulfilled immediately, they came in opportunely to purchase a lot of cloth, which more than trebled its cost, and gave infinite satisfaction to his customers. Jan saw that the tide was rapidly rising with him, and his wife urged him to push on with it; to take a larger house; to get more hands, and to cut such a figure as should at once eclipse his rival. The thing was done; but, as their capital was still found scanty for such an establishment, his wife resolved to try what she could do to increase it.

I should have said, had not the current of Jan's disasters run too strong upon me, that his wife's parents were dead, and died without giving her any token of reconciliation; a circumstance which, although it cut her to the heart, did not quite cast her down, feeling that she had done nothing but what a parent might forgive,-being, all of us, creatures alike liable to err, and demanding, alike, some little indulgence for our weaknesses and our fancies. The brother was now sole representative of the family, and, knowing the generosity of his nature, she determined to pay him a visit, although in a condition very unfit for traveling. She went; her brother received her with all his early affection in his house her first child was born; and so much did she and her bantling win upon his heart, that, when the time came that she must return, nothing would serve but he must take her himself. She had been so loud in the praises of Jan, that he determined to go and shake him by the hand.

It would have done any one good to see this worthy mountaineer setting forth; himself firmly seated on his great horse, his sister behind him, and the brat slung safely on one side, cradled in his corn-hopper. It would have been equally pleasant to see him set down his charge at the door of Jan's new house, and behold with wonder that merry minikin of a man, all smiles and gesticulations, come forth to receive them. The contrast be

tween Jan and his brother-in-law was truly amusing. He a shadowlike homunculus, so light and dry that every wind threatened to blow him before it; the bergman with a countenance like the rising sun, the stature of a giant, and limbs like an elephant. Jan watched with considerable anxiety the experiment of his kinsman's seating himself in a chair: the chair however stood firm, and the good man surveyed Jan in return, with a curious and critical air, as if doubtful whether he must hold him in contempt for the want of that solid matter of which he himself had too much. Jan's good qualities, however, got the better of him. "The man is a man," said he to himself, very philosophically, "and as he is good to my sister, he shall know of it." So, as he took his departure, he seized one of Jan's hands with a cordial gripe, that was felt through every limb, and into the other he put a bag of one thousand dollars! << My sister shall not be a beggar in her husband's house; this is properly her own, and much good may it do you!"

I need not prolong my story. The new tailor soon fled before the star of Jan's ascendancy. Jan was speedily installed in the office of Mayor of Rapps, in his eyes the highest of all earthly dignities; and, if he had one trouble left, it was only in the reflection that he might have obtained his wishes years before, had he better understood the heart of a good woman.

THE LATEST FEMALE FASHIONS. EXPLANATION OF THE PRINT OF THE FASHIONS.

FIG. I.

FASHIONABLE HEAD-DRESSES.

EVENING DRESS.-HALF LENGTH.

A DRESS of white gaze de Lyon, corsage uni, cut low and square, and trimmed round the bust with a triple fall of tulle arranged à revers; a fourth fall stands up round the bust. Sleeve formed of a single

bouffant, and terminated by a manchette of embroidered tulle. The hat is of lavender bloom crape. The brim wide but not very deep. It is trimmed on the inside with a nœud and coques of green gauze ribbon, and a very large nœud of ribbon is placed in front of the crown.

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closer than is generally worn, is ornamented on the inside with coques of rose-colored gauze ribbon lightly striped with black. Knots composed of ends only, and intermixed with sprigs of roses, decorate the crown. The strings tie in a full bow under the chin.

FIG. IV.

DINNER DRESS.-HALF LENGTH.

A gros de Naples gown; the color vert de Saxe. The corsage is made high and plain behind, but partially open and disposed in folds on the bosom. The upper part of the sleeve is extremely wide, but it is confined near the wrist by two bands placed at regular distances, which form the fulness into a bouffant. Chemisette of white blond net. It falls over the corsage of the dress, and is trimmed with blond lace; it is rounded behind, and forms a point in front. The hat is of white crape; the brim edged with a ruche of tulle, and the crown trimmed with nœuds of white gauze ribbon, lightly fringed at the edges.

THE GATHERER. "Little things have their value."

THE high strain of moral reflection with which Browne closes his Treatise on Urnburial, affords passages of splendid eloquence that cannot easily be equaled. For example

"There is no antidote against the opium of time, which temporally considereth all things. Our fathers find their graves in our short memories, and sadly tell us how we may be buried in our survivors'. To be read by bare inscriptions, like many in Gruter; to hope for eternity by any metrical epithets, or first letters of our names; to be studied by antiquaries who we were, and have new names given us like many of the mummies, are cold consolations unto the students of perpetuity, even by everlasting languages.

"The night of time far surpasseth the day-who knows when was the æquinox? Every hour adds unto that current arithmetic, which scarce stands one moment. -Darkness and light divide the course of time, and oblivion shares with memory a great part even of our living beings. Who knows whether the best of men be known or whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot than any that

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stand remembered in the known account of time ?-The sufficiency of Christian immortality frustrates all earthly glory, and the quality of either state, after death, makes a folly of posthumous memory. But man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his nature."

Dr. Gooch.-In the autumn of 1822, Gooch made a tour through North Wales; and on his return passed a day in the company of Dr. Parr, at Warwick. They had previously met in London; and Gooch afterwards gave an account of these two interviews in a lively paper, which was printed in Blackwood's Magazine, and entitled Two Days with Dr. Parr. On this occasion, when speaking of the different professions, and relative advantages and disadvantages of each, Parr said the most desirable was that of physic, which was equally favorable to a man's moral sentiments and intellectual faculties. One of the party reminded him of his first interview with Dr. Johnson. "I remember it well," said Parr ; " I gave him no quarter,

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-the subject of our dispute was the liberty of the press. Dr. Johnson was very great: whilst he was arguing I observed that he stamped; upon this I stamped. Dr. Johnson said, Why do you stamp, Dr. Parr? I replied, Sir, because you stamped; and I was resolved not to give you the advantage even of a stamp in the argument.' Concatenation.-In 1765, a young man, who had just terminated his course of theology at the seminary of Avignon, went to Paris, where he had not a single acquaintance. On his journey, he fell in with two youths, who, like himself, had scarcely attained their twentieth year. One had studied the law, the other was already an M.D. They mutually interchanged an avowal of the projects and hopes which drew them towards the capital. "I," said the scholar of Hippocrates, "wish to be Member of the Academy of Science, and Physician to the King." "," resumed the student of Bartholus, " wish to be Advocate General," and "I," said the student of Avignon, "wish to be Chaplain to the King, and one of the Forty Members of the French Academy.' If our young heroes had not been alone in the carriage, every other hearer would have laughed at their imprudence, and pronounced all these fine projects so many castles in the air; but, how ignorantly of the chances of human life! The young physician was afterwards Dr. Portal; the young advocate became the celebrated M. Treillard; and the young student rose to a scarlet hat as Cardinal Maury!

The Orange Tree-may be considered as one of the graces of the vegetable world, uniting in itself a multiplicity of charms. It is a tree of handsome growth, with polished evergreen leaves of the most elegant form, a profusion of beautiful and fragrant flowers, and a wholesome and delicious fruit, cased in gold, which has inspired the poets with a thousand exquisite images. Yet, not satisfied with all these perfections, it insists upon yet further provoking the genus irritabile, by possessing them all at once; the delicate white blossoms breathing out their sweetness upon the very cheeks of the glowing fruit. Such is the beauty of the tree; ask the feverish invalid if its benevolence be not yet greater.

Truth, or a Fact.-A gentleman much in the habit of story-telling, (in its best sense,) had acquired a habit also of prefacing his narrations with, "Now I'll tell you a fact;" but unfortunately, whatever degree of credit his friends were inclined to afford to these "facts," it was invariably destroyed by his winding up his tales with one prefaced thus :-" But now, do listen, for now, I assure you, I am going to tell you a REAL fact!'

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Highland Quarter. A Highlander, whose regiment, having been surrounded, had cut their way out with the broad sword, with the loss of half their number,

being the last in retreating, and highly chafed, was stopped by a forward Frenchman returning from the pursuit, who charged him with his bayonet, but soon finding the disadvantage of his weapon, cried out, "quarter!"-" Quarter ye,' said Donald, "te muckle teefil may quarter ye for me! Py my soul I'fe nae time to quarter ye; ye maun e'en pe contentit to be cuttit in twa!" making his head fly from his shoulders.

Beautiful Remark.-A venerable gentleman lately conversing with a friend upon religious topics, said, I have no time to pray." "Ay, sir?" replied the other, gravely, and with an ominous glance of reproof, "does the world and its affairs yet occupy so entirely your thoughts and time? "No, no," rejoined the good old man, "heaven forbid ! but I have not time to pray, because it is all occupied in thanksgiving!

An original Idea.-A line frequently quoted by writers of every calibre, and yet which it would probably puzzle most of them to find in the modern poets, occurs in the works of Sir W. Jones, and is considered to be strictly that rara avis in literature-an original idea :"Go boldly forth, my simple lay, Whose accents flow with artless ease, Like orient pearls at random strung; Thy notes are sweet, the dainsels say, But oh! far sweeter if they please The nymph for whom these notes are sung."

LITERARY NOTICES.

THE distinguished American novelist, Cooper, has a new production in three volumes in the press, under the attractive title of "The Watch." New editions are preparing of his popular novels of "The Prairie," and "The Borderers."

Mrs. S. C. Hall, the author of "Chronicles of a School Room," is preparing for the press a volume, entitled," Anecdotes of Birds."

An Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Events which took place in Paris on July 27, 28 and 29, with an Account of the Occurrences preceding and following, is in preparation.

The Churchyard Lyrist, consisting of Five Hundred original Inscriptions for Tombs, is preparing for the press.

The Monthly Libraries and similar publications, i. e. such as are produced periodically and contain much matter at a cheap rate, are becoming, even with all their numbers, more popular than ever. Since the new Waverley Novel series commenced, about fifteen months ago, above 300,000 copies have been sold, and nearly 100,000l. been paid for them by the public!!!

Sir Walter Scott is engaged on a continuation of Tales of a Grandfather: the new volumes are to be taken from French history, and are looked for at Christmas, or soon after.

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