The

start, fully equipped, pacing with measured steps the room-and a third apologizing for lighting a cigar, the effluvia of which, never over pleasant at meal times, is what few men who are not over fastidious would ever object to, desiring for themselves probably at some time or other the same indulgence. "boots" were both in requisition, and breathless from having been sent twenty ways at once; and their always uncovered heads, steaming with perspiration, gave evidence of the weight of luggage with which their bodies had been burdened. And with lugging out portmanteaus, carpet bags, and cloaks, which had but a short time previously made their appearance in the room, there existed one general scene of confusion; much to the annoyance of the few of us who sat down to dine. One veteran of the party, who from his position near the door had received a number of rubs, and whose patience was exhausted and temper soured, uttered audibly his anathemas against both coach and railway travellers, declaring he had never, for a period of nearly forty years, seen the comforts of the commercial room so much interfered with, or been subjected himself to the possibility of proving such an annoyance to any company, always having had his own

conveyance.

Our vice-president stated, that only the day before yesterday he was in Dublin, and had since then been to Manchester, Sheffield, and I know not where. Indeed, so rapid now-a-days is the locomotion of many, that they seem to possess the attribute of ubiquity, moving at so marvellous a rate from town to town-are here there and everywhere as it were at once; and within so brief a period, and with such celerity, do they pass from district to district, and place to place, as to astonish the old, steady, progressive stage man, having his own horse and chaise, who imagines they can have no other object in view than that of enriching coach and railway proprietors, and fatiguing themselves for the sole purpose of talking about the distance speedily accomplished; losing sight of the main chance, careless about the main object for which they really left home -the transaction of business. And so, in many instances, it really is, too; for not unfrequently the very first inquiry made, by one of these rapid movement men, the moment he enters the room, is, how quick he shall be able to get away again; and, learning the time, off hastily he hies to his trade, with his attention so completely absorbed by the determination to do all he can in the way of business in the short time allowed before the departure of his

darling conveyance, that he is at once so distracted by the numerous engagements which he has to fulfil in a limited period, that, wherever he happens to be, he is at the same time on the point of going somewhere else. He has therefore a look of abstraction and hurry, but little calculated to enable him either to do business with comfort to himself or advantage to his employers. For the parties upon whom he waits, who intend to pay for what they buy, must be indulged with some little attentions; and it is requisite, in many instances, from the existing competition, to call again and again to persuade, in order that they may succeed in effecting a sale. Indeed there are now but few certain customers, regularly to be depended upon, and a less number of isolated trades, which can enable a man at once to command attention; for almost daily some person calls to offer the same description of goods; and the old representative, not having the necessary time to devote, receives "no," for an answer, leaving to those who may more leisurely succeed him the order he might himself have obtained if he had had proper time to dedicate to his business.

There are, however, troublesome, thoughtless men in business, who do not know either the value of time or their own minds, and to whom

we often give a latitude rather than offer a restraint; consequently, this evil more frequently arises from our own want of business habits, than from a disposition in the buyer to tantalize and annoy us. For he is not unfrequently a creature of our own creation; let us therefore take to ourselves the blame when due; and let shame rest upon the unworthy heads of those who would receive any member of our body uncourteously, treat him uncivilly, or trifle with that time which is to him of double value.

A SELF-IMPORTANT, OFFENSIVE PIECE OF

man!

EMPTINESS.

WHAT a self-important affected creature is this And what a vacant, addle-headed dolt he looks like! Yet his pretensions, like the ornaments he wears, are of a glittering and varied description. Neither my memory nor my diary supplies me with an example having, as the disciples of Gall and Spurzheim would say, the bump or organ of self-esteem more fully developed, without the existence of some

other organ, property, or quality to guide, control, or counterbalance it, than the character before me. What a misery and curse such a man must be to himself, too, leading a life of seclusion in the very heart of society. For his exalted notions of self-importance preclude⚫ the possibility of any one being regarded as upon an equality with him; consequently, having no friends, all his discourse is held with the dependants at the hotels, over whom, supposing himself entitled to it by payment, he exercises unlimited authority in a most repulsive and dictatorial style, with words singularly chosen, and delivered in a cramped, restricted, and offensive manner peculiarly his own. How objectionable to the quiet occupant of the commercial room is such bombastic display, and how annoyingly opposed to the comfort of those who adopt regularity as a system, must be the exercise of such extraordinary conduct, compared with a bearing of suavity, and the cordial, sincere, and friendly greeting between men whose occupation is the same, and who possess equal if not superior understanding, attainments, position, and respectability. While aiming at or practising airs of such absurd and irrational superiority, he makes himself a laughing-stock, and will leave the road as he entered upon it, without creating or cementing