humour, and never exhibiting nnwillingness or a sulky look at the many vexations and plagues which the young and littleest thing-dog or boy-is apt to fall heir to on board a ship, this poor wee practical philosopher, besides many small favours and donations, gained to himself the countenance of the captain, the mate and the men; and by the time the ship returned to port, had, from his early command of temper, assiduity, and alacrity, purchased for himself a superior character for one in his station and of his years. The first and most difficult stage had been passed; patient, steady, and active, he held on his humble career, always, in the very nature of things, advancing. And as he compared one month as it sped with the month that had gone before, he saw and felt, that in spite of all his overwhelming disadvantages, his progress was still in the right direction, and this too with an ever accelerating speed. "While in port, he redoubled his efforts to oblige and serve his master. The sailors then all leaving the ship, the labour of delivering the cargo, clearing her out, and reloading and preparing again for sea, devolved as is very generally the case, on hired jobbers and the apprentices. Here the captain felt all the importanee of having an honest faithful boy, ever at his hand, and on whose obedience and sound sense he could rely, to watch while he was unavoidably on shore; so that our hero had plenty to do, even when others were at play. Whether he was sufficiently rewarded for all this, I do not know. It but too often happens that when a service or a benefit is unexpected, it is received with gratitude and delight; but that the longer such services and favours are continued, the less they are thought of, till at length they are considered, if not demanded, as a right. While the sailors, most of them three times his age, were raging about in the wildest dissipation and senseless idleness, this poor destitute boy, with neither home nor relation to receive, shelter, or direct him, would, after the severe toil of the day, instead of going to amusement or sleep, clean himself, no easy task! from the pitch and tar and dirt with which he was besmeared; and with his little savings, pinched off himself when hungry and cold, contrive to go to a night school to improve his reading and writing, and afterwards to learn arithmetic and navigation. His eagerness to improve, so delighted his teacher, an old disabled seaman, that he presented him with the remains of one or two useful books, a scale and old pair of compass, all which, though like the giver nearly worn out in the service, were of great value to the laborious and indefatigable learner. What a blessing it would have been to him had he had the money which one of the sailors would squander heedlessly and wickedly in one night! But though he saw their delirious waste, so disunited was he from every being on earth, so utterly destitute of every claim upon any creature, so unused to have his longings, his necessity, his sufferings, thought of by any but himself, that such an idea as that of grudging, or of expecting the consideration of others did not at all occur to him. "When the ship was again to sail, and all came once more on board, most of the men were in a state of drunkenness. Several of them were sick and worn out, -others dirty and bruised. Our hero, as he arranged the tackling aloft, and heard the sottish uproar, and saw the degraded objects below upon deck, could not but think that, in spite, of the great riches in his eyes, which each of them possessed when they went on shore, their plenty of time, their means of enjoyment and improvement, of which he was continually thinking, then they were all as poor and pennyless as himself-far more dirty, far more exhausted, and sick, and bruised, and ignorant than himself, after all his ceaseless toil in performing his duty. This was one of the practical lessons which the boy never forgot. "Even before his apprenticeship was out, having at different times received presents of money from the captain and passengers, his sagacity and wits, sharpened by that best of whetstones, necessity, led him, as if by instinct, to lay out his little treasure in the most judicious way and profitable miniature speculations. And though at first his gains to the wasteful blustering seaman seemed so small, as to be the frequent theme of jeering and scorn, yet they were great to him who had nothing, and knew also so well how to use them. By the time his ndenture expired, he was a stout healthy lad, and a steady expert seaman, to whom all on board could trust, and commanding tacitly the good will of all. He still continued in the same ship, and from his knowledge of navigation, having on several occasions done the duty of second mate excellently well, on the first opportunity the captain promoted him. It was not long before he was appointed mate; and, in the course of a few voyages after, the captain having left the West Indies in bad health, he navigated the ship safely to port, and what was still more difficult, preserved by his prudence and firmness the most perfect discipline among the crew, some of them so lately his superiors. His old friend and master being unable to go to sea the next voyage, he warmly recommended in his stead our hero, so that the owners appointed the young man interim captain. And now when the young master looked back on the day he first entered London, with scarcely rags to cover him, without an earthly friend, or even acquaintance, without a hole where to lay his head, and only the poor Irishman's half-crown to look to as the means of existence; and when he cast his thoughts a little farther still, and remembered that he was rich and happy and unfearing in comparison of the night, when a half-naked starving fugitive, he was flying from Bristol, starting at every footstep, and hearing the crack of a rope's end in every sound, it seemed to himself that he was in a dream! "He managed the ship so well, that he was continued as a captain by the same owners, though in another crafs. Like other people, however, who, when they are well, generally invent some excuse for being uneasy-he was seized with home-sickness, and got himself appointed master of a vessel sailing for Scotland. Lo, behold his home-ailing relieved—but what, think you rose in its stead? What but a sick fever of the heart to know who he really was-a problem not easily solved. He therefore, in the meanwhile, chose a new object for the heart and got married. Calmness succeeded for a time this tumult and these vicissitudes; but during every voyage the original disease returned with increased force. Still, all his ruminations, speculations, and consultations ended in nothing that was in the least satisfactory. "At last, having been one day giving orders to one of his sailors while in harbour, and receiving an insolent answer, all the captain awoke in his heart, and wheeling round on the man with a stamp and a'd'ye know who y're speaking to?' his opponent quickly replied,' if I did, it would be more then you do.' A retort so startling and so true, made the captain turn away in silence to chew the cud of many a little fancy. "It happened that a newly appointed port officer was near enough to hear the sailor's retort, and to see the effect on the little mortified captain; and after cogitating with his wife, as soon as he returned home, over some Auld Lang Syne scandals, he proceeded to Mr. Galloway's house, briefly, and without demur, telling him he had some idea he might be able to give some information respecting his real relations in blood. The hearing of these long-wished-for words nearly cured the wound inflicted by the insolent sailor. The Captain soon stated all he knew of himself to the port-officer, who, in return, advised him to write to a lady in Galloway, whose address he gave, adding, 'If my conjectures be right, she is your aunt.' The Captain was but too happy to follow the suggestion; but who shall describe, or who, but one so situated, can conceive the purturbation of soul with which he awaited the reply to his letter? Even sooner than he dared to expect, a reply arrived. He rushed to a room by himself, tore open the seal, and the paper on which he looked,—the light,—the,—the house,—the world swam before his eyes as he read the first words that met them, 'My dear nephew!' The faintness of viclent emotion soon wore off, and the mystery of his existence was clearly unravelled. He found he was sprung of an ancient family of rank, though, as probably he anticipated, his own birth not very honourable. He soon after had an interview with his mother, but that time a virtuous, venerable, and grave matron, highly respectable. "I think," emphatically observed the pedlar, "it would puzzle any ordinary mind to conceive what her feelings and cogitations must have been when this living evidence of the deeds of other long gone years stood before her! She wished him to change his name for her own, but this he spiritedly refused. JULY, 1845. G However honourable the name may be to others, the Judge above us knows, I owe it little; and I will keep that in which, by his blessing, I struggled through my deserted infancy, my starving and miserable boyhood, and toilsome unfriended youth.' "Soon after this period he gave up the sea, having realized three or four thousands. He is now a ship-owner, and part of his money being invested in that shop from which his and others are supplied with stones, his capital thereby draws a double profit. Many strange instances I have known of wealth and prosperity attendant on good conduct in the poor, but Charles Galloway surpasses them all. There he sits, only yet a man of little more than middle age, in full vigour of mind and body, surrounded with all that can make a man comfortable in this world-a good name, good health, a good wife, good children and a competency. SAINT CASSILDA. * Ar the period when Don Fernande First, of Castille reigned, who took Coimbra, lived Saint Cassilda, daughter of King Almenon of Toledo. She was a virtuous and beautiful young girl, singularly fond of her father, and for whom many rich alliances presented themselves. But she had declared her determination of remaining single. She was so much filled with pity towards the Christian captives, that she visited them herself in the Masmoras (caves having but one opening for light and air) without her father's knowledge. She provided for their necessities; and when the King learned this, he felt indignant against his daughter, and, it is said, even maltreated her on that account. But she took no heed of his menaces, and moreover, continued to pursue the same conduct, and it so happened, that the King, one night, watched her to ascertain if it was true that she carried bread and other things, to the Christian prisoners, and as she went forth said, "My child, what do you carry there?" And she quickly replied, "What should it be if it is not Roses." Then putting aside the long dress she held up, he saw that, in fact, there was nothing in her lap but white and red roses, and he then no longer believed anything that had been said against his daughter's conduct. * This pretty legend is translated from a very rare volume, 'entitled, "Historia o descripcion de la Imperial Cibdad de Toledo, con todas las cosas acontecidas en ella, desde su principio y fundacion, par Pedro de Alcocer. Toledo, 1544." "The History and description of the Imperial City of Toledo, with all things that occurred in it, from its first foundation.” A similar miracle is recorded in the life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and the tradition of Saint Rosalind, so celebrated in the history of the ancient family of Villeneuva, in France, reposes upon the same foundation. T When the Infanta Cassilda beheld this marvellous miracle, she went to visit the captives, and related to them what had occurred; they, all of them, joined in returning thanks for the infinite grace of God! Shortly after this time, Cassilda fell dangerously ill, and although all the great physicians attempted to cure her, and her father expended much treasure to obtain advice for her, she did not recover her health. But the young Infanta had a revelation in her dreams, by which she was told, that if she could be carried to the Lake of Sant-Vicente, she would be instantly cured; and when she had made the dream, she said to her father, that it was her wish to go and bathe in that lake. The King having listened to her, agreed to give his permission, to avoid her dying of the malady, which the physicians pronounced incurable, and he set free all the Christian captives, and sent them with his daughter; and he wrote to the King, Don Fernando, so that the Moorish princess went to Castille with these Christians, who had been liberated by her father. The King Fernando received them extremely well, paying them much honour. From thence Cassilda and her companions went to seek the lake of Sant-Vicente, which they found in the country of Buruena, in the environs of Briviesea. Bathing in this lake, she was instantly restored to perfect health. But, during her journey, she had become a Christian, and would not again return to her own country, but chose for her habitation a hermitage that is in the neighbourhood of the lake, and there she lived a chaste and holy life, until the time of her death. In this spot she was buried. God in his gracious interposition, has performed, and does daily perform, numerous miracles, and it is on that account the Moorish convert was received and sanctified as a holy virgin, being inscribed in the calendar of the blessed. Certes, therefore, Saint Cassilda is worthy of being remembered by all true believers. LONDON FASHIONS FOR THE MONTH. Light materials are at last beginning to be a good deal seen in promenade dress, though not yet more so than silks; indeed the latter are likely to keep their ground during the whole season. The shapes of bonnets being now decidedly fixed we have only to notice those that have recently appeared trimmed in the newest style, for if fashion remains for a short time constant to forms, it is not the same with trimmings, they are perpetually varying. The majority of morning bonnets are composed either of silk drawn in close runners, or fancy straw not of the open kind. The trimmings of both are very simple; a good many of the first are ornamented with a full rosette of ribbons with long floating ends placed rather high up on one side; and full coques of the same ribbon in the |