and the delight of his company. He was public-spirited, a promoter of the interests of charitable institutions, and a patriotic reformer of abuses. But his heart was dead towards God; and by his sceptical remarks and sneers, so destroyed the faith, so corrupted the principles of many who had no such constitutional amiableness to guide them as himself, that even although there were no world but the present, the good which he did was counterbalanced by the evil of which he was the author. How much more then is his case to be deplored, when the victims of his infidelity are viewed as immortal beings, and as the subjects of the divine government, who shall be judged in eternity. It would have been much better for the world had he never been born.' I was much affected in my dream by this case, and am affected when I am awake in the thought of some benevolent, public-spirited, and patriotic, but godless men, to whom the description is applicable.

and encouragement of the living; and in the particular
case of No. 7 the epitaph went on :- Here lies the body
of a mother in Israel. Her husband became a drunkard,
and abused her. She bare it for a while with patience, as
the chastisement of the Lord, and laboured with tender-
ness, though vainly, for his reformation. But she had two
boys, and she trembled lest the wicked example of their
father, his filthy and profane conversation, and his denial
of their education, should ruin them for ever.
She con-
sulted with her friends, and the pastor of the church of
which she was a member, and, with their approbation,
separated from him. She toiled for herself and children
night and day. She sent them to school and laboured on
their minds at home. With the first month's gains of her
elder son, when she had put him to a trade, she purchased
a piece of raiment, and sent him with it to his wretched
father, enjoining him to treat his parent with respect; and
thenceforth she regularly did something to relieve his ne-
cessities, though he continued as worthless and wicked as
ever. Both of her children are doing well, and occupying
their stations respectably and usefully. The world has been
the better for her: it was good for it that she was born.
She died in the well-grounded hope of the resurrection of
the just.'

I felt disposed for a moment to question the morality of her separation from him to whom the strictness of the marriage vow had been pledged. But after another moment's reflection, I judged in my dream, and am confirmed in the judgment when awake, that separation from a drunken spouse, whether on the part of man or woman, is not only warrantable, but in many cases an imperative duty. It is scarcely possible that religion can prosper under the same roof with drunkenness. Independently of its evil example, the angers, the anxieties, the abridgment of means of grace which it occasions to every one under the same roof, are all of the most ruinous tendency; and it is surely enough that the drunkard should descend to perdition himself or herself, without dragging spouse and children in company!-I return to my dream.

No. 190 was a more distressing case still than any which I have yet recorded. The general title was inscribed in black letter-The character of the dead for the warning of the living.' Here lies interred the body of a man who was born of pious parents, that made no mockery of his baptism, nor formal work of his religious education, in tasking him with only a few questions of the Catechism on the evening of the Sabbath. Their inculcation on his infant mind, of moral and religious truth, was regular and sustained. He prospered under their training. As he grew up a young man, he was forward in every good work. His Sabbath evening class was the best of the whole society. The church of which he was a member, chose him for one of its elders, and he occupied the office with advantage to all. The devout of the church, under experience of his zeal and prudence, gave thanksgiving to the Lord for him, even in their secret prayers. But Satan's blast blew on him. Some say it was spiritual pride; others, that it was the increase of his riches; others, that it was the fascination of an adulteress; others, that it was a spirit of polemical controversy; others, that it was a spirit of politics. But whatever it was, he fell a withered branch from the tree of the church. His zeal was No. 21 was the next which specially attracted my atfirst observed to cool. He then was displaced from his tention. On the bosom of the grave grew entwined a red office in the church for repeated acts of drunkenness. He rose and a white, and between, beneath them, grew a pure next sat down in the chair of the scorner, first to blas- white lily. A richly loaded fruit-tree overshadowed all. pheme Christ's people, then to blaspheme Christ him- The epitaph was as follows:- The character of the dead self. The evil which he now perpetrated exceeded a thou-for the rebuke, the counsel, and encouragement of the living sandfold all his former well-doing. It would have been Here lie the bodies of John Faithful, his wife, and their better for the world, as well as for himself, that this Ju- child. She was the daughter of that saint and his spouse das had never been born. Here lies the body of an Aros- whose bodies are interred at the preceding No. She was TATE, reserved to the resurrection of damnation.' Ah! I carefully educated. Though left an orphan at twelve would that this were all the fancy of a dream. The worst years of age, she had received impressions of divine things part of it would have a likeness in some sickening realities, of a nature deep and lasting. Besides, she went to reside if epitaphs recorded the truth. Let the character of the with her father's sister, who faithfully followed up her dead be a warning to the living. parent's guardianship, and whose praise is also recorded at the neighbouring grave. Her husband, when he first addressed her, was an unprincipled young man, possessed of some wealth-not dissipated, but characterised for his sobriety; not slothful, but characterised for his industry in augmenting his fortune; not haughty, but characterised for his sociable and winning manners; not ill-favoured, but admired for his appearance. What lacked he yet? Many fathers and mothers, as well as light-hearted daughters, will ask with wonder, what an advantageous alliance for a destitute orphan? No, she had learned of her father the dignity of being a daughter of God, and a sister of Jesus: and her aunt had been careful in warning her, now that she was growing up into the years of womanhood, against the degradation of matching herself with a Canaanite: and by detailing many instances of misery and souldestruction as the consequence of despite done to the great Apostolic precept, inculcated the duty of marrying only in the Lord. How wonderful it is, she would often say, that Christian communicants of either sex shall make no acknowledgment of their Master in the most important step of life! What communion hath Christ with Belial? Thus disciplined, at the very first interview with her suitor, she adjudged him to be destitute of principle. He did not swear, nor use unseemly language (which is more than

I have given as much as will serve for a specimen of what I saw in the outer department of the scene of my dream; and proceed to the same in respect of the other

THE RESTING-PLACE OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

Such was the inscription over the gate in the wall which separated the outer from the inner cemetery. You may imagine how much I was relieved when, after my wandering among the nettles which grew on the graves of the useless, the unmerciful, and the ungodly, a beautiful and pleasant garden opened on my sight. Every grave was adorned with flowers, and many were shaded with fruit trees. Nor did that solitude reign here, by which the wilderness which I had just left were characterised. Not only were men retained at the public expense for dressing the graves, but those who admired the righteous dead, and persons who had been benefited by their assistance and counsel, often resorted thither to testify their respect for their memories. Having just read, in the outer department, a melancholy account of a wicked man, at the conclusion of which a reference was made to his wife, buried at No. 7, in the resting-place of the righteous, I sought it out first.

There was a general title here also for all the inscriptions: The character of the dead for the rebuke, counsel,

His

grave, having the sign of the cross. As the boys were arranging themselves, I read the inscription- The character of the dead for the rebuke, the counsel, and instruc tion of the living. Here lies the body of a soldier of Christ. He was born of pious parents, but lost his father when an infant. His mother did her duty in everything, but being careful where she had him apprenticed. He was put to work at the same bench with a profligate infidel, who poisoned his heart Ruined in character and prospects, he sought a refuge in the army of King George. weeping mother's life was a life of prayer, which followed him over the sea with its blessing. After resisting many remonstrances of the Spirit peacefully addressed to him, to use his own description, the Lord made the enemy's shot the healing medicine of his heart.' He returned home maimed and convicted; and there was no Sabbath school like the old soldier's for enlistments in the service of Christ. He perpetrated much evil when a youth. The council wish it had been otherwise; but in consideration of his zeal in redeeming his time, they have determined that he be buried among the useful.'

some communicants can say of the persons whose addresses they entertain). But he spoke of Burns and Byron with unqualified admiration. When he explained his intentions, and offered her his hand, she refused him, and told him why. He thought it was the coquetish hypocrisy of the sex. Fools of that class of which he then was, suppose that any woman may sacrifice her love of God for such as they. He was taught, and by a most vexing and humiliating experience, that there is such a thing as a heart so smitten with divine love, as to make every other love subordinate to its rule. She was not an insensible stone. She loved him as when her Lord loved a certain youth; but because he wanted one thing, declined to receive him as a disciple. She passed sleepless nights in lamentation that it was not otherwise with him who importuned her fayour. She was deeply in suspense, and afraid of failing in her resolution. She had well nigh made the rash vow, without a condition, that she would deny herself to him for ever. His importunities proving vain, he retired in indignation, imprecating curses on her bigotry and fanaticism. She did not bribe him to be religious by promising to receive him favourably, should he return a converted man: and when they parted, even the possibility of their future union entered the mind of neither. It was years afterwards, when, under personal afflictions, he was brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ. When he considered himself dying, he felt the need of some such principle as that which enabled a destitute female to reject the tempting offer he had made her of wealth and respectable station. His old affection revived now that there was hope. It was a marriage in the Lord. From the beginning its fruits were happy. But their only child having died in infancy, they commenced together such a career of Chris-Ir is a curious fact in the history of the world, that nations tian benevolence, in relieving the distressed and instructing the ignorant, as will place them at the head of one of the most numerous families in the kingdom of the redeemed. It was a blessing for the world that they were born. And among the many marriages which have been the pestiferous source of the world's misery, theirs, because God was consulted in it, was the salubrious source of incalcu-way Mania of 1845, to prove the truth of the assertion we lable profit. It shall be seen in the resurrection of the just.'

No. 28 was also a case worthy of notice. The grave here was likewise overshadowed with a wide-spread and richly loaded fruit-tree. The epitaph was as follows:- The character of the dead for the rebuke, the counsel, and the encouragement of the living. Here lies the body of a man, who, from adverse circumstances in early life (for his father and mother lie interred Without), having risen to wealth and respectability by his diligence, prudence, and integrity, was, by the suffrage of his fellow-citizens, elevated to the magistracy. He was a Christian magistrate. He never sat down on the seat of judgment without reflecting that he himself would yet stand at the bar of the Almighty, and be judged of by the manner in which he occupied his office. Hence, his decisions were characterised for impartiality in administering justice between man and man; and in cases of criminality he discriminated with care what judgment was due to society, and what mercy might be safely and profitably extended to the guilty. He was not one of those who endeavour to appear religious at the public expense. But then, the influence of the dignity of his office he regarded as being a talent to be employed in the Redeemer's cause: and, within the bounds of his administration, there was not a church or religious institution of which he approved (and he was liberal in his judgment) which did not profit by his countenance and aid. When he died, the city mourned for him as if every one had lost a father. In the day of his Lord he shall be exalted to the principality of many cities. Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?''

After surveying several other cases, all of them interesting (for there is no saint whose memory is not sweet), but which I have not time nor space for describing, my attention was attracted by a procession of youth entering the gate. They went and stationed themselves at No. 100, whither I followed them. A military flag waved over the

It was the anniversary of his birth-day. Those children who had been his scholars had met at his grave to say over it a hymn on the resurrection of the just. I was awoke by its melody.

I would try to dream again, could I be transported at once into the resting-place of the righteous, without passing through the dreary scene of the wilderness of the worthless.

THE RAILWAY MANIA OF 1845.

as well as individuals are subject to occasional fits of insanity. We have only to mention the Tulip Mania in Holland, the Mississippi Scheme in France, the South Sea Scheme, the Joint Stock Mania of 1825, and now the Rail

have made. At such times the most extravagant and delusive projects are started, and, in the words of a writer who lived at the period of the South Sea Bubble, They were set on foot by crafty knaves, then pursued by multitudes of covetous fools, and at last appeared to be in effect what their vulgar appellation denoted them to be, bubbles and mere cheats.' Yet on such occasions, so general is the desire for speculation, that the prevailing mania becomes, so to speak, national, and includes among its votaries all classes, from the peer and member of parliament to the smallest shopkeeper, and from the baronet's lady and daughters to the sempstress and household servant.

In tracing the causes which led to the Railway Mania of 1845, we at once admit as one of them the abundance of money and the consequent low rate of interest. Indeed, this is essential to all speculation in joint stock companies, and is easily accounted for. At such periods, money being plentiful, and deposited in large sums in the banks, at a very low rate of interest, no sooner is a new joint stock adventure advertised than there are applications for five or ten times the amount of the stock, and as all cannot obtain shares, the disappointed applicants go into the market and offer a premium. The success of the first projects induces adventurers to bring out new schemes, which likewise are brought to bear a premium by disappointed applicants, and sometimes by the projectors themselves, who buy up all the shares in the market at a premium, to induce the shareholders to pay the deposits on the stock. It is soon seen by the public that shares in new companies are always at a premium at the time of allocation, and the knowledge of this fact induces a class of speculators, called stags, to apply for shares, who have no intention of holding them, but who always sell at whatever premium is offered. These stags go on increasing in numbers as the speculation advances, until at length a great majority of

the applicants for stock are composed of that description of persons. As the speculation increases, it gives rise to the bulls, men who buy at small premiums with a view to sell over again at higher; and the bears, who sell at high premiums to buy in at lower prices. These speculators, consisting of jobbers, bulls, bears, and stags, from their numbers, may be said to control the fate of new companies; the bulls often raise the most worthless stock to a large premium, and, when backed by the projectors and the members of the provisional committee, they can easily raise the premium to any figure they please.

In the beginning of 1845, the establishment of stock exchanges in the principal towns of England and Scotland gave a great additional impetus to speculation, as the business done in these exchanges was almost wholly of a gambling nature. The brokers circulated daily printed lists of the prices of shares throughout the country, wherein the large premiums on new railways were quoted, which caused an almost universal infatuation for the acquisition of shares; even prudent sober-minded men could not withstand the temptation held out by the sharebrokers, whose offices were actually besieged by anxious individuals, evidently in the highest state of mental excitement. About this time one hundred new railway companies were advertised in the newspapers in one week, and about twelve hundred new projects, chiefly railways, were offered to the public in the course of a few months. Railway newspapers, in great numbers, were established at the same time, to afford the public the means of information on the all-engrossing topic. Many of these papers assisted to puff the new schemes into existence. At length the question every one asked of his neighbour was-Will there be a panic or not? and, if so, when will the crash come?' Meanwhile the speculators were every day becoming more anxious to realise, and this feeling caused a slight decline in the prices; then followed the thunder of the Times,' accompanied by a rise in the rate of discount by the Bank of England; now every one rushed to sell his shares, all confidence was gone, every one discovered that the value of scrip was precarious and illusory, and this, as a matter of course, produced the memorable crash of 1845.

heard of a new railway in the sister kingdom, wherein the committee consisted of two hundred and forty individuals, and yet only sixteen out of that number paid their deposits and became shareholders of the company. We have heard also, that names of influential gentlemen are sometimes obtained for provisional committees in a manner that is not very creditable to either party. Gentlemen of high standing in the country are solicited to allow their names to be inserted in the list of the committee; they consent, but at the same time stipulate, that they shall receive a guarantee from the agents to free and relieve them from all the expenses incurred in the formation of the company; and, in general, from any loss or risk they may sustain by allowing the use of their names. Here, then, are individuals brought forward as supporters of new railways, who never intend to take the slightest interest in them, and who are, in fact, mere decoy-ducks. This is an evil which calls loudly for legislative interference.

Another subject of complaint among shareholders is, that the members of committees often sell their shares and leave the concerns to shift for themselves; and they are able to sell without the fact being known, as they give out scrip with numbers only, but the names do not appear, so that no purchaser knows whose shares he is buying. Members of provisional committees, from their office, have opportunities of gaining important information regarding the affairs of their own companies, which gives them a most unfair advantage over the public; and for these men to job in the shares of the railway with which they are officially connected, is little better than the gambler who plays with loaded dice.

In conclusion, we have only to observe, that it is earnestly to be desired that government may, by a legislative enactment, prevent in future all gambling in railway scrip the consequences of which are highly demoralising, and have proved ruinous to so many of the otherwise honest and industrious. This object might be effected by making it not only illegal to buy or sell shares in any railway for which an act has not been obtained, but also to subject the party making such sale or purchase to a heavy penalty for each offence; and to enable government to enforce the law, stockbrokers should be obliged to take out a license, and keep a register of all their transactions, which register should be open to the inspection of the government officers. The stockbrokers should also be obliged to furnish weekly lists to government of all sales and purchases, with the names, occupations, and residences of their principals, tolicense, and a heavy fine; and it should be made criminal to buy or sell shares in joint stock companies, except through the medium of a licensed stock or share broker.

TOM SCOTT AND MARY JOHNSTON. 'A' body's like to be married but me.'

It must be evident from the foregoing remarks, that the abundance of money, the premiums on shares, and the establishment of the stock exchanges, were the chief causes which led to the mad speculation in railways, making them progress till the proposed capital amounted to the almost incredible sum of about seven hundred millions sterling. The stock exchanges afforded facilities for gam-gether with the prices, under the penalty of the loss of bling in shares, and gave a character to the business, which if it had been conducted by individuals privately, would have been otherwise characterised. The great majority of the speculators believed in a coming panic, but they thought to escape from loss, by selling their shares to the poor deluded victims of avarice, while they still bore a premium, and before the crash came. They, however, deceived themselves in expecting any previous warning;A' body's like to be married but me!'--that line of an they were sitting on a barrel of gunpowder, which the arch old Scottish song, stands at the head of a long entry thunder of the Times' exploded, and they were almost all in my mental sketch-book. I sincerely trust that none of caught with their hands full of scrip; and, consequently, my fair readers' hearts can sigh forth an echo to its doleful many of them will be ruined. No class of men will suffer cadences-‘A' body's like to be married but me.' How more loss than the members of the provisional committees. vividly the words recall an old story of old friends-Tom These gentlemen, in some instances, may be said to have Scott and Mary Johnston: it breathes of you both as I forgot their true position in regard to the public, which took such an interest in you half-a-dozen years ago; not was to allocate the stock to those, and those only, who that I do not take an interest in you still, friendly, sober were possessed of capital; but it is well known that they and constant, though, peradventure, its tone is somewhat often took an undue proportion of the shares to them- altered since then. selves, and in many cases allocated the remainder to their own personal friends. We have known highly respectable individuals, men of undoubted capital, who applied for shares in one new railway after another, and were always unsuccessful so long as the shares were at a premium, but as soon as the panic came, they received allotments in abundance. We should like to see an investigation made into the number of shares taken by members of the provisional committees in railways allocated before the panic, and the number taken and paid on by members of committees in railways allocated after the panic. We have

Mrs Johnston, Mary's mother, was at that period a very worthy lady of fifty or thereabouts, exceedingly simple and goodhearted-rather too much so, indeed, in this selfish world of ours, with which she had kept up a considerable struggle. She was the widow of a respectable Liverpool merchant, who dying nine or ten years before, and leaving her without any provision for herself or young daughters, she came with them to Edinburgh, her native city, and by the kindness of friends was established there; keeping a boarding-house for young men attending college, the law classes, &c.

At first, while her daughters were all young, everything self-application to master the details of their business, or went wrong with Mrs Johnston--she was no manager, no more resolutely deny themselves all the dissipation to economist. Having been herself the daughter of a wealthy which young men too often yield, than the Scotts did, and merchant, and brought up in habits of luxury and ex- their prosperity was the natural consequence of such a line pense, which her husband-an ostentatious and extrava- of conduct. Mary's suitor had boarded for several years gant man-had always encouraged, poor Mrs Johnston with Mrs Johnston, and had been captivated with Mary. could not bear to have any thing about her which she con- Prudently, however, resolving not to marry until he residered mean and shabby; she did not understand the ceived a promised increase of salary, he did not attempt to value of money; she had no idea of making bargains; she win Mary's affections, but contented himself with paying could not find in her heart to scold her two dirty, slovenly her attentions, which I believe Mary, who received such maid-servants, and could not prevent them taking manifest from all the young men in the house, was vain enough to advantage of her. She allowed herself to be cheated by relish and encourage; whether she anticipated their result every one who liked to do so, and exemplified the proverb in this case or not I cannot tell. Having at last received The simple man is the beggar's brother,' by becoming the addition to his income he had for some time expected, about the time her daughters were growing up, entirely he at once proposed for Mary. This proposal Mrs Johncareworn and nearly broken-hearted, from the increasing ston was very anxious Mary should accept, and Anne and pressure (in spite of repeated assistance from her relatives) Agnes, eager for the eclat of a marriage, though they would of debts long accumulated. Better prospects, however, be- only perform second parts at it, united in giving their votes gan to dawn upon her. Young head and young hands-on the acceptation side. The whole of Mary's more distant especially when taught prudence by the threatenings of relations, who had been applied to on the occasion, were poverty-if willing, can do much in an establishment; also unanimous in the same decision. But Mary was oband within little more than a year after Mrs Johnston had stinate-she would refuse Tom Scott, though the whole world voluntarily devolved the important government of her should unite to compel her to do otherwise. Perhaps all household on her daughters, a great deal was done to the little world of Mary's family and connexions having remedy the long-standing errors, which had been the joined to afford Tom support, was one of Mary's perverse principal cause of her difficulties. Fortunately, too, just reasons for declining his hand. Her principal one I knew then a wealthy cousin of Mrs Johnston's died and left her very well-Mary was a belle in her circle, and from her a legacy of a few hundred pounds, sufficient to pay all that mother's having two brothers in Edinburgh, wealthy solishe owed; so that by the time Mary, the second youngest citors, Mary and her sisters were invited into very good daughter, was eighteen, the family were really in flourish- society, and her vain little heart could not admit the idea ing circumstances; and Mrs Johnston, in a handsome of marrying a clerk, even although a confidential one, and easy chair, in the scrupulously neat widow's weeds she had in prospect of soon becoming partner in the house he continued to wear since her husband's death, with her gold served. Mary was vain enough to suppose she should yet spectacles, her knitting, and her old novel (the good lady receive many more offers. Then she was just at the age bad a strong youthful taste for fiction, and mostly for that to under-estimate the many estimable qualities Tom Scott exploded description of intense suffering followed by possessed, and to be fascinated by the young officers she equally ecstatic happiness, which our grandmothers loved occasionally met at her uncle's table; their flattering atto study), looked as comfortable an old lady as one could tentions had spoiled Mary completely, and rendered her wish to see. foolish enough to disdain plainer but certainly as worthy men. My cousin, Tom Scott, was a very excellent fellow, with good talents-for all the Scotts were clever-shy and reserved, perhaps, and not handsome; in company he did not look to advantage, but sterlingly honest, honourable, upright, and manly; and had I wanted a friend on whose advice and assistance to rely, among a thousand I would have chosen Tom. Living years in the same house with him, and therefore well acquainted with his character and disposition, no wonder Mrs Johnston was very desirous that Mary should become his wife.

Mary Johnston, my heroine, was a warm-tempered, warm-hearted girl, with respectable talents, a considerable quantity of desultory information, and a share of accomplishments; that is to say, she could play on the piano with some taste, but minus execution; she could draw steadily, but rather incorrectly; manage to translate a volume of Racine's plays, but without pretensions to saking the French language; and had dipped into Tasso without any very erudite knowledge of Italian. Also, on the score of a stylish little figure, a clear fresh complexion, hughing small mouth, white teeth, dimples, hazel eyes, and sunny brown braids, Mary was a little vain, and rather affected. She was a lady-looking girl certainly, and deridedly pretty, had it not been for that same dash of affectation which is the bane of so many pretty women. Anne and Agnes Johnston, the one older, and the other younger than Mary, were, according to the usual order of young ladies, thoughtless and lively, good dancers, good walkers, good talkers; yet by no means equalling Mary in powers of captivation.

At the time I speak of, when Mary was in her eighteenth year, I was called in, as a particular friend of the family, at a consultation they held on the very important subject of Mary's first offer, that I might use my influence with her (I believe its extent was rather overrated) to induce her to become a little less refractory and self-willed, which, as the principal person in the affair, she considered herself entitled to be. Besides, Mary's suitor happened to be a cousin of mine. He was, though only twenty-six years of age, the confidential clerk in the same house in which his brother and uncle were partners; and although his present fortune was not very great, his prospects were excellent; indeed, he had the probability of soon obtaining a share in the business. Some people wondered at the success of these same cousins of mine, whose father, although he had given them an excellent education, had no funds to push them on. Not so myself, or those who knew them intimately; for I never saw men devote themselves with more

When I entered the Johnstons' sitting-room, I found Mary seated on the end of one of the chintz-covered couches, knitting a green silk purse very fast, looking cross and rather sulky, surrounded by her mother and sisters, all actively canvassing the proposal on which I was to give my opinion. While Mrs Johnston and the others welcomed me, I said to my cousin Tom Scott's flame- Well, Mary, how are you to-day?'

Mary answered coldly; she guessed I was enlisted on the opposite faction.

Oh, Mrs Orr, I wish you could speak to Mary,' began Mrs Johnston, as soon as I was seated, about this very flattering proposal she has had from your cousin, Mr Tom Scott. I wish you could only tell her what is for her good, for the rest of us cannot persuade her to see it. About two hundred a-year he has now; and I'm sure all the time he has lived in my house, he has not been out in an evening after ten o'clock, more than once in three monthsalways in from his office at eight, and after taking his cup of tea, down to his book, and he never moves from it till supper time.'

I assented to Mrs Johnston's testimony of Tom Scott's extremely sober and domestic habits; but Mary only knitted the purse faster and faster, and did not condescend to take any notice of her mother's statement. She was just the sort of girl, at the age too, not to appreciate the force of it.

'Don't you think, Mrs Orr,' inquired Anne, if Mary accepted Tom Scott, he would take that first flat in Anne

During one of these rambles the Johnstons did encounter a young physician, who, while attending college several years before, boarded with their mother. Ho was esta'Dislike Tom Scott! oh Mary!' ejaculated all her sis-blished, with a promising practice, at Alnwick, I think, ters. But Mary had worked herself up to that pitch, that I do believe for the moment she fancied herself an exceedingly ill-used victim, about to be sacrificed by all her near relatives to an individual as unworthy as any of the male monsters in her mother's favourite novels. I was so provoked at Mary's pride and folly, that I half hinted my real opinion, that my cousin, Tom Scott, was a great deal too good for her; a piece of rudeness which Mary received with an indignant toss of the head.