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knelt by the bedside; and, bathing her hand with his tears, vowed that he would never more part from his mother-that he could not hope to expiate his crimes, save in a life of piety and peace with her.

"Thank heaven! thou art again my own virtuous son," said the matron, her cheek lighting up with the sweet smile of peace. "Soon-very soon, I feel will heaven grant thee thy reward!"

Her anticipations were but too just. Her illness became daily more and more serious; and at length when the leaves had fallen, she slumbered away, like her lamented husband, in the arms of Margaret and Eugenius.

It was not till then that the horror of his intended crime came with full force before the young man's mind; for though it had happily been frustrated, yet he looked upon himself as a murderer, and his soul was torn with all the horrors of remorse.

His true friend Severus laboured to calm his despair, and with some success. But he sunk into silent melancholy, avoiding all society, and refusing all, almost even necessary sustenance. Weeks passed over in this unhappy state. One day Margaret came into his apartment in a full travelling dress.

"I am come, dear master Eugenius," said she, with a tremulous voice-" I am come to take my leave of you. My family in the village three miles hence will now take me back again. I came to bid you"

It

She could not articulate the word. A new light burst upon Eugenius. seemed as if the grief which had been corroding his heart were vanished, and a new feeling-one which had been long, though insensibly, growing-had taken its place.

Margaret," cried he, passionately, "if you leave me, I shall die the death of the despairing sinner? O, dearest Margaret, be mine for ever!"

How long-how truly had the poor girl loved him even before she was herself aware of it! She sank faint and unconscious in his arms.

At this moment Severus entered the

room.

"Thank heaven, my friend," said he, "you have found the angel of light, who will lead your soul back again to peace, and secure your happiness both in this and in a better world."

DOMESTIC MATTERS.

BY F. HOPKINSON. WHEN a young couple are about to enter into the matrimonial state, in Philadelphia, a neverfailing article in the marriage treaty is, that the lady shall have and enjoy the free and unmolested exercise of the rights of whitewashing, with all its ceremonials, privileges and ap

purtenances. A young woman would forego the most advantageous connexion, and even disappoint the warmest wish of her heart, rather than resign the invaluable right. You would wonder what this privilege of whitewashing is:-I will endeavour to give you some idea of the ceremony, as I have seen it performed.

There is no season of the year, in which the lady may not claim her privilege, if she pleases; but the latter end of May is most generally fixed upon for the purpose. The attentive husband may judge by certain prognostics when the storm is nigh at hand. When the lady is unusually fretful, finds fault with the servants, is discontented with the children, and complains much of the filthiness of every thing about her-these are signs which ought not to be neglected; yet they are not decisive, as they sometimes come on and go off again without producing any further effect. But if, when the husband rises in the morning, he should observe in the yard a wheelbarrow with a quantity of lime in it, or should see certain buckets with lime dissolved in water, there is then no time to be lost; he immediately locks the apartment or closet where his papers or his private property are kept, and, putting the key in his pocket, betakes himself to flight: for a husband, however beloved, becomes a perfect nuisance during this season of female rage; his authority is superseded, his commission is suspended, and the very scullion, who cleans the brasses in the kitchen, becomes of more consideration and importance than him. has nothing for it but to abdicate, and run from an evil which he can neither prevent nor mollify.

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The husband gone, the ceremony begins. The walls are in a few minutes stripped of their furniture; paintings, prints and lookingglasses lie in a huddled heap about the floors ; the curtains are torn from their testers, the beds crammed into the windows; chairs and tables, bedsteads and cradles crowd the yard; and the garden fence bends beneath the weight of carpets, blankets, cloth cloaks, old coats, and ragged breeches. Here may be seen the lumber of the kitchen, forming a dark and confused mass; for the foreground of the picture, gridirons and frying-pans, rusty shovels and broken tongs, spits and pots, and the fractured remains of rush-bottomed chairs. There, a closet has disgorged its bowels, cracked tumblers, broken wine-glasses, phials of forgotten physic, papers of unknown powders, seeds and dried herbs, handfuls of old corks, tops of teapots and stoppers of departed decanters !-from the rag-hole in the garret to the rat-hole in the cellar, no place escapes unrummaged. It would seem as if the day of general doom was come, and the utensils of the house were dragged forth to judgment, In this tempest the words of Lear naturally

present themselves, and might, with some al- leak through and spoil the engraving; no teration, be made strictly applicable :

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Raise your concealing continents, and ask
These dreadful summoners grace!"

This ceremony completed, and the house thoroughly evacuated, the next operation is to smear the walls and ceilings of every room and closet with brushes dipped in a solution of lime, called whitewash; to pour buckets of water over every floor, and scratch all the partitions and wainscots with rough brushes wet with soap-suds, and dipped in stonecutter's sand. The windows by no means escape the general deluge. A servant scrambles out upon the penthouse, at the risk of her neck, and, with a mug in her hand and a bucket within reach, she dashes away innumerable gallons of water against the glass panes, to the great annoyance of passengers in the street.

I have been told, that an action at law was once brought against one of these waternymphs, by a person who had a new suit of clothes spoiled by this operation; but, after a long argument, it was determined by the whole court, that the action would not lie, inasmuch as the defendant was in the exercise of a legal right, and not answerable for the consequences; and so the poor gentleman was doubly nonsuited; for he lost not only his suit of clothes but his suit at law.

These smearings and scratchings, washings and dashings, being duly performed, the next ceremony is to cleanse and replace the distracted furniture. You may have seen a house-raising, or a ship-launch, when all the hands within reach are collected together; recollect, if you can, the hurry, bustle, confusion and noise of such a scene, and you will have some idea of this cleaning match. The misfortune is, that the sole object is to make things clean; it matters not how many useful, ornamental or valuable articles are mutilated, or suffer death under the operation; a mahogany chair and carved frame undergo the same discipline; they are to be made elean at all events; but their preservation is not worthy of attention. For instance, a fine large engraving is laid flat upon the floor; smaller prints are piled upon it, and the superincumbent weight cracks the glasses of the lower tier; but this is of no consequence. A valuable picture is placed leaning against the sharp corner of a table; others are made to lean against that, until the pressure of the whole forces the corner of the table through the canvass of the first. The frame and glass of a fine print are to be cleaned; the spirit and oil used on this occasion are suffered to

matter, if the glass is clean, and the frame shine, it is sufficient; the rest is not worthy of consideration. An able mathematician has made an accurate calculation founded on long experience, and has discovered that the losses and destruction incident to two whitewashings are equal to one removal, and three removals equal to one fire.

The cleaning frolic over, matters begin to resume their pristine appearance. The storm abates, and all wonld be well again, but it is impossible that so great a convulsion, in so small a community, should not produce some further effects. For two or three weeks after the operation, the family are usually afflicted with sore throats or sore eyes, occasioned by the caustic quality of the lime, or with severe colds from the exhalations of wet floors or damp walls.

I know a gentleman, who was fond of accounting for every thing in a philosophical way. He considers this, which I have called a custom, as a real periodical disease peculiar to the climate. His train of reasoning is ingenions and whimsical, but I am not at leisure to give you the detail. The result was, that he found the distemper to be incurable; but, after much study, he conceived he had discovered a method to divert the evil he could not subdue. For this purpose he caused a small building, about twelve feet square, to be erected in his garden, and furnished with some ordinary chairs and tables; and a few prints of the cheapest sort were hung against the walls. His hope was, that, when the whitewashing frenzy seized the females of his family, they might repair to this apartment, and scrub and smear and scour to their hearts' content; and so spend the violence of the disease in this outpost, while he enjoyed himself in quiet at head-quarters. But the experiment did not answer his expectation; it was impossible it should, since a principal part of the gratification consists in the lady's having an uncontrolled right to torment her husband at least once a year, and to turn him out of doors and take the reins of government into her own hands.

There is a much better contrivance than this of the philosopher, which is, to cover the walls of the house with paper: this is generally done; and though, it cannot abolish, it at least shortens, the period of female dominion. The paper is decorated with flowers of various fancies, and made so ornamental, that the women have admitted the fashion without perceiving the design.

There is also another alleviation of the husband's distress; he generally has the privilege of a small room or closet for his books and papers, the key of which he is allowed to keep. This is considered as a privileged place, and stands like the land of Goshen amid the plagues of Egypt. But then he

must be extremely cautious, and ever on his guard; for should he inadvertently go abroad and leave the key in his door, the housemaid, who is always on the watch for such an opportunity, immediately enters in triumph with buckets, brooms, and brushes; takes possession of the premises, and forthwith puts all his books and papers to rights-to his utter confusion, and sometimes serious detriment. For instance:

The

A gentleman was sued by the executors of a tradesman, on a charge found against him in the deceased's books, to the amount of thirty pounds. The defendant was strongly impressed with the idea, that he had discharged the debt and taken a receipt; but, as the transaction was of long standing, he knew not where to find the receipt. suit went on in course, and the time approached when judgment would be obtained against him. He then sat seriously down to examine a large bundle of old papers, which he had untied and displayed on a table for that purpose. In the midst of his search, he was suddenly called away on business of importance; he forgot to lock the door of his room. The housemaid, who had been long looking out for such an opportunity, immediately entered with the usual implements, and with great alacrity fell to cleaning the room, and putting things to rights. The first object that struck her eye was the confused situation of the papers on the table; these were without delay bundled together as so many dirty knives and forks; but in the action, a small piece of paper fell unnoticed on the floor, which happened to be the very receipt in question as it had no very respectable appearance, it was soon after swept out with the common dirt of the room, and carried in the rubbish-pan into the yard. The tradesman had neglected to enter the credit in his book; the defendant could find nothing to obviate the charge, and so judgment went against him for the debt and costs. A fortnight after the whole was settled and the money paid, one of the children found the receipt among the rubbish in the yard.

There is another custom, peculiar to the city of Philadelphia, and nearly allied to the former: I mean, that of washing the pavement before the doors every Saturday evening. I at first took this to be a regulation of the police; but, on further inquiry, find it is a religious rite preparatory to the Sabbath; and is, I believe, the only religious rite, in which the numerous sectaries of this city perfectly agree. The ceremony begins about sunset, and continues till about ten or eleven at night. It is very difficult for a stranger to walk the streets on those evenings; he runs a continual risk of having a bucket of dirty water thrown against his legs; but a Philadelphian born is so much accustomed to the danger, that he avoids it with surprising dex

terity. It is from this circumstance that a Philadelphian may be known any where by his gait. The streets of New York are paved with rough stones; these indeed are not washed, but the dirt is so thoroughly swept from before the doors, that the stones stand up sharp and prominent, to the great inconvenience of those who are not accustomed to so rough a path. But habit reconciles every thing. It is diverting enough to see a Philadelphian at New York, he walks the streets with as much painful caution as if his toes were covered with corns, or his feet lamed with the gout; while a New Yorker, as little approving the plain masonry of Philadelphia, shuffles along the pavement like a parrot on a mahogany table.

It must be acknowledged, that the ablutions I have mentioned are attended with no small inconvenience; but the women would not be induced, on any consideration, to resign their privilege. Notwithstanding this, I can give you the strongest assurances that the women of America make the most faithful wives and the most attentive mothers in the world; and I am sure you will join me in opinion, that if a married man is made miserable only one week in a whole year, he will have no great cause to complain of the matrimonial bond.

MAXIMS FOR LONDON STREETS.

BY J. B. VAN SCHAICK.

THE art of effecting a safe and tolerably rapid passage through human shoals, such as that uncompromising thing, a London crowd, is no mean accomplishment in peripatetic navigation. A friend first called my attention to the theory of the thing, in some very laconic advice; "Throw your shoulders forward, sink your polite habit of yielding to others, and wait for nobody-at your present rate, you will be two hours getting through Temple Bar." He was right, and I experienced the benefit of "throwing my shoulders forward, dispensing with my politeness," &c.

But on a first visit to a crowded street, the Strand and Fleet Street, for instance, it is almost impossible to keep the attention undistracted by the various objects around, instead of directing it to the important business of the moment, videlicet, a safe progress. Ever and anon, the hapless absentee is disagreeably aroused by a powerful collision with a chimney-sweep, a blind beggar, or some equally unpleasant specimen of humanity.

If he has never been run over, or consciously in danger of it, he will peril his life in crossing the street by the ill-timed security of his faculties. If, fortunately, his perceptions have been awakened without mortal injury, he thenceforth flies across like a frightened maniac, darting uneasy glances at carts and

coaches not within pistol-shot. I saw such a man once turn pale and tremble at being aroused from a reverie by an accidental touch on the shoulder from a plank carried by a porter. He, probably, for a moment, thought that it was either a "bum bailey," or an insult, and that he must go to jail or fight.

An uninitiated will traverse the business parts of the metropolis without raising his eyes above the level of the shop-windows, unless to look at St. Bride's illuminated clock.

On the contrary, behold the experienced peripatetic; how delightfully he glides along ; his practised and comprehensive eye takes in a thousand objects at a glance; his intense, but momentary stare, returns as much information to the head quarters of his mind, as the contemplation of minutes would do for the greenhorn. In traversing either of the grand arteries of London, he will see a hundred queer people, odd things, and often humorous little adventures, which would escape less experienced vision. Does he incline to stop? He fences himself in with a knowing adjustment of his umbrella or his cane in a noli me tangere style, most worthy of imitation. street to be crossed? His rapid eye takes inventory of the impediments, and with a firm step, and not undignified haste, he traverses safely a Charybdis of carts and coaches, where an ignorant pilot would probably be wrecked. Such is the force of habit, that he may even harbour a reverie in the heart of the city. Though his mind should for a moment abandon the helm, his body sways with its accustomed skill, and his head would duck aside from intuition if approached by a threatening projection.

Is a

"Horrible, most horrible," are the ills and disagreeable accidents which beset the path of the pedestrian in London. The disgusting importunity, and almost unquenchable zeal with which you are assaulted by the "grimed and greasy" sweeper of a crossing, whom your most fervent protestations cannot convince that you carry no copper; the practical announcement of "no thoroughfare," from a long line of ten or twelve horses, with a coal wagon, which they drag across your path from an archway, at the pace of a wounded snake; the risk of being beheaded without a trial, by some reckless bearer of a beam, who approaches from behind, unconscious as he is careless of your danger-these are some of the less evitable perils which environ the lounger.

If a child gets between your legs, do not stop to let it disengage itself, but catch it up, and carry it to the next vacant shop-door or blind alley, where you can put it down without any diminution of speed.

Be not too ambitious of taking the wall; stick to the "outside edge; " humility is often, like virtue, "its own reward;" not but that

you must have the faculty of twirling like a caterpillar: you might as well expect to go through the world without making enemies, as to go through the Strand in a right line.

Learn to adjust your umbrella, your elbows, and the knuckle of your middle finger, so as to form a chevaux-de-frise for the protection of the rest of your person; one may then read nemo me impune in your face.

If you come to a shoal at a print shop window, and are doubtful of your physical powers to effect a passage, select some broadshouldered pilot, and stick close in his wake.

If you are to cross where there is a throng of vehicles, take the opportunity when a great many are about doing so at the same time; for, though you will find plenty who would drive over a single individual, few have the hardihood to ride down half a dozen at once.

Give a penny to a sweeper at a crossing, if you have it, but if you have it not, the best way is to cross rapidly without paying any attention to the claimant. "Fine words butter no parsnips" with them, and they pursue a kind-hearted man with redoubled vehemence,

The characteristic maxim of a Londoner must be something like a translation of sauve qui peut; for your real knowing one cannot be decoyed into listening to shabby-genteel beggars, with long rigmarole stories, who beset

innocent strangers. The first symptoms of attention is downright encouragement to vagrancy. Eschew it, therefore, and go on your way, asking nothing, and giving accordingly.

WASHINGTON phrenologically described by Combe:-" Washington was one of the greatest men that ever lived. His temperament seems to have been sanguine bilious; his head large, and well adapted in every part, the moral sentiments and intellectual reigning supreme. He had a constancy which no difficulties could overcome, and an honesty of purpose and ardour of patriotism which no temptation could swerve nor opposition subdue. He always regarded his country before himself, and in him there was no quality of mind deficient-no quality in excess, no false lights, and no deficient lights. He, therefore, gave to every thing its due weight, and no more. He was dignified, courteous, and just; brave, cautious, politic, quick to perceive, and prompt to judge, always acting in the right manner. Those who say that Washington was not a great man, can merely mean that he displayed no one quality in excess that he played off no coruscations; but he had that sterling worth, that daily beauty in life, that force of character, that grandeur and elevation of the whole man, which renders him far more great and estimable, in my opinion, than the poet, the painter, or the orator.

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A ROMANCE IN THE FOREST. From "Glimpses of Western Life," by Mrs. MARY CLAVERS, an actual settler.

CHAPTER I.

ONE morning when the atmosphere was particularly transparent, and the shower-laid earth in delicious order for a ride, I had an invitation from my husband for a stroll-a "splorification" on horseback; and right joyously did I endue myself with the gear proper to such woodcraft, losing not a moment, for once, that I might be ready for old Jupiter, when he should come round. We mounted; and followed the bridle-path for miles, finding scarcely a trace of human life. We scared many a grey rabbit, and many a bevy of quails, and started at least one noble buck; I took the opportunity of trying old Jupiter's nerves and the woodland echoes, by practising poor Malibran's "Tourment d'Amour," at the expense of the deepest recess of my lungs. Old Jupiter, he is deaf, I believe, jogged on as before, and I still amused myself by arousing the Dryads, and wondering whether they ever heard a Swiss refrain before, when I encountered a sportsman, belted, pouched,

VOL. I.

gunned, and dogged, quite comme il faut, and withal, wearing very much such a face as Adonis must have looked at when he arrayed himself at the fountain.

What an adventure for a sober village matron! I thought seriously of apologizing to the stranger for singing in the woods, of which he seemed like the tutelar deity; but fortunately Mr. Clavers at this moment returned, and soon engaged him in conversation; and it was not long before he offered to show us a charming variety in the landscape, if we would ride on for a quarter of a mile.

We had been traversing a level tract, which we had supposed lay rather low than high. In a few minutes, we found ourselves on the very verge of a miniature precipice; a bluff which overhung what must certainly have been originally a lake, though it is now a long, ovalshaped valley of several miles in extent, beautifully diversified with wood and prairie, and having a lazy, quiet stream winding through it, like-like "like a snake in a bottle of spirits;" or like a long strip of appleparing, when you have thrown it over your head to try what letter it will make on the carpet.

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