Some say that this is he whom the great prophet,
Jesus, the Son of Joseph, for his mockery

Mocked with the curse of immortality.
Some feign that he is Enoch; others dream
He was pre-Adamite, and has survived
Cycles of generation and of ruin."

E are to have a pic-nic to-morrow in the woods at Elfdale, my husband; will you accompany us?" said Mrs. Liebenhoff, as they sat together in the window of their library one evening; we wish to give our American friends a breath of the delicious odor of our pine-woods, and a glimpse

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of our country life at this halcyon season. You will go, dear, will you not?”

“I cannot, I am sorry to say; I have much to do about this church matter you know; our vacation comes soon, and I wish to have all settled before that time. Go you and enjoy yourself, and my play shall be by-and-by.”

"And after that moving discourse of mine, you can find it in your heart to tell me all this without a blush! I see you are just like other sinners of the common clay of the world. You agree that the preaching is all very good, and you mean to repent and be converted-O yes, certainly, nothing else, but not until you have committed the very last sin, which seemeth good to the perverse nature within you. Pray heaven, it may not then be too late to turn from the evil of your ways,” and she looked upon his pale face with solicitude.

"What a crooked stick of a husband she has got, has she not? I wonder how she happened to take him to lean upon; does she not repent of her bargain, the little wife?"

"Too little crooked is the difficulty for this naughty world; I thought I had proved that to your satisfaction in my memorable sermon. Why, I do believe you have forgotten it! How discouraging to be a preacher! But, as I was saying, if you walk through life so erect, like a tall white pine tree, you will blow over, or break off, or be torn up by the roots in some unlucky gale or other."

"You are not a willow precisely; your sap has too much exhilarating gas in it for that, for though you may droop once in a while, before I can get across the room to comfort you, ten to one, you have played some trick upon me, and are ready to meet my condolence with a laugh in my face."

"It is all out of sheer compassion, I assure you. You have so many 'live vidders,' as Sam Weller calls them, and forlorn elderly maidens to console, and tempted, endangered young girls to keep out of harm's way, and young

men's harum-scarum ways to straighten, and old men's bitternesses to sweeten, and the wounded, bruised, and out-of-sorts generally to heal and set right; to say nothing of being chief purveyor for the community at large in their worldly affairs, that I long ago made up my mind to resign all claim upon you."

"Who brought home that nice market-basket, this morning, full of the delicacies of the season, to say nothing of a pretty bouquet of flowers and a Cape of Good Hope shell into the bargain? How unhappy I am to have such an ungrateful wife!"

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"O, of course you must eat something under all these inflictions, else you might fail of strength, and flowers and shells, and pictures, and such things, I am going to live upon in the future; I don't believe in eating, we think too much of creature comforts. Thank you, my dear husband, for everything of beauty you give me, and they are not a few; each leaf, petal, and full-blown flower, and tint of the shell is suggestive to me and nourishes my higher life. And as for pictures, they are my quartos and folios nowa-days."

"I am afraid you will grow willowy upon such ethereal food. Pray put this doubtful nutriment, for the corpus at least, between good, substantial slices of bread and butter, by way of sandwiches, you know; I really cannot spare you yet."

"Well, anything to please you; but don't be alarmed about losing me, I am going to be like the yew tree, that grows and grows until it seems to be past living, and you are on the point of cutting it down as a dead incumbrance, when lo! it makes a crook and out it shoots again all as fresh and new as ever, and thus it does indefinitely. Don't you see some new sprouts in my pericranium now?""

"Yes truly, but that is nothing new. You have been growing younger ever since our marriage. I must tighten the reins and disturb your happiness a little, or I shall

have upon my hands the child-wife' which Dickens writes about. But it is bed-time, especially if you go into the country to-morrow.”

"Yes, tighten the reins, please do; I want more opportunity of curvetting and prancing than you give me. Wouldn't I show my paces?"

The next morning, bright and early, the little lady was up, spreading bread with butter for sandwiches, cutting cake, and collecting from her storehouse the various dainties which northern women make a great point of accumulating for special occasions, if not for daily use. To see the generous provision she was making, one would incline to dissent from her assertion that she was going to eschew creature comforts; and her husband, as he passed her on his way out, hinted as much, adding that the source of the new shoots of the yew tree was no longer a mystery.

"A truce to your insinuations," said she; "Zoë Carlan is my especial charge to-day, and I am going to try to add some pabulum to her physique, or she will go off some day in cloud and vapor. She is the most dreamy little thing ever inclosed by mortality. I thought in my zeal I could make her common-sensible and contented with life in one or two interviews; but no such thing. I believe I have so far had exactly the contrary effect upon her, and that is not the worst of it either, for she carries me back to my foolish youth so completely by her great weird-like eyes, looking over, as they do, into Borrooboola-gha' continually, that ten to one, I shall find myself there with her, careering over the desert upon my Arabian steed with Abdallah by my side, telling me of his feats with his forty thieves, and whispering of our evening rest on the oasis by the side of the fountain, under the cocoa-nut palm-tree and-"

Whist! the little wife, what is she talking about?" said he, stooping towards her and raising her laughing face to his,

"O just giving you a hint that I am a part of your parish that needs looking after a little as well as the rest. Goodby," said she, tying on her bonnet, and taking her basket on her arm. "I told Zoë I would call for her on my way to the public conveyance. If we don't return before midnight you may know that we have dissolved into thin air, and to-morrow morning when you visit your favorite Calacanthus you will find me there before you, in the shape of a heavy dew. Until then, adieu."

Arrived at the carriage-station, they found Mrs. Körner and her children, Miss Dahl and Miss Meldan, friends of hers, the two American young ladies, Miss Holberg and Mrs. Castonio, a favorite friend of Mrs. Liebenhoff, who, with Zoë, Hilda, and herself, including baskets of every shape and size, bursting with refreshments, filled to somewhat more than the point of comfort the well-sized vehicle.

Just as they were leaving the city, Mr. Körner's bright face appeared at the window.

"Here you all are I perceive. Success to you! Goodby, darling," said he to the youngest, who, with outstretched arms, was petitioning for his attention.

"You will come, dear, will you not towards evening?" Isaid his wife.

"If I can; but don't expect me too confidently, I have so much to do. Fare ye well," said he, kissing his hand to them as they drove away.

"Widows indeed, if not widows in name two-thirds and a half of the time!" said Mrs. Körner. "I have got a plan for making a general conflagration of the notaries' offices in the city. Will you each turn out with your torch on the occasion, my friends? The signal shall be: 'Down with business; up with reasonable and religious good works.""

"You are fortunate if you have no religionists who put a technical meaning to that term," said Jenny Hale, "and cover with opprobrium, as they do in my country, the sect to which I belong, for believing in their importance."