HERE BEGINS THE ALLEGORY OF OLD AGE.

8. Old Age, this is Mr. Professor; Mr. Professor, this is Old Age.

OLD AGE.-Mr. Professor, I hope to see you well. I have known you for some time, though I think you did not know me. Shall we walk down the street together?

PROFESSOR (drawing back a little).—We can talk more quietly, perhaps, in my study. Will you tell me how it is you seem to be acquainted with every body you are introduced to, though he evidently considers you an entire stranger?

OLD AGE.-I make it a rule never to force myself upon a person's recognition until I have known him at least five

years.

9. PROFESSOR.

me so long as that?

-Do

you mean to say that you have known

OLD AGE.-I do. I left my card on you longer ago than that, but I am afraid you never read it; yet I see you have

it with you.

PROFESSOR. -Where?

OLD AGE.-There, between your eyebrows,-three straight lines running, up and down; all the probate courts know that token," Old Age, his mark." Put your forefinger on the inner end of one eyebrow, and your middle finger on the inner end of the other eyebrow; now separate the fingers, and will smooth out my sign-manual; that's the way you used to look before I left my card on you.

you

10. PROFESSOR.-What message do people generally send back when you first call on them?

OLD AGE.- Not at home. Then I leave a card and go. Next year I call; get the same answer; leave another card. So for five or six,- sometimes ten years or more. At last, if they don't let me in, I break in through the front door or the windows.

11. We talked together in this way some time. Then Old Age said again," Come, let us walk down the street together," and offered me a cane, an eye-glass, a tippet, and a pair of over-shoes. No, much obliged to you, said I. I don't want those things, and I had a little rather talk with you here, privately, in my study. So I dressed myself up in a jaunty way, and walked out alone; got a fall, caught a cold, was laid up with a lumbago, and had time to think over this whole

matter.

CI. THE PATRIOT'S ELYSIUM.

--

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

1. There is a land, of every land the pride,
Beloved by heaven o'er all the world beside;
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons imparadise the night;
A land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth,
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth.

2. The wandering mariner, whose eye explores
The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting shores,
Views not a realm so bountiful and fair,
Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air;

In every clime, the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole;
For in this land of heaven's peculiar grace,
The heritage of nature's noblest race,
There is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest,
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and scepter, pageantry and pride ;
While, in his softened looks, benignly blend
The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend.

3. Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife,
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life.
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye,
An angel-guard of loves and graces lie;
Around her knees domestic duties meet,
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.

"Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found?"
Art thou a man? a patriot?-look around!
Oh! thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam,
That land thy country and that spot thy home.

CII. A PAINFUL INCIDENT AT SEA.

C. C. FELTON.

1. After a day of the most painful experience, I sit down in the evening to continue my brief notice of events. I rose, as is my wont, at five o'clock. I went on deck, and took the usual rounds of the ship. The weather was a little overcast, and the sea ran high. After a while, Mrs. L. came up, and we sat talking in the wheel-house, from which we looked over the whole length of the ship. Suddenly, about twenty minutes past eight, the terrible cry of "A man overboard!" came from the forecastle. He was lowering the fore-top-gallantsail, about a hundred and ten feet above the deck, and fell, striking one of the lower sails, and then bounding into the

sea.

2. The captain was just coming up with his quadrant, to take an observation. He sprang forward, and gave his orders like lightning. The ship was hoven to, but with a tremendous strain upon masts and rigging; one of the boats was lowered, and three men jumped in. The sea was heavy, and the motion of the ship violent; the boat capsized, throwing

the three men into the sea. One, the boatswain, caught hold of the tackle by which the boat was still held to the stern of the ship, and was drawn on board. The other two were struggling in the waves. A fourth stripped himself and clambered down into the boat, which had righted itself, but was nearly full of water.

3. Just at that moment, a tremendous lurch of the ship dashed the boat against her, broke the tackling, tore off the davit, and she again capsized, with such a weight hanging underneath that it was impossible for her to right herself again. The brave sailor managed to get upon her keel, but she floated away, at one moment poised on the top of a wave, and the next sinking out of sight. Another boat was lowered instantly, and the second mate, the boatswain, who had already come within a hair's-breadth of losing his life, and two young sailors, volunteered to man her, and attempt the rescue of their shipmates.

4. Away they went. But the waves seemed to rise higher and the wind to blow stronger. We watched both boats with straining eyes, and the most painful, even agonizing, feelings. I assure you, those noble fellows had not one chance in a thousand of ever reaching the ship again in safety. All the rest-four in number-had disappeared from sight, and there was not the shadow of a possibility of their surviving. Two awful hours passed, and then the captain called his crew aft, and asked them if they thought it best to continue the search. After a moment of sad silence, they said, "No, there is no hope;" and the signal was given for the boat to return.

Without

5. But this was a difficult matter in such a sea. the most consummate seamanship, and the most absolute selfpossession, as well as despotic command over others, on the captain's part, it could not have been done, and four more.

gallant fellows would have followed their companions to the bottom. His presence was everywhere; his voice seemed to fill the ship; the men were puppets in his hands and did exactly his bidding. As the boat neared the ship, he ordered the men on board what to do. They obeyed implicitly and instantly, though the orders, as one of them has since told me, were directly contrary to their own rapidly formed plan. Ropes were thrown to them, and they were safely got on board, amidst the joyful congratulations of sailors and passengers. So unexpected was this marvelous rescue, that we, for the moment, forgot the poor fellows who had two hours since passed into eternity, under our very eyes. Then returned the solemn and awful sense of what had happened; and then the ship made sail, and all was over.

6. I need not say that this spectacle, which passed before my eyes, was the most terrible ever witnessed by me. But the skill, devotion, and energy shown by the captain, officers, and crew were sublime. In the midst of the horror, I could not help feeling this, too. I looked at the poor fellow, keeping his seat bravely on the keel of the distant boat; then at the four men in the second boat struggling to his rescue; then upon the captain, as he went aloft and gave his orders with the clearness of a trumpet; with a kind of spell-bound awe. But the might of the elements baffled the utmost that human skill, unconquerable devotion, and the noblest humanity could do. At eleven o'clock, a meeting was called in the cabin; and we passed resolutions and raised a subscription to procure some testimonial for those noble fellows who went out in the second boat.

CIII.-MEDIEVAL ARMOR.

C. C. FELTON

1. Having finished all that I desired to do there, we left Constance for Zurich, passing through Zug, and by the lake