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THE ORDINARY MAN.

BEING A SERIES OF INCIDENTS INCIDENTAL, OR RATHER INDIGINOUS TO INDIGENCE.

Ir a man has plenty of money, dresses well, and walks the streets all day, he is denominated a gentleman; but if a man, on the contrary, is destitute of cash, attires himself somewhat indifferently, and lounges about, he is at once stigmatized with the inelegant cognomination of 'loafer.' Such, O reader! are the inscrutable usages of society. Now, some people call me a loafer, merely because I transport bricks for builders, and hold horses sometimes at the races; but I content myself with the knowledge that man is a fallible animal, and too often led away by appearances. One fellow at the theatre, a few evenings since, was preposterous enough to affix that appellative to me, without having had the slightest previous acquaintance. I stepped up to him as he was issuing from the door, and very urbanely requested his check. 'Go to -! you dd loafer!' said he. I was so shocked at the man's reply, that I absolutely wheeled short round, and left him.

I should not take this ungentle appellation so much to heart, if I was one of that class of persons who extract sugar from hogsheads on the wharf, by means of a piece of reed fashioned in the form of a scoop, or pitch pennies in public places, or vend, as agents, the daily papers of the city. These occupations have never engaged my attention; yet some are indiscriminate enough to rate me among their professors. During my leisure hours, I saunter about the most respectable and fashionable places of amusement. I frequent the Battery. I do not visit Castle Garden, it is true: a shilling is demanded as entrance money, and being a gentleman of limited means, I cannot afford to disburse that sum. But as I have said, I go very often to the Battery, and yet people call me a loafer.

Last night, Uncle Jake and Mr. Dobbs requested me to accompany them to Maelzel's. I consented, on condition that they would become responsible for the charge of admission, which they jointly agreed to do. My worthy relative was very much astonished with the performance of the chess-player. He looked at it steadily for half an hour, and then turning to Mr. Dobbs, remarked, that 'the ingenuity of man was unaccountable to God.' Mr. Dobbs said that it was sartinly a great effort of nature, and a good deal previous to any thing he had ever seen;' and his sage companion finished the collocution, by observing that it was, to his idee, a most unmitigated complexion of machinism.'

I thought that, after having been seen at Maelzel's, people would cease to use the hateful epithet so unjustly bestowed upon me: but, unhappily, the very next day I was pushed against the stall of an apple-woman, overturning her table, and creating a world of havoc among her gingerbread and small beer. The lady, very much incensed, seized the body of a decapitated bottle, and discharged it with a most wonderful accuracy at my head, exclaiming, at the same time: Take dat, ye loafer!-ye tafe o' the world, dat ye are- and may the divil sind his blessing along wid it!'

I was very sorry at being the cause of the lady's misfortune, and

endeavoured, as far as possible, to palliate the offence; but this, instead of pacifying the female, only served to exasperate her the more. Ye divil incarnate!' shouted she, menacing me at the same time with the largest fragment of another bottle, 'be aff wid ye!' and not caring to receive a second salutation from so effective a missile, I walked on, leaving the wrathful dame to arrange matters with divers bad little boys, who had taken illegal possession of sundry of her apples, after the overthrow of the table.

While in this state of defection, I was joined by George Edward Fitz-Augustus Seaton, a colored man, who discharged the functions of waiter at the City Hotel. He informed me that he was going to market, for de special object,' as he declared, 'of purchasing wegetables and other animal matter, for de immediate consumption of de establishment.' Having nothing better to do, I agreed to accompany George Edward Fitz-Augustus, and we accordingly set off for Catharine Market. When we arrived at that dépôt of natural animate and inanimate productions, my companion walked up to the wagon of a fat countryman, and after peering for some time at his stock, inquired, if dose were good taters?'

'Yes, Sir,' responded the countryman.

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'A tater,' resumed George Edward Fitz-Augustus, is inevitably bad, unless it is inwariably good. Dere is no mediocrity in de combination of a tater. De exterior may appear remarkably exemplary and beautisome, while de interior is totally negative. But, Sir, if you wends de article upon your own recommendation, knowing you to be a man of probability in your transactions, I without any further circumlocution takes a bushel!'

George Edward now passed to the stall of a dealer in eggs and butter, and taking a quarter of a dollar from his vest pocket, commenced an inspection of the latter commodity. You call dat good butter?' demanded he, with a disagreeable expression upon his countenance, as of an ill flavor suddenly inhaled.

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as good butter as comes to this or any other

'What you tink 'bout axing for dat butter?' 'Twenty-five cents.'

'Twenty-five cents! And do you suppose, for de moment, dat your butter extensifys to such extreme waluation?-nasty, rancid stuff, churned over for de 'casion! - old butter renovated!' said the indignant George Edward, moving off; but dat 's de kind of negotiation I frequently meets with in dis market!'

A few days since, a shabby, shoeless, semi-coatless biped detained me in the street by thrusting forth his paw, and inquiring how I fared. I regarded the individual for some moments with a stare of mingled astonishment and disgust; and if he had had the smallest share of gentility, he would have perceived at once that I could be no otherwise than happy to dispense with his company.

'Ha' you forgot me already?' said he: why I'm the gen❜leman that helped you to pile wood last Saturday, at the lead-factory.' 6 Are you, indeed ?'

'Yes,' responded he: why you and I is old acquaintances: don't

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you recollect how we used to ride the porkers together, down at the Fulton market?'

'I cannot say that my memory serves me, in regard to such equestrian incidents,' answered I, shocked at the fellow's vulgarity.

'And you don't remember 'old black,' that used to hustle us off by running between the two post'ses?'

'No, I do not, Sir,' said I, indignantly.

'Well, that's redikelus !' rejoined the animal: 'any how, come and drink some brandy with me.'

Although I was startled at his rudeness, and treated him somewhat cavalierly, I nevertheless accepted his invitation, because I make it a point never to refuse a kindness. He conducted me passively to one of the city wharves, from thence up an alley, and finally into a back warehouse, where there were a great many pipes, barrels, and quarter-casks. Now,' said he, that there tier of pipes is Cogniac ; those quarter-casks is Madeira; and them barrels has got whiskey in 'em so take your choice and here's a straw to suck it with.'

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'Brandy is my selection,' responded I, extracting a bung, and commencing operations. Scarcely had I tasted the beverage, when a third person made his appearance. My companion and I immediately suspended proceedings, for in this person we recognised the features of a notorious police officer.

'Aha! you wagrants!' exclaimed he, flourishing a huge stick, which he carried in his dexter paw, 'I've nabbed ye at last!'

'What have I done, Sir?' demanded I, trembling from the toes up.

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Done? you d-d loafer!' roared out this Polyphemus

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had but one eye,) — why, hav n't ye been compromising the effects of individuals, by drinking their liquor?'

'Sir, I came here by that gentleman's invitation.'

'Then you always accepts invitations, eh ?'

'Yes, Sir, I do,' said I.

'Then I inwites you to come along with this gentleman and I, up to the office of a big fat man that wears spectacles, and is always happy to see indiwiduals like you, 'specially when you're in my company.'

The officer was inexorable in his purpose, and we were compelled to repair to the hall of justice. The constable made a statement of the case to the magistrate, and that stern disciple of the law, after eying us severely through a pair of glasses whose magnitude, to my excited vision, approximated the circumference of a tea-saucer, committed us for trial. I was recommended by the constable to some portion of this functionary's mercy, it being my first offence; but the unbending limb of the law shook his head with a negative,' saying that if I was not a rogue then, I soon would be one, and that it was always better to crush an evil in the bud.' 'It's a duty,' continued he, that I owe my country, and, by the shade of the immortal Draco! I'll perform it to the fullest extent: and as for you, young man,' turning to my companion, 'I know you to be an old offender; and so you may as well make up your mind for Blackwell's Island.' The day of our trial at length arrived, and we were conducted to

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the court, and in due season arraigned at the bar. My case came on previous to my companion's. Oh, the horror and despondency that possessed my faculties, as I mounted the prisoner's box! Never shall I forget it. Even now it comes over me, like the memory of some dark transaction to the mind of the departing soul. My charges were read, and the trial, with all its solemn attendant formalities, began. My own counsel and the counsel for the prosecution labored like men whose dearest interests were at stake. At length the jury were charged: they retired, and after the absence of an hour, returned and communicated with the court. 'Prisoner at the bar!' said the judgeand his silvery voice rang like a death-knell in my ear stand up, and hear your sentence !' I mechanically sprang to my feet, and a deep, still silence succeeded. You have been arraigned at this tribunal, upon sundry charges; and after having been allowed the full benefit of the law, you have been, by an impartial jury of your own countrymen, found guilty of them all.' The judge paused for a moment, and that peculiar solemnity, broken only by an occasional cough, reigned for an interval.

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Young man,' resumed he, it is our duty, professional and moral, to suppress vice in every shape; for this courts are instituted - for this punishments are awarded; and it now becomes my painful obligation to impart to you the sentence of the law. It is the judgment of this court, that you be fined one dollarthe Lord have mercy on your soul !'

and may

A WINTER SCENE.

THE arrested stream is silent: the broad lake
Gives back no dimple to the eddying wind:
No shadowy furrows streak its gleaming plane,
No ripple murmurs on its beach of snow.

The trees are hung with wreaths of pendant gems :
The mountains seem embodiments of light
Resting their bright crowns in the blue of heaven
So lustrous, fair, and spirit-like they stand
In their investiture of purity.

Is this the river that in voiceful spring

To its own music danced through banks of flowers?
The lake where lightly rocked the gilded bark
And the proud swan led forth her crested brood?
And are yon hills the same, whose fertile sides
Zoned with all grades of verdure, sent toward heaven
Commingling incense on the mists of morn?
All are the same, and yonder brilliant sun,
That scarcely warms the dazzling landscape now,
Shall melt them back to life- the hills shall yield
Of their dissolving robes to swell the stream,
Which to the lake shall pour its tribute tide:
The lake shall feed the clouds, and their dark folds
Shade the young roses from the kindling beam.

Earth shall yield up her vegetable dead;
But of all those who pressed her last spring flowers,
Many shall rest beneath them -some that roved
These solitudes, and made their echoes ring
With wild, heart-bubbling laughter, shall be still,
Yea, chambered in that vast unlighted hall,
To which earth's surface forms one mighty roof,
Which, with mad mirth, its coming tenants tread!

B.

THE GLORY AND HAPPINESS OF THE WORLD.

'The Lord is King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.' — PSALMS.

WITH what an open, unwithdrawing hand
Hath God poured glory on this glowing earth!
Truly, in wisdom hath he spread it out,
Traced its broad outlines, and with pencil dipt
In sunbeams, portioning its light and shade,
Hath as a finished picture hung it up

In the rich gallery of heaven. This earth,
This small and humble star, mingled and lost
Amidst the glittering clusters of the sky,

Hath not a white sea-wave, a tremulous wind,
A narrow fibre in a pointed leaf,

Unordered by that world-creating hand
That rolled Arcturus burning on his track
Among the constellations. The far sun,

The heaving ocean, and the solid land

The hills, the dark embroidered fields- the trees
Whose leaves thrill wildly to the passionate winds,
The bright-eyed minstrel birds that fluttering load'
Their branches; so magnificently decked

In golden-tissued robes; the clouds of heaven,

A crimson canopy for the lowliest brow,

The light and laughing stream, the sheeted lake,
Stampt with the royal signet of the sun,
The fairy-haunted train of flowers, the rain
That rings in music on the bubbling rill,
A blessing measured in its every drop;
The breeze of eve, night with her wizard moon
And sybil stars, and her deep genii winds,
That with perturbéd spirits of the ocean hold
Strong converse- all rich nature's master-tones,
All beautiful things that make earth paradise,
Have but one history - their maker -
Their archives' register- - one king- the Lord!

God!

Oh! that the dull cold ear of man could hear
Voices as angel-notes from earth's dim caves,
From her mysterious confines, bodiless sounds
And harps upon her winds, that ceaseless swell
Anthems to their strong ruler-God!

And man,

"The fearfully and wonderfully made,'
The prince of this fair realm, hath eye to read
And mind intelligent to comprehend

The teachings of this full and luminous book.
Its leaves how variously read! To some,

The beautiful creations of the world

Are on the heart as dark and feebly sketched,

As soon effaced, as flitting forms that cross

The camera-obscura's sheeted floor,

While some behold them with bright fancy's eye,
Crimsoned and purpled with the costly dyes
Of the prismatic lens; yet few so dull,
Bound by the grovelling senses' leaden chain,
To warm not with the beauty of the stars,
The mercy of the health-dispensing herb,
The glory of the deep and shall not man
Offer the incense of a grateful heart
To Him who placed him in so fair a scene,
And made it such deep happiness to live?

Our human life! - that brief and narrow space

How many joys are crowded in its span!

The scenery of years hath glowing skies;

Our daily paths are strewed with rosy wreaths;

Earth hath high places for her burning hearts,

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