received Dives himself with a warm right-hand of fellowship, appealed to his judgment or sense of propriety on many grave questions, submitted to his dictation, with exemplary patience, and sent him to heaven at last in a golden chariot all grandly arrayed with his purple and fine linen.

Encouraged and sustained by Sheriff Keezle and his family, Mr. Puffit suppressed his wife's remonstrance, and permitted his daughter to give a splendid party. The season at Newport had just closed, and several families and friends who had spent the summer there were invited, with the Puffit elite of Merrimack. I need not detain the reader to describe the preparations which were made for that party, nor the sumptuous tables that glittered in the lamplight, nor the costly wines and liquors that were drank, nor the dances, or other amusements.

Mr. Puffit was said to have been disappointed in seeing only two daily journals represented, but he should have been satisfied with the reports which they gave. One of them was headed,-" The Puffit Party!" and the other,Newton Puffit, Esq., or the Sunny side of Hickory Hall !" "Our host" was praised for his "unbounded hospitalities," and his "gentlemanly spirit and bearing;" and a glance or two at his "mammoth business" was not omitted. His daughter was complimented-even her dress, her jewels, her splendid hair, "looking like ripples of light," the romance of her "large, lustrous eye," and "the incomparable beauty of her form and features," were described; and it was averred, " without being invidious,

that Arabel Puffit and Clara Keezle were the Belles of the Merrimack Ball."

One of the journals gave a few items of the liberal outlay which was made for that grand occasion. After asserting that Mr. Puffit was the Napoleon of manufacturers," it stated the amount of the refreshment and Japonica bills in round numbers, and concluded by saying that these generous disbursements all went to restore the equilibrium of property; and this falling and rising of the rich and poor on the scale of wealth, was an eternal see-saw that kept the world in balance.

Another journal took a different view of the subject, and said "We are dubious about this see-saw keeping all the world in balance. The fast manufacturer, who knew no better use for his money than to spend five hundred dollars and more on a single party, is in one of the scales; the editor of the Eagle, with a two thousand dollar office, in ditto. We also have nothing personally to complain of, but when we look into the other scale, and see there a thousand poor women, driven, some to despair, others to suicide, and others to infamy, because they cannot acquire, by any sort of honest industry, the two dollars per week which is the lowest sum with which they can keep soul and body together;-when we read the police reports, showing how many poor children are driven forth from the cellars and garrets of this Christian city, to gain, by means of vice, their own and their parents' subsistence; when we know and reflect, that not less than two thousand inhabitants of Merrimack are to-day destitute and out of work, living from hand to mouth on public or private charity, and

falling daily from want into crime, we find it impossible to balance the world's good and ill fortune, as our neighbor so readily thinks he does. The old Book says, (Prov. xi: 1.) ' A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,' and our neighbor should be careful and not be caught using that sort."

9*

XXIII.

In the meantime our evening-school flourished, and Julia Warden was taking her pleasure from it, as from society and books. Some of the girls commenced with much embarrassment. When she reflected, Miss Mumby's florid cheeks turned pale, at the very thought of attempting to read before her accomplished tutor. She had the confidence to be quite familiar with Julia when she glittered in her rings and flaunted in her ribbons and flounces, but to read before her! "O, murder!" cried Miss Mumby, (using this favorite exclamation for the last time,) “I shall show myself a dunce!" But Julia repeated her invitation, and Olive prepared herself for the trial. She went and returned encouraged, and went again, and returned with still more courage, and with such an open pronunciation, and such a full, clear, and pleasant voice, in lieu of her old affectations, you would scarce have recognized her speech.

Anna Logan needed not to have blushed at all to begin with Julia. Good reading and thinking, good prose and poetry, she had in her, and all there was to do was to teach it the art of expression. Julia Warden had a key to unlock her treasure-holding nature, and she gave her

encouraging lessons. Anna swallowed them all, as I have seen a caged canary swallow seeds and water after a day's neglect. Anna astonished her tutor by her progress, and when six months expired, she was the first on hand at the Book Society, and having no notion of paying a fine, she slipped a composition into Julia's hand.

The project of a manuscript periodical was discussed, and it received great favor. We decided that it should be a quarterly. Julia Warden was requested to occupy the editorial chair, but she declining, Agnes Newman was persuaded to take it, with the understanding that Julia should assist her. It was to contain the value of four letter-sheets, and be read by the president. We called it the "Garden." We hoped that on quarter-nights we might find it dressed and blooming with not unsightly flowers.

Our hopes were very well fulfilled. The evening of the first number came, and Julia's parlor was filled with members and guests. The "Garden" was the subject of entertainment for the night. Agnes thought her part must be done as daintily as possible, and she had four elegant letter-sheets tied with a blue ribbon, on which were written her brief editorials, and wafered the contributions. She asked her assistant to read it. For lovers of beauty, it was delightful to gaze on the brilliant Julia, as she received the " Garden," and took her chair to read. She appeared quite majestic when seated, the bloom on her cheek was kindled up to its warmest glow, the white jessamine, as usual, adorned her hair, and the beautiful thoughts shone in those clear and