B. "A very right and prudent way of thinking; it would be well if every one thought as rationally."

Von Tackjern. “Yes, people would render themselves and their country better service in that way than by giving themselves up to every kind of fantastic and philanthropic whim. That philanthropy, with all its societies and collections, it totally ruins

B. "Don't speak so loud, for here comes a lady very formidable on this score, one of our fellow citizenesses

"Say formidable, because she is irresistible by her good heart and her good temper, this tutelar saint of the poor," said a young man who stood near the speakers, "and one cannot possibly say no to anything which she desires."

"It is one of my principles never to put my name down to any subscriptions," said Von Tackjern, and buttoned up his

coat.

"And it is one of mine always to do so," said the former speaker, "when they are promoted by persons whom I know to be really the friends of the poor, as is the case with my cousin Mimmi Svanberg."

Mimmi Svanberg came up to the last speaker at this very moment and asked in a merry and low voice:

"My good Yngve, your father was a warm friend of his country, and you are his worthy son, and-you have no doubt an old pair of boots! I want a pair this week.”

"They shall stand before your door to-morrow morning, my dear cousin; because if I have not any, some of my friends have, which will be quite at your service. Whose old legs are you going to make happy with them?-though it is all one But do you not want two pair? Go and ask our rich ironmaster here

to me.

وو

"No thank I shall take care not to you; to whom I go, Thank you, dear Yngve. done with you yet; I want to turn this account; and you must help me to do so.

do so. I know

But I have not evening to good I want the price

of the tickets to be applied to the benefit of our infant school. Cannot you propose it, Yngve? We must speak to our good

pastor about it and endeavor to interest Mrs. Tupplander in the subject. Where is she?"

Mrs. Tupplander sate in the middle of the sofa, glittering in full feather and pomp of attire, enthroned like a queen, or rather as one who would enact the queen. Mrs. Tupplander would in fact be very willingly queen-regent of the town, the greatest chicken in the hen-coop, as the saying is, the first lady in company, and as yet no one has contested the place with her, because she is a rich widow, who gives liberal alms, and extremely good dinners, to which her housekeeping companion, a lady of good family, the Honorable Miss Krusbjörn, greatly contributes. Miss Krusbjörn has a genius in this line, and manages Mrs. Tupplander's house both in a clever and splendid manner, which is precisely according to Mrs. Tupplander's notions. Mrs. Tupplander and Miss Krusbjörn divide the rule of the family, as in a constitutional government, into the upper and lower house; but in case of difference of opinion, which frequently occurs, the lower house generally carries its own point. Mrs. Tupplander bears the name, but Miss Krusbjörn has the power. Yet Mrs. Tupplander and Miss Krusbjörn could not live without each other. But enough for the present about these ladies.

Mimmi Svanberg, who saw the weaknesses of her fellow creatures, and smiled at them rather than let them annoy her, was nevertheless sometimes annoyed by Mrs. Tupplander, though she always kept up a good understanding with her for the sake of her poor neighbors; and therefore she listened with great patience to the description of a dinner which Mrs. Tupplander was about to give, and of all the delicate dishes and wines, the whole sprinkled with the praises of Miss Krusbjörn and her talents. When, however, Mrs. Tupplander approached the end of her dinner details, Mimmi Svanberg attacked her on her weak side, as the friend and patroness of the poor, and obtained the promise of her help on behalf of a needy family, as well as her advocacy and co-operation in a plan which would be brought forward that very evening. In this way compelled to a certain degree, Mrs. Tupplander gave

her consent, but added with a little pepper, as it were, on the tip of her tongue:

"I cannot for my part imagine, dear Mimmi, how you can undertake and have so many things on hand at once; your father, on the contrary, never seems to be ready with anything which he is about."

“The reason is,” replied Mimmi gaily, "because papa lives for eternity and I merely for the moment."

Mimmi Svanberg had in fact a mode of speaking and acting very unlike that of her father. It might at the first glance appear to be of that kind which many ladies are well versed in, and which may be called the hand-over-head method. But if all those who made use of this method were guided by so good a heart and so clear an understanding as Mimmi Svanberg, then they would, in their hand-over-head proceedings, always manage to say and to do the very wisest and best things.

As a matter of course Mimmi Svanberg, with these warm impulses and this disposition, was a favorite in the town both with rich and poor, nor would it amaze any one to find that she had a great number of uncles and aunts, above forty cousins, and an almost incalculable number of good friends and acquaintances who looked up to her for counsel and help in joy as well as in sorrow. Much more amazing was it to many people, and to myself among the rest, that Mimmi Svanberg, warm-hearted, universally beloved, and good-looking, should not have fixed her heart steadfastly upon some one, instead of moving about in an element of human love and beneficence, like a bird in the air or a fish in the water, finding enough for herself there without desiring anything besides. Perhaps there might lie behind some concealed cause,- -which we may discover on some future day.

We will now accompany her light step to a group of ladies, to whom we, a few moments ago, saw the eyes of two gentlemen directed, assaying their worth. It was thus that some young girls talked of the party at which they were assembled. "Ah, how gay it will be here! Quite charmingly gay. But

don't you think that the bride elect looks very grave, and her lover very stupid ?"

"Yes; this match is, on her side, a mere money match. There was another whom she liked much better; but Von Tackjern is rich, and she has accepted him to please her family."

"Poor girl! If I had been in her case I would have had Lieutenant M. He is so handsome, and so agreeable.”

"Excepting when he is a little-tipsy, which he is sometimes."

"Oh, but then he is so very charming to ladies. He is so very nice! It really becomes him to be a little 'half-seas

over.'"

"I would not thank you for a husband half-seas-over, let him be ever so charming. No, much rather Von Tackjern for me; less charming but more sober. That will certainly be no life half-seas-over, but neither will there be any ruin. I know nothing in the world worse than ruin.”

"There are in the world many kinds of ruin. But what does Hertha say about it ?"

The young lady now appealed to was the same that we heard spoken of before, "with the fine figure, but who looked so deucedly positive." A remarkably noble person and rich golden hair were, in fact, the only things which agreeably distinguished her. A cloud seemed to envelope her whole being, and gave a sort of cloudy and unpleasant air to her otherwise regular features. She sate silent and indifferent, immovable almost as a statue, and apparently lifeless. If roses had ever bloomed upon her cheeks they had already faded, together with the spring-time of youth; a grey monotonous tint lay on her whole countenance; the eyelashes drooped heavily over the dark, inanimate eyes.. Her dress was distinguished by its simplicity and homeliness. It bore not the slightest superfluous ornament, yet it fitted her exquisite form with the nicest exactitude.

At the words, "What does Hertha think about it?" she slightly turned her head, and said coldly:

"I think it is a miserable state of things where a good and charming girl cannot have any other choice than to marry a man half-seas-over, or a man without a heart, and who evidently does not trouble himself much about her."

The young girls laughed, and said in a low voice:

"Hertha speaks plain enough! She is not afraid of saying what she thinks."

"Afraid!" exclaimed Hertha; "no, I am not afraid-not now, at least."

"But, my dear Hertha," said, anxiously, a little elderly lady, who was incessantly twiddling her fingers as if she were winding yarn, or unravelling a tangled skein, "one must think a little, though, about what people may say. Besides, just remember! Eva Dufva has no fortune, and will be so well provided for all her days."

"I think," said Hertha, with the same cold indifference as before, "that it is humiliating for a girl to marry merely to be well provided for. Much more honorable would it be for her to help to provide for those whom she loves. That it seems to me is far preferable, is an honor."

"Ah," returned the little old lady, whose countenance and whole person had a resemblance to a ravelled skein, "now Hertha is again coming out with her odd ideas."

"She is quite right," said å lady in the circle; "marriage is frequently unhappy because girls don't marry themselves to souls, or hearts, but to-purses."

"not to purses,

"No, no," sighed a pale young woman, but to dreams, and that is not much better, at least for the happiness of the heart. One sees so much that is beautiful in him one loves; one sees in him the ideal about which one has dreamed, and which is to elevate one to the good and the great. One fancies that one shall find a God, and one finds” here she suddenly checked herself, while a faint crimson suffused her pale countenance, and she merely added-" and one finds that which one did not expect."

"But, my dear Emily," said the elder lady, smiling, "if we do not find gods in our husbands, neither do they, indeed, find