CHINESE PUFFING.

to our purchase. We were minutely examined as to ages and capacity for labour, and our persons were inspected, especially the hands, to see if all the fingers were perfect, and capable of the quick motions necessary in picking cotton. Our master visited us once a-day, and declared to all visitors that he had purchased us in Virginia, either of ruined masters, or at public auctions, assuring them that not one had been known to steal or run away-the highest crimes of which a slave can be guilty."

CHINESE PUFFING.

THERE is quite enough of what is called "puffing'' in this country, and rather too much sometimes to be true and honest. The following is a translation of an ink-makers shop-bill at Canton :-" At the shop Taeshing (prosperous in the extreme)-very good ink; fine! fine! Ancient shop, great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and self, make this ink; fine and hard, very hard; picked with care, selected with attention. I sell very good ink, prime cost is very. This ink is heavy! so is gold. The eye of the dragon glitters and dazzles, so does this ink. No one makes like it. Others who make ink, make it for the sake of accumulating base coin, and cheat, while I make it only for a name. Plenty of A-kwan-tsaes (gentlemen) know my ink-my family never cheated-they have always borne a good name. I make ink for the "Son of Heaven," and all the mandarins in the empire. As the roar of the tiger extends to every place, so does the fame of the "dragon's jewel" (meaning his ink.) Come, all A-kwan-tsaes, come to my shop and see the sign Tae-shing at the side of the door. It is Seaou-shwuy Street (Small Water Street), outside the south-gate."

AWFUL DEATH OF A LIAR.

ONE day when Archbishop Leighton was returning from Glasgow to Dumblane, there came on a heavy storm of thunder and lightning. Two men of bad character perceiving him coming, and not daring to rob him, one said, "I will lie down as if dead by lightning, and you beg money to bury me." He did so, and the archbishop having relieved them, passed on. Presently he heard the man cry out in agony and horror, "Oh! sir, he is dead-Oh! sir, he is dead!" The archbishop then discovered the fraud, and cautioned the survivor not to trifle with the judgments of God.

THE TWO BROTHERS.

HANSERD KNOLLYS was a very learned and pious man. He gives the following pleasing account of a little circumstance which took place when he was a boy :

"One day my brother and I, going to school together, fell out and fought; upon which I was convinced that we had sinned against God, and against our father, who had often told us we were brethren, and ought not to fall out by the way. I said, "Brother, we have sinned; come, let us be friends, and pray to God to pardon this and our other sins." We both immediately kneeled down on the ploughed land, and I prayed, wept, and made supplication to God as well as I could; which done, we both kissed each other, and went to school."

This was very proper conduct indeed, and shewed that this boy had a tender conscience, and, like Obadiah, feared the Lord from his youth. No wonder that he became a great and good man. Young reader! remember Hanserd Knollys and his brother.

SORROWS OF WAR.

Ir was a few days after the news of the battle of Buena Vista-the very day the mail brought the official list of the killed and wounded-we were seated in the office reading over the names with a sad curiosity, seeking out those with which we were of old familiar. M'Kee we remembered well-a dashing, daring artillery officer; he was in the 3rd when we knew him. But he married, left the service, engaged in business, and, at the opening of the war, resumed the epaulettes as colonel of a Kentucky volunteer regiment. Brave fellow! none braver fell on that bloody field.

We were sorrowfully enough engaged by these thoughts, when a young woman entered the office. When we say young, we mean under thirty. She had a small girl by the hand—a beautiful little creature, about three years old. Both mother and child (for such no one could doubt to be their relationship who observed their features) were dressed with extreme neatness, though all the little elegancies of decoration were bestowed upon the child.

We just looked over the top of the paper to note these particulars, when, having been directed to us by the clerk, she came forward to our desk.

We handed her a chair, and, while we endeavoured as well as we could to soothe her very apparent agitation, we were somewhat at a loss to account for its existence.

After a few minutes' conversation, we discovered the reason in the fact that she was the relative of a

soldier in Captain -'s company of artillery. This corps had been engaged, and, we remembered, had suffered very severely. She had been informed that the list of killed and wounded had arrived, and she

had called to hear some intelligence of his fate. She wished us to read over the names.

We again took up the paper, and proceeded to comply with her request. We shall never forget the expression of that woman's features as we read. Her agony was terrible. She was not unhandsome, but her face became ghastly pale, and her eyes looked unutterable despair as she fixed them upon the child, who was playing with a newspaper, and laughing joyously in its heedless innocence. Her lips were colourless, and the perspiration started on her forehead, and, as she lifted her hand to wipe the large drops away, we could see it trembling as though palsied.

The presentiment of evil had already almost broken her heart, and we knew that the relative must be a very dear one.

She had avoided giving us her name, and, as soon as we found the list, appalling long, which comprised the casualities of the designated corps, we began to read. We did not know when we would reach the fatal name, if at all, and at each individual we looked inquiringly in the woman's face. She said nothing, however, for some time, and we began to hope that the name was not down, when we read

Such a scream! It was the wail of a broken heart. Only one-and then still as death. That cry was ringing in our ears for a month. We immediately ran towards her, but she arose from her chair, motioned us her thanks, and, without a word, left the office. We had read to her the announcement of her husband's death. We did not do much service in the office that day.

The next morning, being on the wharf, we saw the woman and her little girl going on board the Cincinnati packet. She recognised us, and we spoke to her.

SCHOOL BOY FRIENDSHIP.

She was crushed completely. She had grown twenty years older in as many hours. She informed us that she had lived with her husband in New York; that she was originally from the West, and on his corps being ordered to Mexico, she determined to repair to her friends, and await the conclusion of the war. She had heard of the battle, and knew that Captain -'s battery was engaged, and, on her arrival in Pittsburg, had been directed to the Journal office for further information. She arrived the very morning after the receipt of the list of killed and wounded.

We bade her good bye. She continued her route to her childhood's home, now desolate, as was all the world to her, and we to our daily business, a sadder man, indeed.

The little incident recorded above was recalled to our mind on Saturday, by reading in a Western paper the death of " Mrs. Sarah widow of John

a soldier killed in the battle of Buena Vista." It was our acquaintance-there could be no mistake. She had grieved herself to death for her husband. Pittsburg Journal.

SCHOOL-BOY FRIENDSHIP.

EARL STANHOPE, secretary of state to George the first, was educated at Eton school with one of the Scotch noblemen who was afterwards condemned for participating in the rebellion of 1715. The earl, while the privy council were deliberating upon signing the warrant of execution, requested the life of his school-fellow whom he had not seen since they left Eton. His request was refused, till he threatened to give up his place if the council did not grant it. This menace procured the life of his early friend, to whom he afterwards sent a handsome sum of money.