what with that, and your good will, and God's aid, we will take our trial, for we love one another dearly." All this was said in a quiet, even, low tone of voice, and with a look of submission.-"Hout! tout! hussey," exclaimed her father, "let folly fall and cut the connexion. Think no more on't, think no more on't. Go, busk ye and trim ye, and put something handsome upon ye, to grace your sister and her husband. To marry a pennyless knave like that, was ever the like heard tell of! And you so wise and so advice-giving too! whom all men but me called Miss Prudence. Oh! Ann, Ann, well art thou called the Bitter Gourd, for bitter art thou to me."

cottage, "Stand about and give my gown room!" All these appearances escaped not the inquisitive eyes of the good people of the district; and they whispered, as the dame of Birkbog swept by, "Pride will have a downfall." "Those who ride fast never ride long," and many other old saws and remnants of prudental wit, filled with meaning and the spirit of prophecy.

Matters were predestined to come soon to a violent crisis. A neighbor came in, one of the wise youths of the year of knowledge 1800, with a turn for speculation and a veneration for floating capital. To this worthy the laird of Birkbog talked of old Hugh of the Tower, as if his senses were defunct, or rather as a person fit only to be treated as an unsightly piece of old furniture-one with whom it was unnecessary to be delicate or ceremonious. He spoke of the old man-Hugh did not like to be called old; he talked of the poor manHugh did not like to be called poor; he spoke of the wise old has been-Hugh thought him self wise still; and, to crown all his delinquen cies, he kicked his favorite dog-a feeble cur and snappish, but loved for courage of old and faithfulness yet. The old man endured all this; but he endured it with a fixed determi nation of look. The Honeycomb came up and whispered, "What's the matter with my father? He has on the very look with which he gave Ann her six score sheep, and her six pieces of silver."-" I care little for his looks, my love," said the husband. "He will be wise, and he will be clever, and he will be master and more. When a cur loses its teeth, it is not worth keeping; and when an old man loses his gold, he is not worth caressing; and that's so like a proverb, that it may serve the purpose of one." Our old worthy rose soon after this, and went out, nobody knew whither; and it really looked as if nobody cared.

Our old worthy having, in the fulness of his joy, left his gray tower to the occupation of the owl and the bat, lived with his daughter El en. For a time his bed was soft, his meal was ample, his dress becoming, and his treat ment kind. "Use lessens marvel," says our wise poet; and so it happened here. Youug Birkbog was by nature selfish and imperious; he had seen, he imagined, in the payment of his wife's portion, the end of her father's wealth, and the bottom of his money-bags. There was nothing more to be hoped for, except that death, who sometimes penetrated into those pastoral recesses, wheu he had surfeited in large towns, should come and carry him away from the abated affection of his daughter, and the diminishing regard of his son. But death forgot him, and his son began to give more way to the natural insolence of his heart, and to take his temper out of all restraint. He assumed a stronger tone of command amongst his servants, laid down rules which disputed the wisdom of his fatherin-law's long train of maxims, and plainly intimated his contempt for those oral rules of On the day after the old man's departure, economy which old Hugh of the Tower con- one of the servants came breathless in, and sidered as forming the keystone in the arch of cried, "Preserve us! the Tower will be burnt domestic prosperity. "My son," thus remon- to the ground; there's a smoke o'er its summit strated the old man, "be not too much elated; as thick as a blanket;" and close at the you have grown suddenly rich by fortunate servant's heels, came a messenger, who sumspeculation, and by a lucky use of your floating moned the Honeycomb and her husband to capital. You are of weight in the market; the presence of old Hugh of the Tower. your words are considered wise, for wisdom"Come fast," he added, "for something awful grows as riches increase; and you are pointed is about to happen." out by sensible men to their sons as an example of what talents, well applied, will do. Be not puffed up, I say; nor speak loudly to old men, nor insolently to the young. Your prosperity will then be looked on without envy; and misfortunes, should they come, will be regarded with sorrow."

"All which is to say," said the son-in-law, "that I am a fool and a swaggerer. I'll tell ye what, old one, the wisdom of the year of grace, 1760, and the wisdom of the year of knowledge, 1800, are different things. The former knew nothing of the new vigour which chemical discoveries have imparted to the ground, nor of the miraculous influence which floating capital has upon the fortune of man. Go to-I can win more gold by the wind of my mouth, in a single hour, than one of the old school could gather together in a century. There is a new order of things. Floating capital is the ark which saves the world from sinking; so mind your prayers and be quiet."

Birk bog and his wife went and found the old man seated in his Tower, as pale as death, as motionless as a statue, and a bewildered light glimmering in his eye. His daughter Ann was kneeling beside him, his left arm was lying about her neck, and its trembling fingers were pressing her bosom. He signed all to come around; daughters, sons, domestics, and neighbors thronged in; and one woman held up her grandson, and said, "Look at him! that is the unwise old man, who gave all to one child, and left nothing to himself." A person stood beside him with paper, pen, and ink, and to this purpose the old man spoke: -"Write down what I say. 1, Hugh Edomson, called Hugh of the Tower, with a spirit crushed by the cruelty of my youngest, and s heart almost burst with the kindness of my eldest daughter, yet sound in mind, make this my Will, to which all present are witnesses, To my faithful child Ann, whom I called a Bitter Gourd, but who has proved a Honey

comb, I bequeath the Mains of Mossop, with
ten thousand sheep, and this box with five
hundred pieces of gold. I was thought poor,
but behold I am rich; I was thought weak in
mind, I shall be found strong in spirit. To
my daughter Ellen, who was as the apple of
mine eye, and who wound herself like a
serpent round my heart to sting me and rob
me-she whom I thought a Honeycomb, but
who has proved a Bitter Gourd, I leave six
silver coins and a father's
He sank
down. The half formed word, which should
have concluded the sentence, was lost in his
expiring groan. No one's heart throbbed so
sorely as that of Ann, and no one wept so
loudly as Ellen. But whether the latter
mourned for the death of her father, or the
loss of the Mains of Mossop, was not distinctly
known.

POOH-POOH.

engine, gave way to the whispers of Pooh-pooh regarding its use in vessels. Sir Joseph Bankes was applied to by some enthusiastic advocate of this application; when, under the inspiration of Pooh-pooh, who stood beside him, he said: "It is a pretty plan, sir; but there is just one little point overlooked--that the steam-engine requires a firm basis on which to work." He sent away the man, under the disgrace of his pity, and, we suppose, thought no more of the matter till he heard of steamers plying regularly on the Hudson and the Clyde, with or without the firm basis to work upon.

When Pooh-pooh first heard that some persons were so mad as to think of carriages being drawn by steam at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, he was indignant, and set himself to prove, which he did entirely to his own satisfaction, that the carriges would not go at anything like that speed-if driven to it, the wheels would merely spin on their axles, and the carriages would stand stock-still. He was sincerely anxious that this should prove to be the case, and we may imagine his feelings when the plan was realised with the effect contemplated by its projectors. The same unsanguine gentleman gave a lecture at Newcastle in 1838, to prove, to the British Association that steamers could never cross the Atlantic. Some people wished, hoped, prayed that they might cross the Atlantic; he indulged in a calm but happy belief that they never would. Here, too, he underwent the mortification of defeat. Not long after that time, Mr. Rowland Hill started the idea of a universal Penny Postage. He showed many facts in favour of the feasibility of the scheme; and the public entered warmly into his views. But Poohpooh had long been on intimate terms with the post-office officials, and under his advice these gentlemen did all they could to prevent the public from being gratified. When the new plan was carried in spite of all opposition, Mister Pooh-Pooh felt of course that a very foolish thing had been done, and foretold its entire failure. It must have been with a sore heart that he has seen the number of letters multiplied sevenfold in ten or twelve years, the revenue not much diminished, and everybody besides himself pleased.

POOH-POOH is a surly old gentleman, not without his virtues. It is his delight to throw cold water on ardent projectors, and save people from deluding themselves with extravagant views of human improvement. There is the same kind of respectability about Pooh-pooh which makes Liberals glad when they can get a Conservative to head a requisition, or take the chair at a meeting. But Pooh-pooh is more remarkable for his bad side than his good one. Without hopes or faith in anything himself, he tends to discourage all hopeful effort in others. Had he his way, there would never be any brilliant or highly useful thing done. He would keep all down to a fixed level of routine, passable, but only just enough to escape censure. He wishes to make the course he takes appear as springing from a hatred of the extravagant; but it often comes mainly from a desire to avoid being troubled, or worse still, from a jealousy of the people who strive to be extra-good or great. He certainly is not quite the infallible sage he wishes to pass for. The fact is there is not one of the important inventions and extensions of power of the last wonderful age, which has not had to struggle against the chilling philosophy of Mister Poohpooh. History is full of the instances in which He is apt to be rather shabby afterwards he has condemned, as impracticable and ab- about his false premises and prophecies. When surd, proposals which have ultimately, in spite the Crystal Palace was projected, and Poohof him, borne the fairest fruit. Gas-lighting pooh was consulted, he said it would never was referred to Sir Humphry Davy and Wol- stand the winds, but quickly tumble down laston, as the two best men qualified to judge like a castle of cards. Afterwards, when this of its feasibility; but Mister Pooh-pooh was hope of his-for his inauspicious views are at their elbow, to insinuate all sorts of objec- always founded upon hopes--was proved by the tions and difficulties, and they pronounced event to be fallacious, he explained the matter against an article of domestic utility which is away: he had only said that, unless made of now used, more or less, in nearly every house the requisite strength, it would fall! He does in every town and village in the kingdom. It not like to be reminded of his false predictions, was all that steam-navigation could do to get but it is seldom he has to suffer in that way, over Pooh-pooh's opposition. Even James for, when a great and useful novelty has been Watt, who had in a manner made the steam-successfully acomplished, the public generally

there is nothing in it,"-People are always meddling with things they know nothing about;" and so forth. We might call them

confines its thoughts to the honoured author, taking but little heed of Mister Pooh-pooh and his now vain prognostications-who, on his part, seldom then goes beyond a few quiet nib-pet phrases, if it could be imagined that Mister bles at the grandeur of the achievement.

Pooh-pooh had a favour for any thing; but this
we well know he has not. There is great
reason to suspect that, from the readiness of
several occasions committed himself to opposi-
these phrases to come to his tongue, he has on
tion where a few moments' thought would have
sufficed to shew him that that course was
dangerous to his reputation. It must be owned
that, once he is committed, nothing can exceed
the heroism with which he maintains his con-
tation which events administer to him.
sistency throughout all the stages of the refu-

Pooh-pooh has his favorite positions in this world. He likes above all things, to be in office. His defensive negative policy is seen there in its greatest force. Indeed, it scarcely has an existence elsewhere than in places of dignity and trust. From his being practically connected with things, he knows their difficulties, which dreamers out of office have no idea of; and thus it is that he feels himself entitled to speak so confidently against everything new that is proposed. Already burdened with a duty which perhaps occupies no less than four We are afraid that it is beginning to be hours out of every twenty-four, he feels, with rather an unpleasant world for Mister Poohgood reason, a horror of everything that pro-pooh. It goes too fast for him. So many of poses to bring new trouble into his department. his hopelessnesses have been falsified by events Even a proposal to simplify his work he shrinks that he must feel himself a little out of credit. from, grudging the trouble of considering or Then his own constant sense of disappointdiscussing that from which he expects no ment! To find novelty after novelty "getting success. Pooh-pooh, too, has generally some on," as it were, in spite of his ominous headtolerable degree of scientific reputation; it is shakings, must be a sad pain to his spirit, cool hard to say how acquired-sometimes, it is to and congealed as it is. One day it is iron be feared, only by looking wise and holding steamers-another day, rise of wages under his tongue. There he is, however a kind of free-trade. Great reliefs are given to misery, authority in such matters. Wo it is for any great positive additions made to national hapnew project in mechanics, or any new idea in piness, where he long ago assured the world science, to be referred to him, and all the more no such things could be. It is too bad. I so if it be a thing “in his line," for no mercy begin to feel almost sorry for poor Mister Poohwill it meet! In the literary world, the anal-pooh under these circumstances. It sets me ogous situation for Pooh-pooh is that of the upon recalling his virtues, which in his present old-established critic. He sits in the editorial unfortunate position, we are too apt to overlook chair, apparently for the sole purpose of keep--namely, his usefulness in saving us from ing down all the rising geniuses. Every new birth of poetic energy, every tresh upturn of philosophic thought, is visited with his determined hostility. He relishes most that which keeps nearest to his own temperate and unoffending mediocrity.

Pooh-pooh is less strong in a new country than an old. He hardly has a hold at all among the fearless bounding spirits of Australia. The go-ahead Yankees despise him. In England, he has least strength in large cities amongst the active mercantile classes. He is strongest in official circles, old-fashioned genteel towns, and torpid villages. But he has a certain strength everywhere, for he is a bit of human nature. We have no doubt that, even amongst the gold-diggers, he might occasionally be found shaking his head, and turning away with his characteristic contemptuous air from proposals of new prospectings."

The external aspect of Mister Pooh pooh is hard and repelling. He has a firm, well-set self-satisfied air, as much as to say: "Don't speak to me about that, sir." He has a nun ber of phrases, which he uses so often, that they come to his tongue without any effort of his will; such as, "It will never do,"-" All that has been thought of before, but we know

rushing into all kinds of hasty ill-concocted plans, and patronising all kinds of plausible superficial pretenders. Depend upon it, Mister Pooh pooh has his appointed place in the economy of a wise Providence; and, therefore, pestilent as he is sometimes with his leaden mind, I think we are called upon to administer only a qualified condemnation. The drag is but a clumsy part of the mechanism of a carriage, but it has sometimes the honour of being indispensable to the saving of all the rest from destruction.

FIRST USE OF GAS AS ARTIFICIAL LIGHT.

In the year 1792, Mr. Murdoch made use of gas in lighting his house and office at Redruth, in Cornwall, where he then resided. The mines at which he worked being distant some miles from his house, he was in the constant practice of

filing a bladder with coal-gas, in the neck of through which the gas issued; this being ignited which he fixed a metallic tube, with a small orifice, served as a lantern to light his way for the considerable distance he had nightly to traverse. This mode of illumination being then generally unknown, it was thought by the common people that magical art alone could produce such an effect.-Clegg's Treatise on Coal-gas.

MISERRIMUS.

I wandered through the cloisters old,
And saw the great cathedral tower
Stand like a spectre grey and cold

Up in the frosty moonlight's power;

And the broad clock, whose wind-worn face,
Deep from the clustering ivy shone,
Struck slowly with its mighty mace,

Clear in the solemn starlight, "One."

Beneath the shadow of the pile

A solitary stone was sleeping;

No light from heaven came there to smile

infinity, and trampled his body beneath the church-yard sod. And so, with choking sobs and grieving prayers, Neil Preston commended them to the care of the universal Father, and died as a good man should-one loosening hand still clasped in the affections of earth, and one outstretched to the glories of the coming heaven.

The girls were both young; but Nelly was a mere child-a pretty romping little maid, some three years before her teens; while Mabel was already almost a woman at seventeen, The little one's tears were fastest, and her sobs the loudest at the loss of the kind playmate who had been always so glad to see her when she came back from her day-school; who used to call her his evening-star, and never met her without a smile

Where damps and dews were coldly weeping and a kiss, however grave and silent he might be

Till as I looked, a moonbeam came

And stole around a buttress grey, And with a finger steeped in flame Traced out the letters as they lay.

The moss that had the tomb o'ergrown
A lo k of sorrow round them shed,
I stooped, and peered into the stone-
"Miserrimus" was all it said.

Ah, touching record of a life!

What uncompanionable woe!
What silent hours, what lonely strife
Seem shadowing where those letters glow.

"Miserrimus,"-I thought once more,

And with the thought the word grew bright, Can he have touched the gleaming shore, Where tears are changed to pearls of light.

And from the far triumphal sky,

A sound seemed sent upon the breeze,
Like ocean whisperings that die
At even, over scented seas.

A clash of lyres, and words of song,
Down sweeping through the starry spheres-
"His tribulation, and his wrong;

His heart's deep yearning, woes and fears.

"At death were merged in faith, and here He drinks of love, and fills his soul." The voice had ceased, a single tear

Down on the ancient tombstone stole.

"Short word, how much thy silence speaks,"
I said, and homeward went in thought;
While all the range of eastern peaks
The flushings of the morning caught.

THE BALLET-DANCER.

But

to others. But the tears soon dried on her rosy
face, and her sobs soon changed to the light quick
laughter of childhood: and the little heart which
had swelled so large for its first great grief, soon
danced blithely in her breast again, understanding
nothing of the bitterness of orphanage.
Mabel, though she did not weep nor sob-at least
not when others were by-sorrowed as few sor-
row even by a father's grave, knowing that she
had lost her only earthly friend and protector, and
that her way of life must now open upon a dark
and thorny path of solitude and distress. Pain-
fully she shrank from the heavy responsibility of
her condition, and keenly she felt how frail a bar-
rier she was between her pretty Nell and misery.
Her father had told her, and told her with the
solemnity of a dying man, that in leaving the lit-
le one to her care, he knew he left her to one
that would never fail her; and that, whether for
shelter from the storms of winter or from the
burning sun of summer, for support in times of
misery or for protection in times of temptation,
his beloved Mabel would be all that he himself
could have been to their darling, their star, their
idol child. And Mabel, understanding full well
the extent of the confidence reposed in her, was
the more careful to perform her appointed task
faithfully, and therefore the more anxious as to
the means of its right fulfilment.

Long hours did Mabel sit by that clay-cold figure, planning various schemes of work, from all of which, considerations of youth or incompetency turned her aside. Whatever she did, she must gain sufficient for Nelly's fit maintenance and education; and she could think of nothing that would give her enough whereby to live herself, and tenderly to foster her precious charge. She could not be a governess; her own education had been far too meagre and desultory, interrupted too, so early on account of her mother's long illness; the thing was therefore impossibleshe must turn to something else. But to what else? Ah, that blank question rose up like a dim ghost before her, and by its very presence seemed to paralyse her energies. A young girl who cannot be a governess has few other professions left her. Governess, work-woman, shop-womanthese are nearly all the careers open to the mid

THE last scene was played out, and the grim cur-
tain of death fell for ever over the tragedy of
Neil Preston's life. A bitter tragedy, indeed!
Wife, fortune, health-all had gone by turns,
until, of his former large possessions of happiness,dle
only two fair girls were left, as the last frail argo-
sies on his sea of fate; left him were they for to-
day, to be themselves wrecked on the morrow,
when death should have carried his soul out into

class, until we come to the stage and its various branches. And from this small supply, Mabel must make her choice. Governess she could not be; shop-woman she would not be. Poor Mahall Before she had done, this little