at us intently as he added—" and now when will you the extinct animals to read, while we perused the promise to read it?" "I really cannot say, and time is now pressing; you had better leave the manuscript with me, and I will look over it when I have more leisure." "Overlook it, you mean," rejoined he; "leisure in business! no; come; no; not quite. That would not suit either my book, or our novel.'" “Then, sir," said we, losing all patience (and of course pulling out our watch), "the alternative is at your command: you can at once take the book away again." "That would not suit it either," replied he. "I want you, seriously now, to oblige me so far as to glance at the first half-dozen pages immediately." We glanced, instead, at the table, laden with manuscripts of all sorts, and said : "Amid so many duties calling for attention at once" : commencement of his own work. Our first mate often remonstrated with the captain on his conduct, and plainly told him that the men Suffice it to say, that we considered the merits of would not long submit to it; but the only reply the it not exactly commensurate with what we had just captain made was to tell him to mind what he was been assured, on authority. It was then a really about, or he would "break him and haze him up,” desperate business to get rid of the writer; who, at-meaning that he would send the mate forward as last, left the room, declaring that he would publish a common sailor, and work him to death. At length, what had passed at our interview. To claim such after a long and fierce discussion in the forecastle, we a right is to give it: what he threatened we have all went aft one morning in a body, and complained done. through the carpenter, as spokesman, that we had not enough to eat. Captain L― listened without interruption, and then turned round and said— Now this was a most excellent-tempered reasonable individual, in comparison with scores of others. The chief nuisance was to have had to deal with him personally. However, one argument, which we were enabled with the most perfect honesty to employ, produced the right effect. His work--so much of it as we read—was really very original and very good, but our ground was preoccupied, and our plans were taken. He departed-pity for us beaming in his eyes. We forthwith summoned the servant, and with an He interrupted us (leaning his head forward, and a little on one side) by remarking :"Those duties to which you now refer are all awful look, said :— editorial, I reckon ?" "They are." "Well, and would it not be an editorial business to look at the first six pages of the contribution which I offer for the Journal. That wouldn't be out of your line? Eh? It wouldn't be time lost; wouldn't be straying from your appointed beat, would it ?" "And pray, why on earth, sir, should I give priority to your production when there are so many others lying here, I don't know how long?" "Well; that is good. You perceive I was right not to send in mine ‘in the usual way,' to lie there, I don't know how long," said our pertinacious friend. "But those papers are used to it; they'll wait for you. They won't fly away while you are looking at this," tapping his parcel. “And has that wings?" we said. "It can surely wait its turn on the same table." "No, sir," said he; "no; if the transient-the momentary-tax which I would impose on a stranger's courtesy (without involving the slightest departure from the duties of his post) be overburdensome-then I trouble you no more. All those papers for which you claim priority will stay for your examination, and not five per cent. of them will repay it. But to inspect this contribution, you must inspect it now. It is not in reality so hard a demand, for, I venture to say, it does not come, like misfortune, with companions. I'll wager my life you were never asked to do the same thing before." "You are like the Sibyl, with her nine books." "Only that she twice returned," he replied; "and sold three of the books, at last, at a higher price than she had asked for the nine. But my first tender is my last. Come, I see what is passing in your mind. My intrusion is unusual; well, I thought it would be the casier to bear and forgive on that very account." He knew how to drive his odd logic home; but what we wanted was that he should return thither himself, in another sense of the word; and, therefore, after a little pause, we gave him a treatise on "When people want to see the editor, what is he?" "Not visible under any circumstances, sir, no how." "If they want him to see them, what is he?" "Not blind in the eyes, sir; blind a-purpose; morally blind. Physics is different." "John," said we, "that will do." A LEAP FOR LIFE. A SAILOR'S YARN. Steward, go down in the cabin, and bring my pistols." We looked at one another in silence. In a couple of minutes the steward returned with the pistols, and, with a face as pale as death, handed them to the captain. The latter fully placed both on full cock, and laying them side by side on the top of the binnacle, crossed his arms, and glared round at every soul of us ere he spoke. "Now, men," cried he at length, between his teeth, "all I've got to say is, that you are mistaken if you think you are going to get the upper hand of me. I am your captain, and the law gives me power to do what I like. You didn't ship to bully me. Go for'ard to your duty, and the first man that hesitates, or gives me any jaw, I'll shoot him as I would a pigeon!" We tumbled to the forecastle in a body, and for hours after the captain walked the deck, big with his achievement. We had light baffling winds for many days, and the temper of the captain grew perfectly savage. By-and-bye came a calm, and he was a complete madman. He stormed and swore from morning to night, and "hazed" us all, from the cabin-boy up to Our allowance of meat was worse than AF FTER my discharge from the hospital at Hava- the mate. na, I shipped in the American barque Inde-ever, and he stopped grog altogether, and put us on pendence, Captain Robert L, bound to Valparaiso, half allowance of water, under pretence that he and thence round the Horn to the western coast of feared to run short if the calm lasted. But when a North America. She was a large vessel, of some breeze sprang up at the expiration of four days, our seven hundred tons register, with a handsome poop, allowance remained the same-half meat, half top-gallant forecastle, and all the other points of a water, no grog! The sailors grew half desperate, flash ship. The captain was a native of Jersey, and and curses both loud and deep were bandied from the crew were a mixture of Americans, British, and mouth to mouth, and indistinct menaces muttered. Spaniards, with a sprinkling of woolly-heads, or snow-balls," as we called the negroes. 66 We had not been a week out, ere very great dissatisfaction prevailed among the crew, for the captain, with unaccountable perversity, did not allow us half enough junk (i. e. salted beef) to our meals; and even what we did get, was what sailors call "old horse," viz., hard, tough, lean, stringy stuff, devoid of nourishment. The usual allowance of junk on ship-board is one pound and a half for each man per diem; but I am sure we did not get more than half that quantity. The captain used to come on deck every morning, and stand by the steward as he weighed out the junk from the "harness cask," to see that we did not get an ounce over what he had ordered. On the other hand, this captain allowed us thrice as much grog as usual. But sailors, although very fond of rum, can't live upon it; and three quarters of a pound of "old horse," and a few rotten biscuits, quite alive with "weevils," was a poor day's allowance for a hearty fellow. By-and-by it grew whispered in the ship that the captain had had a coup-de-soleil, or sun-stroke, before leaving Havana, and that he had drank freely of brandy ever since, and was consequently really insane to a certain extent. This would explain his conduct, and we all were inclined to accept it as the proper solution; but the captain certainly never yet committed any act which would legally be held proof of insanity; for all that he did, although highly cruel and tyrannical, was within the bounds of that fearful amount of irresponsible power that the law allows to sea captains. We had been three weeks out, when it was my morning watch on deck. Six bells (seven o'clock) had just struck, and I was engaged coiling away the line of the log, which had been hove by order of the mate, then in charge of the deck, when Captain L- unexpectedly came out of the cabin. I noticed that he had a wild nervous look, for he glanced around and aloft, just as a man might do when suddenly aroused from a dream. "What's the course?" he abruptly demanded of loaded it with ball in our presence. the man at the wheel. done this, he called all hands aft, and in language When he had ways on the water, or being snapped up by a shark, or drowned, let him fall which way he would. The captain shifted his aim, and his finger was on the trigger. Jump, Bill, jump!" screamed his messmates, and his resolution was taken. He would leap for life! The captain then stepped up to the binnacle and looked at the compass. Turning round with an oath, he struck the man a blow in the mouth that knocked him away from the wheel, and thundered"You think to get the upper hand of me, do you! "You take the spokes in hand! You know no You will mutiny-you will take the ship away from more about steering than your mother!" (Such me? I'll make an example-I'll show you whom were the exact words, for I distinctly remember you have to deal with! Mr. Jackson, let those two them.) men be seized up this minute, for I'll make spreadThe poor fellow, who was one of the best helms-eagles of 'em sure as I live.” men in the ship, took hold of the spokes again, the blood trickling down his chin, and muttered"I was steering to a hair's-breadth." "What's that you say?" As he spoke, the captain pointed to two of the nearest men—one an American, the other an Englishman. These poor fellows looked round at their messmates, and seeing how undecided all were, they "I say I was steering as well as any one could, suddenly turned and sprang into the rigging-runand you're a tyrant, captain." ning aloft for safety. The captain's face grew black with passion, and The captain's eyes glared like a wild beast's, and the light foam flew from his lips, as he screamed-seizing his gun, he shouted"Mr. Jackson, clap this fellow in irons! No, seize him up-make a spread-eagle of him! teach him to toe the mark!" I'll The mate, Jackson, in vain attempted to soothe the madman, who compelled his officers to "seize up" the unfortunate sailor-that is, to lash his wrists to the shrouds, with his back bare for punishment. This is called making a "spread-eagle." I dare not dilate on the sickening scene that ensued. Suffice it that the captain with his own hand flogged the man most brutally in presence of all hands, and not a soul of us dared to speak. That night we all signed a "round robin," that is, a paper, stating a grievance, or petition, with the names of the men written in a circle, so that not one can be pitched upon as the ringleader-addressed to the chief mate, stating that we all felt that our lives were unsafe in the hands of the captain, as he was obviously insane, and requesting the mate to take the command of the ship, and place the captain in confinement. We sent this to Mr. Jackson by one of the boys, and in a quarter of an hour the mate came forward. "Men," said he, "do you know what you are about? You are in open mutiny-and you know what the penalty for that is. For God's sake, let us have no more of this. Captain L is captain, and his will is law. We must all submit to it. Were I to do my duty strictly, I should show this," pointing to the round-robin, "to the captain; but I don't want to make matters worse. Let us get to port, and then complain as you please. But for your own sake—and for my sake-don't mutiny." We all respected the mate, and his words made a great impression. We consulted together, and the prudence of the majority overcame the fierce impulse of the bolder spirits. It was, however, tacitly understood, that if matters grew much worse, we would boldly risk the dreadful penalty of mutiny by seizing the captain; for we now considered he was undoubtedly insane, although the mate acted rightly enough in holding aloof at present, as the captain had not yet evinced himself incapable of managing the ship. "Lay down this moment, both of ye, or I'll shoot ye!" They saw the threatening movement, and heard the command; but this only caused them to run up the rigging higher and higher. Twice more the captain hailed them, and then he raised his piece, and, quick as lightning, levelled and fired. A burst of execration from us all followed, for the ball had struck the Englishman, and broken his leg. He fell like a wounded bird into the main-top, and screamed in agony. “Oh, God! what have you done, Capt. L?" exclaimed the horror-stricken mate. "You have committed murder!" "No, I have not," answered the captain. "I ordered the fellow down, and if he won't obey, it's mutiny, and the law will justify me in killing him, or killing you either—so mind what you say.” The mate turned aside, and when one of the oldest seamen whispered in his ear-"Say the word, sir, and we will clap the madman in irons," he only shook his head, and buried his face in his hands. Meanwhile the American, a fine young fellow, known by the soubriquet of "Boston Bill," had ascended to the royal yard, and was looking down on deck to see what course matters were taking. The captain, not satisfied with disabling one man, at this moment pointed his gun at him, and hoarsely ordered him on deck, threatening to shoot him if he refused. "Come down, man, for heaven's sake!" repeated the mate. "He will flog me if I do, sir." "Yes, I'll flog you, sure enough," yelled the 66 Then I will die before I come down!" "Jump overboard, Bill, or you are a dead man! In an instant the sailor ran along the foot-rope, Whether any whisper had leaked out in the cabin, and clung to the royal yard-arm to leeward. The through the steward or officers, I cannot tell, but alternative was indeed horrible. If he descended he the captain undoubtedly suspected what had passed. would be flogged-if he remained he would be shot At noon the next day he came on deck, with a—if he leapt overboard from that dreadful height he double-barrelled gun in his hands, and deliberately | ran the risk of being dashed to pieces if he fell side Lowering himself from the yard-arm with his hands, he pointed his feet downwards, and clove the air with the velocity of a cannon ball. A second or two, and he had disappeared in the curling green sea. The pent up excitement of the crew found vent at this moment. One party rushed on the captain, and disarmed and bound him, whilst the rest put the helm down and threw the sails aback, to stop the motion of the ship, and sprang to the falls of the quarter-boat to lower away to pick up the American, should he rise to the surface. A breathless pause of very nearly a minute ensued, and then we beheld the head of the sailor emerge at the distance of a hundred yards, and being a capital water dog, he struck out boldly for the ship, and amid a loud hurra was picked up. His "leap for life" "had been successful. The other poor fellow who was shot aloft was lowered on deck in a sling. He was more injured by the fall than by the ball in his leg, and died the same night in extreme agony. The mate now consented to take command of the ship, and Captain L was closely confined till wo came to port. By that time he was raving mad, and he died within three days after being conveyed to a hospital ashore. A A PORTRAIT. BEAM of braided moonlight fell And shot its silvery lines athwart Her hands, like folded leaves, were claspt, Her spotless form, love's proper shrine, Her brow was polished, arched, and smooth, Her lips were pouting, rich, ripe, moist, Her teeth were white as garden drops, Upon a queenly sculptured neck, It seemed as if the sun had burst Each calm unslumbering eye, It was as though two stranger stars Her step was musical and soft, Her speech one stream of song, Her presence breathed the balm of heaven, SWITZERLAND, ITS CHALETS, BRIDGES, AND MONUMENTS. ously, the slip has of late years fallen into ruins. At the outskirts of every Swiss village, and near the foot of the mountain, there is generally a self-acting sawing machine worked by water power, for the purpose of sawing the larger trees into balk and board. From the extent of the forests and the numbers of trees felled, there is often as much timber stored as would build the village anew, notwithstanding the châlets of the peasantry, in some of the cantons are very large. This, which at first may appear unnecessary thrift, is in reality only a necessary provision, by reason of the numerous fires which occur to the châlets of an Alpine manner the mountain slopes are to be village. Their fuel is not stored, like our own, in depastured, and the quantity of timber stacks around the dwelling, but, in consequence of to be cut annually for building and for the abundance of the material, separate châlets are fuel. Very often they have great dif- built entirely for this purpose. It is from this ficulty in felling the pines, growing as cause, namely, the number of wood buildings which they do on the brink of the most awful belong to one family, that the establishment of some precipices. After they are cut they half-dozen peasantry, have the appearance of a are launched down the gullies formed good-sized English village. Wood is used for by the mountain torrent into the val- almost everything. There is not an article of ley below. In some parts of Switzer- domestic use which is not absolutely required to land, as in the lake cantons, these fir- be of iron, which is not made of the fine larch forests are the source of considerable which grows in the mountains; such as milk pans, wealth. The sides of Mount Pilatus bowls, plates, dishes, baths, &c., &c. It follows as in the neighborhood of Lucerne, for a sort of corollary upon their universal application instance, are clothed with pines almost of this useful material, that almost every male HIS remarkable country, whose to its rugged top, but they grow in stituations among them is able to use the tools. Good coopers natural curiosities and wild where none but a Swiss could approach them. and expert carpenters abound everywhere. scenery, as well as the customs With the view of turning this fine timber to of whose inhabitants we have account, some years ago they constructed a long undertaken to give some account, tunnel of trees fastened lengthwise. It was beis lifted high up above the adjacent lands, and forms tween five and six feet wide at the top, four feet what may be called the hunchback of the Continent. deep, and extended from a height of two thousand Even its valleys and its lakes are at least fifteen five hundred feet down to the water's edge of the hundred feet above the level of the sea, while some lake Lucerne. This vast inclined plane, in some of the mountains with which it is girt about, exceed places, was carried over ravines and supported by fifteen thousand feet in height. With the excep- wooden props. In others it passed by a tunnel tion of the valleys, the pastures, and the woodlands, scooped through the mountain. Although its dip all is sterile and everlasting snows. From the was not more than one foot in seventeen, it sufficed severity of the climate and the early approach of to discharge a tree of a hundred long and four feet winter, the cattle are generally driven to the villages in diameter in the short space of six minutes, durand hamlets, which stand at the head or by the ing which time it passed over eight English miles. sides of fertile valleys, about the middle of the It is said that when the trees were shot downwards month of October. They are then housed till the they caused a noise like the roar of thunder, their following June, and fed upon the hay and roots pro-motion was like lightning, and they shook the earth placed. When you approach these hovels in the vided in the summer. In many instances their as they passed. Sometimes they would catch and mountains, for many of them deserve no better stables are under the same roof as their dwellings, block up the trough. and when this was the case, name, being neither wind-tight nor water-tight, only in the rear or by the side of it. In others they the next that came would bolt clean over it with a they present a most odd appearance, and for all the provide a separate châlet. power that would cut in two, trees that were grow-world seem as if a shower of stones from the adjaThese Alpine villages are various in size, accord- ing by the sides of the slopes, and dash the tree cent mountain had alighted upon them. Notwithing to the fertility or sterility of the pastures amidst itself to atoms. They were floated from the lake which they are situated; and, generally, their inha- down the river Reuss to the Rhine, and formed bitants have a common right in the pastures and the those rafts which are met with upon that river, fir-forests high above their heads. The Govern- and are sold in Holland for shipbuilding and other ment of the Canton, however, regulates in what purposes. The speculation not turning advantage-| The term châlet is generally applied by travellers to every wood-building in Switzerland, although, properly speaking, it belongs only to those woodhuts which the mountain dairyman uses for the purpose of carrying on his manipulations during the few months of summer. In some of the cantons, as for instance in that of Berne, these châlets are constructed of firs which have been merely squared with an adze, and even sometimes of firs in the rough. They are bound together at the ends, not with spikes or nails, but by being notched and dovetailed into one another. The roof is constructed at rather an obtuse angle for security, and the shingles or wooden tiles which cover it are as large as our large slates, and kept in their places with wooden rods, on which heavy stones are standing all their precautions, very frequently not only their roofs, but also their rafters and sides, are broken up and dispersed to the winds by the hurricanes which prevail in the mountains. In nature we always behold what may be called In a country abounding with lakes and rivers, one expects to find substantial and commodious bridges; such, however is not the case in Switzerwould make him prematurely old. This, however, land, except in a few instances. The iron bridge at is not the case, for there is probably no people so free from diseases which abridge the term of human life as the inhabitants of the Swiss mountains. Should it ever be your fortune to traverse these healthful regions, where the very air gives an elasticity that is truly wonderful, and your exertions enables you without inconvenience to bear the sud den transitions from great heat to severe cold, let me advise you so to manage your affairs as not to be benighted in the mountains, or to put one of these establishments under tribute for a meal. All Freyburg is, doubtless, one of the most wonderful The Guide-book of Mr. Murray, probably to assuage the timidity of tourists, very kindly informs them that it is capable of bearing at least three times the into the lake beneath. Its extreme length is about three quarters of a mile. Every traveller in Switzerland is struck with the peculiarity of their bridges, which are mostly roofed which practice is not manifest at first, but is doubtin the same fashion as their châlet, the cui bono of less for the purpose of protecting them from the snow, which would otherwise block up their transit. There are several very curious specimens of these which is situated in the midst of the most splendid housed bridges in the antiquated city of Lucerne, scenery, and at the end of one of the most picturesque lakes in all Europe, probably in all the world. They are thrown across the river Reuss, which, although it enters the lake at Altorf, a turbid puddled stream resembling milk, having passed through the lake, issues a beautiful sea-green with know not why the flowing of a peaceful stream I all the swiftness of a mountain torrent at Lucerne. that I have ever entered were extremely dirty; their however, confess, passing it as I did in a heavily should not only attract but also rivet one's attention interior, like the wigwam of an American Indian, was blackened with smoke; the unpaved floor was bepuddled from the penetrating rain. The only furniture, besides the dairy utensils, consisted of a table and a couple of forms, while a truss of hay did the duty of a bed in the loft above. Notwith little nervous, till I found the same authority as- standing this, and the total want of anything approaching comfort, I have at times found the mountain châlet to be a most welcome refuge in a storm, and meeting, as I have always met, with a hearty welcome and the best that the wooden hut afforded, such as bread and cheese, butter and cream, together with Alpine strawberries at my service; it compensated in some measure for all the inconvenience and disagreeableness of such a sorry habitation. Beside the châlets, which are occupied by the vatcher's family, and in which the similar character, not many miles from it, across operations of the dairy are daily performed, there the river Saarine; the difference being that, though are also others for storing cheese, hay, &c., as also not so long, it is at least one hundred feet higher, for sick and disabled cattle. So that in approach- and the land on one side being much higher than ing one of these cheese-manufactories in the moun- that on the other, it has, from a distance, the singutains, you imagine, when you first see it, that you | lar appearance of being a suspended cord or arch have stumbled upon an Alpine village. rather than a bridge. The peculiar characteristics of these elegant structures are their great strength combined with their apparent fragility. Although constructed in the most economical manner, the Freyburg one alone cost the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds. The good inhabitants, however, should by no means grudge this, since, before its construction, the only way of approaching their city from the south was by descending a very steep hill on one side, by following numerous circuitous zigzags which led to the river. The road then crossed it no less than three times by three badly-constructed bridges, after which it immediately ascended another slope equally steep. The time consumed in crossing the chasm by the diligence in olden times was an hour, whereas it is now transported by this beautiful bridge in less than three minutes. These temporary habitations in the mountains are not to be confounded with the pretty houses or châlets of the village, which are not only commodious, but elegant in their construction. Those of Zurich and Unterwalden especially appeared, some of them at least, to be models of architectural beauty. Their projecting gables and low-dropping eaves, their outside stairs and galleries running round the building, give them a very pretty and picturesque appearance. Sometimes curiously cut and very small shingle encases the outside; and when this is done, it is run into the representations of elephants, dolphins, and other sea and land monsters, which give them a very odd appearance. Under the eaves you generally find several hives of well-stored bees, the honey from which is to be found daily on the table of every inn and resting-place in the country. The châlets belonging to the peasant class were generally large; indeed in many places they Another bridge, remarkable, not for the elegance were as large as our gentlemen's houses in town and of its structure, but for its length, is formed across country in England, if not larger. This is no doubt the lake Zurich, at Rapperschwyl. Its base or way to be accounted for by the comparative little value is formed of loose planks, which rest on piles driven of timber, and the abundance in which it is found into the lake, and from having no kind of handrail in this land of mountains. These spacious man- or balustrade, it is a very rickety affair. A fractious sions are very useful, since you find the rooms horse or a giddy head would inevitably be plunged "One after one are tablets that unfold Filling the soul with sentiments august, Not far from this bridge, and a little beyond the It soothes us to find that every testimony has SOL. III. been paid by their fellow-citizens to the memory of men who were an honor to their country, and worthy to be held up as models to future ages. The Federation of the Cantons decreed at the time "to hand down to posterity by inscribing in the national archives the names of those who fell, and of those who for their fidelity were afterwards massacred; HARD TIMES. BY CHARLES DICKENS. "What you say, my dear Louisa, is perfectly reasonable. I have undertaken then to let you know that that Mr. Bounderby has informed me that he has long watched your progress with particular interest and pleasure, and has long hoped that the time might ultimately arrive when he should offer has so long, and certainly with great constancy, of those, lastly, their brothers in arms who survived, ALTHOUGH Mr. Gradgrind did not take after you his hand in marriage. That time, to which he Blue Beard, his room was quite a Blue cham-looked forward, is now come. Mr. Bounderby has and to decorate all of the regiment who still lived, the inscription Fidelity and Honor.'" Continued from the July number. In that and who were present at the attack of the Tuileries/ber in its abundance of blue books. Whatever they made his proposal of marriage to me, and has on the 10th August, 1793, with an iron medal, with could prove (which is usually anything you like), entreated me to make it known to you, and to express they proved there, in an army constantly strength- his hope that you will take it into your favorable consideration." ening by the arrival of new recruits. Silence between them. The deadly-statistical charmed apartment, the most complicated social questions were cast up, got into exact totals, and clock very hollow. The distant smoke very black finally settled-if those concerned could only have been brought to know it. As if an astronomical "Father," said Louisa, "do you think I love Mr. observatory should be made without any windows, Bounderby?" and the astronomer within should arrange the starry "Per vitam fortes, sub iniqua morte fideles," Such is the memorial. Let us cast an eye upon the expiring lion and meditate the rest. Admiration and heavy. Mr. Gradgrind was extremely discomfited by this of human virtue, grief at its unhappy fate; let these universe solely by pen, ink and paper, so Mr. Grad-unexpected question. "Well, my child," he re be tributes which we offer to their manes, and while we do so, we would lament the wild conflicts of our race, where not the ignoble and the guilty are alone grind, in his Observatory (and there are many like it), To this observatory, then; a stern room with a "My dear Louisa," said her father, "I prepared You have been so well trained, and you do, I am cate." He waited, as if he would have been glad that she turned, say." " I-really-cannot take upon myself to voice as before, "do you ask me to love Mr. BounFather," pursued Louisa in exactly the same derby?" "My dear Louisa, no. No. I ask nothing." Father," she still pursued, " does Mr. Bounderby ask me to love him." "Really, my dear," said Mr. Gradgrind, "it is difficult to answer your question—” "Difficult to answer it, Yes or No, father?" "Certainly, my dear. Because;" here was something to demonstrate, and it set him up again; because the reply depends so materially, Louisa, on the sense in which we use the expression. Now, Mr. Bounderby does not do you the injustice, and does not do himself the injustice, of pretending to anything fanciful, fantastic, or (I am using synonymous terms) sentimental. Mr. Bounderby would have seen you grow up under his eyes, to very little purpose, if he could so far forget what is due to your good sense, not to say to his, as to address you from any such ground. Therefore, perhaps the expression itself-I merely suggest this to you, my dear-may be a little misplaced." What would you advise me to use in its stead, father?" 66 'Why, my dear Louisa," said Mr. Gradgrind. completely recovered by this time, "I would advise you (since you ask me) to consider this question, as you have been accustomed to consider every other The question, simply as one of tangible Fact. ignorant and the giddy may embarrass such subjects "I hear you, father. I am attending, I assure with irrelevant fancies, and other absurdities that you." have no existence, properly viewed-really no exist ence-but it is no compliment to you to say, that you know better. Now, what are the Facts of this case? You are, we will say in round numbers, "Well!" said Mr. Gradgrind, breaking into a smile, after being for the moment at a loss, "you are even more dispassionate than I expected, Louisa. Or, perhaps you are not unprepared for the announce-twenty years of age; Mr. Bounderby, is, we will say ment I have it in charge to make?" in round numbers, fifty. There is some disparity in "I cannot say that, father, until I hear it. Pre- your respective years, but in your means and posipared or unprepared, I wish to hear it all from you. tions there is none; on the contrary, there is a great suitability. Then the question arises, Is this I wish to hear you state it to me, father." Strange to relate, Mr. Gradgrind was not so col-one disparity sufficient to operate as a bar to such a lected at this moment as his daughter was. He marriage? In considering this question, it is not took a paper-knife in his hand, turned it over, laid it down, took it up again, and even then had to look along the blade of it, considering how to go on. unimportant to take into account the statistics of marriage, so far as they have yet been obtained. in England and Wales. I find, on reference to the |