for there was a look of sadness in the faces she drew, and a sense of weariness and longing for some imaginary conditions of blessedness or other, which began to be painful. ON LENDING A PUNCH-BOWL. HIS ancient silver bowl of mine, it tells of good old times, TH Of joyous days, and jolly nights, and merry Christmas chimes; A Spanish galleon brought the bar; so runs the ancient tale; 'Twas purchased by an English squire to please his loving dame, 'Twas filled with caudle spiced and hot, and handed smoking round. But, changing hands, it reached at length a Puritan divine, Who used to follow Timothy, and take a little wine, But hated punch and prelacy; and so it was, perhaps, He went to Leyden, where he found conventicles and schnaps. And then, of course, you know what's next,-it left the Dutchman's shore Along with all the furniture, to fill their new abodes,— 'Twas on a dreary winter's eve, the night was closing dim, He poured the fiery Hollands in,—the man that never feared,— That night, affrighted from his nest, the screaming eagle flew, A hundred years, and fifty more, had spread their leaves and snows, When once again the bowl was filled, but not in mirth or joy, Drink, John, she said, 'twill do you good,-poor child, you'll never bear And if-God bless me!-you were hurt, 'twould keep away the chill; I tell you, there was generous warmth in good old English cheer; I love the memory of the past,-its pressed yet fragrant flowers,— Then fill a fair and honest cup, and bear it straight to me; That dooms one to those dreadful words,-"My dear, where have you "MR. THE SPROWLE PARTY. [Elsie Venner. A Romance of Destiny. 1861.] R. and Mrs. Colonel Sprowle's compliments to Mr. Langdon and requests the pleasure of his company at a social entertainment on Wednesday evening next. "Elm St. Monday." On paper of a pinkish color and musky smell, with a large at the top, and an embossed border. Envelope adherent, not sealed. Addressed, Langdon, Esq. Brought by H. Frederic Sprowle, youngest son of the Colonel,—the H. of course standing for the paternal Hezekiah, put in to please the father, and reduced to its initial to please the mother, she having a marked preference for Frederic. Boy directed to wait for an answer. "Mr. Langdon has the pleasure of accepting Mr. and Mrs. Colonel Sprowle's polite invitation for Wednesday evening." On plain paper, sealed with an initial. In walking along the main street, Mr. Bernard had noticed a large house of some pretensions to architectural display, namely, unnecessarily projecting eaves, giving it a mushroomy aspect, wooden mouldings at various available points, and a grandiose arched portico. It looked a little swaggering by the side of one or two of the mansionhouses that were not far from it, was painted too bright for Mr. Bernard's taste, had rather too fanciful a fence before it, and had some fruittrees planted in the front yard, which to this fastidious young gentleman implied a defective sense of the fitness of things, not promising in people who lived in so large a house, with a mushroom roof and a triumphal arch for its entrance. This place was known as "Colonel Sprowle's villa" (genteel friends),— as "the elegant residence of our distinguished fellow-citizen, Colonel Sprowle" (Rockland Weekly Universe),—as “the neew haouse" (old settlers), -as "Spraowle's Folly " (disaffected and possibly envious neighbors), and in common discourse, as "the Colonel's." --- Hezekiah Sprowle, Esquire, Colonel Sprowle of the Commonwealth's Militia, was a retired "merchant." An India merchant he might, perhaps, have been properly called; for he used to deal in West India goods, such as coffee, sugar, and molasses, not to speak of rum,—also in tea, salt fish, butter and cheese, oil and candles, dried fruit, agricultural "p'dóose" generally, industrial products, such as boots and shoes, and various kinds of iron and wooden ware, and at one end of the establishment in calicoes and other stuffs, to say nothing of miscellaneous objects of the most varied nature, from sticks of candy, which tempted in the smaller youth with coppers in their fists, up to ornamental articles of apparel, pocket-books, breast-pins, gilt-edged Bibles, stationery,-in short, everything which was like to prove seductive to the rural population. The Colonel had made money in trade, and also by matrimony. He had married Sarah, daughter and heiress of the late Tekel Jordan, Esq., an old miser, who gave the town-clock, which carries his name to posterity in large gilt letters as a generous benefactor of his native place. In due time the Colonel reaped the reward of well-placed affections. When his wife's inheritance fell in, he thought he had money enough to give up trade, and therefore sold out his "store," called in some dialects of the English language shop, and his business. Life became pretty hard work to him, of course, as soon as he had nothing particular to do. Country people with money enough not to have to work are in much more danger than city people in the same condition. They get a specific look and character, which are the same in all the villages where one studies them. They very commonly fall into a routine, the basis of which is going to some lounging-place or other, a bar-room, a reading-room, or something of the kind. They grow slovenly |