tation may be going forward at the same time, come not improperly under consideration in this article. They give a spice to life, and make a great many people satisfied, either with themselves or somebody else; and those of our divines who would root these felicitous entertainments out of our social code, and denounce them as immoral, should be informed that by so doing they are making a task of religion, and throwing cold water upon the sensibilities of thousands of those who profess it. We could quote Scripture, chapter, verse and book, to prove that enjoyment of this nature is not incompatible with religion, and those who plead that a smileless face, a mincing gait, and a demure demeanor, are the only evidences of sanctity, do but injure the cause they erroneously seek to serve.

We regard popular amusement, whether

public or private, when properly conducted, as an oasis on the desert of metropolitan existence. It is frequently a source of instruction as well as of pleasure to the mind, and, when not abused, affords a fountain of public as well as of individual good. Like many other fountains, religious as well as profane, it is possible to drink of it too deeply;--we speak of it only in its rational use, and in such wise approve it.

"Though duller thoughts succeed,

The bliss e'en of a moment, still is bliss-
Thou would'st not of her dew-drops spoil the thorn
Because her glory will not last till noon;
Nor still the lightsome gambols of the colt
Whose neck to-morrow's yoke will gall.

"From the sad years of life

We sometimes do short hours, yea, minutes, strike, Keen, blissful, bright, never to be forgotten; Which through the dreary gloom of time o'erpast, Shine like fair sunny spots on a wild waste."

We have all heard of marriages, cross-marriages, and intermarriages; but for the utter confusion of marriages, the reader is referred to the following statement, which is avouched as true in all its particulars.

Some years ago a respectable young English woman, residing near London, became the object of affection to a worthy sea captain, and after due acquaintance and preliminaries, it was agreed among the friends, as well as themselves, that their union would be a proper one, and they were accordingly married. The marriage was a most happy one, and the husband and wife lived together in the bonds of real affection. At length, during a distant voyage, the captain's vessel was lost, and the young wife was made wretched with the intelligence that her husband, together with every soul on board, had been lost with the wreck. Utterly disconsolate, and wasting in health, the young widow was at length induced by her relatives to visit America, in the hope that a change of scene would wean away her distress. She had friends already here, and to them she came on a temporary visit. Having reached the western world, it was found that either change of scene, or the salt-sea air, had wrought miracles on her health and spirits; her bloom

returned, her mind was more composed, and in less than six months after her arrival, she found herself reclining upon the affections of a second husband, a countryman of her own.

With this one she resided upwards of a year, and having a strong desire to visit home again, she obtained her husband's consent, and departed on board a steamer, for the land of her early joys and sorrows. As she approached her native shores, her reflections naturally reverted to past scenes, among which those of her first domestic enjoyments were vividly prominent. The form of her lost one rose before her, and mingled in memory with scenes of happiness, like the half-faded images of a golden dream, and a shower of tears attested the sincerity of her emotions. She reached England. What was her astonishment on being informed that her husband, the captain, after boxing the compass over strange seas and strange lands for a couple of years, had returned safe and sound, and was at that moment within the sound of the Bowbells! Her delight was unbounded; she forgot-no, she did not forget her later spouse, but she forthwith sat down and addressed to him an epistle, stating the fact of the return of her first love, and in polite, if not tender strains, assured him

that it would be utterly impossible to return to his affectionate arms. This dispatched, she forthwith prepared to seek, and once more be happy with, the man who had won her virgin heart. But, alas for the fallacy of human hopes! Verily

"The course of true love never did run smooth."

The deserted husband, indignant at the seeming want of affection and respect, as evinced in her second marriage, refused to recognize, or have anything to do with her. Here was a dilemma not anticipated. She had cast off one, and been cast off in turn by the other. The poor thing took it much to heart, as well she might. To be a widow with two living husbands was an attitude as unlooked for as it was unusual, and her position afforded a spectacle for the world of gossip to gaze upon. The captain remained obdurate; and on the other hand, the idea of supplicating the other was too humiliating to be entertained, to say nothing of the chances of being again rejected. Thus things wore on for a few months, and the situation of the grass-widow grew more and

more perplexing and appalling. A husband she must have; so, as a first resort, she determined to subdue her pride, cross the Atlantic again, and present herself in modest humility to her abused sposa in America. To resolve, was to perform. Again she crossed the ocean, when, horror of horrors! she found her love snugly ensconced in the arms of another wife! He, poor fellow, having given her up as irretrievably lost, had consoled himself philosophically, and taken a legitimate antidote for his sorrows, by marrying again. This new trouble appeared, at first sight, even more frightful than the former; but matters turned out better than she anticipated. The "gude mon" was not so fastidious as the captain, or else he had made a bad speculation in his last venture. He no sooner knew of her arrival, than he presented himself before her, and finding her "disengaged" of all other matrimonial alliances, took her again to his arms, and coolly bowed the new incumbent out of the house. The returned wife still reigns mistress of the duplicate husband's heart, and she is well glad in the privilege of loving, honoring, and obeying him.

"Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,

The queen of the world and the child of the skies;
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendors unfold:
Thy reign is the last and the noblest of time
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime;
Let the crimes of the East ne'er encrimson thy name;
Be freedom and science, and virtue thy fame."

THE idea conveyed by Sir Walter Scott touching the reverence of one for his "native land" is most beautifully conceived; and the most famous authors of every country on this habitable globe have eloquently portrayed their partiality to the soil on which they drew the first breath of life.

With this brief introduction to our theme, we shall at once discourse on the beauties, the glories, the blessings, of this great land of liberty, and hold up to the admiration and wonder of the distant and powerful nations of the earth, our institutions and our laws as a model for all mankind, henceforth and forever,-aye! -until the end of time.

Columbia!"hail Columbia, happy land"

thy "star-spangled banner," oh! how nobly and how majestically it floats on every sea,how brightly it waves on the temple of liberty, and how grandly it displays its brilliant stripes, as the breeze of Heaven wafts it to and fro! God bless that "flag of the free," and guard it with unceasing care!

That Flag! ah!-the blood of the patriot soldier consecrated it to liberty. Washington hallowed it, Jefferson venerated it, and Taylor would "never surrender" it :—

"Flag of the free heart's hope and home!
By angel hands to valor given;
The stars have lit the welkin dome,

And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?"

Columbia! How rapid has been thy rise, how great thy prosperity, and thy commerce how extended! Thy noble steamers, through the genius of Fulton, glide swiftly o'er the mighty deep; thy canals are proclaiming to

the world the lofty talents of Clinton, and the rapid interchange of events is transmitting to posterity the splendid genius of Morse.

Floods of glory are bursting on our globe; revolutions are everywhere accomplished not for the purpose of introducing one tyrant by expelling another-not with the intention of making one man more than another, that others may be less; but for the glorious design of recovering the human mind from the empire of fanaticism, of reinstating it on the throne of reason, and of ameliorating the condition of the whole family of mankind.

And to what cause can this be attributed? What has produced a change so salutary abroad? It may be answered, that the prosperity of Columbia has wrought it all. Other nations would follow the example that America holds up for imitation, and inscribe on a banner of Liberty our beautiful motto "Exact and equal justice to all."

Columbia is destined to progress yet onward and onward, rising higher and still higher, to

increased greatness and prosperity, until she becomes (if not already so) the most powerful nation of the earth. Let her uphold her dignity and sustain her rights at every hazard. America never can be conquered. No, never, never. She has God and Justice on her side, and none dare molest her. If there are traitors at home, let us brand them with infamy and degradation, and stamp on their 'cursed brows the mark of " Benedict Arnold."

Who so base that would not be an American? Who would glory in the downfall of this Union? It has been reared at the cost of blood, and must endure forever:

"Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flappant of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee;
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee-are all with thee !"

In the summer of 1848, business called me to the city of Washington, and, of course, I could not leave without having had a chat with brave Old Zach. Accordingly, with a friend, a denizen of the city, for my cicerone, I applied to the door of the executive mansion. A pull of the bell, brought to the door a well-dressed, and evidently well-fed, son of the Emerald Isle -who drew the door partly open, and thrust his visage through the space. My friend inquired for the President.

"He's gon out," was the response. "What hour will he be at home?"

"The divil knows. He's gon over the Threasury office, and it's hard tellin' when they'l git quit of him."

My friend, casting a look over the grounds, saw a figure approaching that resembled the person of the President, and he inquired,

"Is not that the President?"

The Melisian looked forth, and replied"Fa'th yis, there he comes, todlin' over, sure enough."

We turned from the door, and moved across the grounds to meet him. An introduction took place, and the brave and good man corteously invited us to return to the mansion.

As we reached the porch, a carriage drove up. The President gracefully excusing himself for the moment, desired us to enter the house, and then turned to address those in the carriage. We entered, leaving him with the new comers. Having ascended to the private reception room, and, as we were about to enter it, another Emeralder hurried across the room, exclaiming, "Well, gintlemen, what d'ye want here?"

"We have come by invitation of the President," was our reply.

"O, thin, I s'pose its all right," said he, and returned to his employment. Following across the room, we found him tinkering rather bunglingly, at the lock of a door leading to the cabinet chamber.

"What are you doing, friend ?" said I.

"I'm thryin' to fix this owld lock, sir," was the answer.

You would do well to employ a smith.” "No, fa'th, I think I'll manage it very well." So we left him to his employment, thinking the while how much longer it will be before we have an Irish American President. In a few moments a third Irishman announced that the President was ready to recave us.

We cannot refrain from giving a few extracts from a discourse, delivered by Joseph C. Morton, Esq., before Marion Chapter, O. U. A., of Brooklyn, and a company of ladies and gentlemen, on the 15th of November last, on "The necessity of teaching Political Science in this country at the present time." The views of the orator afford a fine reflex to the words of the Cardinal Woolsey, who in a letter to the Pope, written soon after the introduction of the art of printing in England, bewailed its advent as an instrument that would give too much light to the people. In that letter he

says:

"If men were once persuaded that they could make their own way to God, and that prayers in their own native language might pierce heaven as well as in Latin, how much would the authority of the mass and of ecclesiastics fall."

The Cardinal was avowedly of opinion, that in order to make people follow "the faith" and obey the sovereign, they must be held in ignorance, and the same doctrine holds to the present day. Hence the importance of general education for the generations of freemen.

Mr. Morton commenced his subject with the following spirited proem :

We are living in the midst of wondrous moments-not times, times is a term admissive of too much indefinitude-moments! moments laden with much and little good, much and little evil; moments fraught with matter so weighty as to cause almost the stoppage of the oscillation of the pendulum. There was a time when individual moments were allowed to pass the mind of man unnoticed; now, every one is an historical page. The time was when one man alone was almost sufficient to chronicle the events of passing days -now, the pens of all statesmen, of the clergy, of the press, philosophers, astronomers, poets, painters, sculptors-even the pen of the sledgehammer blacksmith-are employed to dot, with phonographic rapidity, the incidents of moments, instants. These events of moments will serve as topics for philologists and metaphysicians for thousands of years. They affect society as do earthquakes the globe-leave their impressions upon, but do not destroy it.

The principle which gives the largest amount of impetus to the great occasions now transpiring, is that of politics. While, however, the whole eastern world is occupied convulsively with at

| tempts to discover its true philosophy, the western continent, at least our portion of it, stands comparatively quiet-it passively scans the operations of the former, and, to all appearances, seems secure beneath its beautiful and cheering system of government.

Perhaps the nations now struggling for the rights of man may strive unsuccessfully. They may, after their streams shall have been dyed with the blood of hosts, retire from the contest, worn out, foiled, hopeless. They may return to their first state, but with burdens upon their shoulders more onerous than were those they bore at the time when they determined to bear them no longer. The European nations who are seeking rights, no doubt will seek them in vain; for while Monarchies clan together to crush their bodies, and a Republic stands ready to excoriate their bones, what hope can the true spirit of Republicanism have for the present!

The next extract that we make, touches upon certain influences that are to be met by this branch of education.

Let us look at our second point of discourse, and inquire, While the pursuits for money are going forward, what are they doing who temporarily sojourn among us under surveillance of the Propagandists and Jesuits?

While our attention is bestowed mostly to acquisition of money, the Propagandists and Jesuits are working for intellectual fortunes. They are establishing themselves-that is, their theories of government, social and religiousupon bases which will be impervious to attacks from their enemies. They are instructing the young, or are making every effort to get them under their control. They are specking this whole country with their preparatory schools, erecting colleges for the more scientific or higher branches of education, and thus molding from youth to manhood the public American mind. Do you tell me these words are not true? The late Archbishop of Baltimore, in his report to a foreign society established some years since, for the express purpose of spreading Romanism in America, holds the following language on this subject ::-"I cannot help mentioning, that in the school, as in all the Catholic institutions for education, a large proportion of the children are Protestant,-a circumstance which contributes not a little to the spread of our holy doctrine."

"Bishop Flagel, of Kentucky, in a letter to a friend in Europe, says :-Had I treasures at my disposal, I would multiply colleges and schools for girls and boys. I would consolidate all these establishments. I would build hospitals and public houses. In a word, I would compel all my Kentuckians to love and admire a religion so beneficent and generous; and perhaps I should finish by converting them.'"