country, when all the bad plant- poor little devils are taught to ers are broken up, and all their babble of green fields, when estates accumulated in the hands they ought to be imbibing learnof the few good ones? With ing; and when they ought to be all the improvements which we turning upside down the house boast, I believe we are degene- of some country-cousin, in Derating. We are becoming, daily, cember, they are tumbling over more and more closely bound to books and dictionaries. Thus, the North, and daily becoming they learn to regard Northern more and more a dependent pro- watering-places as their resource vince. 1, long time ago, pre- for amusement, and the jolly dicted evil from the multiplica- and simple hospitality of Carotion of railroad and steamboat lina is daily becoming more and facilities; and, verily, my predic- more a myth to our people. Is tions have been realized, and not this one of the means by more than realized. The old which Charleston is rapidly beCharleston population is now coming a Northern city? There the first to run away at the ap- are hundreds of care-worn men proach of yellow fever. During now in the city, whose faces the season of pestilence, they beam with delight when they stay abroad; and those whom remember the old parishes in their fathers would have con- which they spent their boyish sidered as strangers, remain to holidays-the old sports, the conduct the affairs of the city. deer-hunt, the exciting foxWith the increase of our facili- chase, the fowling and all the ties for getting into the country, varied scenes, of excitement and the city is becoming more and of pleasure, which made gloomy more estranged from the coun- December the brightest season try. When I was a boy, our of the year. What, under the schools religiously broke up in new-school regime, do their childDecember and in April, and ren get in exchange for these? every boy who had a friend in A trip to the springs, in sumthe country, took those opportu- mer, or to some other place of nities of enjoying a real Caro- fashionable resort. Have these lina country recreation. Then young hopes of Carolina any it was considered quite natural heart-felt lessons impressed upon and proper that the schools their tender minds, which will should be open all summer. They studied in the warm weather, and in the month of December they were turned out to indulge in manly and robust sports in the country. They enjoyed themselves, and they became acquainted with the country and its people. Now, the schools barely recognize Christmas-day; and, in the heat of summer, when nobody will go into the country, they give a holiday. If they leave town, they must go North; and so the forever hereafter make theireyes glisten when the country is mentioned? Alas! no; they are merely spending an enforced probation in a Northern colony. But I am apt to become gloomy when on this theme; and I do not suppose your devil (he, I am sure, will read a part of this letter,) will care to become blue. I do not undertake to say how I have accomplished my purpose. I learnt a lesson in philosophy long ago: A friend of mine once met another, who was unable to mount his horse. He stopped and inquired of the reeling roysterer, who replied, that it was bad philosophy to indulge in rash assertions, and he would not venture on any; but he did really suspect that he had been drinking too much. So, like wise, I think I have accom plished my purpose, of writing on matters and things in general; and if you or your readers have cause to suspect that your correspondent is an Old Fogy, perhaps the suspicion will not necessarily imply that too much has been drunken. "An Italian philosopher expressed, in his motto, that time was his estate'—an estate, indeed, which will produce nothing without cultivation; but will always abundantly repay the labours of industry, and satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use." "Slips of the tongue are sometimes found very inconvenient by those persons who, owing to some unlucky want of correspondence between their wits and their utterance, say one thing when they mean another, or bawl out something which the slightest degree of forethought would have kept unsaid. But more serious mischief arises from that misuse of words which occurs in all inaccurate writers. Many are the men who, merely for want of understanding what they say, have blundered into heresies and erroneous assertions of every kind, which they have afterwards passionately and pertinaciously defended, till they have established themselves in the profession-if not in the belief-of some pernicious doctrine, or opinion, to their own great injury and that of their deluded followers, and of the commonwealth." "God forbid that the search after truth should be discouraged for fear of its consequences! The consequences of truth may be subversive of systems of superstition; but they never can be injurious to the rights or well-founded expectations of the human race." "God made both tears and laughter, and both for kind purposes; for, as laughter enables mirth and surprise to breathe freely, so tears enable sorrow to vent itself patiently. Tears hinder sorrow from becoming despair and madness; and laughter is one of the very privileges of reason, being confined to the human species." "The last word is the most dangerous of infernal machines. Husband and wife should no more fight to get it, than they would struggle for the possession of a lighted bomb-shell. Married people should study each other's weak points as skaters look out for the weak parts of the ice, in order to keep off them." "Better that the feet slip than the tongue." THE TWINS OF THE HÔTEL CORNEILLE. (From the French.) CHAP. II. I have preserved a copy of Uncle Yvon's will. Here it is: "15th August, 1849-Assumption-day-I, Matthew John Louis Yvon, sane and sound in mind and body, draw up this present will and testament. 66 Foreseeing the accidents to which human life is exposed, and desirous, if anything happens to me, that my property should be shared, without contention, between my heirs, I have divided my fortune into two halves, as equal as I could make them, to wit: "1st. The sum of fifty thou sand francs in the hands of M. Aubryet, notary, at Paris, and which pays me a regular interest of five per cent. "2ndly. My house at Auray, my moors and arable lands, my boats, nets, fishing articles, arms, furniture, clothes, linen, plate and every other thing, living or inanimate, of which I die possessed, the whole valued, in conscience and justice, at fifty thousand francs. "I give and bequeath the whole of this my property to my nephews and godsons, Matthew and Louis Debay, charging them each to choose, either amicably or by drawing lots, one of the two portions here described, without having recourse, under any pretext, to the intervention of any lawyer. "If I should chance to die before my sister Yvonne Yvon, now Debay, and her husband, my excellent brother-in-law, I commit to my heirs the care of their old age, and I trust that they will never let their parents want for anything, according to the example I have always given them." The division was not long in taking place, and the brothers had no need to draw lots. Louis chose the money, and Matthew took the rest. Louis said: "What in the world should I do with my dear uncle's boats? I would look well digging oysters or fishing for sardines! I should have to live at Auray; and just to think of such a thing, makes me gape. You would soon hear that I was dead, and that it was home sickness for the Boulevard that had killed me. If by good or ill luck, I should escape this fate, all this little fortune would soon melt away in my hands. Do I know how to farm out lands, to rent fishing-grounds, and to overlook the accounts of half-a-dozen sailors? They would rob me of the very ashes in my chimney. Let Matthew give me the fifty thousand francs, and I will invest them in an enterprise which will bring me twenty per cent. That's the way I understand business." "Please yourself," answered Matthew. "I don't think you would have been obliged to live at Auray. Our parents are strong and hearty, God be praised; and they could, perhaps, see after the business. But what is this wonderful speculation in which you are going to venture all your money!" Myself. Listen to me, calmly. 66 Of all the roads which lead a money, he meant to open for himyoung man to fortune, the shortest self the doors of the beau-monde. is not commerce, nor industry, nor A long experience (drawn from art, nor medicine, nor law, nor even novels) had taught him that, with speculation; it is....guess what?" dress, a fine horse and good manners, one could always make a lovematch. 66 Truly I see nothing left but robbing on the highways: and that becomes more difficult every day, because you can't well stop locomotives." "You forget marriage! It is matrimony which has made the finest houses in Europe. Shall I tell you the history of the Counts of Hapsburg ? Seven hundred years ago, they were only a little richer than I-only a little; not much. By dint of marrying, and of marrying rich heiresses, they have founded one of the greatest monarchies in the world-the Empire of Austria. I am going to marry an heiress !" "Which one?" "Nonsense! You must understand that if I went in search of a wife, with my little porte-monnaie in my hand, containing fifty bank-notes, all the millions would laugh at me. At the most, I might find a mercer's daughter, or the presumptive heiress of a hardware business. In a society where so poor a sum has weight, they would not take into account my style, nor my wit, nor my education. You know this is not the moment for modesty." "So it appears." "In the society in which I contemplate allying myself, I shall be married for myself, and not for what I have. When a coat is wellmade and well-worn, my dear fellow, no well-bred young lady asks about what is in its pockets." Thereupon Louis explained to his brother that, with Uncle Yvon's This is my plan," he said: "I am going to use my whole capital. For one year, I shall have an income of fifty thousand francs, and the deuce is in it, if I don't manage to make myself agreeable, in that time, to some girl who has a permanent investment of this sort." "But, Louis, you will ruin your self." "Not at all: I shall make my fortune." Matthew did not take the trouble to discuss the matter any further. Louis could not get possession of his funds until June: the danger was not immediate. Meanwhile Uncle Yvon's heirs made no change in their daily life. The boats and the nets at Auray provided for the home expenses there; M. Aubryet paid over two hundred franes a month, as usual, and the lessons at St. Barbe and the visits to the Rue Traversine took their customary course. Truth obliges me to say that Louis was less assiduous at the courts of law than at Cellarius's classes, and that he was oftener seen at Lozès' than at M. Ducauroy's. Little Greybeard, ambitious as ever, and slightly intriguing, I fear, procured his wife's nomination and a second broom was enthroned in their apartment. This was the only event of the winter. In the month of May, M'me Debay wrote to her sons that she was very much worried. Her husband worked very hard, but could not suffice: another man was needed in the establishment. Matthew began to fear that his father, who was no longer young, was overtasking himself. Mille Bourgade had perfections and qualities beyond humanity. No knight of the good old times ever made himself humbler or smaller before the fine eyes of his lady love. I tried to raise him in his own estimation, by recapitu lating the treasures of goodness and "Pass them over to one of our old school-mates. I know six who need them more than you." "And then-Louis will be after tenderness that were in him. He some folly." "Be quiet on that score. If he is going after some folly, your presence won't hinder him." "Besides".... "What?" "Those ladies!" "You left them before during the vacation. Give them into my charge, again; I shall see that they want for nothing." replied, by making a grimace of resignation, and pointing to his ugly face. I felt my eyes moisten ; had I been a woman, at that moment, I would have loved him. "How does she behave to you?" I asked. "I don't know. I am in the room and so is she; but we are not together. I speak to her and she answers me; but I can't say that "But I shall want them," he I have ever conversed with her. said, blushing to the eyes. 66 Why, is that it? You never hinted that there was love in the case." The poor fellow was stunned. He guessed, for the first time, that he was in love with M'lle Bourgade. I helped him to examine his conscience. I dragged out, one by one, all the little secrets of his heart, and he remained duly convicted of a passionate attachment. I never saw, in all my life, a man so confused. If he had been accused of bankruptcy and swindling, he would have shown less shame. I was obliged to reassure him, and to reconcile him with himself. But when I asked him if he thought the sentiment was reciprocal, he had such a fresh access of distress and modesty, that it was really painful to me. It was in vain that I told him that love is a very contagious disease, and that, in nineteen cases out of twenty, a sincere affection is shared by its object. He considered him self an exception to all rules. He placed himself on the last round of the ladder of human beings, and She don't avoid me and she don't seek me.....but, I believe, she does avoid me, or, at least, I am disagreeable to her. When any. body looks as I do!"... He abused his poor looks with charming simplicity. M'lle Bourgade's coldness towards so excellent a man was not natural. It could only proceed from coquettish caleulation, or from the commencement of love on her side. "Does M'lle Bourgade know that you have inherited a fortune ?” "No." "She thinks you as poor as she is?" "Certainly, or they would long since have shown me the door." "If now....don't blush.... if by any chance, she cared for you, what would you do?" "I...I would tell her"... "Come, no false modesty! Sle isn't here, Would you marry her?” "Marry her! If I could!" This was on Sunday. The following Thursday I paid a visit to Little Greybeard. I put on my best uniform coat, with a geranium leaf in the button-hole. A tried |