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left my companion to rest himself preparatory to our ride homeward, and sallied forth in quest of the friends with whom I was pledged to pass the evening. It was not long before I greeted my old friend, and recounted with him the adventures of the long years passed since we had laugh ed together. “And so. Harry,” I exclaimed, “you. have, like myself, had the happy fortune to escape all Cupid’s snares, and are still a joyous, hear ty bachelor-—ay, my boy “ Bachelor!. D evil a hit of it, my old friend! I’ve recanted, abjured all those infamous her esies, and have become the luckiest benedict alive!” “Gracious heaven!” I ejaculated, with a long-drawn sigh of intense commiseration. — “Tell me, Harry, how it all happened, and if the earnest sympathies of a true friend will ” “ Sympathy! ha, ha ! That’s a capital joke capital: but I see, poor deluded wretch, that you are yet in the ‘gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity.’ Your rambles in the Cat skills have not been so fruitful as have mine. All my good fortune has been quafied in these mountains. When I had the happiness to bring down that blessed panther and save my Ella’s life, I struck a vein which ” “Oh! Plato! Plato!” I ejaculated, as the fatal truth burst upon my mind ; “Panther! Ella! and were you , Harry, the hero of that memorable incident, and is she your wife ?■” “To be sure —she ‘isn’t anything else!’— Come let us go and join the ladies, and von shall become better acquainted with Ella; for you must know that she has already met you, and has taken a great fancy to you. — You remember the lady who visited your stu dio in Palenville. and whom you afterwards encountered so romantically in your moon light stroll, the other night, to the Mountain House!” “The fact is. Harry,” 1 replied in a faint, sad voice; “ The fact is, I am terribly fatigued by my travels to-day, and only came over to see you for a moment and get you to make my appologies to our friends here for hasten ing home with my engagements unfulfilled. You know it is late, and I have a longdistance yet to travel.” “Nonsense! nonsense! Ella would nev er forgive you.” “ Make my compliments to her,” I said, tearing myself away and flying back to the inn; “ I shall meet you soon in town —you know my address — au revior. l " 1 I hastened hack with all speed to the Mountain'lnn —before 1 slept addressed my treasured glove, under an envelop, to Mrs. Henry B****, and at day-break, notwithstand ing Uncle Joe thought it ‘most oncommon.’ bade a long adieu to Palenville and the Cat skills. FAITH AND WORKS- A person who had peculiar opinions touch ing the “ full assurance of faith,” having oc casion to cross a ferry, availed himself of the opportunity to interrogate the boatman as to the grounds of his belief, telling him that if he bad faith he was certain of a blessed im mortality. The man of the oar said he had always entertained a different notion of the subject, and begged to give an illustration of his opinion. “Let us suppose,” said the fer ryman, “that one of these oars is called faith, and the other works, and try their several merits.” Accordingly, throwing down one oar in the boat, he proceeded to pull the oth er oar with all his strength, upon which the boat turned round and made no way. “Now t ,” said he, “you perceive faith won’t do, let us try if works can.” Seizing the other oar. and giving it the same trial, the same consequen ces ensued. “Works,” said he, “you see, won’t do either ; let us try them together.”— The result was successful ; the boat shot through the waves, and soon reached the wishei-for haven. “This,” said the ferryman, “is the way by which I hope to be wafted over the troubied waters of this world to the peaceful shores of immortality.’"— Youth's Magazine. ib ait&fa as tr ©ASB'inrs* fjornc (Homsponbencc. For the Southern Literary Gazette. NEW-YORK LETTERS—NO, IX. Rathbun’s Hotel, ) New-York, June 29, 1848. ) My Dear Sir: —Since my last, I have made my first escape from the city this season, and have had a nice time in the wood-lands, chat ting with echo, and flirting with butter-cups and daisies. I always refrain from a peep at the country, until Nature has completely made her toilet and robed herself in her rich est attire ; and thus my visit furnishes me a more exquisite treat, in the greater contrast which the green hills and meadows offer to the parched atmosphere, the grating noises, and the prosy hues of pent-up streets. The exceedingly warm weather which we have lately experienced here, has fairly set our summer travellers in motion, and hundreds are daily leaving the’ town. Those who can not afford to journey far, can easily content themselves with some of the many lovely spots which eviron the city, and are accessi ble in an half-hours’ travel by steamboat or rail-way. Perhaps no place is more bounti fully furnished, in this respect, than New York. You may dine at the “Astor” or the “Rathbun,” and take your after-dinner stroll in the wildest haunts of Nature. My own late rambles were amidst neighboring scenes in New Jersey —a region rich in quiet pasto ral landscape; fruitful meadow-lands, wa tered by gentle streams, and flanked by long ranges of picturesque hills, dotted here and there with village and city. One of the most attractive points, which met my eye, was the glimpse from the Weehawken hills, looking southward over the valley of the Hackensack, with the singular mountain land, called “Snake-hill,” in the distance. One can scarce ly imagine a sweeter study for the artist than this. Looking eastward from the same heights, you command a noble panorama of the great city of Gotham and the neighboring towns of Brooklyn, Jersey City, Hoboken, etc., with the beautiful Bay of New York, Staten-Is land and the mighty ocean. Here I looked down upon the movements of the “N. Y. Cricket Club,” as the members were amusing themselves on their greensward, at the base of the ridge. 1 was then bound on a pilgri mage to the studio of Ranney, the artist, who lives hereabouts, and as l happened to descry hint among the Cricketers, I joined the merry company for a while, and when the match was ended, reclimbed the bills with my friend, and soon after reached his little cottage, in a sequestered and highly picturesque nook of Weehawken. He resides here, winter and summer, with his mother and sister, and re lieves himself from the labors of his easel, with the country sports of hunting, fishing, and, above all, cricketing, in which he is a confessed master* with household cares, and a very little sprinkling of agricultural toil. — He delights chiefly in painting scenes of rude forest life, with groups of rough and ready mountaineers, dogs, horses and game. He has acquired much reputation in the art. which he is, unquestionally, destined to in crease. Avery heavy thunder-storm swept over the city in the early part of last week, doing much damage here and in the vicinage. In Hobo ken, the lightning set lire to several buildings which were burned to the ground, and in New Y ork. the electric fluid, among other “fantastic tricks before high heaven,” -took um brage at the spire of Grace Church, and dashed the huge cross from its haughty ele vation to the earth! Oil Tuesday evening, a large mass-meeting was held in the Tabernacle*to express sympa thy with Mitchell, the Irish agitator, lately con victed of felony and transported to Bermuda. The affair was exceedingly shabby and noisy, and not a little ludicrous. The pompous and indignant tones of the revolutionary orators, would have led to the impression that they Were ready at any moment, to step across the Atlantic at a single stride, and with one fell blow, “do” the British lion forever and a day. Their enthusiasm, however, was not great enough to withstand the cooling influ ences of an after glass of “sherry cobler.” The ladies, too, in our adjoining village of Brooklyn, have been “sympathising” in a mass meeting with the wife and daughters of the condemned felon ! So great is this rage for sympathising, that we may soon expect to have mass meetings, commendatory of every petit rogue or refractory creditor, who gets up a little private revolution of his own, and re organizes his relations to society or to his creditor, by appropriating the goods and chat tels of the one, or repudiating the claims of the other. The Whig Mass-Meeting for the ratifica tion of the nominations of the Philadelphia Convention, which was postponed, has not yet taken place. The delay is, doubtless, to allow time for the calming of the angry feel ings of that portion of the party, so grievous ly disappointed by the preference of General Taylor over Mr. Clay. It will, in all proba bility have the desired effect, and the party will eventually pull together. That portion of the Democratic party known as the Hun kers, and approving of the nomination of Cass and Butler, has alraady ratified the de cision of the Baltimore Convention, in a large meeting in the Park. The other division, or Barnburners, refusing to come into the ar rangement, held anew Convention at Utica last week. At the meeting of the Hunkers, some amusing scenes occurred. Just as the business was about to commence, a portion of the stage gave way, and down came re porters and orators in one promiscuous heap, with broken planks and a deluge of dust.— Some poor devils were bruised a little, but luckily no bones were broken, either of Hun ker, Barnburner or Whig. One of the speak ers, alluding to the preference of the Whigs for Taylor over Clay, which he called the power of availability over principle, said that “the Whig party had adjourned for four years , when it purposed bringing up Mr. Clay again !” There is considerable poetry in this idea, but a still greater amount of stern truth. I was highly pleased the other day with a visit to the India Rubber establishment, in Broadway, of Mr. Wm. Ward, the sole agent for the largest manufactory of India Rubber goods in the world, and the patentee of very many of the singular and useful articles made of this valuable material. Here, besides Baby Jumpers, (for which invention the mothers of the world should call a mass-meeting to sym pathize with the inventors and to cherish his wife and daughters!) I found door and car riage springs more durable and serviceable than those heretofore made of iron ; buckets, cups, travelling bags, trunks, and other arti cles heretofore concocted of wood; a variety of military “fixings,” such as knapsacks, hammocks, canteens, tent-floors, camp-blan kets, beds, pillows, and so on, ad libitum; horse-blankets, hats, boots, shoes, leggings, coats, suspenders, paper-holders, shoulder braces and toys. Speaking of the wonderful progress made in the manufacture of these goods, during the last few years, and the many important uses to which the gum had been applied since Mr. Goodyear so success fully combined it with sulphur and white lead, as to render it insoluble under the action of heat, and always flexible in the severest cold, Mr. Ward informed me that India Rubber had not been an article of much com merce in this country before the year 1825, although it had been imported in small quan tities and in various forms prior to that date. More than nine-tenths of all the India Rubbei used in the world is exported now, as then, from the little town of Para, in Brazil. The first importation came tp Salem, (Mass.) in 1825. When the introduction here, of the metallic shoe took place, the importation of the foreign article decreased yearly, until in 1847, it did not exceed half a million of pairs. In this year, one million and a half pairs of rubber shoes were made in this country, and the importation of the raw material has con tinued with little variation since 1844, until the quantity annually brought here, now ex ceeds two millions of pounds. James Bishop & Cos., of this city, though not the oldest, is the most extensive house in the trade ; one member of the firm residing permanently at Para. The business demands a large capital, and though the profits are small, it is safe and always makes a sure return. In this age of novelty, there is no telling to what strange purposes this material may yet he applied. Stump orators and demagogues in general, use it with great success, to the direct end of humbugging the dear public; and the indirect advantage of spoiling much fair paper, and providing uses for the surplus revenue of the government. It would make a great bustle in the world, if the ladies had not backed out from that elegant and graceful article of the toilet. It has even served me as a theme for a long, perhaps too long, paragraph; but as a friend of mine, who had made rather ques tionable progress in the study of the French, said of the yielding capacity of his over-shoes, the subject is tres stretchee! Yours truly, FLIT. Sketches of £ifc. For the Southern Literary Gazette. THE LISTENER.—NO. IV. NOT BY CAROLINE FRY, THE ERROR OF A LIFE. Most of the Summer of 184— was spent by meat Hampton Beech, a delightful water ing place, near Portsmouth, N. 11. The plea upon which I had withdrawn myself from the city, was that my health required the change; but the actual motive which mov ed me, was a weariness of town routine, an inexpressible disgust which I had conceived to all forced compliance with the formal con ventionalities of society. What a picture, would the detail of the winter I had just pass ed have presented of our modern society, for which we are fitted by modern accomplish ments! But I will not tire you with it now. I have only told you this much that you may comprehend my feelings when I welcomed the quiet sea-shore home. Early in July, before the multitude which throng our watering places had fairly moved I reached Hampton Beech. I had decided to pass a week or two atone of the three hotels, which there keep up a friendly rivalry, and then, when the crowd commenced, my furni ture would be ready to place in a little cot tage, a mile and a half from the hotels, and very near “old ocean’s sounding waves. 15 Such an arrangement seemed to promise me what I required tranquillity and freedom, with out that feeling of loneliness and isolation which unnerves us when we mourn with the Frenchman that no friend is nigh to whom we can say “how sweet is solitude!” With my two children, and occasional visits from my husband, whom business detained in town there was enough to keep my heart warm; and a poney-chaise, musical instruments, plenty of new books, charming with their novelty, and old ones with their dear familiar faces, and my ever-open work-box, where shone the needle whose cherful gleam is my surest antidote to ennui and ill-humour. With all these appliances, why should time lag with me? As I entered the parlor, toward the evening of my first day at the hotel, I observed a lady with a little child, and servant, near the oriel window which looked out upon the sea. — That she was a fine looking woman, with an 67