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guise, lest the world should pity me; the worms will have little to riot on when my body is laid in the grave” Exhausted with her emotions, poor Marian Bunk back upon her couch. I watched be side her till she slept, and then pondered over her story, and blessed God for my own hap pier lot. Beauty, brilliant talents,and wealth had been Marian’s dower and now not yet in the full bloom of womanhood, she was pining for the grave to rest in ! while I, with none of her advantages, was a happy wife and mother, and surrounded by friends who loved me the more that 1 possessed nothing which could awaken their envy. As the season drew to a close I returned to my happy home ; and Marian, her child, and husband went to Boston for the winter. One letter only reached me from he r, for the exer tion of writing had become too great for her, Then came another letter bearing a black seal: it was from a mutual friend, and 1 read in it, “our poor Marian is dead. After gradually wearing to a skeleton, her shattered frame and wasted strength yielded readily to the summons which called her from us, and her spirit passed quietly and early to the silent land.” They buried her as she wished, by the side of her father, and her weary soul, sus tained at the last by its new-born hope of im mortality, is at rest “ where thewicked cease from troubling.” popular Sales. THE BIRD-CATCHER AND HIS CANARY.* Ir the town of Cleves, an English gentle man was residing with a Prussian family during the time of the fair, which we shall pass over, having nothing remarkable to dis tinguish it from other annual meetings where people assemble to stare at, cheat each other, and divert themselves, and to spend the year’s savings in buying those bargains which would have been probably better bought at home.— One day after dinner, as the desert was just brought on the table, the traveling German musicians, who commonly ply the houses at these times, presented themselves, and were suffered to play ; and just as they were mak ing their bows for the money they received for their harmony, a bird-catcher, who had rendered himself famous for educating and calling forth the talents of the feathered race, made his appearance, and was well received by the party, which was numerous and be nevolent. The musicians, who had heard of this bird catcher’s fame, asked permission to stay; and the master of the house, who had a great share of good-nature, indulged their curiosity —a curiosity, indeed, in which every one participated; for all that we have heard or seen of learned pigs, asses, dogs, and horses, was said to be extinguished in the wonderful wisdom which blazed in the genius of this bird-catcher’s canary. The canary was produced, and the owner harangued him in the t following manner, plac ing him upon his forefinger:—“ Bijou, jewel, you are now in the presence of persons of great sagacity and honor ; take heed you do not deceive the expectations they have con ceived of you from the world’s report. You have got laurels; beware then of erring. In a word, deport yourself like the bijou—the jewel—of the canary birds, as you certainly are.” All this time the bird seemed to listen, and indeed placed himself in the true attitude of attention, by sloping his head to the ear of the man, and then distinctly nodding twice when his master left off speaking; and if ever nods were intelligible and promissory, these were two of them. “That’s good,” said the master, pulling off his hat to the bird. “ Now, then, let us sec ff you are a canary of honor. Give us a tune.” The canary sang. “ Pshaw! that’s too harsh ; ’tis'the noteof a raven, with a hoarseness upon him; some thing pathetic.” The canary whistled as if his little throat was changed to a lute. “Faster,” says the man—“slower —very what a plague is this foot about, and “l ls httle head ? No wonder you are out, w hen you forgot your time. — that's a jewel—bravo! bravo! my little man!” J From Pratt’s Gleanings—a work now rarely seen. S®©^KM 8 BIT IFIB. All that he was ordered or reminded of did he do to admiration. His head and foot beat time—humoured the variations both of tone and movement, and “ the sound was a just echo of the sense,” according to the strictest laws of poetical, and (as it ought to be) of muicial composition. “ Bravo ! bravo !” re-echoed from all parts of the dining-room. The musicians declared the canary was a greater master of music than any of their band. “And do you not show your sense of this civility, sir ?” cried the bird-catcher with an angry air. The canary bowed most respect fully, to the great delight of the company. His next achievement was going through the martial exercise with a straw gun, after which, “My poor Bijou,” says the owner, “ thou hast had hard work, and must he a little weary; a few performances more, and thou shalt repose. Show the ladies how to make a courtsey.” The bird here crossed his taper legs, and sunk and rose with an case and grace that would have put our subscrip tion assembly belles to the blush. “ That will do, my bird ! and now a bow, head and foot corresponding.” Here the strip lings for ten miles round London might have blushed also. “Let us finish with a hornpipe, my brave little fellow; that’s it—keep it up, keep it up.”. The activity, glee, spirit, and accuracy with which this last order was obeyed, wound up the applause (in which all the musicians join ed, as well with their instruments as with their clappings) to the highest pitch of admiration. Bijou himself seemed to feel the sacred thirst of fame, and shook his little plumes, and car rolled an Io paean, that sounded like the con scious notes of victory. “Thou hast done all my biddings bravely,” said the master, caressing his feathered ser vant : “ now, then, take a nap, while I Ufke thy place.” Hereupon the canary went into a counter feit slumber, so like the effect of the poppied god, first shutting one eye. then the other, then nodding, then dropping so much on one side, that the hands of several of the compa ny were stretched out to save him from fall ing; and, just as those hands approached his feathers, suddenly recovering, and dropping as much on the other. At length sleep seem ed to fix him in a steady posture, whereupon the owner took him from his finger, and laid him flat on the table, where the man assured us he \vould remain in a good sound sleep while he himself had the honor to do his best to fill up the interval. Accordingly, after drinking .a glass of wine, in the progress of taking which he was interrupted by the cana ry-bird springing suddenly up to assert his right to a share, really putting his little bill into the glass, and then laying himself down to sleep again, the owner called him a saucy fellow, and began to show off his own inde pendent powers of entertaining. The forte of these lay chiefly in balancing a tobacco pipe, while he smoked with another; and several of the positions were so difficult to be preserved, yet maintained with such dexteri ty, that the general attention was fixed upon him. While the little bird was thus exhibiting, a huge black cat, which had been no doubt on the watch from some unobserved corner, sprang upon the table, seized the poor canary in its mouth, and rushed out of ihe window in despite of all opposition. Though the dining-room was emptied in an instant, it was a vain pursuit; the life of the bird was gone, and its mangled body was brought in by the unfortunate owner in such dismay, accompan ied by such looks and language, as must have awakened pity in a misanthrope. He spread himself half-length over the table, and mourn ed his canary-bird with the most undissem blcd sorrow. “ Well may I grievd for thee, my poor lit tle thing!—well may I grieve! More than four years hast thou fed from my hand, drunk from my lip, and slept in my bosom! I owe to thee my support, my health, and my hap piness! Without thee, what will become of me? Thou it was that didst insure my wel come in the best companies! It was thy genius only made me welcome ! Thy death is a just punishmsnt for my vanity; had I re lied on thy happy powers, all had been well, and thou liadst been perched on my finger, or lulled on my breast, at this moment! But trusting to my own talents, and gloryfying myself in them, a judgement has fallen upon me, and thou art dead and mangled on this j table! Accursed be the hour I entered this house! And more accursed the detestable monster that killed thee ! Accursed he myself, for I contributed ! I ought not to have taken away my eyes when thine were closed in frolic ! Oh, Bijou ! my dearest, only Bijou ! would I were dead also!” As near as the spirit of his disordered mind can be translused, such was the language and sentiment oi the forlorn bird-catcher, whose despa ring motion and frantic air no words can paint. Ile took from his pocket a little green bag of faded velvet, and drawing from out of it some wool and cotton, that were the wrapping of whistles, bird-calls, and other instruments of his trade, all of which he threw on ihe table, “as in scorn,” and making a couch, placed the mutilated limbs and ravaged feathers of his canary upon it, and renewed his lamentations. These were now much softened, as is ever the case when the rage of grief yields to its tenderness— when it is too much overpowered by the effect to advert to the cause. It is needless to observe that every one of the company sympathised with him; but none more so than the hand of musicians, who, being engaged in a profession that naturally keeps the sensibilities more or less in exer cise, felt the distress of the poor bird-man with peculiar force. It was really a banquet to see these people gathering themselves into a knot, and, after whispering, wiping their eyes, and blowing their noses, depute one from amongst them to be the medium of conveying into the pocket of ihe bird-man, the very contribution they had just before received for their own efforts. Having wrapped up their contribution, they contrived to put it into the poor man’s pocket. As soon as he became aware of what they had done, he took from his pocket the little parcel they had rolled up, and brought with it, by an unlucky accident, another little bag, at the sight of which he was extremely agi tated, for it contained the canary-seed, the food of the “ dear lost companion of his heart.” There is no giving language to the effect of this trifling circumstance upon the poor fellow; he threw down the contribution-mon ey that he brought from his pocket along with it, not with an ungrateful, but a desperate hand. He opened the bag, which was fast ened with red tape, and taking out some of the seed, put it to the very bill of the lifeless bird, exclaiming, “No, poor Bijou! no; thou canst not peck any more out of thishandthat has been thy feeding-place so many years— thou canst not remember how happy we both were when T bought this bag full for thee ! Had it been filled with gold, thou liadst de served it!” “It shall be filled--and with gold,” said the master of the house, “ if I could afford it.” The good man rose from his seat, which had been long uneasy to him, and gently tak ing the bag, put into it some silver, saying, as he handed it to his nearest neighbor, “ Who will refuse to follow my example? It is not a subscription for mere charity ; it is a tribute to one of the rarest things in the whole world ; namely, to real feeling, in this sophistical, pretending, parading age. If ever the pas sion of love and gratitude was in the heart of man, it is in the heart of that unhappy fellow; and whether the object that calls out such feelings be bird, beast, fish, or man, it is alike virtue, and—ought to be rewarded.” £l)c tUorkmg fflan. MECHANICS’ ASSOCIATIONS. Mechanics’ Institutions, besides being good schools for the education of the intellectual faculties of the individual, ought to provide equally, if not more fully, for the cultivation of the moral parts of his character. This, it appears tq us, is the most important element of the man—that which tends to make him a good member of society. Further, by bring ing him up to this standard, there is much reason to believe that his intellectual faculties will be more susceptible of elevation, more easily awakened, and more vigorous in their efforts. The error, which many founders of Mechanics’ Institutions, fell into was the as sumption of an intelligence which no previous training had awakened ; they appealed to a wrong standard, they measured the capabili ties and tastes of the laboring man by a stand ard which existed only among persons, who had enjoyed, from childhood, means of instruc tion more complete than was sought to he pro vided for the working man for the first time in the middle of his life. This error was na tural. Let us now improve by experience ; most of our Mechanics’ Institutions are com posed of working men —let them study their own wants, the wants which they know r to be most felt by their order, laying aside that the details of science alone are appropriate subjects of attention, and that amusement is folly, and mirth iniquity, let them, in fact, study to furnish to their institutions the larg est possible amount or sound instruction com bined with the highest possible amount of cheap and innocent excitement. In this their duty consists, and in this will be found the success they desire, and to do this we have always pointed. With scientific subjects we have always combined a moral and cheering encouragement in the pursuit of happiness, by the practice of noble actions. By such means our mechanical classes alone can be elevated. —Saentijic American. PRIZE ESSAYS BY WORKING MEN. A clergyman in Edinburg, has proposed several prizes for essays, on the temporal ad vantages of the Sabbath to the working clas es. The competitors were to be working men in the strictest sense of the expression. The number ot working men, engaged at some kind ot handicraft from morning to night, who have entered the lists on this occasion, is not smaller than nine hundred and fifty. This is creditable to the intelligence of the working classes of Scotland whose population is only about that of this State. — lit. SCIENCE AND ART. Art is the application of science to useful purposes. Science is the head to conceive, art the arm to execute. They are together in emblems, as sisters. Science is the elder, and it is her province to lead art, the younger.— Science assumes that she is less liable to stumble, and claims that art should follow. But it must be confessed, that the great romp often gets ahead, and frequently finds shorter and more eligible routs in which her elder sis ter is glad to travel. Net they love each oth er, and 1 heir path is the same, and their jour ney is ever onward. Around them the forest falls, and the rays of the sun come in upon the bosom ol the earth. Cottages spring up, and flowers blossom. The neighboring woods echo to the ring of the anvil, and thenoiseof the saw-mill for the wild wood stream is dam med, and throbs like a great artery with a flut ter-wheel for a heart. Together, they have done wonders. They have timed the arrows of light, and have split the sunbeam into rain bows. They have marked out paths on the restless ocean, and measured its tide. They have stolen from the moon the secret of its motion, and betrayed the mystery of her eclips es. It is thought they had hung a pendulum to the clock-work of the universe, and regis tered its motions upon a dial. 3 Column (Erecteb to iTttn. ■ i BURSTS OF ELOQUENCE. One of our exchange papers has gathered up the following “ impassioned bursts of elo quence” for the “ ediiumcation” of his read ers. We copy it from that valuable family paper—the New England Washingtonian. “Your honor sits high upon the adorable scat of justice, like the Asiatic rock of Gibral tar; while the eternal streams of justice like the cadeverous clouds of the valley, How meandering at your feet.” This reminds us of the commencement of a speech of a lawyer in New Jersey —“Your honors do not sit there like marble statues, to be wafted about by every idle breeze.” Another Western orator commenced his harrangue with—“ The important crisis which were about to have ariven, have aroven.” Another. “The Court will please to observe that the gentleman from the East has given them a learned speech. He has Roamed With old Romulus, Soaked with old Sociates; Ripped with old Euripides, and Canted with ; old Canthrades, but, what, your honor, what i does lie know about the laws of Wisconsin'?” A young lawyer in one of our own courts commenced a defence as follows:—“May it please your honor, the Deluge has passed over the earth. The Ark has rested upon the mountain, and the rainbow of justice shines as beautifully upon my colored client as it does upon any one in the court, includingthe jury.” A Slight Mistake. —ln an old English print, the following ridiculous blunder was caused in the whole edition, by the omission of the letter c, at the beginning of a word in the third line, which was printed as follows: When the last trumpet soundeth, We shall not all die ; But we shall be hanged In the twinkle of an eye. 1 —i A Fair Warning.— A lady with artificial checks, was seen promenading Chestnut street, Philadelphia, the other day with the follow ing label, attatched to her dress by a mischiev ous boy, who owed her a grudge for pushing him into the gutter: “Beware or the Paint.” 69