guished, and has rendered his name famous as a remarkable public benefactor."

But The Providence Journal" claims to be best informed of any, and publishes from an anonymous correspondent the following:

"A story has been going the rounds of the newspapers, giving as a reason why Mr. Peabody was never married, that he adopted a young girl, whom, after she grew up, he wished to make his wife; but, finding that she preferred a clerk in his establishment to the chief of the house, he 'never told his love,' but calmly gave her up, and saw her married to a younger rival. Of the truth of that story I know nothing; but I can vouch for this that I am now going to relate:

"More than thirty years ago, in the far-famed school of that prince of teachers, John Kingsbury, was one of the fairest of all the fair daughters of Providence, celebrated far and near though that city has ever been for its lovely girls. Her school-education finished, she went with friends to Europe; not, however, before having given her youthful affections to a young man whom she had met in a sistercity. But, before marriage had consummated their happiness, adversity came upon him, and he found himself in no situation to marry. He was not willing she should waste her youth and glorious beauty in waiting through long years for the day to come when he could call her his own: so he released her from her vows, and they parted; she going, as I said before, to Europe.

"There she met George Peabody, then, comparatively speaking, a young man, but one who was already making his mark, and whose wealth was beginning to pour in on every side.

"He saw her, and was struck (as who that ever saw her was not struck?) with her grace, her winning ways, her exceeding loveliness; and, after a while, he 'proposed.' Her heart still clung to her loved one across the wide Atlantic; but, after some time, she yielded perhaps to the wishes of her friends, perhaps to the promptings of worldly ambition: who can tell? Who can fathom the heart of a young and beautiful maiden? She became the affianced. wife of Mr. Peabody. After a little interval, she came back to this country, and, soon after her arrival, met her first love, and, after-events justify me in saying, her 'only love.'

At sight of him, all her former affection. came back, if, indeed, it had ever left her,—and Mr. Peabody, with his wealth and brilliant prospects, faded away; and she clung with fond affection to her American lover, and was willing to share a moderate income with the chosen of her heart. All was told to Mr. Peabody; and he, with that manliness that characterized his every action, gave her up, and in due time she was married, and settled in a city not more than three hundred miles from Providence. What she suffered in coming to a final conclusion was known to but few. Her fair cheeks lost their roundness, and grew wan and pale; her lovely eyes had a mournful wistfulness that touched every heart. Some

Those who were am

blamed her: others praised her. bitious of worldly honors pronounced her mad,' ' foolish,’ to throw over a man like George Peabody, whose ever-increasing wealth would bestow every luxury upon her, and place her in a position in London that would make her lot an envied one, to marry a man who might never have more than a limited income to live upon. Others and shall I say the nobler part? —justified her in thinking that love, true love, was more to be desired than wealth or earthly fame.

"The painful conflict was at length ended. Her true womanhood vindicated itself, and she wavered no more.

"I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by Gen. Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth. Whether, in his visit to this country, Mr. Peabody ever met his once-affianced bride, I cannot say; neither do I know whether, when she heard of his more than princely wealth, her heart ever gave a sigh at the thought, 'All this might have been mine.'

"After several years of wedded bliss, death took her husband from her side, when the glorious loveliness of her youth had ripened into the full luxuriance of perfect ⚫ matronhood."

СНАРТER III.

PATRIOTISM.

The Citizen-Soldier. - The First Partnership. - The Travelling Member

A

"Breathes there the man with soul so dead

Who never to himself hath said,

'This is my own, my native land'?"-SCOTT.

"Every man to his own country."— 1 KINGS Xxii. 36.

MONG the peculiar characteristics which Americans have exhibited, or at least among the virtues they have made prominent in their

national career, is love of country. Patriotism, from the hour when this land was declared free from all other jurisdiction, has always been found in the American heart; and the dear old flag has ever had its faithful followers. Some of George Peabody's ancestors were among the Revolutionary heroes; and so it was not strange, that in the war of 1812, which occurred when he was a. young man, and during the early part of the Georgetown period of his life, he exhibited qualities which proved that he was not unworthy of them. The war with the mother

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country, long threatened, appeared inevitable; for the British fleet had ascended the Potomac, and were menacing the capital. This roused the patriotism of the young merchant; and, though he had not yet reached the age when military service could be required of him, he joined a volunteer company of artillery, and soon found himself on duty at Fort Warburton, which commanded the riverapproach to Washington. Appletons' Journal" states, that "for this service, together with a previous short service at Newburyport, Mr. Peabody lately received one of the grants of one hundred acres of land, bestowed under certain conditions, by act of Congress, upon the defenders of the Republic at this perilous time;" and, to use the words of an American writer, " if he gained here no military honors, at least he showed that he had within him the soul of a patriot and the nerve of a soldier."

After spending two years in the employment of his uncle, he entered into partnership in a wholesale drapery business with Mr. Elisha Riggs; Mr. Riggs furnishing the capital for the concern, and young Peabody agreeing to transact the business. It is said, that, "when Mr. Riggs invited Mr. Peabody to be a partner, the latter said there was one insuperable objection, as he was only nineteen years of age. This was no objection in the mind of the shrewd merchant, who wanted a young and active assistant." His unfaltering perseverance and indomitable energy had full scope; and they who may be supposed to know of the matter, say, that, to all concerned, the part