kind good-bye from Mrs.; and sad and spiritless, we returned to our homes.

The old proser may talk of school-day happiness, and the few anxieties that hover over that green spot of existence. He has been so long a wanderer over the rough paths of life, tossed by its vicissitudes, and buffeted by its sorrows, that he has forgotten the sensitiveness of his earlier nature. It is not that pilgrim grief that walks unsandalled over the burning desert of affliction; but childhood with its shoes off will show less philosophy, and feel more acutely, the pebbles of its play-ground. Was it strange, then, that I passed a sleepless night, or strange that I penned the next morning, at daylight, the following commentary on her text? I think the oft-quoted line of Pope must have had some influence with my Muse, as I perceive she has introduced her remonstrance by a similar commencement. Perhaps I was thinking that 'twigs' should not be crushed by superabundant weight, no matter how the tree' is inclined: "T is education polishes the mind,

And intellect's rude ore is thus refined;
Ere gems are found, their sepulchre is riv'n,

And inind is delved, ere thought can flash to heaven.
If it be sweet through science' path to stray,

To gather fragrance for life's wintry day,

Then why enclose with thorns each hallow'd flower,
And grasping blossoms, bid us feel their power?

Oh who would win a wreath so dearly bought,
And wound the spirit for a brighter thought?
Our wearied nature suppliant would ask

Thy kindly aid to smooth our thorny task,
And beg of reason but this little boon,

Ask each one question - let each answer one;
The brain tumultuous, in confusion tossed,

Thought leaves the helm, and Reason's self is lost;
And Memory Autters o'er the questioning wave,
And mourns the wreck she strove in vain to save.

Can we Golconda's diamond mines explore?
Then search for pearls near India's smiling shore?
Then fancied homage to a Llama pay?
Kneel to a Boodh, or tremble 'neath Transfa?'
Or view the Bootern hills, with verdure drest?
Compare them with chill Thibet's snowy vest?
See nature's table spread stupendous round,
As if for giants reared, on Tartar ground?
Thought travels fast, but education's loom
Must weave its vesture, and it finds a doom;
Let Memory bring again thy youthful days,
When application gained its meed of praise;
When no entangling question stamp'd thee dunce,
Nor brain nor tongue could answer ten at once;
And recollection will restore the smile,
That cheers the languor of our mental toil.
When that is hidden, clouds obscure our sky,
And trembling showers are seen in every eye:
The brightest star within our little sphere,
This morning veil'd its brilliance in a tear;
Oh then in reason grant this little boon,
Ask each one question- let each answer one!

Homer won for himself a brilliant wreath, and left his poetry in the hearts of his hearers. For years it had no other resting place, and all we enjoy of it was gathered from the bosoms of those who cherished it. Mine perished in a day; but I, too, had my reward; the renewal of our school liberties, and a kiss that was worth all the Olympic wreaths that ever were bestowed.

LITERARY NOTICES.

A NEW HOME: WHO'LL FOLLOW? OR GLIMPSES OF WESTERN LIFE. By Mrs. MARY CLAVERS, an Actual Settler. In one volume. pp. 317. New-York: C. S. FRANCIS. UNHESITATINGLY, with the impressions derived from its perusal fresh upon us, do we pronounce this unpretending volume one of the most natural, pleasant, and entertaining books that we have read for a twelvemonth. The writer is an accomplished lady, evidently of high literary, and even scholastic, attainments, who, after enjoying from childhood the advantages and refinements of polished life, removes with her husband and small family, to the wilds of Michigan. With a hearty perception of the beauties of nature and power to depict them; with a keen eye for the ridiculous, and a leady appreciation of the burlesque; and with a remarkable knowledge of character, it is not perhaps surprising that our author should have written an amusing volume. But she has accomplished more. She has done good service to the public, 'at the East,' in guarding emigrants to the western wilds against the extravagant stories of interested speculators, touching the untold advantages to be derived from a removal to that wooden region.' While she renders full justice to the exuberant fertility of the soil, the beauty of the scenery, etc., she does not disguise from the reader that the comforts of life are not always easy of attainment, and that a moderate portion of its luxuries is rather a thing to be hoped for, than expected. The annexed is an exposition of the manner in which 'lots' were disposed of, in Michigan, when the mania pointed thither ward:

"When lots were to be sold, the whole fair dream was splendidly emblazoned on a sheet of super-royal size; things which only floated before the mind's eye of the most sanguine, were portrayed with bewitching minuteness for the delectation of the ordinary observer. Majestic steamers plied their paddles to and fro upon the river; ladies crowding their decks and steamers floating on the wind. Sloops dotted the harbors, while noble ships were seen in the offing. Mills, factories, and light-houses-canals, rail-roads and bridges, all took their appropriate positions. Then came the advertisements, choicely worded and carefully vague, never setting forth any thing which might not come true at some time or other; yet leaving the buyer without excuse if he chose to be taken in.

"An auctioneer was now to be procured (for lots usually went rather heavily at private sale,) and this auctioneer must not be such a one as any executive can make, but a man of genius, or ready invention, of fluent speech; one who had seen something of the world, and above all, one who must be so thoroughly acquainted with the property, and so entirely convinced of its value, that he could vouch on his own personal respectability, for the truth of every statement. He must be able to exhibit certificates from -no matter whom-Tom-a-Nokes perhaps-but 'residing on the spot' - and he must find men of straw to lead the first bids. And when all this had been attended to, it must have required some nerve to carry the matter through; to stand by, while the poor artizan, the journeyman mechanic, the stranger who had brought his little all to buy government land to bring up his young family upon, staked their poor means on strips of land which were at that moment a foot under water. I think many of these gentlemen earned their money."

We quote the following, partly to show the 'rates of exchange' sometimes adopted in sales of western village lots, and to impress upon the reader the particular beauty of the duplicate 'New,' against which Mr. IRVING lately entered his protest :

"I must not omit to record the friendly offer of one of the gentlemen whose adven

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tures I have recapitulated, to take 'two Montacute lots at five hundred dollars each.' As this was rather beyond the price which the owner had thought fit to affix to his ordinary lots, he felt exceedingly obliged, and somewhat at a loss to account for the proposition, till his friend whispered, and you shall have in payment a lot at New-New-York at a thousand; and we have not sold one at that, I can assure you.'

"The obliged party chanced to meet the agent for New-New-York about a year after, and inquired the fortunes of the future emporium-the number of inhabitants, etc. "There's nobody there,' said he, 'but those we hire to come.'

We were greatly entertained with the history of the journey of the CLAVERS family, the adventure in 'the mash,' Anglice marsh, and the first night passed in Montacute, at which place, afterward a village, our author takes up her final abode. Passing these, however, with the diverting sketch of western 'helps,' and the erection and furnishing of a residence, we come to the annexed characteristic picture of a visit made to our author, by one of the more recherché females of the neighborhood, a tall damsel, of twenty eight or thirty:

"She was tastefully attired in a blue gingham dress, with broad cuffs of black morocco, and a black cambric apron edged with orange worsted lace. Her oily black locks were cut quite short round the ears, and confined close to her head by a black ribbon, from one side of which depended, almost in her eye, two very long tassels of black silk, intended to do duty as curis. Prunelle slippers with high heels, and a cotton handkerchief tied under the chin, finished the costume, which I have been thus particular in describing, because I have observed so many that were nearly similar.

"The lady greeted me in the usual style, with a familiar nod, and seated herself at once in a chair near the door.

"Well, how do like Michigan?'

"This question received the most polite answer which my conscience afforded; and I asked the lady in my turn, if she was one of my neighbors ?

"Why, massy, yes!' she replied; don't you know me? I tho't every body know'd me. Why, I'm the school ma'am, Simeon Jenkins' sister, Cleory Jenkins.'

"Thus introduced, I put all my civility in requisition to entertain my guest, but she seemed quite independent, finding amusement for herself, and asking questions on every possible theme.

"You 're doing your own work now, a'nt ye?'

"This might not be denied; and I asked if she did not know of a girl whom I might be likely to get

"Well, I do n't know; I'm looking for a place where I can board and do chores myself. I have a good deal of time before school, and after I get back; and I did n't know but I might suit ve for a while.'

The gospel privileges' in Michigan, at the period of which Mrs. CLAVERS Speaks, were not of the highest order. The subjoined is given as a specimen of the illustrative style adopted by the itinerant ministers, in their appeals to unlettered congregations:

"It is not long since I heard a good man preach from the text 'Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth.' He began by saying that it could not be necessary to show the literal truth of this observation of the Apostle; 'For you yourselves know, my friends, especially at this time of year, when most of you have had to fight fire more or less, how easy it is to kindle what is so difficult to put out. You know that what fire a man can carry in his hand, applied to the dry grass on the marshes, will grow so, that in ten minutes a hundred men could not put it out, and, if you do n't take care, it will burn up your haystacks and your barns too, ay, and your houses, if the wind happens to be pretty strong. And if you get a cannon loaded up with powder, it wont take but a leetle grain of fire to produce a great explosion, and may be kill somebody. And I dare say that some of you have seen the way they get along in making rail-roads in the winter, when the ground's froze so hard that they can't dig a bit: they blast off great bodies of the hard ground, just as they blast rocks. And it don't take any more than a spark to set it a-going. Even so, a woman's tongue, can set a whole neighborhood together by the ears, and do more mischief in a minute, than she can undo in a month.' At this all the young folks looked at each other and smiled, and as the preacher went on in a similar strain, the smile was frequently repeated; and such scenes are not very uncommon."

The locale is 'a bare, cold school-house, the wind whistling through a thousand crevices in the unplastered walls, and pouring down through as many more in the shrunken roof, seats formed by laying rough boards on rougher blocks,' etc. The meetings are conducted in a very unceremonious manner :

"It takes one a long while to become accustomed to the unceremonious manner in which the meetings of all sorts are conducted. Many people go in and out whenever they feel disposed; and the young men, who soon tire, give unequivocal symptoms of their weariness, and generally walk off with a nonchalant air, at any time during the exercises. Women usually carry their babies, and sometimes two or three who can scarcely walk and the restlessness of these youthful members, together with an occasional display of their musical talents, sometimes interrupts in no small measure the progress of the speaker. The stove is always in the centre of the room, with benches arranged in a hollow square around it; and the area thus formed is the scene of infantile operations. I have seen a dozen people kept on a stretch during a whole long sermon, by a little, tottering, rosy-cheeked urchin, who chose to approach within a few inches of the stove every minute or two, and to fall at every third step, at the imminent danger of lodging against the hot iron. And the mamma sat looking on with an air of entire complacency, picking up the chubby rogue occasionally, and varying the scene by the performance of the maternal office. I fancy it would somewhat disconcert a city clergyman, on ascending his sumptuous pulpit, to find it already occupied by a deaf old man, with his tin ear-trumpet ready to catch every word. This I have seen again and again; and however embarrassing to the preacher, an objection or remonstrance on the subject would be very ill received. And after all, I must confess, I have heard sermons preached in such circumstances, which would have reflected no disgrace on certain gorgeous draperies of velvet and gold."

The manual-labor meeting of the 'Female Benevolent Sewing Society' at Mrs. CLAVERS' is capitally described. A querulous, mischief-making widow, Mrs. Nippers, is served up with sauce piquante:

"Mrs. Nippers took her work and edged herself into a coterie of which Mrs. Flyter had seemed till then the magnet. Very soon I heard, 'I declare it's a shame!' I don't know what 'll be done about it;' She told me so with her own mouth: Oh but I was there myself!' etc. etc., in many different voices; the insterstices well filled with undistinguishable whispers 'not loud but deep.'

"It was not long before the active widow transferred her seat to another corner. The whispers and the exclamations seemed to be gaining ground. The few silent members were inquiring for more work.

"Mrs. Nippers has the sleeve! Mrs. Nippers, have you finished that sleeve?'

"Mrs. Nippers colored, said 'No,' and sewed four stitches. At length 'the storm grew loud apace.' 'It will break up the society

"What is that?' asked Mrs. Doubleday, in her sharp treble. What is it, Mrs. Nippers? You know all about it.'

"Mrs. Nippers replied that she only knew what she had heard, etc. etc., but, after a little urging, consented to inform the company in general, that there was great dissatisfaction in the neighborhood; that those who lived in log houses at a little distance from the village, had not been invited to join the society; and also that many people thought twenty-five cents quite too high, for a yearly subscription.

Many looked aghast at this. Public opinion is no where so strongly felt as in this country, among new settlers. And as many of the present company still lived in loghouses, a tender string was touched.