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clerk of the United States House of Representatives, is a very grave-looking, dignified sort of a personage, with a very slow, measured, and drawling voice, but who, withal, likes a good joke as well as any one, though he has a somewhat peculiar mode of expressing it. Happening one day, while in Boston, to come unexpectedly upon a somewhat familiar countenance, he inquired of the gentleman in company with him if that (pointing to the stranger) was not Mr. THAYER? His friend replied that it was. 'Why,' said Mr. F —, ‘I used to know him once very well, and I recollect a letter he wrote me, too; and I don't think I shall ever forget it either. You see, he was an operator on my line some years ago, and a very good one too; but he had one great fault: he would take a little too much occasionally, and neglect his duties. I disliked to say any thing to him about it, he was such a gentlemanly fellow, and so it ran on for some time, until finally I thought it my duty to write him, and remonstrate against his conduct, and see if I could not effect some improvement. I wrote him as mild and delicate a letter as the circumstances would admit of, and what do you suppose he did when he received it? Why, Sir, he sat down and wrote me back, inclosing my letter to him, saying, 'If I was going to adopt it as a rule to write to all the operators who were in the habit of drinking, that I had better keep that letter as a copy, and get it s-t-e-r-e-o-t-y-p-e-d, and send a copy of it to every operator on the line!' Well, Sir, to tell you the plain truth, I was almighty angry at the time, and immediately sent him his discharge, but it makes me laugh now whenever I think of it!' To our conception there is great beauty in the ensuing fervid lines. We know nothing of the author, save that they are said to be by a lady:

Abide with us.'

"TARRY with me, O my SAVIOUR!
For the day is passing by;
See! the shades of evening gather,
And the night is drawing nigh:
Tarry with me! tarry with me!
Pass me not unheeded by.

'Many friends were gathered round me,
In the bright days of the past;
But the grave has closed above them,
And I linger here the last:

I am lonely; tarry with me,

Till the dreary night is past.

'Dimmed for me is earthly beauty;
Yet the Spirit's eye would fain
Rest upon THY lovely features;
Shall I seek, dear LORD! in vain?
Tarry with me, O my SAVIOUR!
Let me see Tny smile again.

'Dull my ear to earth-born music;

Speak THOU, LORD, in words of cheer:

Feeble, tottering my foot-step,

Sinks my heart with sudden fear;

Cast THINE arms, dear LORD! around me,

Let me feel Tur presence near.

'Faithful Memory paints before me
Every deed and thought of sin;
Open THOU the blood-filled fountain,
Cleanse my guilty soul within:
Tarry, thou forgiving SAVIOUR,
Wash me wholly from my sin.

'Deeper, deeper grow the shadows,
Paler now the glowing west:
Swift the night of death advances-
Shall it be the night of rest?
Tarry with me, 0 my SAVIOUR!
Lay my head upon THY breast.

'Feeble, trembling, fainting, dying,
LORD, I cast myself on THEE;
Tarry with me through the darkness;
While I sleep, still watch by me
Till the morning, then awake me,
Dearest LORD, to dwell with THEE!'

Read this before you go to church on Sunday. THE friendly correspondent who sends us the following considers himself very properly justified in doing so, by the place which we gave to the proceedings of the 'convention' held by the 'Man in the Moon,' as recorded in the 'Dua Fabulæ' of our umqwhile correspondent, the 'Director in a Plank-Road Company:'

"THE fable (which I have just turned to in an old number of 'KNICK') of the man in the moon, who held a meeting all by himself, and passed resolutions applauding his own conduct, calls to my mind a real meeting I once heard of, convened in a city not a thousand miles from Cleveland. 'The Forest City' was the residence of the Secretary of a company, the stock of which was chiefly owned by an uncle of his 'down-East,' but which was organized and did business nominally in Ohio. Things were so fixed that when any new resolutions were to be passed, officers elected, or any thing of importance done, it was necessary to call a meeting of the company, and on those occasions, the express, on the day before the meeting, usually brought a package of instructions, and a hat-full of stock and proxies to E, who acted on such occasions as the representative of 'all hands.' On the occasion to which I allude, E- who, by the way, is a tall, good-natured, jocose fellow, with a keen relish for a good joke and 'Old Particular,' was the only voter in town, and of course he was puzzled, as the hour of meeting drew near, to contrive how he would manage the assemblage, or how he should support the united dignities of President, Secretary, voters, and audience—they all being combined in his own ungainly person. As the hour of ten drew nigh, however, a lucky thought struck him. Seizing his proxies and his hat-full of scrip, he went to his friend B, a youngster in whose discretion he had confidence, and having writ ten a transfer for one share, which constituted him a voter, he asked him up to the convention. Arrived in his sanctum, and being seated at the table, E opened the meeting by informing B solemnly, that 'pursuant to notice, the stock-holders of the Company were then and there convened for the election of officers.' Said E- -: 'Now B—, you move that I be President.' 'Done!' said B—. 'Now, I move that you be Secretary.' 'Done!' says B The meeting being thus fully organized, the voting began. E threw in his hat-full for the down-East' officers, and B, as in duty bound, put in his vote ditto. The result of the election having been ascertained, various resolutions were passed with great unanimity, and several speeches made by the President to the audience, touching the welfare of the company, which were received with unbounded applause, and after a very lengthy and spirited session, the President announced to B that the convention was adjourned,

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to meet a year hence, at same hour and place. The convention did then adjourn, and all the members descended to the saloon of the W House, to refresh themselves after the fatigues of the meeting, and to drink to the prosperity of the the health of the successful candidates.'

Company and

APROPOS of the 'Dua Fabula:' here is a 'Missent Letter to the People,' from the same pen, which failed to reach the editor of The Tribune,' who, being in Paris, is unable to redress all public grievances, as he could do through his influential journal, if he were at his post:

"Letter from the People.

'TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE:

'SIR: Allow me to make use of the valuable columns of your widely-disseminated sheet to stir up public opinion on the subject of a systematic system of outrage pursued toward the people, by a certain gigantic and overgrown monopoly, which imagines itself invulnerable in every quarter; and which, having the giant's strength, cares not how tyrannously it uses it.

'The first-class Express Comet, which was telegraphed to the Berlin Observatory several weeks ago as being on its way up from below, has come in sight, and is now making a frantic run down the long grade to this station. The papers say that this is the Comet of 1788. If the statement is true it was due, according to the time-table, in 1854, and is consequently two years behind time. Whether the delay was caused by the carelessness of a switch-tender, or the fatal curiosity of some straggling cow, I am unable to say, but the heedless and headlong character of the employés of the line, make it to my mind morally certain that to some such inexcusable negligence the failure of mails and the delay of passengers is to be ascribed. Now, Sir, what I want to know is, how long the Directors of this line are to be permitted to defy public opinion, and to snap their fingers at claims for damages? The other evening the Night Express, while going at an insane velocity through the avenues of the thickly-settled district beyond the Half-Way House, leaped off the track and ran smack into a large new moon which had lately been put up, with all the modern improvements, by the public-spirited proprietor of the well-known watering-place in that region. It is needless to say that the luckless 'obstacle,' as the superintendent of the line coolly called it, was knocked into a cocked hat, and to all who have ever had any dealings with the same surpassingly cool individual, it will be equally unnecessary for me to say further that the bill of the gentlemanly proprietor, when presented at the Company's office for settlement, was deliberately met by a bill for 'damages to cow-catcher,' and pigeon-holed, in the face and eyes of the astounded and helpless creditor, as 'cancelled per account!' This is not a solitary instance. I could give you forty and no wonder, either, when the numerous trains are driven at headlong speed over a single track, and the most ordinary precautions against accident are totally disregarded. Last night the Comet, now in sight, crossed the orbit of a large planet, without ringing the bell, and this negligence is habitual. Plainly, no disaster is too overwhelming to be expected from such management. The Lightning Train is now due from the East, and as neither of the trains stop at way-stations, I expect nothing more than to see the two lock horns at the corner of my kitchen. Are the Directors of the road crazy, or is every body else crazy? Please inform. Excuse this encroachment on your valuable space. I have borne the evils complained of as long as I am able to, and have only spoken when the tread of a gigantic monopoly on my own corns has become unendurable. 'Your obedient servant,

'June, 1855.

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PUBLICOLA.'

'AN eminent physician of

'PUBLICOLA' must not forget us hereafter. our city,' according to our contemporary of 'The Spirit of the Times,' has supplied several prescriptions for complaints which it is feared the 'prohi

bitory law' will in a short time entail upon the community, and the remedies for which any druggist or apothecary is obliged to supply, after the recipe shall have received the signature of a regular physician. The 'medicine,' it is said, is 'not bad to take.' We annex two or three prescriptions without giving their 'proper names,' as, under the circumstances, it might 'defeat the ends of justice: '

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B.-SPIRITUS Hordei et Secalis cum lupul. destillati, et cum baccis Juniperi

communis redestillati et rectificati,

Tinct. Gentianæ et Amomi Cardamomi composita,

Sacchari albi, cochleare minimum,

Aquæ frigidæ,

Misce bene, cum fustula; et adde corticis limonis sectionem parvulam.

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fliij.

'S. 'Quater die hauriendum: videlicit-mane, una hora post meridiem ad vesper, et ante recumbitum.'

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Sacchari albi puri,

cochl. maxim.

Menthæ viridis foliarum - manipul. minim.

'M. B. cum agitatione violenta, frustis glacies et aquæ puræ q. s. additis.

It is said that these 'medicaments,' to persons accustomed to drink brandy and gin cock-tails, or even mint-juleps, will prove a very pleasant substitute for their accustomed 'beverage.' WE are indebted to a friend in Washington City for the following very forcible illustration of What Constitutes Riches.' We need not add that the anecdote is entirely authentic:

''To be rich,' said Mr. MARCY, our worthy Secretary of State, 'requires only a satisfactory condition of the mind. One man may be rich with a hundred dollars, while another, in the possession of millions, may think himself poor; and as the necessities of life are enjoyed by each, it is evident the man who is the best satisfied with his possessions is the richer.'

'To illustrate this idea, Mr. MARCY related the following anecdote: While I was Governor of the State of New-York,' said he, 'I was called upon one morning at my office by a rough specimen of a backwoodsman, who stalked in, and commenced conversation by inquiring if this was Mr. MARCY?'

''I replied that that was my name.

BILL MARCY?' said he. I nodded assent.

Used to live in Southport, did n't ye?'

''I answered in the affirmative, and began to feel a little curious to know who my visitor was, and what he was driving at.

That's what I told 'em,' cried the backwoodsman, bringing his hand down on his thigh with tremendous force; 'I told 'em you was the same old BILL MARCY who used to live in Southport, but they would n't believe it, and I promised the

next time I came to Albany to come and see you and find out for sartin. Why, you know me, do n't you, BILL?'

''I did n't exactly like to ignore his acquaintance altogether, but for the life of me I could n't recollect ever having seen him before; and so I replied that he had a familiar countenance, but that I was not able to call him by name.

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My name is JACK SMITH,' answered the backwoodsman, and we used to go to school together thirty years ago, in the little red school-house in old Southport. Well, times has changed since then, and you have become a great man, and got rich, I suppose?'

''I shook my head, and was going to contradict that impression, when he broke in: "Oh yes you are; I know you are rich! no use denying it. You was Comptroller for - for a long time; and the next we heard of you, you were Governor. You must have made a heap of money, and I am glad of it, glad to see you getting along so smart. You was always a smart lad at school, and I knew you would come to something.

'I thanked him for his good wishes and opinion, but told him that political life did not pay so well as he imagined. 'I suppose,' said I, 'fortune has smiled upon you since you left Southport?'

Oh! yes,' said he; 'I hain't got nothing to complain of. I must say I've got along right smart. You see, shortly after you left Southport our whole family moved up into Vermont and put right into the woods, and I reckon our family cut down more trees and cleared more land than any other in the whole State.'

And so you have made a good thing of it. How much do you consider yourself worth?' I asked, feeling a little curious to know what he considered a fortune, as he seemed to be so well satisfied with his.

Well,' he replied, 'I don't know exactly how much I am worth; but I think, (straightening himself up,) if all my debts were paid I should be worth three hundred dollars clean cash!' And he was rich: for he was satisfied.'

G. B. P.'

We are

There's many a rich poor man, and many a poor rich man. indebted to an esteemed friend for the following beautiful 'Eastern Allegory.' It is from the pen of the lady of Mr. SPARKS, the eminent American historian:

VOL. XLVI.

The Recording Angels.

"Two Angels dear on every Soul attend,

And watch, with patient waiting, on each hand;

One with soft eye of hope, and one of fear:

And both, with love intense, a golden record bear.

And when that precious Soul, with love doth glow,

Those loving eyes with holy lustre shine;

Then doth the right-hand Angel whisper low
"Tis ours for ever!' and with seal divine
Confirm the good, for Good can ne'er decay,
But, all immortal, wings to heaven its way.
'But if Suspicion dark, or fearful Wrath,
Trouble the lustre of those sinless eyes,
The left-hand Angel of Man's darkened path
In weeping silence writes, and sad surprise;
But holds unsealed still the golden line,
And on his hopeful brother leans awhile;
For if that Soul repent, the heavens shall smile,
And swift that record fade in light divine;
And only Sorrow weep to leave so fair a shrine.
7

M. C. S.'

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