Next came Dr. Watts with a bundle of Psalms And hymns as many, a very wise thing, That the people in heaven, "all round," might sing. But I thought that he heaved an anxious sigh, And after him, with his MSS., Came Wesley, the pattern of godliness, But he cried, "Dear me, what shall I do? The water has soaked them through and through." And a sound of murmuring long and loud Or, "I'm in the old way, and you're in the new, But the brethren only seemed to speak, I watched them long in my curious dream, No forms, or crosses, or books had they, No creeds to guide them, or MSS. For all had put on Christ's righteousness." NICK-NACKS FOR THE SENATE. [The following reflections are the result of a perusal of the senate's yearly bill of stationery and small wares.] W OMEN are often rated for their extravagance, but we think that the same number of woman selected as indiscriminately as are these fiftytwo gentlemen, would hardly run up so large a bill of nick-nacks at the nation's expense as these gentlemen have. The immense number of pocketknives reminds us of the criticism of an English traveller who said that the toilet of the Americans was never finished in their chambers, for they might be seen cleaning their finger-nails on the piazza of the hotel, etc. How particular these gentlemen must be in that respect. Then the four hundred and five pen knives; do all the gentlemen write with quills, and write so incessantly that they use up eight pen knives apiece in oue year; this cannot be or there would be a charge for quills. It is fashionable in certain classes of society, to express contempt and malignity by pulling out the hair of the enemy. Probably congressmen have substituted shears for fingers in this operation; the seven hundred and three pairs of shears would suggest something of the kind, for surely one thousand one hundred and thirty-seven pairs of scissors should be sufficient for the of fice use of the same fifty-two members. The number of sponges is not stated but they cost almost four hundred dollars; enough one would think to wipe out all the private quarrels of the senators, with some clean ones left to go towards expunging the national debt. We know so little of public life that we could not surmise the use of the two hundred pairs of kid-gloves, unless it were to give an air of refinement and gentility to some backwoods members; but a friend reminds us that they must have been black kids to wear at funerals of public men. How much would it cost to furnish them with gloves to attend each other's funerals, one at a time till they had chawed each other up Kilkenny fashion, and would not this be a cheap mode of ridding the nation of this expensive nuisance. The number of diaries is small, only two each, from which we would infer that the gentlemen are not very methodical in their manner of conducting business, or have very little business except public affairs which are every body's business, and expected to manage themselves. Perhaps five or six portfolios each is a moderate allowance for men who must keep up a constant correspondence with constituents and deliver themselves of several four-hour speeches during one session. It would be a fair inference that the emoluments of the post are not insignificant when each gentleman requires eight pocket-books per annum. Perhaps however greenbacks have a sort of explosive force while they linger so near the treasury department, and rend their bonds in endeavors to get back to their native element. Brushes; are they for boots, hats, coats or heads. If the gentlemen have any hair left after the possible shearing we have hinted at, one would suppose that the thought of four hundred and nine brushes would frighten it out of existence. But the pin-cushions, five hundred and fifty-six pin-cushions; we think fifty-two old maids would scarcely consume more than ten pin-cushions each in one year. Perhaps the gentlemen are all bachelors or are temporarily divorced from their families and are forced to the somewhat feminine resource of pins to supply the place of missing buttons. Would it not be charitable and economical to furnish a matron whose sole duty should be to sew on buttons for these unfortunates, saving both pins and pin-cushions. There! we thought they could not use quills; that would be impossible when we are charged for one thousand and eighty-five boxes of pens, and two thousand two hundred and three lead-pencils. By the way those pencils cost $724; what were they made of? Lastly, it requires one million eight hundred and seven thousand four hundred and fifty-one envelopes to scatter abroad the speeches and the wisdom of this company of sages. We think there is one item omitted in the publication of this little bill; we are left in suspense as to the actual amount of red tape in use during the past year. If we could know the average yearly consumption of this article, we might be more patient while it is slowly uncoiling itself, and await the end of the roll with greater patience. A CAVILLER. MARRIED. PART II. M ISTRESS Elsie Glendenning went about her house on the morning of the day on which Miss Vaughan was to arrive, with bended brows. The advent was not to her, it must be confessed, a very welcome one. Indeed if Mistress Elsie had been left to her own small devices and stratagems, she would have been sure to have found a way of avoiding the visit. The daintiest of notes would have been dispatched to her dear cousin Eloise, regretting that the sad state of her domestic arrangements, or her own delicate health, or some one or other of the half-dozen incidents and accidents which shrewd housekeepers always keep on hand ready made for such emergencies, would render it impossible for her to make a visit from dear Eloise, just now, all that she should desire it to be. But the case was imperative. It admitted of no such amelioration. Abner Vaughan's family, who had been absent for two or three years in Europe, were returning, and had sent for Eloise to meet them on their arrival at the old house in Brockendale. Meantime circumstances had delayed them for a short but indefinite period in New York, and Mrs. Vaughan had written to Mrs. Glendenning to say, that rather than disturb Eloise's arrangements for the journey, she should take the liberty of asking her dear Elsie to entertain her for them until their arrival. As the female representative of the Vaughan fortune, Mrs. Abner Vaughan was one of the powers that be to Elsie, and such a mandate was no more to be disobeyed than a royal ukase. Therefore Mrs. Glendenning walked about her house with bended brows. Her position social and domestic was as much to her mind as that of a mortal well can be. Not that Mrs. Glendenning had not counted some losses. The early dream of her life had been to marry her cousin Proctor, and slipping quietly to leeward of Mrs. Abner Vaughan, who was a capable and imposing, though somewhat arrogant woman, to manage that unsuspecting lady's life into exact accordance with her own desires and purposes. If she could have won Proctor she would have found no difficulty in doing all the rest, but that young man proved intractable, and with much inward bitterness of heart she had been obliged to abandon her schemes. She was quite sharp sighted enough to know very well to whose influence she owed in a great measure her defeat. Eloise's supremacy with her Uncle and Aunt Vaughan was however too well-founded to be attacked to advantage, and she had been obliged to content herself with nursing in secret a very lively grudge against that young lady. Meantime Providence had thrown Dr. Glendenning in her way; had, so to speak, given him into her very hand, and she accepted him and was devoutly thankful for him, as many another woman so placed, has been for similar favors. He was a gentleman of fine appearance and good standing in his profession; he always treated her as a lady should be treated in her own house, and though at first there had been something in his demeanor, a sort of unspoken demand for a kind of sympathy and appreciation which she was conscious of being unable to yield, she had managed to evade those moods and demonstrations in a manner which, without any sudden violence to his feelings, quite precluded their frequent recurrence. The doctor did indeed thereafter show some want of consideration for various of her individual notions; but so long as he did not interfere with her own 'pursuance of them, that troubled her very little. She was conscious too, that he was subject to moods when her presence did not seem to cheer him, rather the opposite; but this too caused her little grief. Men, she supposed, had always their times of being unapproachable. They were They were sure to come around again to their normal spirits; it was only a question of waiting, and that was a demand which Mrs. Elsie was quite equal to. The Doctor worked hard, was every where treated with great respect; was in fact a rising man. She felt that she had on the whole, done as well with her chances in life, as she ought to have expected, and was therefore on very good terms with herself, as well as with all the world. The little episode of her married life, connected with Eloise Vaughan, had however caused her some secret pique. No woman likes to feel that another woman exists, who has power to rival her in her husband's regard. Perhaps a person of Elsie Glenden ning's character feels the irritation more keenly than one cast in a more generous mold. Something in the doctor's manner as she had conveyed to him the contents of her Aunt Vaughan's letter, had suggested to her more forcibly than was agreeable, the possibilities of this woman's power; the incident had called up old grudges, and altogether Mrs. Elsie was on this particular morning in as aggravated a state of rebellion against Providence and things in general as was possible to a person of her very moderate caliber. She felt this, was aware that it was sinful,-Mrs. Elsie was a devout member of the church, and something of a ritualist,—and abstained from meat that day at dinner, by way of penance. "She refuses a kidney roast;" the doctor soliloquized mentally. "Then she is a good deal stirred up about something. It must be this visit of Miss Vaughan. It is always a good thing for a married man to note how the domestic weather-vane stands." And the doctor governed himself throughout the meal accordingly. He mentioned Miss Vaughan not at all; and Elsie chatted away about her roses and the annoyance of bugs, and the best means of defence against them, and the doctor prescribed a new thing of his own devising, all in a quite unconscious way. After dinner, there were office hours and patients to visit for the doctor; and for Mrs. Elsie ample time to arrange all the little details of her plan of reception. "Doctor," she had said, as she rose from the dinner table, "which horse will you drive down to the depot this evening to meet Eloise." This by way of ascertaining if he meant to go at all. "Neither," the doctor had replied sententiously. "I shall be engaged at that hour. John and Major will be at your service however, if you wish to go." "Oh!" she had replied with a little sigh, "I am too ill to day. I shall have to make my excuses to Eloise. It will be all the same to her, no doubt.” The role of a woman in delicate health is in some hands altogether so charming, that a lady who knows how to make the most of it, might really afford to bear the pains and perils of maternity once a year, for the sake of the advantages. Dr. Glendenning glanced around at his wife Elsie, fancied she did look a trifle pale, and came back and kissed her kindly, as a good husband should. Mrs. Elsie |