with which he witnessed the execution of the judgment pronounced on his wares, was invited with much ceremony to regale himself with a "go-the-whole-hog-cocktail," an honour which he accepted and replied to in a set speech, at the conclusion of which he enquired whether the honourable society by whose sentence he had been deprived of the larger portion of his merchandise, could not recommend him to a schoolmaster's place in one of their respectable settlements. I almost wondered that he did not treat us to a Methodist sermon as a preparation for our slumbers. He seemed the right man to do it. He exactly answered to the description given of the Yankees by Halleck, in his Connecticut:-- ----"Apostates, who are meddling With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling, Or wandering through southern climates teaching The A, B, C, from Webster's spelling-book; Gallant and godly, making love and preaching, And gaining by what they call hook and crook, And what the moralists call overreaching, A decent living. The Virginians look Upon them with as favourable eyes As Gabriel on the devil in Paradise." There was a deafening "Hurrah for the honourable Mistress Howard!" as the party of backwoodsmen walked off towards the gentlemen's cabin; and then things became quieter. I had invited the bears to drink a glass to Mrs Howard's health, and had told the steward to put down to my account the slings and cocktails they might consume. Mrs Dobleton, whose husband is secretary to a temperance society, pulled a wry face or two at what she doubtless thought an encouragement to vice; but for my part I have no such scruples. It always gives me pleasure to find myself thrown by chance among these rough and wild, but upright and energetic sons of the wilderness--these pioneers of the west, who pass their lives in converting tangled thickets and endless forests into fields and pastures, for the benefit of generations yet unborn. Truly, dear Louise, a few dollars spent amongst these worthy fellows are not thrown away, if they serve to form one, the smallest, link of the chain of good-will and good fellowship that does and ought to bind us to our fellow-citizens. FOOTNOTES: [33] The Louisianian name for 6-1/4 cent pieces. WESTMINSTER-HALL AND THE WORKS OF ART, (_On a Free Admission Day._) BY B. SIMMONS. I. By slow degrees, like rain-fraught breeze rising in time of dearth, Whispers of Wisdom, far and wide, are muttering o'er the earth; And lo! rough Reason's breath, that wafts strong human health to all, Has blown aside the gates where Pride dozed in her feudal hall. II. Stout Carter, drop that loutish look, nor hesitate before-- Eyeing thy frock and clouted shoes--yon dark enormous door; 'Tis ten to one thy trampled sires their ravaged granges gave To spread the Wood from whence was hew'd that oaken architrave.[34] III.