This the merchant thought would appear to the Chinese rather a high figure; but he was mistaken. "Well," said the Mandarin, taking out his book with an air of business, "s'pose you give her to me; give you _five_ thousand dollar!" It is difficult to say whether the young merchant was more amazed than amused; but the very grave and solemn air of the Chinaman convinced him that he was in sober earnest; and he was compelled, therefore, to refuse the offer with as much placidity as he could assume. The Mandarin, however, continued to press his bargain: "I give you seven thousand dollar," said he: "You _take_ 'em?" The merchant, who had no previous notion of the value of the commodity which he had taken out with him, was compelled, at length, to inform his visitor that Englishmen were not in the habit of selling their wives after they once came in their possession--an assertion which the Chinaman was very slow to believe. The merchant afterward had a hearty laugh with his young and pretty wife, and told her that he had just discovered her full value, as he had that moment been offered seven thousand dollars for her; a very high figure, "as wives were going" in China at that time! Nothing astonishes a Chinaman so much, who may chance to visit our merchants at Hong-Kong, as the deference which is paid by our countrymen to their ladies, and the position which the latter are permitted to hold in society. The very servants express their disgust at seeing American or English ladies permitted to sit at table with their lords, and wonder why men can so far forget their dignity! * * * * * We have seen the thought contained in the following Persian fable, before, in the shape of a scrap of "Proverbial Philosophy," by an eastern sage; but the sentiment is so admirably versified in the lines, that we can not resist presenting them to the reader: "A little particle of rain, That from a passing cloud descended, Was heard thus idly to complain: 'My brief existence now is ended. Outcast alike of earth and sky, Useless to live--unknown to die.' "It chanced to fall into the sea, And then an open shell received it, And, after-years, how rich was he Who from its prison-house relieved it! That drop of rain had formed a gem, To deck a monarch's diadem." * * * * *