The schoolmistress had tried life. Once in a while one meets with a single soul greater than all the living pageant that passes before it. As the pale astronomer sits in his study with sunken eyes and thin fingers, and weighs Uranus or Neptune as in a balance, so there are meek, slight women who have weighed all which this planetary life can offer, and hold it like a bauble in the palm of their slender hands. This was one of them. Fortune had left her, sorrow had baptized her; the routine of labor and the loneliness of almost friendless city-life were before her. Yet, as I looked upon her tranquil face, gradually regaining a cheerfulness which was often sprightly, as she became interested in the various matters we talked about and places we visited, I saw that eye and lip and every shifting lineament were made for love,――unconscious of their sweet office as yet, and meeting the cold aspect of Duty with the natural graces which were meant for the reward of nothing less than the Great Passion. It was on the Common that we were walking. The _mall_, or boulevard of our Common, you know, has various branches leading from it in different directions. One of these runs downward from opposite Joy Street southward across the whole length of the Common to Boylston Street. We called it the long path, and were fond of it. I felt very weak indeed (though of a tolerably robust habit) as we came opposite the head of this path on that morning. I think I tried to speak twice without making myself distinctly audible. At last I got out the question,――Will you take the long path with me? Certainly,――said the schoolmistress,――with much pleasure. Think,――I said,――before you answer: if you take the long path with me now, I shall interpret it that we are to part no more! The schoolmistress stepped back with a sudden movement, as if an arrow had struck her. One of the long granite blocks used as seats was hard by,――the one you may still see close by the Gingko-tree. Pray, sit down,――I said. No, no,――she answered softly,――I will walk the _long path_ with you! The old gentleman who sits opposite met us walking, arm in arm, about the middle of the long path, and said, very charmingly,――“Good-morning, my dears!” * * * * * A RANDOM CONVERSATION ON OLD MAXIMS, BOSTON AND OTHER TOWNS. (_From “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.”_) SIN has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all. I think Sir,――said the divinity student,――you must intend that for one of the sayings of the Seven Wise men of Boston you were speaking of the other day. I thank you, my young friend,――was the reply,――but I must say something better than that, before I could pretend to fill out the number. The schoolmistress wanted to know how many of these sayings there were on record, and what, and by whom said.