_Courtship and Marriage._--"Their courtship was carried on in poetry." Alas! many a pair have courted in poetry, and after marriage lived in prose. --_Foster._ 425 Courtship may be said to consist of a number of quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, nor so vague as not to be understood. --_Sterne._ 426 _Covetousness._--A young man once picked up a sovereign lying in the road. Ever afterward, in walking along, he kept his eye fixed steadily upon the ground in hopes to find another. And in the course of a long life he did pick up, at different times, a goodly number of coins, gold and silver. But all these years, while he was looking for them, he saw not that the heavens were bright above him, and nature beautiful around. He never once allowed his eye to look up from the mud and filth in which he sought his treasure; and when he died--a rich old man--he only knew this fair earth as a dirty road to pick up money as you walk along. Thus you see the desire of having is the sin of covetousness. --_Dr. Jeffrey._ 427 The coward only threatens when he is secure. --_Goethe._ 428 The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. 429 Credit, like a looking-glass, broken once, is gone, alas! 430 He who doesn't take care of his credit will soon have none to take care of. 431 There are two directly opposite reasons why some men cannot get credit--one is because he is not known--the other because he is. 432 THE CRITIC. The critic stood with scornful eye Before a picture on the wall: "You call this art? Now see that fly, It is not natural at all. It has too many legs, its head Is far too large--who ever saw A fly like that, so limp and dead, And wings that look as if they--pshaw!" And with a gesture of disgust He waved his hand, when lo! the fly Flew from the picture. "Ah! some dust," The critic said, "was in my eye." --_Henry Coyle._ Some one has said that finding fault is done on a smaller capital than any other business, and it is a very fascinating business, too, for people of--small calibre. 433 A man must serve his time to every trade, Save censure; critics all are ready-made. --_Byron._ 434 The culture of a man is like the changing of raw material into the manufactured article. The uncultured man is comparatively helpless and worthless. --_The Religious Telescope._ 435 Curiosity! who hath not felt Its spirit, and before its altar knelt? 436 Custom forms us all; Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief Are consequences of our place of birth.