AN EXCUSE.--Miravaux was one day accosted by a sturdy beggar, who asked alms of him. “How is this,” inquired Miravaux, “that a lusty fellow like you is unemployed?” “Ah!” replied the beggar, looking very piteously at him, “if you did but know how lazy I am!” The reply was so ludicrous and unexpected, that Miravaux gave the varlet a piece of silver. * * * * * AN INCIDENT.--At the time Commodore Elliot commanded the navy at Norfolk (I think it was), happening to be conducting a number of ladies and gentlemen who were visiting the yard, he chanced to see a little boy who had a basket full of chips, which he had gathered in the yard; probably to show his importance he saluted him, and asked where he got the chips. “In the yard,” replied the boy. “Then drop them,” said the brave man. The little boy dropped the chips as he was ordered, and after gaining a safe distance, turning round with his thumb to his nose, said, “That is the first prize you ever took, any how!” * * * * * Solon enacted, that children who did not maintain their parents in old age, when in want, should be branded with infamy, and lose the privilege of citizens; he, however, excepted from the rule those children whom their parents had taught no trade, nor provided with other means of procuring a livelihood. It was a proverb of the Jews, that he who did not bring up his son to a trade, brought him up as a thief. * * * * * If there be a lot on earth worthy of envy, it is that of a man, good and tender-hearted, who beholds his own creation in the happiness of all those who surround him. Let him who would be happy strive to encircle himself with happy beings. Let the happiness of his family be the incessant object of his thoughts. Let him divine the sorrows and anticipate the wishes of his friends. * * * * * A cheerful heart paints the world as it finds it, like a sunny landscape; the morbid mind depicts it like a sterile wilderness, palled with thick vapours, and dark as “the shadow of death.” It is the mirror, in short, on which it is caught, which lends to the face of nature the aspect of its own turbulence or tranquillity. * * * * * The lazy, the dissipated, and the fearful, should patiently see the active and the bold pass by them in the course. They must bring down their pretensions to the level of their talents. Those who have not energy to work must learn to be humble.--_Sharp’s Essays._ * * * * *