jealous. But then I reflected that Bertha must "Dick, we were friends at school, and friends at college, and I thought at both those places that nothing could shorten the link that bound us together, but I was mistaken. Since my love for, and engagement to your sister, I feel as if you were fifty times the friend that you were before. Dick, we three will never part!" lis, and this subject naturally came up for discus- "So I was, my dear fellow, at first-furiously sion. There were men of both political parties present, and at the time party spirit ran high. Therefore the conversation became animated and somewhat declamatory. A friend of Mr. Webster's remarked, that whatever diversity of opinion might then exist as to the merits of Mr. Webster, the time would soon come when it would be held the greatest honor to have been a native of the same country. "Sir," replied a person of rather a saturnine complexion but marked countenance, who had taken no part in the previous discussion, "Sir, that time has come. I will not acknowledge that man as an American who does not now glory in the name of Daniel Webster. Small men may hope greatness by attacking him, but I tell you, gentlemen, that he is as far above their reach as the orbed moon above the dog who howls at her path in the heavens!" "Who," asked the writer of a friend near him, "who is that determined-looking man?" "Don't you know him? Why, that is the gallant Breckinridge from Kentucky, fresh from his laurels in Mexico. A young man, but of character beyond his years!" Mr. Webster said, though personally unacquainted with Mr. Breckinridge, he knew his descent and reputation, and could not but feel deeply grateful for such a sentiment from a political opponent. "So he married the king's daughter, and they all lived together as happy as the days are long," shouted Dick with a laugh, quoting from nursery tale. The foregoing is a slice out the conversation with which Dick Linton and myself endeavored to beguile the way, as we tramped through one of the forests of Northern New York. Dick was an artist, and I was a sportsman, so when one fine autumn day he announced his intention going into the woods for a week to study Nature, it seemed to me an excellent opportunity for me to exercise my legs and my trigger finger at the same time. Dick had some backwoods friend who lived in a log-hut on the shores of Eckford Lake, and there we determined to take up our quarters. Dick, who said he knew the forest thoroughly, was to be the guide, and we accordingly, with our guns on our shoulders, started on foot from Root's, a tavern known to tourists, and situated on the boundaries of Essex and Warren counties. It was a desperate walk; but as we started by daybreak, and had great It is the same person who, refusing to return to the House in which he had distinguished himself as a leader, and refusing the mission to Spain which so many much longer in public life were ardently striving for, returned to his home, in Kentucky, with no other ambition than of gaining an honest livelihood by his professional pursuits. But great moral and intellectual ex-faith in our pedestrian qualities, we expected cellence are not given to man alone for his own gratification, or for the limited advantage of his family. They belong to the country which has given him birth, and John C. Breckinridge is, with eminent propriety, the candidate of his party for the second office in the gift of the people-the Vice-Presidency of the United States. to reach the nearest of the Eckford lakes by nightfall. The forest through which we traveled was of the densest description. Overhead the branches of spruce and pine shut out the day, while beneath our feet lay a frightful soil, composed principally of jagged shingle, cunningly concealed by an almost impenetrable brush. As the day wore on, our hopes of reaching our destination grew fainter and fainter, and I could almost fancy, from the anxious glances that Dick cast around him, that in spite of his boasted "So am I. Did any one ever see such knowledge of the woods he had lost his way. a confounded forest, Charley ?" A TERRIBLE NIGHT. "BY Jove! Dick, I'm nearly done up." "I am not alone weak, but hungry. Oh for a steak of moose, with a bottle of old red wine to wash it down!" "Charley! beware. Take care how you conjure up such visions in my mind. I am already nearly starving, and if you increase my appetite much more it will go hard with me if I don't dine off of you. You are young, and Bertha says you're tender-" "Hearted, she meant. Well, so I am, if loving Bertha be any proof of it. Do you know, Dick, I have often wondered that you, who love your sister so passionately, were not jealous of her attachment to me." It was not, however, until night actually fell, and that we were both sinking from hunger and exhaustion, that I could get him to acknowledge it. "We're in a nice pickle, Master Dick," said I, rather crossly, for an empty stomach does much to destroy a man's natural amiability. "Confound your assurance that led you to set up as a guide. Of all men painters are the most conceited." "Come, Charley," answered Dick, good-hu moredly, "there's no use in growling so loudly. You'll bring the bears and panthers on us if you do. We must make the best of a bad job, and sleep in a tree." "It's easy to talk, my good fellow. partridge, and don't know how to bough." I'm not a | the shoulders, and with a hand large enough to roost on a pick up a fifty-six pound shot, he seemed to be a combination of extraordinary strength and "Well, you'll have to learn then; for if you agility. His head was narrow, and oblong in sleep on the ground, the chances are ten to one shape. His straight Indian-like hair fell smoothbut you will have the wolves nibbling at your ly over his low forehead as if it had been plastoes before daylight." tered with soap. And his black, bead-like eyes were set obliquely, and slanted downward toward his nose, giving him a mingled expression of ferocity and cunning. As I examined his features attentively, in which I thought I could trace almost every bad passion, I confess I experienced a certain feeling of apprehension and distrust that I could not shake off. "I'm hanged if I'll do either!" said I, desperately. "I'm going to walk all night, and I'll drop before I'll lie down." "Come, come, Charley, don't be a fool!" "I was a fool only when I consented to let you assume the rôle of guide." "Well, Charley, if you are determined to go on, let it be so. We'll go together. After all, it's only an adventure." "I say, Dick, don't you see a light?" "By Jove, so there is! idence intervenes between us and wolves and hunger. That must be some squatter's hut." The light to which I had so suddenly called Dick's attention was very faint, and seemed to be about half a mile distant. It glimmered through the dark branches of the hemlock and spruce trees, and weak as the light was, I hailed it as a mariner without a compass hails the star by which he steers. We instantly set out in the direction of our beacon. In a moment it seemed as if all fatigue had vanished, and we walked as if our muscles were as tense as iron, and our joints oily as a piston-shaft. While he was getting us the promised food, we tried, by questioning him, to draw him into conversation. He seemed very taciturn and reCome, you see Prov-served. He said he lived entirely alone, and had cleared the spot he occupied with his own hands. He said his name was Joel; but when we hinted that he must have some other name, he pretended not to hear us, though I saw his brows knit, and his small black eyes flash angrily. My suspicions of this man were further aroused by observing a pair of shoes lying in a corner of the hut. These shoes were at least three sizes smaller than those that our gigantic host wore, and yet he had distinctly replied that he lived entirely alone. If those shoes were not his, whose were they? The more I reflected on this circumstance the more uneasy I felt, and apprehensions were still further aroused, when Joel, as he called himself, took both our fowling-pieces, and, in order to have them out of the way, as he said, hung them on crooks from the wall, at a height that neither Dick or I could reach without getting on a stool. I smiled inwardly, however, as I felt the smooth barrel of my revolver that was slung in the hollow of my back, by its leathern belt, and thought to myself, if this fellow has any bad designs, the more unprotected he thinks us the more incautious he will be, so I made no effort to retain our guns. Dick also had a revolver, and was one of those men who I knew would use it well when the time came. We soon arrived at what in the dusk seemed to be a clearing of about five acres, but it may have been larger, for the tall forest rising up around it must have diminished its apparent size, giving it the appearance of a square pit rather than a farm. Toward one corner of the clearing we discerned the dusky outline of a log-hut, through whose single end window a faint light was streaming. With a sigh of relief we hastened to the door and knocked. It was opened immediately, and a man appeared on the threshold. We explained our condition, and were instantly invited to walk in and make ourselves at home. All our host said he could offer us were some cold Indian corn cakes, and a slice of dried deer's-flesh, to all of which we were heartily welcome. These viands in our starving condition were luxuries to us, and we literally reveled in anticipation of a full meal. My suspicions of our host grew at last to such a pitch that I determined to communicate them to Dick. Nothing would be easier than for this villainous half-breed-for I felt convinced he had Indian blood in him-nothing would be easier than, with the aid of an accomplice, to cut our throats or shoot us while we were asleep, and so get our guns, watches, and whatever money we carried. Who, in those lonely woods, would hear the shot, or hear our cries for help? What emissary of the law, however sharp, could point The hut into which we had so unceremoniously entered was of the most poverty-stricken order. It consisted of but one room, with a rude brick fire-place at one end. Some deerskins and old blankets stretched out by way of a bed at the other extremity of the apartment, and the only seats visible were two sections of a large pine trunk that stood close to the fire-out our graves in those wild woods, or bring the place. There was no vestige of a table, and the rest of the furniture was embodied in a long Tennessee rifle that hung close to the rough wall. If the hut was remarkable, its proprietor was still more so. He was, I think, the most villainous looking man I ever beheld. About six feet two inches in height, proportionately broad across murder home to those who committed it? Linton at first laughed; then grew serious; and gradually became a convert to my apprehensions. We hurriedly agreed that, while one slept, the other should watch, and so take it in turns through the night. Joel had surrendered to us his couch of deerskin and his blanket; he himself said he could This time, though horribly tired, I could not sleep. A horrible load seemed pressing on my chest, and every five minutes I would start up to see if Dick was keeping his watch faithfully. My nerves were strung to a frightful pitch of tensity; my heart beat at every sound, and my head seemed to throb until I thought my temples would burst. The more I reflected on the conduct of the half-breed, the more assured I was that he intended murder. Full of this idea, I took my revolver from its sling, and held it in my hand, ready to shoot him down at the first movement that appeared at all dangerous. A sleep quite as well on the floor, near the fire. | his little arrangements," and took his seat on As Dick and I were both very tired, we were the pine-stump, in such a position as to comanxious to get our rest as soon as possible. So mand a view of the sleeping half-breed and the after a hearty meal of deer-steak and tough doorway at the same time. cakes, washed down by a good draught from our brandy flask, I, being the youngest, got the first hour's sleep, and flung myself on the couch of skins. As my eyes gradually closed, I saw a dim picture of Dick seated sternly watching by the fire, and the long shape of the half-breed stretching out like a huge shadow upon the floor. After what I could have sworn to be only a three-minute doze, Dick woke me, and informed me that my hour was out; and turning me out of my warm nest, lay down without any ceremony, and in a few seconds was heavily snoring. I rubbed my eyes, felt for my revolver, and seating myself on one of the pine-haze seemed now to pass across my eyes. Fastumps, commenced my watch. The half-breed appeared to be buried in a profound slumber, and in the half-weird light cast by the wood embers, his enormous figure seemed almost Titanic in its proportions. I confess I felt that in a struggle for life he was more than a match for Dick and myself. I then looked at the fire, and began a favorite amusement of mine-shaping forms in the embers. All sorts of figures defined themselves before me. Battles, tempests at sea, familiar faces, and above all shone, ever returning, the dear features of Bertha Linton, my affianced bride. She seemed to me to smile at me through a burning haze, and I could almost fancy I heard her say, "While you are watching in the lonely forest I am thinking of you, and praying for your safety." tigued with long watching and excitement, I passed into that semi-conscious state, in which I seemed perfectly aware of every thing that passed, although objects were dim and dull in outline, and did not appear so sharply defined as in one's waking moments. I was apparently roused from this state by a slight crackling sound. I started, and raised myself on my elbow. My heart almost ceased to beat at what I saw. The half-breed had lit some species of dried herb, which sent out a strong aromatic odor as it burned. This herb he was holding directly under Dick's nostrils, who I now perceived, to my horror, was wrapped in a profound slumber. The smoke of this mysterious herb appeared to deprive him of all consciousness, for he rolled gently off of the pine-log, and lay stretched the door, and opened it gently. Three sinister heads peered in out of the gloom. I saw the long barrels of rifles, and the huge brawny hands that clasped them. The half-breed pointed significantly to where I lay with his long bony finger, then drawing a large, thirsty-looking knife from his breast, moved toward me. The time was come. My blood stopped-my heart ceased to beat. The half-breed was within a foot of my bed; the knife was raised; another instant and it would have been buried in my heart, when, with a hand as cold as ice, I lifted my revolver, took deadly aim, and fired! A slight movement on the part of the slum-upon the floor. The half-breed now stole to bering half-breed here recalled me from those sweet dreams. He turned on his side, lifted himself slowly on his elbow, and gazed attentively at me. I did not stir. Still retaining my stooping attitude, I half closed my eyes, and remained motionless. Doubtless he thought I was asleep, for in a moment or two he rose noiselessly, and creeping with a stealthy step across the floor, passed out of the hut. I listened Oh, how eagerly! It seemed to me that, through the imperfectly-joined crevices of the log-walls, I could plainly hear voices whispering. I would have given worlds to have crept nearer to listen, but I was fearful of disturbing the fancied security of our host, who I now felt certain had sinister designs upon us. So I remained perfectly still. The whispering suddenly ceased. The half-breed re-entered the hut in the same stealthy way in which he had quitted it, and after giving a scrutinizing glance at me, once more stretched himself upon the floor and affected to sleep. In a few moments I pretended to awake-yawned, looked at my watch, and finding that my hour had more than expired, proceeded to wake Dick. As I turned him out of bed I whispered in his ear, "Don't take your eyes off that fellow, Dick. He has accomplices outside; be careful!" Dick gave a meaning glance, carelessly touched his revolver, as much as to say, "Here's something to interfere with A stunning report, a dull groan, a huge cloud of smoke curling around me, and I found myself standing upright, with a dark mass lying at my feet. "Great God! what have you done, Sir ?" cried the half-breed, rushing toward me. "You have killed him! He was just about to wake you." I staggered against the wall. My senses, until then immersed in sleep, suddenly recovered their activity. The frightful truth burst upon me in a flash. I had shot Dick Linton while under the influence of a night-mare! Then every thing seemed to fade away, and I remember no more. There was a trial, I believe. The lawyers were learned, and proved by physicians that it was a case of what is called Somnolentia, or we value it at. A host of diseases of the heart, sleep-drunkenness; but of the proceedings I❘ the brain, nerves, and stomach, which exhaust took no heed. One form haunted me, lying the doctor's skill and fill his pockets, came in black and heavy on the hut floor; and one pale with modern civilization. To these diseases face was ever present-a face I saw once after the Americans are far more subject than any the terrible catastrophe, and never saw again- other people, as might be naturally expected the wild, despairing face of Bertha Linton, my from the fact of their being more generally and promised bride! powerfully brought under the influence of the intense activity of modern life. WHY WE GET SICK. With a brain in the delirium of excitement, In ass is a sin, we Americans are great sin-inflame at every spark, of in to as some ill-natured fellow has said, sick- with nerves like trains of gunpowder, ready to ners. tumult of passionate pulsation, driving its hot blood, which, like a current of lava, burns and destroys as it flows, American life is but the agony of a fever. There is no repose for us. We push on in frenzied excitement through the crowds, the noise, the hot glare and dust of the highways, without turning for a moment to refresh ourselves in the quiet and shade of the That much of the ill-health of the world, and of our portion of it especially, may be directly traced to a positive disobedience of the laws of nature can not be questioned; and that this disobedience is culpable, requires no casuist to prove. As, however, nature sufficiently vindicates its own justice by the heaviest penalties, there is no occasion for us to mock the criminal on his road to execution. Our object is to pre-by-paths of life. We have but one object in vent, not to punish. our rapid journey, and that is to get the start of our fellow-travelers. Our political equality, offering to all a chance for the prizes of life, and thus encouraging every one to try his speed in the race, is no doubt a spur to the characteristic hurry of Americans. Our institutions, however, are not responsible for the prize we choose to strive for. There is no reason that we know of why a republican should have no other aim in life but to get richer than his neighbor; but there are a thousand good reasons, if we value health and happiness, why we should The Americans should be the healthiest people in the world; but, if we compare them with other nations, in the aggregate, they will be probably found to have no claim to this superiority. This, however, is not a fair comparison, as the condition of the masses with us more nearly approaches that of the prosperous classes than of the poor of foreign countries. Material advantages alone, apart from moral causes, have given the Americans a position far in advance of all other nations. Physical comfort is the rule with us, while it is but the exception else-pursue other and higher objects. When the where. If a potato patch, as in Ireland, were the only barrier between our people and starvation, there might be some excuse for our countrymen not being healthier; for a want of physical comfort is among the most powerful causes of disease. With abundance of food, and such liberal rewards of labor that the humblest American can supply himself with those comforts of life which are only within the reach of the prosperous classes abroad, it is but fair to compare him with the latter. In this comparison he will be found very deficient on the score of health. Sickness is mostly a choice, and not a necessity with us; and we now propose to show why we get sick, when we might as readily keep well. pursuit of wealth is the great purpose of life in so rapidly a progressive state of material prosperity as exists in our commercial communities, it requires exclusive devotion and the highest strain of the faculties to succeed. A fair competence, however, is easily reached; and if we had learned to care for better things, we would not strive for more. It is the excessive devotion to business, in order to compass that wealth that is so unduly prized, which is one of the chief causes of the ill health of Americans. Count the hours a man gives to work, if he be his own task-master-and he can not have a more severe oneand how much time will be left-not to speak of enjoyment-for the mere requirements of health? Ten hours a day, with intervals of repose, is the allotment to the laborer in England, where to pause from work is to starve, while there is hardly an American in business who does not exceed this from choice. And his intervals of repose, what are they? Possibly half an hour for dinner, where, ten to one, he is clenching a bargain with his opposite neighbor in the short pause between bolted beef and bolted pudding. The Americans work too much and play too little, and would that it were only with the usual effect of making Jonathan a dull boy. The result, however, is worse than this, for it tells very seriously against his health and vigor. If modern civilization has its blessings, it has its curses too, and of these the United States have a disproportionate share. There is a large class of diseases which were unknown to our forefathers, but which are fearfully wasting the health and happiness of the present generation. Brisk, of the firm of Brisk and Smart, is a If our ancestors made the journey of life in model merchant, eager for gain and constant slow coaches, they had the satisfaction of run-in business. He hurries up in the morning, ning less risks by the road. It is questionable whether, with greater speed and more frequent break-downs, our boasted progress is worth all and he hurries down impatient for his coffee and cakes, and gulping the one and bolting the other, he is soon whisked away in the omnibus his life than if she were the inmate of a harem. In the morning he is in too great a hurry to get to business to spare a moment for kindly communion, the whole day he spends at the store and counting-house, and at night he returns too late to his home to participate in its pleasures, or too tired to care for them. but Lord Bacon says children sweeten labor; little use, however plentiful the supply, do the Americans make of these sugar-plums of existence. It is told of a Wall Street paterfamilias, that having come, in the course of his rapid movements, accidentally upon his own child in the arms of a nurse, he stopped, and in a sudden paroxysm of tenderness, kissed the babe, and inquired very considerately about its paternity, being totally unconscious of his own flesh and blood. Children with us are treated, so soon as they are born, as posterity, just as if they were devoid of all contemporary interest. to his dry goods in Pearl Street. Now he be- | sick in. Of true connubial felicity he is as ungins a day of intense activity, making a sale conscious as Abdul Medjid, the Sultan of Turhere and paying a note there, settling an ac-key; and his wife is no more the companion of count with one and beginning an account with another. Thus hurried along in the vortex of business, time passes without a thought of any thing but dry goods, bills payable and bills receivable, until he is reminded, by the approaching close of bank hours, that he has a deposit to make, when he is off in a heat, taking the only exercise in the day, by which he is as much benefited as an ox when driven to slaughter. The deposit made, the savory atmosphere of some neighboring eating-house recalls to his memory the fact of the possession of a stomach and the possibility of its being hungry. He has not much time to spare for chops and brandy-water, as Smith, one of his best customers, always comes in in the afternoon, and likes to be served by himself. Smith served, his bill must be made out and his goods packed; so the busy day is prolonged far into the night, when Brisk, finally, with a packet of letters in his hand, which must be answered and can be as well done at home, springs into an omnibus, and is soon trotted up to the Fifth Avenue. As the chil-pitality hardly expands beyond an invitation to dren are in bed, and Mrs. Brisk is dressing for a party, Brisk has a fine time of it, all to himself, his cigar, and his letters. This is a fair picture of the American man of business, and its original may be seen not only in the market and exchange, but in the forum and other busy departments of life. A man's friends, too, in this country, are merely counting-house acquaintances, and hos "Brisk and Smart, No.- Pearl Street, be glad to see you—always at home." Brisk and Smart are, indeed, always "at home" in their stores, but never in their houses. It is not our purpose to inquire just now, how far the Mrs. Smarts and the Mrs. Brisks may be responsible for shutting the doors of hospitality in the faces of their husbands' friends. We have an opinion of our own, however, in regard to the effect of the fashionable pretensions of our dames. We do not believe that the love of personal display which robs the larder to enrich the parlor, and shrinks the stomach to expand the skirt, favor-. able to hospitality. We, moreover, as we never Men who thus recklessly set at defiance all the laws of health must suffer the penalty of disease, and we are fast becoming, in consequence, a nation of invalids. Foreigners already affect to see in us a degenerate offspring of a nobler race, and with them a skeleton frame, a yellow-dyed bilious face, an uncomfortable dyspeptic expression, an uneasy spas-go to parties but are always open to an invitamodic motion, and a general ghost-like, charnel-house aspect, serve to make up a type of the species Yankee. They put us all down as residents of the Dismal Swamp, and say that we have lost in that cheerless region our flesh and spirits, and have neither the heart nor the strength to laugh and make merry. They declare that our sides never shake but with the ague. In the intense devotion of Americans to work, there are certain obvious sources of health and happiness which are heedlessly disregarded. Domestic enjoyment, social intercourse with friends, the conviviality of the daily meal, and the refined pleasures of literature and the arts, are all consistent with a due attention to business. These present the natural diversions to lighten the labor of life, and to refresh the spirits prostrated with the fatigue and anxieties of the daily occupation of mankind. Of these, however, the American, with all his boasted civilization, has hardly the appreciation of a New Zealand savage. At home, there is no greater stranger than the master of the house, which he only knows as a place to sleep and be tion to a good dinner, protest against the practice of concentrating all the surplus means of a household in one great annual display of expense, in which—that is, the expense and not the dubious delights of the party-the husband, and perhaps his friends, alone participate. The ball of the season, however, is the town-talk, which, although it is at the cost of a whole year's household comfort and the ruin of all genial hospitality, is worth the sacrifice, in the opinion of the fashionable wife. "Her beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, To boast one splendid banquet once a year." Life is thus, whoever may be to blame, deprived of its natural enjoyments, and the American becomes nothing but a machine for work. He, moreover, treats the mechanism of his own body with infinitely less consideration than that of his steam-engine and spinning-jenny. These are never strained beyond their powers, and are carefully oiled and occasionally stopped for repair. Brain and nerves are, however, always on the stretch, and without a single drop of the oil of gladness to soften labor, are kept to their work until they stop in disease or death. |