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MY YOUTHFUL COMPANIONS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. RENEWAL OF FRIENDSHIP WITH CHARLES MURPHY AND ARTHUR SAMPSON.-A SCENE BY THE SIDE OF THE RIVER. -CHARLES MURPHY AND THE FORTUNE-TELLER. CONVERSATION ON ANGLING. LETTER FROM ARTHUR SAMPSON. HIS VISITS TO MYSelf. -REPROVES CHARLES MURPHY.-ARTHUR SAMPSON'S LAST LETTER AND DEATH. A VISIT TO HIS GRAVE.

Many sounds were sweet,

Most ravishing and pleasant to the ear;
But sweeter none than voice of faithful friends
Sweet always, sweetest heard in loudest storm.
Some I remember, and will ne'er forget,

My early friends, friends of my evil day

Friends in my mirth; friends in my misery too. - POLLOK.

YES, I have listened with delight to the sounds of music, I have been enraptured with the varied lays of the songsters of the grove, and I have been soothed with the humming of the insect's wing by the margin of the rippling stream, but I have never yet heard any thing so sweet as that of the voice of a friend. In my youth a friend was my delight, and the remembrance of many a chosen companion is still dear to my heart. I can almost fancy I see their faces sitting round my table as I write; so fondly are they cherished in my memory.

B

It is proverbially said, that friendships formed at school are of an evanescent nature. Experience has taught me that this assertion is for the most part correct. Of many of my old schoolfellows I have known nothing after the last hearty shake of the hand. There is no rule, however, without an exception. Some of my companions at school became companions of my youth, and none of them were more ardent in their friendship than Charles Murphy and Arthur Sampson.

One of my first thoughts on returning to the home of my childhood, after finishing my education, was, whether I should be forgotten by Charles Murphy. "I know he loves me," said I to myself," but then I know also that he is so light-hearted, that he may soon so far forget me as to drop my acquaintance." But Charles Murphy, though light-hearted, soon showed that he had a soul formed for lasting and sincere friendship. It was not many days before the postman brought me a letter from my old friend, which read thus:

"My dear Philosopher,

"I really don't know how you feel, but I can assure you that I feel somewhat dull. You know that I anticipated being happy all the day long, when I had laid aside my Valpy and my Bonnycastle, my Murray and my Goldsmith; and truly, when I first reached home, I hardly knew how to contain myself. I was here, and there, and every where: just like the bees that we used to chase over the lea as they roamed from

flower to flower sucking in their honied sweets. I could scarcely eat or sleep for joy: I was like one, in fact, as my sister Sophy said, who was taking leave of his senses. But, my dear philosopher, a change is come over me. Somehow

or other I begin to feel dull, and I am half inclined to think that in six months my face will vie with yours in length. But can you tell why it is that I feel dull? You will doubtless say that it is because I am idle, and you will assert that if I employ my hands my mind will surely be at ease. Now there you are wrong: philosopher as you are, you have for once shot a bow at a venture, and have in consequence missed the mark. No, no, the cause of my dulness arises from a cause wholly different from this. The truth is, dear philosopher, you yourself are the cause of this lengthening of my face. We have lived so long together that I seem to feel I can scarcely live without you. It appears to me, indeed, that my heart or my affections, or whatever it may be called, is gone on a journey in search after you. If you should meet with it, pray send it home quickly, for sister Sophy begins to complain that I look very mopish, Yet, upon second thought, I would not trouble you to send it back again. No, no, dear philosopher; you have and shall have my heart's best affection, and the object of this letter is to assure you how much, how deeply, and how sincerely I love you. It is related of Hannibal, that while a youth he swore eternal enmity to the Romans at the altar. I could not have done such a thing as this, but if

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