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my, and all the boys and gals! And so here you be a fine town gentleman!"

After a hearty shake of the hand, our hero was glad to carry his friend to the solitude of his master's office; feeling a little prudent shyness, or false shame, in consequence of the loud and hearty greetings of his townsman.

Farmer Freeman, after examining the premises, expressed his admiration of Treadwell's book-cases. 66 Why, Zeb, what a power of books you've got! Arnt you afeerd, as the bible says, 'too much larning will make you mad?'”

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No fear of that, Mr. Freeman. And so-all the folkscome sit down; and so all is well at Spiffard-town?" "Why, pretty middling; all stirrin.""

"The town grows?"

"O aye, and the folks grow; but I don't know that they grow much better. Turner, the store-keeper, you know, jist there t'other side the church; why he has run off to Canada, they say, and took as many people in as he could: but there are two stores set up since. And would you believe it? Bill Tomkin's, your school-fellow, is married to Sally Bell; he's not nineteen yet, and she's sixteen next February; and his father is building a right smart house for him, not far from —. "That's well! And how does my father look? Is he well?" Zeb did not dare to ask first after his mother's looks, though she was uppermost in his thoughts."

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Why the squire looks a little thinnish, I must say," was Freeman's reply. "He seems a little under the weather, somehow; and yet he's not sick. He looks as if he had been jaded like."

Zeb sighed. "And my mother?" hesitatingly he asked.

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Why she's more and more varysome :-one day pale, and another day red. I suppose its the natur of your old country complexions. And you know your mammy is changeful in her ways of acting and speaking too: sometimes mighty funny, and sometimes a little snappish, and grumlike. The neighbours do say-"

Zeb felt as if sinking through the floor. The farmer continued, "they think the squire's lady has never been herself since that old country chap with his dogs, and his fine lady wife lived among us."

Zeb lifted his head-breathed more freely-and Freeman went on with his gossip. "She looks a little queerlike, sometimes, and slamakin, and then her face grows fat, and her body grows thin, and then-"

"And the children?" asked the miserable son, hastily interrupting that of which he had heard but too much. "The children-they I hope are well?"

"Yes, they are pretty so so-not hardy, though :-they don't look like my boys and gals; and the squire seems more and more fond of them; but somehow or another your mammy seems- "The yeoman paused, as if in want of a simile-and Zeb quickly changed the conversation, by abruptly inquiring what he had seen in Boston, giving him an invitation to his uncle's house, and making offers of service, with perfect sincerity and goodwill.

CHAPTER IX.

How to study Law.-A change of destination.

"It was about to speak when the cock crew,
And then it started like a guilty thing."-Shakspeare.

"To his trust grew stranger, being transported
And wrapt in secret studies.

"Der Mann muss hinaus

In's feindliche Leben,

Mass werken und streben-"-Schiller.

"By mine honour I will; and when I break that oath, let me turn monster."-Shakspeare.

EXCERPTS, as headings to chapters, have been sneered atI am inclined to multiply them. If my reader passes them over, he will miss that which is worth more than the whole chapter following.

:

Mr. Thomas Treadwell abandoned his office so entirely, that after a time, no one thought of inquiring for him at that place; or at any other, on business connected with his profession and Zeb mechanically opened the windows every morning, and habitually sat down to his books, without thought of courts, clients, or law. He was conscious that he was not in the path intended for him by his uncle, and consequently the course he was pursuing was wrong, but he was fascinated by the opportunity that was afforded him of gratifying his passion.

for reading; and as long as no one interrupted it, he could not or would not, see the necessity for a change. His uncle had advised a course of history, and belles lettres reading, meaning, "when not employed in the study of legal science :"-Zeb followed his uncle's advice literally and industriously-neglecting the spirit and intent-and as no law reading was enjoined upon him by his master, he quieted his conscience by acting up to the letter of the instructions. He became a thorough historian and belles lettres scholar, as far as English and French authors could make him one. He partook of the Spanish, Italian, and German; and delighted to task himself in the Latin classics-his tasks becoming another source of mental improvement, another source of pleasure-for it is a law of the benevolent Creator, that perseverance in well-doing, although at first a task, shall become more and more a pleasure; knowledge increases the facilities of attaining knowledge, and “the appetite grows by that it feeds on.'

Of all the authors read by Spiffard, no one was studied with so much pleasure as Shakspeare. The boy had early read him, (for Shakspeare was found at Spiffard town) but he now studied him and his commentators. His thoughts and language by degrees became in a measure imbued with the images and phraseology of the poet. It was only when in after time he was laughed at by his companions, that he was induced to relinquish a mode of expressing himself which appeared to some affected.

Mankind are not generally aware of the influence which one book, or one man, may have, and has had, on a nation or a world. Even those who cannot (or those who do not) read, hear the precepts of the author, sometimes quoted as such, oftentimes mingled unconsciously in ordinary conversation. The maxims of the Koran, the Vedah and the Shastah are mingled in the intercourse of every-day life, among their followers, as well as quoted from the desk or the pulpit; and the same or greater effect is produced by the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. So the popular poet or author sheds abroad a light upon society which in its effects is incalculable.

If the poet's precepts are poured forth year after year for ages from the stage, as are those of the "Swan of Avon," they make a part of the education of nations; they are mingled with the thoughts and words of all-influencing their passions and actions-they become instruments of illimitable power on the civilization and consequent well-being of man.

A shrewd and well educated person once said, "I went last

evening to see Othello, and I have been thinking ever since of the many beautiful passages which have been familiar to me from childhood, and which are to be found in that play."

Our hero became acquainted with all the beauties and defects of the mighty master. He read him, and heard him expounded. He studied him, and saw him illustrated. But of law-except the poetic law of the stagyrite-he was as ignorant as many other young gentlemen who read, or smoke, in lawyers' offices.

What was Uncle Abraham about all this time? Reading his favourite books, and indulging as much research into ancient literature, as a defective early education permitted. Still he entered into many speculative studies, and pursued them far beyond the reading of mere men of this world; and when he questioned his nephew on topics, little thought of by most young men, he was pleased to find him intelligent, inquiring, and in possession of knowledge uncommon for his age. At length, old Mr. Spiffard, the uncle, thought it time that Zeb should be prepared for his examination. He had passed nearly the number of years usual, and legally necessary, for reading law in the capital of Massachusetts. "I'll go to Mr. Treadwell's office, and talk the matter over with him, and with my nephew," said uncle Abraham. Accordingly, one day, as story-tellers have it, he appeared suddenly at the office, while Zeb was standing in the most approved attitude for delivering Marc Anthony's oration over the body of Julius Cæsar. The door had been left partly open, and his uncle entered, unperceived by the young orator, who was practising postures before a mirror; which, though only intended to aid Mr. Treadwell in adjusting a cravat, before making his appearance in court, or in the green-room, disclosed the graces of our hero's person and action, (imperfectly it is true,) and at the same time served to let him see that he had an admirer behind him. He was in circumstances similar to the ghost of Hamlet's father, about to speak "when the cock crew," but alas! he could not vanish. The uncle had been standing for a moment, before the young lawyer was aware that any other than his own eyes witnessed his allitudenizing. When he saw the reflection of Uncle Abraham, he dropt his outstretched arm, and looked like any thing |_ rather than a hero.

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That's right," said the old gentleman; "I see that you are preparing yourself for public speaking. It is the sure road to wealth and honour in a republic."

The uncle certainly did not mean the same kind of public

speaking that occupied the mind of the nephew; but Zeb was relieved from his embarrassment by the train of thought which his preparation for enacting Marc Anthony had suggested; and his uncle proceeded to the business which had brought him to the office.

The result of Mr. Abraham Spiffard's inquiries was not so favourable to the belief of his nephew's progress in the acquisition of that knowledge, necessary for the orator of the Bar, the town house, the general assembly, or hall of congress. His questions were answered with perfect frankness by Zeb, who through life never lost his relish for truth or pure water. The uncle was astonished that he had so long omitted those inquiries which now elicited the astounding fact that Treadwell had long neglected both his business and his pupil; who knew very little more of law, (particularly its practice,) than when he entered the office. The answer to one inquiry led to another, and the good old gentleman concluded his interrogatories by asking mildly," Why, my son, did you not tell me all this?"

Zeb stood silent for some moments, before answering. Not that he wished to evade the question, but he wanted time to arrange his thoughts, like one of our Indians at a council-meeting; one of those men whom we call our red brethren, and shoot when they do not get out of our way, exactly at the time we wish to improve their lands for our profit, and plough up the bones of their forefathers, with as little ceremony as we do those of our own. Zeb was conscious that he had not been doing as his uncle intended; and that although he had not planned to deceive the worthy man, yet he had suffered him to deceive himself. After collecting his thoughts, Indian fashion, he replied with perfect ingenuousness:

"I take shame to myself, sir; I ought to have told you all this, and not waited till you questioned me. I have reasoned with myself repeatedly upon the subject, and my reason always told me that I was not employing my time as you intended that it should be employed. But this self-examination did not take place until in consequence of my teacher's neglect and the love I had imbibed for the study of general literature, a secret dislike—and afterwards to myself, an avowed determination had been formed not to devote myself to the profession of the law. To form such a resolution without consulting you, was wrong. Nay, I knew it to be wrong, at the time. But as every other study became more delightful to me, so, that for which I was placed here, became more and more disgusting. You appeared to be proud of my acquirements in languages

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