he divine, Dr. Young,
looks upon a friend, when he says,--

'A friend is worth all hazards we can run;
Poor is the friendless master of a world;
A world in purchase for a friend is gain.'

* * * You have, like King Ahasuerus, held forth, though not a golden
sceptre, yet one more valuable,--the sceptre of friendship, if I may
so call it. Like Esther, I would draw nigh and touch it. Will you
proceed and say, 'What wilt thou?' and 'What is thy request? it shall
be given thee to the half of my' heart. Why, no, I think I will not
have so dangerous a present, lest your good man should find it out and
challenge me. * * * And now let me ask you, whether you do not think
that many of our disappointments, and much of our unhappiness, arise
from our forming false notions of things and persons. We strangely
impose on ourselves; we create a fairy land of happiness. Fancy is
fruitful, and promises fair, but, like the dog in the fable, we catch
at a shadow, and, when we find the disappointment, we are vexed, not
with ourselves, who are really the impostors, but with the poor,
innocent thing or person of whom we have formed such strange ideas.
* * * You bid me tell _one_ of my sparks--I think that was the
word--to bring me to see you. Why, I believe you think they are as
plenty as herrings, when, alas! there is as great a scarcity of them
as there is of justice, honesty, prudence, and many other virtues.
I've no pretensions to one. Wealth, wealth is the only thing that is
looked after now. 'Tis said Plato thought, if Virtue would appear to
the world, all mankind would be enamored of her; but now interest
governs the world, and men neglect the golden mean."

At the age of twenty, Miss Smith became the wife of John Adams,
afterwards president of the United States. Connected with this event,
an anecdote is related, which, as an indication of the fashion of the
day, and of the disposition of the bride's father, is too good to be
passed over. Mary, the eldest daughter of Mr. Smith, was married to
Richard Cranch, an English emigrant, and, as it would appear, with the
approbation of all parties; for, upon the Sabbath following, he
preached to his people from the text, "And Mary hath chosen that good
part, which shall not be taken from her." But Abigail was not so
fortunate; for her match, it would seem, met the disapprobation of
some of her father's parishioners, either on account of the profession
of Mr. Adams,--that of the law,--w