This is equally kind and polite.

4. Upon the conclusion of a dance, either leave your partner standing
in the middle of the room--which I have beheld performed with
admirable effect---or, hastily leading her to a seat, quit her
instantly: which proceeding says, in plain English, "Lady, I would not
stay another moment with you for anything that could be offered me,
lest the world should choose to fancy we are engaged."

Respecting giving and lending, which are sometimes necessary worldly
duties, your guide must be this brief, but infallible rule--"Venture a
small fish to catch a large one." Those antiquated beings, indeed,
whom the polite style "horrid bores," but whose generic appellation is
Christians, are accustomed to "lend and give, not hoping to receive;"
yet this maxim cannot of course be supposed to influence the conduct
of those who desire to advance themselves in the world, because they
are bound to bear in mind, that they cannot admit of any principle of
action which tends, in the slightest degree, to militate against their
interest.--_Et caetera desunt._

M.L.B.

* * * * *

THE NATURALIST.

THE WHITE-HEADED, OR BALD EAGLE.

(_Concluded from page 389._)

The intrepidity of character, before mentioned, may be farther
illustrated by the following fact, which occurred a few years ago,
near Great Egg Harbour, New Jersey. A woman, who happened to be
weeding in the garden, had set her child down near, to amuse itself
while she was at work; when a sudden and extraordinary rushing sound,
and a scream from her child, alarmed her, and starting up, she beheld
the infant thrown down, and dragged some few feet, and a large bald
eagle bearing off a fragment of its frock, which being the only part
seized, and giving way, providentially saved the life of the infant.

The appetite of the bald eagle, though habituated to long fasting, is
of the most voracious and often the most indelicate kind. Fish, when
he can obtain them, are preferred to all other fare. Young lambs and
pigs are dainty morsels, and made free with on all favourable
occasions. Ducks, geese, gulls, and other sea fowl, are also seized
with avidity. The most putrid carrion, when nothing better can be had,
is acceptable; and the collected groups of gormandizing vultures, on
the approach of this dignified personage, instantly disperse, and make
way for their master, waiting his departure in sullen silence, and at
a