r Maker, and render us wretched.

We know a happy man; one who in the midst of the vexations and crosses
of this changing world, is always happy. Meet him anywhere, and at any
time, his features beam with pleasure. Children run to meet him, and
contend for the honour of touching his hand, or laying hold of the skirt
of his coat, as he passes by, so cheerful and benevolent does he always
look. In his own house he seems to reign absolute, and yet he never uses
any weapon more powerful than a kind word. Everybody who knows him is
aware, that, in point of intelligence, ay, and in physical prowess,
too--for we know few men who can boast a more athletic frame--he is
strong as a lion, yet in his demeanour he is gentle as a lamb. His wife
is not of the most amiable temper, his children are not the most docile,
his business brings him into contact with men of various dispositions;
but he conquers all with the same weapons. What a contrast have we often
thought he presents to some whose physiognomy looks like a piece of
harsh handwriting, in which we can decipher nothing but _self, self,
self_; who seem, both at home and abroad, to be always on the watch
against any infringement of their dignity. Poor men! their dignity
can be of little value if it requires so much care in order to be
maintained. True manliness need take but little pains to procure
respectful recognition. If it is genuine, others will see it, and
respect it. The lion will always be acknowledged as the king of the
beasts; but the ass, though clothed in the lion's skin, may bray loudly
and perseveringly indeed, but he will never keep the forest in awe.

From some experience in the homes of working-men, and other homes too,
we are led to think that much of the harsh and discordant feeling which
too often prevails there may be ascribed to a false conception of what
is truly great. It is a very erroneous impression that despotism is
manly. For our part we believe that despotism is inhuman, satanic, and
that wherever it is found--as much in the bosom of a family, as on
the throne of a kingdom. We cannot bring ourselves to tolerate the
inconsistency with which some men will inveigh against some absolute
sovereign, and straight-way enact the pettiest airs of absolutism in
their little empire at home. We have no private intimacy with "the
autocrat of all the Russias," and may, with all humility, avow that
we do not desire to have any; but this we believe, that out of the