to their driver.

"Well, I dunno; it's some bigger," was the reply.

"But it is a better sort of place, I am told; people from Edgartown
don't seem to think much of Holmes's Hole."

"No, nor the Holmes's Hole folks don't think much of Oldtown; it's
pretty much according to who you talk to, which place is called the
handsomest, I reckon."

"Athens or Rome, London or Paris, Oldtown or Holmes's Hole, Mysie,"
murmured Caleb, as their driver stopped to reply to the driver of "a
team," who was anxious to know when he was "a-goin' to butcher agin."

Edgartown proved to be a pretty little seaside town, with some handsome
wooden houses, a little bank, and a very nice tavern, at which the
travellers received very satisfactory entertainment. The next day,
reembarking upon the "Eagle's Wing," they soon reached New Bedford.

OCTOBER TO MAY.

The day that brightens half the earth
Is night to half. Ah, sweet!
One's mourning is another's mirth;--
You wear your bright years like a crown,--
While mine, dead garlands, tangle down
In chains about my feet.

The breeze which wakes the folded flower
Sweeps dead leaves from the tree;--
So partial Time, as hour by hour
He tells the rapid years,--cheu!
Brings bloom and beauty still to you,
But leaves his blight with me.

The rain which calls the violet up
Out of the moistened mould
Shatters the wind-flower's fragile cup;--
For even Nature has her pets,
And, favoring the new, forgets
To love and spare the old.

The shower which makes the bud a rose
Beats off the lilac-bloom.
I am a lilac,--so life goes,--
A lilac that has outlived May;--
You are a blush-rose. Welladay!
I pass, and give you room!

THE ELEUSINIA.

What did the Eleusinia mean? Perhaps, reader, you think the question of
little interest. "The Eleusinia! Why, Lobeck made that little matter
clear long ago; and there was Porphyry, who told us that the whole thing
was only an illustration of the Platonic philosophy. St. Croix, too,--he
made the affair as clear as day!"

But the question is not so easily settled, my friend; and I insist upon
it that you _have_ an interest in it. Were I to ask you the meaning of
Freemasonry, you would think _that_ of importance; you could not utter
the name without wonder; and it may be that there is even more wonder in
it than you suspect,--though you be an arch-mason you