rest luck, in some foolish grub street is the gem we want.
But in the best circles is the best information. If you should transfer
the amount of your reading day by day from the newspaper to the standard
authors.--But who dare speak of such a thing.

The three practical rules, then, which I have to offer, are: 1st. Never
read any book that is not a year old. 2d. Never read any but famed
books. 3d. Never read any but what you like; or, in Shakespeare's
phrase,

"No profit goes where is no pleasure ta'en:
In brief, sir, study what you most affect."

Montaigne says, "Books are a languid pleasure;" but I find certain books
vital and spermatic, not leaving the reader what he was: he shuts the
book a richer man. I would never willingly read any others than such.

* * * * *

=_John Russell Bartlett, 1805-._=

From the "Personal Narrative of Explorations," &c.

=_203._= LYNCH LAW AT EL PASO.

On the present occasion, circumstances rendered it necessary for safety,
as well as for the purpose of warning the desperate gang who were now
about to have their deserts, that all should be doubly armed. In the
court-room, therefore, where one of the most solemn scenes of human
experience was enacting, all were armed save the prisoners. There sat
the judge, with a pistol lying on the table before him; the clerks and
attorneys wore revolvers at their sides; and the jurors were either
armed with similar weapons, or carried with them the unerring rifle. The
members of the commission and citizens, who were either guarding the
prisoners or protecting the court, carried by their sides a revolver, a
rifle, or a fowling-piece, thus presenting a scene more characteristic
of feudal times than of the nineteenth century. The fair but sun-burnt
complexion of the American portion of the jury, with their weapons
resting against their shoulders, and pipes in their mouths, presented a
striking contrast to the swarthy features of the Mexicans, muffled in
checkered _serapes_, holding their broad-brimmed glazed hats in their
hands, and delicate cigarritos in their lips. The reckless, unconcerned
appearance of the prisoners, whose unshaven faces and dishevelled hair
gave them the appearance of Italian bandits rather than of Americans or
Englishmen, the grave and determined bearing of the bench; the varied
costume and expression of the spectators and members of the Commission,
clad in serapes, blankets, or overcoat