little old-fashioned mahogany
bannisters--his barns as big as fortresses--his horses like
mammoths--his cattle enormous--and his breeches surprisingly redundant in
linseywoolsey. It matters not to him, whether the form of sideboards or
bureaus changes, or whether other people wear tight breeches or cossack
pantaloons in the shape of meal-bags. Let fashion change as it may,
his low, round-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, keeps its ground, his
galligaskins support the same liberal dimensions, and his old oaken
chest and clothes-press of curled maple, with the Anno Domini of their
construction upon them, together with the dresser glistening with
pewter-plates, still stand their ground, while the baseless fabrics
of fashion fade away, without leaving a wreck behind. Ceaseless and
unwearied industry is his delight, and enterprise and speculation his
abhorrence. Riches do not corrupt, nor poverty depress him; for his
mind is a sort of Pacific ocean, such as the first navigators described
it--unmoved by tempests, and only intolerable from its dead and tedious
calms. Thus he moves on, and when he dies his son moves on in the
same pace, till generations have passed away, without one of the name
becoming distinguished by his exploits or his crimes. These are useful
citizens, for they bless a country with useful works, and add to its
riches. But still, though industry, prudence, and economy are useful
habits, they are selfish after all, and can hardly aspire to the dignity
of virtues, except as they are preservatives against active vices.

* * * * *

From "Westward Ho."

=_281._= ABORTIVE TOWNS.

Zeno Paddock and his wife Mrs. Judith, departed from the village, never
to return. Such was the reputation of the proprietor of the Western Sun,
that a distinguished speculator, who was going to found a great city
at the junction of Big Dry, and Little Dry, Rivers, made him the most
advantageous offers to come and establish himself there, and puff the
embryo bantling into existence as fast as possible. He offered him a
whole square next to that where the college, the courthouse, the
church, the library, the athenaeum, and all the public buildings were
situated.... Truth obliges us to say, that on his arrival at the city of
New Pekin, as it was called, he found it covered with a forest of trees,
each of which would take a man half a day to walk round; and that on
discovering the square in which all the public