opensity for investigation grew stronger. It loved not
bureaus less, but a great many other things more. What sad consequences
might have ensued, had this passion been left to forage for itself, no
one can tell. But, by the wonderful principle of adaptation which
obtains throughout the universe, the love of receiving information is
met and mastered by the love of imparting information. As much pleasure
as it gives Angelina to learn how many towels and table-cloths go into
Seraphina's wedding-outfit, so much, yea, more, swells in Cherubella's
bosom at being able to present to her friend this apple from the tree of
knowledge. The worthy Muggins finds no small consolation for the loss of
his overcoat and umbrella from the front entry in the exhilaration he
experiences while relating to each member of his ever-revolving circle
of friends the details of his loss,--the suspicion, the search, the
certainty,--the conjectures, suggestions, and emotions of himself and
his family.

Hence these tears which we are about to shed. For, betwixt the love of
hearing on the one side, and the love of telling, on the other, small
space remains on which one may adventure to set the sole of his foot and
feel safe from the spoiler. There is of course a legitimate
gratification for every legitimate desire,--the desire to know our
neighbors' affairs among others. But there is a limit to this
gratification, and it is hinted at by legal enactments. The law justly
enough bounds a man's power over his possessions. For twenty-one years
after his generation has passed away, his dead hand may rule the wealth
which its living skill amassed. Then it dies another death, draws back
into a deeper grave, and has henceforth no more power than any
sister-clod. But, except as a penalty for crime, the law awards to a man
right to his own possessions through life; and the personal facts and
circumstances of his life have usually been considered among his
closest, most inalienable possessions.

Alas, that the times are changed, and we be all dead men so far as
concerns immunity from publication! There is no manner of advantage in
being alive. The sole safety is to lie flat on the earth along with
one's generation. The moment an audacious head is lifted one inch above
the general level, pop! goes the unerring rifle of some biographical
sharp-shooter, and it is all over with the unhappy owner. A perfectly
respectable and well-meaning man, suffering under the accumu