ride! The odious children--I know they are
odious--will torture her to the quick; and Mrs. Treddles, or whatever
her detestable name is, will lead her a terrible life from jealousy; and
she 'll have to bear everything, and cry over it in secret, remembering
the once happy time in that honeysuckled porch, where poor papa used to
read Wordsworth for them.

What a world of sorrow on every side; and how easily might it be made
otherwise! What gigantic efforts are we forever making for something
which we never live to enjoy I Striving to be freer, greater, better
governed, and more lightly taxed, and all the while forgetting that the
real secret is to be on better terms with each other,--more generous,
more forgiving, less apt to take offence or bear malice. Of mere
material goods, there is far more than we need. The table would
accommodate more than double the guests, could we only agree to sit down
in orderly fashion; but here we have one occupying three chairs,
while another crouches on the floor, and some even prefer smashing the
furniture to letting some more humbly born take a place near them. I
wish they would listen to me on this theme. I wish, instead of all this
social science humbug and art-union balderdash, they would hearken
to the voice of a plain man, saying, Are you not members of one
family,--the individuals of one household? Is it not clear to you, if
you extend the kindly affections you now reserve for the narrow circle
wherein you live to the wider area of mankind, that, while diffusing
countless blessings to others, you will yourself become better, more
charitable, more kind-hearted, wider in reach of thought, more catholic
in philanthropy? I can imagine such a world, and feel it to be a
Paradise,--a world with no social distinctions, no inequalities of
condition, and, consequently, no insolent pride of station, nor any
degrading subserviency of demeanor, no rivalries, no jealousies,--love
and benevolence everywhere. In such a sphere the calm equanimity of mind
by which great things are accomplished, would in itself constitute a
perfect heaven. No impatience of temper, no passing irritation--

"Where the------are you driving to, sir?" cried I, as a fellow with a
brass-bound trunk in a hand-barrow came smash against my shin.

"Don't you see, sir, the train is just starting?" said he, hastening on;
and I now perceived that such was the case, and that I had barely time
to rush down to the pay-office and s