same man with reference to
the same passion, and are intended by him to put himself right in his
conduct in reference to the same dear girl. Only the former line of
thoughts occurred to him on a Saturday, when he was ending his week
rather gloomily, and this other way of thinking on the same subject
has come upon him on a Monday, as he is beginning his week with
renewed hope. Does this young girl of his heart love him? And if so,
their affection for each other being thus reciprocal, is she not
entitled to an expression of her opinion and her wishes on this
difficult subject? And if she be willing to run the risk and to
encounter the dangers,--to do so on his behalf, because she is
willing to share everything with him,--is it becoming in him, a man,
to fear what she does not fear? If she be not willing let her say so.
If there be any speaking, he must speak first;--but she is entitled,
as much as he is, to her own ideas respecting their great outlook
into the affairs of the world. And then is it not manifestly God's
ordinance that a man should live together with a woman? How poor
a creature does the man become who has shirked his duty in this
respect, who has done nothing to keep the world going, who has been
willing to ignore all affection so that he might avoid all burdens,
and who has put into his own belly every good thing that has come to
him, either by the earning of his own hands or from the bounty and
industry of others! Of course there is a risk; but what excitement is
there in anything in which there is none? So on the Tuesday he speaks
his mind to the young lady, and tells her candidly that there will be
potatoes for the two of them,--sufficient, as he hopes, of potatoes,
but no more. As a matter of course the young lady replies that
she for her part will be quite content to take the parings for her
own eating. Then they rush deliciously into each other's arms and
the matter is settled. For, though the convictions arising from
the former line of argument may be set aside as often as need be,
those reached from the latter are generally conclusive. That such
a settlement will always be better for the young gentleman and the
young lady concerned than one founded on a sterner prudence is more
than one may dare to say; but we do feel sure that that country will
be most prosperous in which such leaps in the dark are made with the
greatest freedom.

Our friend Hugh, as he sat smoking on the knife-board of the omnibu