f many a volunteer Jones. Then, too, I used
to wonder at the ease with which men apparently forget their buried
wives, and marry again; and, as I then had a great respect for the race,
thought their hearts must be very rich, new affections spring up with
such amazing rapidity; like the soil of the tropics, whose vegetation is
hardly cut down before there is a new, luxuriant growth. I've, however,
since come to the conclusion, that the poor man, somehow feeling that he
must marry, chooses in a manner at random, having, the first time, taken
the greatest care, and 'caught a Tartar,' in the same sense that the man
had with whom the phrase originated, that is, _the Tartar had caught
him_.

In my childhood I was particularly fond of the hoidenish amusement of
jumping out of our high barn-window, and landing on the straw
underneath. The first few times I went to the edge--then drew
back--looked again--almost sprang--again stepped back--till finally I
took the leap. Thus old bachelors take the matrimonial leap--not so
widowers--how is it to be accounted for? Well, brother man, (for this is
the nearest relationship to you that I can claim,) you do about as well
in this way as in any other. You are destined to be taken in as
effectually as was Jonah, when he made that 'exploration of the
interior,' or, as was the fly, when Dame Spider's 'parlor' proved to be
a dining-room.

Sam Slick says that 'man is common clay--woman porcelain.' Alas! there
is but little genuine porcelain. It is a pity that you couldn't contrive
to have a few jars before matrimony, to crack off some of the glazing,
and show the true character of the ware.

And you, sister woman, learn a lesson from the 'tiny nautilus,' which,
'by yielding, can defy the most violent ragings of the sea.' And, though
man is so nicely adapted to your management that it is obviously the end
of his creation, remember Mrs. Jones's trifling miscalculation in regard
to the meerschaum, and--_'N'eveillez pas le chat qui dort.'_

Abruptly yours, MOLLY O'MOLLY.

GLANCES FROM THE SENATE-GALLERY.

The comparative excellence of different periods of eloquence and
statesmanship affords a subject of curious and profitable contemplation.
The action of different systems of government, encouraging or depressing
intellectual effort, the birth of occasions which elicit the powers of
great minds, and the peculiar characteristics of the manner of thinking
and speaking in different count