presence gives rise in the minds of whom he chances to be thrown; espe from any circumstance, his appearanc tray his definite rank or calling in life. of mystery hangs around his moveme Improvement seems now to be the or in Northern Illinois. This was the of the stump-speakers; and the proj from Jacksonville to the river was un sideration. I became acquainted, wh Mr. C., a young gentleman engaged in

route.

It was late in the afternoon when broke away from the hustings, and mou to pursue my journey to Springfield strikes off from the public square, in through the prairie, at right angles with I entered, and, like that, ornamented b I had rode but a few miles from the was leisurely pursuing my way acro plain, when a quick tramping behind attention, and in a few moments a little faced man at my side, in linsey-woolsey brimmed hat, saluted me frankly with "friend," and forthwith announced him

tist circuit-rider!" I became much interested in the worthy man before his path diverged from my own; and I flatter myself he reciprocated my regard, for he asked all manner of questions, and related all manner of anecdotes, questioned or not. Among other edifying matter, he gave a full-length biography of a "billards fever" from which he was just recovering; even from the premonitory symptoms thereof to the relapse and final convalescence.

At nightfall I found myself alone in the heart of an extensive prairie; but the beautiful crescent had now begun to beam forth from the blue heavens; and the wild, fresh breeze of evening, playing among the silvered grass-tops, rendered thehour a delightful one to the traveller. "Spring Island Grove," a thick wood upon an eminence to the right, looked like a region of fairy-land as its dark foliage trembled in the moonlight. The silence and solitude of the prairie was almost startling; and a Herculean figure upon a white horse, as it drew nigh, passed me "on the other side" with a glance of suspicion at my closelybuttoned surtout and muffled mouth, as if to say, "this is too lone a spot to form acquaintance." A few hours-I had crossed the prairie, and was snugly deposited in a pretty little farmhouse in the edge of the grove, with a crusty, surly fellow enough for its master.

Springfield, Ill.

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, go -SHAKSPEARE.

Ir is a trite remark, that few st pleasing to the inquisitive mind than ture of man. But, however this may few situations in life present greate watching its developments than that wayfaring traveller. Though I ful Edmund Burke, that "the age of chiva away," with all its rough virtues and am I convinced that, even in this deg sophisters, economists, and speculator itary individual, unconnected with an ments of the day, throws himself up and sallies fearlessly forth upon the world, whether in quest of adventure be quite sure to meet, at least, with "inklings" thereof. A thousand exhil man character will fling themselves pathway, inconsiderable indeed in the which, as days of the year and second go to make up the lineaments of man from the observation of the pride, an circumstance of wealth and equipage, cessity be veiled. Under the eve of

wanderer, going forth upon a pilgrimage of observation among the ranks of men-who is met but for once, and whose opinion, favourable or otherwise, can be supposed to exert but trifling influence-there is not that necessity for enveloping those petty weaknesses of our nature in the mantle of selfishness which would, under more imposing circumstances, exist. To the mind of delicate sensibility, unschooled in the ways of man, such exhibitions of human heartlessness might, perchance, be anything but interesting; but to one who, elevated by independence of character above the ordinary contingencies of situation and circumstance, can smile at the frailties of his race, even when exhibited at his own expense, they can but afford a fund of interest and instruction. The youthful student, when with fresh, unblunted feeling he for the first time enters the dissecting-room of medical science, turns with sickened, revolting sensibilities from the mutilated form stretched out upon the board before him, while the learned professor, with untrembling nerve, lays bare its secrecies with the crimsoned knife of science. Just so is it with the exhibitions of human nature; yet who will say that dissection of the moral character of man is not as indispensable to an intimate acquaintance with its phenomena, as that of his physical organization for a similar purpose.

But, then, there are the brighter features of humanity, which sometimes hang across the wanderer's pathway like the beautiful tints of a summer evening bow; and which, as they are oftenest met reposing beneath the cool, sequestered shades of

of humanity; these oases in a deser to hope that man, though indeed holy being, is not that thing of u which a troubled bosom had some to believe. At such moments, wort ness and distrust, how inexpressibly feel the young tendrils of the heart to meet the proffered affection; cur race, and binding it closer and close But your pardon, reader: my wayw trayed me into an episode upon poo most unwittingly, I do assure thee. deavouring to present a few ideas. had casually suggested, which I w commend themselves to every think which some incidents of my wayfar to illustrate, when lo! forth comes an man nature. It remidns one of Sir I told the clock by algebra, or of Dr. rised gentlewoman, who drank tea by

"How little do men realize the love visible world!" is an exclamation whi times involuntarily left my lips while the surpassing splendour of a prairie-su is at all times a glorious hour, but to a