The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-14 00:00:00

A DIFFICULT POSITION.

Letitia and Arthur were thin, prim-looking, , rather plain
children ; but Oliver was the very picture of a father's
darling, a boy that any childless man would bitterly covet,
any childless woman crave and yearn for, with a longing
that women alone can understand. A child who, beautiful
as most childhood is, had a beauty you rarely see. Bright,
frank, merry, bold ; half a Bacchus and half a Cupid, he
was a perfect image of the golden age. Though three
years old, he was evidently still " the baby," and rode on
his father's shoulder with a glorious tyranny charming to
behold. _

" Who's that ?" said he, pointing his fat fingers, and
shaking his curls that undulated like billows of gold.
" Papa, who's that ?"
liardly could there have been put by any one a more
difficult question. Dr. Grey did_ not answer, but avoided
it, taking the whole three to Christian's side, and bidding
them, in a rather nervous voice, to " kiss this lady."
But that ceremony the two elder obstinately declined.
" I'm a big boy, and I don't like to be kissed," said
Arthur.

" Aunty told us, since we -had no mamma of, our
own, we were not to kiss any body but our 'aunts," added
Letitia.

Dr. Grey looked terribly annoyed, but Christian said
calmly—
" Very well, then, shake hands only. We shall be better

friends by-and-by."
They suffered her to touch a little hand of each, pas-
sively rather than unwillingly, and let it go. For a minute
or so the boy and girl stood opposite her, holding fast by
one another, and staring with all their eyes ; but they said
nothing more, being apparently very " good" children,
that is, children brought up under the old-fashioned
rules.

The father and bridegroom looked on, silent as they.
What could he say or do ? It was the natural and neces-
sary opening up of that vexed question, second marriages,
concerning which moralists, sentimentalists, and practical
people argue for ever, and never come to any conclusion.
Of course not, because each separate case should decide
itself. The only universal rule or law, if there be one, is
that which applies equally to the love before marriage ;
that as to a complete, mutual first love, any after love is
neither likely, necessary, nor desirable ; so, to any one
who has known a perfect first, marriage—the whole satis-
faction of every requirement of heart, and soul, and human
affection—unto such, a second marriage, like a second love,
would be neither right nor wrong, advisable nor unadvis-
able, but simply impossible.
With power so well developed, and a style at once
so earnest and so interesting, we must look to the
author of " John Halifax" for some more ambitious
undertaking than this very agreeable but com-
paratively unimportant history of " Christian's
Mistake."

ACCIDENT AT BUTLER'S-WHARF.--An alarming
accident, involving great loss of property, occurred
yesterday morning at Butler's-wharf belonging to Messrs.
Brandon Brothers, wharfingers, at the Waterside, Horsley-
down, by the falling of a newly-erected bonded warehouse,
five storeys high. Owing to the influx of business the firm
were compelled to warehouse cargoes of vessels before the
building was actually completed. Indeed, there were ma-
sons and bricklayers engaged in the place at the time of the
accident. Fortunately there was sufficient warning to enable
the people to escape. A loud cracking waa heard in the river
frontage wall, and on the men looking upwards they wit-
nessed the floors bulging downwards, and they succeeded
in getting into the street, when the whole fabric fronting
the river fell into the water, bringing with it several thou-
' sand bags of rice. The land side of the structure remains
intact. There were several extraordinary escapes. The pre-
vailing opinion as to the cause of the accident is that it was
oceadoued by the excessive weight warehoused on the floors.