Year: 1861

out OF dream strictly cODurInatOry OF inc
late virgil, he did not scruple to salute his
wife, aud wish her many happy returns of
the day. The wife, who knew as much as
be, very readily wished him the same, hav-
ing, in truth, but just rubbed out of her
eyes the pattern of a widows bonnet that
had been submitted to her in her Sleep
She took care, however, to give the fowls
liver at dinner to the doomed man, consider
ing that when he was dead and gone, she
could have them, if she pleased, seven days
in the week; and the farmer, on his part,
took care to help her to many titbits. Their
feeling toward each other was that OF an
impatient host with regard to an unwclcome
guest, showing scarcely a bare civility while
in expectation Of his stay, but overlooking
him with hospitality when made certain of
his departure.


In this manner they went on for some six
months, and though without any addition
OF love between them, and as much selfish
ness as ever, yet living in a subservience to
Tie comforts and inclinatons of each other,
sometimes to be found even among couples
Of sincerer affections There were as many
causes for quarrel as ever, but every day it
became less worth while to quarrel; 81 let
ting by-gones be by-gones, they were indif-
ferent to the present, and thought only Of
the future, considering each other (to adopt
a common phrase) las good as dead"


Ten months wore away, and the farmers
birth day arrived in it's turn. The dame,
who had passed an uncomfortable night,
having dreamed. in truth that she did not
much like herself in mourning saluted him
as soon as the day dawned, and with a sigh
wished him many years to come. The far
mer repaid her in kind, the sigh included /;
his own visions having been of painful
sort, for he had dreamed of having head
ache from wearing a black hat-band, and
the malady still clung to him when awake
Hhe whole morning was spent in silent medi-
tdtion and melancholy, on both sides, and
when dinner came, although the most favor
ite dishes were upon the table, they could
not eat. The farmer, resting his elbows
bows upon the board, with his face between
his hands. gazed wistfully upon his wife
scooping her eyes, as it were, out of their
sockets, stripping the flesh off her cheeks,
and in fancy converting her whole head into
a mere capm naortuuan The dame leaning
back in her arm chair. regarded the yeoman
quite as ruefully-by the same process of
ssma gination picking his sturdy bones. and
bleaching his ruddy vissage to The comp1ex-
ion of plaster cast. Their minds, travel
ing in the same direction, and at equal rate,
arrived together at the same reflection but
the farmer was the first to give it utterance.


"Thee'd be missed, dame, if thee were
to die"


The dame started Although she had
nothing but death at that moment before her
eyes, she was far from dreaming of her own
exit, and, at this rebound of her thoughts
against herself she felt as if an extra cold
coHin-plate had been suddenly nailed on her
chest; recovering, however. from the first
shock, her thoughts flowed into their old
channel, and she retorted in the same spirit:


Il wish, Master, thee may live so long
as l."


The farmer. in his own mind, wished to
live rather longer; for at the utmost, be
considered that his wife's bill of mortality
had but two months to run. The calcula-
ton made him sorrowful; during the last
few months she had consulted his appetite,
bent to his humor, and dovetailed her own
inclinations into his, in manner that could
never be supplied; and he thought of her.
if not in the language. at least in the spirit
Of the lady in ''Lalla Rookh:"


'I never taught bright gazelle


To watch me with its bright black eye


But when it came to know rne well,


And love me, it was sure to die''


His wife, from being at first useful to
him, had become agreeable, and at last dear
to him; and as he contemplated her ap-
preaching fate he could not help thinking
out audibly. THAT he should be a lonesome
man when she was gone" The dame, this
time, heard the survivorship foreboded with
out starting but she marveled much at
what she thought the infatuaton of doom
ed man. So perfect was her faith in the
infallibility Of St. Mark, that she had ever
seen the symptoms Of mortal disease as pal
pable as plague spots, on the devoted yeo.
man. Giving his body up, therefore, fo,
lost, strong sense of duty persuaded her
that it was imperative on her as a Christian
to warn the unsuspecting farmer of his dis.
solution. Accordingly, with solemnity
adapted TO the subject, tenderness of re-
cent growth, and nsenaento nsori face, she
broached the matter in the following ques-
ton:


"Master, how's %


"As hearty, dame, as a buck, ,"-the
dame shook her head-''and I wish thee the
like;' at which he shook his head himself


A dead silence ensued: the farmer was
unprepared as ever. There is great fancy
for breaking the truth by dropping it gen
tly-an experiment which has never an
swered any more than with ironstone china.
The dame felt this, and thinking it better to
throw the news at her husband at once, she
told him, in as many words, that he was a
dead man.


1t was now the yeoman's turn to be stag
gered. BY a parallel course of reasoning.
he had just wrought himself up to similar
disclosure, and. the DANES death warrant