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Edinburgh equivalent for a cottage) might do very
well to begin with, always trusting that Providence
would promote us in good time to a front door. How
long this set of ideas is to hold sway over me, I could
not take it upon me to say distinctly; but I feel them
to be pretty firm for the present, and intend to ask
the young lady to the exhibition to-morrow, which, as
John would say, looks violently symptomatic.
"We
shall see.

HYDROCYANIC ACID-A REMEDY FOR
BLINDNESS.

In the summer of last year, while residing for a month
in London, no subject of interest which the metropolis
presents engaged so large a share of my attention as
one which now, after considerable deliberation, I propose
explaining to the reader of these pages, on the score of
public duty. I allude to a series of personal examina-
tions which I made respecting the validity of certain
alleged cures and meliorations of blindness, performed
by Dr Turnbull of Russel Square, chiefly by means of
hydrocyanic acid. It is proper to say why an unpro-
fessional person should have considered it at all neces-
sary to devote time to the investigation of a subject of

this nature.

The first time I heard anything of Dr Turnbull's operations on the eye, was through an article in the Literary Gazette of June 12, 1842, from which, on the credit of that print, and simply for the sake of conveying what appeared a piece of curious scientific information to the public, an extract was made into the present Journal (No. 546). There, in all probability, the matter might have rested, but for what seemed an unreasonable attack from a contemporary, calling in question the truth of the statements in the Journal, and protesting against the injury they were likely to accomplish. Having sinned in ignorance, if they had sinned at all, the editors of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal resolved to embrace the first convenient opportunity of investigating, personally, what was evidently a two-sided subject, and of forming their own opinion. No doubt this was a hazardous resolution, for, unacquainted with the state of ocular surgery, they might possibly be misled by appearances, and give credence to what was in reality a fallacy. Nevertheless, with a determination to exercise caution in a matter so intricate, to sift the evidence presented, and to judge only from facts, they hoped to satisfy themselves whether the allegations against them rested on a basis of truth or prejudice. This opportunity happily occurred, as has been said, in the summer of the past year, when one of the editors, the present writer, was for a few weeks in the metropolis.

To descend to the first person-One of the earliest of my movements after arriving in town was to wait upon Dr Turnbull and explain the object of my visit. This was no sooner announced, than that gentleman professed his willingness to give me every information respecting his practice in cases of blindness, to explain all that seemed puzzling or difficult, and to submit his patients freely to every sort of examination which I chose to institute. "What time," said I," do your gratis patients attend?" "Thrice a-week, at nine in the morning." "Then I shall be in attendance at that time during my stay in London." I did so, and every alternate morning found me on my way up Tottenham Court Road, towards Russel Square, where the subjects of my inquiry were congregated.

The cases chiefly brought under my notice were those of from thirty to forty poor people, in different states of

blindness, and whose condition I could progressively observe. Some of the cases were among those which had been already made known in the Literary Gazette; others were more recent. In either instance, the parties showed no reluctance to tell me the story of their maladies, and submitted with patience to my repeated examinations and cross-questionings. One by one they were brought from an adjoining room into the surgery, and operated upon in my presence. I shall here describe, as clearly as possible, the principle on which the doctor professes to act. Some years ago, according to his own account, having remarked that the eyes of persons who had destroyed themselves by hydrocyanic or prussic acid remained clear and dilated, he considered that the acid exerted a specific action upon the eye, which might be made available as a medical agent for relieving many of the diseases to which that organ is subject. After a few cautious experiments, he became assured of the truth of his conjectures, and began to apply the vapour of this powerful acid to the eyes of persons afflicted with blindness, and with surprising effect. As far as I have comprehended his explanations, the vapour acts both as a stimulant and sedative. By exciting the small blood-vessels to a great degree, the languid circulation is roused into activity; and nature, no longer shackled by the morbid affection, hastens to restore the organ to its normal condition, and sight is the consequence. Subsequent experiments showed to Dr Turnbull that the practice might be advantageously varied, to suit different cases, were he to employ other agents, as the vapour of chloracyanic acid, sulphuretted chyazic acid, and chloruret of iodine. Each of these, therefore, he now uses in a small phial with a glass stopper, and with a mouth shaped to cover the hollow of the eye. In the bottle containing the hydrocyanic acid, in order to prevent any dangerous consequences from accidentally spilling the liquid, he puts some pieces of asbestos to act as a sponge; the use of it is hence quite safe, care only being taken not to allow the patient to smell it. The same thing is done with respect to the chloracyanic acid.

Having received these preliminary explanations, it became important for me to understand upon what kinds of blindness the vapour of these acids might be most advantageously directed. The cases submitted to my inspection were various in their nature-opacity of the cornea, rheumatic ophthalmia, staphyloma, or projecting sloughed eye, amaurosis, cataract, and some others. acid and other vapours were, from what I could obOn some of these the operations with the hydrocyanic serve, more efficacious than others. The first case of more than ordinary interest which I shall mention was that of Diana Primrose. A number of years ago,

as this woman told me, her eyes became afflicted with
ophthalmia; they were swollen, inflamed, and so blind,
that she could only distinguish light, and she required
to be led by a guide; to aggravate her complaint, the
eyelashes would grow no other way but inwards. The
pains in her head were very severe. She attended
several hospitals and institutions in the hope of find-
ing relief, but without the least benefit. On one occa-
sion, a surgeon cut away a portion of the upper lid
of the left eye, and many of her eyelashes were from
time to time pulled out. From less to more, the poor
creature became a spectacle of horror to all who saw
her; and her existence was a burden which she would
At length she visited Dr
willingly have resigned.
Turnbull, who, by applying his usual medical agents,
suppressed the virulence of the complaint; the hitherto
refractory eyelashes began to grow as nature designed
them, outwards; and now there seemed little the matter
with her, except a redness of the eyelids, and a dimness
She said she could now see
in the organs of vision.

pretty well; she could read large print, walk about without a guide, the pains in her head were gone, and she was able to support herself by her industry; in proof of this, she brought forward a basket of coloured worsted articles, by the knitting of which she earns a livelihood. She expressed a lively gratitude for her restoration to sight, and the last time I saw her she was advancing towards a perfect recovery.

Some cases of amaurosis interested me not a little. Amaurosis, it is proper to explain, is that form of blindness in which the eyes appear sound to an observer, but are really incapable of vision. The defect arises from paralysis of the optic nerve, or the branches of the fifth pair of nerves; or sometimes from disease of the brain itself. The restoration of sight in such cases, particularly if of a confirmed nature, has hitherto been Of the cases of staphyloma, or projecting eye, with considered hopeless by the profession. Dr Turnbull opacity of the cornea, none interested me more than entertains a very different opinion. He believes the that of a little girl, by name Georgina Larkins. This complaint to be removable by stimulating the nerves sweet-tempered child became blind when she was six and the circulation in the neighbourhood of the eye. days old, in consequence of an attack of inflammation. This he does in two ways; first, by applying the vapour Referring to the professional history of her case, already of hydrocyanic acid to the ball of the eye, in the before the public, it is sufficient for me here to mention, manner already described; and second, by the applicathat all the ordinary means for restoring sight proved, tion of essential oils, diluted in alcohol, to the forehead; in her case, unavailing; and that, in April 1840, she warmth, increased circulation, absorption, and action, was brought to Dr Turnbull, a ghastly object-the left are the consequence. By treatment of this kind, I eye projecting to twice the natural dimensions, and of found several patients so far recovered from their a general blue colour, with a white body resembling a amaurosis, as to be able to read by sight any book put mother-of-pearl button in the centre; while the right before them. eye was white, without any appearance of iris or pupil. The case was as hopeless as could well be imagined, yet to it the doctor set with his applications, beginning by putting a drop of castor oil into each eye, and occasionally substituting for the castor oil the oil of almonds. By this treatment, in two months he diminished the size of both eyes, and so much decreased the opacity of the right eye, that the pupil made its appearance, and the child began to see, and to be able to walk alone. After an interval in attendance, caused by the doctor's absence from town, during which nothing was done for her, she returned in 1842, when the vapour of the hydrocyanic acid was regularly applied to both eyes. This mode of treatment still further reduced the size of the left eye, bringing it within the compass of the eyelids, and finally diminished the right eye to a proper| size, besides greatly strengthening its power of vision. She had attended a school for the blind, where she learned to read raised letters by touch; but now that she is able to see, she reads equally well by the eye as the fingers. I tried her both ways, and think the eye had the best of it; she read passages in a volume which I took from my pocket with facility and propriety. While the right eye had thus far advanced, leaving comparatively little to be done to it, the left eye was gradually losing its whitish opacity; the blue pupil was shining out; and, supposing the cure to go no farther, the orb was becoming less offensive in its general appearance-a matter of some consequence to a face otherwise far from unpleasing. When I last saw this child, her health was greatly better than it had been in her days of total and hopeless blindness.

The removal of sloughs or opacities of the cornea was shown in various other cases; a person who had been blind in the right eye for twenty years, said he now could see with it. Many entered and left the room by their own unaided sight, who told me they could not formerly walk without a guide. At one time there used to be nearly as many "leaders" in attendance as blind people; now, few of these are required. As soon as one gets a glimmering of sight, he begins to act as a guide to others, and thus “ the blind leading the blind " | is no longer a mere figure in rhetoric.

That opacities in the external coating of the eye should be removable by a pungent and active vapour, is much less surprising than that such applications should at all affect cases of cataract, which resembles a pearly matter within the eye, and therefore removed considerably from the proximate action of the vapour from the acid. Several cases of this form of blindness were brought under my notice, as having been partially meliorated by the process; but, on the whole, I think the doctor was less successful in this department than in others. The cure, if it be possible, is evidently tedious; but as cataract is removable by couching, a want of success with the external applications is perhaps the less to be regretted.

|

Sophia Brown, a milliner, told me she had been quite blind with amaurosis, and had been dismissed as past remedy by all the medical men to whom she applied. But by her attendance on Dr Turnbull for seven months, her sight is gradually coming back; she can now see objects, though not distinctly, and can walk without a guide. I left her with sight improving and general health greatly better. Sophia Townsend, who had been blind with amaurosis in the left eye, for which nothing could be done of the least value by the medical men in whose hands she had been, could now, after three months' applications, see so well with that eye, as to be able to read with it. To satisfy myself still further as to the possibility of assuaging amaurosis by the external stimulants, I sent for a person named John Plunket, formerly an attorney's clerk, who for several years had been so blind with amaurosis, as to be led about by his children. This man told me that his left eye had been destroyed by operations, and therefore Dr Turnbull addressed himself only to the right. By repeated applications of essential oils to the forehead, his sight in this undestroyed eye gradually recovered. This recovery took place four years ago, and his sight was still improving by weekly applications. He read a book which I produced, and is desirous of employment as a clerk. This was a very satisfactory case of recovery from amaurosis, but perhaps not more so than another, that of Eleanor M'Cartney, a poor Irishwoman in St Giles' workhouse, Holborn. Guided by Mrs Bailey, the respectable matron of this institution, I was conducted to the couch of this bed-rid pauper, whose neat and cleanly appearance, as she sat up in bed, bespoke a declension from better days. Eleanor told her case in few words. About the year 1829 she became quite blind in the right eye, and deaf in the right ear, from an attack of paralysis, in which state she remained till 1835, when Dr Turnbull, by his applications, restored her sight and hearing in a week, and she had retained both ever since. Mrs Bailey corroborated all the poor woman said. At my request she read a few passages with the formerly blind eye from a devotional work lying by her bed-side. This quite satisfied me.

In one of my latest visits to Dr Turnbull's, I saw for the first time a case of conical eye, a form of disease which I understand has hitherto been considered as incurable as amaurosis. In this disorder the eye projects to an obtuse point, with a brilliant speck in front, as if a small piece of crystal were laid upon the cornea. By the action of the vapour, the speck in this case was disappearing, and the sight coming back.

Sometimes I was permitted to see patients moving in the higher spheres of life; but their cases were usually of a more simple and less painful nature than the others. One of the most interesting of this class was that of a gentleman who complained of having ever present in one of his eyes a small speck, which marred the field

of vision.

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He mentioned, however, that there was no actual speck in the organ, that it was a mere spectrum, which, greatly to his surprise, had been impressed on the retina after he had on one occasion been looking intently through a telescope, in which a speck happened to be on one of the lenses. The mention of this remarkable apparition recalled to Dr Turnbull's memory some analogous cases which he recounted. "I remember," said he, on the occasion of the annular eclipse of the sun a few years ago, that several people with weak and over-susceptible eyes, even although sheltered by smoked glass, received impressions which remained for a length of time. One gentleman called on me to say, that he could not, night or day, get the eclipse out of his eye. Wherever he looked, there the bright ring of the sun, with the darkened moon in the centre, was present. I could not, unfortunately, relieve him from his apparitionary tormentor, for I had not then discovered the mode of treatment I now pursue." This curious case of abiding spectrum was paralleled by another which was mentioned, that of a gentleman who, from having one day looked fixedly at a print of the Lord's prayer the size of a sixpence, received the impression of it on the retina, where, to his annoyance, it remained ever present to his sense of vision. After a little conversation on the cause of such singularities, the gentleman who was affected with the small speck was subjected to the ordinary applications; but having left town before any decided melioration was effected, I am unable to say what was the result.

Here my personal observations may be considered as having drawn to a close, leaving the conviction on my mind, that the account given of Dr Turnbull's operations on the eye was substantially correct, and that by means of the vapour of prussic acid, and other stimulants, applied in the manner I have described, sight will in many cases be restored, when, as I have reason to believe, all the ordinary forms of counter-irritation and stimulus fail. I can at least say, that in every instance I judged for myself, and entirely with a reference to the elucidation of truth. I took the histories of the patients from their own mouths, and have no reason to suppose they had any intention to deceive, or were themselves deceived by imaginary feelings. I could not, indeed, for a moment entertain the idea that they were anything but what they plainly appeared; persons for the most part in humble circumstances, eager to be relieved from a great bodily affliction, and thankful for the relief they had already experienced.

Having thus received what I believed to be the most credible testimony respecting the efficacy, and, I may add, the simplicity and safety of Dr Turnbull's applications to the eye, I felt satisfied that, in copying the account from the Literary Gazette, these pages had not been stained by giving currency to anything like imposture; at the same time, from the extraordinary unwillingness of the medical world to believe a single word respecting the powers of prussic acid to meliorate blindness, I deemed it necessary to be cautious in making any fresh statement on the subject. On my arrival in Edinburgh, therefore, after a journey on the continent in the interval, I submitted my experiences to a medical friend, Alexander Miller, Esq., fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, with a request that he would gratify me by giving Dr Turnbull's form of application a fair trial. Having kindly consented to my wish, this gentleman first tried the vapour of prussic acid in a bottle prepared by Dr Turnbull for the purpose, upon one of his patients, a boy, who was affected with opacity of the cornea in one of his eyes. Greatly to his delight, and mine also, and much more so to the parents of the child, the boy, after being blind, was restored to sight after a few applications. The following is Mr Miller's account of the case:

32 BUCCLEUCH PLACE, Edinburgh, 28th Nov. 1843. My Dear Sir-Having, at your desire, undertaken to ascertain the effect of the application of the vapour of

hydrocyanic acid in certain affections of the eye, I beg to furnish you with the results I have observed during the short time I have been engaged with this important investigation. The first case in which I employed the vapour is the only one that I will detail at any length, as it is much further advanced towards recovery than any of the others; in fact, the cure may be said to be all but completed. It was a case of opacity of the cornea. A boy, J. C., æt. 7, of a strumous habit, and of a strumous family, in the summer of 1842 suffered from an attack of small-pox, before recovering from which he was scized with measles. During these attacks both eyes were affected with inflammation, which continued more or less severe for nearly twelve months, notwithstanding the constant employment of remedies, the right eye suffering more than the left: when the inflammation at last yielded, it was found that no disorganisation of the left eye had taken place, but that the right one had suffered to a very considerable extent; the cornea was found opaque to nearly four-fifths of its whole extent, the greatest opacity occupying the centre, and gradually diminishing towards the circumference; the only part not affected was the margin, where it joins the sclerotic. The effect of this opacity of the cornea was to impede vision completely, so that the boy could not, with the affected eye, distinguish one object from another; all that he could do was to discern light from darkness. Such was the state of matters for months previous to the 1st October last, when the hydrocyanic acid vapour was first applied. This I ascertained from personal observation before using the vapour. The hydrocyanic acid was applied according to the method recommended by Dr Turnbull of London, and by means of the apparatus procured by you from him. The immediate effect was an increased secretion of tears, redness of the conjunctiva and cornea; these instantly becoming covered with numerous small vessels, the eyelids also participating in the redness, their colour contrasting strangely with the surrounding paleness of the face. The boy declared he felt no pain, only an agreeable sensation of heat was produced. The application of the vapour has been repeated every second, third, or fourth day, as it was found convenient, so that in all it has been applied about twenty different times. The change upon the cornea has been not only remarkable, but most satisfactory; the opacity perceptibly diminishing after every application, until there now only remains the slightest haziness, which I am confident will also disappear after a few more applications. There has likewise been a corresponding improvement in the vision. From being unable to distinguish the largest objects, he now can discern the smallest.

Besides the above, I have employed the hydrocyanic acid vapour in upwards of twelve other cases of various affections of the eye, but in none for such a long period. They have all come under my care during the last two or three weeks, and have the disadvantage of being of much longer standing than the one detailed, and must necessarily require longer time before the beneficial effects are produced, many of these being cases of from fifteen to twenty years' standing. Still, from the improvement observed in several of these, where the affection is opacity of the cornea, I feel confident in assuring you that I look upon the vapour of the hydrocyanic acid as a most valuable remedy in all such affections. With regard to its effects in other diseases, such as amaurosis, cataract, &c., I cannot, as yet, speak from my own observation and experience. As I have some cases of these affections under treatment, I shall be happy to communicate the results to you as soon as I have given the remedy a fair trial. One important fact which I have been able to establish is, that there is not the slightest danger attending the application of the hydrocyanic acid -providing due caution is observed in doing so-even in cases of the most delicate and feeble constitution; for a more unhealthy subject could not be found than the boy whose case I have described.—I am yours truly, ALEX. MILLER.

After receiving such assurances, any hesitation to publish the result of my inquiries seemed to me unjustifiable and pusillanimous. I now, therefore, submit the foregoing statements, with a confidence in their accuracy; and shall feel gratified if they in any way prove the means of inducing medical men to examine, apart from all private or personal considerations, into the merits of the discoveries and applications in question.

W. C.

"THE GIFT," AN AMERICAN ANNUAL. ANNUALS, as we have more than once observed, have had their day in England. The idea of presenting an elegant packet of literature, as a New Year's gift, was good; but, like most good ideas, was spoiled, partly from the general trashiness of the literature, and partly from being completely overdone. A few of the earliest annuals still exist-have become perennials -while the greater number have languished and expired. We believe not more than one, out of many "guinea annuals," now keeps the field, notwithstanding the great efforts to maintain the more expensive class in existence by dint of satin, gilding, and every other attraction-literary merit alone excepted. Nearly vanished from among us, this imposing order of books has apparently settled, at least for a time, in the United States of America, where several are issued at the approach of every winter. The Americans, how ever, find it equally difficult to inspire their annuals with anything like vigour. The gilding, the binding, and the pictorial embellishments are unexceptionable, indeed highly tasteful; but the literature, for the most part, is as poor and lackadaisical as that of their British prototypes.

The best conducted, as it appears to us, of the American annuals, is "The Gift," a handsome octavo, in cream-coloured and finely gilt leather, published by Carey and Hart of Philadelphia. In this production for 1844, among not a little that is wire-drawn and weak, there are a few prose sketches more than usually smart for an annual, because they are evidently derived from observations of real character and circumstances, instead of imagination or romance. Among these pieces may be instanced one from the pen of the clever authoress of "A New Home," and some other tales illustrative of the raw and odd state of society in the Far West. As perhaps not six of our sixty thousand readers are likely ever to see the volume in question, we offer this piece in a slightly curtailed form, and which may be entitled

WANTED, A SERVANT!

"Can't you let our folks have some eggs?" said Daniel Webster Larkins, opening the door, and putting in a little straw-coloured head and a pair of very mild blue eyes just far enough to reconnoitre; "can't you let our folks have some eggs? Our old hen don't lay nothing but chickens now, and mother can't eat pork, and she a'n't had no breakfast, and the baby a'n't drest, nor

nothin'!"

"What is the matter, Webster? Where's your girl?" "Oh! we ha'n't no girl but father; and he's had to go 'way to-day to a raisin', and mother wants to know if you can't tell her where to get a girl?"

Poor Mrs Larkins! Her husband makes but an indifferent " girl," being a remarkably public-spirited person. The good lady is in very delicate health, and having an incredible number of little blue eyes constantly making fresh demands upon her time and strength, she usually keeps a girl when she can get

one.

When she cannot, which is unfortunately the larger part of the time, her husband dresses the children, mixes stir-cakes for the eldest blue eyes to bake on a griddle, which is never at rest, milks the cow, feeds the pigs, and then goes to his "business," which we have supposed to consist principally in helping at raisings, wood-bees, huskings, and such-like important

affairs; and "girl" hunting, the most important, and arduous, and profitless of all.

Yet it must be owned that Mr Larkins is a tolerable carpenter, and that he buys as many comforts for his family as most of his neighbours. The main difficulty seems to be, that "help" is not often purchasable. The very small proportion of our damsels who will consent to enter anybody's doors for pay, makes the chase after them quite interesting from its uncertainty; and the damsels themselves, subject to a well-known foible of their sex, become very coy from being over-courted. Such racing and chasing, and begging and praying, to get a girl for a month! They are often got for life with half the trouble. But to return.

Having an esteem for Mrs Larkins, and a sincere pity for the forlorn condition of "no girl but father," I set out at once to try if female tact and perseverance might not prove effectual in ferreting out a "help," though mere industry had not succeeded. For this purpose I made a list in my mind of those neighbours, in the first place, whose daughters sometimes condescended to be girls; and, secondly, of the few who were enabled by good luck, good management, and good pay, to keep them. If I failed in my attempts upon one class, I hoped for some new lights from the other. When the object is of such importance, it is well to string one's bow double.

In the first category stood Mrs Lowndes, whose forlorn log-house had never known door nor window; a blanket supplying the place of the one, and the other being represented by a crevice between the logs. Lifting the sooty curtain with some timidity, I found the dame with a sort of reel before her, trying to wind some dirty tangled yarn, and ever and anon kicking at a basket which hung suspended from the beam overhead by means of a strip of hickory bark. This basket contained a nest of rags, and an indescribable baby; and in the ashes on the rough hearth played several dingy objects, which, I suppose, had once been babies. "Is your daughter at home now, Mrs Lowndes?" Well, yes; M'randy's to hum, but she's out now. Did you want her?"

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"I came to see if she could go to Mrs Larkins, who is very unwell, and sadly in want of help."

"Miss Larkins! why, do tell? I want to know. Is she sick again?-and is her gal gone? Why, I want to know. I thought she had Lo-i-sy Paddon." Is Lo-i-sy gone?"

"I suppose so. You will let Miranda go to Mrs Larkins, will you?"

"Well, I donnow but I would let her go for a spell, just to 'commodate 'em. M'randy may go if she's a mind ter. She needn't live out unless she chooses. She's got a comfortable home, and no thanks to nobody. What wages do they give?" A dollar a week." "Eat at the table?" "Oh, certainly." Have Sundays?" Why, no; I believe not the whole of Sunday; the children, you know

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"Oh ho!" interrupted Mrs Lowndes with a most disdainful toss of the head, giving at the same time a vigorous impulse to the cradle; "if that's how it is, M'randy don't stir a step. She don't live nowhere if she can't come home Saturday night and stay till Monday morning."

I took my leave without farther parley, having often found this point the sine qua non in such negotiations. My next effort was at a pretty-looking cottage, whose overhanging roof and neat outer arrangements spoke of English ownership. The interior by no means corresponded with the exterior aspect, being even more bare than usual, and far from neat. The presiding power was a prodigious creature, who looked like a man in woman's clothes, and whose blazing face, ornamented here and there by great hair moles, spoke very intelligibly of the beer-barrel, if of nothing more exciting. A daughter of this virago had once lived in my family, and the mother met me with an air of defiance, as if she thought I had come with an accusation. When I un

folded my errand, her abord softened a little, but she scornfully rejected the idea of her Lucy's living with any more Yankees.

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You pretend to think everybody alike," said she; "but when it comes to the pint, you're a sight more uppish and saasy than the ra'al quality at home; and I'll see the whole Yankee race to

I made my exit without waiting for the conclusion of this complimentary observation; and the less reluctant, for having observed on the table the lower part of one of my own silver teaspoons, the top of which had been violently wrenched off. This spoon was a well-remembered loss during Lucy's administration, and I knew that Mrs Larkins had none to spare.

Unsuccessful thus far among the arbiters of our destiny, I thought I would stop at the house of a friend, and make some inquiries which might spare me farther rebuffs. On making my way by the little garden gate to the little library where I usually saw Mrs Stayner, I was surprised to find it silent and uninhabited. The windows were closed; a half-finished cap lay on the sofa, and a bunch of yesterday's wild-flowers upon the table. All spoke of desolation. The cradle-not exactly an appropriate adjunct of a library scene elsewhere, but quite so at the West-was gone, and the little rockingchair was nowhere to be seen. I went on through parlour and hall, finding no sign of life, save the breakfast table still standing with crumbs undisturbed. Where bells are not known, ceremony is out of the question; so I penetrated even to the kitchen, where at length I caught sight of the fair face of my friend. She was bending over the bread-tray, and at the same time telling nursery-stories as fast as possible, by way of coaxing her little boy of four years old to rock the cradle which contained his baby sister.

"What does this mean?" "Oh, nothing more than usual. My Polly took herself off yesterday without a moment's warning, saying she thought she had lived out about long enough; and poor Tom, our factotum, has the ague. Mr Stayner has gone to some place sixteen miles off, where he was told he might hear of a girl; and I am sole representative of the family energies. But you've no idea what capital bread I can make."

This looked rather discouraging for my quest; but knowing that the main point of table-companionship was the source of most of Mrs Stayner's difficulties, I still hoped for Mrs Larkins, who loved the closest intimacy with her "help," and always took them visiting with her. So I passed on for another effort at Mrs Randall's, whose three daughters had sometimes been known to lay aside their dignity long enough to obtain some much coveted article of dress. But here, also, I was unsuccessful, and went my way, crest-fallen and

weary.

Thus baffled, it was for rest more than for inquiry that I turned my steps towards Mrs Clifford's modest dwelling; a house containing just rooms enough for decent comfort, yet inhabited by gentle breeding and feelings which meet but little sympathy in these rough walks. Mrs Clifford was a widow, bowed down by misfortune, and gradually sinking into a sort of desperate apathy, if we may be allowed such a term; a condition to which successive disappointments, and the gradual fading away of long-cherished hopes, will sometimes reduce proud yet honourable minds. [This poor lady had come from England with a son, Augustus, and two daughters, Rose and Anna; misfortunes had reduced the family; and now Augustus was gone to New York in quest of employment. When I entered the parlour (continues the authoress), two sheriff's officers were in the act of putting an execution on the property; and when they had departed, I invited Anna to visit me in the evening. She came, and referred to my inquiries as to a girl for Mrs Larkins.]

"It was a lucky thought that struck me when you said Mrs Larkins wanted a servant. It flashed upon me that in that way I might earn a pittance, however

small, on which mamma and Rose can subsist until we hear from Augustus. You see what these horrid debts come to, and we are absolutely without present resources. Ah, I see what you are going to say; but do not even speak of it. Mamma would rather die, I believe! Only get me in at Mrs Larkins's, and you shall see what a famous maid I'll make! I have learned so much since we came here! And I have arranged it all with Rose, that mamma shall never discover it. Mamma is a little deaf, you know, and does not hear casual observations, and Rose will take care that nobody tells her. Poor Rose cried a good deal at first; but she saw it was the best thing I could do for mamma, so she consented. She can easily do all that is needed at home, while my strong arms"-and here she extended a pair that Cleopatra might have envied, so round, so graceful, so perfect-"my strong arms can earn all the little comforts that are everything to poor mamma! Won't it be delightful? Oh, I shall be so happy! There is only one sad side. My mother will think-till Augustus returns that I have selfishly flown from her trials;" and at the thought she burst into tears, for the remembrance of her mother's displeasure weighed sorely upon her. The thing was settled, and all I could do was to procure the introduction.

Mrs Larkins was at first a little afraid of "such a lady" for a help, but after a close and searching examination, she consented to engage Miss Clifford for a week.

I left Anna in excellent spirits, and during several evening visits which she contrived to make me in the course of this her first week of servitude, she declared herself well satisfied with her situation, and only afraid Mrs Larkins would not care to retain one who was so awkward about many things required in her household. But she must have underrated her own skill; for on the Saturday evening Mr Larkins put into her hands a silver dollar, with a very humble request for a permanent engagement.

The spending of that dollar, Anna Clifford declared to me, was the greatest pleasure she could remember.

Strong in virtuous resolutions, Anna continued her toil, and the Larkinses esteemed themselves the most fortunate of girl-hunters. Anna's active habits, strong sense, and high principle, made all go well; and the influence which she soon established over the household was such as superior intellect would naturally command, where there was no idea of difference of station. Mrs Larkins would have thought the roughest of her neighbours' daughters entitled to a full equality with herself; and she treated Miss Clifford with all the additional respect which her real superiority demanded. It has been well said, that the highest intellectual qualifications may find employment in the arrangements of a household; and our friends the Larkinses, young and old, if they had ever heard of the doctrine, would, I doubt not, have subscribed to it heartily, for they will never forget Miss Clifford's reign.

Among the gentlemen who had been disposed to play the agreeable to Miss Clifford, was a certain Captain Maguire, an Irish officer, who had met her in Montreal. From Anna herself one would never have learned that her beauty had found a solitary adorer; but the tender and unselfish Rose could not help boasting a little, in her quiet way, of the triumphs of her sister's charms. She had thought well of the captain's pretensions, and rather wondered that his handsome person and gallant bearing had not made some impression upon Anna, who was the object of his devoted attention.

"But Anna thought him a coxcomb," she said, "and never threw him the least crumb of encouragement; so, poor fellow, he gave over in despair."

Now, as it would happen, just at the wrong time this unencouraged and despairing gentleman chanced to be one of a party who made a flying pilgrimage to the prairies; and being thus far favoured by chance, he took his further fate into his own hands, so far as sufficed to bring him to the humble village which he had

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