The following little sketch shows some of the difficulties encountered by a scheming parvenue, in her ridiculous attempts at 'living like other people:'
"'There is one way in which I can save ten or fifteen dollars at least. It is now nearly two weeks from the evening we have fixed on, and if we can continue to do without buying any meat or poultry, which are now so very high-priced, and live on light dinners until that time, we can take the money your father allows for marketing, and add it to the sum he has given us. He has a great deal of business to attend to for several weeks, and told me that he would not be able to dine at home; and as there will be no one here but ourselves and the servants, we can live upon any thing.'
"The following week, Mrs. Harcourt, her two daughters, and the servants were busy in the work of preparation. Cakes were to be made, candle papers had to be cut and spermed; the rooms must be decorated, and a thousand other little matters were obliged to be performed. One servant was sent to borrow plate, another cut-glass and china. The regular routine of household employments was broken in upon, every thing turned up side down, and many vexatious trials endured, merely for the sake of making a show for a few hours, and in the vain attempt 'to reconcile parade with economy, and to glitter at a cheap rate.' It is a folly for the wealthy to waste their hundreds and thousands in entertaining guests who either satirise them from envy of their prosperity, or ridicule them for some outward imitation of style; but for those who are obliged to practise self-denial and parsimony in order to make such displays, it is worse than folly—it is madness.
"Mrs. Harcourt, during the course of their preparations, having reproved one of her servants for her carelessness in breaking a glass dish, she insolently replied, 'You may take the pay for it, madam, out of my wages, and then give me the remainder; for my month is up this evening, and I cannot think of staying where I have to do double work on half-feeding. At other 'quality' ladies' houses I was accustomed to get meat three times a day, and I cannot live on slops;' and then slamming the door violently after her, she did not give Mrs. Harcourt an opportunity to make any reply.
"'What an insolent creature,' exclaimed Anna; 'I would not permit her to stay in the house another instant.'
"Mrs. Harcourt, who had been more accustomed to the impertinence of hirelings, had more self-command than Anna. She regretted that it had happened just at this time, when they had so much to do. She thought it was shameful for her to take advantage of this opportunity, when she knew that her services were most needed. 'But,' she added, 'her insolent language should not be borne; I will pay her, and discharge her, although it does put me to great inconvenience.'
"'You can send for Sally White to assist us,' said Anna; 'she is always very willing to help when we expect company.'
"'Yes, I know she is willing enough, but she generally carries away with her treble what her services are worth; but we must have some one in Betsey's place, so we will send Nathan for Sally White, as we can do no better now.'
"Among all the mortifications and irritations which those who are striving to keep up appearances without means are forced to submit to, there are none more galling than the impertinence of servants, and the consciousness that they see the reality, and will make the struggle between our pride and our poverty a favorite subject of gossip with the servants of other families, who, of course, will find opportunities to make it known to their mistresses."
Bristol Academy, Taunton, (Mass.)—We take pleasure in calling public attention to this establishment, the preceptorship of which has but recently been assumed by J. N. Bellows, Esq., a ripe scholar, a gentleman of pure taste, possessing the requisite feelings, and all proper endowments, for such an undertaking. The institution is one of the oldest in the state, and is endowed with liberal funds. The town is a charming rus in urbe, being but an hour or two from Boston and Providence, by the rail-road. The Academy has a female department, under the charge of an able instructress, in which the accomplishments of music, drawing, and all the 'elegant humanities' of similar establishments, are taught. We can confidently commend this institution to the numerous families under whose eyes this paragraph will fall, as one in which boys and girls will receive, in addition to a good education, those pleasant attentions which can only spring from such as delight to renew that 'childhood of the soul' which prompts a love of the young, and a community of feeling with the joys and sorrows of that tender yet fertile period—fertile in good or ill—of human existence.
[LITERARY RECORD.]
The Albion.—We know of no weekly periodical in America, which combines so many literary attractions as this. The editor, by an arrangement abroad, obtains, at an advance period, the choicest magazines, and periodicals of all descriptions, published in British Europe. From these he selects, with practised judgment, the best articles, and such as are calculated to suit the tastes of all his readers; giving, occasionally, a superb engraving. The whole is presented in the imperial quarto form, upon beautiful types, and paper of the finest texture and color. The best productions of Captain Marryat, 'Boz,' and others—indeed of all the most popular periodical writers in Europe—appear in the Albion, before they can be issued elsewhere in America; and the work is forwarded with great promptitude, by the earliest mails, to every part of the United States and of British America. Its success, during a long career, has been most ample; and this has been obtained, not by reverberated puffs of extraordinary attraction, but by MERIT alone. To such a journal we gladly render an unsolicited meed of praise, and commend it to public favor. A new volume has been but recently commenced.
Practical Religion.—We commend to the attention of our readers, a handsome volume, of some three hundred pages, recently issued from the press of Mr. John S. Taylor, entitled 'Practical Religion, Recommended and Enforced, in a Series of Letters from Epsilon to his Friend.' There are thirty-three of these letters, and they embrace, among others, the subjoined themes: To the careless, awakened, and backsliding sinner; formation of devotional habits; the passive virtues of Christianity; proper manner of studying the doctrines of the gospel; duty of religious profession; doing good, and the right use of property; personal efforts for sinners; choice of a profession; practical dependence on divine aid; love of popularity, Christian politeness, and political duty; the choice of a wife; to a Christian on his marriage, in affliction, and on recovery from sickness; on his removal to new settlements, his duty to his minister, in revivals of religion, and in trusting to God for temporal provision, etc. The letter on the choice of a partner in conjugal life, and those on a cognate topic, are full of excellent advice. The style is fluent, and occasionally rises to eloquence.