the utmost east, and north, and south, and | his room, and just at its close he went home to wrought upon them there. And however others his rest. may have influenced the speculative, religious thought of America, no one has wrought so deeply and broadly into its living religious thought and feeling. The fruits of his plans and labors were marvelous in his own day; and they have wonderfully flourished down to the present time. To-day his followers, in the close affinities of ecclesiastic polity and Christian faith, number, in their ministry with the local, 28,000, in their communicants about 2,000,000, with all their vast educational, moral, and Christian appliances, and an affiliated population of about 8,000,000. But now in his seventy-first year, in the spring of 1816, he is still upon his great tour. He has come up through the Carolinas into Virginia. He is in Richmond, worn, weak, sick. Most men would have been sick abed while he has been traveling and preaching. It is Sunday morning. He must preach. Entreaties and remonstrances ever are resisted; he must once more deliver his message in Richmond. Then strong and kindly arms bear him gently into the church. And there, seated in the midst of the thronged people, he opens his message: "For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness." For nearly an hour, his words, still plain and wise, direct and pungent, fall upon the listening, weeping people. It is his last sermon. In a few days the wheels of life that have run so swiftly stop forever. From Richmond he moves on till he reaches the friendly home of George Arnold, near Fredericksburg. There he lingered a few days amidst loving friends. On the Sabbath a Christian service was held in Thus he ended his forty-five years of American labor. When he came to these shores the materials gathered to his hand were 8 or 10 preachers and 600 members. With these he began to lay the foundations and rear the Church. He lived to see it a noble structure. He left 211,000 members, and about 3000 preachers, itinerant and local. His sermons in America are reckoned at 16,500, or at least one a day; his travels at 270,000 miles, or 6000 miles a year. He presided in about 225 conferences, and ordained more than 4000 preachers. conferences must have required the time of four years. In Christian labors none have equaled; in the wisdom of his administration and the success of his plans, few, if any, have surpassed him. These In the May soon following his death, and during the session of the General Conference, his remains were carried to Baltimore. There all his leading preachers, and a multitude of members and citizens, followed him to his grave and buried him as their father. And here we pronounce over his grave his own words uttered over that of Willis, and in which he so vividly pictures his own life of toil in contrast with the peaceful repose of his friend: "Rest, man of God! Thy quiet dust is not called to ride 5000 miles in eight months, to meet 10 conferences in a line of sessions from the district of Maine to the banks of the Cayuga, to the States of Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi, to Cape Fear, James River, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the completion of the round. Thou wilt not plan and labor and arrange the stations of 700 preachers. Thou wilt not attend camp-meetings and take a daily part in the which ought to be devoted to sleep in writing letters upon ministration of the Word, and often consume the hours letters." THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES. He who reads that ancient fable, To life's common lot, Reads it as an unknown language, Over every human being Hangs a sword in air, From mysterious heights suspended Though perceived not, though unheeded, Keener than the sword Assyrian Than Excalibur more subtle In its cunning might. Like the Damoclesian weapon On the palace wall, Hangs Fate's falchion, sternly threatening Evermore to fall, On the lofty, on the lowly, On the great and small. On thy head, oh child of folly, On thy hopes, ambitious dreamer, On thy gray hairs, weeping mother, On thee, priest before the altar, Ere thy prayer is said. On thee, maiden, with eyes shaded, On thee, young man, ripe and earnest, On thee, weary one, who crieth, Fall it may with swift-winged vengeance Fall it may with blest redemption Bringing sweet release; Fall it may with angel's summons THE FOOL CATCHER. ey; an iron constitution wearing thin for want of rest, from the hurry of money-making. Fall HE Fool Catcher and I were walking down into line, Mr. Grinder!" The Fool I were of names under his arm, and I, wishing that I had been born, lived, and died, in those quiet days before he commenced his grand rounds. Mrs. Smythe herself came to the first door at which we rang; the briskest little woman in the neighborhood. With a bow the Fool Catcher handed her his card. "Oh!" said Mrs. Smythe, looking first at the card and then curiously at my companion, "So you really do make your rounds! But you are at the wrong house; Mrs. Clematis lives the next, the next-why-good Mr. Fool Catcher," stammering and startled by something in the look of his eye-"you don't, you can't, you surely don't mean that you came for me?" And so here were we-Mrs. Smythe, Grinder, and I-marching on after the Fool Catcher. Across the street stood an Irish girl at her area gate, and, as she stared at us, dropped from her hand a letter which the Fool Catcher caught, and glancing over it, smiled grimly. It read as follows: When I'm sick of 20th Street I tries 17th unless I takes a "Its movin agin Ive been Maggy & livin out now is like the young ladies at the piano you touches one key here & another there & don't stay long on none of them notion to 34th when I flies in a temper with 17th Street & so on And so Im livin now with a woman in 23d Street I has the waitress place & theres two ladies beside meself, for cook & chambermaid & a colored boy to do errands & tend ironing that the woman Mistress Blivins that is tried first door & a day woman in every week to do the washing & to put off on the lady thats cook & meself & we are very re"Dear Mrs. Smythe," answered the Fool spectable though we has no reception day & no man waitCatcher, blandly, "there are many species of er But thin I minds them things the less that I have me Fool; and, candidly, I have not on my books eye on a place in the avenue & in this way we has variety & a chance to study the american faymale characther & a more monstrous instance of extravagant folly I does the thing rigular bekase I wants to improve my than your life. Why, my dear Madam, it is mind & acquire general information & oh Mollie its a well known that you have paid over all your quare thing is the american faymale characther for the ladies you see are all as good as each other & so none of em husband's peace and your children's comfort to wont lift a finger bekase her neighbor dont & the poor keep the sun from your carpets, dust from your american women thats sewin out their hearts they are all cornices, and scratches from your furniture; to as good as any body too & theyll starve sooner nor live say nothing of the fact that being given a good out bekase they wont take the ladies airs & the ladies II husband and sweet children to develop into a suffer sooner nor have em bekase they cant stand the womens airs & so we steps in even if we dont know b from family, you have nothing to show, at the end of fifteen years, but an unfaded carpet and a set of china, without a flaw, that you had on your marriage. Sorry to distress you, but really you must fall into line, ma'am." So Mrs. Smythe took up her march behind me, and we went on to the door of Mrs. Clematis, a dear little soul; but standing to Mrs. Smythe for smartness in the ratio of a tack to a marline-spike. "Good-morning, Mrs. Clematis," said the Fool Catcher, politely raising his hat to that little woman, quaking in her door. "Sensible, sunshiny woman!" to us. "She has discovered that families are not made for houses, but houses for families. I have a great respect for her. Her husband is one of the happiest men in town," and if you can credit me, the Fool Catcher passed on; actually passed Mrs. Clematis's door and stopped at Grinder's. I was not anxious to attract the Fool Catcher's attention more particularly to myself, but I could not help ejaculating: "Why, this is Grinder's house!" as if I had said Minerva's. bulls foot & rules the ladies that is as good as each other & better nor the poor american women jist bekase theres nobody else to be had & they knows if they sends us off to day theyll git no better or worse to morrow & if youre thinkin that this is some of my blowin why didnt I hear Mistress Blivins with me own ears complainin that she couldnt eat the dinners & that I broke more nor my wages in china by the same token that she darent send us packing." "Oh, Holy Vargin!" here burst in the Irish girl, "to think that I shud iver be cotched fur a fool! Worra! worra! and what will-" "You are quite mistaken," cut in the Fool Catcher, handing back her letter. "You are any thing but a fool, my dear; but you can call your mistress if you please.” And so Mrs. Blivins fell into line, and we marched on-Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I-when we came suddenly on Mollie, in very high boots, and very short skirt, scalloped, ruffled, be-braided, be-buttoned, and betasseled; a monstrous knob of back-hair, covered with a net, bristling with small curls, of which I haven't the name, but which unassisted Nature would be apt to term coiffure à la Fido; in front a species of hair-work, a hirsute fortification, elevated high above her forehead, and likewise defended by curls, and somewhere between the front and back-hair a small flat pancake of straw and ribbon, half hidden on the top of her head. As this dainty apparition approached us, shoulders held high and square, elbows stiffly out, and head very high, as if de "Yes," retorted the Fool Catcher, curtly; "one of the greatest fools on my list. Men desire money to buy case and the good things of this life; but Grinder sacrifices all ease and all good things to get more money. He has a charming wife, whom he might love if he had time; but he hardly exchanges ten words with her a week, he has no time to spare from money-termined not to be held responsible for the wonmaking; children running wild, because he can spare them no time from money-making. Fine tastes never gratified; he must make more mon derful exhibition under her huge, stiff, swaying hoop, we halted involuntarily to add her to our ranks; but the Fool Catcher suffered her to pass on, which she did without once glancing toward us, following her with something like pity in his inflexible face. "We make distinctions," he explained to us. "Some are born fools, some achieve folly, and some have folly thrust upon them. You have all of you achieved folly; but she has folly thrust upon her. I have considered her case, and I really can not find that she has any thing else offered her. She is a girl of enterprise, and if any thing better was given her to do, would be likely to do it; but the father and mother, who have not educated their daughter beyond the standard of a fashion-plate, deserve a place in my ranks. Step in, Madam; walk up, Sir!" And so we marched on-Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I. On the next corner stood Judge Cathcart's house, and on the steps the old gentleman himself was watching us. "Step down, Judge," said the Fool Catcher. "You belong to me, since your wisdom consists in not advancing, when you have legs, and the rest of the world is getting ahead of you." "Don't believe in your modern improvements and new-fangled notions!" growled the old gentleman. "There were no Fool Catchers in my time." "Or you would have been snapped up long ago," retorted the Fool Catcher; " and you too, Miss Stryffer," seeing that lady peeping out from her blinds. "You have made some good points concerning the duties and rights of your own sex; but when, to gain these points with men, you threw aside the gentleness that belongs to women, I was obliged to set you down in my book. Step down, Madam! I ask you reluctantly, I assure you; but then you should have remembered that men are used to hard names, ridicule, and denunciation from other men, and know how to meet it; while by nature they are incapable of making good defense against the tough blade of a truth, or a good argument, with a hilt of feminine sweetness." And so we marched on-Judge Cathcart, Miss Stryffer, Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I-to Mrs. Patchouli's door. I stared; Miss Stryffer stared. "Why, what has she done?" asked Grinder. "A very estimable woman," quavered Mollie's mother. "Yes, but jealous of her husband's very eyelashes," said the Fool Catcher, with an air of disgust. "If he looks down, she knows he is guilty; if he glances aside, it is at the lady in the window; if he chats with a neighbor, ah! there is an intrigue. Whereas, if Mrs. Patchouli would only spend the time and energy that she devotes to discovering and denouncing her husband's infidelities in making herself agreeaLle, she would have in herself the best possible warrant against a cause for jealousy. Fall in, Mrs. Patchouli!" At the same time ringing vigorously the bell next door. I had done with astonishment, or here would have been cause for wonder, for this was John Pilar's house, who looked at the Fool Catcher and at us with ineffable surprise. "Gentlemen, here is some mistake," remarked John Pilar, with dignity. The Fool Catcher ran over the list in his book. "John Pilar, No. 7684 Fifth Avenue; owns also house in Fisher's Alley.' This must be you, Sir. You live in this palace; you own that pig sty. You live in the palace because it is comfortable, and you own the pig-sty because it pays well. No need of repairs there-no matter who complains, or who moves out, or what horrible hole it becomes! There are always more who must have homes. So here are you, called a sensible man, yet forgetting that there is an air-line on which your tenement-house sends your palace its daily quota of disease and death; and wondering, when your daughter dies of malignant fever, whence it came, as she was never exposed. And here are you, supposing yourself a Christian man, and yet doing unto your brother-because he is your poor tenant and helpless-all that you would dislike to have him do to you in his place. Come down, John Pilar. Here is no mistake!" And so we marched on-John Pilar, Mrs. Patchouli, Miss Stryffer, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I-till we came to Mrs. Pelion's door, where the Fool Catcher had difficulty in making himself heard, so great was the clamor within of Mrs. Pelion's children. "I think no woman was ever so troubled as I!" cried Mrs. Pelion, coming out from among them with an exhausted air of having been torn in pieces, and of bringing only a very small portion of herself to meet us. "Herbert is so spirited, and the baby is so precocious!" "Make them obey; other mothers do," suggested the Fool Catcher. "Oh! but my children are unlike others," answered Mrs. Pelion, looking fondly on her offspring, who were disobeying her in all directions. "They laugh at punishment," adminis tering as she spoke a series of pats, of about one-kitten power (a nine-days' old kitten), about the shoulders of the offending Herbert; and then turning on us pathetically, "You see; they are so determined. Herbert! put that book down! Was there ever such a child? Herbert!" But Herbert, hearing that he was invincible, went, of course, calmly on his way with the forbidden volume, and shrugging his shoulders, the Fool Catcher requested Mrs. Pelion to fall into line; and so we marched onMrs. Pelion, John Pilar, Mrs. Patchouli, Miss Stryffer, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I-till we found old Catchew, furiously berating his son, young Tom. "Softly, softly, my good Sir! What is the trouble here?" inquired the Fool Catcher. "The trouble!" roared Catchew, who was in a purple rage; "why here is this thankless spendthrift puppy complaining of his allowance; and that he can't keep even pace with the follies of other young fellows of fashion like himself. Whining to me for spending money! Why, when I was his age I was at the head of a firm; I was, by George, Sir; and if—” "One moment, Mr. Catchew," interrupted the Fool Catcher, quietly. "Has young Tom any business or profession ?" "Certainly not," returned the old gentleman, briskly. "I intend my son to be a gentleman, a college-bred gentleman. If I have no education no one can say but he has, and been brought up in luxury too! Never had to lift his finger for himself; and to think now that he should fly out-" "As you say," cut in the Fool Catcher. "To fly out at him now would be a sort of treachery on your part when you have so carefully trained him to luxury, helplessness, and dependence on you. For what I can see you must die or support him, Mr. Catchew." "Have you seen your new neighbors?" asked the guest uneasily, turning the conversation. 'Ah, there it is!" cried Mrs. Kral. "I have been trying to induce Mr. Kral-" "My dear, permit me-our neighbors are not yet-" “Mr. Kral is always behindhand,” continued the wife. "Or has not so much curiosity, perhaps, as-" "You have curiosity enough in some cases," cries Mrs. Kral, with great spirit. "You beset me to call on the Simpsons, but then Mrs. Simpson has young and pretty daughters." "If you mean by that-" "Oh! I mean nothing at all. I am quite in the wrong, of course. I always have been since my marriage, though before it I was supposed-" Here the Fool Catcher stepped in, to the relief of the lady who sat aghast before the furious couple, with "Fall into line, my good friends!" "When I was his age I supported myself," and so we marched on-Mr. Kral, Mrs. Kral, commenced old Catchew, but the Fool Catcher old Catchew, Mrs. Pelion, John Pilar, Miss stopped him short, and so we marched on-old Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, Judge Cathcart, MolCatchew, Mrs. Pelion, John Pilar, Mrs. Patch-lie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivouli, Miss Stryffer, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's fa- ins, Grinder, and I; and seeing Jack's father ther and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, helping his little son at work on a mud fort, we Grinder, and I; when who should we meet but opened our ranks; but the Fool Catcher only Mrs. Phyffe! lifted his hat respectfully, and passed on to the "How are the children, Mrs. Phyffe ?" asked study where John's father sat grimly reading the Fool Catcher, softly. The lady stared. "I haven't the least-I mean-really-how can I tell? They are with their nurses." "And your husband, Mrs. Phyffe? I hope he is quite well." "Dear me!" cried Mrs. Phyffe, fretfully; "why, I hardly see him except at church. How can a woman know any thing about husband and children that has three parties a night and such a visiting list as mine on her hands? to say nothing of one's bonnets and back hair." The Fool Catcher sighed. "And where are you going, Mrs. Phyffe?" "To order a pair of wings," cried the lady, with animation. "I am to appear as an archangel, like the French countess, of whom I read, at somebody's ball in Paris." "Fall into line, Madam!" said the Fool Catcher; but lo! Mrs. Phyffe slipped out of his hands, and floated away like so much thistledown. the news. "And where is John?" asked the Fool Catcher. John's father looked at his watch. "At his Greek; every thing goes by system here. Up at five, Sir; shower-bath, ten minutes for dressing, hour's reading, walk, breakfast. Greek, arithmetic, Latin, drawing, dinner. Geometry, history, walk, composition, elocution, supper; an hour's play, reading aloud, prayers, and bed at half past nine precisely. That's my system, Sir," said the father; "no useless talking allowed; no straying off with other boys; bed hard; food plain; reading all solid; every thing hard, solid, thorough; that's my plan, Sir; and it works-works like clockwork!" "But then the poor little pendulum will wear out one day," said the Fool Catcher. "Step into line, Sir!" and so we marched on-John's father, Mr. Kral, Mrs. Kral, old Catchew, Mrs. Pelion, John Pilar, Miss Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mo"Too light to be caught," murmured the ther, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and Fool Catcher, looking regretfully after her; "de-I-when we met young Bourse, who buttonholed cidedly we must have butterfly traps! Ah! good-morning, Mr. Kral;" but Mr. Kral, who with his wife was entertaining a guest, did not hear. "Lovely weather for walking," observed the lady. "Yes," returned Mr. Kral, "but you could never persuade my wife of that. She never finds any weather for walking." "Any time since my marriage, you mean, dear!" answered Mrs. Kral, quickly, and growing furiously red. the Fool Catcher, to talk to him about the Jack Beanstalk's stock. "Can't be a mistake!" said he, energetically. "I have some twigs from the stalk, here, in my pocket. A bean that I planted in my own garden sprung up in the first hour, and grew ten feet in a day. If you will step down to my office I will show you one of the golden eggs laid by the hen of the giant that lives at the top in the glass-house; and some of our men have been far enough up to hear the twanging of the giant's harp; while only yesterday we found among the leaves a touching letter dropped crowd, promiscuous, ill-dressed, second-rate, by the giant's wife begging us to effect her re-staring." lease. I tell you it is a sure thing; stock going like " "Fall in line!" said the Fool Catcher, coolly, pouncing at the same instant on one man trying to convince another by argument, and a woman who was snubbing another woman. on "Fall in line, Madam!" cried the Fool Catcher, hastily, as if conscious and afraid of a strong desire to box the lady's ears; and so we marched -Mrs. Prew, old Ossa, the man, the woman, young Bourse, old Catchew, John's father, Mrs. Pelion, Mr. Kral, Mrs. Kral, John Pilar, Miss "Fall in line! Fall in line!" cried the Fool Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's Catcher, very red: "you, Sir, ought to know father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, better; and you, Madam, why do you complain Grinder, and I-till we came to a lecture-room, of men while you use your own sex so ill ?" and where Mr. Anonymous was addressing Mrs. so we marched on-the man, the woman, young Stowe, Mrs. Browning, Rosa Bonheur, Gail HamBourse, old Catchew, John's father, Mrs. Pe-ilton, Harriet Hosmer, and Mrs. Lewes, as follion, Mr. Kral, Mrs. Kral, John Pilar, Miss lows: Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I-till we reached the counting-house of old Ossa, who was just looking over his insurance policies. "How about your daughter?" asked the Fool Catcher. "Is she insured ?" "Don't know what you mean," said old Ossa, staring. "Does she know any thing ?" asked the Fool Catcher. "Not much," returned Ossa, grinning. "What is the need? I hate clever women." "How if you fail, then ?" "But I sha'n't fail. Besides, she'll marry some rich fellow or other-young Bourse, or young Tom Catchew." "How if she marries some poor fellow ?" -should fail ?" "But he won't fail." "How if he dies and leaves his property in volved?" "What the deuce are you driving at ?" cries old Ossa, perplexed. "Why not instruct your daughter in something beyond beaus and back-hair ?" pursued the Fool Catcher. "MY DEAR LADIES,-Homer represents the queens of antiquity as spinning wool, while the kings held counsel. Penelope spun. Lucretia spun. Milton sent Eve into the kitchen, while the angel was talking; and really, ladies, when women paint pictures as well as men, or write better essays than I can myself, or imagine a Zenobia, or give to the world a high-souled woman like Romola, or make two nations weep with a mother's wail for her sons, or help the great step of the century upward by an Uncle Tom, I must remind you gently, but firmly, that you are out of your spheres, and for what? Your painting, writing, sculpture is not equal to the best efforts of men, in similar departments, because it is not; and if you advance the plea that you do such things to earn bread and butter, or support your children, I answer that there are other and more womanly ways of earning a subsistence, in which you can starve with decency and propriety; and in which you must remain if you hope for our admiration. Say to yourselves, ladies, not that I love dinner less but admiration more; and perish rather than get out of your sphere. If you are disturbed by what are called the promptings of genius remember that Penelope spun; a voice from the auditorium reminds me that she fibbed also. I shall only remark that I consider the interruption unladylike. I repeat; Penelope spun. Go to the sewing-machine, Rosa Bonheur; busy yourselves with puddings and hem towels, Mrs. Stowe. Make yourself a set of night-caps, Gail Hamilton. La "But nobody does; and I hate clever wo-dies all, keep your respective talents with which, the men; besides, she will marry some rich fellow, Lord only knows why, you were endowed safe someI tell you." where out of sight. Acknowledge your intellectual with a hod over his shoulder say to yourself this is inferiority to man. When you meet an Irishman And so we marched on-old Ossa, the man, the woman, young Bourse, old Catchew, John's father, Mrs. Pelion, Mr. Kral, Mrs. Kral, John Pilar, Miss Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mother, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I, when-in no matter what street-stepped out from her carriage Mrs. Prew, of whom the Fool Catcher made polite inquiries concerning a journey she had just achieved. This a man. All men are superior to all women. "Fall in line, Sir!" interrupted the Fool Catcher, much disgusted; and so we marched on- Anonymous, Mrs. Prew, old Ossa, the man, the woman, young Bourse, old Catchew, "The country was very well, but the people John's father, Mrs. Pelion, Mr. Kral, Mrs. are really intolerable," returned Mrs. Prew. Kral, John Pilar, Miss Stryffer, Mrs. Patchouli, "People who desire to be exclusive will soon Judge Cathcart, Mollie's father and mother, be forced to eschew traveling. I assure you, Mrs. Smythe, Mrs. Blivins, Grinder, and I, till Mr. Fool Catcher, I had no comfort. I turned we saw Mr. Grimme and a woman in battered my back to people on the boats and cars. I had hoops and bonnet, thin, gray, anxious, and depall my meals served in my own rooms. I look-recating before a counter, on which was an armed over every body's head; but, after all, do ful of military coats. what you will, there is the consciousness of a "If you are not satisfied you can leave them," |