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of the elder brother. At first, it was resolved by the two brothers that this plea should be amicably conducted, merely for the purpose of deciding an uncertain matter; but some circumstances unexpectedly occurred, which acting upon the inflammable nature of the elder, and not being met by a proper spirit by the younger brother, speedily produced a decided alienation between them. Each retired suddenly into the fortress of his own pride; nor were their father's entreaties and good offices, or their common recollection of twenty affectionate and happy years, of the least avail, in bringing them once more together.

They did not meet again for ten years: it was at their father's funeral. The old gentleman had died in the presence of his oldest son only, reiterating with his latest. breath those injunctions so often before employed in vain, that his two sons might be restored to brotherly friendship, an object, he said, which engrossed his thoughts so much in life, that he felt as if he could not rest in peace in his grave unless it were accomplished. The two brothers. met, but without taking the least notice of each other, when respectively mounting their carriages, in order to follow the corpse of their father to the family buryingground in Aberdeen. Their hearts were still filled with fierce and indignant feelings towards each other, though it is not improbable that the elder had been somewhat touched, almost imperceptibly to himself, by the dying entreaties of his father. The procession, consisting of a hearse and the carriages of the two brothers,. set out on its long and dreary journey, which was rendered additionally melancholy by the gloom of a December day.

It was originally designed that there should be no stoppage, except to exchange horses, till they reached their destination; but this arrangement was destined to be strangely disconcerted. A fall of snow which had begur only that morning in the low country, was found, when they reached the hilly region, to have been of two day's continuance; and it was with the greatest difficulty that they reached a lonely inn, about half way to the capitol, beyond which it was declared by the postillions, there was no possibility of proceeding that day. This humble place of entertainment was accustomed to lodge only such

guests as carriers, and as it was partly occupied, on the present occasion, by various wayfarers, the host, with all anxiety to accommodate such distinguished guests as those who had just arrived, found he could not by any means offer them more than two rooms. It was his expectation, that, while one of these was devoted, as decency required, to the reception of the corpse, the other would serve for the two mourners, and he accordingly proposed to make up an additional bed in the room, which he had marked as that which should receive his living guests. What was his astonishment, and what was the astonishment of all the inmates of the house, when he was informed by a servant that one of the gentlemen would sleep in one of the rooms, while the other had no objection to that in which he had placed the corpse! It was not, however, for him to make any resistance to such an arrangement, and he accordingly caused the rooms to be prepared as befitted the tastes of his guests.

It must communicate a strange feeling to know that two brothers, men of cultivated understandings, and each respected in his sphere for public and private worth-actually carried this dreadful arrangement into effect, in order to avoid what they must have contemplated as a more painful thing-the spending of a single night in each other's company. It was the younger who proposed, as a solution of the dilemma, in which he found they were placed, to take up his quarters in the same chamber with the corpse; unpardonable as the elder was for his share of the dissension, it was but justice to him to state that he could not, after the dying request of his father, have encountered the sensations which might be expected to arise in so dreadful a situation.

During the evening, as the storm prevented them from going out of doors, each kept his own room, and was severally served with the refreshments, which he required. Night came and each went to rest. Morning returned, and still the storm was unabated. It was therefore necessary to spend another day in the same extraordinary circumstances. Slowly, slowly waned the hours of the twilight day; and still the snow continued to fall in its broad and lazy flakes, secming to the two brothers, as each surveyed it listlessly from his window, the very

personification of monotomy. As the rooms were close to each other, and only divided by a thin partition, through which there was a door of communication, each of the unhappy gentlemen could over-hear everything that his neighbor did, almost to his very breathing. It at length became the amusement of each, unknown to his fellow, to watch the proceedings of the other-to note every footfall, to register every sigh. George in particular, became interested in spite of himself, in the situation of his brother, which, in consideration of what he had heard from the lips of his dying father, bore to him an aspect more repulsive and painful than perhaps to the actual sufferer.

At length, when after a weary day, the time of rest again grew nigh, and the house became more than usually still, he heard a groan-a groan partly suppressed, but still bearing distinctly the impress of unutterable anguish, proceed from his brother's room. He listened more intently, and in a few minutes he could make out that the living tenant of the death chamber was prostrated beside the coffin, weeping-bitterly weeping-but still making every effort to bury the expression of his griet in his own bosom. It may easily be imagined that such sounds, coming upon a heart which had been insensibly undergoing a softening process during the whole day, must have had the best effect. Still the rancor of ten years was not to be got over by tears shed under such circumstances. He softly stole, however, to the door, and watched with the most intense anxiety every respiration and movement of his afflicted brother. After waiting a few minutes, he distinctly heard William breathe forth the words, "Oh, mother !" and that in a tone which referred so pointedly to the source of their unhappy quarrel, that he could no longer entertain a doubt as to the nature of his brother's present reflections. A thousand tender associations were awakened by that endeared word; he reverted to their early days, when they had no contentions, but for her affections, no rival ry, but for the kind bounty, which she was always ready to bestow upon each alike. Human nature could hold no longer, and he gently tapped at the door which had hitherto kept them apart; "William," he said, "may I

come in?" The voice of affection could not be mistaken. William opened the door in an instant, and, as if he had guessed intuitively the disposition of his brother, rushed into his arms.

The next day saw the two brothers amicably proceeding in one vehicle to the family burying place, where, in the grave of their father, they inhumed every bitter feeling they had ever entertained against each other; and at pre sent, taught by the sufferings they endured in their period of alienation, there is no pair of friends who take such pains to cherish each other's affections, or to avoid all means of converting them into gall.

A Marriage Festival.

Reply of Dr. Buckminster to a letter from a Miss Chester to his daughter.

In an accompaniment with one of your letters, I find a picturesque description of a fashionable ball in the neighborhood of Albany, given on the occasion of the marriage of Mr. Sedgwick to Miss Ridley. "The guests were many, the accommodations capacious, rendered splendid and sublime by all that art and taste could enterprise. Fancy and ornament combined their powers to throw a lustre over the appearance of the delighted attendants. Three hundred silver candlesticks, and an infinite number of lamps poured their light on thirty mirrors, which faithfully reflected what they received in softened brightness through the several apartments, and their variegated finery. The desert was delicious--exhibited in a state of elegance and grandeur. The music and amusements were enchanting and transporting." This must have been a scene highly delightful to a man of the world, and to the daughter of worldly taste and pleasure. But, Betsy, I find it lasted but one short night; nay, it blushed to meet the rising sun, as if conscious that the little lamps would tarnish all its glory. "The ladies retired at three, the gentlemen at five;" perhaps both resolved to take their revenge upon this disturber of nightly pleasures, by despising bis charms till they begin to be lost in the evening hemisphere.

The reading of this description suggests to me that of attempting a faint sketch of the marriage festival, for which preparation has long been making, and from time to time partial descriptions given me of what is there to be exhibited. To this festiva! I have the honor to be invited as a guest, and am entrusted with authority to invite others. I have heard a little and imagined more of this transporting scene; but could I correctly paint both on paper, the half would not be told you. This festival is to be celebrated at a seat, or palace, whose length and breadth are twelve thousand furlongs, and its height and stories proportionately elevated. It stands upon a foundation of twelve different kinds of precious stones of variegated hue, arranged with so much art as to throw reciprocal and increasing lustre; all producing such a flood of splendor, as mocks the attempts of men or angels to describe. In this place there are twelve avenues all paved with gold, leading to the gates, that are of entire pearl; each gate is one entire pearl, neither fractured nor divided. The flooring of the palace is all pure gold, transparent as glass. The ceiling of the house is all of jasper. The particular apartments, the hangings and the ornainents, I cannot attempt to describe to you. If they bear a customary increased proportion to the splendor, riches, and elegance of the exterior, what, Betsy, must they be?-Oh! let us be ambitious to go and see.

Of the guests that are invited I can give you no exact account, and a still more imperfect one of those that will accept. Of one particular circle, there were long ago one hundred and forty-four thousand that had accepted the invitation. Among these were kings and queens, princesses and princes, noblemen and their daughters, priests and prophets. Since then, the number of inviting servants has been greatly increased, and they have been running with notes of invitation to more distant towns and families and though they often meet with the accents, "I pray thee have me excused," through the in disposition, want of taste, and trivial, foolish engagements of those to whom they apply; yet, upon the safest ground I can assure you, there will be such a numerous collection that no man can number them.

Of the dress of the guests I cannot give you a full de

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