our and affectionate disposition. The wonderful friendship that existed between Dan and Joshua was a household word in the poor homes round about; there was something so beautiful in it, that they felt a pride in the circumstance of its having been cemented in their midst; and many a tenderhearted woman said that night to their husbands, that they wondered what Dan would do now that Joshua was going away. 'And Josh too,' the husband would reply; 'do you think he won't miss Dan?' But the women thought mostly of Dan in that relationship. The romance of the thing had something to do with this general interest in his welfare. Here was a young man, one of their own order, born and bred among them, who, from no contempt of their humble ways of life, but from a distinct desire to do better than they (not to be better; that they would have resented), had resolved to go out into the world to carve a way for himself. It was brave and manly; it was daring and heroic. For the world was so wide! Cooped up as they were, what did they know of it? What did they see of it? Those of them the few-who worked at home in their once-a-week shirt-sleeves, could raise their eyes from their work, and see the dull prospect of over

the way; or, resting wearily from their monotonous labour, could stroll to their street-doors, and look up and down the street in a meaningless purposeless manner: like automatons in aprons, with dirty faces and very black finger-nails, coming out of a box and performing a task in which there was necessarily no sense of enjoyment. Those of them-the many-who toiled in workshops other than their homes, saw with the rising and the setting of every sun a few narrow streets within the circumference of a mile, mayhap. Moving always in the same groove, trudging to their workshops every morning, trudging home every night—it was the same thing for them day after day. The humdrum course of time was only marked by the encroachment of gray hairs and white; or by the patching-up of the poor furniture, which grew more rheumatic and groaned more dismally every succeeding season; or by the cracking and dismemberment of cups and saucers and plates; or by the slow death of the impossible figures on the tea-trays-figures which were bright and gay once upon a time, as their owners were upon a certain happy wedding-day. Here, as a type, are three small mugs, the letters upon which are either quite faded away or are denoted by a very mockery

of shrivelled lines, as if their lives were being drawn out to the last stage of miserable attenuation. Once they proclaimed themselves proudly, and in golden letters, For George, a Birthday Present;' For Mary Ann, with Mother's Love;' 'Charley, for a Good Boy.' George and Mary Ann and Charley used to clap their little hands, and swing their little legs delightedly, when they and the mugs kept company at breakfast- and teatime; but now flesh and crockery have grown old, and are fading away in common. The hair on George's head is very thin, although he is not yet forty years of age; Mary Ann is an anxiouslooking mother, with six dirty children, who, as she declares twenty times a day, are enough to worry the life out of her; and Charley has turned out anything but a Good Boy,' being much too fond of public-houses. With such-like uninteresting variations, the lives of George and Mary Ann and Charley were typical of the lives of all the poor people amongst whom the Marvels lived. From the cradle to the grave, everything the same: the same streets, the same breakfasts, the same dinners, the same uneventful routine of existence, the only visible signs upon the record being the deepening of wrinkles and the whitening of hairs.

But they were happy enough notwithstanding; and if their pulses were stirred into quicker motion when they shook Joshua's hand and wished him good luck, there was no envy towards him in their minds, and no feeling of discontent marred the genuineness of their Godspeed. When at candle-time they spoke of Joshua and of the world which he was going to see, some of the women said that it would have been better if 'you, John,' or 'you, William,'' had struck out for yourself when you were young;' and John and William assenting, sighed to think that it was too late for them to make a new start. Well, their time was past; the tide which they might have taken at the flood, but did not, would never come again to their life's shore. Joshua had taken it at the flood, and would be afloat to-morrow; good-luck be with him! In the heartiness of their good wishes there was no expressed consciousness that there was as much heroism in their quiet lives as in the lives of great heroes and daring adventurers; which very unconsciousness and unexpressed abnegation made that heroism (begging Mr. Ruskin's pardon for calling it so) all the grander.

Joshua had bidden the Old Sailor good-bye. The dear simple old fellow had given Joshua some

golden rules to go by; had enjoined him to be respectful and submissive; to learn all he could; to be cheerful always, and to do his work willingly, however hard it seemed; not to mix himself up in the men's quarrels or grumblings; had told him how that some officers were querulous, and some were tyrannical, but that he could always keep himself out of mischief by obeying orders; and had impressed upon him, more particularly than all, the value of the golden motto -Duty. Keep that for your watchword, my lad,'

said the Old Sailor, and you will do.'

'I am glad it is nearly all over,' said Joshua to Dan. 'I have only two or three more to say good-bye to, with the exception of mother and father, and Ellen and you, dear Dan!'

'There's Susan, Jo,' said Dan after a pause..

'I wish you could see her before you go.'

'I wish so too. I am going now to say goodbye to Minnie and her father.'

'Is he better, Jo ?'

'I haven't seen him for a week; but I don't think he is ever quite right here;' touching his forehead.

They were speaking of the street actor, whose name was Basil Kindred.