to the cottage on the Scottish Border. It is not
quite so lowly as it was when first introduced to our readers. Although
not extensively changed, there is a certain air of comfort and
prosperity about it which gives it much the appearance of a dirty boy
who has had his face washed and a suit of new clothes put on. It has
been whitewashed and partially re-roofed. A trellis-work porch with
creepers has been added. The garden bears marks of improvement, and in
one part there are four little plots of flower-beds, so conspicuously
different in culture and general treatment as to suggest the idea of
four different gardens. Inside of Mr Jack's abode there are also many
changes for the better. The rooms are better furnished than they used
to be. Several cheap oleograph copies of beautiful pictures adorn the
walls, and the best parlour, which used to be kept in a condition of
deadly propriety for state occasions only, is evidently used in the
course of daily life. A brand-new piano, with a pretty little girl
seated before it, suggests advancing refinement, and the expression of
the child's face, while she attempts the impossible task of stretching
an octave, indicates despair. There is another little girl seated at a
table darning with all the energy of a Martha-like character. She is
engaged upon a pair of juvenile socks, which have apparently been worn
last by a cart-horse. Books and drawing materials and mathematical
instruments on the table betoken progressive education, and, in short,
everything without and within the cottage tells, as we have said, of
prosperity.

It must not be supposed, however, that all this is due to Philosopher
Jack's good fortune and liberality. When the first letter came from
California, telling of the safety of our hero and his friends, Mr Jack
was indeed in great material distress, but there was no money in that
letter. It was despatched from San Francisco at the time of the arrival
of the party, along with letters from the other members, informing their
various relations of their deliverance. But if the letter had contained
tons of the finest gold it could not have added a feather's weight to
the joy of the old couple, who, like the widow of Nain or the sisters of
Bethany, had received their dear lost one direct from the Lord, and, as
it were, back from the dead. Then, after an interval, came Captain
Samson's letter enclosing the bill for 1000 pounds, and explaining why
Philosoph