one wants to know exactly the flaw,
the defect, the doubtful side, and to take into account all the untoward
possibilities of any person, place, or thing, he had best apply to
friend Theophilus. He can tell you just where and how the best-laid
scheme is likely to fail, just the screw that will fall loose in the
smoothest-working machinery, just the flaw in the most perfect
character, just the defect in the best-written book, just the variety of
thorn that must accompany each particular species of rose.

Yet Theophilus is without guile or malice. His want of faith in human
nature is not bitter and censorious, but melting and pitiful. "We are
all poor trash, miserable dogs together," he seems to say, as he looks
out on the world and its ways. There is not much to be expected of or
for any of us; but let us love one another, and be patient.

Accordingly, Theophilus is one of the most incessant workers for human
good, and perseveringly busy in every scheme of benevolent enterprise,
in all which he labors with melancholy steadiness without hope. In
religion he has the soul of a martyr,--nothing would suit him better
than to be burned alive for his faith; but his belief in the success of
Christianity is about on a par with that of the melancholy disciple of
old, who, when Christ would go to Judaea, could only say, "Let us also
go, that we may die with him." Theophilus is always ready to die for the
truth and the right, for which he never sees anything but defeat and
destruction ahead.

During the late war, Theophilus has been a despairing patriot, dying
daily, and giving up all for lost in every reverse from Bull Run to
Fredericksburg. The surrender of Richmond and the capitulation of Lee
shortened his visage somewhat; but the murder of the President soon
brought it back to its old length. It is true, that, while Lincoln
lived, he was in a perpetual state of dissent from all his measures. He
had broken his heart for years over the miseries of the slaves, but he
shuddered at the Emancipation Proclamation; a whirlwind of anarchy was
about to sweep over the country, in which the black and the white would
dash against each other and be shivered like potters' vessels. He was in
despair at the accession of Johnson,--believing the worst of the
unfavorable reports that clouded his reputation. Nevertheless he was
among the first of loyal citizens to rally to the support of the new
administration, because, though he had no hope in t