his
native town, and had almost become the occasion of his ruin.

THE BETROTHING.

"I have been long waiting for you," cried young Ferdinand, as his
friend came towards him.

"You know," replied the other, "that it is impossible to get away in a
hurry from our corpulent friend the Baron, when he begins to relate
anecdotes of his life."

"If you were an officer like myself," answered Ferdinand, "you would
nevertheless have found it possible to be punctual; that at least one
learns in the service. They are all assembled in the walks yonder, let
us make haste, that I may introduce you to this respectable family."

The young friends turned the corner of a rock, and enjoyed the clear
view along the rushing stream, which gleamed as it passed by the side
of the woods and hills. The spring had this year displayed peculiar
luxuriance. "How grateful is it to the man of business," said Alfred,
"on a day like this, to leave behind him the city and his spiritless
occupations, to feel, after long exertion and privation, this
blissfulness of nature, and to hear her sacred voice! And how thankful
am I to you, my dear friend, for proposing to introduce me into the
circle of the best and noblest of men. For however we may strive to
form ourselves, however earnestly we may be resolved to study, to
collect knowledge, and to enlarge our hearts and affections, still it
is intercourse with the pure specimens of human nature, that throws
life into this dead, plodding, and rude endeavour, and converts our
acquirements into a real treasure. But to the tender sex it is reserved
to give to man that degree of cultivation, of which his powers and
talents render him capable."

The young officer looked at his friend with a shake of the head, stood
still a moment, and then said, as they walked on: "These phrases, which
one has been forced to hear thousands of times, how unable am I to join
in them! According to this, it would be the great world, or what is
called good company, which a man should seek, in order to attain, under
the influence of paltry wit, coquetry, scandal and babble, that
maturity which solitude cannot afford us. Though in most things I am of
your opinion, yet on this point I must directly differ from you. Women!
They it is precisely who seem to have been stationed by a malignant
destiny, for the very purpose of reducing man, if he is sufficiently
weak, under their dominion; of stripping him