ceived the sparkle of her gems.

"Brilliant as dew-drops in the morning sunbeams," I remarked.

"Only less brilliant," was my friend's response to this. "Only less
brilliant. Nothing holds the sunlight in its bosom so perfectly as a
drop of dew.--Next, the diamond. I am told that the pin, now flashing
back the light, as it rises and falls with the swell and subsidence of
her bosom, cost just one thousand dollars. The public, you know, are
very apt to find out the money-value of fine jewelry."

"Miss Harvey is beautiful," said I, "and could afford to depend less on
the foreign aid of ornament."

"If she had dazzled us with that splendid pin alone," returned my
friend, "we might never have been tempted to look beneath the jewel,
far down into the wearer's heart. But, diamond earrings, and a diamond
bracelet, added--we know their value to be just twelve hundred dollars;
the public is specially inquisitive--suggest some weakness or
perversion of feeling, and we become eagle-eyed. But for the blaze of
light with which Miss Harvey has surrounded herself, I, for one, should
not have been led to observe her closely. There is no object in nature
which has not its own peculiar signification; which does not correspond
to some quality, affection, or attribute of the mind. This is true of
gems; and it is but natural, that we should look for those qualities in
the wearer of them to which the gems correspond."

I admitted the proposition, and my friend went on.

"Gold is the most precious of all metals, and it must, therefore,
correspond to the most precious attribute, or quality of the mind. What
is that attribute?--and what is that quality?"

"Love," said I, after a pause, "Love is the most precious attribute of
the mind--goodness the highest quality."

"Then, it is no mere fancy to say that gold corresponds to love, or
goodness. It is pure, and ductile, and warm in color, like love; while
silver is harder, and white and shining, like truth. Gold and silver in
nature are, then, as goodness and truth in the human soul. In one we
find the riches of this world, in the other divine riches. And if gold
and silver correspond to precious things of the mind, so must brilliant
jewels. The diamond! How wonderful is its affection for light--taking
in the rays eagerly, dissolving them, and sending them forth again to
gladden the eyes in rich prismatic beauty! And to what mental quality
must the diamond correspond? As it loves the sun's