She dropped upon my shoulder.

Had I a doubt? That quelled it:
Her very look dispelled it,
I caught her hand, and held it.

Along the lane I led her,
And while her cheeks grew redder,
I sued outright to wed her.

Good end from bad beginning!
My wooing came to winning,--
And still I watch her spinning.

* * * * *

THE MATHER SAFE.

The service I was able to render an official personage connected with
----College in New England procured me access to the library belonging
to that institution. In common with many of my fellow-citizens, I had
previously enjoyed the pleasure of responding to circulars petitioning
for money to buy books for interment in this choice literary catacomb;
nay, I was even allowed the satisfaction of an annual stare at them
through an iron grating, and of reading a placard to the effect that
nobody was allowed to enter an alcove or take down a volume. As it
occurred to me that the generous donors could not object to add one more
to the select half-dozen or so, who, by having the privilege of the
shelves, could really use the library, I demanded this favor of the
gentleman who desired to recompense me for what I had done for him. The
Librarian, who valued books as things capable of being locked up in
cells like criminals, there to figure numerically to the confusion of
rival institutions, was manifestly disturbed when I presented my
credentials. The authority, however, was not to be questioned;--I was to
be admitted to the library at any hour of the day; and I took care to
drop a civil expression to imply my estimation of the privilege and my
purpose of enjoying it.

Wanting the leisure to attempt that ponderous undertaking known as "a
course of reading," it became my habit to browse about the building upon
Saturday afternoons, and finally to establish myself, with whatever
authors I had selected, in a certain retired alcove devoted to the
metaphysicians. This comfortable nook opens just behind Crawford's bust
of the late President T----, and is nearly opposite the famous Mather
Safe. As it is possible that I am addressing some who are not graduates
of ---- College, nor familiar with its library, it may be well to say a
word of the history of the spacious and ancient coffer to which
allusion is made.

The Mather Safe--which, by the way, is not of iron, but of oak heavily
bound with that metal--is said to have been among the possession