TER.

It is more honorable to have the regards of a few noble women than to be
popular among a much greater number of men. Having in themselves the
qualities that command our love, they are, for that reason, the better
able to appreciate the traits that deserve to inspire it. The heart must
be judged by the heart, and men are too intellectual in the processes by
which they form their regards.

AVERAGE WORTH.

A wife should accept her husband, and a friend his friend, upon a
general estimate. Particulars in character and conduct should be
overlooked.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 2: I speak, of course, only of the discreet poet. Great poets
are never discreet. Their genius overrides their discretion.]

BULLS AND BEARS.

CHAPTER I

THE ARTISTS' EXHIBITION, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.

There was an exhibition of pictures in an upper room on Washington
Street. The artists had collected their unsold productions, and proposed
to offer them at auction. There were sketches of White Mountain scenery,
views of Nahant and other beaches, woodland prospects, farm-houses with
well-sweeps, reedy marshes and ponds, together with the usual variety of
ideal heads and figures,--a very pretty collection. The artists had gone
forth like bees, and gathered whatever was sweetest in every field
through a wide circuit, and now the lover of the beautiful might have
his choice of the results without the fatigue of travel. Defects enough
there were to critical eyes,--false drawing, cold color, and
unsuccessful distances; still there was much to admire, and the spirit
and intention were interesting, even where the inexperience of the
painter was only too apparent.

A group of visitors entered the room: a lady in the prime of beauty,
richly but modestly dressed, casting quick glances on all sides, yet
with an air of quiet self-possession; a gentleman, her brother
apparently, near forty years of age, dignified and prepossessing; a
second lady, in widow's weeds; and a young gentleman with successful
moustaches, lemon-colored gloves, and one of those bagging coats which
just miss the grace of flowing outline without the compensation of
setting off a good figure. The lady first mentioned seemed born to take
the lead; it was no assumption in her; _incedo regina_ was the
expression of her gracefully poised head and her stately carriage. "A
pretty bit," she said, carelessly pointing with her parasol to a picture
of a rude country bridge and dam.