hard to
tell 'tother from which;" and he planted his brawny hands on his
thighs, and looked after them, with a broad smile on his honest
countenance, until they got into the omnibus, and were whirled out of
sight. At the _depot_, which is in the northern part of the city, they
got out, and the two men pursued their way in silence. It was one of
those cold, but calm, bright days in winter, when the very air seems
filled with silent ripples of gladness; when the sunshine rests like a
glory on the leafless trees, and bright-eyed robins chirp and peck the
moss, as they hop from bough to bough; when the light of heaven is so
over all, that even the dun-colored earth, the decayed leaves and
rotten branches, which the autumn blast has laid low, look beautiful,
and seem to whisper _resurgam_; when a cold, bracing wind sends the
warm blood bounding through our hearts--tinting our cheeks, and warming
our extremities, until we bless it, as we do the strong hand which
leads us in childhood; and we listen, with docile tenderness, to its
teachings, for it tells with pathos, of suffering in the hovels of the
poor, and want, and poverty, and bids us thither like a winged angel.
Down, beneath the rustic bridge, boys were shouting and skating on the
frozen stream, their laughter echoing like music through the old woods;
anon, the sharp crack of rifle, or the distant barking of dogs, rung on
the still air, while the bells of the city, and the hum rising up from
its crowded streets, blending with the clear echoes, made a concert of
merry and harmonious sounds. Mr. Stillinghast paused on a knoll, and
looked around him. There lay the rolling country, with its undulations
of hill and vale, all interspersed, and adorned with picturesque
cottages and elegant villas. Towards the east, up rose the splendid
city, with up-hill and down-hill streets; its marble monuments,
commemorative of great men and great deeds; its magnificent domes,
raised in honor of the Most High God; its lofty towers, its princely
mansions; while far beyond, stretching to the verge of the horizon,
slumbered the quiet and beautiful bay, sparkling like a sea of
_ultramarine_ and diamonds, over whose waters hundreds of sails were
hovering like white sea-fowl.

Towards the north-western boundary of the city, he saw the dark,
massive founderies and manufactories, which, from their
palatial-looking walls, sent out the never-ceasing clang of labor, and
the tireless song of s