is for a while; let me sleep by you to-night."

Alice could not but be soothed by the gentle tone, and dear caress. Oh,
blessed tie! uniting mother and child. Earth cannot, and Heaven will not
break it.

CHAPTER VIII.

As absurd would it be for one of the small unsettled stars, for whose place
and wanderings we care not, to usurp the track of the Queen of night or of
the God of day, as for an unpretending writer to go over ground that has
been trodden by the master minds of the age. It was in the olden time that
Cooper described a dinner party in all its formal, but hospitable
perfection. Washington was a guest there, too, though an unacknowledged
one; we cannot introduce him at Exeter, yet I could bring forward there,
more than one who knew him well, valuing him not only as a member of
society and a hero, but as the man chosen by God for a great purpose.
Besides, I would introduce to my readers, some of the residents of L----. I
would let them into the very heart of Virginia life; and, although I cannot
arrogate to it any claims for superiority over other conditions of society,
among people of the same class in life, yet, at least, I will not allow an
inferiority. As variety is the spice of society, I will show them, that
here are many men of many minds.

Mark, was a famous waiter, almost equal to Bacchus, who was head man, on
such occasions. They were in their elements at a dinner party, and the
sideboard, and tables, on such an occasion, were in their holiday attire. A
strong arm, a hard brush, and plenty of beeswax, banished all appearance of
use, and the old servants thought that every article in the room looked as
bright and handsome as on the occasion of their young mistress' first
presiding at her table. The blinds of the windows looking south, were
partly open; the branches of the lemon-tree, and the tendrils of the
white-jessamine, assisted in shading the apartment, making it fragrant
too. The bird-cages were hung among the branches of the flowers, and the
little prisoners sang as if they had, at last, found a way of escape to
their native woods; old-fashioned silver glittered on the sideboard, the
large china punch-bowl maintaining its position in the centre.

William had gone to the drawing-room to announce the important
intelligence, "Dinner is ready!" and Bacchus looked around the room for the
last time, to see that every thing was, as it should be, snuffing up the
rich fumes of the soup as it