aware of
the circumstances, of three-fourths of the unconscious actors by whom
he is surrounded.

The eminent medical man stands, if not upon higher ground, at least in
a more interesting position. As he mingles with the gay assembly, or
visits the crowded ball, he knows the latent ills, the hidden, yet
incurable disorders of the laughing throng by which he is encircled;
he sees premature death lurking under the hectic flush on the cheek of
the lovely Fanny, and trembles for the fate of the kind-hearted Emily,
as he beholds her mirthfully joining in the mazy dance. He, too, by
witnessing the frequently recurring scenes of death, beholds the
genuine sorrow of the bereaved wife, or the devoted husband--and can,
by the constant unpremeditated exhibitions of fondness and feeling,
appreciate the affection which exists in such and such places, and
understand, with an almost magical power, the value of the links by
which society is held together.

_Middle Life_.

There is more healthful exercise for the mind in the uneven paths of
middling life, than there is on the Macadamized road of fortune. Were
the year all summer, how tiresome would be the green leaves and the
bright sunshine--as, indeed, those will admit, who have lived in
climates where vegetation is always at work.

_Unwelcome Truth_.

Plain speaking was Mousetrap's distinctive characteristic; his
conversation abounded in blunt truisms, founded upon a course of
thinking somewhat peculiar to himself, but which, when tried by the
test of human vice and human folly, proved very frequently to be a
great deal more accurate than agreeable.

_Stockbrokers_.

"I know some of them brokering boys are worth a million on Monday, and
threepence on Thursday--all in high feather one week, and poor
waddling creturs the next."

_Mercantile Life_.

A dark hole of a counting-house, with a couple of clerk chaps, cocked
up upon long-legged stools, writing out letters--a smoky
fireplace--two or three files, stuck full of dirty papers, hanging
against the wall--an almanack, and a high-railed desk, with a slit in
a panel, with "bills for acceptance" painted over it. They are the
chaps "wot" makes time-bargains--they speculate for thousands, having
nothing in the world--and then at the wind-up of a week or two, pay
each other what they call the difference: that is to say, the change
between what they cannot get, and what they have not got.

_The Secret Spring_.

Th