ten,
and no need of a staff yet, my Christian friend." No man is more
beloved and esteemed by all who know him, old and young, than he; for
like Father Grimes, whose nephew he is by the mother's side.--

"He modest merit seeks to find,
And give it its desert;
He has no malice in his mind,
No ruffles on his shirt.

His neighbors he does not abuse;
Is sociable and gay:
He wears large buckles in his shoes,
And changes them, each day."

If there is one thing about Uncle Juvinell that we might venture to
pronounce more charming than another, it is the smile of mingled fun,
good-humor, and love, with which his countenance never ceases to
shine, save when he hears the voice of pain and his breast with pity
burns. Touching this same trait of his, a lady once said in our
hearing, that she verily believed a cherub, fresh from the rosy
chambers of the morning, came at the opening of each day to Uncle
Juvinell's chamber, just on purpose to dash a handful of sunbeams on
his head; and, as there were always more than enough to keep his face
bathed with smiles for the next twenty-four hours, they were not
wasted, but, falling and lodging on his gold spectacles, his gold
breast-pin, his gold buttons, his gold watch-chain, and the gold head
of his ebony cane, washed them with lustre ever new, as if his face,
bright and broad as it was, were not enough to reflect the love and
sunshine ever dwelling in his heart. We will not undertake to vouch
for the truth of this, however. As the young lady was a marriageable
young lady, and had been for a number of years, it would not be
gallant or generous for us to mention it; but of this we are certain,
that, when this good old gentleman enters a room, there is a warmth
and brightness in his very presence, that causes you to look round,
half expecting to see the tables and chairs throwing their shadows
along the floor, as if, by the power of magic, a window had suddenly
been opened in the wall to let in the morning sunshine.

If the affections of Uncle Juvinell's heart are childlike in their
freshness, the powers of his intellect are gigantic in their
dimensions. He is a man of prodigious learning: for proof of which,
you have but to enter his library, and take note of the books upon
books that crowd the shelves from the floor to the ceiling; the maps
that line the walls; the two great globes, one of the earth and the
other of the heavens, that stand on