republic; while the question of whether Bobby does or does not take his
top with him to school to-day, may decide whether he does or does not
wander off to the neighboring pond to be drowned; and Smith's being seen
to step into a billiard-room may decide the question of credit against
him in the Bank discount-committee, and send him to the commercial wall,
a bankrupt. That glance of unnecessary and unladylike scorn which Lady
Flora yesterday cast upon a beggar-woman who accidently brushed against
her costly robes on Broadway, may have lost her a rich husband, who
would otherwise have been deceived until after marriage, as to her real
character; and the involuntary act of courtesy of John Hawkins, stooping
down to pick up the dropped umbrella of a common woman with a baby and
two bundles, in a passenger-car, may make him a friend for life, worth
more than all he has won by twenty-five years of hard-working industry
and honesty.

In this point of view there are no "little things;" and probably he is
best prepared for all the exigencies of coming life, who is ready to be
the least surprised at finding a dwarfed shrub growing up from an acorn,
and a mighty tree springing from the proverbial "grain of mustard seed."

Not to be prolix on this subject--let us remember one capital
illustration--that of the clown and his two pieces of fireworks. No
matter in what pantomime the scene occurs, as it may do for any. The
clown approaches the door of a dealer in fireworks, finds no one on
duty in the shop, enters, and comes out laden with pyrotechnic spoils.
He takes a small rocket, fires it, and is knocked down, frightened and
stunned by the unexpectedly-heavy explosion. But he recovers directly,
and determines to try the experiment over again. There is one immense
rocket among the collection he has brought out--one almost as long as
himself and apparently capable of holding half a barrel of explosive
material. He shakes his head knowingly to the audience, indicative of
the fact that _this_ is something immense and that he is going to be
very careful about it. He sticks it up in the very middle of the stage,
secures a light at the end of a long pole, and touches it off with great
fear and trembling. The explosion which follows is exactly that of one
Chinese fire-cracker; and the comically disappointed face which the
clown turns to the audience is precisely the same that each individual
of that audience is continually turning to anot