and anxieties of trade without detriment to his worldly interests, and redeeming it from the necessity of doubting the old maxim, that honesty is ultimately the best policy under all circumstances. With him the acquisition of wealth was only a secondary consideration, honorable as the means to an end, but not the end itself.
It is enough to make one shudder, who steps for the first time out of the blissful ignorance of private life into the great maelstroom of intrigue and duplicity, swallowing up the world at large. Specious promises and reckless investments on the longest credit constitute the badge of trade; punctuality in the payment of debts as a moral duty passes at a discount, and the industrious mechanic, dependent on his daily labor, deprived of the comforts of life through the negligence or dishonesty of his employer, considers society at best only a combination of rogues, and gives up in despair or resolves to try his own fortune by playing a game at the same table.
Astronomy being Rosalind's favorite science, was a subject which called forth most the brilliancy of her intellect. The wonders there unfolded were adapted to her ardent thirst for novelty and grandeur, and sufficient to engage the intense activity of her brain. She was fascinating to observe, when, on a keen frosty night, she came in with her father after they had been out to trace the constellations, her eyes beaming with delight and her cheeks glowing with the rosy hues of health, a good model for a picture of youth and happiness.
