Diamonds were well known during this age. History relates of Peter the Cruel that he gave all the diamonds he had with him to the pilot who conducted him to Tunis, when he was hard pressed by the troops of Henry of Transtamare. But at this time no extraordinary value was set upon diamonds, because the art of cutting them was not known. A young nobleman of Bruges, named Louis Berghem, first remarked that two diamonds rubbed together would polish each other; and thus he easily learned the art of making "diamond cut diamond." The first cut diamond called the "Sancy," was worn by Charles the Bold, who lost it at the battle of Nancy. It was found on the field, and sold for almost nothing to some poor shepherds; then to a priest for three florins. It afterwards passed into the family of Harlay, at Sancy, and now belongs to the French crown.

It was not until the reign of Charles VII. that women began to wear the bracelets formerly appropriated by the men. The dukes of Burgundy, who were great lovers of pomp and prodigality, had amassed vast treasures of jewels and golden vessels. The collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece sparkled with gems; and it is well known how strange was the contrast between the magnificence of Charles the Bold, the splendor of his raiment, and the jewels of his ducal crown, in comparison with the worn doublet, and the little images of lead, sole jewels of Louis XI.

The discovery of America brought treasures into Europe; by which, however, it has scarcely been enriched. In one night a captain was seen to win and lose the famous gold chain suspended in the Temple of the Sun, at Quito; and his companion paid 1,000 golden livres for a cake of Indian-wheat. Ferdinand Cortez lost, in a shipwreck, on the coast of Algiers, five emeralds of inestimable value, cut by the Indians into the shapes of a cup, a horn, a rose, a bell, and a fish. Perhaps one day they may

be found beneath the sands of that shore!

The foreign influx of wealth caused the jewelmania to increase still more. At the court of Francis I. the ladies wore girdles of wroughtgold, and shoulder-knots set with diamonds. Numbers of jewels were chiselled for them by Benvenuto Cellini.

The queens of the house of Valois are generally represented as gleaming with pearls and precious stones. Marie Stuart, in her portraits, is often adorned only with the pearls of her beloved Scotland; but Elizabeth seems to bend beneath the weight of her jewels; and even in

her old age she had a passion for this kind of decoration.

Henry III. had a woman's admiration for trinkets, and wore necklaces of pearls beneath his open doublet. Queen Anne, of Austria, added to the treasures of the crown a string of splendid oriental pearls, which her son, Louis XIV., wore over his cuirass at great festivals. The ladies of the court used their jewels for embroidering their robes. The men wore jewelled shoe-buckles and garters; every button on their coat was a precious stone; and often even their hats were adorned with gems. Louis XIV. was said to be the most simply-dressed person at court, excepting at a grand festival or a marriage ceremony, when he would be arrayed in jewels worth nine millions of money. At the reception of the Persian ambassador in February, 1715, this king wore a coat of black and gold, laden with twelve million brilliants, and so heavy that he was obliged to disembarrass himself of it before dinner. A nobleman of Genoa, having offered to Louis XIV. a pearl of singular shape, bearing some resemblance to the bust of a man, that king had it set in such a manner as to represent a Roman warrior. Apropos of the reign of Louis XIV., we must not forget the emerald ring, given by the Duchess of Orleans, on her death-bed, to Bossuet, who, in his funeral oration dedicated to this princess, makes a delicate and touching allusion to the gift.

The system of law, which dispersed so many fortunes, gave fresh scope to luxury. The parvenus boasted of silver articles of furniture, and gems of fabulous value. St. Simon-who advised the Regent to obtain for the crown the famous diamond bearing his name-gives us the following description of a pearl belonging to the kings of Spain, seen by him during his embassy. "This pearl, called la Pérégrine, is of the finest color, shaped and marked precisely like those small, musk-flavored pears, called 'Sept-en-gueule,' which arrive at maturity after the strawberry season. Their name is intended to indicate the smallness of their size; nevertheless no human mouth could contain more than four at once. The pearl is as large and long as the small pear of this kind, and larger by comparison than any other pearl. It is therefore unique; and is indeed declared to be the companion of the identical pearl ear-ring dissolved in vinegar and drank by Cleopatra in an extravagance of folly and love."

Now we cannot vouch for the truth of this genealogy; nevertheless, all famous diamonds

have their history. The "Sancy" was found on a battle-field; the "Regent" belonged to the Pitt family before it became the most magnificent jewel of France; the diamond now adorning the sceptre of the Czars was formerly the single eye of an Indian god. But the diamonds of the fatal necklace of Marie Antoinette are all dispersed; and Napoleon I., on his marriage with Josephine, could only boast a diamond ring of very ordinary value.

In Germany, each precious stone is invested with a symbolical meaning; and every month of the year is said to be under the influence of one of these stones. We furnish our curious reader with a list :

melted a hundred times in the crucible, pass at last into our hands under the form of money, plates, cups, and jewels of every description.

So, through manifold transformation, the hands that are now become nameless dust transmit to our keeping the gold and gems with which they were once adorned, when the pulse of life throbbed in them as now in our own, till we also-caring no longer for the gleaming pearl, the lustrous emerald, or the flashes of the keen-glancing diamond-shall in our turn relax our grasp, and consign our treasures to succeeding generations.

Thirty years ago, rings were made with precious stones, of which the initials formed a name or a work. For example: the name of Sophia would be expressed by the following jewels: a Sapphire, Opal, Pearl, Hyacinthus, Jasper, and an Amethyst. This was at once an ornament and souvenir; for we all like to have something dedicated to the memory of those we love.

The unhappy princess of Swartzemburg wore a necklace of medallions, engraved with the names of her eight children; and when she fell a victim to her maternal love, this ornament alone caused her remains to be recognized.

We will not enumerate the ornaments of our own day. This is a question of fashion; and the fashions are subject to change, now, as in the olden time.

Recent newspapers have made mention of a ruby ring, which forms a microscopic stereoscope; and in its depths can be distinctly seen the portraits of two of our most distinguished princes-a strange union of modern discoveries with gems dating their origin from the foundation of the world! And where are they, now, all those treasures of old? the spoils of pagan temples, of Christian churches, of the palaces of Greece and Rome? A part has been destroyed by fire, buried in earthquakes, or overwhelmed in the depths of the sea; the rest, perhaps,

THE MARRIAGE OF THE FIRST-BORN.

BY AVIS OCULUS.

ONE of the greatest trials in a mother's life is to give up her first-born to the caresses of another; the parting with one over whom she has watched with such anxiety and solicitude from the day he first nestled in her bosom. How that fond mother's heart swells with emotion as she witnesses her son, her almost idol take the vows that bind him to another; no more her own, and hers only!

Is it any wonder that her heart burns with sorrow, when she knows that another must share with him his smiles and his tears; that another must be his confidante; that another must take the first place in that heart where she, before, reigned supreme?

We cannot blame her that she weeps and mourns, and that she has misgivings as to her idol's future; she knows that there is adversity as well as prosperity; that her son has taken upon himself a great responsibility; yet she tries hard to make herself believe that all will surely be well, and smiles through her tears as she kisses her son and new-made daughter. Thus wavers that fond, loving heart between hope and fear as to the future happiness of her first-born, in this, his most important step in life.

The congratulations are over; the mother, as in some strange, sad dream, has bidden them both-her darling and his bride-“goodby," and the carriage containing them rattles away to convey them to the cars, in which they are to commence their wedding tour. A mother's blessing goes with them. She returns, sorrowful and dejected, to her now desolate home, where his cheery voice and his elastic footstep will be no longer heard, except when, at long intervals, he visits his childhood's home. She prays for their happiness, and-these are a mother's prayers.

CHAPTER I.

THE exaggerated deference which once hedged in from observation the true character of the country schoolmaster has long been disappearing, until, at the present day, it is no special trophy, as it once was, in the helmets of professional tyros, to have served with éclat an apprenticeship in the district schoolhouse. The birch, and ferule, and the Medean laws by which the old-time pedagogue was wont to awe his pupils to submission have yielded to the milder sway of learning and remonstrance; but the rural school is still so modest in its demands of scholarship that any youth of ordinary parts may reasonably aspire to its graduating honors before stepping out into those broader fields of action where vaster energies and deeper scientific culture are essential to

success.

At such an epoch, therefore, in my own experience, I found myself invested with the supreme control of a weather-worn, dilapidated structure called a schoolhouse, and situated in a lonely glen among those hills that skirt the Mohawk River for the first third of its length. This hamlet, within whose precincts I aspired to win the imperishable laurels of a benefactor to the rising generation, was a second Sleepy Hollow, in its seclusion from the busy world around it; for the swift currents of human progress shot past this isolated settlement as regardlessly as the central current of a mighty river sweeps past the little eddies near its banks. If, however, it bore in this particular a certain resemblance to that vision-breeding region which genius has immortalized, the similarity was more than counterbalanced by a wide dissimilarity in many other respects, for little, indeed, could one discover in the bleak site of Smalley at all suggestive of the sunny-skied, half fabulous glen where Ichabod Crane splintered his love-lance in honor of Van Tassel's daughter.

My rickety, brown old school-house was perched upon the side of a bleak northward hill, over which, in stormy days, the mountain winds roared and moaned like hungry panthers. Here it was, then, that on a windy morning in October, 18-, I opened my first country school. I need not attempt a description of the emotions

11*

with which I surveyed the motley company which thronged in at the tinkle of the bell. The stolid countenances of some, the forbidding looks of others, and the air of apathy largely predominating in all, awakened at the time no very sanguine anticipations of pleasure in my new vocation. I have said this was my first essay at teaching, and, unskilled as I was in judging character from physiognomy, I viewed the moving panorama of faces before me as one might look upon a caricature. That I was unable then to find much in the faces of my scholars calculated to interest me was doubtless owing to my state of mind, for in many countenances where at first I failed to find a single prepossessing lineament a subsequent acquaintance developed much of the lovable and beautiful.

In rural communities, however, secluded like this from the busy world of trade and speculation, physical strength is not seldom ranked highest amongst a teacher's accomplishments. Under such an inauspicious system, children generally grow up indifferent to the milder rule of moral force, only reverencing authority as symbolized in the raw hide. Such I judged truly to be the case with some of the athletic fellows, who even then stalked to their seats with a rudeness of deportment foreshadowing future insolence and defiance.

Amongst the later pupils, as they filed in to occupy their respective places, I observed a girl some fifteen years of age, who glided past with a step as noiseless as a spirit's, and, choosing a place somewhat apart from her mates, turned immediately to her books. Her short and insufficient dress exposed her naked ankles and coarsely-shod feet to the bitter wind, while the homely shawl and tattered hood which completed her attire gave scarcely more protection to her shivering frame. As she moved rapidly to her seat, I marked a complacent sneer resting on the faces of the more comfortably clad children of wealthy farmers. I had little time to analyze this demonstrated feeling, however, for what has taken some space to relate was comprehended by a momentary glance.

For several weeks the current of events ran quietly enough, and I was fast becoming conversant with the details of my calling. During

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this period, none had elicited as frequent commendation as the poor girl I have referred to. I had learned what seemed to be the most that any one could tell concerning her-that her name was Maggie Fulmer, and that she lived as a dependent relative in the family of old, drunken Joe Fulmer, a miserable reprobate and sot, who had outraged every sympathetic attention which his neighbors had thought fit to offer him. That Maggie came to school was owing to the fact that she was not needed at home, and the wealthier people of the district were content to pay as a tax for the schooling of an unfortunate child what they could not conscientiously bestow upon a dissolute guardian. Dependent for her clothing, and almost for her food, upon the charity of others, she still thirsted for that knowledge which scarcely possessed a charm in the eyes of many whom fortune had more bountifully favored. Day after day, from the opening to the close of school, she bent above her desk, in unremitting application to her studies. Her sad and painful history, and the questionable treatment of her mates would have been sufficient of themselves to interest me deeply in her welfare; but there was, withal, an unobtrusive, sad timidity conspicuous in her manner, a grasp of intellect displayed even in her simple studies, and a strange unconquerable reserve about the child, that interested me still more.

I was not long in reading, in the face of passing events, the probability that, like other emperors, my reign was destined to anything but perfect tranquillity. With the rude boors under my control, unused as they had been to any government save that of force, grew up occasional difficulties. Some petty acts of heedlessness and wilful misdoing elicited condign reproof. This was at the time respectfully received, but I could not disguise from myself the fact that matters were growing visibly worse. I was compelled to administer rebukes more frequently, and the graver nature of the offences gave to my remarks a corresponding earnestness. I was, from principle, averse to harsher measures than I had yet made use of, but I could foresee no way to escape the necessity of stringent argument. The trustees were special in disavowing any interference for better or worse with my school discipline, and I was thus obliged to assume a responsibility which might not only be considered hazardous as involving the personal consequences of a struggle with several athletic ruffians none too well disposed, but as extremely doubtful in its reception by the patrons of the school. Self

respect, however, at length compelled me to resolve that, at all hazards, I would meet the culprits with an energy of purpose and a severity of discipline which, if successful, might eradicate the evil it was aimed at, and which, at the worst, could do no more than defeat. itself. I was not long in fixing upon the person of one Nelson Eckler, the acknowledged champion of the school in all athletic exercises, as he with whom I must contest the mastery. had repeatedly provoked reproof by conduct unworthy of his manhood, and, in the teeth of repeated assurances of reform, had uniformly treated my suggestions with neglect. Accordingly, at the close of a day which had more than usually exhausted my forbearance, I made all necessary preparations for the impending struggle.

He

I approached the school-house, I was startled by a mingled din that rose high upon the ear. Distinct above the tumult, I could distinguish the jeering tones of Nelson Eckler and another voice lifted in tearful entreaty and reproach, which I recognized as that of Maggie Fulmer.

"There!" hooted the former; "that was drunken old Joe Fulmer to a fraction! See her face when she bawls! A pretty fuss, it strikes me, all for a crust of burnt johnnycake!"

This brutal taunt was greeted with a general cheer, through which I could distinguish the imploring voice of Maggie.

"It isn't for my dinner that I care, for it's no disgrace to be poor, if one can't help it; but it's a shame for a great boy like you to abuse a helpless girl because the teacher isn't here!" "So you think he 'd take your part, do you? guess I'd like to see him at it! I'd serve him like that johnnycake!"

I

I did not wait for more, but burst into the room, where the whole scene lay before me. Around the stove were collected the larger portion of the school, clapping hands and hooting loud applauses for a central group, which instantly riveted my gaze. Surrounded by three or four young men, as old and stalwart as himself, stood Nelson Eckler, grasping Maggie by the arm, while he brandished aloft a basket from which he had cast the contents-a little corncake-upon the floor, where he stood grinding it under foot, to give force to the last words I had heard him utter. A repulsive leer of

defiance gleamed upon his features as he glared with a look of brutal malice upon the face of Maggie, that was partly hidden by fingers through which the large tears trickled rapidly as rain. A glance sufficed, and the tempest of indignation which had risen as I listened at the door burst forth.

"Miserable coward!" I hissed, "your time has come at last!"

He had no time to complete the insolent sentence with which he attempted to reply, for, reaching up above the old map behind my desk, I grasped a sturdy whip, and drew it with the velocity of lightning full upon his head. He curled like a hound beneath the blow, which shivered the whip to atoms, and, cleaving the thick fabric of his coat as if it had been paper, left its scarlet sign upon the flesh. Before he could recover, I was upon him, and, beating up the sinewy arms that sought to close around me, I flung him violently upon the hard upright facing of my desk. A momentary struggle succeeded, but, overwhelmed as much by surprise as fear, the offender needed little further chastisement; and when, a minute afterward, I demanded a full confession of his guilt before the school, I was promptly obeyed. In the remarks with which I followed this example, I defined explicitly the latitude henceforth to be allowed the scholar, and admonished his comrades in delinquency that I should treat all future symptoms of insubordination as unsparingly as this. The effect of these measures was electric. Those who on previous occasions had turned a deaf ear to my words, or listened, at best, with an aspect of indifference, now attended with eager faces, and made an early application of my advice, highly satisfactory. Under the influence of such feelings, the afternoon proceeded to its close, and school was at length dismissed. One by one the pupils took their homeward way, until Maggie alone remained. I had completed some slight arrangements at my desk, and turned to depart, when I found her standing by the door with downcast eyes and a quivering but speechless lip. The rays of the gay descending sun streamed through the western windows full upon her expressive features, as I remarked the tears rolling down his cheeks and glistening in the dusk fringes of her eyes. I knew this agitation had its origin in the gratitude of a heart thankful for the part which a few hours previous I had taken in her defence. I comprehended how the heart of the sensitive child was aching to outpour its thanks, and how the incompetent voice and the reluctant tongue were able only

to be silent. Sympathy with her emotion made me half fearful to trust my utterance; but, finally mastering myself, I laid my hand upon the glossy tresses of the agitated girl, and said:

"Maggie, I understand what you would say, so do not say it. What I did for you was simply justice; and if you think I have rendered you a service, you can best repay it by laboring earnestly to become good and wise."

"Oh, sir," she sobbed, "every one despises me, and I am so unhappy!"

The mournful sorrow of the child was deeply touching.

"You are mistaken, Maggie," I said. "There are many who appreciate virtue and industry in you as well as others; and if you persevere, the day may come when all these troubles will be forgotten. If you continue honest, and faithful to yourself, you will become a happy and respected woman. The way is a long and hard one, Maggie; but who knows what you may accomplish?"

"And how can I thank you, sir," she asked, "for all your kindness to me?"

"Simply, as I told you, Maggie, by being as you are now, virtuous, studious, and hopeful. Poverty may be hard, but intelligence robs it of half its sting. Come, let us go home."

Subsequently to this, day followed day with an unruffled regularity of discipline, almost instinctive. Reproof to the larger pupils was unneeded, and their example, tempered by some salutary laws, controlled the rest mechanically. Struck by the novelty of perfect order, all bent themselves to study with new interest, and surpassed each week the progress of the week preceding. Still, foremost of all competitors for favor during the entire winter, stood Maggie Fulmer. From the day on which I had espoused her cause, although reserved as ever, in compliance with my advice, she seemed determined to excel even her own

past efforts. Her nights were spent, or partly spent, in application, and her daily recitations exhibited a depth of thought and vigor of understanding which astonished even me, and to the country bumpkins who recited with her she seemed to border on the supernatural. Nominally classified with her schoolmates, she was in reality passing far beyond them. Often were my leisure moments employed in explaining to her some abstruse problem, or in indicating more clearly the outline of some philosophic theory which her precocious intellect but dimly, yet sometimes almost, comprehended. Frequently on such occasions was I startled at the