MR. SAMUEL SAUNTER was such an unpunctual person about keeping his appointments that he came, at length, to be called by his acquaintance the late Mr. Saunter. "By and by," "All in good time," "Slow and sure,' " "More haste worse speed," &c. &c. were his favourite quotations; and his wife, good lady! who was one of your bustling, fussing, fidgeting, never-easy sort of personages, born and educated for the express purpose of tormenting lazy husbands, was daily and hourly put off with one or another of these phrases.

One summer, several years ago, they went out of town to spend the hottest part of the season among the gardens, farms and orchards in a pleasant town in the interior of Pennsylvania, about one hundred and fifty miles from Philadelphia, and a very pleasant sojourn they made of it. Their children, a little girl of eight and a boy of six years old, enjoyed their residence in the country greatly, and were much improved in their health and vigour by their diet of homemade bread, fresh milk and eggs and ripe fruit. Exercise and fresh air did much also for the parents, and made Mr. Saunter himself almost an active man. All that was wanting was the will-or, as the metaphysicians call it, the moral ability to bestir himself when the occasion called for exertion. But, truth to tell, the quiet retired farm-house in which they were quartered, was to him a perfect Castle of VOL. XXVII.-5

Indolence. When dragged out upon an excursion by his active lady, he went, indeed; but he contrived so to arrange matters that while the rest of the family were gathering berries, or weaving garlands of flowers, he was reposing under some shady tree; or quietly angling in the river, which intersected the farm. Whole days did he spend reclining on the heaps of fragrant newmown grass, watching the labours of the hay. makers. His habit of procrastination, however, was indulged even in reference to these excursions into the fields. He was always the last of the party to be ready for a start, and he often put off his return to the house till the rising thunderclouds poured forth their watery contents upon his head, and made him regret his not having heeded the warnings of his faithful helpmate.

When the mowers descended from the higher ground to the "intervale" as it was called, by the river bank, Mr. Saunter followed; and reclining under a clump of willows, he would listen hour after hour, to the pleasant ringing sound of the scythes as they cut through the tall, heavy grass. By his patient study of the subject he must have attained a pretty good knowledge of the theory of mowing; the practice he would have found altogether too laborious for his taste. In this agreeable occupation, however, he was not entirely without company. The mosquitoes abounded in the "intervale," and as Mr. Saunter was a light49

complexioned, thin-skinned gentleman, they conceived a particular affection for him; so that by the time he had pulled off his coat and thrown himself comfortably, at full length, upon the grass, beneath his favourite willows, they began to settle upon his hands, face and arms, and pay him a great many personal attentions-more, in fact, than were quite agreeable. Too much attention, at certain times, is quite overpowering. Mr. Saunter however was a very benevolent and tolerant person; and seldom disturbed them till they had taken their fill. He had, he said, a good deal of blood to spare, and this mode of venesection was attended with much less form and ceremony than sending for the doctor and submitting to the operation of the lancet. Besides, he had his own peculiar notions about the rights of men and mosquitoes; and he would frequently address himself to some thirsty citizen of the insect commonwealth, who was quietly enjoying himself upon his hand or arm, in such terms as these:

"That's a good fellow, now, suck away and enjoy yourself. I dare say this is the first good drink that you have enjoyed for a long time. Swig away, my good fellow, and be thankful that you live in a liberty country, where every man and mosquito may enjoy himself in his own way. Some people would consider themselves as perfectly justified in taking your life for a personal assault of this kind. But for my part I don't believe in the lawfulness of capital punishments; and I think that the fit of indigestion you will have after this carouse, will be quite punishment enough for so light an offence. There, you are full now! You are as round as a pea and as red as Bardolph's nose. Good morning! Take care of yourself!"

But all human enjoyments have their term; and the time at length drew nigh when the family party were to leave their pleasant abode in the country.

The first of September was the day appointed for returning to town. Mrs. Saunter got every thing ready in her department. The requisite parting calls were made, her own and her children's travelling clothes were put in order; the apartments were made ready to be abandoned; the housekeeper in town was written to and ordered to prepare a late dinner in anticipation of their arrival. But, alas! when the long looked for morning came, Mr. Saunter was found to have procrastinated every thing which it was his province to have dispatched. Their bill was not settled; nor the money received from his agent in town. Indeed, upon a severe cross-examination conducted by his amiable better half, it came out in evidence, that he had not even written to his agent to have the money sent -nor had he written to have certain papering and painting about the house done which were considered by Madame to be indispensably necessary to their comfort on resuming their residence in town. Neither had Mr. Ewing been written to, to mend that

spout, which had formed the subject of a very exciting discussion between Mr. and Mrs. Saunter at the breakfast table every morning for a month before they left town; nor had Mr. Picot been written to, to reserve a place in his school for Rosalie, nor had any arrangement been made about Tommy's schooling. In short, the list of Mr. Saunter's omissions was perfectly appalling. His excellent lady lost all patience with him, and incontinently determined to postpone the journey a fortnight longer, in order that all arrearages might be brought up -a fortnight!—a whole fortnight! - Mr. Saunter assented very placidly to this arrangement. A fortnight seemed a whole age in perspective; and he would have time enough to set every thing to rights. So by way of showing his decision of character, he resolved to write to his agent in a week; and to the other people before the fortnight was up. At the end of the stated time he was still unprepared, and another day was fixed; and another disappointment followed, and so on, till the month of October was pretty well advanced and the mornings and evenings were getting quite cold.

At last, thanks to the indefatigable exertions of Mrs. Saunter, all was prepared. The trunks were all packed; the bills were all paid; the people in town were all instructed in their several duties and had returned satisfactory answers. It was evening. They were to go the next morning bright and early; and the children were sent off to bed betimes, so that they might be waked early without depriving them of their accustomed quantity of sleep.

did you call

"My dear," said Mrs. Saunter, this morning at the stage office and set down your name so as to make sure that the stage coach will stop for us as it passes?"

"No, my dear," he replied, "I thought I would put it off till this afternoon; and when the afternoon came I forgot all about it."

"Well, I declare, Mr. Saunter, that is too bad. We shall be left behind after all; and it will be three days before there will be another opportu nity to go. And here we are all ready, packed up and waiting to start. How uncomfortable these three days will be."

"Oh! never mind, my dear, I will be up early in the morning, and send Mr. Jones's hired man, Nathan, down to the place in the road where the coach passes, to stop it, when it will come along

'Well, we shall be left behind, I know we shall. I thought something would happen to disappoint me. I declare, if I once get back to Philadelphia, I never will go into the country again," &c. &c. &c. This was merely the text. The lecture lasted three quarters of an hour, without greatly disturbing the equanimity of Mr. Saunter. Custom will reconcile a man to any thing-even to curtain lectures.

The next morning, all was bustle and activity. The lady and children were up betimes and