clear of board, is $2, or about 9s. 6d. sterling per week, whilst the wages of males show an average of $4 80, or about £1 23. sterling per week. The average hours of labor per day, exclusive of meals, is 12, the mills commencing at 5 A. M., and closing at 7 P. M.

Of the quality of the goods produced, it will be sufficient to say that they are generally excellent of their class, and uite equal, sometimes superior, to similar goods manufactured in Great Britain. Those of Lowell may be taken as fair examples of other cotton mills in the United States, possessing the same advantages as regards power, improved machinery, and intelligent operatives. In spinning, it will be seen that the numbers are low, the finer quality of cotton goods not being produced-the No. 40s printers" manufactured by the Merrimack Company being of the highest class. These, when printed, are of a firm and excellent quality. The Lowell Manufacturing Company produce a very cheap, well-looking fabric for cotton trowserings at 17c. or about 94d. sterling per yard. These are made up of dyed yarns in checks and and stripes, and are woven upon gingham looms.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.

TEA AND COFFEE TRADE.

In three particulars, tea and coffee strikingly resemble each other. They are nearly all void of smell and taste in their natural state, and only acquire their peculiar flavor or aroma from a volatile oil produced in them during the processes of drying the leaf or roasting the berry. They all contain a peculiar, slightly bitter principle, very rich in nitrogen, which is called theine, and which has the property of lessening the natural wear and tear of the human body, and thus saving food to a certain extent. They all likewise hold in solution tannic acid, the action of which on the system is not completely understood. In addition to these three substances, a considerable portion of gluten is contained in both tea and coffee; but owing to the leaves in the one case not being drank, nor the grounds in the other, this is wasted. In tea, the volatile oil evaporates with age, so that the older the tea is, the less intoxicating. To this volatile oil is owing the paralysis which frequently attacks persons who have been, for several years, engaged in packing and unpacking teas. But on the contrary, the theine in coffee increases with the age of the berry. This substance, if taken in excess, accelerates the pulse, wakes the imagination, and predisposes to visions.

Coffee resembles tea in the effect which it produces, because it also contains theine, tannic acid, and volatile oil. In coffee, however, they are combined in different proportions, and hence the reason why many persons prefer it as a beverage. The best coffee grows on the driest soils. Yet the worst coffee, if kept ten or fourteen years, will acquire the flavor of the finest Mocha. The principal art in preparing coffee lies in roasting, for in this process it is that its peculiar arom is produced. The heat should never be greater than is sufficient to impart to the berry a light-brown color -for if carried beyond this point a disagreeable secondary smell mingles with the

aroma.

By the common process of drinking coffee, that is, without the grounds, a good deal of nutritious matter is wasted. Many of the Oriental nations drink the grounds inva riably. Not less than a hundred millions of the human race drink coffee, it is computed, as a daily beverage. In France, Germany, Sweden, Turkey, and a large portion of the United States, it is used by almost everybody, just as tea is in England, Holland, Russia, and China.

Tea and coffee become more indispensable as nations advance in intellectual activity. Whether this is a cause or effect, is not yet demonstrable, though the writer in Blackwood inclines to consider it the former. Perhaps the extraordinary popularity of these beverages, however, among the moderns, arises principally from the extension of Commerce, and the consequent cheapness of tea and coffee. Experience teaches people that tea and coffee, used moderately, prevent the waste of the tissues, afford positive happiness, and increase the nervous activity, enabling men, as the writer in question forcibly remarks, "to show more blood and spirit in the face of difficulties."

With some persons, indeed, these beverages do not agree. But to the great mass of mankind they are almost indispensable.

"COMMERCE IS KING."

This proverb, says Hiram Fuller, the clever editor of the New York Mirror, is too widely accredited as true. In this country, whose Commerce is, prospectively at least, greatest among the nations, INDUSTRY is king. Industry, indeed, is shared by Commerce, yet Commerce is not the basis of our wealth and power, but only a collateral. Industry is king on American soil and over the seas; the industry that digs from the earth the many ores and fabricates them for Commerce; which plants our fields with grains and fruits and reaps rich harvests for Commerce; which rears the humblest and the proudest homes, hamlets, villages, and cities, as markets for Commerce; and which, finally, builds the careeting ships and the whirling cars by which Commerce moves and thrives.

The farmer, plodding along his furrow in some far away field, looks towards the sea in vision, and beholding the great ships, freighted with silks, and spices, and gold, and the seaport glittering with warehouses and palaces, indicative of every luxury, feels that Commerce must be an enchanter-must be king-and be treads more heavily and sadly in his furrow. But let the farmer consider before he yields the throne and scepter. Let him ask what would become of shining Commerce, if his plow, the miner's pick, the reaper's sickle, the artisan's hammer, and the weaver's shuttle were abandoned From the use of these simple weapons-the glorious armor of creative industry-the garniture of Commerce springs. Commerce is only an agent, over whose shoulders the trophies of Industry are laid, to be borne around the world for exchange. Strip her of the tribute of Industry from a thousand unvaunting handicrafts, and what a skeleton would remain. Commerce is glorious as an agent, but its splendor is borrowed from the hands that guide the plow, hold the sickle, wield the axe and spade, and strike home the hammer, shuttle, and plane.

Aye, let the farmer consider before he yields his throne and scepter, and let men of all honorable labor consider, for to them belongs the sovereignty of the earth. The sum of the world's wealth and power is measured by their brown hands and sinewy arms. They are the creators of Commerce, and their industry is king. Let no man be faint or sad whose labor is creative for good purposes, be it ever so humble in its outward show. The ocean were a parched and arid desert, but for the streams pouring ever into its bosom-myriads of them obscure and hidden-and Commerce were but a sailless sea, but for the industry of earth, which shapes its keels and freights them with the wealth of nations. Industry is regal, and in the language of the poet

"The noblest men I know on earth,

Are men whose hands are brown with toil,

Who, boasting no ancestral birth,

Hew down the woods and dig the soil,

And win thereby a prouder name

Than follows king's or warrior's fame."

OVERTRADING, AND GIVING LARGE CREDIT.

There are two things which may be properly called overtrading in a young beginner, and by both of which tradesmen are often overthrown:

1. Trading beyond their stock;

2. Giving too large credit.

A tradesman ought to consider and measure well the extent of his own strength; his stock of money and credit is properly his beginning, for credit is a stock as well as money. He that takes too much credit, is really in as much danger as he that gives too much credit; and the danger lies particularly in this-if the tradesman overbuys himself, that is, buys fister than he can sell, buying upon credit, the payment perhaps becomes due too soon for him; the goods not being sold, he must answer the bills upon the strength of his proper stock-that is, pay for them out of his own cash; if that should not hold out, he is obliged to put off his bills after they are due, or suffer the impertinence of being dunned by the creditor, and perhaps by servants and apprentices, and that with the usual indecencies of such kind of people. This impairs his credit, and if he comes to deal with the same merchant, or clothier, or other tradesman again, he is treated like one that is but an indifferent paymaster, and though they may give him credit as before, yet depending that if he bargains for six months he will take eight or nine in the payment, they consider it in the price, and use him accordingly; and this impairs his gain, so that loss of credit is indeed loss of money, and this weakens him both ways.

"THE BIBLE CLERKS."

A young man, says the Philadelphia Merchant, joined two others as a clerk in the same establishment, and as room-mate, in a certain city. When the first Sunday morning came after he had entered his new situation, he thought of the old custom at home of reading a portion of Scripture as a preparation for the day, but he hesitated to take his Bible from his trunk because of the presence of the other clerks. Still he could not be easy. He went towards his trunk and then returned to his seat, till his uneasiness was noticed by one of his companions, who said-" What's the matter? You are as restless as a weathercock." He hesitated in answering, but conscience got the better of his pride, and he told the truth; and, as though the moral feeling of the young man was contagious, the other clerks exclaimed that they had each a Bible in their trunks, but had not taken it out for fear of each other-a fear of ridicule, the one from the other. The three Bibles were now taken out, and a portion was read in concert; the practice was continued, its influence was felt, and when the story got out and their habit was known, they went by the name of the Bible clerks,'

And what were their characters? Did the influence of the Bible prevent the development of any of the true mercantile qualities? They were young men of integrity, of method, order, precision, and dignity. By familiarity with the Bible they were in constant intercourse with the best models of character, and they proved that the Scriptures not only kindle lights of guidance when philosophy and reason fail, but they hold up and stimulate to the imitation of the highest order of manliness.

A manufacturer and merchant related to us one day the history of two young men who, in his establishment, became "free" at the same time, the one a Bible clerk," and the other not so. They both married early after their "freedom," and the one valuing the Bible, valued its institutions, and thus honored the Sabbath and the sanctuary, and brought up his family in virtue and prosperity. The other "couldn't afford to pay church rates;" his employer offered to furnish a pew, but he was too proud to accept the favor-spending the Sabbath here and there he was known as no churchgoer, and became an object for the vicious; and to nothing but his waste of the Sab bath could be traced the habits of expenditure and dissipation that ruined the man. "Now," said the employer, "the one lives in his own house, virtuous and happy; the other needs charity to keep him along."

A CAMEL MARKET: BARGAINING BY PANTOMIME.

Huc, in his Travels in Tartary, says:-The Blue Town is especially noted for its great trade in camels. The camel market is a large square in the center of the town. The animals are ranged here in long rows, their front feet raised upon a mud eleva tion constructed for that purpose, the object being to show off the size and hight of the creatures. It is impossible to describe the uproar and confusion of this market, with the incessant bawling of the buyers and sellers as they dispute, their noisy chattering after they have agreed, and the horrible shrieking of the camels at having their noses pulled, for the purpose of making them show their agility in kneeling and rising. In order to test the strength of the camel, and the burden it is capable of bearing, they make it kneel, and then pile one thing after another upon its back, causing it to rise under each addition, until it can rise no longer. They sometimes use the following expedient. While the camel is kneeling, a man gets upon his hind heels, and holds on by the long hair of its hump; if a camel can rise then it is considered an animal of superior power. The trade in camels is entirely by proxy: the seller and the buyer never settle the matter between themselves. They select indifferent persons to sell their goods, who propose, discuss, and fix the price; the one looking to the interests of the seller, the other to those of the purchaser. These "sale speakers" exercise no other trade; they go from market to market to promote business as they say. They have generally a great knowledge of cattle, have much fluency of tongue, and are, above all, endowed with a knavery beyond all shame. They dispute by turns, furiously and argumentatively, as to the merits and defects of the animal; but as soon as it comes to a question of price, the tongue is laid aside as a medium, and the conversation proceeds altogether in signs. They seize each other by the wrist, and beneath the long wide sleeves of their jackets indicate with their fingers the progress of the bargain. After the affair is concluded they partake of the dinner, which is always given by the purchaser, and then receive a certain number of sapeks, according to the custom of different places.

TRICKS OF TAILORS.

The Home Journal, in a pleasant homily upon the ways of tailors, shows up some

of the tricks of trade.

Tailors must live; at least they think so, and we have no objection. Yet they are great tyrants, and have ingenious ways of torturing their victims. One way is this: They invent a fashion which is strikingly peculiar, and get it into vogue by various arts best known to themselves; for example, very short overcoats, with long waists, which look well on men like Count Rossi whose figure is faultless. Their next movement,

after everybody is overcoated for the winter, is to bring out a garment which differs as much as possible from the one in fashion; that is, an overcoat with skirts to the heels and waist under the armpits. They get half a dozen men of high fashion, who look well in anything, to parade this new invention in Broadway, and make the shortcoated majority appear out of date. The maneuver succeeds; all the dandies are driven to the extravagance of ordering a superflous coat; the tailors smile and the dandies bleed, or their fathers do. Some time ago our tailor tyrants put us all into long waistcoats, and, consequently, into continuations that just lapped over the hips. Suddenly the waistcoats were abbreviated four inches. What was the consequence? Why, of course, the continuations "failed to connect," and he who would not exhibit to mankind a broad belt of white around his waist, was compelled to discard all his store of well saved unnameables. And in vain shall the oldest customer protest and order garments of the last fashion. Consider my reputation, sir, says the tailor, with the air of offended majesty.

A HINT FOR THE UNSUCCESSFUL.

The following, from Claxton's "Hints for Mechanics," will apply with equal force to mercantile men:

As to luck, as I have said before, there is more in the sound of a word which people have got used to than in the thing they are thinking of. Some luck there is, no doubt, as we commonly understand the term, but very much less than most persons suppose. There is a great deal which passes for luck which is not such. Generally speaking, your "lucky fellows," when one searches closely into their history, turn out to be your fellows that know what they are doing, and how to do it in the right way. Their luck comes to them, because they work for it; it is luck well earned. They put themselves in the way of luck. They keep themselves wide awake. They make the best of what opportunities they possess, and always stand ready for more; and when a mechanic does thus much, depend upon it, it must be hard luck indeed, if he do not get, at least, employers, customers, and friends. "One needs only," says an American writer," to turn to the lives of men of mechanical genius, to see how by taking advantage of little things and facts, which no one had observed, or which every one had thought unworthy of regard, they have established new and important principles in the arts, and built up for themselves manufactories for the practice of their newly discovered processes." And yet these are the men who are called the lucky fellows, and sometimes envied as such. Who can deny that their luck is well earned, or that it is just as much in my power to "go ahead" as it was in theirs?

INDUSTRY THE ROAD TO SUCCESS.

It is a proverbial remark, founded on experience and common sense, that Satan will employ him who does not find employment for himself. Industry will secure the confidence and encouragement of good men. What is it that we first inquire after respecting one who is just coming forward on the arena of public life? Brilliant talents may be desirable; respectable connections may have an influence; property may serve as an outfit; but, after all, our real judgment of the man, and our readiness to commit important trusts to his keeping, will depend on something more inherent and personal. We must know that he is industrious and faithful. Without these abiding qualities, capacity, and family, and fortune will seem light as air and empty as a bubble.

It is instructive to ask who they are that rise to the highest distinctions both in Church and State. Flashes of genius and outbursts of efforts usually accomplish but little. We hear much of fair openings and happy beginnings; but in a great majority of instances, the men of persevering diligence bear away the palm. The best talent on earth is that of assiduous application.-Spring time of Life.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1.-Select Speeches of Kossuth. Condensed and abridged, with Kossuth's express sanction, by Francis W. Newman. 12mo., pp. 445. New York: C. S. Francis

& Co.

No man in so short a time ever made so many speeches. (little more than half a year,) as Kossuth. The number, great and small, exceeded five hundred. His orations, it is well remarked, are a tropical forest, full of strength and majesty, tangled in luxuriance. Unsuited to form a book without abridgment, they contain materials adapted equally for immediate political service, and for permanence as a work of wisdom and of genius. Mr. Newman has in the preparation of the present volume cut short what is of temporary interest, condensed what he considered too amplified for his limits and for written style, pruning down the repetitions which are inevitable where numerous audiences are addressed by the same man on the same subject. But amid all these liberties, he has, we think, retained not only the true sentiments and arguments of the speaker, but his words and forms of thought and all that is characteristic of his genius. The compiler may be regarded, to some extent, a translator as well as reporter; and we are assured that he has received Kossuth's written approval and thanks. The volume has a fine engraved portrait of the Hungarian

12mo., pp. 208. Boston

patriot. 2.-A Defence of the Eclipse of Faith. By its Author. Crosby, Nichols & Co. New York: Evans & Dickerson. We noticed in this department of the Merchants' Magazine, soon after its publication in this country, the "Eclipse of Faith," by Henry Rogers, one of the ablest Edinburgh reviewers. That work was regarded by many as the most effective attack that had been made on the sceptical philosophy of modern times. Prof. F. W. Newman, the leading advocate of English rationalism, whose Phases of Faith" had been so remorselessly criticised by Mr. Rogers, bas thought proper to issue a new edition of his work, in which, besides some modifications in the original text, he has introduced a "Reply to the Eclipse of Faith," and a chapter on the "Moral Perfection of Jesus," all having reference to the arguments of his antagonist. Both the reply and the additional chapter have been included in the American edition of Mr. Rogers' "Defence," in order that the reader may have the fairest opportunity to judge of the merits of the controversy. The discussion has been conducted with great ability on both sides. 3.-Poems: Descriptive, Dramatic, Legendary, and Contemplative. By WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS, Esq. In 2 vols. 12mo., pp. 346 and 360. New York; J. S.

Redfield.

These volumes contain most of the poetical works of the author, including Norman Maurice, a tragedy; Atalantis, a tale of the sea; Tales and traditions of the South; the City of the Silent; Southern Passages and Pictures; Historical and Dramatic Sketches; Scripture Legends; Francesca da Reminicli. "Atalantis" is an imaginative story, in the dramatic form, its plot simple but effectively managed, and, like many of his poems, contains much beautiful imagery and fine description. As a poet and novelist, Mr. Simms seems to have been equally successful; and his productions are worthy of the beautiful and enduring form in which they are now being reproduced by Mr. Redfield, the publisher. We prize them as a most valuable addition to our library of standard American authors.

4.-Egeria: or, Voices of Thought and Counsel, for the Woods and the Wayside By W. GILMORE SIMMS, Esq., author of "Katharine Walton," &c. 12mo., pp. 319. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co.

The collection embraced in this volume, we are told by the author, has been the unpremeditated accumulation of years. It consists of aphorisms, in prose and verse-a body of sentiment and opinion hastily derived from excursive reading, but the greater portion grown out of the author's purely individual experience, from patient as well as passing observation. Many of the sentiments and opinions will find a response in eyery reflecting mind.