eral others went to the Holy Land to examine the country, with a view to forming a colony, whose members were to work and await the return of Christ. But he found the country unsuited to grape-growing and agriculture, and came to the conclusion that his own fatherland was the best home for the present. His talks give evidence of the new and deep impressions the land of the Bible made upon one who had studied Holy Writ ever since his youth. The "Silent," as the people of his sect are called, have, on this account, made the house of this old gentleman their meeting place. "man The woman, his wife, is the abler " of the two. She has a noble forehead, considering that she is uncultivated; she has a grand face, which would well have become a general or a senator. What dignity, passive power, persistency, thoroughness, and endurance! That nose and chin indicate fidelity, affection, courage, dignity, and strength of character. A knowledge of all that pertains to her daily life will be so carried as to be useful on the instant, and if that head had been well cultivated it would have adorned any circle, or attained to eminence in any line of thought and study. The brother-in-law, on the right, has a womanly face, as if he resembled his mother, while we judge the woman to have resembled her father-hers is the most masculine face of the three. This man's head is broad through the region of the ears, indicating self-reliance, power, and force; the forehead is well devel The three portraits are interesting subjects of study in themselves, but would be much more serviceable for our purposes if the head-dresses had been omitted. The man on the left has in his face an expression of shrewdness and tact which, under some circumstances, would ripen into suspicion. His intellect is not very largely developed, not only in the lower part, where oped, and what he has is of a practical perception and memory are manifested, but also in the upper portion, indicating the power of analysis and comprehensiveness of thought, and great common sense. What a sincere face! how free from guile, yet how strong, patient, thorough, amiable, truthful, reliable, and religious! He has the sign of Language, and the wideness of his head in the region of the ears shows a good deal of energy, economy, and power of concealment. He has a good memory of words and facts, is a sharp observer, but not a broad thinker. WE CHAPTER III. CHOOSING PROFESSIONS. E talk about choosing a profes- | prosperous therein, we moralize piously sion as though it were a thing on the guiding and controlling hand deliberately accomplished, but, strictly of Providence in the affairs of life; but speaking, the great mass of us do not if unsuccessful, and pulling perpetually choose, we simply accept the work of against the current of inclination, we hand or brain which the necessities or fail of satisfaction and reward in our the peculiar circumstances of our lot pursuit, there is no such recognition of force upon us. If we are happy and Divine direction, but inward rebellion and revolt against the cruel and compulsory fate that binds us to hard and uncongenial tasks. What it would be to choose, under wise and intelligent instruction, a vocation exactly in harmony with our nature and precisely adapted to our powers, and to pursue it untrammelled and unimpeded by the clamoring claims of duties and relations falsely imposed upon our individual thought and carewhat this would be we may none of us know, experimentally, until that favored day when the laws of mind are more perfectly comprehended and regarded, and our social life is organized upon a plan less artificial and complex in its demands. But the young man of our story had, with the rest of us, no better fortune than to live in the faint early dawn of that beautiful era, and with all his youthful enthusiasm and burning aspirations for a life of power and usefulness, he had neither the wisdom to elect, nor the freedom and opportunity to execute, the work peculiarly his own. For the iron hand of poverty held the boy in its hard grip, and his young strength had been early turned to account in the cotton mills of his native town, where Adam himself, between his fevers of invention, had worked for the supply of the family necessities. Thus, to the age of sixteen, at which period he is commended to your favorable notice and friendly regards, our ambitious youth had had little chance to discover, and less to follow, the true inclination of his genius for labor, though his passion for knowledge and zeal for dispensing its practical benefits were characteristics which no stress of circumstances could extinguish or repress so far that the most meager opportunity for their manifestation was not eagerly appropriated and made to serve their ends. To what degree these traits of his nature owed their strength and availability to the fostering care, encouragement, and direction of Madame Lacrosse could no more be estimated than the thousand other nameless and unappreciated influences which go to make up the sum of human life and character; yet it is certain she conscientiously resisted all temptations to impose upon her boy any definite plan of future work that should represent her ideas of beauty, dignity, and utility, and not also his, which, being yet in the tender and impressible state of growth, she desired not to mold or fashion, but simply to develop and direct. A little incident, occurring not long before Adam's death, had contributed, as such seemingly insignificant trifles often do, to give shape and coloring to his intangible dreams, and point and definiteness to his nameless aspirations. One of those mental philosophers and students of human nature, who sometimes do, and who oftener might, drop a gratuitous word of instruction, advice, or encouragement for the enlightenment and advancement of an ignorant and hesitating fellow mortal, had one day passed through the department of work in which he was engaged, and, pausing observantly for a moment's speech with him, had uttered, half unconsciously, as it appeared, some reflections or suggestions which had fallen as ripened seed in the fallow soil of his mind. "That is good," the stranger had remarked, noting the lad's absorption in his task, "faithful in the least, faithful in the greatest. That is well.. But you will not always spend your strength in work like this," he added, standing off and viewing the boy ir profile as he might critically ha viewed a fine work of art. "Power there," he went on, as though discoursing with himself; "grand moral qualities-absorbing love of his kind in intense desire to right wrong, to confer benefits, to enlighten ignorance-intuitive perception of character and motive-keen analytical faculty, and an instinctive, almost supernatural, sense of the relations of cause and effect-swift observation and an eager, restless seeking after the truth of things-great persistence, courage, daring, force, executiveness. Boy, you are born to leadership." 66 Aye, sir, I feel it," was the quick, breathless response of the hungry listener; "but how, where?" The stranger smiled. "Youth sees all ways open, and has but one perplexity-which to choose," he said, kindly. "But your dominion, my lad, is clearly in the realm of ideas. It is spiritual rather than material forces which you are formed to lead. You would make an orator of exceptional power, swaying the multitude at will by the pure fervor of your earnestness; but there is that in your nature, I think, which would be unsatisfied with an influence so evanescent in its character, and which would impel you to seek a broader and more permanent basis of power. You have a certain quality of Constructiveness--an ability for organizing and magnetically drawing into the line of your own mastering purpose the undirected forces of other minds; and this peculiar faculty, combined with your unflinching bravery and independence of thought, would constitute you pre-eminently a successful leader in any branch of reform requiring the championship of a stanch, true, valiant, broad-visioned, unprejudiced, uncompromising, and ineorruptible spirit. Think of journalism, young man. It is a field affording ample scope for the exercise of your gifts, and it is destined to become the ruling power in the land-one of the grandest moral agencies in human controlmightier in its influence, wider in its dominion than the precepts of the pulpit and the edicts of thrones. Think of it." And our aspiring youth thought of it, you may be sure, and thought of little else, in fact, for days preceding the shock of the domestic tragedy which had filled for the time the whole compass of his life, and left no space for present reflections, save those giving pain and trouble. But with the lessening of the strain on heart and nerve, and the inevitable return to the every-day duties and uncongenial tasks which were his portion, the future, with her sphinx-like face, rose again before him, and the question as to how he should solve the riddle presented to him became once more an absorbing subject of thought. Talking the matter over one evening with his bosom friend and confidante, they came to the conclusion that to act upon the suggestion which had taken so strong a hold on his affections would be the wisest thing to do since it gave infinite promise of satisfaction in employment to mind and heart. But with this decision arose the consideration of difficulties in the way, of obstacles to betovercome, of advantages to be secured, of requirements to be honestly and squarely met. "You should have the thorough drill and preparation of a college course to give you confidence and skill in such a profession," the mother said, thoughtfully studying the situation." And a little silence fell upon the two, the greatness of the thing desired for a space overshadowing all other considerations, and assuming a magnitude out of all proportion to its struggle against the spirit of selfishmerit. "I think it can be managed," Madam Lacrosse resumed, after due deliberation. "There is the small amount of your yet unappropriated wages for the past few months, and as with your departure I shall be freed from home duties I can make my time and labor some way available in sustaining you through your course of study." Ariel, sitting with his face in shadow, and his head bowed neglectingly upon his hand, did not at once reply, but after a few moments he arose, came over to his mother's side and kissed her tenderly, as though in acceptance of her plan. "How is it, mother, love," he said, sitting down upon the arm of her chair, after an old habit of his boyhood, "how is it that you women look upon it as a matter of course that you are to spend your life for the advancement of others?" "Well, perhaps, because we find our happiness in so spending ourselves," was the smiling response. "But have you no personal ambitions or aspirations that you would like to realize?" pursued the loving questioner. "If we have, we commit them to our husbands and sons to gratify and fulfill," came the reply, still smiling, but with the least perceptible tinge of sarcasm. "We think," said Ariel, turning the mother's face to his, "we think, do we not, that there is small chance of their fulfillment as the world goes? Well, I shall strive always to do credit to my mother, but I shall never hope to represent her. Can she not better represent herself? I should shrink from having all her hopes and ambitions centered in me. I should hate to have to ness which her entire devotion to absorption in my interests would be sure to develop and foster. I should like when I talk over my plans and progress to have her report her's also, for so we would form a mutual admiration society of two for the encouragement and support of each other. Now, then, mother heart, unbosom yourself and give me a glimpse of your own aspirations for the future." "My dear boy, what aspirations or ambitions can I have for myself, with these silver threads daily thickening in my hair ?" "Lovely silver threads! they but add to your beauty, not to your age," the boy responded, dropping a kiss upon the slandered locks. "Your heart is as young as mine, and will be when head is white as snow. your deed, I think your face is little older. Let us see." And he brought a small mirror, and laying his cheek to hers, held it up to catch the reflection. In "What do you mark, mother, mine?" "The bright young moon on the edge of the shadowy old one," she answered, smiling. "Now, that is not a fair simile, for the young moon slowly absorbs the old one," complained Ariel. "In accordance with a fixed law of nature," added his mother. "I do not like it," persisted the youth. "Now, to me these faces suggest two stars-one with the softened radiance of wisdom and experience, but both shining with the same high hopes, and exulting in equal possibilities. I never observed before that we bore such a striking resemblance to each other-the same eyes, lips, chin; but I have a somewhat bolder front and a more audacious nose. By the by, |