needle-work or knitting, which, employing the hands, leaves the mind at
liberty, and occupying the attention so far as is necessary to remove
the painful sense of a vacuity, yet yields room for contemplation,
whether upon things heavenly or earthly, cheerful or melancholy.
--_Quarterly Rev._




* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

"A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles."
SHAKSPEARE.

* * * * *


LAUGHTER.


"Laugh and grow fat," is an old adage; and Sterne tells us, that every
time a man laughs, he adds something to his life. An eccentric
philosopher, of the last century, used to say, that he liked not only to
laugh himself, but to see laughter, and hear laughter. "Laughter, Sir,
laughter is good for health; it is a provocative to the appetite, and a
friend to digestion. Dr. Sydenham, Sir, said the arrival of a
merry-andrew in a town was more beneficial to the health of the
inhabitants than twenty asses loaded with medicine." Mr. Pott used to