MARIA MCARTHUR having, by her womanly sympathy, awakened¹ the generous impulses of Tom Swiggs, he is resolved they shall have a new channel for their action. Her kindness touched his heart; her solicitude² for his welfare gained his affections, and a recognition of that love she so long and silently cherished for him, is the natural result. The heart that does not move to woman's kindness, must indeed be hard. But there were other things which strengthened Tom's affections for Maria. The poverty of her aged³ father; the insults offered her by Keepum and Snivel; the manner in which they sought her ruin while harassing⁴ her father; the artlessness and lone⁵ condition of the pure-minded girl; and the almost holy affection evinced for the old man on whom she doated-all tended to bring him nearer and nearer to her, until he irresistibly⁶ found himself at her feet, pledging that faith lovers call eternal. Maria is not of that species of being the world calls beautiful; but there is about her something pure, thoughtful, even noble; and this her lone condition heightens. Love does not always bow before beauty. The singularities of human nature are most strikingly blended in woman. She can overcome physical defects; she can cultivate attractions most ap- preciated by those who study her worth deepest. Have you not seen those whose charms at first-sight found no place in your thoughts, but as you were drawn⁷ nearer and nearer to them, so also did your esteem⁸ quicken, and that esteem, almost unconsciously, you found ripening⁹ into affection, until in turn you were seized with an

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