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a mist came before my eyes. One last glimpse of the old Squire in his high-backed oaken chair; then all vanished, and I found myself sitting in the moonlight in my own quiet room, gazing at the pictured face of my dear old friend.

THE HOME OF THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.

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THE HOME OF THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD.

"At the foot of a sloping hill, and sheltered with a beautiful underwood behind and a prattling river before," stands a little low English cottage, with thatched roof and vine-covered porch. Adjoining the house, is a neat garden with sweet old-fashioned flowers and a long row of gooseberry bushes; and near by, a rustic seat shaded by a hedge of hawthorn and honeysuckle.

A simple little picture, is it not? Yet it is beautiful to me because it represents the home of the Vicar of Wakefield, one of the best of men that I ever knew.

If you are not acquainted with this good man and his family, let me introduce them to you, for I know that a knowledge of their simple virtues cannot fail to interest you.

Dr. Primrose, the Vicar, is an unworldly, peaceloving man.

"E'en his failings lean

To virtue's side."

Of a generous and hospitable nature, his house

is open to all. The blind, the halt, and the maimed. find there a safe asylum, and a sympathetic ear into which to pour their tale of woe.

"The long remembered beggar is his guest,

Whose beard, descending, sweeps his aged breast;
The ruined spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claims kindred there, and has his claim allowed;
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sits by his fire, and talks the night away;
Weeps o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,
Shoulders his crutch, and shows how fields were won.
Pleased with his guests, the good man learns to glow,
And quite forgets their vices in their woe."

But the Vicar has one hobby; namely, matrimony. He maintains that it is unlawful for a minister of the Church of England to marry the second time; or, as he expresses it, he is a monogamist1. He has published several tracts on this important subject; and, as they have never sold very well, he has the satisfaction of thinking that they are read only by the "happy few.”

Mrs. Primrose is a most devoted wife and mother. The Vicar says that he chose her as she

1 Monogamist-one who does not believe in second marriages.

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