He feels that a breath of suspicion may sully it forever. And anonymous letters are calculated to sting his sensibilities to the quick. If the tact of their author bear any relation to his malignity, they will goad the poor minister's soul well-nigh to desperation. The vagueness of the hints and warnings thus thrust upon him, sets his foolish imagination on an exploring tour through the infinite space of possibility;-and apprehension sees the wolf at a thousand exposed points which prudence cannot defend. In my "model republic," I would have no offence recognized as capital but this. The anonymous assailant of reputation should find no mercy, if detected. The retributive vengeance of the law — winking from afar at other criminals - should descend upon him like the night of doom, and gird the slimy assassin with its seven-fold terrors ! Still, much as I suffered from anonymous communications, at the period of which I am writing, I do not think they would cause me much uneasiness now. A little reflection will convince any person that they are not likely to prove dangerous. If the anonymous writer really had any truth to allege against you, he would boldly publish it in the streets, and not skulk behind the whole crowd of mankind, to write an accusation in obscurity that he dare not support in public. -The means he adopts is conclusive evidence that he has no real power to harm you, if you only disenchant your fancy of the silly fears with which the wicked sorcerer has peopled its chambers. Another trial that began to oppress me about this time, was of a pecuniary nature. It is true that my salary was liberal, for that day, and in view of my being an unmarried man. Six hundred dollars had a munificent sound to my ears, unaccustomed as they were to the jingle of money; and there were people in the parish who appeared to consider the sum as inexhaustible as the purse of Fortunatus, and who regarded me as a kind of humanitarian capitalist, endowed with wealth for the blessed purpose of bestowing charities upon all the poor and needy of Bubbleton. So plausible and insinuating were the applications made to my purse, in behalf of all conceivable purposes and exertions for which money is required, and so insensibly did the restless dollars take to themselves wings, and fly wheresoever the magicians of philanthropy willed them to go, that my first quarter's salary became exhausted in less than a month after it was paid. This consummation taught me the necessity of observing economy, even with such a vast income as mine; but, having acquired some reputation for generosity, and proved myself an easy subject in the hands of experienced charity-farmers, my efforts at "retrenchment" were not as successful as I could have desired. "Really now, Mr. Chester, I think you must give us the sanction of your support in this little affair. Your influence will help us so much! It is not a great sum we ask for only five dollars, and your salary is so liberal, and then you have no family to support. Of course, you won't refuse us this little sum from your income, when so much depends upon your generous example. Besides, it is known that you gave as much to the 'Society of Consolation;' and you must be aware that the 'Sisters of Singlehearted Sensibility' have as good a claim upon you," &c. &c. What did all my resolution avail me, in such cases? Who could withstand the artless persuasions of Magician Honeymouth? Like one controlled by a charm, I handed over the trifling contribution, and the "Sisters of Single-hearted Sensibility" were proportionally encouraged to tease somebody else. After Magician Honeymouth came Patrick Tatterdemalionas voluble and resistless a scion of beggary as ever the heaving tide of emigration cast upon these afflicted shores. What heart could resist the eloquence of Patrick Tatterdemalion's vicissitudes -especially when he appealed to your benevolence as a minister of Christ, and implored blessings upon you from all the saints in the Roman Catholic calendar? It was not natural that he should go away unrewarded. A circumstance that aggravated my pecuniary embarrassments, was the neglect of the parish in not paying my second quarter's salary when it became due. Whether this neglect was owing to the unfriendly feeling which had sprung up in the minds of certain individuals towards me, or to some less painful cause, I was not informed; but whatever may have been its occasion, it cost me a great deal of precious time, squandered in days of enervating anxiety and nerveless discouragement. My readers may be inclined to wonder why I did not rid myself of all these troubles, by resigning my charge, and seeking a more congenial field. This is my explanation: Had I consulted my own feelings and judgment, I should have adopted this course: but I relied upon the experience and wisdom of another, and consented to remain a while longer. My adviser was Mr. Oracular Blunt. "For the salvation of Bubbleton," said he, "stand firm at your post. To go away would be a relief to you, but the parish would suffer by the step. You have made friends here among the least heathenish people in the society, and were you to leave, they would resent the treatment you have received as a personal injury, and withdraw from the parish. Then, what would become of the others, no longer salted by the influence of worthier souls? No minister in Christendom would peril his peace by coming among them, so long as a field remains unoccupied in the Fejee Islands, or in any other preferable department of heathenism! The probability is that Bubbleton would not be converted until the very last day of grace, and that its resuscitated virtue would walk, dim and spectral, in the very rear of the redeemed host, that is to come to Zion with songs and everlasting joys! No, no, Brother Chester, don't flinch from |