cut his acquaintance, and can seldom bear to think of a final
separation.

Again, there is a very prevalent idea, that Time loves to sit by the
fireside, telling stories of the Puritans, the witch persecutors, and
the heroes of the old French war and the Revolution; and that he has no
memory for anything more recent than the days of the first President
Adams. This is another great mistake. Time is so eager to talk of
novelties, that he never fails to give circulation to the most
incredible rumors of the day, though at the hazard of being compelled to
eat his own words to-morrow. He shows numberless instances of this
propensity while the national elections are in progress. A month ago,
his mouth was full of the wonderful Whig victories; and to do him
justice, he really seems to have told the truth for once. Whether the
same story will hold good another year, we must leave Time himself to
show. He has a good deal to say, at the present juncture, concerning
the revolutionary movements in Canada; he blusters a little about the
northeastern boundary question; he expresses great impatience at the
sluggishness of our commanders in the Florida war; he gets considerably
excited whenever the subject of abolition is brought forward, and so
much the more, as he appears hardly to have made up his mind on one side
or the other. Whenever this happens to be the case,--as it often does,
--Time works himself into such a rage, that you would think he were
going to tear the universe to pieces; but I never yet knew him to
proceed, in good earnest, to such terrible extremities. During the last
six or seven months, he has been seized with intolerable sulkiness at
the slightest mention of the currency; for nothing vexes Time so much as
to be refused cash upon the nail. The above are the chief topics of
general interest which Time is just now in the habit of discussing.
For his more private gossip, he has rumors of new matches, of old ones