the workman left the shop of Cautus and followed Sir Felix. Every day, every hour, Cautus expected their return, but they came not; the ten chests were borne into another warehouse, and the merchant regarded them as his own, as he had given no document for them. After much delay, his avarice overcame him, and he proceed comfort and follow her advice: then the old devotee sent for a crafty workman, a man of trust and ability, and he made by her order ten large and fair chests of wood, well adorned with ornamented locks and hinges, and enriched with curious devices and colors on the outside. When these chests were well filled, she sent for ten porters, and told them to take the tened to open the first chest. The labor was chests to the house of Cautus, each suc- great, but endured gladly in the hopes of cessive man to be at least several minutes the treasure within; at last, lock after after his predecessor. With the work-lock was forced, and the lid kept down by man she went herself to the merchant's house, and told Sir Felix to come in with the porter that brought the first chest. "Good mother," said Cautus, as soon as he saw the old woman come tottering in, and recognized her as a devotee of great repute," good mother, what can I do for thee?" "My son,” replied the old woman, pointing to the workman," this my friend leaves Rome to-day for Egypt, and would find some safe place for his great wealth. To thee, my son, for thy known probity, have I brought him; and look, where the first of the ten chests in which it is contained is now being brought hither." At this moment the porter entered with the first chest, and placed it with apparent difficulty on the ground. Hardly had Cautus expressed his thanks to the old devotee, and her supposed friend, before Sir Felix entered, and not far behind him was seen another porter staggering under the second chest. Only too glad to sacrifice the thousand pieces to obtain the treasure of the ten chests, the merchant hastened to Sir Felix, and embraced him with every demonstration of joy. “Ah, my friend, my dear knight! where have you been? when did you return? Receive, I pray you, the gold you intrusted to my care and take the interest it has made during thy absence,-three hundred like pieces. Come, my dear friend, receive thine own." While Cautus was paying Sir Felix his money, the ten chests continued to arrive, until the whole number were arranged on the floor, and gladdened the eyes of the merchant with their external glitter and apparent weight. 66 its own weight alone. Sending every one away, Cautus entered the closet and approached the chest; with a trembling hand he raised the heavy lid, and held the lamp over the box, that he might better scan its contents. With a sudden scream he reeled backwards, and the lamp fell from his hand, and was broken on the stones with which the box was filled. With the three hundred pieces he had given to the knight, he had purchased naught but tons of pebbles. BOOKS. IN books, we find the dead as if alive; But God hath in books, we foresee things to come; in books, warlike affairs are methodized; in books, the laws of peace are manifested. All things are corrupted, and decay with time. Saturn ceaseth not to devour his offspring, and oblivion covereth the glory of the world. provided for us a remedy in books, without which all that were ever great would have been forgotten. To books, how easily, how secretly, how safely, may we expose the nakedness of human ignorance, without putting it to shame. These are the masters who instruct us without rods, without anger, and without reward. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if you interrogate them, they do not hide themselves; if you mistake them, they never murmur; if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you. O books! alone liberal and making liberal-who give to all who ask, and emancipate all who serve you!-Richard de Bury's Philobiblian, written in 1344. THE BEST REVENGE.-A man once asked Diogenes what course would be the most prudent to take to be revenged on his enemy. "Become a good man," answer My son," said the old devotee," there be yet more than these ten chests; we will go and see after them; do thou take care of these during our absence." With these words the old devotee and ed the philosopher. VOL. II, No. 3.-U To me, my sweet Kathleen, the benshie has O Kathleen, my love, thou couldst choose the good part, And more than thy duty hast done: Be duteous and tender to him as to me; And passing this shadow of death which I see, Come, come to my arms back again. GENTLE WORDS. USE gentle words, for who can tell In lonely wilds, by light-wing'd birds, WE THE FIVE POINTS, FROM CORNER OF ORANGE AND ANTHONY STREETS. THE FIVE POINTS. E closed our last article with the history of a public meeting held in Metropolitan Hall in behalf of the "Five Points," and the unexpected sum of $4,000 raised for its renovation. This proof of the extent of public interest in this great work enabled the Ladies' Home Missionary Society to take a firmer stand, and much enlarged their views and excited their hopes in regard to speedy and marked success. Hitherto it had all been experiment -every step had been taken in the dark as to the result, and hope and fear had struggled every month for ascendancy. Now with bounding hearts the ladies arose, for a new light in the form of a permanent mission establishment dawned upon their anxious vision, and a meeting of their advisory committee was immediately called, to whom the question was propounded -not "May we buy ?" or "Can we buy ?" but "What locality shall we choose for the center of future operations?" During the preceding year the ladies had continually gazed upon the "Old Brewery" with tearful eyes, and visited its fearful abodes with aching hearts. There it stood-that unsightly old building; its dingy walls, its broken windows stuffed with rags, its filthy alleys, its in tolerable stench, faint emblems of the misery within-containing at least three hundred wretched, degraded, immortal beings-one of the strongest holds of wickedness in that desperately wicked place; there it stood, meeting their gaze at every step, foiling many of their efforts by the strength which combination always gives; and as, week after week, the ladies, and their missionary and his wife, learned more and more, by actual inspection, the depths and extent of the degradation there inclosed, the wish, the hope, the prayer was cherished deep in every heart, though scarcely uttered,-"O that by some means this terrible place might be razed to its foundations!" but an immediate answer to these struggling aspirations seemed far beyond their faith. We pause still in the narration of events to dwell upon the "Old Brewery :" first, because its fame, or rather infamy, has been sounded throughout Christendom; and secondly, that an enlightened public may clearly know the extent of the benefit their liberality has enabled the Society to accomplish. The general description is so appalling that we have shrunk in utter fear from the examination of the minute details of police horrors, and feel quite unwilling to pollute our own, or offend our readers' minds by the descriptions they undoubtedly contain. We quote from the daily papers the following picture of the "Old Brewery:"— "An alley extends all around the building; on the north side it is of irregular width, wide at the entrance, and gradually tapering to a point. On the opposite side the passage-way is known by the name of 'Murderer's Alley,' a filthy, narrow path, scarcely three feet in width. There are double rows of rooms throughout the building, entered by the alleyways on either side. Some of these rooms are just passably decent; the majority are dirty, dark, and totally unfit for occupation. The dark and winding passage-ways, which extend throughout the whole building, must have afforded a convenient means of escape to thieves and criminals of all kinds; there are also various hiding-places recently discovered, which have also, no doubt, afforded the means of escape to offenders against the laws. In the floor in one of the upper rooms, a place was found where the boards had been sawed; upon tearing them up, human bones were found, the remains, no doubt, of a victim of some diabolical murder. The whole of the building above-ground is rickety and dilapidated--some of the stairs even creak when trodden upon. Our way was explored by the aid of a single lamp, in company with two gentlemen and a guide; beside these there were a number of rather rough-looking customers, who appeared as much interested as any one else. But it was not until one of the gentlemen complained, in one of the dark passage-ways, of a strange hand in his pocket, that these three characters were suspected. Then our guide informed us, in an under-tone, that we were surrounded by a gang of the most notorious pickpockets and thieves of that section, and that we must take good care of our watches, or we would lose them before we were aware. one's To grope way, at night, through the dark passages, when the light was within sight only a part of the time, and to be surrounded with a crowding, pushing gang of desperadoes, was not altogether the most pleasant way of spending our evening. "The above-ground part of the premises cannot be better imagined than by supposing it just as bad as it can be,-once plastered, but now half the wall off, in some places mended by pasting newspapers over it, but often revealing unsightly holes. The under part, or basement of the building, is even still worse on the south-west corner; in a lower room, not more than fifteen feet square, twenty-six human beings reside. A man could scarely stand erect in it; two men were sitting by the blaze of a few sticks when our company entered; women lay on a mass of filthy, unsightly rags in the corner-sick, feeble, and emaciated; six or seven children were in various attitudes about the corner; an old table covered with a few broken dishes; two women were peeling potatoes, and actually pulling off the skins with their finger nails; the smoke and stench of the room was so suffocating that it could not be long endured, and the announcement that, in addition to the misfortune of poverty, they "On the front side of the building the basement is deeper, but if possible worse. Here were seen only a few miserable-looking women -one was drunk and stupid, and lay upon the bare floor in the corner; in a side room, in front of a fire-place, and before a full blaze, sat two women, who looked as low and debased as any human beings could. No furniture was in the room, with only the floor for their bed, and the scant dresses they wore for their only covering. "But it may be asked: What do these wretched people do for a living? We answer: The men are street-sweepers and thieves, the women beg and steal what they can, the children sweep crossings in wet weather, and cut up the kindling-wood which we all see them carry about the streets. A great deal of this last business, we observed, was carried on in the 'Old Brewery What more they do who can tell? Miserable beings! life is at best but an unpleasant necessity, but to them it must be an awful punishment.' This was the state of the "Old Brewery" in 1850, when the Society first entered the field, and for the two succeeding years. We learn from an old inhabitant of NewYork that it was erected in 1792, and then known as Coulter's Brewery; that it was changed to a tenement-building in 1837, and seems almost immediately to have attained its "bad preeminence." We now return to the history of its purchase and demolition. The advisory committee met to redeem their promise, mentioned in our first article as having been given at the commencement of the enterprise. During the discussion of places and prices, Mrs. D. mentioned the " Old Brewery." The proposition was received with hearty laughter on the part of the gentlemen, so chimerical at that time seemed the idea. A committee was appointed to survey the premises, to ascertain what was to be sold and at what prices, &c. They met again on February 5, 1852, and reported "that they had examined a number of situations, and in their opinion the 'Old Brewery' was the most eligible place;" and after considerable discussion, it was resolved, "That the business of examining the Old Brewery,' and also of waiting upon Mr. Lynch, the owner of the property, to get the refusal of it for a short time, be referred to a committee consisting of Rev. Mr. Luckey, Messrs. W. B. Skidmore, L. Kirby, D. Drew, J. Cornell, N. Worrall, and O. D. M'Clain." This was a memorable meeting to the Society; for the gentlemen, practical busi ness men, sympathized fully with their ardent wishes, and expressed themselves ready to give their time, influence, and money, to aid to the utmost in this favorite mission. On the evening of February 23d the following resolutions were passed; and we give them to show how thoughtfully and carefully all these plans were laid, and how judiciously the gentlemen appointed to receive and expend the public funds acted in reference to every point. First: "That in view of the benefits that have resulted from the experiment of the Ladies' Home Missionary Society in the establishment of a mission at the Five Points,' and also in view of the prospect of its increasing usefulness, we deem it of the utmost importance that a permanent location be purchased the rooms now occupied being too small and inconvenient for the use of the mission." And, Secondly: "That we pledge ourselves to purchase the property known as the 'Old Brewery,' situated at the Five Points,' on Cross-street, for the use of the Ladies' Home Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, provided it can be obtained for a sum not exceeding $16,000; and also provided that subscriptions be obtained toward the payment of said purchase of not less than $10,000 by the 10th day of March next; and we hereby pledge ourselves to use the utmost of our endeavors to obtain the amount by the time named." After several intermediate meetings, on March 8th it was moved by Mr. Leonard Kirby, and seconded by Mr. Daniel Drew, "That the committee forthwith close with the offer made by the owner of the Old Brewery,' and agree with him for the purchase at the sum named-$16,000." It was carried unanimously; Messrs. Kirby and Worrall were appointed a committee to effect a purchase, and in a few days the joyful announcement was made that the "Old Brewery" was redeemed. But more was to be done; money was to be raised, and this, too, by thousands; and the Board of Managers, feeling most deeply their obligations to the gentlemen who, for them, had incurred so heavy a personal responsibility, aroused themselves to the most vigorous and persevering action. The public met their appeals nobly, immediately, and before one year had closed the entire sum was subscribed; and then their cautious committee, who had previously resolved not to build until the purchase-money was entirely raised, sounded the note of victory. Ere we proceed, in our narrative, to raze the old building to its foundations, we will give one incident as a specimen of missionary labor in connection with it before it was redeemed by the Society. One Tuesday evening, in the winter of 1851, the usual weekly prayer-meeting was in session at the Mission Room, which is directly opposite the "Old Brewery." [See cut of it in our last number.] Two men, under the influence of liquor, abruptly entered, and inquired for the missionary. Mr. Luckey asked them their business. They replied that a sick man in one of the upper rooms of the "Old Brewery" desired his immediate attendance. The appearance of the men, the hour of the night, the locality specified, beside the fact that the prayermeeting required his presence, caused Mr. Luckey to hesitate, and he dismissed the men with the promise that he would come the next day. In a little time one returned, urging that the man was dying, and must see him immediately. The call was thus decisive, and, laying aside every personal consideration, Mr. Luckey resigned the charge of the meeting to his wife, and, taking one of the mission converts with him, followed his rough, half-drunken guide. They crossed the street, and entered the dark, narrow passage known as "Murderer's Alley," groped their way back to the "Den of Thieves," and then commenced ascending a creaking stairs. The guide reached back his hand to Mr. Luckey, and, thus escorted, he proceeded. Standing on the first platform, a glimmering light through the cracked walls and the sound of noisy mirth proclaimed a drunken revel. The guide unceremoniously placed his foot against the door, which yielded to the heavy pressure, entered the room, and, snatching a burning brand from the hearth, again appeared, and they continued their upward path until they reached a long, low room, near, if not in, the attic. On entering, Mr. L. found the sick man on a miserable bed, evidently near the grave, agonized with fear and remorse, and a pale-looking wife and daughter almost fainting with fright. The man besought Mr. L. to remove him from that dreadful place; and when he attempted to direct his mind to the Saviour, the imploring response was: "O take me first from here; take me where Jesus can come." Mr. L. proposed prayer. “O! they will murder us if you pray," was the trembling response, as the sound of oaths |