A MARRIAGE LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 50, 1 May 1852, Page 4

A MARRIAGE LETTER.

Dear Cousin — Herewith, you will receive a present of a pair of woollen stockings, knit by my own hands ; and be assured, dear coz, that my friendship for you is as warm as the material, active as the finger work, and generous as the donation. But I consider this present as peculiarly appropriate on the occasion of your marriage. You will remark, in the first place, that there are two individuals united in one pair, who are to walk side by Bide, guarding against coldness, and giving comfort as long as they last. The thread of their texture is mixed, and so, alas, is the thread of life. In these, however, the white predominates, expressing h'y desire and confidence that thus it will be with the colour of your existence. No black is used, for I believe your lives will be free from the dark passions of wrath and jealousy. The darkest colour here is blue, which is excellent, where we do not make it too blue. Other appropriate thoughts rise to my mind regarding these stockings. The most indifferent subjects, ivhen viewed by the mind in a suitable frame, may furnish instructive inferences, as saith the poet: — " The iron dogs, the fuel and tongs, The bellow;, that have leathern lungs, The firewood, ashes, and the smoke, Do all to righteousnt'Sa pro\oke.'' But to the subject. You will perceive that the tops of these stockings (by which I suppose courtship to be represented) are seamed, and by means of seaming, are drawn into a snail, but afterwards comes a time when the whole is made plain, and continues so to the end and final toeing off. By this I wish to take occasion to congratulate yourself that you are now through with seeming, and have come to plain reality.

Again, as the whole of these comely stockings was not made at once, but by the addition of one little stitch after another, put in with skill and discretion, until the whole presents the fair equal piece of work which you see, so life does not consist of one great action, but millions of little ones combined ; and so may it be with you. No stitch dropped when duties are to be performed— no widening made where bad principles are to be reproved, or economy is to be preserved ; neither seaming nor narrowing where truth and generosity are in question. Thus every stitch of life made right and set in the right place — none either too large or too small, too tight or too loose ; thus may you keep on your smooth and even course, making existence one fair and consistent piece, until, together, having passed the heel, you come to the very toe of life, and here, in the final narrowing off, and dropping the coil of this emblematical pair of companions and comforting associates, nothing appears but white, the token of innocence and peace, of purity and light — may you, like these stockings, the final stitch being dropped, and the work being completed, go together from the place where you were formed, to a happier state of existence, a present from earth to heaven. Hoping that these stockings and admonitions may meet a cordial reception, I remain in the true blue friendship seemly, yet without seeming yours, from top to toe. — [From the Dollar Mag.]

A Neav Fashtomt) Gun.— -Mr. P. Jennings of this place, has lately constructed a double barrelled gun, which is pronounced on all hands to be the most complete job of the kind that has ever been seen in this section. Indeed we \evy nidfch doubt 'whether one so simple in cons ( .ruction,jß.;d yet so complete in all its parts, has ever before Imta maiuifactuicd elsewhere. One barrel is rifled suuable for the ball, and the other constructed smooth for shot. Instead of side by .side, in the usual way, one barrel is immediately om - the other, both revohing on a pivot in the breech. By simply touching a spring on the stock, either barrel is immediately placed in the proper position for firing. Taking the gun altogether, it is not only a rare invention in that line, but a most splendid piece of workmanship. — Fincastle (VaJ Whig.