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For the round end of the purse, work the colours in the following order :

1 gold, 2 black, 1 gold, 2 dark green, 1 gold, 2 crimson, 1 gold, 2 dark green, 1 gold, 2 light green, 1 gold, 2 dark green, 1 gold, 2 claret, 1 gold, 2 dark green, 1 gold, 2 cerise, 1 gold.

With a sewing needle, draw up this end of the purse, and sew on one tassel. The two others go at the corners of the square end, which must be previously closed by working a row of sc. with gold, holding the two sides together, and inserting the hook every time in a stitch of each.

French purses are now invariably trimmed with rings and tassels, composed of gold and silks that match the purse. The tassel for the round end is, generally speaking, larger than those attached to the corners of the square.

The edges of the opening are to be worked in sc., with gold thread.

THE STORY OF Mr. TOUCH-ALL.* FREDERICK DOLBY was a student at one of the royal colleges of France. During one of his vacations he was accompanied to his father's house by his tutor, Mr. Verdun, who had been invited to spend a few days there. Being received with much kindness by Mr. Dolby, Mr. Verdun was glad to be able, with truth, to assure him of the improvement and good conduct of his son. However, he thought it his duty to inform him of a fault in the boy which, if not checked, might cause him to forfeit the good opinion to which his education and manners would other wise entitle him. Frederick's fault was one which parents and teachers do not in general reprove with sufficient severity. Though he had no dishonest intention of appropriating other person's property to himself, yet he liked to touch things that did not belong to him, to examine them, to put them out of their place. Now, as Mr. Verdun feared that this habit proceeded from idle curiosity, or from a love of mischief, he requested that Mr. Dolby would assist him in correcting this failing while it was yet but a growing

one.

* From a French Tale, by the Abbé de Savigny.

Mr. Dolby, upon hearing the tutor's request, sighed deeply. He took his son by the hand, and requesting his guest to take a seat near him, began as follows:

"My dear Frederick," said he, "I am about to make a confession. I had not a tutor sincere enough to tell my father of my faults, but you have, and a father also who will acknowledge his own errors, and their consequences, in order that you may avoid them. In the school where I was educated, my companions gave me the nickname of Mr. Touch-all. This appellation fully expresses the tendency of my habits. I was dreaded by those of my schoolfellows who loved order and neatness in their desks or clothes-presses. If our master happened to leave his snuffbox, or book, or anything else, upon the table, he was sure to find it in my hands on his return. One day an usher was showing us a map of ancient geography, traced on parchment, and embellished with drawings and illustrations. companions and I were grouped round a table upon which it was unrolled. A prohibition not to touch it roused my unhappy propensity. The master had placed an ink-bottle upon one of the corners of the map to keep it open. It was quite full. I touched it; the parchment rolled back, and upset the ink-bottle; the map was covered with ink, and entirely spoiled, as all the master's efforts to repair the mischief were useless.

me.

My

"Many attempts were made to correct

At that time people were much interested in the discoveries in natural philosophy made by Dr. Franklin. One day the principal of the college had left the door of his room half open; I peeped in, and saw a bottle as bright as silver, with a brass rod, terminated by a ball. I wished to touch the bottle, and take away the little shining ball. I did so, and screamed loudly. I felt a pain as if a hammer had struck my arm, and at the same time shouts of derision proceeded from the lobby. The master had given me a lesson. I then learned that I had been electrified, and that the bottle which had communicated the shock to me was the apparatus known by the name of the Leyden bottle.

"It happened," continued Mr. Dolby,

"that I sometimes received severe warnings, which ought to have corrected me sooner. Our master had a very handsome country residence, where we often spent our holidays. During an excursion there we were forbidden to go into a certain copse wood, or to touch any wires which we might chance to see on the ground. I left my companions to wander where they pleased, and ventured alone into the thickest part of the wood. After walking some time I caught sight of one of the wires which we had been desired not to touch. There were some leaves collected in a heap near it, which appeared to conceal something. I went up to this heap and knelt down that I might see better, pushing the leaves asunder with my hand. In a moment I heard a noise, as of the snapping of a spring, and saw the glitter of two bars of steel. I uttered a scream of pain, and fell, fainting, to the ground. My hands had been caught in a trap set for foxes. In the evening the under-master, contrary to custom, did not call the roll, so that my absence was not noticed. My schoolfellows went off without me, and I was not released till after a night of torture, when a farmer, attracted by my cries, came to my assistance. I might have been killed had I been caught by one of the larger traps, which were armed with teeth, and being more raised, might have crushed my head; but God willed it otherwise, and preserved me for severer trials, the remembrance of which, even after the lapse of many years, still fills me with scrrow.

"The great revolution of 1789 broke out in France while I was pursuing my studies. My father, who resided in a village situated near the borders of La Vendée, was a man respected, even in those times of violence, by the different parties which distracted the country. I was eleven years old at the time the events which I am about to relate occurred. One of my father's tenants had a son named George, who had been chosen to serve in the republican army. He was not a coward; his heart throbbed with feelings of patriotism when the glory of France was spoken of; yet he refused to serve. At that period the difference of the colour of a cockade made the children

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of the same country violent enemies to each other. The courage of the soldiers was expended in fighting. Frenchman against Frenchman. George could not bear the idea of exposing himself to the chance of shedding the blood of kinsmen or friends; he concealed himself in the woods that surrounded his native village; he kept up communications in the country, and his relations, by means of preconcerted signals, gave him notice of the movements of the soldiers who were appointed to pick up recruits. It had been settled that a white ribbon, fastened to a wooden cross which stood in the village churchyard, would announce the arrival of the republican soldiers, and the danger he would incur were he to show himself. One day George's father and sister had taken care to fix this signal in the appointed place, and had returned to their cottage, praying that God would soon remove the soldiers and restore their dear fugitive to them again. In the evening George went to kneel at the foot of the cross, and seeing no ribbon fastened to it, gaily took the road to the village. The unfortunate youth did not know that I had passed that way, and indulging my unlucky propensity of touching everything, had unfastened the ribbon and placed it out of his sight. George had scarcely gone a few steps, when he was surrounded by the republican soldiers and taken before their commander, who placed him in charge of a police officer, with orders to convey him the next day to the chief town of the province. My father heard of this event with grief. I confessed to him my involuntary fault, and he told me that he depended on me to repair it. If George is taken to Angers,' said my father, he will be tried with the rigour of republican law immediately; the police officer is a man who will not fail in his duty. He has promised to take George to the town to-morrow, and to start at noon. He will go, as he always does in the morning, to the inn kept by Mrs. Louis, whose daughter he is going to marry. If Fanny can detain him till one o'clock, George will be saved, for by that hour the royalists will be able to rescue him. Go,' said he to me, 'ask Fanny to help in this matter; George is

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her cousin, and I am sure she will do all she can for him, and will find some means of delaying her lover's departure.' 'You may conceive,' said Mr. Dolby, the joy I felt at the idea of being able to undo the mischief I had occasioned. I hastened to the inn, told everything to Mrs. Louis and Fanny, and both of them set their wits to work to find out the means of effecting our object. I did not return that night to my father's house, which was at some distance, but slept at the inn. The next morning I was up at daybreak; Fanny came to me and said, 'Make your mind easy, Mr. Henry, we have thought of a plan; do not stay here for fear of exciting suspicion, but go away and come back again like any other traveller.' My heart bounded with joy and hope. I had scarcely gone out, before the police officer came to pay his usual morning visit to the innkeeper and her daughter; he asked what o'clock it was, and added, 'I must start at noon precisely.' He never thought of mentioning George, for at that time arrests were so common that little notice

was taken of them. 'I will tell you when it is half-past eleven,' said Fanny, looking at the clock, which then pointed to the hour of ten. The police officer mechanically glanced at it, and then sat down at the fire to light his pipe. Fanny immediately opened the door of the clock, and stopped the movement of the pendulum. Her lover was a little deaf, and she thanked the cannon for having made him so, as it might be the means of saving her unfortunate cousin. Fanny's plan might have succeeded; she intended not to put the pendulum again in motion for some time, and thus a delay would have been gained. Unhappily she left the room, and unhappily I went in. After taking two or three turns in the apart ment, not knowing Fanny's plan, and not hearing the usual ticking of the clock, I opened its door, touched the pendulum, and then went away, without being aware of the mischief I had done. When Fanny came back, she found the police officer standing opposite the clock. It is getting late,' said he, 'I must be off.' She heard the ticking and nearly fainted. I went in again; Fanny told me what she had done, and I was obliged to acknowledge

for a second time, that my mania of touching everything had again brought poor George into danger, for the hour named for his departure was on the point of striking. The only hope which now remained was in my father. I hastened to throw myself at his feet, and tell him all the circumstances of my recent fault. George passed me, escorted by the officer. They both saluted me; I had scarcely power to return their civility. My father made use of the influence he possessed with the authorities to obtain George's release. If the young man would have consented to serve in the ranks of the republic, his pardon would have been granted, but his answer to the proposal was, 'I will serve against the enemies of my country, but never against Frenchmen.' As it would have been dangerous to make an exception in his favour, which others might claim in their turn, it was considered necessary to condemn George as a deserter. My father obtained permission to see the prisoner, and I went with him to beg his forgiveness for having caused him so much misery. A jailor conducted us to his cell. George was calm; his countenance bore the expression of resignation and serenity which can be experienced only when conscience absolves from the crime which men condemn. My father was not a man to urge George to alter his determination of not serving against his countrymen. He spoke to him of religion, of the strength which that alone can impart in misfortune. Meanwhile I was occupied in examining the prisoner's food. Oh! poor George,' thought I, 'what nasty black bread he eats!' I took it in my hand to look at it closer, when to my surprise, it separated in two parts; one-half was hollow, and a long piece of rope appeared. 'A rope ladder for making his escape!' exclaimed the jailor, and instantly ordered us to leave the cell. "He is lost!" said my father, as we left the prison. "And by my fault again," added I. Three days afterwards George was condemned to be shot. A ball fired from the musket of a Frenchman entered the heart of him who chose to die rather than slay one of his countrymen. His mortal remains were laid in the village churchyard, near the

CHESS.

In an age so distinguished by the influence of science as the present, we feel it to be unnecessary to apologise to our subscribers for the introduction into our columns of a pastime so intellectual as the game of Chess. We may reasonably assume that the influence of which we have just spoken is not limited to the direction of our studies or labours, but that it also, to a very considerable extent, affects the character of our amusements. We accordingly find that Chess, (which is generally admitted to partake largely of the nature of a science,) is now extensively practised by people of all grades; that it obtains in the cottage as well as in the palace; that it is becoming more and more resorted to in the hour of leisure; that the superiority of Chess over those senseless and pernicious games of chance, which have their origin in beer-shops and other low places of resort, is so great, that even while children become quickly enamoured of the game, minds

of mature growth-the philosophic, the mathematic, or the scholastic, become absorbed in its profundity, and find strong exercise in its infinite variety, amazing scope, intricate combination, and inexhaustible changes. Its introduction into the study of youth has been advocated by many writers of eminence; and it is saying no little on behalf of Chess, that we are able to claim as one of its most ardent admirers one of the greatest economists of time that ever lived, the celebrated Dr. Franklin. That distinguished philosopher enumerates, as qualities most necessary to make a good chessplayer-foresight, circumspection, caution, and hope; qualifications which every one must admit are essential to a successful progress in life.

To our lady subscribers Chess presents claims of a peculiar character, and to the ladies we confidently appeal, anticipating their countenance to a game which, more than any other, is calculated to banish from the drawing-room, cards, listlessness,