THE FOURTH OF JULY. 177

ally looking at her with an expression that
said :

“'There’s nobody so sweet and good as our
Bessie.”

She had quite recovered from the effects of
the visit to Rose Lawn; and as she sat there
without her bonnet, her face glowing with the
exercise of walking, her eyes sparkling with
joy, and a sweet smile playing about her
cherry lips, she was, indeed, such a daughter,
and such a sister, as any father, and any bro-
ther, might have been proud to own.

The benches were soon completely filled
with a merry multitude of men, women, and
children. ae

When the sky had become quite dark, and
the stars, in the absence of the moon, glittered
in the sky, a large rocket was sent up like a
messenger to them ; but it whizzed awhile, sent
out a score of fiery serpents, and then fell to
the earth again; at least the stick fell, after
having carried the fireworks as far as it could.
Somebody has said, that “ Genius goes up like
a rocket, and comes down like the stick.” So

it is, when industry and perseverance do not
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