The reader will have gathered that although my father's first steps in his profession were ill-advised, there had been a precocious and rapid intellectual growth, and it would be natural to think that as he recovered the lost ground and became more and more engrossed by art, his literary pursuits would have been neglected if not altogether abandoned. Moreover, the fathers of most young men are not backward in contriving that their sons shall become “useful,” that is money-getting, members of society as soon as possible. But there seemed to be none of this feeling in the methodical old Baptist. He loved knowledge, we are told, for its own sake and not for what it would fetch in the market, and how warmly this disinterestedness was appreciated the following words, written by his son beneath the score of a musical composition, will serve to show ≔ “I dedicate this work to my “Father, because, not choosing to sacrifice me to Mammon with the mum- “mery all the while of Christian prayers, with an affection rare in this day, “he led my erring steps where Faith, Temperance, and Study evermore “resort and wait to take the hand of those who love their charming company. “And because he supported me, never once murmuring, long after that time “when our fathers use to thrust their offspring from their bosom at the first “crude opportunity, that they may clutch their gold alone and gorge a richer “feast.”