Under Currents.

to Matilda Trotter , " My dear , Mr . Jones is a duffer . " Bolsover told a friend in the smoking-room of the Ulysses that he considered Jones a " confoundedly conceited young prig ! " While even old Mrs . Mclver had imparted to her maid , Avho is arranging

her for the night , that it was a " varra genteel party , but that one , Mr . Jones , AVIIO thought himself sae cleA'er , Avas naught but a goAvk . " The under current of society has carried you aAvayTriptolemus Jones , from the

, p leasant mid-channel to its breakers and its quicksands . And then there is our 3 oung friend , Emily Hill , she " means to be , " she says ; and fast she talks , of drinking beer from the " peAvter , " ancl declares that she

shall " Avire in . " She discourses about horses , ancl bets , ancl " fivers , " and " clucks of officers , " and she has her hour of triumph . Tom ancl Dick , ancl Bob , ancl Harryfor it is fashionable to call young men by their abbreviations—all CI-OAVCI round her , all praise her , all swear by her . She is a " jolly girl , " she is a" stunning girl , " " no

nonsense about her , " "just the girl to get on with a fellar , " ancl much more " ad rem . ' ' But the fatal hour arrives when the ladies are alone in the draving-room , those sacred moments of the " Bona Dea , " Avhen gentlemen dare not poke in their noses , ancl our poor Emily has a baddish time of it . The

same little hour , has often proved fatal to similar gentle beings-before , Ave niayobsen'e en passant . Propriety asserts its SAvay , benign dulness is omnipotent ; respectability avoAvs itselfand the British Matron is maguificant .

, Lady Ladbroke says , sotto voce to her neighbour , looking at Miss Hill , ancl speaking through her , " Very fast young Avoman indeed ! " " I epiite agree" says Mrs . Dandle ; " very questionable views . " "Dreadful !" says fat Mrs . Mullet ; " I shall not bring

up my Thisbe in the same Avay . " " It is shocking to see how she makes up to the young men , " says plain ancl unsought Miss Croker . So ill-fated Emmy finds out as all Avill findthat the under currents of society are

; too strong for her , ancl she falls back before long into propriety and pensiveness , and becomes a model Avife ancl an anxious mamma , It is curious to observe hoAv these under currents affect us all alike .

though in different ways , some for good and some for evil There is a great deal of cowardly subservience afloat in society , as Avell as a Avant o f moral courage , a petty expediency , and an indisposition to uphold moral right and truth .

No doubt we are all creatures of conventionality , ancl some one has called society the great sea of conventionality . HOAV few Avill take the trouble to think for themseh'es ; they take opinions ready made , ancl so are often , as it were ,

led astray by the fashions ancl follies of the hour , governed by the quackery of the empiric , amused by the gyrations of the mountebank . HOAV feAv of us all say what Ave think , or think Avhat Ave say , or do Avhat Ave knoAV to be right , or uphold Avhat Ave feel convinced is the truth .

The resistless eddies of the under ' current of the custom , of the coterie , of the draAvroom , of the denomination , sweep us aw . ay ancl Ave find ourselves as it Avere cast up among the angry surf . All these under currents prevent ns shoAvbig our true coloursor averring our

, true sentiments , until it often happens that Ave pass through life and society itself , as it Avere , with masks on our faces , hardly knoAving ourselves , certainly not known to others .

Some of us are like the gay butterflies Avhich float so gaudily on a fine summer ' s day , destined to pass aAvay and be forgotten in a few hours Others of us resemble those fleecy ancl drifting clouds Avhich flit Avith intense rapidity in the heavens above us ,

Avarnings often , as the experienced mariner knOAvs of a coming gale . What a wonderful change would come over society , if Ave tvoulcl only seek to be real and true , and honest-hearted , and strait-running ; if we Avould only endeavour to act on the square

Avith our neighbours in the Avorld . Life and society AA ' OUICI Avitness a marvellous metamorphosis . Despite its dangerous reefs , and deadly quicksands , despite its treacherous under currents and hazardous breakers , the great sea of this world ' s existence would not witness so

many good ships go down ; but Ave should keep a safe course , Ave should have marked out a proper deck load-line , ancl if we fear a coming gale , should be on the look-out for a friendly tug to haul up