THE GALLOSHES OF HAPPINESS. 207
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for our souls have far greater capabilities than 1g
generally supposed. Does it not shew an astonishing
talent for dramatic composition in our dreams, where
sach of our acquaintances speaks so perfectly in cha,
racter, and so exactly in the voice belonging to him,
that we should never be able to mimic it half so well
in our waking hours? How well, too, our soul re-
minds us of persons whom we have forgotten for years,
when they suddenly start up to our recollection with
the most vivid distinctness, even to their smallest cha-
racteristics. After all, our souls’ capacity for thinking
seems to place us in a somewhat ticklish position: it
enables us to recall every sin and every wicked thought
we may have indulged in; and then the question
will arise, whether we should be in a condition of
account for every guilty word that may have been
whispered in our hearts or have risen to our lips.
The watchman’s soul, accordingly, understood the
language of the inhabitants of the moon very tolerably.
They were disputing about our earth, and doubted
whether it could be inhabited. The atmosphere, they
contended, must be too thick for rational, moon-born
beings to live in it. They considered that the moon
alone was inhabited, and was the real earth, where
lived the ancient inhabitants of the world. =~
They likewise talked politics—but we will descend
to East-street, and see what happened to the watch-
man’s hody.
It lay lifeless on the steps. His star-tipped mace had
fallen from his hand, and his eyes were turned upwards
to the moon, where his honest soul was rambling.
“ What is o'clock, watchman?” asked a passer-by.
But no answer did the watchman return. The man
then filliped his nose, which made him lose his balance.
There lay the body, sprawling at full length : the man
was dead. All his comrades were very much fright-
ened—dead he was, and dead he remained. Notice
Was given of the event; it was talked over; and at
dawn the body was removed to the hospital.