The rocky bars stretch like an iron chain,
Where the currents so wildly flee,
Till their musical rapids ring out a full strain,
By the banks of the Genesee.

Oh! sweet are the fields that in verdure bright
With their billows of grain oft gleam,
And stretch far away in the rich sunlight,
From the shores of that radiant stream;

And sweet are the forests whose branches breathe
The winds from the flowering lea,

As freshly and purely their chaplets they wreathe
On the banks of the Genesee.

Sweet too, is the cot where my heart has its home
With the loved on its life to beam,

Amid the green woods where I revel and roam
By the banks of that beautiful stream;

Then while the blest billows of life still flow,

Oh! there let my dwelling be,

With fond ones still smiling in love's own glow

On the banks of the Genesee !

THE OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS.

BY A B. JOHNSON.

ONCE upon a time Jupiter determined to ascertain personally the grievances about which mankind were so continually importuning him, that his residence in Olympus was far from being a sinecure. He accordingly alighted on the Battery in New-York, one fine summer night, having descended on the back of a large eagle, which he keeps exclusively for the saddle. He had scarcely dismissed his aërial courser, and assumed the appearance of a respectable old gentleman with a dark-brown wig, equal to Batchelor's best gossamer, when he heard some voices which proceeded from three beggars, a cripple, a negro and a middle aged vagrant, who apparently possessed no infirmity but an unshaven beard, unwashed skin and ragged attire. They were lying on the grass at their ease after the heat and wanderings of the day; and were bantering each other on their respective demerits.

Said the negro, 'Were I white I would open a shop in Chathamstreet, and as no man would be more diligent and enterprising, I would gradually enlarge my stock of goods, and extend the variety of my dealings, till I should in time become an extensive merchant and rich; but a colored man must be either a servant or a beggar, and as neither position will procure more than a living, I prefer ease to labor.'

'A white skin,' retorted the cripple contemptuously, may be a very pretty treasure in the eyes of a 'nigger,' but it is an insufficient capital to commence business on in New-York. Had I limbs like other

men, I would indeed scorn to be a beggar; but a cripple though he should perform more labor than two able bodied porters would still be required to accept his compensation as a charity. The world therefore, gives me no alternative; I must live by charity, and I may as well take it without labor as with.'

'Comrades!' exclaimed the third, 'I see your drift; I am neither black nor a cripple; hence you think I ought not to be a beggar; but without capital or credit a man can no more create property than he can build a ship without tools. When the tide and winds are both against a vessel she drops anchor, and makes no fruitless effort to go ahead; and I am not fool enough to adopt a different policy.'

The self-complacent trio then arose and wended their way to a den in Anthony-street, where the vagrancy of the day was succeeded by a night of intoxication.

Jupiter permitted them to depart without revealing to them his presence, being intent on supplying general remedies for the ills of life rather than on empirically meliorating individual miscarriages. He saw the difficulty which repressed the energies of these men and kept them idle, but as he could not conveniently remodel the world, and prevent some men from being black, some from being crippled, and some from being poor; or give every man all the facilities for prosperity that each individual should desire; he resolved to accomplish the same end by a device, and he accordingly established a new decree, that hereafter no man's prosperity shall depend on what he possesses not, but on the use which he shall make of the means that he happens to possess. While Jupiter was revolving in his thoughts the benign operation of this new principle, and forseeing how by means of it, Fulton would practically annihilate space, and Morse annihilate time, the light of day had for some hours dawned upon the earth, and lighted up the Battery with all the effulgence of a July morning; and he was aroused from his pleasant reverie by a little girl, who in a whining tone that was entirely different from the voice which he supposed he had formed in man, said

Pray Sir, give me a cent to buy some bread for daddy, who is very sick and has nothing to eat.'

'Child,' replied the benevolent DEITY, your father is just the person I want to see. Lead me to him and I will assist him.'

The little girl was a good deal surprised, having never before met with such a reception. Usually those who gave money threw her a penny and said nothing, while those who spoke gave harsh language and no pennies; but her case was pressing, and she led the way as he had commanded. Jupiter soon found himself in a loathsome cellar, where, lying in a corner on some foul rags and straw, was the miserable father.

Alas!' thought Jupiter, 'something in this world must need alteration.' After administering a few drops of nectar, and a small piece of ambrosia, to the sick man, who became thereby wonderfully revived: 'Friend,' said Jupiter, you see that I can relieve you; but before I give you any more of my medicines, I must be informed how

you came

into this wretched condition. The city seems full of delightful residences, and I find you in a damp, dark room under ground.'

'Ah!' sighed the man, I perceive by your remarks, as well as by your conduct, that you are a stranger in New-York. I possess not a dollar in the world, and how can I obtain better lodgings?'

'But,' replied Jupiter, other people obtain better lodgings, and why not you? 1?'

The story is not long,' said the mendicant. All men are not made to be rich, nor are we all endued with the same talents. Some men can never thrive, while the touch of others will turn every thing into gold.'

'You surprise me,' said Jupiter, 'I was not aware of these facts; and should they prove true, they shall be corrected. I will tolerate no such inequalities.'

The mendicant stared, thinking his benevolent friend was a maniac, and began to be afraid; but Jupiter threw a little poppy on the sick man's eyelids, and they instantly closed in a gentle slumber.

Jupiter next entered a superb mansion in Union-Place. The owner was not at home, but a loquacious footman who stood at the door, gladly undertook for the bribe of a little nectar, to relate the history of his master. He was a rich merchant of South-street, who confined himself to his counting-house. Nothing could exceed the prosperity with which he was constantly attended. His ships arrive in port at the times when they are most needed, and bring cargoes that always suit the market. Prices usually fall after he sells, and rise after he purchases; and moreover, his debtors never run away, nor his friends become treacherous.

'I perceive,' said Jupiter, 'this is one of the men whose touch turns every thing into gold.'

'Exactly so,' said the footman.'

These differences in the formation of men,' thought Jupiter, ' must 'be corrected.'

He strolled next into the City-Hall, where he found in session the Circuit Court of the United States. The great cause of John Jacob Astor against the State of New-York, was on trial, and one of the most celebrated jurists of the country was addressing the court. The knowledge which the lawyer displayed, and the eloquence with which he uttered it, excited the admiration of a crowd of auditors, who said that the lawyer was to receive a fee of five thousand dollars for his effort, and that he well merited all he was to receive.

At one end of the bar sat a lawyer who was dozing. He was shabbily dressed, and his apparent poverty and listlessness induced Jupiter to arouse him, and ascertain why he also was not obtaining five thousand dollar fees. The man scarcely knew whether to laugh at the question or to be angry. At length his love of ease conquered his irritability, and he laughed.

Old man,' said he,' where did you come from to ask such a question? The counsellor who is addressing the court is a great genius. We possess only one such man in the state; and but two or three in the United States.'

'Why not?' said Jupiter, in manifest surprise.

'Why not!' exclaimed the shabby lawyer; because great talents are scarce. We do not make ourselves, you know. I guess you never studied phrenology. The difference between him and me is the work of Heaven; hence he receives large fees, and I receive none.'

While Jupiter was reflecting on the organic inequalities which were thus unexpectedly proclaimed to him, he determined to execute an experiment. Suddenly, therefore, while the great lawyer was in the most pathetic part of his argument, Jupiter, unseen by mortal eye, siezed the orator by the throat, and sent his soul to Olympus. The court arose in the most intense confusion. All said the great lawyer had over-exerted himself, and was dead of apoplexy. The same day the sick beggar died, and the rich merchant, and the shabby lawyer. What a loss the world had sustained in the great lawyer; and what a loss the city in the rich man! GOD help the poor; what is to become of them now! How inscrutable, said every person, are the ways of Providence!

The great lawyer's body was borne to Trinity Church, where a huge granite monument was erected over him by his admirers. The rich man was carefully soldered up in lead, and placed within his family vault; while the shabby lawyer was buried privately in a cherry coffin, and the mendicant was, with little ceremony, screwed up in pine boards, and hurried to Potter's Field. After these differences of an hour, all were alike left to the silent and indiscriminating processes of decay; while the world closed up its ranks with new orators and new merchants, and the losses that yesterday seemed irreparable were remedied and forgotten.

But not thus Jupiter. The experiment which he meditated was to remould the four men, so that they should possess equal powers of mind and body. Nothing should distinguish one from the other, so far as relates to their organization, moral, intellectual and physical; for,' thought Jove, 'I shall be truly sorry if the misery of man, or any portion of it, arises from partiality in their organization.' The four souls being thus equalized and furnished with new bodies, were sent back into the world, and in due course of nature were severally born of poor parents in different parts of the Union. The children possessed no consciousness of ever having been on the earth before. They were severally dosed with medicine as soon as they were born, and after struggling for their lives against the other officiousness of nurses, they grew gradually toward maturity, played with tops and marbles, were beaten when their parents were cross, and fared in all respects precisely as other children.

Time passed on, and at the end of fifty years Jupiter again saddled his eagle, and was wafied to the battery, where he had alighted before. The morning was just as mild and salubrious as it had been then; and while he was looking round and admiring the regularity with which inanimate nature obeys the impulse of the seasons, and the seasons revolve in the order of their appointed succession, he was aroused by the approach of a little girl, who in piteous accents solicited a cent to buy bread for her sick daddy.

Struck by the similarity of the application to that which he had experienced on his former visit, he directed the child to lead him to her father. She led him through avenues as crooked as those that he had passed previously, and brought him to a cellar as dirty as the former; and in it he found the same mendicant, again in poverty, again sick, and again accusing Providence for his mischances. Jupiter flew into Union Place. There he found the rich merchant also, and as rich as ever. He went to the City Hall, and there lounged the shabby lawyer, as drowsy as before; and there stood the great orator, as eloquent as formerly, and talking for a fee of five thousand dollars. Truly,' said Jupiter, these coincidences are surprising; but if I had been partial in the formation of men, as was alleged, it would have been more surprising.'

But whence these differences in the condition of the several persons? The question suggested itself more readily than the solution. Jupiter was perplexed, and again sought an elucidation from the unemployed lawyer, who again began the old story about phrenology and the orator's great genius; but Jupiter cut the matter short by saying he knew better, and that the orator's genius was no greater than other men's. At this the shabby lawyer laughed, and happening to be in a more communicative humor than previously, candidly admitted that he was as well organized as the successful orator, and much more deserving of success; but the difficulty was imputable to Misfortune, who had always persecuted him, while fortune had as constantly favored the great orator. This solution seemed reasonable. Jupiter had often heard rumors of the interference of Fortune and Misfortune in the affairs of men, but he had expressly interdicted them from interfering with the present experiment; and as they had disobeyed him in the career of the lawyers, they probably had interfered with the merchant and the beggar. He was accordingly enraged against Fortune and Misfortune, and flying back to Olympus, he summoned forthwith the terrified spirits, and accused them with their disobedience. They trembled at his rebuke, and would have excused themselves by denying all agency in the transactions alluded to, but Jupiter refused to listen to their protestations, and chained them both to the wheel of Ixion, whom he permitted to lie down and rest himself.

Having thus appeased his anger by its gratification, he sat down to enjoy the consciousness of having administered a deserved chastisement; and taking up a huge telescope, by which he can see at once every human being, he pointed it toward the earth, that he might ascertain how the parties fared, now they were relieved from the interference of Fortune and Misfortune. But imagine, if you can, his surprise when he saw Fortune wafting to a profitable port a ship of the rich merchant; and Misfortune applying a torch to fire the dwelling of the shabby lawyer — not insured either, poor man! Jupiter snatched up a thunder-bolt, 'red with uncommon wrath,' to scath therewith, at one fell blow, the two rebellious spirits; but accidentally casting his eyes toward the wheel of Ixion, he saw them as firmly bound thereto as when he first chained them.

'How is this,' thought Jupiter; 'two Fortunes and two Misfortunes,