THE YOUTHS' MAGAZINE; OR, EVANGELICAL MISCELLANY. SEPTEMBER, 1851. CASCADE OF TERNI. THE Cascade of Terni, represented in our engraving, has called forth the admiration of two of the greatest geniuses of Europe. In 1662 Salvator Rosa, the sublime artist, wrote to a friend, "I have seen at Terni the celebrated waterfall of Velino; it is really a frightful thing to see a river thus precipitate itself into an abyss from a height of half a mile, the spray and vapour as it remounts melting into a thousand colors." In 1817, Lord Byron wrote to his publisher, Mr. Murray, "I have twice visited the Cascade of Terni, which surpasses everything." His remembrances of these visits he subsequently embodied in the fourth canto of Childe Harold. His description, which will never be surpassed by any writer, will serve as a fitting illustration of our engraving. The roar of waters!-from the headlong height The flashing mass foams, shaking the abyss; S And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again Making it all one emerald: how profound From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound, Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent, To the broad column which rolls on, and shows Torn from the womb of mountains by the throes With many windings through the vale. Look back, As if to sweep down all things in its track, Charming the eye with dread,—a matchless cataract, Horribly beautiful! but on the verge, From side to side, beneath the glittering morn An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge, Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn; CLEVER TRICKS! There was a wondrous stir in a small provincial town one fine summer afternoon, for two enterprising aeronauts had condescended to start a large balloon from some convenient pleasure grounds in the vicinity. To half the inhabitants this was a novel spectacle, and even those travelled gentry who had enjoyed such sights before, partook of the general enthusiasm, so that business was suspended as if by common consent; and except near the advertised place for ascent, the streets wore almost a deserted aspect. Roofs and windows, however, in every direction displayed anxious faces peeping out, all hoping that the favoring breeze would blow towards their particular point of the compass! Little Ralph was among the foremost of the throng, for he was an adventurous lad, and so restless, his mother was too glad to be rid of his company to care much whither he betook himself. Ralph posted along, full of expectation, and eager to see all there was to be seen, till he arrived very near the spot where the balloon was filling; but here his short stature was an insurmountable obstacle; for how could a boy of five feet peer above walls double that height? Nothing daunted, Ralph looked about for a remedy, and soon perceived a small eminence whence a happy crowd were looking down in exulting security. He made his way to the place, but was somewhat perplexed by the demand of a shilling as entrance fee, by the owner of this tempting inclosure. Ralph had but one shilling, and he did not like to part with this, because he had destined it for a strawberry feast after the fatigues of his excursion; so he had recourse to what he deemed "a clever trick," and popped in unseen, while the man's attention was engrossed in counting the heads of a large party, who willingly proffered the stipulated coin. Ralph quieted his conscience by the consideration that there were so many purchasers for the accommodation, that one gratuitous candidate was of no consequence, quite forgetting that he would have been extremely indignant at any such forced possession of a seat at his mother's front windows, when they were let out at five or ten shillings each, to those who were anxious to witness an ancient ceremonial on the Queen's visit to the town! Yet such conduct was quite as much an infringement of the Saviour's command, “Defraud not;" in the one case as in the other. Unhappily Ralph's "Clever trick," was laughed at as an excellent joke by most of his associates, only one friend having the honesty to set it before him in its true light. In his apprenticeship, Ralph thought nothing of neglecting customers, or amusing himself in business time, while he kept up the semblance of active industry, by prompt recurrence to his proper duty the instant his master's footsteps warned him of approaching inspection. Poor fellow! his "Clever Tricks," progressed from abstracting small articles from his mother's stores, to replenishing his purse from her till, evading railway dues; claiming imaginary damages, and making exorbitant charges for "incidentals," upon all his employers! In all this Ralph is but a type of a large class of young men who unblushingly boast of similar achievements, and delight to beguile the tedium of a journey, by details which astound their simple-minded fellow travellers, who cannot always perceive the force of the sophistical arguments used to defend such pranks. In fact by those accustomed to regulate their conduct by the precepts of Holy Writ, such "clever tricks," are reckoned utterly indefensible, because "unbecoming the Gospel of Christ!” Ralph however, was wise in his own generation, and always attentive to avoid anything which by a too-lenient world would be pronounced actually dishonest; so he prospered mightily in all his doings, and enjoyed the reputation of being "a shrewd bargainer;" "a sharp salesman," "a knowing advocate." Sailing always close to the wind, he was yet never shipwrecked, in all desperate dilemmas managing to steer his course onwards to wealth and luxury. True, he had not many intimate friends, but they were sometimes troublesome, apt to expect help, or to give unpalatable advice, or express opinions too freely; acquaintances, were most suited to his taste, because with bland speech and complaisant manner, they never penetrated his secrets; never sought him when they were in trouble; and cunning folks like Ralph, are usually clever enough to keep out of trouble themselves. * In his own business he had frequent recourse to skilful subterfuge; volubly descanting upon the perfections of his goods, but maintaining a dishonest silence in regard to the flaws; which he attempted to justify by saying that as they would inevitably betray themselves in due time, it was unnecessary to indicate them prematurely. A convenient deafness afflicted him when annoyed with questions it was against his interest to answer. He had a knack too of selecting assistants who scrupled not to make all sorts of assertions in their master's name, naively relying upon his supposed integrity; while Ralph being "no keeper of other men's consciences," did not consider himself called upon to refute any of their statements! Indeed, why should he betray suspicion of their veracity, when their evident ignorance was so profitable to himself? Ralph was ingenious, as well as wily, and often by welltimed bounty, and well-feigned sympathy, he gained important information of trade secrets, and could speedily introduce under another name, the invention or the compound which was the result of his poor dupe's life-long toil and experiment. Yet our hero was no member of the swell mob!" He availed himself of his birth-rights, and won a large share of public confidence, by the quaint speech and plain attire of the straitest sect; carefully abstaining from any overt act which could bring him under official scrutiny; and joining duly in censure upon any dereliction of conventional requirements. At last Ralph attained the grand object of his ambition: he had made his fortune, married a wife, purchased a house, and set up as a country gentleman in his native town; where he was cordially welcomed by old friends, who willingly forgot his boyish propensities, in the hope that they had been cast aside among other childish things of earlier days. But they were mistaken, as they soon found to their cost. Ralph's "clever tricks," had been too productive to be discarded, and had now become so habitual, that they no longer occasioned a momentary twinge of compunction to his seared conscience. Not contented with beating down the price of all his purchases, he ran tolerably long bills with every tradesman, and then stoutly disputed so many articles charged, that they dreaded his entering their shops. His own long successful career of chicanery and over-reaching had rendered him so suspicious of every body, that no respectable servants would stay in a place where their characters were sure to be impugned. He actually complained, that he could never understand his steward's accounts, because he was absorbed in trying to decipher some possible "hidden meaning," in the statements submitted to him. He had been in the leather trade, and it was eventually the boast of his hoary hairs, that all his riches had sprung from the judicious use of |