Every man can read and -write, »nd the numerous letters that leaye a ship by the dif ferent mails shew that those at home are not forgotten, In ths performance of duty there is a general avera,e; aU are much alike. In their be haviour, with the exception of the young men passing through the three years of their lives from nineteen to twenty-two, all are about the same, and the standard is good. Drunkenness is not prevalent, sobriety the ru?e ; in fact, a steady level of uniformity js found amongst them. The men haye low salient points; knowing one man* y°u pretty well know all his coinradea, or rather you know all that the men intend you to know; the points of individual character belong to themselves they consider 1 ancl thoy aim at and attain almost a de>\d level in their public life. Many causes bring this about, which we hope to show hereafter ; and very different were th? WP- thirty years ago, TflE 4fLAN^IO is enlivened in its dnlness with another of Mark Twain's " Old Times On the Missis sippi i— There is a marvelous difference in boats, of oourse. For a long time I was on a boat that was so slow we used to forget what year it was we leffc port in. But of course this was at rare ; intervals. Ferry-boats used to lose valuablo trips because their passengers grew old $nd died, waiting for us to get by. f Jifc was" at still rarer intervals. I had thQ. documents for these occurrences, b.iifc through oareleasness they have been n^islajd. This boat, the John J. Hoe, \v?.s so slow that when she finally sunk in Madrid Bend, it was five years before the owners heard of it. That was always a con fusing fact to me, but it is according to $i£ record, any way. She was dismally slaw;. still, we often had pretty exciting times! racing' with islands, and raft,S» *tpd such things. One trip, however, wo ra,ther \vell. We went to St. £iO\iis in sixteen, days. But even ?^ thia rattling gait 1 think we> s changed watches three in Eort Adams reach, which is five miles, long. 