initial commit of ebook 17775HEADmain

10 files changed, 43779 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/17775-8.txt b/17775-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c54f94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14546 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and
+Daughters, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters
+       Volume 3
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mrs. A. G. Whittelsey
+
+Release Date: February 16, 2006 [EBook #17775]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Engraved by C. Burt, from a Miniature by H.C. Shionway.
+
+Yours truly
+
+A. G. Whittelsey]
+
+
+
+
+MRS. WHITTELSEY'S
+
+MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS
+
+AND DAUGHTERS.
+
+EDITED BY
+
+MRS. A. G. WHITTELSEY.
+
+     That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that
+     our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the
+     similitude of a palace.--BIBLE.
+
+
+VOL. III.
+
+NEW YORK:
+PUBLISHED BY HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,
+128 NASSAU STREET.
+
+1852.
+
+Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
+
+HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,
+
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for
+the Southern District of New York.
+
+Transcriber's note: Minor typos corrected and footnotes moved to
+end of text.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+                                                                 PAGE
+
+A Child's Prayer.                                                 369
+
+A Child's Reading.                                                129
+
+A Lesson for Husbands and Wives.                                  257
+
+An Appeal to Baptized Children.--By Rev. William. Bannard.        141
+
+A Temptation and its Consequences.                                 21
+
+A Word of Exhortation.                                              5
+
+Brotherly Love.--By Rev. M. S. Hutton, D.D.              89, 105, 137
+
+Children and their Training.                                      375
+
+Children of the Parsonage.--By Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                  246
+
+Children's Apprehension of the Power of Prayer.                   305
+
+Chinese Daughter.--Letter of Mrs. Bridgeman.                       18
+
+Cousin Mary Rose, or a Child's First Visit.                        69
+
+Despondency and Hope; an Allegory.--By Mrs. J. Norton.            187
+
+Every Prayer should be offered in the Name of Jesus.              356
+
+Excerpta.                                                         100
+
+Excessive Legislation.                                            167
+
+Extravagance.                                                     354
+
+Family Government.                                                320
+
+Fault Finding; its Effects.--By Ellen Ellison.                     13
+
+  "      "     The Antidote.--By Ellen Ellison.              156, 180
+
+Filial Reverence of the Turks.                                    292
+
+First Prayer in Congress.                                         308
+
+Female Education.--By Rev. S. W. Fisher.                          271
+
+  "       "        Physical Training.                             297
+
+  "       "        Intellectual Training.                         330
+
+  "       "                                                       363
+
+Frost.                                                            384
+
+General Instructions for the Physical Education of Children.      336
+
+Gleanings by the Wayside.                               217, 249, 277
+
+God's Bible a Book for all.                                       220
+
+Habit.                                                            140
+
+Infants taught to Pray.                                           192
+
+Inordinate Grief the effect of an Unsubdued Will.                 301
+
+Instruction of the Young in the Doctrines and Precepts of
+  the Gospel.                                                      31
+
+Intellectual Power of Woman.--By Rev. S.W. Fisher.                255
+
+Know Thyself.                                                      93
+
+Letter from a Father to his Son.                                  241
+
+Light Reading.                                                    316
+
+Lux in Tenebras; or a Chapter of Heart History.--By
+  Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                                               286
+
+Magnetism.                                                        170
+
+Memoir of Mrs. Van Lennep.                                         24
+
+Ministering Spirits.                                               20
+
+Mothers need the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.                       353
+
+My Baby.                                                          309
+
+My Little Niece Mary Jane.                                     55, 76
+
+Music in Christian Families.                                      342
+
+Never Faint in Prayer.                                            259
+
+Never tempt another.                                              184
+
+Notices of Books.                                        36, 131, 164
+
+Old Juda.                                                          96
+
+One-Sided Christians.                                             283
+
+Opening the Gate.                                                 267
+
+Parental Solicitude.                                              165
+
+Prayer for Children sometimes unavailing.                         213
+
+Promises.                                                         223
+
+Recollections Illustrative of Maternal Influence.                  37
+
+Reminiscences of the late Rev. T.H. Gallaudet.--By
+  Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                                                42
+
+Report of Maternal Associations.--Putnam, O.                       64
+
+   "         "         "          2d Presb. Church,
+  Detroit, Mich.                                                   84
+
+   "         "         "          Salem, Mich.                     86
+
+Sabbath Meditations.                                               81
+
+The Benefits of Baptism.--By Rev. W. Bannard.                     120
+
+The Bonnie Bairns.                                                 53
+
+The Boy the Father of the Man.                                    339
+
+The Boy who never forgot his Mother.                              202
+
+The Death-bed Scene.                                               34
+
+The Editor's Table.                                                67
+
+The Family Promise.--By Rev. J. McCarroll, D.D.                   109
+
+The Importance of Family Religion.--By Rev. H. T. Cheever.         48
+
+The Mission Money, or the Pride of Charity.                  205, 234
+
+The Mothers of the Bible.--Zipporah.                              101
+
+     "       "       "     The Mothers of Israel
+  at Horeb.                                                  133, 188
+
+     "       "       "     The Mother of Samson.                  197
+
+     "       "       "     Naomi and Ruth.                        229
+
+     "       "       "     Hannah.                                261
+
+     "       "       "     Ichabod's Mother.                      203
+
+     "       "       "     Rizpah.                                325
+
+     "       "       "     Bathsheba.                             357
+
+The Mother's Portrait.                                            310
+
+The Orphan Son and Praying Mother.                                378
+
+The Promise Fulfilled.                                       112, 145
+
+The Riddle Solved.                                                211
+
+The Stupid, Dull Child.                                           175
+
+The Treasury of Thoughts.                                         162
+
+The Wasted Gift, or Just a Minute.                           125, 150
+
+The Youngling of the Flock.                                       196
+
+The Young Men's Christian Association.--By Mrs.
+  L. H. Sigourney.                                                228
+
+To Fathers.--By Amicus.                                             7
+
+To my Father.                                                     318
+
+Trials.                                                           227
+
+Why are we not Christians?                                        346
+
+Woman.--By Rev. M. S. Hutton, D.D.                                370
+
+
+
+
+MRS. WHITTELSEY'S
+
+MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS
+
+AND DAUGHTERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Editorial.
+
+A WORD OF EXHORTATION.
+
+
+Sensible of our accountability to God, of our entire dependence upon his
+blessing for success in all our undertakings, knowing that of ourselves
+we can do nothing, but believing that through Christ strengthening us we
+may accomplish something in his service, we enter upon the duties of
+another year--the twentieth year of our editorial labors.
+
+With language similar to that which the mother of Moses is supposed to
+have employed when she laid her tender offspring by the margin of the
+Nile:--
+
+            "Know this ark is charmed
+  With incantations Pharaoh ne'er employed,
+  With spells that impious Egypt never knew;
+  With invocations to the living God,
+  I twisted every slender reed together,
+  And with a prayer did every ozier weave"--
+
+we launched our frail bark upon the tide of public opinion. Since then,
+with varied success, have we pursued our course--often amid darkness,
+through difficulties and dangers, and to the present time have we been
+wafted in safety on our voyage, because, as he did Moses in the ark,
+"the Lord hath shut us in."
+
+Referring whatever of success has attended our efforts to His blessing,
+and believing that He has given us length of days, and strengthened our
+weakness, and poured consolation into our hearts when ready to sink in
+despair, in answer to persevering and importunate prayer, we come to
+direct our readers to this source of wisdom and aid,--to urge upon them
+to engage often in this first duty and highest privilege. Let us go
+forth, dear friends, to the work we have to do in the education of our
+families, having invoked the Divine blessing upon our efforts, holding
+on to the promises of the covenant, and pleading for their fulfillment
+in reference to ourselves and our households.
+
+As Mrs. H. More has beautifully said: "Prayer draws all the Christian
+graces into her focus. It draws Charity, followed by her lovely
+train--her forbearance with faults--her forgiveness of injuries--her
+pity for errors--her compassion for want. It draws Repentance, with her
+holy sorrows--her pious resolutions--her self-distrust. It attracts
+Truth, with her elevated eyes; Hope, with her gospel anchor;
+Beneficence, with her open hand; Zeal, looking far and wide; Humility,
+with introverted eye, looking at home."
+
+And who need these graces more than parents, in the government and
+training of those committed to their charge? Could our Savior rise a
+great while before day,--forego the pleasures of social intercourse with
+his beloved disciples, and retiring to the mountains, offer up prayers
+with strong crying and tears, unto Him who was able to save from death
+in that he feared, and shall we, intrusted with the immortal destinies
+of our beloved offspring, refuse to follow his example, and pleading
+want of time and opportunity for this service, be guilty of unbelief, of
+indolence, and worldly-mindedness?
+
+You labor in vain, dear readers, unless the arm of the Almighty shall be
+extended in your behalf, and you cannot receive the blessing except you
+ask it. Let then your supplications be addressed to your Father in
+heaven;--pray humbly, believingly, perseveringly, for wisdom and aid,
+then may you expect to be blessed. So important is this duty, and so
+much is it neglected, that we could not forbear to urge your attention
+thereto, ere we entered upon another year.
+
+And will not our Christian friends remember us in their prayers, asking
+that we may be directed in what we shall say and do this present year,
+in the work in which we are engaged? And if God shall answer our united
+petitions, we shall not labor in vain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TO FATHERS.
+
+BY AMICUS.
+
+
+How gladly would the writer gain (were it possible) the ear of every
+father in the land, if it were but for the short space of one quarter of
+an hour,--nay, some ten minutes, at a _propitious time_,--such a time
+as, perhaps, occasionally occurs, when business cases are not pressing,
+when the mind is at ease, and the heart has ceased its worldly
+throbbings. He wants such a quarter of an hour, if it ever exists.
+
+"And for what?" That he may have an opportunity to propose some worldly
+scheme,--some plan which has reference to the probable accumulation of
+hundreds of thousands? Nothing of the kind. Fathers at the present day
+generally need no suggestions of this sort--no impulses from me in that
+direction. They are already so absorbed, that it is difficult to gain
+their attention to any matters which do not concern the line of business
+in which they are engaged.
+
+Look for a moment at that busy, bustling man; you see him walking down
+Broadway this morning; it is early, quite early. May be he is calling a
+physician, or is on some visit to a sick friend. He walks so fast; and
+though early, there is something on his brow which indicates care and
+anxiety. And yet I think no one of his family is sick, nor do I know of
+any of his friends who are sick. I have seen that man out thus early so
+often, and hurrying at just that pace, that I suspect, after all, he is
+on his way to his place of business. That, doubtless, is the whole
+secret. He is engaged in a large mercantile concern. It seems to
+require--at least it takes--all his attention. He is absorbed in it.
+And, if you repair to his store or office at any hour of the day, you
+can scarcely see him,--not at all,--unless it be on some errand
+connected with his business, or with the business of some office he
+holds, and which _must_ be attended to; and even in these matters you
+will find him restless. He attends to you so far as to hear your errand;
+and what then? Why, if it will require any length of time, he says: "I
+am very busy at this moment, I can't _possibly_ attend to it to-day;
+will you call to-morrow? I may then have more leisure." Well, you agree
+for to-morrow. "Please name the hour," you say. He replies--"I can't
+_name any hour_; but call, say after twelve o'clock, and I will catch a
+moment, _if I can_, to talk over the business."
+
+Now, that merchant is not to blame for putting you off. His business
+calls are so many and so complex, that he scarcely knows which way to
+turn, nor what calculations to make. The real difficulty is, he has
+undertaken too much; his plans are too vast; his "irons," as they say,
+are too many.
+
+This is the _morning_ aspect of affairs. Watch that merchant during the
+day,--will you find things essentially different? The morning, which is
+dark and cloudy and foggy, is sometimes followed by a clear, bright,
+beautiful day. The mists at length clear off, the clouds roll away, and
+a glorious sun shines out broadly to gladden the face of all nature. Not
+so with the modern man of business. It is labor, whirl, toil, all the
+day, from the hour of breakfast till night puts an end to the active,
+hurrying concerns of all men. There is no bright, cheerful, peaceful
+day to him. Scarcely has he time to eat--never to _enjoy_ his
+dinner,--that must be finished in the shortest possible time: often at
+some restaurant, rather than with his family. Not one member of that
+does he see from the time he leaves the breakfast table till night, dark
+night has stretched out her curtain over all things.
+
+Let us go home with him, and see how the evening passes.
+
+His residence, from his place of business, perchance, is a mile or two
+distant--may be some fifteen or twenty, in which latter case he takes
+the evening train of cars. In either case he arrives home only at the
+setting in of the evening shades. How pleasant the release from the
+noise and confusion of the city! or, if he resides within the city, how
+pleasant in shutting his door, as he enters his dwelling, to shut out
+the thoughts and cares of business! His tea is soon ready, and for a
+little time he gives himself up to the comforts of home. His wife
+welcomes him, his children may be hanging upon him, and he realizes
+something of the joys of domestic life!
+
+Scarcely, however, is supper ended, before it occurs to him that there
+is a meeting of such a committee, or such an insurance company, to which
+he belongs, and the hour is at hand, and he _must_ go. And he hies away,
+and in some business on hand he becomes absorbed till the hours of nine,
+ten, or eleven, possibly twelve o'clock. He returns again to his home,
+wearied with the toils of the day,--his wife possibly, but certainly his
+children, have retired,--and he lays his aching head upon his pillow to
+catch some few hours of rest, and with the morning light to go through
+essentially the same busy routine, the same absorbing care, the same
+wearing, weary process.
+
+This is an outline of the life which thousands of fathers are leading in
+this country at this present time. We do not pretend that it is true of
+all,--but is it not substantially true, as we have said, of thousands?
+And not only of thousands in our crowded marts of commerce, but in our
+principal towns--nay, even in our rural districts. It is an age of
+impulse. Every thing is proceeding with railroad speed. Every branch of
+business is urged forward with all practical earnestness. Every sail is
+set--main-sail, top-sails, star-gazers, heaven-disturbers--all expanded
+to catch the breeze, and urge the vessel to her destined port.
+
+This thirst for gain! this panting after fortune! this competition in
+the race for worldly wealth, or honor, where is it leading the present
+generation--where?
+
+To men who have families--to fathers, who see around them children just
+emerging from childhood into youth, or verging toward manhood,--this is
+and should be a subject of the deepest interest.
+
+Fathers! am I wrong when I say you are neglecting your offspring?
+Neglecting them? do I hear you respond with surprise;--"Am I not daily,
+hourly stretching every nerve and tasking every power to provide for
+them, to insure them the means of an honorable appearance in that rank
+of society in which they were born, and in which they must move? In
+these days of competition, who sees not that any relaxation involves and
+necessarily secures bankruptcy and ruin?"
+
+I hear you, and you urge strongly, powerfully your cause. You must,
+indeed, provide for your household. You must be diligent in business.
+You may--you ought in some good measure, to keep up with the spirit, the
+progress of the age. But has it occurred to you that there is danger in
+doing as you do; that you will neglect some other interests of your
+children as important, to say the least, as those you have named? Are
+not your children immortal? Have they not souls of priceless value? Have
+they not tendencies to evil from the early dawn of their being? And must
+not these souls be instructed--watched over? Do they not need
+counsel--warning--restraint? "O yes!" I hear you say, "they must be
+instructed--restrained--guided--all that, but this is the appropriate
+business and duty of their _mother_. I leave all these to her. I have no
+leisure for such cares myself; my business compels me to leave in charge
+all these matters to her."
+
+And where, my friend--if I may speak plainly--do you find any warrant in
+the Word of God for such assumptions as these? Leave all the care of
+your children's moral and religious instruction, guidance, restraint,
+to their mother! It is indeed her duty, and in most cases she finds it
+her pleasure, to watch over her beloved ones. And in the morning of
+their being, and in the first years of their childhood, it is _hers_ to
+watch over them, to cherish them, and to bring out and direct the first
+dawnings of their moral and intellectual being.
+
+But beyond this the duties of father and mother are coincident. At a
+certain point your responsibilities touching the training of your
+children blend. I find nothing in the Word of God which separates
+fathers and mothers in relation to bringing up their children in the
+ways of virtue and obedience to God.
+
+I know what fathers plead. I see the difficulties which often lie in
+their path. I am aware of the competition which marks every industrial
+pursuit in the land. And many men who wish it were different, who would
+love to be more with their families, who would delight to aid in
+instructing their little ones, find it, they think, quite impossible so
+to alter their business--so to cast off pressure and care, as to give
+due attention to the moral and religious training of their children.
+
+But, fathers, might you not do better than you do? Suppose you should
+make the effort to have _an hour_ each day to aid your wife in giving a
+right moral direction to your little ones? How you would encourage her!
+What an impulse would you give to her efforts! Now, how often has she a
+burden imposed upon her, which she is unable to bear! What uneasiness
+and worry--what care and trouble are caused her, by having, in this
+matter of training the children, to go on single-handed! whereas, were
+your parental authority added to her maternal tenderness, your children
+would prove the joy of your hearts and the comfort of your declining
+years. But as you manage--or rather as you neglect to manage them, a
+hundred chances to one if they do not prove your sorrow, when in years
+you are not able well to sustain it. Gather a lesson, my friend, from
+the conduct of David in respect to Absolom. He neglected him--he
+indulged him, and what was the consequence? The bright, beautiful,
+gifted Absolom planted thorns in his father's crown,--he attempted to
+dethrone him,--he was a fratricide,--he would have been a parricide: and
+what an end! Oh, what an end! Listen to the sorrowful outpourings of a
+fond, too fond, unfaithful parent: "My son, oh, my son Absolom,--would
+to God I had died for thee, oh, Absolom, my son, my son!"
+
+Take another example, and may it prove a warning to such indulgence and
+such neglect! Eli had sons, and they grew up, and they walked in
+forbidden ways, and he restrained them not; yet he was a good man: but
+good men are sometimes most unfaithful fathers, and what can they
+expect? Shall we sin because grace abounds? Shall we neglect our
+children in expectation that the grace of God will intervene to rescue
+them in times of peril? That expectation were vain while we neglect our
+duty. That expectation is nearly or quite sure to be realized if duty be
+performed.
+
+But I must insist no longer; I will only add, then, in a word,--that it
+were far, far better that your children should occupy a more humble
+station in life--that they should be dressed in fewer of the "silks of
+Ormus," and have less gold from the "mines of Ind," than to be neglected
+by a father in regard to their moral and religious training. Better
+leave them an interest in the Covenant than thousands of the treasures
+of the world. Your example, fathers,--your counsel--your prayers, are a
+better bequest than any you can leave them. Think of leaving them in a
+cold, rude, selfish world, without the grace of God to secure them,
+without his divine consolation to comfort. Think of the "voyage of awful
+length," you and they must "sail so soon." Think of the meeting in
+another world which lies before you and them, and say, Does the wide
+world afford that which could make amends for a separation--an eternal
+separation from these objects of your love?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAULT-FINDING: ITS EFFECTS.
+
+
+"What in creation have you done! Careless boy, how could you be so
+heedless? You are forever cutting some such caper, on purpose to ruin me
+I believe. Now go to work, and earn the money to pay for it, will you?
+lazy fellow!"
+
+Coarse and passionate exclamations these, and I am sorry to say they
+were uttered by Mr. Colman, who would be exceedingly indignant if any
+body should hint a suspicion that he was, or could be, other than a
+gentleman, and a _Christian_. His son, a bright and well-meaning lad of
+fourteen, had accidentally hit the end of a pretty new walking cane,
+which his favorite cousin had given him a few hours before, against a
+delicate china vase which stood upon the mantle-piece, and in a moment
+it lay in fragments at his feet. He was sadly frightened, and would have
+been very sorry too, but for the harsh and ill-timed reproof of his
+father, which checked the humble plea for forgiveness just rising to his
+lips, and as Mr. Colman left the room, put on his hat and coat in the
+hall, and closed the street door with more than usual force, to go to
+his store, the young lad's feelings were anything but dutiful. Just then
+his mother entered.
+
+"Why James Colman! Did you do that? I declare you are the most careless
+boy I ever beheld! That beautiful pair of vases your father placed there
+New Year's morning, to give me a pleasant surprise. I would not have had
+it broken for twenty dollars."
+
+"Mother, I just hit it accidentally with this little cane, and I'm sure
+I'm as sorry as I can be."
+
+"And what business has your cane in the parlor, I beg to know? I'll take
+it, and you'll not see it again for the present, if this is the way you
+expect to use it. You deserve punishment for such carelessness, and I
+wish your father had chastised you severely." And taking the offending
+cane from his hand, she, too, left him to meditations, somewhat like
+the following:--
+
+"'Tis too bad, I declare! If I had tried to do the very wickedest thing
+I possibly could, father and mother would not have scolded me worse.
+That dear little cane! I told Henry I would show it to him on my way to
+school, and now what shall I say about it? It's abominable--it's right
+down cruel to treat me so. When I had not intended to do the least thing
+wrong, only just as I was looking at the bottom of my cane, by the
+merest accident the head of it touched that little useless piece of
+crockery. I hate the sight of you," he added, touching the many colored
+and gilded fragments with the toe of his boot, as they lay before him,
+"and I hate father and mother, and every body else--and I'm tired of
+being scolded for nothing at all. Big boy as I am, they scold me for
+every little thing, just as they did when I was a little shaver like
+Eddy. What's the use? I won't bear it. I declare I won't much longer."
+And then followed reveries like others often indulged before, of being
+his own master, and doing as he pleased without father and mother always
+at hand to dictate, and find fault, and scold him so bitterly if he
+happened to make a little mistake. Other boys of his age had left home,
+and taken care of themselves, and he would too. "I am as good a scholar
+as any one in school, except Charles Harvey, and I am as strong as any
+boy I play with, and pity if I can't take care of myself. Home! Yes, to
+be sure it might be a dear good home, but father is so full of business,
+and anxious, and thinking all the time, he never speaks to one of us,
+unless it is to tell us to do something, or to find fault with what is
+done. And mother--fret, fret, fret, tired to death with the care of the
+children, and company, and servants, and societies, and every thing--it
+really seems as if she had lost all affection for us--_me_, at any rate,
+and I am sure I don't care for any body that scolds at me so, and the
+sooner I am out of the way the better. I am sure if father is trying to
+make money to leave me some of it, I'd a thousand times rather he'd give
+me pleasant words as we go along, than all the dollars I shall ever
+get--yes, indeed I had."
+
+The above scene, I am sorry to say, is but a sample of what occurred
+weekly, and I fear I might say daily, or even hourly, to some member of
+the family of Mr. Colman, and yet Mr. and Mrs. Colman were very good
+sort of people--made a very respectable appearance in the world, regular
+at church with their children--ate symbolically of the body, and drank
+of the blood, of that loving Savior, who ever spake gently to the
+youthful and the erring--and meant to be, and really thought they were,
+the very best of parents. Their children were well cared for, mentally
+and physically. They were well fed, well clothed, attended the best
+schools--but as they advanced beyond the years of infancy, there was in
+each of them the sullen look, or the discouraged tone, the tart reply,
+or the vexing remark, which made them any thing but beloved by their
+companions, any thing but happy themselves. At home there was ever some
+scene of dispute, or unkindness, to call forth the stern look, or the
+harsh command of their parents--abroad, the mingled remains of vexation
+and self-reproach, caused by their own conduct or that of others, made
+them hard to be pleased--and so the cloud thickened about them, and with
+all outward means for being happy, loving and beloved, they were a
+wretched family. James, the eldest, was impetuous and self-willed, but
+affectionate, generous, and very fond of reading and study, and with
+gentle and judicious management, would have been the joy and pride of
+his family, with the domestic and literary tastes so invaluable to every
+youth, in our day, when temptations of every kind are so rife in our
+cities and larger towns, that scarcely is the most moral of our young
+men safe, except in the sanctuary of God, or the equally divinely
+appointed sanctuary of home. But under the influences we have sketched,
+he had already begun to spend all his leisure time at the stores, the
+railroad dépôts, wharves, engine-houses, and other places of resort for
+loiterers, where he saw much to encourage the reckless and disobedient
+spirit, which characterized his soliloquy above quoted. Little did his
+parents realize the effects of their own doings. Full of the busy cares
+of this hurrying life, they fancied all was going on well, nor were
+they aroused to his danger, until some time after the scene of the
+broken vase, above alluded to, when his more frequent and prolonged
+absence from home, at meal times, and until a late hour in the evening,
+caused a severe reprimand from his father. With a heart swelling with
+rage and vexation, James went to his room--but not to bed. The purpose
+so long cherished in his mind, of leaving parental rule and restraint,
+was at its height. He opened his closet and bureau, and deliberately
+selected changes of clothing which would be most useful to him, took the
+few dollars he had carefully gathered for some time past for this
+purpose, and made all the preparation he could for a long absence from
+the home, parents, and friends, where, but for ungoverned tempers and
+tongues, he might have been so useful, respected and happy. When he
+could think of no more to be done, he looked about him. How many proofs
+of his mother's careful attention to his wishes and his comfort, did his
+chamber afford! And his little brother, five years younger, so quietly
+sleeping in his comfortable bed! Dearly he loved that brother, and yet
+hardly a day passed, in which they did not vex, and irritate, and abuse
+each other. He was half tempted to lie down by his side, and give up all
+thoughts of leaving home. But no. How severe his father would look at
+breakfast, and his mother would say something harsh. "No. I'll quit, I
+declare I will--and then if their hearts ache, I shall be glad of it.
+Mine has ached, till it's as hard as a stone. No, I've often tried, and
+now I'll go. I won't be called to account, and scolded for staying out
+of the house, when there is no comfort to be found in it." And again
+rose before his mind many scenes of cold indifference or harshness from
+his parents, which had, as he said, hardened his heart to stone. "I'll
+bid good bye to the whole of it. Little Em,--darling little sister! I
+wish I could kiss her soft sweet cheek once more. But she grows fretful
+every day, and by the time she is three years old, she will snap and
+snarl like the rest of us. I'll be out of hearing of it any way." And he
+softly raised the window sash, and slipped upon the roof of a piazza,
+from which he had often jumped in sport with his brothers, and in a few
+moments was at the dépôt. Soon the night train arrived, and soon was
+James in one of our large cities--and inquiring for the wharf of a
+steamer about to sail for California; and when the next Sabbath sun rose
+upon the home of his youth, he was tossing rapidly over the waves of the
+wide, deep, trackless ocean, one moment longing to be again amid scenes
+so long dear and familiar, and the next writhing, as he thought of the
+anger of his father, the reproaches of his mother. On he went, often
+vexed at the services he was called to perform, in working his passage
+out, for which his previous habits had poorly prepared him. On went the
+stanch vessel, and in due time landed safely her precious freight of
+immortal beings at the desired haven--but some of them were to see
+little of that distant land, where they had fondly hoped to find
+treasure of precious gold, and with it happiness. The next arrival at
+New York brought a list of recent deaths. Seven of that ship's company,
+so full of health and buoyancy and earthly hopes, but a few short months
+before, were hurried by fevers to an untimely, a little expected grave.
+And on that fatal list, was read with agonized hearts in the home of his
+childhood, the name of their first-born--James Colman, aged sixteen.
+
+Boys! If your father and mother, in the midst of a thousand cares and
+perplexities, of which you know nothing--cares, often increased
+seven-fold, by their anxieties for you, are less tender and forgiving
+than you think they should be, will you throw off all regard for them,
+all gratitude for their constant proofs of real affection, and make
+shipwreck of your own character and hopes, and break their hearts?
+No--rather with noble disregard of your own feelings, strive still more
+to please them, to soothe the weary spirit you have disturbed, and so in
+due time you shall reap the reward of well-doing, and the blessing of
+Him, who hath given you the fifth commandment, and with it a promise.
+
+Fathers! Provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged,
+for the tempter is ever at hand to lead them astray. The harsh
+reproof--the undeserved blame--cold silence, where should be the kind
+inquiry, or the affectionate welcome--oh, how do these things chill the
+young heart, and plant reserve where should be the fullest confidence,
+if you would save your child.
+
+Mothers! Where shall the youthful spirit look for the saving influence
+of love, if not to you? The young heart craves sympathy. It must have
+it--it will have it. If not found at home, it will be found in the
+streets, and oh, what danger lurks there! Fathers and mothers--see to
+it, that if your child's heart cease to beat, your own break not with
+the remembrance of words and looks, that bite like a serpent and sting
+like an adder!
+
+                      ELLEN ELLISON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHINESE DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+                              _Chánghái, Aug. 15th, 1851._
+
+MY DEAR MRS. WHITTELSEY:
+
+In order to keep before my own mind a deep interest for this people, and
+to awaken corresponding sympathies in my native land, I make short
+monthly memorandums of my observations among the Chinese. They are
+indeed a singular people, with manners and customs peculiar to
+themselves; and it would seem that, in domestic life, every practice was
+the opposite of our own; but in the kindly feelings of our nature, those
+whom I have seen brought under the influence of Christian cultivation,
+are as susceptible as those of any nation on earth. At first they are
+exceedingly suspicious of you,--they do not, they _cannot_ understand
+your motives in your efforts to do them good; and it is not until by
+making one's actions consistent with our words, and by close observation
+on their part, that you enjoy their confidence.
+
+Since I last wrote I have been quite indisposed. During my husband's
+absence in committee my nurses were Chinese girls, one eleven, the other
+thirteen years of age. No mother who had bestowed the greatest care and
+cultivation upon her daughters, could have had more affectionate
+attention than I had from these late heathen girls,--they were indeed
+unto me as daughters,--every want was anticipated, and every thing that
+young, affectionate hearts could suggest, was done to alleviate my pain.
+One has been four years, the other a year and a-half, under instruction.
+Christianity softens, subdues, and renders docile the human mind, before
+the dark folds of heathenism have deepened and thickened with increasing
+years.
+
+One of these pupils, after reading in the New Testament the narrative of
+Christ's sufferings, one day asks--"Why did Jesus come and suffer and be
+crucified?" I then explained to her as well as I could in her own
+tongue. She always seems thoughtful when she reads the Scriptures. Will
+some maternal association remember in prayer these Chinese girls?
+
+During the current month a vile placard has been published against
+foreigners, and some of the pupils have been railed at by their
+acquaintances for being under our instruction. One, on returning from a
+visit to her friends, told me the bitter and wicked things that were
+said and written; I asked her if she had found them true? she said "No."
+I asked her if foreigners, such as she had seen, spoke true or false?
+She said "always true." Did they wish to kill and destroy the Chinese as
+the placard stated? She replied, "No; but they helped the poor Chinese
+when their own people would not." The mothers were somewhat alarmed lest
+we were all to be destroyed. We told them there was nothing to fear, and
+their confidence remained unshaken.
+
+The school has enjoyed a recess of a week from study, but they do not go
+to their own homes, except to return the same day. Our house is just
+like a bee-hive, with their activity at their several employments; and
+usually some _deprivation_ is a sufficient punishment for a dereliction
+from any duty.
+
+Who will pray for these daughters? Who will sympathize with the
+low-estate of the female sex in China? I appeal to the happy mothers and
+daughters of America, our dear native land. Though severed from thee
+voluntarily, willingly, cheerfully, yet do we love thee still; thy
+Sabbaths hallowed by the voice of prayer and praise; thy Christian
+ordinances blessed with the Spirit's power. Oh, when will China, the
+home of our adoption, be thus enlightened, and her idol temples turned
+into sanctuaries for the living God?
+
+                         Affectionately,
+                           ELIZA J. BRIDGMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MINISTERING SPIRITS.
+
+
+LINES WRITTEN FOR A LITTLE GIRL BY AN EPISCOPAL CLERGYMAN.
+
+  Do ANGELS minister to me--
+  Can such a wonder ever be?
+    Oh, sure they are too great;
+  Too glorious with their raiment white,
+  And wings so beautiful and bright,
+    Upon a child to wait.
+
+  Yet so it is in truth, I know,
+  For Jesus Christ has told us so,
+    And that to them is given
+  The loving task to guard with care
+  And keep from every evil snare
+    The chosen ones of heaven.
+
+  And so if I am good and mild,
+  And try to be a holy child,
+    My angel will rejoice;
+  And sound his golden harp to Him
+  Who dwells among the cherubim,
+    And praise Him with his voice.
+
+  But if I sin against the Lord,
+  By evil thought or evil word,
+    Or do a wicked thing;
+  Ah! then what will my angel say?
+  Oh, he will turn his face away,
+    And vail it with his wing.
+
+  Then let us pray to Him who sends
+  His angels down to be our friends,
+    That, strengthened by his grace,
+  I may not prove a wandering sheep,
+  Nor ever make my angel weep,
+    Nor hide his glorious face.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A TEMPTATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
+
+
+Not long since, in one of the cities on the Atlantic seaboard, there was
+a lad employed in a large jewelry establishment. A part of his duty was
+to carry letters to the post-office, or to the mail-bag on the boat,
+when too late to be mailed in the regular way. On one occasion, after
+depositing his letters, he observed a part of a letter, put in by some
+other person, projecting above the opening in the bag. Seizing the
+opportunity he extracted this letter without being seen, and took it
+home. On examination he found it contained a draft for one thousand
+dollars. Forging the name of the person on whom it was drawn, he
+presented the draft at a bank and drew the money, and very soon
+afterwards proceeded to a distant western city.
+
+After a little while, the draft was missed and inquiries made. It was
+found that this lad had been near the mailbag on the day when the
+missing letter had been put in it, that he was unusually well provided
+with money, and that he had suddenly disappeared. Officers of justice
+were commissioned to find him. They soon traced him to his new
+residence, charged him with his crime, which he at once confessed, and
+brought him back to meet the consequences of a judicial investigation.
+After a short imprisonment he was released on bail, but still held to
+answer, and thus the case stands at present. He must of course be
+convicted, but whether the penalty of the law will be inflicted in whole
+or in part, it will be for the Executive to say.
+
+Meanwhile the circumstances suggest some thoughts which may be worth the
+reader's attention. This lad was a member of a Sunday school, but
+irregular in his attendance, and this latter fact may in some degree
+explain his wandering from the right path. He might, indeed, have been a
+punctual attendant on his class, and still have fallen into this gross
+sin, but it is not at all probable. And it is curious and instructive,
+that wherever any inmates of prisons, houses of refuge, or other places
+of the kind, are found to have been connected with Sunday-schools, it is
+nearly always stated in accompaniment that they attended only
+occasionally and rarely.
+
+Again, how much weight is there in Job's remarkable expression (ch.
+31:5), _I have made a covenant with my eyes_! The eye, the most active
+of our senses, is the chiefest inlet of temptation, and hence the
+apostle John specifies "the lust of the eyes" as a leading form or type
+of ordinary sins. The lad in the case before us allowed his eye to dwell
+on the letter, until the covetous desire to appropriate it had grown
+into a fixed purpose. Had he made the same covenant as Job, and turned
+his eye resolutely away as soon as he felt the first wrongful emotion in
+his heart, the result had been widely different. But he rather imitated
+the unhappy Achan, who, in recounting his sin, says, "_When I saw_ among
+the spoils a Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver, and a
+wedge of gold, _then_ I coveted them." A fool's eyes soon lead his hands
+astray.
+
+Here also we see the deceitfulness of the heart. A mere boy of fifteen
+years, of good ordinary training, at least in part connected with a
+Sunday-school, and not prompted by any urgent bodily necessity, commits
+a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment. Had any one foretold to him
+a week before even the possibility of this occurrence, how indignantly
+would he have spurned the very thought! That he should become, and
+deservedly so, the inmate of a felon's cell--how monstrous the
+supposition! Yet so it came to pass. The heart is deceitful above all
+things, and he who trusts in it is "cursed." Multitudes find their own
+case the renewal of Hazael's experience. When Elijah told him the
+enormities he, when on the throne of Syria, would practice, he
+exclaimed--"Is thy servant a dog that he should do these things?" He was
+not then, but he afterwards became just such a dog.
+
+But if the heart be deceitful, sin is scarcely less so. When the poor
+boy first clutched his prize, as he esteemed it, he promised himself
+nothing but pleasure and profit, but how miserably was he deceived!
+After he had converted the draft into money, and thus rendered its
+return impossible without detection, he saw his guilt in its true
+character, and for many nights tossed in torment on a sleepless bed,
+while at last he was made to take his place along with hardened convicts
+in a city prison. Thus it always is with sin. Like the book the apostle
+ate in vision, it is sweet as honey in the mouth, but bitter in the
+belly. Like the wine Solomon describes, it may sparkle in the cup and
+shoot up its bright beads on the surface, but at the last it biteth like
+a serpent and stingeth like an adder. The experiment has been tried
+times without number, from the beginning in Eden down to our own day, by
+communities and by individuals, but invariably with the same result. The
+way of transgressors is hard, however it may seem to them who are
+entering upon it a path of primrose dalliance. And surely "whosoever is
+deceived thereby is not wise."
+
+Finally, how needful is it to pray--"Lead us not into temptation."
+Snares lie all around us, whether old or young, and it is vain to seek
+an entire escape from their intrusion. The lad we are considering, had
+not gone out of his way to meet the temptation by which he fell. On the
+contrary, he was doing his duty, he was just where he ought to have
+been. Yet there the adversary found him, and there he finds every man.
+The very fact that one is in a lawful place and condition is apt to
+throw him off his guard. There is but one safeguard under grace, and
+that is habitual watchfulness. Without this the strongest may fall--with
+it, the feeblest may stand firm. O for such a deep and abiding
+conviction of the keenness of temptation and the dreadful evil of sin as
+to lead all to cry mightily unto God, and at the same time be strenuous
+in effort themselves--to pray and also to watch.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MEMOIR OF MRS. VAN LENNEP.
+
+
+The following review, written by Mrs. D.E. Sykes, of the Memoir of Mrs.
+M.E. Van Lennep, we deem among the finest specimens of that class of
+writings. The remarks it contains on the religious education of
+daughters are so much in point, and fall in so aptly with the design of
+our work, that we have obtained permission to publish it. We presume it
+will be new to most of our readers, as it originally appeared in the
+_New Englander_, a periodical which is seldom seen, except in a
+Theological Library.
+
+An additional reason for our publishing it is, our personal interest
+both in the reviewer, who we are happy to say has become a contributor
+to our pages, and the reviewed--having been associated with the mothers
+of each, for a number of years, in that most interesting of all
+associations, "The Mother's Meeting."
+
+For eleven years, Mary E. Hawes, afterwards Mrs. Van Lennep, was an
+attentive and interested listener to the instructions given to the
+children at our quarterly meetings--and it is interesting to know that
+her mother regards the influence of those meetings as powerfully aiding
+in the formation of her symmetrical Christian character.
+
+An eminent painter once said to us, that he always disliked to attempt
+the portrait of a woman; it was so difficult to give to such a picture
+the requisite boldness of feature and distinctness of individual
+expression, without impairing its feminine character. If this be true in
+the delineation of the outer and material form, how much more true is it
+of all attempts to portray the female mind and heart! If the words and
+ways, the style of thinking and the modes of acting, all that goes to
+make up a biography, have a character sufficiently marked to
+individualize the subject, there is a danger that, in the relating, she
+may seem to have overstepped the decorum of her sex, and so forfeit the
+interest with which only true delicacy can invest the woman.
+
+It is strange that biography should ever succeed. To reproduce any thing
+that was transient and is gone, not by repetition as in a strain of
+music, but by delineating the emotions it caused, is an achievement of
+high art. An added shade of coloring shows you an enthusiast, and loses
+you the confidence and sympathy of your cooler listener. A shade
+subtracted leaves so faint a hue that you have lost your interest in
+your own faded picture, and of course, cannot command that of another.
+Even an exact delineation, while it may convey accurately a part of the
+idea of a character, is not capable of transmitting the more volatile
+and subtle shades. You may mix your colors never so cunningly, and copy
+never so minutely every fold of every petal of the rose, and hang it so
+gracefully on its stem, as to present its very port and bearing, but
+where is its fragrance, its exquisite texture, and the dewy freshness
+which was its crowning grace?
+
+So in biography, you may make an accurate and ample statement of
+facts,--you may even join together in a brightly colored mosaic the
+fairest impressions that can be given of the mind of another--his own
+recorded thoughts and feelings--and yet they may fail to present the
+individual. They are stiff and glaring, wanting the softening transition
+of the intermediate parts and of attending circumstances.
+
+And yet biography does sometimes succeed, not merely in raising a
+monumental pile of historical statistics, and maintaining for the
+friends of the departed the outlines of a character bright in their
+remembrance; but in shaping forth to others a life-like semblance of
+something good and fair, and distinct enough to live with us
+thenceforward and be loved like a friend, though it be but a shadow.
+
+Such has been the feeling with which we have read and re-read the volume
+before us. We knew but slightly her who is the subject of it, and are
+indebted to the memoir for any thing like a conception of the character;
+consequently we can better judge of its probable effect upon other
+minds. We pronounce it a portrait successfully taken--a piece of
+uncommonly skillful biography. There is no gaudy exaggeration in it,--no
+stiffness, no incompleteness. We see the individual character we are
+invited to see, and in contemplating it, we have all along a feeling of
+personal acquisition. We have found rare treasure; a true woman to be
+admired, a daughter whose worth surpasses estimation, a friend to be
+clasped with fervor to the heart, a lovely young Christian to be admired
+and rejoiced over, and a self-sacrificing missionary to be held in
+reverential remembrance. Unlike most that is written to commemorate the
+dead, or that unvails the recesses of the human heart, this is a
+cheerful book. It breathes throughout the air of a spring morning. As we
+read it we inhale something as pure and fragrant as the wafted odor of
+
+  "----old cherry-trees,
+  Scented with blossoms."
+
+We stand beneath a serene unclouded sky, and all around us is floating
+music as enlivening as the song of birds, yet solemn as the strains of
+the sanctuary. It is that of a life in unison from its childhood to its
+close; rising indeed like "an unbroken hymn of praise to God." There is
+no austerity in its piety, no levity in its gladness. It shows that
+"virtue in herself is lovely," but if "goodness" is ever "awful," it is
+not here in the company of this young happy Christian heart.
+
+We have heard, sometimes, that a strictly religious education has a
+tendency to restrict the intellectual growth of the young, and to mar
+its grace and freedom. We have been told that it was not well that our
+sons and daughters should commit to memory texts and catechisms, lest
+the free play of the fancy should be checked and they be rendered
+mechanical and constrained in their demeanor, and dwarfish in their
+intellectual stature. We see nothing of this exemplified in this memoir.
+One may look long to find an instance of more lady-like and graceful
+accomplishments, of more true refinement, of more liberal and varied
+cultivation, of more thorough mental discipline, of more pliable and
+available information, of a more winning and wise adaptation to persons
+and times and places, than the one presented in these pages. And yet
+this fair flower grew in a cleft of rugged Calvinism; the gales which
+fanned it were of that "wind of doctrine" called rigid orthodoxy. We
+know the soil in which it had its root. We know the spirit of the
+teachings which distilled upon it like the dew. The tones of that pulpit
+still linger in our ears, familiar as those of "_that good old bell_,"
+and we are sure that there is no pulpit in all New England more
+uncompromising in its demands, more strictly and severely searching in
+its doctrines.
+
+But let us look more closely at the events of this history of a life,
+and note their effect in passing upon the character of its subject.
+
+MARY, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, Conn., was
+born in 1821. Following her course through her youth, we are no where
+surprised at the development of any remarkable power of mind. She was
+prayerful and conscientious, diligent in acquiring knowledge,
+enthusiastic in her love of nature, evincing in every thing a refined
+and feminine taste, and a quick perception of the beautiful in art, in
+literature, and in morals. But the charm of her character lay in the
+warmth of her heart. Love was the element in which she lived. She loved
+God--she loved her parents--she loved her companions--she loved
+everybody. It was the exuberant, gushing love of childhood, exalted by
+the influences of true piety. She seems never to have known what it was
+to be repelled by a sense of weakness or unworthiness in another, or to
+have had any of those dislikes and distastes and unchristian aversions
+which keep so many of us apart. She had no need to "unlearn contempt."
+This was partly the result of natural temperament, but not all. Such
+love is a Christian grace. He that "hath" it, has it because he
+"dwelleth in God and God in him." It is the charity which Paul
+inculcated; that which "thinketh no evil," which "hopeth" and "believeth
+all things." It has its root in humility; it grows only by the uprooting
+of self. He who would cultivate it, must follow the injunction to let
+nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of heart
+esteem others better than himself. As Jesus took a little child and set
+him in the midst to teach his disciples, so would we place this young
+Christian woman in the assemblies of some who are "called of men Rabbi,
+Rabbi," that they may learn from her "which be the first principles" of
+the Christian life.
+
+But let no one suppose that there was any weakness or want of just
+discrimination in the subject of this memoir. It is true that the
+gentler elements predominated in her character, and her father knew what
+she needed, when he gave her the playful advice to "_have more of
+Cato_." Without Christian principle she might have been a victim of
+morbid sensitiveness, or even at the mercy of fluctuating impulses; but
+religion supplied the tonic she needed, and by the grace of God aiding
+her own efforts, we see her possessed of firmness of purpose and moral
+courage enough to rebuke many of us who are made of sterner stuff.
+
+For want of room we pass over many beautiful extracts from the memoir
+made to exhibit the traits of her character, and to illustrate what is
+said by the reviewer.
+
+In September, 1843, Miss H. was married to the Rev. J. Van Lennep, and
+in the following October sailed with him for his home in Smyrna. Our
+readers have learned from the letter of Rev. Mr. Goodell, which we
+lately published, through what vicissitudes Mrs. Van Lennep passed after
+her arrival at Constantinople, which had been designated as her field of
+labor.
+
+It was there she died, September 27, 1844, in the twenty-third year of
+her age, only one year and twenty-three days from her marriage-day, and
+before she had fully entered upon the life to which she had consecrated
+herself. Of her it has been as truly as beautifully said:
+
+  "Thy labor in the vineyard closed,
+  Long e'er the noon-tide sun,
+  The dew still glistened on the leaves,
+  When thy short task was done."
+
+And yet this life, "so little in itself," may be found to have an
+importance in its consequences, hardly anticipated at first by those
+who, overwhelmed by this sudden and impetuous providence, were ready to
+exclaim, "To what purpose is this waste?" Her day of influence will
+extend beyond the noon or the even-tide of an ordinary life of labor.
+"_Sweet Mary Hawes_" (as she is named by one who never saw her, and
+whose knowledge of her is all derived from the volume we have been
+reviewing), shall long live in these pages, embalmed in unfading youth,
+to win and to guide many to Him, at whose feet she sat and learned to
+"choose the better part." Her pleasant voice will be heard in our homes,
+assuring our daughters that "there is no sphere of usefulness more
+pleasant than this;" bidding them believe that "it is a comfort to take
+the weight of family duties from a mother, to soothe and cheer a wearied
+father, and a delight to aid a young brother in his evening lesson, and
+to watch his unfolding mind." They shall catch her alacrity and cheerful
+industry, and her "facility in saving the fragments of time, and making
+them tell in something tangible" accomplished in them. They shall be
+admonished not to waste feeling in discontented and romantic dreaming,
+or in sighing for opportunities to do good on a great scale, till they
+have filled up as thoroughly and faithfully as she did the smaller
+openings for usefulness near at hand.
+
+She shall lead them by the hand to the Sabbath-school teacher's humble
+seat, on the tract distributor's patient circuit, or on errands of mercy
+into the homes of sickness and destitution,--into the busy
+sewing-circle, or the little group gathered for social prayer. It is
+well too that they should have such a guide, for the offense of the
+Cross has not yet ceased, and the example of an accomplished and highly
+educated young female will not fail of its influence upon others of the
+same class, who wish to be Christians, and yet are so much afraid of
+every thing that may seem to border on _religious cant_, as to shrink
+back from the prayer-meeting, and from active personal efforts for the
+salvation of others. Her cheerful piety shall persuade us that "_it is
+indeed_ the _simplest_, the _easiest_, the _most blessed thing in the
+world, to give up the heart to the control of God_, and by daily looking
+to him for strength to conquer our corrupt inclinations, _to grow in
+every thing that will make us like him_." Her bright smile is worth
+volumes to prove that "_Jesus can indeed satisfy the heart_," and that
+if the experience of most of us has taught us to believe, that there is
+far more of conflict than of victory in the Christian warfare,--more
+shadow than sunshine resting upon the path of our pilgrimage, most of
+the fault lies in our own wayward choice. The child-like simplicity and
+serene faith of this young disciple, shall often use to rebuke our
+anxious fears, and charm away our disquietudes with the whisper--"_that
+sweet word_, TRUST, _tells all_." Her early consecration of her
+all to the great work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, shall rouse
+us who have less left of life to surrender, to redouble our efforts in
+spreading like "love and joy and peace," over the earth, lest when it
+shall be said of her, "She hath done what she could," it shall also be
+added, "She hath done more than they all."
+
+There has been no waste here,--no sacrifice but that by which, in
+oriental alchemy, the bloom and the beauty of the flower of a day is
+transmitted into the imperishable odor, and its fragrance concentrated,
+in order that it may be again diffused abroad to rejoice a thousand
+hearts. If any ask again, "To what purpose was this waste?"--we answer,
+"The Lord had need of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We are indebted to God for the gift of Washington: but we are no less
+indebted to him for the gift of his inestimable mother. Had she been a
+weak and indulgent and unfaithful parent, the unchecked energies of
+Washington might have elevated him to the throne of a tyrant, or
+youthful disobedience might have prepared the way for a life of crime
+and a dishonored grave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG IN THE DOCTRINES AND PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL.
+
+MRS. A. G. WHITTELSEY:
+
+DEAR MADAM--It is among the recollections of my early youth,
+that your departed husband was pastor of one of the churches in the
+southern section of Litchfield County, Conn. Among the distinguishing
+religious characteristics of that portion of country, at that period,
+was the soundness of the Congregational churches in the faith of the
+gospel: the means for which, in diligent use, were, the faithful
+preaching of the gospel in its great and fundamental doctrines and
+precepts; and catechetical instruction, in the family and in the school.
+I am not informed as to the present habits there, on the latter means.
+But knowing what was the practice, extensively, in regard to the
+instruction of children and youth, and what its effects on the interests
+of sound piety and morals in those days, I feel myself standing on firm
+ground for urging upon the readers of your Magazine, the importance of
+the instruction of the young in the doctrines and duties of the gospel.
+The position taken in your Magazine, on that great and important
+subject, Infant Baptism, is one which you will find approved and
+sustained by all who fully appreciate the means for bringing the sons
+and daughters of the Church to Christ. I hope that in its pages will
+also be inculcated all those great and distinguishing doctrines and
+commands of our holy religion, which, in the Bible, and in the minds of
+all sound and faithful men, and all sound confessions of Christian
+faith, stand inseparably associated with Infant Baptism.
+
+Such instruction should be imparted by parents themselves; not left to
+teachers in the Sabbath-school alone; as soon as the minds of children
+begin to be capable of receiving instruction, of any kind, and of being
+impressed, permanently, by such instruction. It should be imparted
+frequently--or, rather, constantly,--as God directed his anointed
+people: "And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine
+heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou
+shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
+walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up."
+It should be done with clearness and simplicity, adapted to the minds of
+children and youth; with particularity; and with a fullness, as regards
+"the whole word of God," which shall not leave them uninstructed in any
+doctrine or command in the sacred word. These points in the manner of
+instructing the young are suggested, with an eye to the fact, that since
+the establishment of Sunday-schools, there is a temptation for parents
+to leave to others this important work; that it is therefore delayed
+till the age at which children have learned to read,--by which time,
+some of the best opportunities for impressing truth have become
+lost--because also there is infrequency and omission of duty; and
+because there is not always the requisite pains taken to have children
+understand what is taught; and indefinite ideas on the doctrines and
+precepts of the gospel are the consequences; and because there is an
+inclination, too often indicated, to pass over some doctrines and
+precepts, under the notion that they are distasteful, and will repel the
+young mind from religion. We set down as a principle of sound common
+sense, as well as religion, that every truth of the Bible which is
+concerned in making men wise unto salvation, is to be taught to every
+soul whose salvation is to be sought, and that at every period of life.
+
+Let a few words be said, relative to the advantages of thorough and
+faithful instruction of the young, in the doctrines and duties of the
+gospel. It pre-occupies and guards their minds against religious error.
+It prepares them early and discriminately to perceive and understand the
+difference between Bible truth, and the words taught by men, however
+ingenious and plausible. It exerts a salutary moral influence, even
+before conversion takes place,--which is of high importance to a life of
+correct morality. It prepares the way for intelligent and sound
+conversion to God, whenever that desirable event takes place; and for
+subsequent solidity and strength of Christian character, to the end of
+life. Added to these, it may in strict propriety be asserted, that the
+influence of thorough instruction in the sound and sacred truths of
+God's word is inestimable upon the intellect as well as on the heart.
+Divine truth is the grand educator of the immortal mind. It is therefore
+an instrumentality to be used in childhood and youth, as well as in
+adult years.
+
+The objection often made, to omit instruction as advocated in this
+article,--that children and youth cannot understand it,--is founded in a
+mistake. Thousands and thousands of biographies of children and youth
+present facts which obviate the objection and go to correct the mistake.
+It is the beauty of what our Savior called "the kingdom of God,"--the
+religion of the gospel,--that while it is to be "received" by every one
+"_as_ a little child," it is received _by_ many "a little child," who is
+early taught it. But on the other hand, it is an affecting and most
+instructive fact, that of multitudes who are left uninstructed in early
+life, in the truths of the gospel; that Scripture is proved but too
+true, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
+truth."
+
+May your Magazine, dear Madam, be instrumental in advancing the best
+interests of the rising generation, by its advocacy of bringing up
+children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" into which enters,
+fundamentally, teaching to the young,--by parents themselves,--and that
+"right early," constantly, clearly, particularly and fully, the truths
+of the gospel; the sure and unerring doctrine and commands of the Word
+of God. With Christian salutations, yours truly,
+
+                          E. W. HOOKER.
+  _South Windsor, Conn., August, 1851._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE DEATH-BED SCENE.
+
+
+The following death-bed conversation of a beloved daughter, detailed to
+us by her mother, exhibits such sweet resignation and trust in God, that
+we give it a place in our Magazine. Would that we all might be prepared
+to resign this life with cheerfulness, and with like hopes enter upon
+that which is to come!
+
+"Mother," said she, "I once thought I could be a Christian without
+making a profession of religion, but when God took my little Burnet from
+me, I knew he did it to subdue the pride of my heart and bring me to the
+foot of the Cross. Satan has been permitted to tempt me, but the Savior
+has always delivered me from his snares."
+
+I was absent from her one day for a short time; when I returned she
+looked at me with such a heavenly expression, and said:
+
+"Mother, I thought just now I was dying; I went to the foot of the Cross
+with my burden of sins and sorrows, and left them there. Now all is
+peace; I am not afraid to die."
+
+Her father coming, she took his hand in hers and said:
+
+"My dear father, if I have prayed for one thing more than another, it
+has been for your salvation, but God, doubtless, saw that my death
+(which will, I know, be one of the greatest trials you have ever met
+with) is necessary to save you; and although I love my parents, husband
+and children dearly as any one ever did, and have every thing in this
+world that I could wish for, yet I am willing to die--Here, Lord, take
+me."
+
+Her sister coming in, she said to her:--"My dear Caroline, you see what
+a solemn thing it is to die. What an awful thing it must be for those
+who have no God. Dear sister, learn to love the Savior, learn to pray,
+do not be too much taken up with the world, it will disappoint you."
+
+After saying something to each one present, turning to me, she said:
+
+"My dear mother, I thank you for your kind care of me, for keeping me
+from places of dissipation. I thought once you were too strict, but now
+I bless you for it. I shall not be permitted to smooth your dying
+pillow, but I shall be ready to meet you when you land on the shores of
+Canaan. Dear mother, come soon."
+
+To Mr. H. she said:--"Dear husband, you were the loadstone that held me
+longest to the earth, but I have been enabled to give you up at last. I
+trust you are a Christian, and we shall meet in heaven. Take care of our
+children, train them up for Christ, keep them from the world." She then
+prayed for them. After lying still for some time, she said:
+
+"Mother, I thought I was going just, now, and I tried to put up one more
+prayer for my husband, children, and friends, but (looking up with a
+smile), would you believe I could not remember their names, and I just
+said, Here they are, Lord, take them, and make them what thou wouldst
+have them, and bring them to thy kingdom at last."
+
+When she was almost cold, and her tongue stiffened, she motioned me to
+put my head near her.
+
+"My dear child," said I, "it seems to distress you to talk, don't try."
+
+"Oh, mother, let me leave you all the comfort I can, it is you who must
+still suffer; my sufferings are just over; I am passing over Jordan, but
+the waves do not touch me; my Savior is with me, and keeps them off.
+Never be afraid to go to him. Farewell! And now, Lord Jesus, come, O
+come quickly. My eyes are fixed on the Savior, and all is peace. Let me
+rejoice! let me rejoice!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+"ROGER MILLER," OR "HEROISM IN HUMBLE LIFE,"--Is the title of a
+small "Narrative"--a reprint from a London Edition, by Carter and
+Brothers, 235 Broadway, New York.
+
+The field of benevolent action of this holy man, was that great
+metropolis--London. His life and character were in fact a counterpart of
+our own Harlan Page. The somewhat extended "Introduction" to this
+reprint was prepared by Dr. James Alexander. We feel justified in
+saying, with his extensive experience, and his keen perceptions of truth
+and of duty in such matters, this Introduction is worth all the book may
+cost.
+
+The main thought of the work suggests "_The condition of our
+metropolitan population_"--points out the "_true remedy_" for existing
+evils--shows us the value of "_lay agency_," and "how much may be done
+by individuals of humble rank and least favored circumstances."
+
+Every parent has a personal interest to aid and encourage such
+benevolent action. Vice is contagious. Let our seaboard towns become
+flagrantly wicked--with "railroad speed" the infection will travel far
+and wide. Mothers are invited to peruse this little volume--as an
+encouragement to labor and pray, and hope for the conversion of wayward
+wandering sons--for wicked and profligate youth.
+
+Roger Miller, whose death caused such universal lamentation in the city
+of London, was for many years a wanderer from God, and was at length
+converted by means of a tract, given him by the "_way-side_," by an old
+and decrepit woman.
+
+"NEWCOMB'S MANUAL"--Is a carefully prepared little volume,
+containing Scripture questions, designed for the use of Maternal
+Associations at their Quarterly Meetings.
+
+"MARY ASHTON"--Is the title of a little work recently issued
+from the press, delineating the difference between the character of the
+London boarding-school Miss, and one of nearly the same age, educated
+and trained by the devoted, affectionate care of a pious mother. The
+influence which the latter exerts upon the former is also set forth
+during the progress of the story. Those readers who are fond of
+delineations of English scenery and of the time-hallowed influences of
+the old English Church, will be pleased with the style of the volume,
+while some few mothers may possess the delightful consciousness of
+viewing in _Mary Ashton_ the image of their loved ones now laboring in
+the vineyard of the Lord, or transferred to his more blessed service in
+the skies. But few such, alas! are to be found among even the baptized
+children of the Church; those on whom the dew and rain gently distilled
+in the privacy of home and from the public sanctuary bring forth the
+delightsome plant. God grant that such fruits may be more abundant!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+RECOLLECTIONS ILLUSTRATIVE OF MATERNAL INFLUENCE.
+
+
+In thinking over the scenes of my childhood the other day, I was led to
+trace the path of some of my youthful companions into life; and I could
+not but be struck with the fact, that in almost every instance, both the
+character and the condition were referable, in a great measure, to the
+influence of the mother. Some of them were blessed with good mothers,
+and some were cursed with bad ones; and though the conviction is not in
+all the cases marked with equal distinctness, yet in several of them,
+the very image and superscription of the mother remains upon the child
+to this day. I sometimes visit the place which was the scene of my early
+training, and inquire for those who were the playmates of my childhood,
+and I receive answers to some of my inquiries that well nigh make me
+shudder; but when I think of the early domestic influence, especially
+the maternal influence, to which some of them were subjected, there is
+nothing in the account that I hear concerning them, but what is easily
+explained. For the cause of their present degradation and ruin, I have
+no occasion to go outside of the dwelling in which they were reared. I
+am glad to put on record, for the benefit of both mothers and their
+children, two of the cases which now occur to me, as illustrative of
+different kinds of maternal influence.
+
+One of the boys who attended the same school with me, and whose father's
+residence was very near my father's, was, even at that early period,
+both vulgar and profane in his talk. He seemed destitute of all sense
+and propriety, caring nothing for what was due from him to others, and
+equally regardless of the good-will of his teacher and of his
+companions. When I returned to the place, after a few years' absence,
+and inquired for him, I was told that he was growing up, or rather had
+grown up, in habits of vice, which seemed likely to render him an outlaw
+from all decent society: that even then he had no associates except from
+the very dregs of the community. In my visits to my native place ever
+since, I have kept my eye upon him, as a sad illustration of the
+progress of sin. He has been for many years--I cannot say an absolute
+sot--but yet an intemperate drinker. He has always been shockingly
+profane; not only using the profane expressions that are commonly heard
+in the haunts of wickedness, but actually putting his invention to the
+rack to originate expressions more revolting, if possible, than anything
+to be found in the acknowledged vocabulary of blasphemy. He has been
+through life an avowed infidel--not merely a deist, but a professed
+atheist,--laughing at the idea both of a God and a hereafter; though his
+skepticism, instead of being the result of inquiry or reflection, or
+being in any way connected with it, is evidently the product of
+unrestrained vicious indulgence. His domestic relations have been a
+channel of grief and mortification to those who have been so unfortunate
+as to be associated with him. His wife, if she is still living, lives
+with a broken heart, and the time has been when she has dreaded the
+sound of his footsteps. His children, notwithstanding the brutalizing
+influence to which they have been subjected, have, by no means, sunk
+down to _his_ standard of corruption; and some of them at least would
+seem ready to hang their heads when they call him "father." I cannot at
+this moment think of a more loathsome example of moral debasement than
+this person presents. I sometimes meet him, and from early associations,
+even take his hand; but I never do it without feeling myself in contact
+with the very personification of depravity.
+
+Now, I am not surprised at all this, when I go back to the time when he
+had a mother, and remember what sort of a mother she was. She was coarse
+and vulgar in her habits; and I well recollect that the interior of her
+dwelling was so neglected, that it scarcely rose above a decent stable.
+The secret of this, and most of her other delinquencies was, that she
+was a lover of intoxicating drinks. I believe she sometimes actually
+made a beast of herself; but oftener drank only so much as to make her
+silly and ridiculous. It happened in her case, as in many similar ones,
+that her fits of being intoxicated were fits of being religious; and
+though, when she was herself, she never, to my knowledge, made any
+demonstrations of piety or devotion; yet the moment her tongue became
+too large for her mouth, she was sure to use it in the most earnest and
+glowing religious professions. A stranger might have taken her at such a
+time for a devoted Christian; but alas! her religion was only that of a
+wretched inebriate.
+
+Now who can think it strange that such a mother should have had such a
+son? Not only may the general corrupt character of the son be accounted
+for by the general corrupt influence of the mother, but the particular
+traits of the son's character may also be traced to particular
+characteristics of the mother, as an effect to its legitimate cause. The
+single fact that she was intemperate, and that her religion was confined
+to her fits of drunkenness, would explain it all. Of course, the
+education of her son was utterly neglected. No pains were taken to
+impress his mind with the maxims of truth and piety. He was never warned
+against the power of temptation, but was suffered to mingle with the
+profane and the profligate, without any guard against the unhallowed
+influences to which he was exposed. This, of itself, would be enough to
+account for his forming a habit of vice--even for his growing up a
+profligate;--for such are the tendencies of human nature, that the mere
+absence of counsel and guidance and restraint, is generally sufficient
+to insure a vicious character. But in the case to which I refer, there
+was more than the absence of a good example--there was the presence of a
+positively bad one--and that in the form of one of the most degrading of
+all vices. The boy saw his mother a drunkard, and why should he not
+become a drunkard too? The boy saw that his mother's religious
+professions were all identified with her fits of intoxication, and why
+should he not grow up as he did, without any counteracting influence?
+why should he not settle down with the conviction that religion is a
+matter of no moment? nay, why should he not become what he actually did
+become,--a scoffer and an atheist? Whenever I meet him, I see in his
+face, not only a reproduction of his mother's features, but that which
+tells of the reproduction of his mother's character. I pity him that he
+should have had such a mother, while I loathe the qualities which he has
+inherited from her, or which have been formed through the influence of
+her example.
+
+The other case forms a delightful contrast to the one already stated,
+and is as full of encouragement as _that_ is full of warning. Another of
+my playmates was a boy who was always noticed for being
+perfectly-correct and unexceptionable in all his conduct. I never heard
+him utter a profane or indecent word. I never knew him do a thing even
+of questionable propriety. He was bright and playful, but never
+mischievous. He was a good scholar, not because he had very remarkable
+talents, but because he made good use of his time--because he was taught
+to regard it as his duty to get his lessons well, and he could not be
+happy in any other course. His teachers loved him because he was
+diligent and respectful; his playmates loved him, because he was kind
+and obliging; all loved him, because he was an amiable, moral,
+well-disposed boy. He evinced so much promise, that his parents, though
+not in affluent circumstances, resolved on giving him a collegiate
+education, and in due time he became a member of one of our highest
+literary institutions. There he maintained a high rank for both
+scholarship and morality, and graduated with distinguished honor. Not
+long after this, his mind took a decidedly serious direction, and he not
+only gave himself to the service of God, but resolved to give himself
+also to the ministry of reconciliation. After passing through the usual
+course and preparation for the sacred office, he entered it; and he is
+now the able and successful minister of a large and respectable
+congregation. He has already evidently been instrumental of winning many
+souls. I hear of him from time to time, as among the most useful
+ministers of the day. I occasionally meet him, and see for myself the
+workings of his well-trained mind, and his generous and sanctified
+spirit. I say to myself, I remember you, when you were only the germ of
+what you are; but surely the man was bound up in the boy. I witness
+nothing in your maturity which was not shadowed forth in your earliest
+development.
+
+Here again, let me trace the stream to its fountain--the effect to its
+cause. This individual was the child of a discreet and faithful
+Christian mother. She dedicated him to God in holy baptism, while he was
+yet unconscious of the solemn act. She watched the first openings of his
+intellect, that no time might be lost in introducing the beams of
+immortal truth. She guarded him during his childhood, from the influence
+of evil example, especially of evil companions, with the most scrupulous
+care. She labored diligently to suppress the rising of unhallowed
+tempers and perverse feelings, with a view to prevent, if possible, the
+formation of any vicious habit, while she steadily inculcated the
+necessity of that great radical change, which alone forms the basis of a
+truly spiritual character. And though no human eye followed her to her
+closet, I doubt not that her good instructions were seconded by her
+fervent prayers; and that as often as she approached the throne of
+mercy, she left there a petition for the well-doing and the well-being,
+the sanctification and salvation of her son. And her work of faith and
+labor of love were not in vain. The son became all that she could have
+asked, and she lived to witness what he became. She lived to listen to
+his earnest prayers and his eloquent and powerful discourses. She lived
+to hear his name pronounced with respect and gratitude in the high
+places of the Church. He was one of the main comforters of her old age;
+and if I mistake not, he was at her death-bed, to commend her departing
+spirit into her Redeemer's hands. Richly was that mother's fidelity
+rewarded by the virtues and graces which she had assisted to form.
+Though she recognized them all as the fruits of the Spirit, she could
+not but know that in a humble, and yet very important sense, they were
+connected with her own instrumentality.
+
+Such has been the career of two of the playmates of my childhood. They
+are both living, but they have been traveling in opposite directions,--I
+may say ever since they left the cradle. And so far as we can judge, the
+main reason is, that the one had a mother whose influence was only for
+evil, the other, a mother who was intent upon doing good. Both their
+mothers now dwell in the unseen world; while the one is represented on
+earth by a most loathsome specimen of humanity, the other by a pure and
+elevated spirit, that needs only to pass the gate of death to become a
+seraph.
+
+Mothers, I need not say a word to impress the lessons suggested by this
+contrast. They lie upon the surface, and your own hearts will readily
+take them up. May God save you from looking upon ruined children, and
+being obliged to feel that you have been their destroyers! May God
+permit you to look upon children, whom your faithfulness has, through
+grace, nurtured not only into useful members of human society, but into
+heirs of an endless glorious life!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS H. GALLAUDET.
+
+BY MRS. G. M. SYKES.
+
+
+There is a little legend of the Queen of Sheba and wise King Solomon,
+which is fragrant with pleasant meaning. She had heard his wonderful
+fame in her distant country, and had come "with a very great company,
+and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious
+stones;" this imposing caravan had wound its way over the deserts, and
+the royal pilgrim had endured the heat and weariness of the way, that
+she "might prove the king with hard questions, at Jerusalem." This we
+have upon the highest authority, though for this particular test we must
+be content with something less. Entering his audience-chamber one day,
+she is said to have produced two crowns of flowers, of rare beauty, and
+apparently exactly alike. "Both are for thee, O wise king," said she,
+"but discern between them, which is the workmanship of the Most High,
+and which hath man fashioned in its likeness?"
+
+We read of costly oriental imitations of flowers in gold and silver, in
+pearls, and amethysts, and rubies. How shall Solomon the King detect the
+cunning mimicry? Solomon the Wise has determined. He causes the windows
+looking upon the gardens of his ivory palace to be thrown open, and
+immediately the crown of true flowers is covered with bees.
+
+Like King Solomon's bees are the instincts of childhood, sure to detect
+the fragrance of the genuine blossom in human nature, and settle where
+the honey may be found. It was a rare distinction of the good man whose
+name stands at the head of this chapter, that children everywhere loved
+him, and recognized in him their true friend. An enduring monument of
+his love for children, and his untiring efforts to do them good is found
+in the books he has written for them. His _Child's Book on the Soul_,
+has, if I am not mistaken, been translated into French, German, and
+Modern Greek, and has issued from the Mission-press at Ceylon, in one or
+more of the dialects of India. It has also been partially rendered into
+the vernacular at the missionary stations, in opposite parts of the
+world. His _Child's Book on Repentance_, and his _Histories of the
+Patriarchs_, published by the American Tract Society, are the result of
+diligent study. The _Life of Moses_ may be specified, as having cost him
+most laborious investigation; and it is true of them all that there is
+in them an amount of illustrative Biblical research, and a depth of
+mental philosophy, which more ambitious writers would have reserved for
+their theological folios. But even his books, widely as they are known
+and appreciated, convey but an imperfect idea of the writer's power to
+interest and benefit children. They cannot present his affectionate,
+playful manner, nor the genial and irresistible humor of his intercourse
+with them. Mothers were glad to meet Mr. Gallaudet, but they were more
+glad to have their children meet him, even in the street; for a kind
+word, or a smile of pleasant greeting, told every young friend, even
+there, that he was remembered and cared for,--and these things encourage
+children to try to deserve favor.
+
+In person, Mr. G. was rather short and slender, but with an erectness of
+carriage, and a somewhat precise observance of the usages of refined
+society, which gave him an unfailing dignity of appearance. A certain
+quaintness of manner and expression was an irresistible charm about him.
+Sure I am, that one little girl will always remember the kind hand
+stretched out to seize her own,--and the question after the manner of
+Mrs. Barbauld: "Child of mortality, whither goest thou?"
+
+His most remarkable personal characteristic was the power of expression
+in his face. The quiet humor of the mouth, and the bright, quick glance
+of the eye, were his by nature; but the extraordinary mobility of the
+muscles was owing, probably, to his long intercourse with deaf mutes. It
+was a high intellectual gratification to see him in communication with
+this class of unfortunates, to whom so large a proportion of the labors
+of his life was devoted. It is said that Garrick often amused his
+friends by assuming some other person's countenance. We are sure Mr.
+Gallaudet could have done this. We remember that he did astonish a body
+of legislators, before whom there was an exhibition, by proving to them
+that he could relate a narrative to his pupils by his face alone,
+without gesture. This power of expression has a great attraction for
+children. Like animals, they often understand the language of the face
+better than that of the lips; it always furnishes them with a valuable
+commentary on the words addressed to them, and the person who talks to
+them with a perfectly immovable, expressionless countenance, awes and
+repulses them. In addition to this, our friend was never without a
+pocketful of intellectual _bon-bons_ for them. A child whom he met with
+grammar and dictionary, puzzled for months over the sentence he gave
+her, assuring her that it was genuine Latin:--
+
+"Forte dux fel flat in guttur."
+
+To another he would give this problem, from ancient Dilworth:--
+
+"If a herring and a half cost three-halfpence, how many will eleven
+pence buy?"
+
+Persons who are too stately to stoop to this way of pleasing childhood,
+have very little idea of the magic influence it exerts, and how it opens
+the heart to receive "the good seed" of serious admonition from one who
+has shown himself capable of sympathy in its pleasures.
+
+Those whose privilege it has been to know Mr. Gallaudet in his own home,
+surrounded by his own intelligent children, have had a new revelation of
+the gentleness, the tenderness and benignity of the paternal relation.
+Many years since I was a "watcher by the bed," where lay his little
+daughter, recovering from a dangerous illness. He evidently felt that a
+great responsibility was resting upon a young nurse, with whom, though
+he knew her well, he was not familiar in that character. I felt the
+earnest look of inquiry which he gave me, as I was taking directions for
+the medicines of the night. He was sounding me to know whether I might
+be trusted. At early dawn, before the last stars had set, he was again
+by the bed, intent upon the condition of the little patient. When he was
+satisfied that she was doing well, and had been well cared for, he took
+my hand in his, and thanked me with a look which told me that I had now
+been tried, and found faithful and competent.
+
+Not only was he a man made of tender charities, but he was an observant,
+thoughtful man, considerate of the little as well as the great wants of
+others. I can never forget his gentle ministrations in the sick room of
+my most precious mother, who was for many years his neighbor and friend.
+She had been brought to a condition of great feebleness by a slow
+nervous fever, and was painfully sensitive to anything discordant,
+abrupt, or harsh in the voices and movements of those about her. Every
+day, at a fixed hour, this good neighbor would glide in, noiselessly as
+a spirit, and, either reading or repeating a few soothing verses from
+the Bible, would kneel beside her bed, and quietly, in a few calm and
+simple petitions, help her to fix her weak and wavering thoughts on that
+merciful kindness which was for her help. Day after day, through her
+slow recovery, his unwearied kindness brought him thither, and
+gratefully was the service felt and acknowledged. I never knew him in
+the relation he afterwards sustained to the diseased in mind, but I am
+sure that his refined perceptions and delicate tact must have fitted him
+admirably for his chaplaincy in the Retreat.
+
+I retain a distinct impression of him as I saw him one day in a
+character his benevolence often led him to assume, that of a city
+missionary; though it was only the duties of one whom he saw to be
+needed, without an appointment, that he undertook. How he found time, or
+strength, with his feeble constitution, for preaching to prisoners and
+paupers, and visits to the destitute and dying, is a mystery to one less
+diligent in filling up little interstices of time.
+
+I was present at a funeral, where, in the sickness or absence of the
+pastor, Mr. Gallaudet had been requested to officiate. It was on a bleak
+and wintry day in spring: the wind blew, and the late and unwelcome snow
+was falling. There was much to make the occasion melancholy. It was the
+funeral of a young girl, the only daughter of a widow, who had expended
+far more than the proper proportion of her scanty means in giving the
+girl showy and useless accomplishments. A cold taken at a dance had
+resulted in quick consumption, and in a few weeks had hurried her to the
+grave. Without proper training and early religious instruction, it was
+difficult to know how much reliance might safely be placed on the
+eagerness with which she embraced the hopes and consolations of the
+Gospel set before her on her dying bed. Her weak-minded and injudicious
+mother felt that she should be lauded as a youthful saint, and her death
+spoken of as a triumphant entrance into heaven.
+
+There was much to offend the taste in the accompaniments of this
+funeral. It was an inconsistent attempt at show, a tawdry imitation of
+more expensive funeral observances. About the wasted face of the once
+beautiful girl were arranged, not the delicate white blossoms with
+which affection sometimes loves to surround what was lovely in life, but
+gaudy flowers of every hue. The dress, too, was fantastic and
+inappropriate. The mother and little brothers sat in one of the two
+small rooms; the mother in transports of grief, which was real, but not
+so absorbing as to be forgetful of self and scenic effect. The little
+boys sat by, in awkward consciousness of new black gloves, and crape
+bands on their hats. Everything was artificial and painfully forlorn;
+and the want of genuineness, which surrounded the pale sleeper, seemed
+to cast suspicion on the honesty and validity of her late-formed hope
+for eternity.
+
+But the first words of prayer, breathed forth, rather than uttered, in
+the low tones the speaker was most accustomed to use, changed the aspect
+of the poor place. _He_ was genuine and in earnest.
+
+The mother's exaggerated sobs became less frequent, and real tears
+glistened in eyes that, like mine, had been wandering to detect
+absurdities and incongruities. We were gently lifted upwards towards God
+and Heaven. We were taught a lesson in that mild charity which "thinketh
+no evil,"--which "hopeth all things, and endureth all things;" and when
+the scanty funeral train left the house, I could not but feel that the
+ministration of this good man there had been--
+
+  "As if some angel shook his wings."
+
+We preserve even trifling memorials of friends whom we have loved and
+lost; and even these recollections, deeply traced, though slight in
+importance, may bear a value for those who knew and estimated the finely
+organized and nicely-balanced character of the man who loved to "do good
+by stealth," and who has signalized his life by bringing, in his own
+peculiar and quiet way, many great enterprises from small beginnings.
+
+                            Norwich, Ct.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.
+
+BY REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER.
+
+
+It is a very general remark, at the present time, throughout our
+country, and the complaint comes back, especially from the great West,
+through those who are familiarly acquainted with society there, that
+there is a growing spirit of insubordination in the family, and, of
+course, in the State; and it is ascribed to laxity and neglect in the
+_Mothers_ as much as in the Fathers. Its existence is even made the
+matter of public comment on such occasions as the celebration of the
+landing of our Pilgrim Fathers, those bright exemplars of family
+religion. And grave divines and theological professors, in their
+addresses to the people, deprecate it as a growing evil of the times.
+
+Now, without entering into other specifications here, may it not be that
+a chief reason for the _increase_ of family insubordination is to be
+found in the DECREASE OF FAMILY RELIGION? By this we mean
+Religion in the household; in other words, the inculcation and
+observance of the duties of religion in American families, in their
+organized capacity as separate religious communities. Family religion,
+in this sense, implies the acknowledgment of God in the family circle,
+by the assembling of all its members around the domestic altar, morning
+and evening, and by united prayer and praise to the God of the families
+of all flesh; by the invocation of God's blessing and the giving of
+thanks at every social repast; by the strict observance of the Sabbath;
+and by the religious instruction and training of children and servants,
+and the constant recognition of God's providence and care. This
+constitutes, and these are the duties of family religion--duties which
+no Christian head of a family, whether father or mother, can be excused
+from performing. They are duties which all who take upon themselves the
+responsibilities of the family should feel it a privilege to observe.
+
+The duty of family prayer, especially by the one or the other head of
+the household, as the leading exercise of the family religion, should be
+performed with seriousness, order and punctuality. John Angell James
+very properly asks if the dwellings of the righteous ought not to be
+filled with the very element of piety, the atmosphere of true religion.
+"Yet, how few are the habitations, even of professors, upon entering
+which the stranger would be compelled to say, Surely this _is_ the house
+of God, this _is_ the gate of heaven! It may be that family prayer is
+gone through with, such as it is, though with little seriousness and no
+unction. But even this, in many cases, is wholly omitted, and scarcely
+anything remains to indicate that God has found a dwelling in that
+house. There may be no actual dissipation, no drunkenness, no
+card-playing, but, oh! how little of true devotion is there! How few
+families are there so conducted as to make it a matter of surprise that
+any of the children of such households should turn out otherwise than
+pious! How many that lead us greatly to wonder that any of the children
+should turn out otherwise than irreligious! On the other hand, how
+subduing and how melting are the fervent supplications of a godly and
+consistent father, when his voice, tremulous with emotion, is giving
+utterance to the desires of his heart to the God of heaven for the
+children bending around him! Is there, out of heaven, a sight more
+deeply interesting than a family, gathered at morning or evening prayer,
+where the worship is what it ought to be?"
+
+It is hardly to be supposed that any pious heads, or pious members, of
+American households, are in doubt whether family worship be a duty. We
+are rather to take it for granted, as a duty universally acknowledged
+among Christians, nature itself serving to suggest and teach it, and the
+word of God abundantly confirming and enforcing it, both by precept and
+example. God himself being the author and constitutor of the family
+relation, it is but a dictate of reason that He should be owned and
+acknowledged as such, "who setteth the children of men in families like
+a flock, who hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, and hath blessed
+thy children within thee." Of whom it is said, "Lo, children are an
+heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
+
+It is this great Family-God, whose solemn charges, by his servant Moses,
+are as binding upon Christian families now as of old upon the children
+of Israel--Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
+all thy soul, and with all thy might: and these words which I command
+thee this day shall be in thy heart: and thou shalt teach them
+diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou
+sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
+liest down and when thou risest up.
+
+This is God's command, and He will hold every parent responsible for the
+religious instruction of his or her children. In such an education for
+God, which is the duty of the parent and the right of the child, the
+habit of family worship constitutes an essential part. Nothing can make
+up for the want of this. Neither the best of preaching and instruction
+in the sanctuary or Sabbath-school, nor the finest education abroad, in
+the boarding-schools or seminaries, will at all answer for the daily
+discipline of family religion. This is something which no artificial
+accomplishment can supply. A religious home education, under the daily
+influence of family worship, and the devout acknowledgment of God at the
+frugal board, and the godly example and instruction of a pious
+parentage, are more influential upon the future character and destiny of
+the child than all the other agencies put together.
+
+The true divine origin of the domestic economy is to train children, by
+habits of virtue, obedience, and piety in the family, to become useful
+members of society at large and good subjects of the State, and above
+all to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of faith.
+In order to this the strict maintenance of family religion is absolutely
+essential. It is therefore laid down as an axiom that no State can be
+prosperous where family order and religion are generally neglected. The
+present condition of France, and the so far successful villainy of her
+perjured usurper, are in proof of this position, which was understood by
+one of her statesmen a few years ago, when he said with emphasis on his
+dying bed, "What France wants is family religion; what France wants is
+family religion."
+
+On the contrary, every State _will be prosperous_, whatever its
+political institutions, where family religion and healthy domestic
+discipline are strictly maintained. Disorderly and irreligious families
+are the hot-beds of disorderly and irreligious citizens; on the other
+hand, families in which God is honored, and the children educated under
+the hallowed influences of family religion, are heaven's own nurseries
+for the State and the Church. The considerations which should urge every
+Christian householder to be strict in the maintenance of family religion
+are therefore both patriotic and religious. The good results of such
+fidelity and strictness on the part of parents are by no means limited
+to their own children, as the experience of a pious tradesman, related
+to his minister in a conversation on family worship, most instructively
+proves.
+
+When he first began business for himself, he was determined, through
+grace, to be particularly conscientious with respect to family prayer.
+Morning and evening every individual of his household was required to be
+present at the domestic altar; nor would he allow his apprentices to be
+absent on any account. In a few years the benefits of such fidelity in
+daily family religion manifestly appeared; the blessings of the upper
+and nether springs followed him; health and happiness crowned his
+family, and prosperity attended his business.
+
+At length, however, such was the rapid increase of trade, and the
+importance of devoting every possible moment to his customers, that he
+began to think whether family prayer did not occupy too much time in the
+morning. Pious scruples indeed there were against relinquishing this
+part of his duty; but soon wordly interests prevailed so far as to
+induce him to excuse the attendance of his apprentices; and it was not
+long before it was deemed advisable for the more eager prosecution of
+business, to make praying in the morning when he first arose, suffice
+for the day.
+
+Notwithstanding the repeated checks of conscience that followed this
+sinful omission, the calls of a flourishing business concern and the
+prospect of an increasing family appeared so pressing, that he found an
+easy excuse to himself for this unjustifiable neglect of an obvious
+family duty. But when his conscience was almost seared as with a hot
+iron, it pleased God to awaken him by a peculiar though natural
+providence. One day he received a letter from a young man who had
+formerly been an apprentice, previous to his omitting family prayer. Not
+doubting but that domestic worship was still continued in the family of
+his old master, his letter was chiefly on the benefits which he had
+himself received through its agency.
+
+"Never," said he, "shall I be able to thank you sufficiently for the
+precious privilege with which you indulged me in your family devotions!
+O, sir, eternity will be too short to praise my God for what I have
+learned. It was there I first beheld my lost and wretched estate as a
+sinner; it was there that I first found the way of salvation, and there
+that I first experienced the preciousness of Christ in me the hope of
+glory. O, sir, permit me to say, Never, never neglect those precious
+engagements. You have yet a family and more apprentices. May your house
+be the birth-place of their souls!"
+
+The conscience-stricken tradesman could proceed no further, for every
+line flashed condemnation in his face. He trembled, and was alarmed lest
+the blood of his children and apprentices should be demanded at his
+hands. "Filled with confusion, and bathed in tears, I fled," said he,
+"for refuge in secret. I spread the letter before God. I agonized in
+prayer, till light broke in upon my disconsolate soul, and a sense of
+blood-bought pardon was obtained. I immediately flew to my family,
+presented them before the Lord, and from that day to the present, I have
+been faithful, and am determined, through grace, that whenever my
+business becomes so large as to interrupt family prayer, I will give up
+the superfluous part of it and retain my devotion. Better lose a few
+dollars than become the deliberate moral murderer of my family and the
+instrument of ruin to my own soul."
+
+Now this experience is highly instructive and admonitory. It proves how
+much good may be doing by family worship faithfully observed when we
+little know it, and the importance, therefore, of always maintaining it.
+It proves the goodness of God in reproving and checking his children
+when they neglect duty and go astray. And it shows the insidious way in
+which backsliding begins and grievous sin on the part of God's people.
+May the engagements of business never tempt any parent that reads this
+article to repeat the tradesman's dangerous experiment! But if there be
+any that have fallen into the same condemnation, as it is to be feared
+some may have done, may God of his mercy admonish them of it, and bring
+them back before such a declension, begun in the neglect of family
+religion, shall be consummated in the decay and loss of personal
+religion, and the growing irreligion both of your family and your own
+soul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE BONNIE BAIRNS.
+
+
+This exquisitely touching ballad we take from the "Songs of Scotland,
+Ancient and Modern," edited by Allan Cunningham. He says, "It is seldom
+indeed, that song has chosen so singular a theme; but the _superstition_
+it involves is current in Scotland."
+
+  The ladie walk'd in yon wild wood,
+    Aneath the hollow tree,
+  And she was aware of twa bonnie bairns
+    Were running at her knee.
+
+  The tane it pulled a red, red rose,
+    Wi' a hand as soft as silk;
+  The other, it pull'd a lily pale,
+    With a hand mair white than milk.
+
+  "Now, why pull ye the red rose, fair bairns?
+    And why the white lily?"
+  "Oh, we sue wi' them at the seat of grace,
+    For soul of thee, ladie!"
+
+  "Oh, bide wi' me, my twa bonnie bairns!
+    I'll cleid ye rich and fine;
+  And a' for the blaeberries of the wood,
+    Yese hae white bread and wine."
+
+  She sought to take a lily hand,
+    And kiss a rosie chin--
+  "O, naught sae pure can bide the touch
+    Of a hand red--wet wi' sin"!
+
+  The stars were shooting to and fro,
+    And wild-fire filled the air,
+  As that ladie follow'd thae bonnie bairns
+    For three lang hours and mair.
+
+  "Oh, where dwell ye, my ain sweet bairns?
+    I'm woe and weary grown!"
+  "Oh, ladie, we live where woe never is,
+    In a land to flesh unknown."
+
+  There came a shape which seem'd to her
+    As a rainbow 'mang the rain;
+  And sair these sweet babes plead for her,
+    And they pled and pled in vain.
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,
+    "My mither maun come in;"
+  "And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,
+    "Wash her twa hands frae sin."
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,
+    "She nursed me on her knee."
+  "And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,
+    "She's a mither yet to me."
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the babes baith,
+    "Take her where waters rin,
+  And white as the milk of her white breast,
+    Wash her twa hands frae sin."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.
+
+
+This little girl was doubtless one of those whom the Savior early
+prepares for their removal to his pure and holy family above. The sweet,
+lovely, and attractive graces of a sanctified childhood, shone with a
+mild luster throughout her character and manners, as she passed from one
+period of intelligence to another, until she had reached the termination
+of her short journey through earth to heaven.
+
+Peace to thy ashes, gentle one! "Light lie the turf" upon thy bosom,
+until thou comest forth to a morning, that shall know no night!
+
+After the birth of this their first child, the parents were continually
+reminded of the shortness and uncertainty of life, by repeated
+sicknesses in the social circle, and by the sudden death of one of their
+number, a beloved sister.
+
+Whether it was that this had its influence in the shaping of the
+another's instructions, or not, yet such was the fact, that the subject
+of a preparation for early death, was not unfrequently the theme, when
+religious instruction was imparted. The mind of the mother was also
+impressed with the idea of her own responsibility. She felt that the
+soul of the child would be required at her hands, and that she must do
+all in her power to fit it for heaven. Hence she was importunate and
+persevering in prayer, for a blessing upon her efforts; that God would
+graciously grant his Spirit, not only to open the mind of her child to
+receive instruction, but also to set it home and seal it there.
+
+Her solicitude for the spiritual welfare, of the child was such, as
+often to attract the notice of the writer; while the results forced upon
+her mind the conviction, that the tender bud, nurtured with so much care
+and fidelity, and watered with so many prayers and tears, would never be
+permitted to burst into full flower, in the ungenial soil of earth.
+
+Mary Jane had hardly numbered three winters, when a little sister of
+whom she was very fond, was taken dangerously sick. Her mother and the
+nurse were necessarily confined with the sick child; and she was left
+very much alone. I would fain have taken the little girl home with me;
+but it was feared that a change of temperature might prove unfavorable
+to her health, so I often spent long hours with her, in her own home.
+Precious seasons! How they now come up to me, through the long vista of
+the dim and distant past, stirring the soul, like the faint echoes of
+melting music, and wakening within it, remembrances of all pleasant
+things.
+
+I had been spending an afternoon with her in the usual manner, sometimes
+telling her stories, and again drawing forth her little thoughts in
+conversation, and was about taking leave, when I said to her, "Mary
+Jane, you must be sure and ask God to make your little sister well
+again." Sliding down from her chair, and placing her little hand in
+mine, she said with great simplicity, "Who will lead me up there?"
+Having explained to her as well as I could, that it was not necessary
+for her to go up to heaven; that God could hear her, although she could
+neither see him nor hear his answers, I reluctantly tore myself away.
+Yet it was well for the child that I did so; for being left alone, the
+train of her thoughts was not diverted to other objects; and she
+continued to revolve in her mind, as was afterwards found, the idea of
+asking God to make her sister well.
+
+That night, having said her usual evening prayer, "Our Father," "Now I
+lay me down to sleep," &c., the nurse left her quietly composed to
+sleep, as she thought, but having occasion soon to pass her door, she
+found that Mary Jane was awake and "talking loud." On listening, she
+found that the little girl was praying. Her language was, "My dear
+Father up in heaven, do please to make my little sister well again."
+
+Before her sister recovered, she was taken sick herself. A kind relative
+who was watching by her bedside one night, offered her some medicine
+which she refused to take. The watcher said, "I want to have you take
+it; it will make you well." The sick child replied: "The medicine can't
+cure me--the doctors can't cure me--only God can cure me; but Jesus, he
+can make me well." On being told that it would please God, if she should
+take the medicine, she immediately swallowed it. After this she lay for
+some time apparently in thought; then addressing the watcher she said,
+"Aunty B----, do you know which is the way to heaven?" Then answering
+the question herself she said, "Because if you don't, you go and ask my
+uncle H----, and he will tell you which is the way. He preaches in the
+pulpit every Sabbath to the people to be good,--and that is the way to
+go to heaven."
+
+Were the dear child to come back now, she could hardly give a plainer or
+more scriptural direction--for, "without holiness, no man shall see the
+Lord."
+
+Before Mary Jane had recovered from this sickness, a little brother was
+added to the number; thus making a group of infants, the eldest of whom
+could number but three years and one month.
+
+As the little ones became capable of receiving impressions from
+religious truth, Mary Jane, though apparently but an infant herself,
+would watch over them with the most untiring vigilance. One thing she
+was very scrupulous about; it was their evening prayer. If at any time
+this had been omitted, she would appear to be evidently distressed. One
+evening while her mother was engaged with company in the parlor, she
+felt something gently pulling her gown. On looking behind her chair, she
+found little Mary Jane, who had crept in unobserved, and was whispering
+to her that the nurse had put her little brother and sister to bed
+without having said their prayers.
+
+It was often instructive to me to see what a value this dear child set
+upon prayer. I have since thought that the recovery of her infant
+sister, and her own prayer for the same, were so associated in her mind,
+as to produce a conviction of the efficacy of prayer, such as few
+possess.
+
+Being confined so much to the nursery, the mother improved the favored
+season, in teaching her little girl to read, to sew and spell; keeping
+up at the same time her regular routine of instruction in catechism,
+hymns, &c. She had an exercise for the Sabbath which was admirably
+adapted to make the day pass, not only pleasantly but profitably. In the
+morning, unless prevented by illness, she was invariably found in her
+seat in the sanctuary, with such of her children as were old enough to
+be taken to church. In the afternoon she gave her nurse the same
+privilege, but retained her children at home with herself. The moment
+the house was clear, Mary Jane might be seen collecting the little group
+for the nursery; alluring them along with the assurance that "now mother
+was going to make them happy." This meeting was strictly in keeping with
+the sacredness of the day. It was also a social meeting, each little one
+as soon as it could speak, being required to take some part in it, the
+little Mary Jane setting the example, encouraging the younger ones in
+the most winning manner; and always making one of the prayers. The Bible
+was not only the text book, but the guide. It furnished the thoughts,
+and from it the mother selected some portion which for the time, she
+deemed most appropriate to the state of her infant audience. Singing
+formed a delightful part of the exercises. The mother had a fine voice,
+and the little ones tried to fall in with it, in the use of some hymn
+adapted to their tender minds.
+
+These meetings were also very serious, and calculated to make a lasting
+impression on the tender minds of the children. At the close of one, the
+mother who had been telling the children of heaven, turned to Mary Jane,
+and said, "My dear child, if you should die now, do you think you should
+go to heaven?" "I don't know, mother," was her thoughtful reply;
+"sometimes I think I am a good girl, and that God loves me, and that I
+shall certainly go to heaven. But sometimes I am naughty. J---- teazes
+me, and makes me unthread my needle, and then I feel angry; and I _know_
+God does not love me _then_. I don't know, mother. I am afraid I should
+not go to heaven." Then encouraging herself, she added in a sweet
+confiding manner, "I hope I shall go there; don't you hope so too,
+mother?"
+
+Oh, who of our fallen race would ever see heaven, if sinless perfection
+only, were to be the ground of our admittance there? True, we must be
+free from sin, before we can enter that holy place; but this will be,
+because God "hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in Him."[A]
+
+How much of the great doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ this
+little girl could comprehend, would be very difficult to tell. But, that
+she regarded him as the medium through which she must receive every
+blessing, there could be no doubt. He died that she might live; live in
+the favor and friendship of God here, and live forever in his presence
+hereafter.
+
+Since commencing this simple narrative, I have regretted that more of
+her sweet thoughts respecting Jesus and heaven could not be recalled.
+Every thing relating to the soul, to its preparation for another and
+better state of existence; to the enjoyments and employments of the
+blessed, had an almost absorbing power over her mind; so that she
+greatly preferred to read of them, and reflect upon them, to joining in
+the ordinary sports of childhood. Yet she was a gentle and loving child,
+to her little companions, and would always leave her book, cheerfully
+and sweetly, when requested to join their little circle for play. But it
+was evident that she could not as easily draw back her thoughts from
+their deep and heavenly communings.
+
+Whenever she witnessed a funeral procession, instead of lingering over
+the pageant before her, her thoughts would follow the individual into
+the invisible world. Was the person prepared for death? Had the soul
+gone to God? were questions which she pondered with the deepest
+interest.
+
+A short time previous to her death, she was permitted at her urgent and
+oft repeated request, to witness the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Her
+mother was much affected to see the interest which the dear child
+manifested on the occasion, and also the readiness with which she
+entered into the meaning and design of the sacred ordinance.
+
+The entire sixth year of Mary Jane was a period of unusual confinement.
+Several members of the family were sick during that time; her mother
+more than once; and she was often confined for whole days to the nursery
+amusing the younger children and attending to their wants. Hence, when a
+visit to the 'water-side' was talked of, the proposal was hailed with
+joy. The prospect of escaping from her confinement, of being permitted
+to go freely into the fresh air, to see the ocean, and gather shells and
+pebbles upon its beach, was hailed with joyous emotion. Yet all these
+delightful anticipations were destined to disappointment. The family did
+indeed go to the 'water-side'; but they had scarcely reached the place
+when their second daughter was taken alarmingly ill. When the dear child
+was told that she must return home with her little brother, not a murmur
+escaped her lips. Not that she cared nothing for the ocean, or the
+treasures upon its beach; but she had learned the great lesson of
+self-denial, although so young. A moment before, and she was exulting in
+prospect of the joyous rambles in which she should participate, amidst
+the groups of sportive children collected at the watering place. But
+when the carriage was brought to the door, and her little bonnet was
+being tied on, not even, 'I am sorry' was uttered by her, although her
+whole frame trembled with emotion. With a hurried, though cheerful,
+'good bye, mother,' she leaped into the coach and was gone.
+
+The two children were brought home to me; and as day after day passed
+and no favorable intimation reached us respecting the sick child, I had
+ample opportunity to see how she resorted to her old refuge, prayer.
+Often would the dear child return to me with the clear light shining in
+her countenance, after a short season of retirement for prayer. I feel
+my heart grow warm, now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century
+nearly, as I recall _that look_, and that winning request, 'Aunty, may I
+stay with you? the children plague me.' Her two little playmates were
+boys; and they could not understand why she refused to unite in their
+boisterous sports. She could buckle on their belts, fix on their riding
+caps, and aid them in mounting their wooden horses; but why she would
+not race up and down with them upon a cane, they could not comprehend.
+She was patient and gentle, towards her little brother. It was a great
+treat to her, to be permitted to take him out to walk. I have seldom
+seen more gratitude expressed by a child, than she manifested, when she
+found that 'aunty' reposed confidence enough in her, to permit her to
+take him out alone. And how careful she was not to abuse that
+confidence, by going beyond the appointed limits. Often since then I
+have found myself adverting to this scene, as furnishing evidence that a
+child who fears God can be trusted. I can see the dear little girl now,
+as she arrived at a particular corner of the street, from which the
+house could be seen, before turning to go back again, stopping and
+gazing earnestly at the window, if perchance she might catch a bow and
+smile from "aunty," expressing by her countenance more forcibly than
+words could, "you see I am here."
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+HOW EARLY MAY A CHILD BE CONVERTED TO GOD.
+
+
+In conversation with some Christian friends, a few days since, one young
+lady remarked that she should never forget a sermon preached by her
+father several years before, in which he remarked that Christian
+biographers of the present day differed very much from those _inspired_
+of God to write for succeeding generations, for _they_ did not fear to
+tell the faults and expose the sins of primitive Christians who were to
+be held up as examples, while those who now wrote took every possible
+pains to hide the faults and make the subjects of their memoirs
+perfection itself, not admitting they had a fault or flaw in their
+characters. "Since hearing these remarks from my pastor," said she, "I
+have never tried to cultivate a taste for memoirs and have seldom looked
+into one."
+
+"Depend upon it, my dear friend," I replied, "you have denied yourself
+one of the richest means of growth in grace, and one of the most
+delightful pleasures afforded the Christian; and while your pastor's
+remarks may have been true of _some_, I cannot agree with him in
+condemning all, for I have read most that have come within my reach for
+ten years past, and have seen but two that I thought merited censure."
+
+"But you will admit," continued my friend, "that those published of
+children are extravagant, and quite beyond any thing seen in common
+life."
+
+"No; I can admit nothing of the kind, for let me tell you what I
+witnessed when on a visit to a friend missionary's family at Pairie du
+Chien: The mother of little George was one of the most spotless
+characters I ever saw, and as you witnessed her daily walk you could not
+but realize that she enjoyed intercourse with One who could purify and
+exalt the character, and 'keep staid on Him in perfect peace the soul
+who trusted in Him.' And should it have fallen to my lot to have written
+her memoirs, I am quite sure it would have been cast aside by those who
+think with you that memoirs are extravagant. I cannot think because
+David committed adultery, and the wisest man then living had three
+hundred wives, and Peter denied his Savior, that all other Christians
+living in the present enlightened age have done or would do these or
+like grievous sins. It has been my lot at some periods of my life to be
+cast among Christians whose confidence in Christ enabled them to rise
+far above the attainments made by the generality of Christians, indeed
+so far as to be almost lost sight of, who would shine as brightly on the
+pages of written Christian life.
+
+"But, as I was going to say, little George was not yet four years old
+when his now sainted mother and myself stood beside his sick bed, and
+beheld the sweet child with his hands clasped over his eyes, evidently
+engaged in prayer, with a look of anguish on his face. We stood there by
+his side, watching him constantly for over an hour, not wishing to
+interrupt his devotions, and at last we saw that look of distress
+gradually disappear, and as silently we watched him we felt that the
+influence of God's Spirit was indeed at work in that young heart.
+
+"At last he looked up at his mother, and a sweet smile lighted up his
+little face as he said, 'Mother, I am going to die; but don't cry, for I
+am going straight to Jesus; my sins are all forgiven, mother.'"
+
+"How do you know that, my sweet child?"
+
+"Why, Jesus said so, ma."
+
+"Said so; did you, indeed, hear any voice, my son?"
+
+"O no, mother; but you know how it is. He speaks it in me, right here,
+here, mother," laying his little hand on his throbbing breast. "I don't
+want to live; I want to go where Jesus is, and be His own little boy,
+and not be naughty any more; and I hope I shan't get well, I am afraid
+if I do I shall be naughty again. O, mother, I have been a great sinner,
+and done many naughty things; but Jesus has forgiven me all my sins, and
+I do wish sister would go to Him and be forgiven for showing that bad
+temper, and all her other sins; don't you, ma?"
+
+"Contrary to expectation this lovely boy recovered, and a few days after
+he got well I saw him take his sister's hand and plead with her to come
+and pray. 'O, sister,' he said, 'you will lose your soul if you don't
+pray. Do, do ask Jesus to forgive your sins, He will hear you, He will
+make you happy; do, do come right to Him, won't you, sissy?' But his
+sister (who was six years old) turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and
+it grieved him so, that he would go away and cry and pray for her with
+exceeding great earnestness.
+
+"Months after, he had the happiness of seeing his sister converted to
+Jesus, and knowing that his infant prayer was answered, and great indeed
+was the joy of this young saint, as well as that of the rest of the
+household as they saw these two of their precious flock going off to
+pray together, not only for themselves, but for an older brother, who
+seemed to have no sympathy with them."
+
+"Well," said my friend, "this is indeed as remarkable as any thing I
+ever read, and I must say, hearing it from your own lips, has a
+tendency to remove that prejudice I have felt toward reading children's
+conversion. Did this child live?"
+
+"O, yes, and remains a consistent follower of Jesus; he is now twelve
+years old."
+
+"This is a very remarkable case," continued my friend; "very rare
+precocity. I have never met with any thing of the kind in my life."
+
+"Yet, I have known several such instances in my short life, one more of
+which I must detain you to relate."
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REPORT OF THE MATERNAL ASSOCIATION, PUTNAM, OHIO.
+
+
+Time, in its rapid flight, my dear sisters, has again brought us to
+another anniversary of our Association. It seems but yesterday since we
+held our last annual meeting, but while we have been busy here and
+there, the fugitive moments have hurried us along almost with the
+celerity of thought through another year. Were it not an established
+usage of our society, that something like a report be rendered of the
+past, the pen of your secretary would have remained silent. The thought
+has often arisen, what foundation have I for giving that which will be
+of any interest to those who may come together? It is true that each
+month has witnessed the quiet assembling of a little band in this
+consecrated place, but how small the number! Have we _all_ been here,
+with united hearts, glowing with love for the souls of our children, and
+feeling that we had power with God, that we had in our possession that
+key which is said to unlock heaven, and bring down precious blessings
+upon those committed to our charge? Have not family cares been suffered,
+too often, to detain some from the place of meeting? and their absence
+has thrown the chill air of despondency over those who _were_ here. The
+average attendance during the year has been but five, while fourteen
+names are upon the record as members. Are we manifesting that interest
+in this important cause which those did who were the original founders
+of this society? Almost all of those are now absent, several have
+removed to other places; two, we trust, have long since been joining in
+the praises, and participating in the enjoyments, of heaven; and others,
+by reason of illness or the infirmities of age, are usually detained
+from the place of prayer. But we trust their hearts are with us; and
+shall we not endeavor to be faithful representatives of those whose
+places we now occupy? Have we not motives sufficient to stimulate us to
+a more diligent discharge of duty? God has given to us jewels of rare
+beauty, no gem from mountain or mine, no coral from the ocean's flow,
+can compare with them. And they are of priceless value too; Christ's
+blood alone could purchase them, and this He gave, gave freely too, that
+they might be fitted to deck His diadem of glory. He has encased these
+gems in caskets of exquisite workmanship, and given them to us, that we
+may keep them safely, and return them to Him when He shall ask them of
+us. Shall we be negligent of this trust? Shall we be busy, here and
+there, and suffer the adversary of souls to secure them to himself? We
+know that God is pleased to accept the efforts of the faithful mother;
+his language to us is, "Take this child and nurse it for _me_, and I
+will give thee thy wages." But on this condition alone, are we to
+receive the reward promised that they be trained for His service. And
+have we not the evidence, even now, before us of the fulfillment of His
+precious promise? Those of us who were privileged on the last Sabbath to
+witness the consecration of that band of youthful disciples to the
+Savior, felt that the efforts of faithful mothers _had_ been blessed,
+their prayers _had_ been answered, and when we remembered that six of
+those loved ones were the children of our little circle, and others were
+intimately connected with some of our number, we felt our confidence in
+God strengthened, and I trust all gained new encouragement to labor for
+those who were yet out of the ark of safety. There are others of our
+number with whom God's Spirit has been striving, and even now His
+influences are being felt. Shall they be resisted, and those thus
+influenced go farther from Him who has died that they might live?
+
+Not many years since I was permitted to stand by the death-bed of a
+mother in Israel. Her sons were there, and as she looked at them with
+eyes in which we might almost see reflected the bright glories of the
+New Jerusalem, she exclaimed, "Dear sons, I shall meet you all in
+heaven." Why, we were led to ask, does she say this? Two of them had
+already reached the age of manhood, and had as yet refused to yield
+obedience to their Heavenly Father. But she trusted in her
+covenant-keeping God, she had given them to Him; for them she had
+labored and prayed, and she _knew_ that God delighted to answer prayer.
+We realized the ground of her confidence, when tidings came to us, ere
+that year had expired, that one of those sons, far away upon the ocean,
+with no Sabbath or sanctuary privileges within his reach, had found the
+Savior precious to his soul. The other, ere long, became an active
+member of the church on earth. Is not our God the same in whom she so
+implicitly trusted, and will He not as readily bless our efforts as
+hers, if we are truly faithful?
+
+We are all, I trust, prepared to-day to render a tribute of praise to
+our Heavenly Father, who has so kindly preserved us during the year now
+passed. As we look around our little circle we find no place made vacant
+by death, I mean of those who have been the attendants upon our meeting.
+We do not forget that the messenger has been sent to the family of our
+eldest sister, and removed that son upon whom she so confidently leaned
+for support. He who so assiduously improved every opportunity to
+minister to her comfort and happiness, has been taken, and not only
+mother and sisters have been bereaved, but children, too, of this
+association have, by this providence, been made orphans. We trust _they_
+have already realized that precious promise, "When my father and mother
+forsake me, then the Lord will take me up;" and may He whose judgments
+are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out, enable that sorely
+afflicted mother to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
+
+What the events of the coming year are to be, as it regards ourselves,
+we know not. We would not lift the curtain to gaze into futurity; but
+may we each have strength and wisdom given us to discharge faithfully
+every duty, that whether living or dying we may be accepted of God!
+
+                    SARAH A. GUTHRIE, _Secretary._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE EDITOR'S TABLE.
+
+
+The steamer _Humboldt_, after a long passage, having encountered heavy
+seas, and been obliged to put into port for repairs, has just arrived.
+She has proved herself a stanch vessel, thoroughly tested her sea-going
+qualities, and escaped dangers which would have wrecked an ordinary
+steamer. Her passengers express the utmost confidence in the vessel and
+her officers, and advise travelers to take passage in her.
+
+_Our_ bark has now accomplished a voyage, during which it met many
+dangers and delays which as thoroughly tested its power and capacity;
+and we too meet with expressions of kindness and confidence, some of
+which we venture to extract from letters which the postman has just laid
+on our table.
+
+A lady, residing near Boston, writes thus: "Permit me to assure you, my
+dear Madam, of my warmest interest in you and your work, and of my
+earnest desire that your enterprise may prove a successful one. Your
+work certainly deserves a wide circulation, and has in my opinion a
+stronger claim upon the patronage of the Christian public than any other
+with which I am acquainted. You must have met with embarrassments in
+commencing a new work, and hence, I suppose, the occasional delays in
+the issuing of your numbers."
+
+A lady from Michigan writes: "My dear Mrs. W., we rejoice in the success
+which has thus far attended your efforts in the great work of your
+life. May their results, as manifested in the lives and characters of
+the children of the land, for many many years, prove that your labors
+were not in vain, in the Lord. We were beginning to have some anxiety as
+to the success of your Magazine from not receiving it as early as we
+expected; no other periodical could fill its place. May you, dear Madam,
+long be spared to edit it, and may you have all the co-operation and
+patronage you need."
+
+A friend says: "Our pleasant interview, after a lapse of years, and
+those years marked by many vicissitudes, has caused the tide of feelings
+to ebb and flow till the current of my thoughts is swollen into such a
+stream of intensity as to lead me, through this channel of
+communication, to assure you of my warmest sympathy and my deep interest
+in the important work in which you have been so long engaged. It was
+gratifying to learn from your lips that amid the varied trials which
+have been scattered in your pathway God has been your refuge and
+strength--a very present help in trouble, and cheering to hear your
+widowed heart sing of mercy and exult in the happiness of that precious
+group who have gone before you into the eternal world." * * *
+
+"My dear friend, may the sentiments and doctrines inculcated in your
+work drop as the rain, and distill as the dew, fertilizing and
+enlivening the sluggish soul, and encouraging the weary and heavy-laden.
+I know you need encouragement in your labor of love, and as I expect
+soon to visit M----, when I shall greet that precious Maternal
+Association to which I belonged for so many years, and which has so
+often been addressed by you, through the pages of your Magazine, as well
+as personally, I shall hope to do something in increasing the
+circulation of the work there. * *
+
+                                 "Your friend,
+
+                                   "E. M. R."
+
+We have many other letters from which we might make similar extracts,
+but our purpose in making the above was to give us an opportunity to say
+to our friends, that our bark is again ready for sea, with the
+flattering prospect of making a pleasant voyage, and that our sails are
+trimmed and need but the favoring breeze to speed it on its way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+COUSIN MARY ROSE; OR, A CHILD'S FIRST VISIT.
+
+BY GEORGIANA MAY SYKES.
+
+
+How capricious is memory, often retaining through life trivial and
+transient incidents, in all the freshness of minute details, while of
+far more important events, where laborious effort has been expended to
+leave a fair and lasting record, but faint and illegible traces
+frequently remain!
+
+Far back in my childhood, so far that I am at a loss where to place it,
+is a little episode, standing so far apart from the main purport of its
+history, that I do not know how it happened, or whether the original
+impression was deepened by its subsequent recurrence. This was a visit
+to the village of W----, the home of my Cousin Mary Rose.
+
+I remember distinctly the ride; short it must have been, since it was
+but four or five miles from home, but it seemed long to me then. There
+was great elation of spirits on my part, and no particular excitement;
+but a very sedate pace on the part of our old horse, to whose swinging
+gait a monotonous creaking of the old-fashioned chaise kept up a steady
+response, not unharmonious, as it was connected in my mind with the idea
+of progress. I remember the wonders of the way, particularly my awe of a
+place called Folly Bridge, where a wide chasm, filled with many
+scattered rocks, and the noisy gurgle of shallow water, had resulted
+from an attempt to improve upon the original ford. Green fields, and
+houses with neat door-yards, thickened at last into a pretty village,
+with a church and school-house, stores and workshops. Then, turning from
+the main street, near the church, we took a quiet lane, which soon
+brought us to a pause, where our wheels indented the turf of a green
+slope, before the gate of a long, low dwelling, half buried in ancient
+lilac trees. This was the home of Aunt Rose, who, though no veritable
+aunt of mine, was one of those choice spirits, "to all the world akin,"
+around whose memory lingers the fragrance of deeds of kindness. Here, by
+special invitation, I had come on a visit--my _first_ visit from home. I
+had passed through no small excitement in the prospect of that event. I
+had anxiously watched every little preparation made for it, and my own
+small packing had seemed momentous. I felt to the full the dignity of
+the occasion. The father and mother, the brothers and sisters, the
+inseparable and often tedious nursery-maid, Harriet, were all left
+behind.
+
+I stood for the first time on my individual responsibility among persons
+of whom I had known but little. The monotony of home-life was broken in
+upon, and my eyes and ears were both open to receive new impressions.
+Doubtless, the careful mother, who permitted me to be placed in this new
+situation, was well satisfied that I should be subjected only to good
+influences, but had they been evil, I should certainly have been
+lastingly affected by them, since every thing connected with the house
+and its inmates, the garden, the fields, the walks in the village, lives
+still a picture of vivid hues.
+
+What induced the family to desire my company, I do not know; I have an
+idea that I was invited because, like many other good people, they liked
+the company of children, and in the hope that I might contribute to the
+element of home-cheerfulness, with which they liked to surround their
+only daughter, my Cousin Mary Rose, whose tall shadowy figure occupies
+in my recollections, as it did in reality, the very center of this
+household group. That she was an invalid, I gather from many remembered
+trifles, such as the constant consideration shown for her strength in
+walks and rides, the hooks in the ceiling from which her swing-chair had
+formerly hung (at which I used to gaze, thinking it _such_ a pity that
+it had ever been removed); her quiet pursuits, and her gentle, and
+rather languid manner. She must have been simple and natural, as well as
+refined in her tastes, and of a delicate neatness and purity in her
+dress. If she was a rose, as her name would indicate, it must have been
+a white rose; but I think she was more like a spotted lily. There was
+her father, of whom I remember little, except that he slept in his large
+arm-chair at noontide, when I was fain to be quiet, and that he looked
+kindly and chatted pleasantly with me, as I sat on his knee at twilight.
+I found my place at once in the household. If I had any first feelings
+of strangeness to be overcome, which is probable, as I was but a timid
+child, or if I wept any tears under deserved reproof, or was in any
+trouble from childish indiscretions, the traces of these things have all
+vanished; nothing remains but the record of long summer-days of delight.
+Up and down, in and out, I wandered, at will, within certain limits.
+
+An old cider mill (for such things _were_ in New England) in the orchard
+was the remotest verge in one direction; to sit near it, and watch the
+horse go slowly round and round, and chat with Chauncey, the youngest
+son of the house, who was superintending it, was a great pleasure; but
+most of my out-of-doors enjoyments were solitary. I think this must have
+given a zest to them, for at home I was seldom alone. I was one of a
+little troop of brothers' and sisters, whose pleasures were all _plays_,
+gregarious and noisy. It was a new thing to be so quiet, and to give my
+still fancies such a range. I was never weary of watching the long
+processions of snow-white geese, moving along the turfy sides of the
+road, solemn and stately, each garnished with that awkward appendage the
+"_poke_," which seemed to me very cruel, since, in my simplicity, I
+believed that the perpendicular rod in the center passed, like a spit,
+directly through the bird's neck. Then, how inexhaustible were the
+resources of the flower garden, on the southern side of the house, into
+which a door opened from the parlor, the broad semicircular stone
+doorsteps affording me a favorite seat.
+
+What a variety of treasures were spread out before me: larkspurs, from
+whose pointed nectaries I might weave "circles without end," varying the
+pattern of each by alternate proportions of blue, and pink, and white.
+There were foxgloves to be examined, whose depths were so mysteriously
+freckled; there were clusters of cowslips, and moss-pinks to be
+counted. There were tufts of ribbon-grass to be searched as diligently
+as ever merchandise in later days, for perfect matches; there were
+morning-glories, and moon-sleeps, and four o'clocks, and evening
+primroses to be watched lest they might fail to be true to their
+respective hours in opening and shutting. There were poppies, from whose
+"diminished heads" the loose leaves were to be gathered in a basket,
+(for they might stain the apron,) and lightly spread in the garret for
+drying. There were ripe poppy-seeds to be shaken out through the curious
+lid of their seed-vessel, in which a child's fancy found a curious
+resemblance to a _pepper-box_; I often forced it to serve as one in the
+imaginary feasts spread out on the door-step, though there were no
+guests to be invited, except plenty of wandering butterflies, or an
+occasional humming-bird, whizzing about the crimson blossoms of the
+balm. Oh, the delights of Aunt Rose's flower-garden!
+
+Then, there were the chickens to be fed, and the milking of the cows to
+be "assisted at," and a chat enjoyed, meanwhile, with good-natured
+Nancy, the maid, to stand beside whose spinning-wheel when, in an
+afternoon, she found time to set it in motion, herself arrayed in a
+clean gown and apron, was another great delight.
+
+But my greatest enjoyments were found in Cousin Mary Rose's pleasant
+chamber, which always seemed bright with the sunshine. From its windows
+I looked out over fields of grain, and fruitful orchards, and green
+meadows, sloping all the way to the banks of the blue Connecticut. I
+doubt if I had ever known before that there was any beauty in a
+prospect. There was plenty of pleasant occupation for me in that
+chamber. I had my little bench, on which I sat at her feet, and read
+aloud to her as she sewed, something which she had selected for me.
+Though I never had an opportunity of knowing her in years when I was
+more capable of judging of character (for we were separated, first by
+distance, and now, alas, by death), I am sure that she must at that time
+have been of more than the average taste and cultivation among young
+ladies. Sure I am that she opened to me many a sealed fountain. My range
+of reading had been limited to infant story-books and easy
+school-lessons. She took from her book-shelves Cowper, and made me
+acquainted with his hares, _Tiny_ and _Bess_, and enlisted my sympathies
+for his imprisoned bullfinch. She turned over many leaves of the
+_Spectator_ and _Rambler_, till she found for me allegories and tales of
+Bagdad and Balsora, and showed me the Vision of Mirza, the Valley of
+Human Miseries, and the Bridge of Human Life; I caught something of
+their meaning, though I could not grasp the whole, and became so
+enamored of them that when I returned home nothing would satisfy me but
+the loan of my favorites, that I might share the great pleasure of these
+wonderful stories with my friends there. How great was my surprise to
+find that the same books held a conspicuous place in the library at
+home!
+
+The little pieces of needlework, too, which filled a part of every day,
+unlike the tedious, never-ending patchwork of school, were pleasant.
+Cousin Mary Rose well understood how to make them so, when she coupled
+the setting of the delicate little stitches with the idea of doing a
+service or giving a pleasure to somebody. This was a bag for Nancy.
+To-morrow, it was a cravat for Chauncey. Now, this same Chauncey was my
+special delight, he being a lively youth of eighteen, the only son at
+home, with whom, after tea, I had always a merry race, or some
+inspiriting game of romps. And then, feat of all, came the hemming of a
+handkerchief for Mr. Williams.
+
+But who was Mr. Williams? I had no manner of idea who he was, or what
+relation he held to the family, which entitled him to come in
+unceremoniously at breakfast, dinner or tea-time, and gave him the
+privilege of driving my Cousin Mary Rose over hill and valley for the
+benefit of her health. In these rides I often had my share, for my
+little bench fitted nicely into the old-fashioned chaise, where I sat
+quietly between the two, looking out for wonders with which to interrupt
+the talk going on above my head. Not that the talk was altogether
+unintelligible to me. It often turned on themes of which I had heard
+much. It spoke of God, of heaven, of the goodness and love of the
+blessed Savior, of the hopes and privileges of the Christian. I liked
+to hear it; there was no constraint in it. They might have talked of any
+thing else; but I knew they chose the topic because they liked it,--I
+felt that they were true Christians, and that it was safe and good to be
+near them. Sometimes the conversation turned on earthly hopes and plans,
+and then it became less intelligible to me.
+
+One ride, I remember, which occupied a long summer afternoon. We left
+home after an early dinner, and wound our way over hills rocky and
+steep, from which we would catch views of the river, keeping always near
+its bank, till we came to Mr. Williams's own home, or rather that of his
+mother. What a pleasant visit was that! How Mr. Williams's mother and
+sisters rejoiced over our coming! What a pet they made of me! and how
+much they seemed inclined to pet my Cousin Mary Rose. I have an
+indistinct idea of a faint flush passing now and then over the White
+Rose. What a joyous, bountiful time it was! Such pears, and peaches, and
+apples as were heaped up on the occasion! How social and cheerful was
+the gathering around the teatable, lavishly spread with dainties!
+
+How golden and glorious looked the hills, the trees, and the river in
+the last rays of the setting sun, as we started from the door on our
+return! How the sunset faded to twilight, and the dimness gave place to
+the light of the rising moon, long before we reached the door, where
+anxious Aunt Rose was watching for us! How much talk there was with the
+old people about it all; for I suspect that, in their life of rare
+incidents, it was the custom to make much of every thing that occurred.
+What an unlading there was of the chaise-box, and bringing to light of
+peaches and pears, which kept the journey in remembrance for many days
+after!
+
+That night, as on every other night of my stay, my kind cousin saw me
+safely placed in my bed, after I had knelt beside her to repeat my
+evening prayer. Then, as she bent to kiss me, and gently whispered,
+"_God bless thee, child_," she seemed to leave her serene spirit as a
+mantle of repose.
+
+When the Sabbath came, I walked hand in hand with her to the village
+church. There was much there to distract my attention, particularly in
+that rare sight, the ample white wig (the _last of the wigs_ of
+Connecticut!) on the head of the venerable minister, who, though too
+infirm for much active service, still held his place in the pulpit; but
+I listened with all my might, intent on hearing something which I might
+remember, and repeat to please Cousin Mary Rose; for I knew that she
+would expect me to turn to the text, and would question me whether I had
+understood it. I have pleasant hymns too, in recollection, which date
+back to this very time. They have outlived the beautiful little purse
+which was Mr. Williams's parting gift to me, and the tortoise-shell
+kitten, with which Aunt Rose sought to console me, in my grief at seeing
+myself sent for to return home. The summons was sudden but peremptory,
+and I obeyed it with a sad heart.
+
+I cannot tell how long afterwards it was, for months and years are not
+very different in the calendar of childhood, when I was surprised with
+the announcement that a change had come over Cousin Mary Rose. She was
+changed to Mrs. Williams, and had gone with him, I think, to the South.
+
+I doubt if any trace of the family is still to be found in the pleasant
+village which was their home. The parents have gone to their rest. The
+younger members removed long ago to the distant West.
+
+My Cousin Mary Rose, for many years a happy and useful wife, has at last
+found, in some part of the great western valley, a peaceful grave. I do
+not know the spot where she lies, but I would fain twine around it these
+little blossoms of grateful remembrance.
+
+There is a moral in this slight sketch which I wish to impress on the
+_daughters_ who read this Magazine. It is that their influence is
+greater than they may suppose. Children read the purpose, the motive of
+conduct, and understand the tenor of character; they are attracted by
+feminine grace and refinement; they are keen admirers of personal
+beauty, and they can be won by goodness and gentleness. Never, dear
+young friends, overlook or treat with indifference a child thrown in
+your way. You may lose by it a choice opportunity of conferring
+happiness and lasting benefit.
+
+_Norwich, Conn._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.
+
+CONCLUDED.
+
+
+When the sick child had recovered, and the family were again collected,
+Mary Jane was sent to school. This was a delightful change to her--she
+loved her teacher, she loved the little girls, she loved her book, but
+more than all, her needle. The neatly folded patchwork made by her
+little fingers, is kept as a choice relic to this day.
+
+She had been in school just one month when she was taken sick. Whether
+this was owing to the confined air of the school-room, or to a too close
+application to her studies and work, is not known.
+
+She returned from school one evening, and having sat with the family at
+the table as usual, she went to her mother, and with rather unusual
+earnestness requested her to take her in her lap and tell her a story.
+To be told a story in mother's lap was regarded as a great indulgence by
+the children. The little ones on hearing her request, ran to mother and
+insisted on being attended to first. "Take me up, mother, and do take me
+up." At length Mary Jane with her usual self-denial restored quiet by
+requesting her mother to begin with the youngest first. When a short
+story had been told her little brother, and she was about occupying the
+desired position, she again yielded her right to the importunities of
+her younger sister. A longer story was now told, in which she became
+quite interested herself, so that when her turn came, she appeared
+somewhat exhausted. As her mother took her in her arms, she laid her
+head upon her shoulder, saying it ached very hard. It was thought that
+sleep would restore her, so she was placed in bed.
+
+At midnight the mother was aroused by the ineffectual efforts of Mary
+Jane to awaken her nurse. On entering the chamber, she found that the
+dear child had not slept at all. Her head was throbbing with pain, and
+she was saying in a piteous manner, "I can't wake up Nancy." Her mother
+immediately carried her to her own bed, and having placed her there,
+perceived that from an almost icy coldness, she had suddenly changed to
+an intense and burning heat.
+
+Her father was standing by the bed uncertain whether or not to call a
+physician, when in a pleased but excited manner she called out to him
+"to see all those little girls." She imagined that little girls were all
+around her, and although somewhat puzzled in accounting for their
+presence, yet she appeared greatly delighted to see them.
+
+After this she lay for some time in a dozing state, then she became
+convulsed. During her short but distressing sickness, she had but few
+lucid intervals. When not lying in a stupor her mind was usually busied
+amidst past scenes.
+
+At one time as I was standing by her pillow, bathing her head, she said
+in a piteous tone, "I can't thread my needle." Then in a clear sweet
+musical voice she called "Nancy" to come and help her thread it.
+
+At another time her father supposing her unconscious said "I fear she
+will never get well." She immediately opened her eyes, clasped her
+little hands and laying them upon her bosom, looked upward and with
+great earnestness commended herself to God: "My dear Father up in
+heaven," she said, "please to make me well, if you think it is best; but
+if you do not think best, then please to take me up to heaven where
+Jesus is." After this, she continued for some time in prayer, but her
+articulation was indistinct. One expression only was audible. It was
+this, "suffer little children to come."
+
+What gratitude is due to the tender and compassionate Savior for this
+rich legacy of love, to the infant mind! How often has it comforted the
+dying, or drawn to the bosom of everlasting love, the living among
+little children. "Suffer little children to come unto me." The
+preciousness and efficiency of this touching appeal seem to be but
+little realized even among believing parents. Were it otherwise, should
+we not see more of infant piety, in the families of professing
+Christians?
+
+Once as the gray dawn approached, she appeared to wake as from a quiet
+sleep, and asked if it was morning. On being told that it was, she
+folded her hands and commenced her morning prayer. Soon, however, her
+mind wandered, and her mother finished it for her.
+
+From this time she lay and moaned her little life away. But whenever
+prayer was offered, the moaning would cease for a short interval,
+indicating that she was conscious, and also interested.
+
+During the last night of her life, her mind appeared perfectly clear.
+She spoke often of "heaven" and of "Jesus"; but little is recollected,
+as her mother was not by. Not apprehending death to be so near, she had
+been persuaded to try to get some rest. Suddenly there was a change. The
+mother was called. Approaching the bed she saw that the last struggle
+had come on. Summoning strength, she said, "Are you willing to die and
+go to heaven where Jesus is?" The dear dying child answered audibly,
+"Yes." The mother then said, "Now you may lay yourself in the arms of
+Jesus. He will carry you safely home to heaven." Again there was an
+attempt to speak, but the little spirit escaped in the effort, and was
+forever free from suffering, and sorrow, and sin.
+
+In the morning I went over to look upon my little niece, as she lay
+sleeping in death. "Aunty B----" was there standing by the sofa.
+Uncovering the little form she said, "She has _found the way to heaven_
+now;" alluding to the conversation she had with Mary Jane, more than
+three years before.
+
+Soon, the person whose office it was to prepare the last narrow
+receptacle for the little body, entered the room and prepared to take
+the measurement. Having finished his work, he seated himself at a
+respectful distance, and gazed on the marvelous beauty of the child. At
+length turning to the father he asked, "How old was she?" "Six years and
+eight months," was the reply. "So young!" he responded; then added that
+he had often performed the same office for young persons, but had never
+seen a more intelligent countenance, at the age of fifteen. Yet
+notwithstanding the indications of intellect, and of maturity of
+character, so much in advance of her tender age; her perfectly infantile
+features, and the extreme delicacy of their texture and complexion, bore
+witness to the truthfulness of the age, beneath her name on the little
+coffin: "six years and eight months."
+
+And now as my thoughts glance backwards and linger over the little
+sleeper upon that sofa, so calm and beautiful in death, a voice seems
+sounding from the pages of Revelation that she shall not always remain
+thus, a prey to the spoiler. That having accomplished his work, "ashes
+to ashes," "dust to dust," Death shall have no more power, even over the
+little body which he now claims as his own.
+
+But it shall come forth, not as then, destined to see corruption, but
+resplendent in beauty, and shining in more than mortal loveliness; a fit
+receptacle for its glorified inmate, in the day of the final
+resurrection of the dead.
+
+Let all Christian parents who mourn the loss of pious children, comfort
+themselves with the words of the apostle, "Them also that sleep in
+Jesus, will God bring with him," "when he shall come to be glorified in
+his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."
+
+It was in the month of November that Mary Jane died, and was buried;
+reminding one of those lines of Bryant:
+
+  "In the cold moist earth we laid her,
+    When the forest cast his leaf;
+  And we mourn'd that one so lovely,
+    Should have a life so brief.
+  Yet not unmeet it was, that one,
+    Like that young child of ours,
+  So lovely and so beautiful,
+    Should perish with the flowers."
+
+On the return of her birth-day, February 22, when if she had lived, she
+would have been seven years old, the following lines were sent to the
+bereaved mother by Mrs. Sigourney.
+
+THE BIRTH-DAY OF THE FIRST BORN.
+
+  Thy first born's birth-day,--mother!--
+    That cold and wintry time,
+  When deep and unimagined joy
+    Swell'd to its highest prime.--
+
+  Thy little daughter smileth,--
+    Thy son is fair to see,--
+  And from its cradle shouts the babe,
+    In health and jollity:
+
+  But still thy brow is shaded,
+    The fresh tear trickleth free,
+  Where is thy first born darling?
+    Oh, mother,--where is she?
+
+  And if she be in heaven,
+    She, who with goodness fraught,
+  So early on her Father--God
+    Repos'd her bursting thought:--
+
+  And if she be in heaven,
+    The honor how divine,
+  To give an angel to His arms,
+    Who gave a babe to thine!
+
+L. H. S.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Human improvement must begin through mothers. It is through them
+principally, as far as human agency is concerned, that those evils can
+be _prevented_, which, age after age, we have been vainly endeavoring to
+_cure_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+He that is good will infallibly become better, and he that is bad will
+as certainly become worse; vice, virtue, and time, are three things that
+never stand still.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+SABBATH MEDITATIONS.
+
+John 5:1.
+
+
+It is a time of solemnities in Jerusalem--"a feast of the Jews"--and
+crowds throng the sacred city, gathered from all parts of Judea,
+mingling sympathies and uniting in the delightful services which the
+chosen people so justly prize. The old and young, the joyful and the
+sad, all classes and all conditions are there, not even are "the
+impotent, the blind, the halt, the withered," absent. Through the aid
+and kindness of friends they have come also, cheered and animated by the
+unwonted excitement of the scene, and doubtless hoping for some relief
+in known or unknown ways, from their various afflictions. Among these, a
+numerous company of whom are lying near the sheep-gate, let us spend an
+hour. By God's help it shall not be wasted time. How many are here who
+for long years have not beheld the sun, nor looked on any loved face,
+nor perused the sacred oracles. A lesson of resignation we may learn
+from them, in their proverbial peacefulness under one of the severest of
+earth's trials, for "who ever looked on aught but content in the face of
+the born-blind?" Here also are those who have felt the fearful grasp of
+pain, whose nerves have been shocked, and the whole frame tortured by
+untold sufferings; and those who cannot walk forth on God's earth with
+free elastic step, nor pursue any manly toil--the infirm, the crippled,
+the helpless. How it saddens the heart to look upon them, and hear their
+moans! Yet they all have a look of hope on their faces. The kind angel
+who descends to ruffle the hitherto calm waters of the lake may be near
+at hand. Soon sorrow to some of these will give place to proportioned
+gladness. He who can _first_ bathe his limbs in the blessed wave, says
+the sacred oracle, shall find relief from every infirmity. First: It is
+a short and simple word, yet how much of meaning it contains, and in
+its connection here how much instruction it affords! It is ever thus
+under the moral and providential government of God. The first to ask his
+blessing are those who gain it. "Those who seek Him early are the ones
+to find Him." The prompt and active are the successful competitors. To
+those who with the dawning day are found offering their daily sacrifice,
+He vouchsafes most of his blessed presence. "Give Him thy first thoughts
+then; so shalt thou keep Him company all day, and in Him sleep."
+
+It is those who dedicate to Him the freshness of youth, that thrive most
+under His culture, and still bring forth fruit in old age. Their whole
+lives are spent beneath the shadow of his wings, and they know not the
+doubts and fears of those who long wandered before they sought that
+sheltering spot. They who are on the watch, who see the cloud as big as
+a man's hand, are the largest recipients of the blessing when the Spirit
+is poured out from on high. The lingerers, who think they need not
+bestir themselves, for the blessing is sure, may nevertheless fail, for
+though there was a sound of rain, the clouds may scatter, when but a few
+drops have fallen, and the _first_ be the only ones who are refreshed.
+
+But we are wandering. In this porch lies one who scarce bears any
+resemblance to living humanity, and from his woe-worn countenance has
+departed the last glimmering of hope. "Thirty and eight years" a
+helpless being! a burden to himself and all around him! Alas, of what
+untold miseries has sin made human flesh the inheritor! He came long
+since to this healing pool, with cheerful anticipations, perhaps
+undoubting faith, that he should soon walk forth a man among men. But he
+has been grievously disappointed. He seems friendless as well as
+impotent. Listen while he answers the inquiry of one who speaks kindly
+to him: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
+the pool; but while I am coming another steppeth down before me." This
+is indeed hopeless wretchedness. But who is it thus asking, "Wilt thou
+be made whole?" Little didst thou dream, unfortunate, yet most
+fortunate, of sufferers, who it was thus bending tenderly over thy
+painful couch! Said we that thou wert friendless; that none knew thy
+woes? Blessed be God, there is ever One eye to see, One ear to hear, One
+heart to pity.
+
+"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path."
+"He is not far from every one of us." But, though He is ever near, yet
+God often waits long before he relieves. Why is it thus? We do not
+always see the reason, but we may be sure it is infinite wisdom that
+defers. He would have us feel our dependence on Him, and when we do feel
+this, when we hope no more from any earthly source, and turn a
+despairing eye to Him, then he is ever ready to rescue. Even toward
+those who have long withstood his grace, and rebelled against his love,
+is he moved to kindness "when He seeth that their power is gone." "We
+must sometimes have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
+not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."
+
+Even where we would accomplish most, when we would fain secure the
+salvation of those dearest to us, when we would win eternal life for our
+children, we must be made to rely on Him who, as he can raise the dead,
+even call life from nothing, can also revive the spiritually dead, and
+break the sleep which threatens to be eternal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He is gone--while we looked, suddenly he rose in the full vigor of
+manliness, and now, exulting in his new-found faculties, he is walking
+yonder among the multitude, carrying upon his shoulders the couch which
+has so long borne his weary, helpless frame. See, one with frowning
+countenance and harsh words arrests his steps, and wholly unmindful of
+the joy which lights his pale face, reproves him with severe and bitter
+words: "It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy
+bed." The command indeed is, "Thus saith the Lord, take heed to
+yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the
+gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on
+the Sabbath day; neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath day,
+as I commanded your fathers." He stands dismayed and troubled. In his
+new-found happiness he has forgotten the solemn mandate. Timidly he
+answers, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed
+and walk." Thou hast answered well. Only the Lord of the Sabbath could
+have done on thee this work of healing. Go on thy way rejoicing. Return
+not to seek Him, He was here, he spoke to thee; but he is gone. None saw
+him depart. Everywhere present, He is, yet, when He will, invisible to
+mortal eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REPORTS OF MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.
+
+SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF DETROIT.
+
+
+Another year has passed over us, and we, a little band, have met to
+recount, and gratefully to acknowledge, God's goodness and
+loving-kindness to us and our families. Our Association, commencing as a
+small stream, has not yet grown to be a mighty river; yet it has flowed
+steadily in its course, and we confidently believe, has sent forth sweet
+and hallowed influences, refreshing some thirsty souls with pure and
+living waters.
+
+During the year now past, our meetings have been continually sustained,
+although sickness and absence from the city, especially during most of
+the summer, have deprived us of the attendance of a large proportion of
+our members. Notwithstanding our meetings have been much smaller than we
+could desire, and sometimes tempted us to be "_faint_ and _weary_ in
+well-doing," still we believe that our prayers and consultations have
+been a source of blessing to ourselves and to our offspring. We are told
+that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." We
+feel assured that we can testify to the faithfulness of the promise, for
+not only can we gratefully acknowledge the love of God in shedding more
+grace upon our hearts; but the gracious call of the gospel of salvation
+has been accepted by some of our precious children, and we trust that
+they are now in the "narrow way that leadeth unto life." Oh, may the
+Spirit of all truth guide their youthful steps through all the thorny
+mazes of life, preserve them from the alluring and deceitful charms that
+surround them, and bring them at last to those blissful mansions
+prepared for those who love and serve God. We do indeed rejoice with
+those dear mothers who have been made the recipients of so large a
+blessing--that of seeing the precious lambs of the flock gathered into
+the fold of the Good Shepherd. Oh, may the prayer of faith ever encircle
+them in this only safe retreat from the ravening wolves and the hungry
+monsters of sin!
+
+But whilst we rejoice with those of our number who have been so greatly
+blessed, we turn with heartfelt sympathy toward those whose hearts have
+been wrung by the loss, _to them_, of the objects of their hopes and
+affections. Three of the children of members of this Association have
+died during the past year. Thus we believe so many sweet angels of God
+have gone from our midst and escaped the sorrows of this evil world. Let
+the dear parents think of them as already far surpassing their own best
+attainments, and praising the blessed Savior, in the heavenly paradise,
+and turn their more anxious and diligent thoughts to the living. Two
+children have been added by birth to the number of those connected with
+the Association.
+
+Our membership has not greatly changed within the past year. Three
+mothers have united with the Association since the last Annual Report,
+and three have left us, making the number the same that it was one year
+since.
+
+While we regret the loss of each and all of those who have departed from
+our midst, we think it would not be deemed invidious to express our deep
+sense of the loss we have sustained by the removal from the city of Mrs.
+Parker, the former secretary. Her devotion and faithfulness in every
+sphere of duty, afforded us all an example well adapted to stimulate us
+in the discharge of our obligations, as well as to guide us in the paths
+of usefulness. We hope and pray that she may long be spared to shed a
+hallowed influence around her wherever her lot may be cast.
+
+Our quarterly meetings have been sustained with interest and profit.
+Portions of Scripture have been committed by the children, and the
+instructions and truths contained in them have been enforced by
+appropriate remarks from the Pastor. We consider this an invaluable
+means of instilling saving truth into the tender minds of our children,
+and would urgently request that it be accompanied by the constant and
+believing prayers of all parents. Upon a full review of the past year,
+we see abundant cause for gratitude and encouragement. We have especial
+occasion for thankfulness that none of our number have been removed by
+death. Since we know that the Lord has thus prolonged our stewardship,
+that we may work in his vineyard, let us be the more diligent, that we
+may be prepared to render our account with joy at the last day. Amongst
+the means for preparing ourselves for the faithful discharge of our
+duties to our own families, and as members of this Association, we take
+pleasure in acknowledging the _pre-eminent merits of Mrs. Whittelsey's
+Magazine_, and would urgently recommend its more general perusal and
+circulation. During the past summer some of us enjoyed the inestimable
+privilege of hearing her experienced counsel, and fervent exhortations.
+We believe that her visit to this city resulted in much good, and we
+wish her abundant success in her noble calling.
+
+Dear Mothers, let us persevere, looking unto the covenant-keeping God
+for the salvation of our children, as well as for the triumph of the
+Gospel throughout the community and this sin-ruined world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SALEM, MICHIGAN.
+
+
+We have been brought, through the kindness of our Heavenly Father, to
+this the first anniversary of our Maternal Association. We meet to-day
+that we may together look back upon the year just closing, and recall
+the mercies and judgments of our God, in which I think we cannot fail
+to recognize the guiding hand of our Heavenly Father, who we believe
+has presided over and defended the dearest interests of this our little
+society. We bless his name that a few individuals, sustaining the sacred
+name of mother, and upon whom consequently devolve important duties,
+were led to roll their burden, in all its magnitude, upon an Almighty
+arm, and in a united capacity to plead for promised grace. We rejoice
+that this feeling has been perpetuated, and that there have been those
+who have not "forsaken the assembling of themselves together," but who
+have been drawn to the place of prayer by an irresistible influence,
+esteeming it a privilege thus to resign their numerous anxieties into
+the hands of an all-wise God. And may we not rejoice, dear sisters, that
+as each returning fortnight has brought its precious opportunity for
+prayer and instruction, our hearts have cheerfully responded to its
+call, and that we have hailed these seasons as acknowledged and
+well-tested sources of profit. If they have not proved so to us, have we
+not reason to fear that our guilt will be greatly increased, and that we
+shall share the condemnation of those who have been frequently and
+faithfully reminded of duty, but who have failed in its performance?
+During the past year we have had twenty-two meetings, the most of which
+have been attended by from six to ten mothers. A small number, indeed;
+yet God, we remembered, promised that where two or three are met
+together in His name, He would be in their midst to bless them. On the
+7th of May the Rev. Mr. Harris preached to the children, from the text,
+"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." Sixteen
+ladies were present, and twenty-three children. On the 28th of
+September, Professor Agnew addressed mothers on their various important
+duties. At the commencement of the year we numbered twelve mothers and
+twenty-three children, under the age of fifteen. We now number sixteen
+mothers and thirty-three children; one little one has been added to our
+number. God, in wise providence, and for some wise purpose, has seen fit
+to lay his afflicting hand upon us. Early in the year it pleased Him to
+call an aged and beloved father of one of our sisters from time to
+eternity. With our sister we do most sincerely sympathize; may it truly
+be said of us, as an Association:
+
+  "We share each other's joys,
+    Each other's burdens bear,
+  And often for each other flows
+    The sympathizing tear."
+
+But God has come nearer still unto us as an Association, and has taken
+one of our little number, dear sister Elizabeth C. Hamilton, who was one
+of the four mothers who met together to converse and to ask counsel of
+our pastor on the subject of forming this Association. On the 11th of
+October, her spirit took its flight from this frail tenement of clay, as
+we humbly trust to the mansions of the blest. With her bereaved and
+afflicted companion and infant daughters, we do most sincerely
+sympathize. May we remember that we have promised to seek the spiritual
+and eternal interests of her children as we do that of our own! Let us
+not cease to pray for her children until we shall hear them lisping
+forth the praises of the dear Redeemer. As we commence a new year, shall
+we not commence anew to live for God? Ere another year has gone, some
+one of this our little number may be called from time to eternity; and
+shall we not prove what prayer can do; what heavenly blessings it will
+bring down upon our offspring? But perhaps some mother will say, I
+should esteem it the dearest of all privileges, if I could lay hold in
+faith on God's blessed promises, but when I would do so a sense of my
+own unworthiness shuts my mouth. But which of God's promises was ever
+made to the worthy recipient? Are they not all to the unworthy and
+undeserving? And if "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon
+his knees," shall we not take courage, and claim God's blessed promises
+for ours, and often in silence and in solitude bend the knee for those
+we love most dear?
+
+While memory lasts I shall never forget my mother's earnest,
+supplicating, trembling voice, as she pleaded with God for Christ's
+sake to have mercy on her children. And shall our children forget ours?
+No, dear sisters, let our entreaties with our God be as they will, I
+think they will not be forgotten. Therefore, let us be more awake to
+this subject, let us sincerely endeavor to train our children up for
+God, that they may be useful in his service while they live, and that we
+may be that happy band of mothers that may be able to say in God's great
+day: Here, Lord, are we, and the children which thou hast given us.
+
+                          A. HAMILTON, _Secretary_.
+  _Salem, Wash. Co., Michigan_, Dec. 31, 1851.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another."
+
+
+In no system of morals or religion, except the Bible, can such a precept
+be found. It at once proclaims its divine author. We feel as we read
+it--here speaks that God and Almighty Father who so loved the world as
+to give his Son to die to save it. We feel that none but a being who
+regards himself as the Father of all, and who would unite his children
+in the bonds of family affection, would think of urging upon a company
+of men and women, gathered from all classes and conditions of life, the
+duly regarding each other with the same sincerity, tenderness, respect
+and kindness as if they were the nearest relatives. Such is the force of
+the expression, "Be kindly affectioned one to another." The word
+expresses properly the strong natural affection between parents and
+children; but the apostle is not satisfied with this, and uses the word
+to qualify that brotherly love which our Lord has made the badge of
+discipleship. It should be with the tenderness and the unselfishness
+which characterize the filial and paternal relation, blending love with
+natural affection, and making it manifest in common intercourse. Oh, how
+different this from the spirit of the world, the spirit which seeks not
+to bless others, but self; not to confer honor but to obtain it; which
+aims not to diffuse respect, but to attract all others to give honor to
+ourselves.
+
+I design at present to use this divine injunction as conveying the Holy
+Spirit's direction and description of proper family intercourse, in
+reference, particularly, to children in the family circle.
+
+I notice very briefly (for the direction must commend itself to the
+heart of every child) its application to parents: "Be kindly affectioned
+toward your father and mother." It is indeed hardly necessary to urge
+this duty, for God has in his wisdom so constituted us, as in a good
+degree to insure the duty of filial love even in those who do not regard
+his own authority over their spirits. No child can for a moment reflect
+upon the love and care which he has received from his parents, without a
+moved heart, although he can never know their full power until he
+himself becomes a parent; but here indeed lies the difficulty, and here
+do I find the necessity of dwelling for a moment upon this point.
+Children do not reflect upon this. Few ever sit down, calmly and
+consecutively, to recall the parental kindness, and therefore, would I
+ask each of you, my young friends, that you may obey this injunction,
+and be kindly affectionate towards father and mother, to consider their
+kindness to you. Why, if you look at it, you will hardly be able to find
+that they have any other care in the world, or any other object, than
+yourselves. What does that kind mother of yours do which is not for her
+children? does she not seem always to be thinking of you? have you never
+noticed how her eye brightens with delight when you or any of your
+brothers or sisters do right, or even when she looks around on the
+health and happiness of her children? and, when you or any of her dear
+ones are ill, how sad she looks, how her cheek will become pale, and how
+she will watch and wait at the bed-side of her child, how her own hand
+gives the medicine, how nothing can call her away from home, no friends,
+no amusements, often not even the church and Sabbath-day, and if she did
+go to church while you were ill, she went there to pray that God would
+make you well. And I would have you also think of the large surrenders
+of ease, time and fortune which your father is daily making for the
+benefit and comfort of his children. How many fathers will compass land
+and sea in quest of provision for them, and in order to give them name
+and station in society? How many adventurously plow the ocean in their
+behalf? How many live for years in exile, and in the estrangement of a
+foreign land, with nothing to soothe them in the midst of their toil and
+fatigue, but the image of their dear and distant home? How many toil and
+plan, day after day, and year after year, from early morn until late at
+night, for no other object than to gather wealth, which in their love
+they expect and intend their children to enjoy, when they themselves
+have gone down to the grave! Oh, my young friends, though ye have not
+perhaps thought of it, yet the devotedness of a parent to his children,
+in the common every-day duties and comforts of life, often equals and
+surpasses that which history has recorded for us of the sublimest
+heroism.
+
+It would often seem utterly impossible to wear out a father's affection
+or a mother's love, and many a child, after the perversities and losses
+of a misdirected manhood, has found himself welcomed back again to the
+paternal home, with all the unquenched and unextinguishable kindness of
+his early and dependent childhood; welcomed even amid the hardships of
+poverty, with which declining years and his own hand, perhaps, have
+united to surround the whitening heads of the authors of his being.
+
+Now, it is in view of the reality and strength of these parental
+regards, thus flowing from a father's or a mother's heart upon their
+children, that we bid you see the force, the reason, and the right of
+the direction, Be kindly affectionate in all your intercourse with them.
+And it is in the same view that we appeal to your own hearts, and ask
+whether it be not most revolting and wrong for a son or daughter to
+utter the word, or dart the look, or feel the feeling which is prompted
+by wickedness; a disdainful son or disrespectful daughter is a sight
+most painful to every right-minded man.
+
+But while I mention this as the rule which should govern the family in
+their treatment of those who stand at its head, I would also beg leave
+to remark, that this same law should govern the heads of the family
+towards each other and all the members. This is the only way by which
+reciprocal affectionate regard and treatment can be inculcated and
+insured. The Holy Spirit has deemed this so important, that He has given
+the express injunction to parents: "Fathers, provoke not your children;"
+and it is an injunction which parents need constantly to remember. The
+natural and necessary subjection of the children to parental authority,
+unless the hearts of the parents be guided by religious principle, will
+often induce an arbitrary and enforced obedience, which, unless guided
+and controlled by affection, will have only the appearance of harshness,
+and will only produce unpleasant feeling. Parents should never forget
+that it is always as unpleasant to a child to have his will and plans
+crossed as it is to themselves, and that, therefore, it is their own
+obedience to the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, which alone can make
+their authority both strong and pleasant. There are again so many cares
+and anxieties connected with the details of family arrangements, and
+there are so much thoughtlessness and perversity in the depraved hearts
+of the most amiable and properly disposed children, that the patience of
+even the all-enduring mother will often be tried in a manner which
+nothing but divine grace can sustain. Ill health and natural
+irritability, so constantly exposed to attack, will often increase the
+difficulty, and thus make the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, one of
+the most arduous duties of life. But the triumph of principle will
+always be accompanied with corresponding valuable results in the
+happiness and comforts of the whole family circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+KNOW THYSELF.
+
+
+Many instructive lessons may be conveyed to the minds of children in
+story and in verse. We do not now remember who is the author of the
+story we are about to relate. It may be familiar to many of our readers.
+We venture, however, to repeat it in our own words, as it has an
+important moral worthy the attention of the old as well as the young:--
+
+A man and his wife were hard at work in a forest, cutting down trees.
+The trees were very hardy and tall, and their axes were dull; the
+weather was cold and dreary, they were but poorly clad, and they had but
+little to eat.
+
+At length, the woman, in her despondency, fell to crying. Her husband
+very kindly inquired, "What is the matter, my dear wife?"
+
+"I have been thinking," said she, "of our hard fate, and it does seem to
+me a hard case that God should curse the ground for Adam's sake, just
+because he and his wife had eaten a green apple; and now all their
+descendants must earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, all their
+days."
+
+The man replied, "Do not, my dear wife, distress yourself thus, seeing
+it will do no good."
+
+She continued, "I do think that Adam and Eve were very foolish to listen
+to any thing that a serpent had to say. If I had been in the place of
+Eve I am sure I should have done otherwise."
+
+To this her husband replied, "True, my dear wife, Eve was a very silly
+woman. I think, if I had been in Adam's place, before I would have
+listened to her foolish advice, and run such a hazard, I would have
+given her a smart box on the ear, and told her to hold her tongue, and
+to mind her own business."
+
+This remark made his wife very angry, and here followed a long dialogue
+on this topic till they began mutually to criminate each other as well
+as the serpent.
+
+Now, a gentleman, who had all this time been concealed behind the trees,
+and had heard their complaints, and listened with grief to their
+fault-finding disposition, came forward and spoke to them very kindly.
+
+He said, "My friends, you seem to be hard at work, and very unhappy.
+Pray tell me the cause of your misery, and whether I can do anything to
+comfort you?"
+
+So they repeated to this gentleman what they had been saying.
+
+He replied to them thus: "Now, my dear friends, I am truly sorry for
+you, and I desire to make you more comfortable. I have a large estate,
+and I wish to make others as happy as I am myself. I have a fine house,
+plenty of servants, and every thing desirable to eat and to drink. I
+have fine grounds, filled with shrubbery and fruit trees. If you will go
+and live with me you have only to obey the regulations of my house, and
+as long as you do this and are contented, you shall be made welcome."
+
+So they went with this gentleman. At once he took off their rough and
+ragged garments, and clad them in a fine suit of clothes, suited to the
+place, and put them into a spacious apartment, where for a time they
+lived very happily.
+
+One day this gentleman came to them, and said business of importance
+would call him from home for some days. In the mean time he hoped they
+would be happy and do every thing in their power to reflect honor upon
+his hospitality till his return. He said he had but one other suggestion
+to make, and that was, that _for his sake_ they would be very careful to
+set a good example before his servants, and do every thing _cheerfully_
+that they should direct, for up to this hour not one of his servants had
+ever questioned the reasonableness of his commands.
+
+They thanked him kindly for his generous supply of all their wants, and
+promised implicit obedience.
+
+They now had, if possible, more sumptuous meals, and in greater variety
+than ever, and for a few days every thing went on well. At length, a
+servant placed a covered dish in the center of the table, remarking that
+he always had orders from his master, when that particular dish was
+placed upon the table, that no one, on pain of his displeasure, should
+touch it, much less lift the cover.
+
+For a few days these guests were so occupied in examining the new dishes
+that this order was obeyed.
+
+But the woman at length began to wonder why that dish should be placed
+on the table if it were not to be touched; she did not for her part see
+any use in it.
+
+Every meal she grew more and more discontented. She appealed to her
+husband if he did not think such a prohibition very unreasonable. If it
+were not to be touched, why was it placed on the table?
+
+Her husband at length grew very angry; she would neither eat herself nor
+allow him to eat in peace. She at length remonstrated, she threatened;
+she used various arguments to induce him to lift the cover; said no one
+need to know it, &c. Still her good-natured husband tried to reason her
+out of this notion. She now burst into tears, and said her life was
+miserable by this gentleman's singular prohibition, which could do no
+one any good; and she was still more wretched by reason of her husband's
+unkindness,--she really believed that he had lost all affection for her.
+
+This remark made her husband feel very badly. He lifted the cover and
+out ran a little harmless mouse. They both ran after it, and tried their
+best to catch it, but in vain.
+
+While they were feeling very unhappy, and were trembling with fear, the
+gentleman entered, and seeing their great embarrassment, inquired if
+they had dared to lift the cover?
+
+The woman replied that she did not see what harm there could be in doing
+so. She did not think it kind to place such a temptation before them; it
+could do no one any good.
+
+The man added that his wife teazed him so that he had no peace, and
+rather than see her unhappy he had lifted the cover.
+
+The gentleman then reminded them of their fault-finding while in the
+forest, their hard thoughts of God, of the serpent, and of Adam and Eve.
+Had it been their case they should have acted more wisely! But, alas!
+they did not know themselves!
+
+He immediately ordered his servants to take off their nice new clothes
+and to put on their old garments, and he sent them back to the forest,
+ever after to eat their bread _by the sweat_ of their brow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+OLD JUDA.
+
+
+Many years since, I took into my service an old colored woman by the
+name of Juda. She was a poor, pitiful object, almost worn out by hard
+and long service. But I needed just such services as she could render,
+and intrusted to her the general supervision of my kitchen department.
+
+Under the care bestowed upon her she fast recruited, and I continued to
+employ her for three years. I gave her good wages, and, as for years I
+had induced all my help to do, I persuaded her to deposit in the
+savings' bank all the money she could spare. Fortunately for poor old
+Juda, she laid up during these three years a considerable sum.
+
+Before this, she had always been improvident, careless of her earnings,
+and from a disposition to change often out of place. But as one extreme
+is apt to follow another, when she found that she had several dollars
+laid aside, entirely a new thing for her, there was quite a revolution
+in her feelings and character. She now inclined to covetousness, and
+could hardly be persuaded to expend a sum sufficient to make herself
+comfortable in extreme cold weather which sensibly affected her in her
+old age and feeble health. At length her disposition to hoard up her
+earnings increased to that degree that she resorted to many unnecessary
+and imprudent means to avoid expense and to evade my requirements with
+regard to her apparel. But for this parsimony she might have held out
+some years longer. She greatly improved in health and strength for the
+first two years, and was more comfortable and useful than I expected she
+would be. Always at her post, patient, faithful, economical and
+obliging, I really felt grateful for the relief she afforded me in the
+management of a large family; but at length I was obliged to dismiss her
+from my service. For a few months she found employment in a small
+family, but soon fell sick, and required the services of a physician.
+She had to find a place of retirement and take to her bed, and soon her
+money began to disappear.
+
+Her miserable sister, who had exercised an injurious influence over
+Juda, and whom I had found it necessary to forbid coming to my house,
+now came constantly to me for this money, for Juda's use, it is true,
+but which I had reason to fear was not wisely spent. Under this
+impression, I broke away from my cares and set out to look after her
+welfare. I was pained to find her in a miserable hovel, surrounded by a
+crew of selfish, ignorant, lazy and degraded women, who were ready to
+filch the last farthing from the poor, helpless invalid.
+
+My first interview with Juda was extremely painful. She hid her head,
+her great wall eyes rolling fearfully, and cried bitterly, "Oh! I am
+forever undone. Why did I not listen to your entreaties, and heed the
+kind advice of my good master, to lay up treasures in heaven as well as
+in the savings' bank!" I remained silent by her bedside, thinking it
+better for her to give full vent to her agonized feelings before I
+should probe her wounded spirit, or try to console her. "Oh," said she,
+"that I could once more have health, that I might attend to what ought
+to have been the business of my life--the care of my soul." "Yes, Juda,"
+I replied, "but I see, I think, plainly, how it would be had you ever so
+much time. You would not be very likely to improve it aright, for even
+now you are wasting this last fragment of time that remains to you in
+fruitless regrets; why not rather inquire earnestly, 'Is there still any
+hope for me? What shall I do to be saved? Lord, save me, or I perish.'"
+For some time her emotions choked her utterance, at length she seized
+both my hands so forcibly that it seemed as if she would sever them from
+my wrists, and exclaimed, "Oh, pray for me!"
+
+Her condition was an awful one. From the nature of her ailment she was a
+loathsome object. Not one of her old companions would approach her, for
+to them she was now peculiarly an object of terror. Her entreaties that
+I would not leave her in the power of such cruel wretches, to perish
+alone, and without hope, prevailed over my own reluctance and the
+remonstrances of my husband, and summoning up all my resolution, I
+remained with her, with but little respite, for three days and nights.
+
+Her bodily sufferings continued to be extreme to the last, but were
+nothing in comparison to her mental agonies. What a condition of mind
+and body was hers! Every moment demanding something to cool her parched
+tongue, or to allay her fears, or to encourage her hopes.
+
+Never shall I forget the last night of painful and protracted suffering.
+The miserable woman who pretended to assist me in watching, had taken
+some stupefying potion, and I watched alone, as David expressed it,
+longing for the first ray of the morning. At length, the day dawned, and
+I was relieved by good old Mr. Moore. As he entered, I said to him,
+"Poor Juda is still living, and is a great sufferer; will you not pray
+for her?" He replied, "I come purpose pray with Juda." Then kneeling,
+prayed, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord God Almighty, we come to thee for this poor
+dying creature. Have mercy on her precious soul--Lord God, it will never
+die. Forgive her sins; oh, Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, TO-DAY, TO-DAY; Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, for Christ's sake. Amen."
+
+This was indeed her dying day, and I could not but hope that this humble
+but pertinent prayer was prevalent with God.
+
+Very many times since then, as I have caught the first glimpse of day,
+have I said, This may prove my dying day, and prayed, Oh Lord, take the
+lead of my thoughts to-day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GOD IS FAITHFUL.
+
+
+"The fruits of maternal influence, well directed," said a good minister,
+"are peace, improvement, and often piety, in the nursery; but if the
+children of faithful mothers are not converted in early life, God is
+true to his promise and will remember his covenant, perhaps after those
+mothers sleep with the generations of their ancestors."
+
+"Several years since," that same minister stated, "he was in the
+Alms-house in Philadelphia, and was attracted to the bedside of a sick
+man, whom he found to be a happy Christian, having embraced the Gospel
+after he was brought, a stranger in a strange land, to that infirmary.
+Though religiously educated by a pious mother, he clandestinely left
+home at the age of ten years, and since that period--he was now forty,
+or more--had been wandering over the earth, regardless of the claims of
+God or the worth of his own soul.
+
+"In Philadelphia he was taken with a dangerous fever, and was brought to
+the place where I met him. There, on that bed of languishing, the scenes
+of his early childhood clustered around him, and among them the image of
+his mother was fairest and brightest, and in memory's vision she seemed
+to stand, as in former days, exhorting him to become the friend and
+disciple of the blessed Savior. The honeyed accents were irresistible.
+
+"Through the long lapse of thirty years--though she was now sleeping in
+the grave--her appeal came with force to break his flinty heart.
+
+"With no living Christian to direct him on that bed of sickness,
+remembering what his mother had told him one-third of a century before,
+he yielded to the claims of Jesus."
+
+Here the power and faithfulness of a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering
+God were exhibited. Here was a mother's influence crowned with a
+glorious conquest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EXCERPTA.
+
+
+AN AMERICAN HOME.--The word Home we have obtained from the old
+Saxon tongue. Transport the word to Africa, China, Persia, Turkey or
+Russia, and it loses its meaning. Where is it but in our favored land
+that the father is allowed to pursue his own plan for the good of his
+family, and with his sons to labor in what profession he chooses and
+then enjoy the avails of his labor? The American Home is the abode of
+neatness, thrift and competence, not the wretched hut of the Greenlander
+or Caffrarian, or under-ground place of Kamschatka. The American Home is
+the house of intelligence; its inmates can read; they have the Bible;
+they can transmit thought. The American Home is the resting-place of
+contentment and peace; there is found mutual respect, untiring love and
+kindness; there, virtue claiming respect; there, the neighbor is
+regarded and prized; there, is safety; the daily worship; the principle
+of religion.
+
+Ten thousand good people noiselessly at work every day, making more firm
+all good felt at home or abroad, and fixing happiness and good
+institutions on a basis lasting as heaven.
+
+CHRISTIAN UNION.--In "D'Aubigne's Reformation" we find a short,
+beautiful sentiment on the subject of Christian Union. He says: "Truth
+may be compared to the light of the sun. The light comes from heaven
+colorless and ever the same; and yet it takes different hues on earth,
+varying according to the objects on which it falls. Thus different
+formularies may sometimes express the same Christian truth, viewed under
+different aspects. How dull would be this visible creation if all its
+boundless variety of shape and color were to give place to one unbroken
+uniformity? How melancholy would be its aspects, if all created beings
+did but compose a solitary and vast unity? The unity which comes from
+heaven, doubtless has its place; but the diversity of human nature has
+its proper place also. In religion we must neither leave out God nor
+man. Without _unity_ your religion cannot be of God; without _diversity_
+it cannot be the religion of man, and it ought to be of both."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+ZIPPORAH.
+
+
+In the mountainous and wild region which lies around Horeb and Sinai,
+were found, in the days of that Pharaoh, whose court was the home of
+Israel's law-giver, many descendants of Abraham, children of one of the
+sons which Keturah bore him in his old age. We know little of them, but
+here and there on the sacred page they are mentioned, and we gain brief
+glimpses of their character and of the estimation in which they were
+held by Jehovah. Like all the other nations, they were mostly idolaters,
+against whom He threatened vengeance for their inventions and
+abominations. But among them were found some families who evidently
+retained a knowledge of Abraham's God, and who, although they did not
+offer him a pure worship, "seem, nevertheless, to have been imbued with
+sentiments of piety, and intended to serve Him so far as they were
+acquainted with his character and requirements." For these, from time to
+time, a consecrated priest stood before the altar, offering sacrifices
+which were doubtless accepted in Heaven, since sincerity prompted, and
+the spirit of true obedience animated, the worshipers.
+
+In the family of this priest, who was also a prince among his people, a
+stranger was at one time found, who had suddenly appeared in Midian, and
+for a slight kindness shown to certain members of the household, had
+been invited to sojourn with them and make one of the domestic circle.
+He was an object of daily increasing interest to all around him. Whence
+had he come? Why was he thus apparently friendless and alone? Wherefore
+was his countenance sad and thoughtful; and his heart evidently so far
+away from present scenes? Seven sisters dwell beneath the paternal roof,
+and we can readily imagine the eagerness with which they discussed
+these questions and watched the many interviews between him and their
+father, which seemed of a most important character. The result was not
+long kept from them. Moses was henceforth to perform what had been their
+daily task, and as his reward, was to sustain the relation of son,
+husband, and brother in the little circle. Zipporah, whether willingly
+or reluctantly we are not told, became the wife of the silent man, nor
+has he, in the record which he has left, given us any account of those
+forty years of quiet domestic life, watching his flocks amid the
+mountain solitudes, and in intercourse with the "priest of Midian," and
+taught of that God who chose him before all other men. As a familiar
+friend, he was daily learning lessons of mighty wisdom, and gaining that
+surpassing excellence of character which has made his name immortal. Was
+the wife whom he had chosen the worthy daughter of her father, and a fit
+companion for such a husband? Did they take sweet counsel together, and
+could she share his noble thoughts? Did she listen with tearful eyes to
+his account of the woes of his people, and rejoice with him in view of
+the glorious scenes of deliverance which he anticipated? Did she
+appreciate the sublime beauties which so captivated and enthralled his
+soul as he pored over the pages of that wonderful poem which portrays
+the afflictions of the man of Uz? Did she worship and love the God of
+their common father with the same humility and faith? We cannot answer
+one of the many questions which arise in our minds. All we know is, that
+Zipporah was Moses's wife, and the mother of Moses's sons, and we feel
+that hers was a favorite lot, and involuntarily yield her the respect
+which her station would demand.
+
+Silently the appointed years sped. The great historian found in them no
+event bearing upon the interests of the kingdom of God, worthy of note,
+and our gleanings are small. At their close he was again found in close
+consultation with Jethro, and with his consent, and in obedience to the
+divine mandate, the exile once more turned his steps toward the land of
+his birth. Zipporah and their sons, with asses and attendants,
+accompanied him, and their journey was apparently prosperous until near
+its close, when a strange and startling providence arrested them.[B] An
+alarming disease seized upon Gershom, the eldest son, and at the same
+time intimations not to be mistaken convinced his parents that it was
+sent in token of divine displeasure for long-neglected duty. God's eye
+is ever on his children, and though He is forbearing, He will not
+forever spare the chastening rod, if they live on in disobedience to his
+commands. Both Moses and Zipporah knew what was the appointed seal of
+God's covenant with Abraham, and we cannot understand why they so long
+deferred including their children in that covenant. We do not know how
+many times conscience may have rebuked them, nor what privileges they
+forfeited, but we are sure they were not blessed as faithful servants
+are. Now there was no delaying longer. The proof of God's disapprobation
+was not to be mistaken, and they could not hesitate if they would
+preserve the life of their child. "There is doubtless something
+abhorrent to our ideas of propriety in a mother's performing this rite
+upon an adult son," for Gershom was at this time probably more than
+thirty years of age, but we must ever bear in mind that she was
+complying with "a divine requisition," and among a people, and in a
+state of society whose sentiments and usages were very different from
+ours. Her duty performed, she solemnly admonished Gershom that he was
+now espoused to the Lord by this significant rite, and that this bloody
+seal should ever remind him of the sacred relation. The very moment
+neglected obligations are cheerfully assumed, that moment does God smile
+upon his child. He accepts and upbraids not. The frown which but now
+threatened precious life has fled, and children rejoice in new found
+peace, and in that peculiar outflowing of tenderness, humility, and love
+which ever follows upon repentance, reparation and forgiveness.
+
+For some reason, to us wholly inexplicable, Moses seems to have sent his
+family back to the home which they had just left, before reaching Egypt,
+and they resided with Jethro until the tribes, having passed through
+all the tribulations which had been prophesied for them, made their
+triumphant exodus from the land of bondage and encamped at the foot of
+Sinai. Jethro, who seems to have taken a deep interest in the mission of
+Moses, immediately on hearing of their arrival, took his daughter and
+her sons to rejoin the husband and father from whom they had been long
+separated. Touching and delightful was the re-union, and we love to
+linger over the few days which Zipporah's father spent with her in this
+their last interview on earth. The aged man listened with wonder and joy
+to the recital of all that Jehovah had wrought. He found his faith
+confirmed and his soul strengthened, and doubtless felt it a great
+privilege to leave his child among those who were so evidently under the
+protection of the Almighty, and before whom he constantly walked in the
+pillar of fire and cloud. With a father's care and love, he gave such
+counsel as he saw his son-in-law needed, and after uniting with the
+elders in solemn sacrifice and worship, in which he assumed his priestly
+office, he departed to his own land. We seem to see Zipporah, as with
+tearful eyes she watched his retreating footsteps, and felt that she
+should see her father's face no more on earth. Not without fearful
+struggles are the ties which bind a daughter to her parents sundered,
+though as a wife she cleaves to her husband, and strives for his sake to
+repress her tears and hide the anguish she cannot subdue. One comfort,
+however, remained to Zipporah. Soothingly fell on her ear the invitation
+of her husband to her brother, the companion of her childhood, "We are
+journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you:
+Come thou with us and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken
+good concerning Israel." Deprecatingly she doubtless looked upon him, as
+he answered, "I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to
+my kindred;" and united in the urgent entreaty, "Leave us not, I pray
+thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness,
+and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." With her husband and brother
+near, on whom to lean, she must have been cheered, and the bitterness
+of her final separation from home alleviated.
+
+Feelings of personal joy or grief were soon, however, banished from her
+mind by the mighty wonders which were displayed in the desert, and by
+the absorbing scenes which transpired while Israel received the law, and
+were prepared to pursue their way to Canaan. Of her after history we
+gather little, and the time of her death is not mentioned. One
+affliction, not uncommon in this evil world, fell to her lot. Her
+husband's family were unfriendly and unkind to her, and she was the
+occasion of their reproach and ridicule. But she was happy in being the
+wife of one meek above all the men upon the earth, and she was
+vindicated by God himself. What were her hopes in prospect of seeing the
+promised land, in common with all the nation, or whether she lived to
+hear the terrible command of God to Moses, "Avenge Israel of the
+Midianites," we do not know. The slaughter of her people may have caused
+her many a pang, and she probably went to her rest long before the weary
+forty years were ended. She has a name and a place on the sacred
+page,--she was a wife and mother,--and though hers is a brief memorial,
+yet, if we have been led to study the word of God more earnestly,
+because we would fain learn more concerning her, that memorial is not
+useless.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another."
+
+     (Continued from page 92.)
+
+
+I remarked that this precept was important in the heads of families, in
+regulating their intercourse with each other, as well as that between
+themselves and their children. I take it for granted that there is in
+truth no want of real affection and regard between husband and wife, and
+yet there may be, in their treatment of each other, frequent violations
+of the duty of kindly affection. The merely outward manner is indeed
+never as important as the real feeling, but it always will be regarded
+more or less as the indication of the real feeling, and parents should
+never forget, that in their children they have most observant and
+reflecting minds; and you may rest assured that the parental cords are
+loosed most sadly when the child is led to remark that his parents do
+not cordially harmonize. Nay, more, if those parents be Christians, such
+conduct throws a shade of doubt over their Christian character. There
+were both force and sincerity in the remark of the man who, when the
+reality of his religion was questioned, replied: "If you doubt whether I
+am a changed man, go and ask my wife." I fear that many a professing
+Christian could not stand this test; he could appeal with confidence to
+the testimony of his church, and receive the most favorable answer, but
+could he appeal with the same confidence to the testimony of his home,
+of one who knows him best? Is his intercourse with them whom he truly
+loves best, always regulated by the law of that kindly affection which
+religion imperatively demands, nay, which good sense and common humanity
+require? Many a man will speak at times to his wife in a most unkind and
+even uncourteous manner, in a manner in which he would not dare to speak
+to any one else; I know he may not mean unkindness, but is it not a
+wrong? I say nothing of its unchristianness; is it not a wrong done to
+her who loves him more than she does all the world, to treat her far
+more uncourteously than the world would do?
+
+Is it not shameful that she who has borne all the pain, and care, and
+anxiety, and burden of his children, should ever have an unkind word or
+look from him? Nay, is it not a meanness, an entirely unchristian
+meanness, that a husband should presume upon the very loveliness of his
+wife, upon the very affections of her pure heart, to treat her thus
+rudely? And is it not as cowardly as it is mean, thus to act towards
+one whose only defense is in himself? I say cowardly, for were many a
+husband to speak, and to act towards another woman as he allows himself
+to do and to speak towards his own wife, he would not always escape the
+punishment due his ungentlemanly conduct. Let us, who are husbands and
+wives, endeavor all of us to be on the watch in this thing; and let it
+be our rule to treat no one in the world more kindly or more politely
+than we do our own wives and our own husbands. Not long since, at the
+bedside of a dying wife, I heard a husband, with quivering lip and
+tearful eye, say, "Beloved wife, forgive me, if I have ever treated you
+unkindly." If you would be saved from the anguish of ever feeling that
+you needed forgiveness from the dying lips of your dearest earthly ones,
+be kindly affectioned, therefore, one to another.
+
+Let us, in the next place, seek to apply this direction to the
+intercourse of brothers and sisters. No association of beings on earth
+can be more interesting than that of the family; there are found the
+tenderest sympathies and the most endearing relations. There the painter
+seeks for the sweetest scenes by which to exhibit his art, and the poet
+finds the inspiration which gives melody to his song. The highest praise
+which we can give to any other association of men, whether in church or
+state, is to say that they dwell together as a family; and cold and hard
+indeed must be that heart which does not sympathize and rejoice in
+family ties. In nothing short of the developments made in the cross of
+Jesus do the wisdom and love of God towards our race shine more
+conspicuously than they do in this grouping us in families. The result
+has been, that society has been preserved, even though the authority of
+God has been condemned; and even the annals of heathenism afford us very
+many displays of those kindly feelings, which adorn and beautify human
+nature. These would not have existed, had not the heart been cultivated
+in the family; and where religious principle is added as the guiding
+influence of the circle, the family becomes the nursery of all that is
+great and good in our nature, it becomes the very type and antepast of
+heaven. Now, the great development of this religious principle would
+chiefly show itself in obedience to the apostolic injunction in the
+precept, "Be kindly affectioned, one to another, with brotherly love; in
+honor preferring one another." I do not, however, so much seek just now
+to urge upon the members of the family the existence of kind feelings,
+for I take it for granted that in obedience to the call of nature, and
+the ties of blood, these feelings are already in existence; but what I
+desire to present is the duty of always making these feelings apparent
+in common intercourse, for just in proportion to the neglect of this, is
+the family influence on the happiness of its members affected. If you
+would combine the greatest possible elements of unhappiness you could
+not imagine any which would surpass that of a family of brothers and
+sisters, hating each other, yet compelled to live together as a family,
+where no word of kindness passes from one to the other, where no act of
+kindness draws out the affections, where the success of one only excites
+the envy of the others; no smile lights up the countenance; no gladness
+found in each other's society, the aim of each to thwart and annoy the
+other. In such dwellings there would be no light, no peace, no joy, no
+pleasant sounds. Indeed such a picture does not belong to even our
+fallen world, it is the description of the misery of the lost. A
+picture, perhaps, of a family in hell. The further, therefore, from
+this, my friends, that you can remove your own family, the greater will
+be your own happiness and comfort, and you must remember that the
+responsibility of this rests upon each one of you individually. Let your
+brother or sister never receive an unkind, unbrotherly or unsisterly
+act, never perceive an unaffectionate look, nor experience an
+uncourteous neglect, and you will do very much towards making your
+family the abode of as perfect peace as can be enjoyed upon earth, and
+cause it to present the loveliest and most attractive scene this side of
+heaven. Now, I will freely acknowledge that in urging this duty upon
+brothers and sisters, I am setting you upon no easy work; I know that it
+will require often much self-denial, much restraint in word and deed,
+but the gain will far more than repay the struggle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE FAMILY PROMISE.
+
+BY JOSEPH McCARRELL, D.D.
+
+
+The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar
+off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. From the beginning of
+the creation God has dealt with man as a social being. He made them a
+male and a female, and the first institution in innocence and in Eden,
+was marriage. In his dealings with Adam, God deals with the race. He
+made with them his covenant when he made it with Him. Hence, by the
+disobedience of one, many were made sinners; in Adam all die. With Noah
+he made a covenant never to drown the world again by the waters of a
+flood. This promise belongs to the children of Noah, the human race.
+
+To Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Almighty God said, "I will
+establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
+their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee
+and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17:7.) In token of this covenant,
+Abraham was circumcised, and his family, and his posterity, at eight
+days old. This principle of the ecclesiastical unity of the many, this
+family, is continued under the new dispensation of the covenant, and
+distinctly announced in the memorable sermon of Peter, on the day of
+Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission
+of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the
+promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
+even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:38, 39.)
+Accordingly, when Lydia believed she was baptized, and her household;
+and when the jailor believed he was baptized, he and his, straightway.
+(Acts 16.) And so clearly was this principle established, that it
+extends to the children of parents of whom one only is in the covenant;
+"for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
+unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children
+unclean, but now are they holy." (1 Cor. 7:14.) The first mother derived
+her personal name from this great principle. Under the covenant of works
+her name is simply the feminine form of the man, [Hebrew: ISHA] the woman,
+from [Hebrew: ISH] the man. But when, in the awful darkness which
+followed the fall, the first light broke upon the ruined race, in the
+grand comprehensive promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the
+woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head and
+thou shalt bruise his heel," it was promised that she should be the
+mother of a Savior who should destroy the grand adversary of man, though
+he himself should suffer in his inferior nature in the eventful
+conflict. In view of this great honor, that she should be the mother,
+according to the flesh, of the living Savior, and all that should live
+by his mediation and grace, Adam called his wife's name Eve, [Hebrew:
+KHAVA], because she was the mother of all living, [Hebrew: HAY]. (Gen.
+3:20.) The family identity, established at the beginning of the
+dispensation of grace, and continued to the end of divine revelation
+without the least shadow of change, gives to Christian parents their
+grand encouragement and constraining motive to seek the salvation of the
+children whom God hath given them. His former respects, first,
+themselves, and then their children, as part of themselves. As it is
+necessary that they should believe the promise to themselves, in order
+that they may enjoy it; so they must believe the promise respecting
+their children, in order that the children may enjoy the blessing. And
+as they must prove the reality of their faith in the promise which
+respects themselves by their works, so they must prove the reality of
+their faith in the promise which respects their children by the faithful
+discharge of the duties which they owe to God in their behalf. Fathers,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
+admonition of the Lord. Train up a child in the way he should go, and
+when he is old he will not depart from it.
+
+A soldier is not trained for the service of his country or the field of
+battle by a few lectures on the art of war. He must be drilled,
+practiced, in the very things which he must do upon the field of blood.
+So the children of believers, who are to take the places of their
+fathers and mothers in the grand warfare against Satan, the world, and
+the flesh, must be practiced in these very truths, and graces, and
+duties which they must labor and do, that they may be saved and be
+instrumental in extending that kingdom which is righteousness and peace
+and joy in the Holy Ghost, to the end of the earth and to the end of
+time. Let Christian parents make full proof of the family promise, use
+it in their prayers at the Throne of grace, cling to it as the anchor of
+their hope for those who are as dear to them as their own lives, and
+prove the sincerity of their prayers by unmeasured diligence in
+instruction and parental authority and influence, and a holy example. It
+was a high commendation of Abraham, in whose seed shall all the families
+of the earth be blessed, that He who is the fountain of honor and
+blessing should say, "I know Abraham, that he will command his children,
+and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to
+do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing
+that he hath spoken of him." If you would not that the blood of souls
+should be found in your skirts at the last day, and that the souls of
+your own children, plead incessantly the family promise, plead it in
+faith, approved by diligence and a holy example, not only point the road
+to heaven, but lead the way. So shall each Christian parent say to the
+Redeemer, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired
+in all that believe, Here am I, Lord, and the children which thou hast
+given me. Let children of Christian parents plead the promise made on
+their behalf. It has kept the true religion from becoming extinct; it
+will yet fill the earth with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
+the sea. Plead it for yourselves and show your faith in it by giving
+yourselves up to Emanuel, the great high priest of our profession, as
+free-will offerings in the day of his power, as his progeny, whom he
+will adorn with the beauties of holiness, as the dew from the womb of
+the morning, when reflecting the light of the sun refracts the prismatic
+colors. Say with David, "I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid,
+and therefore belonging to His household, to serve Him, to glorify Him,
+to enjoy Him forever." But beware, on the peril of your souls, how you
+_abuse_ your relation to the family of God. Think not in your hearts we
+have Abraham to our father; make not the holy promise, nor its holy
+author, a minister of sin, an apology for unbelief and all ungodliness.
+Wilt thou not at this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of
+my youth? Hear, believe, plead and obey the gracious word. "I will pour
+water upon him that is thirsty, and upon the dry ground. I will pour my
+Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they
+shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses; one
+shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name
+of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and
+surname himself by the name of Israel."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE PROMISE FULFILLED.
+
+     "Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+     them alive."
+
+
+How often has this promise been offered in the prayer of faith at the
+mercy-seat, and proved a spring of consolation to the heart of a pious
+widowed mother! In the desolation caused by the death of the husband and
+father, who was the helper, counselor, and guardian in reference to
+spiritual as well as temporal interests, and in the deepened sense of
+parental responsibility in the charge now singly resting upon her, how
+often and readily does the widow cast herself upon the sure and precious
+promise of the covenant, "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after
+thee." In the faith of this her heart imbibes comfort, her prayers
+become enlarged and constant, and her efforts become wisely directed,
+and steadily exerted, in behalf of the spiritual interests of her
+children. When we carefully observe such cases, we shall find proof that
+the blessing of the God of grace peculiarly rests upon the household of
+the pious and faithful widow. God, in the truth and promises of his
+Word, takes peculiar notice of the widow and the orphan, and his
+providence works in harmony with his word. The importance and efficiency
+of maternal influence in every sphere of its exercise cannot be too
+highly estimated, but nowhere does it possess such touching interest, or
+such high promise, as the scene of widowhood. How would faith, laying
+hold upon the truth of the following promise, and securing its proper
+influence in all appropriate labors, realize the fulfillment of the
+blessing: "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that
+is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not
+depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
+the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and
+forever." Isaiah 59:21.
+
+These remarks receive a new confirmation in the case of the recent
+deaths of two young sons of MRS. JANE HUNT, widow of the late
+Rev. Christopher Hunt, pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Franklin
+street, in this city. They died within eight days of each other, the
+elder, _De Witt_, in his twentieth year, on the 19th of January, and the
+younger, _Joseph Scudder_, in his sixteenth year, on the 11th January,
+both of pulmonary disease. Their father, the Rev. Mr. Hunt, was a
+faithful and successful minister of Christ, much beloved by the people
+of his pastoral charge. The writer of this well remembers a sermon
+preached by him at the close of a series of services in the visitation
+of the Reformed Dutch churches of this city, which was solemn and
+impressive, from the text, "There is but a step between me and death."
+This was in January, 1839. At this time the seeds of disease (perhaps
+unconsciously to himself) were springing up within him, and after a few
+more services in his church, he was confined to his house, and lingered
+until the following May. His soul was firm in faith and full of peace,
+on his sick and dying bed. He committed them, again and again, to the
+care and faithfulness of their covenant God, and felt that therein he
+left them the best of legacies, whatever they might want of what the
+world could give. At the time of his decease, they had four children,
+the youngest of whom was three weeks old. The two oldest were the sons
+to whose deaths we are now adverting. The two youngest (daughters) are
+surviving. The elder son was seven years old at his father's death. The
+responsible trust of rearing these children for Christ and heaven was
+thus cast upon the widowed mother. Mrs. Hunt is the daughter of the late
+Joseph Scudder, of Monmouth, N.J., and sister of the venerable,
+long-tried, and devoted missionary, Rev. Dr. John Scudder, now in India.
+Brought up under the influences and associations of piety, she was early
+brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ, and a profession of faith
+in Him within the church. The consistency and ripeness of her piety has
+been evinced in the different spheres and relations of life where
+Providence placed her. With the infant children cast upon her care, at
+the death of her husband, she plied herself with toilful industry to
+provide for them, while her soul was ever intent upon their early
+conversion to Christ. She aimed to give these sons such a course of
+education as would, under God's sanctifying blessing, prepare them to
+engage in the work of the ministry, perhaps the missionary service. She
+had the gratification of seeing them as they grew up evincing
+thoughtfulness of mind, amiableness of spirit, and correctness of
+conduct, and by an affectionate spirit, and ready obedience,
+contributing to her comfort. At the time of his death, De Witt was in
+the Junior class, and Joseph had just entered the Freshman class, and
+there had gained a good distinction for study and scholarship, and drawn
+forth the respect and affection of their instructors and
+fellow-students. While pursuing his own studies, the elder brother led
+on the younger brother at home, and it is believed that by his close
+application he hastened the bringing on of his disease. In addition to
+this, the mother's heart was yearning for the proofs of their having
+given their hearts to God. Attentive as they were to divine truth in
+the sanctuary and Sabbath-school, in the reading of it at home, and
+careful in forming associations favorable to piety, she yet looked
+beyond these to their full embrace of, and dedication to, the Savior.
+How mysterious is that dispensation which, at this interesting period,
+when these only two sons were moulding their characters for life opening
+before them; and when they seemed to be preparing to realize a mother's
+hope, and reward a mother's prayers, and toils, and anxieties, they
+should, both together, within a few days of each other be removed from
+time to eternity. But in the circumstances and issues of their sickness
+and death we find an explanation of this apparent mystery by the
+satisfactory evidence they afforded of their being prepared by an early
+death to be translated to the blissful worship and service of heaven.
+
+Previous to a brief sketch of the sick-bed and dying scene of these dear
+youths, a circumstance may be adverted to, beautifully and strongly
+illustrative of the value and efficacy of the prayer of faith. Rev. Dr.
+Scudder, in his appeals, has frequently and ardently pressed upon
+parents the importance of the duty of seeking the early conversion of
+their children, and their consecration to the service of the Savior.
+With his heart intent upon this duty in the spirit of continued
+believing intercession, God has signally blessed him in his own large
+family of children in their early conversion to Christ, and in the
+training of his sons for the foreign missionary service in which he is
+himself engaged. Two of his sons are now engaged in that service; one
+training for it some time since entered into the heavenly rest, and
+others are now in preparation for it. On the 12th of November last,
+1851, Dr. S. addressed a letter from Madura, in India, to his nephew, De
+Witt Hunt. So remarkable is this letter, not only in the matter it
+contains, and spirit it breathes, but also in the fulfillment of the
+prayers it refers to, as the end of the two months stipulated found De
+Witt brought into the hope and liberty of the Gospel, on the very verge
+of his removal to heaven, that we make the following copious extracts
+from it:
+
+"My dear Nephew,--My daughter Harriet received your letter by the last
+steamer. I have not the least evidence from the letter that you love the
+Savior, for you do not even refer to him. On this account I may perhaps
+be warranted in coming to the conclusion that he is not much in your
+thoughts. Be this, however, as it may, I have become so much alarmed
+about your spiritual condition as to make it a special subject of
+prayer, or to set you apart for this purpose; and I design, God willing,
+to pray for you in a special manner until about the time when this shall
+reach you, that is, about two months. After that I can make no promise
+that I shall pray for you any further than I may pray for my friends in
+general. I have now set apart a little season to pray for you and to
+write to you. Do you wonder at this? Has it never occurred to you as _a
+very strange thing_ that others should be so much concerned in you,
+while you are unconcerned for yourself? I can explain the mystery. Your
+friends have seen you, and your uncle, among the rest, has seen you
+walking on the pit of destruction, on a rotten covering, as it were,
+liable at every moment to fall through it, and drop into everlasting
+burnings. _This_ you have not seen, and therefore you have remained
+careless and indifferent. Whether this carelessness and indifference
+will continue I know not. All that I can say is, that I am greatly
+alarmed for you. It is no small thing for you to trample under foot the
+blood of Christ for eighteen years. Justly might the Savior say of you,
+as he said of his people of old, 'Ephraim is joined to idols, let him
+alone.' Your treatment of the blessed Savior is what grieves me to the
+heart. What has He not done to serve you? Were you to fall into a well,
+and a stranger should run to your help and take you out, that stranger
+should forever afterwards be esteemed as your chief friend. Nothing
+could be too much for you to do for him. Of nothing would you be more
+cautious than of grieving him. And has Christ come down from heaven to
+save you? Has He died for you? Has He shed his very blood for you that
+you might be delivered from the worm that dieth not, and the fire which
+is never quenched? And can you be so wicked as not to love Him? My dear
+nephew, this will not do; it _must_ not do. You must alter your course.
+But I will stop writing for a moment and kneel down and entreat God's
+mercy for _you_. I will endeavor to present the sacrifice of the
+Redeemer at the Throne of grace, and see if I cannot, for this
+sacrifice' sake, call down the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon you."
+
+As a remarkable coincidence evidencing an answer to earnest believing
+prayer, this letter found both the nephews drawing near to their eternal
+state. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the end of the two
+stipulated months for special daily prayer in his behalf, found De Witt
+brought into the light and liberty of the Gospel, rejoicing in his
+Savior.
+
+A few incidents occurring in the progress of the sickness, and during
+the death-bed scene, will now be adverted to; and as the death of
+JOSEPH took place first, I shall first allude to his case. He
+was in his fifteenth year, and last fall, in September, entered the
+Freshman class in the New York University. He had been characterized
+from childhood for an amiable and docile spirit, filial kindness and
+obedience, and correctness of deportment. His mind opened to religious
+instruction in the family and Sabbath-school. He loved the Bible, and it
+is believed was observant of the habit of prayer. It was the anxious
+prayer, and assiduous labor of his pious mother that all this might be
+crowned with the saving knowledge of Christ as his Redeemer. He took a
+cold soon after entering the University which at first excited no alarm,
+but it was soon accompanied with hectic fever, which made rapid
+progress, and gave indications that his death was not remote. In the
+early part of November, their mother, realizing these indications, and
+also the precarious state of De Witt's health, who had been afflicted
+with a cough during the whole of the preceding year, which had been
+slowly taking root, and now furnished sad forebodings of the issue,
+plied her labors with greater earnestness for their spiritual welfare.
+The visits and conversations of Rev. Mr. Carpenter were most acceptable
+and blessed after this period. I shall here make extracts from some
+notes and reminiscences furnished me by the mother: "The evening of
+Sabbath, November 16, was a solemn one to myself and sons. We spent the
+time alone; I entreating them to yield their hearts unto God, _they_ in
+listening to the words of their mother as though they felt and
+understood their import. I begged them not to be wearied with my
+importunity, and wearied they had been had they not cared for the things
+belonging to their everlasting peace. I knew not how to part with them
+that night until they should yield themselves, body, soul and spirit, to
+Whom they had been invited often to go." After this, Joseph's disease
+rapidly advanced, and the physicians pronounced his case hopeless. He
+was throughout meek, quiet, patient. Mrs. Hunt again writes: "Sabbath
+morning, November 30, I endeavored to entreat God to make this the
+spiritual birthday of my children. I was with Joseph in the morning,
+reading and conversing with him. In the afternoon I urged him to go to
+Christ just as he was, feeling his own nothingness, and casting himself
+upon His mercy. He replied, in a low, solemn voice, 'I have tried to go
+many times, but I want faith to believe I shall be accepted.' After a
+few minutes he said, 'Sometimes I think I shall be, and sometimes that I
+shall not be.' Again, there was a pause and waiting, and then his gentle
+voice was heard saying, 'I can give my heart to the Savior.' Truly did I
+bless God for his loving kindness and tender mercy." It is worthy of
+observation, that the evening before, Saturday, a small number of pious
+young men of their acquaintance met for special prayer on behalf of
+Joseph, De Witt, and another young man very ill. I continue to quote
+Mrs. H.: "On Friday night, the 2d of January, I asked him in regard to
+his feelings. He replied, 'I pray that I may give myself away to Christ,
+and He may be with me when I pass through the valley of the shadow of
+death.' I remarked, then, Joseph, you want to enter the heavenly Canaan,
+to praise Him, and cast your crown at his feet. He said, 'Yes, to put on
+the robe of righteousness.' On Wednesday night, January 7, he was
+restless. After he awoke on Thursday morning, I said to him, Joseph,
+try now to compose yourself to prayer; to which he assented and closed
+his eyes. During the day he remarked to me, 'I prayed for the teachings
+of God's Holy Spirit that I might be made wise unto salvation; that he
+would lift upon me the light of his countenance, and uphold me with his
+free Spirit; give me more light that I may tell around what a precious
+Savior I have found. I say, Precious Savior, wash me in thine own blood,
+and make me one of thine own children. I come to thee just as I am, a
+poor sinner.'" On Wednesday, the day before De Witt received the letter
+from his uncle, Dr. Scudder, before referred to and quoted. "Joseph
+wished me to read it to him, which I did. After I had finished, he
+remarked, 'Before Uncle Scudder prays for me all his prayers will be
+fulfilled,' but afterwards added, 'he thought his uncle would now be
+praying for him, and sending a letter to him.'" After this he grew
+weaker and weaker, and continued peacefully and patiently to wait his
+coming death, giving expressions of fond attachment to his mother, in
+acknowledgment of her pious care. On Saturday he was visited, as he lay
+very low, by Rev. Mr. C., who held a plain and satisfactory conversation
+with him. Passages of Scripture and hymns were read to him, which gave
+him pleasure, and to the import of which he responded. He expressed to
+him the blessed hope of soon reaching heaven. He sank during the night,
+and died at half-past one o'clock, of the morning of the blessed day of
+the Lord, January 11, 1852, surrounded by weeping but comforted
+Christian friends. T.D.W.
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+John Newton one day called upon a family whose house and goods had been
+destroyed by fire. He found its pious mistress in tears. Said he,
+"Madam, I give you joy." Surprised and almost offended, she exclaimed,
+"What! joy that all my property is consumed?" "I give you joy," he
+replied, "that you have so much property that no fire can touch."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE BENEFITS OF BAPTISM.
+
+BY REV. WM. BANNARD.
+
+
+_Son._--Father, how do you reconcile the distinction which the apostle
+Paul makes in 1 Cor. 7:14, between children as "holy" and "unclean,"
+with the fact that all the descendants of Adam inherit a corrupt nature?
+
+_Father._--The distinction is not moral, but federal or ecclesiastical.
+The apostle is speaking, you perceive, of the children of believers and
+unbelievers. The one, he says, are "holy," the other "unclean." But he
+does not mean by this that the children of pious parents are by nature
+different from others, or that, unlike them, they are not tainted with
+evil. He means that they stand in a different relation to God and his
+church. "_Holy_," in Scripture, means primarily "set apart or
+consecrated to a sacred use." Thus, the temple at Jerusalem, its altar,
+vessels and priests, were holy. The Jews themselves, as a people, were
+in covenant with God. They belonged to him, were set apart to his
+service, and in this sense "_holy_." Now, the apostle is to be
+understood as teaching that children of believing parents, under the
+Gospel, are allowed to participate in this heritage of God's ancient
+people, and hence are holy.
+
+_Son._--But how can this be?
+
+_Father._--I will tell you, briefly, though I cannot now go into detail.
+In virtue, then, of their parents' faith in God's covenant, into which
+he entered with Abraham, and through him with all believing parents,
+their children, also, are brought into covenant with him and entitled to
+its privileges and blessings. They are set apart and given to him by
+their parents when they are sealed with the seal of his covenant in
+baptism. In this manner, and in this sense, they become "_holy_."
+
+_Son._--In what sense are all others "_unclean_?"
+
+_Father_.--The children of unbelievers are "unclean" because they
+sustain no such relation to God. They have not been consecrated to him
+by their parents' faith in offering them to him in the ordinance of
+baptism, and are not interested, therefore, in the provisions or
+benefits of the Abrahamic covenant. They have, moreover, no special
+relation to the church; no more title to its immunities, deeper interest
+in its regards, than the children of the heathen. They may, indeed, when
+they reach a suitable age, hear the Gospel, and upon repentance and
+faith, be admitted to its ordinances, but they have no _special_ claim
+upon its care, or right to its prayers and nurture.
+
+_Son._--But, after all, is not this relation one of mere name or form?
+Has it any positive or practical benefits?
+
+_Father._--It is, indeed, too often disregarded, yet it is positive in
+its character and fraught with striking benefits. If you will give me
+your attention I will state a few of the benefits which accrue to
+children from this relation. You, then, my son, and all children of
+believing parents who have been consecrated to God in baptism, are
+considered as thereby belonging to Him. You are set apart to his
+service, in a sense that others are not, and consequently are "_holy_."
+In this solemn dedication, your parents professed their faith in the
+triune God, and their desire that you should be his servants. They took
+him to be your God according to the terms of his covenant; they desired
+that you might be engrafted into Christ, and claimed for you the promise
+of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and sanctify you. Now this, in itself,
+is an unspeakable blessing. On their part it was an act of faith and
+obedience. In compliance with the divine direction, they claimed for
+themselves and for you a privilege which has been the birthright of the
+church in all ages. They commended you in the most solemn manner to
+God--the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, a covenant-keeping God,
+who is rich in mercy, infinite in resources, and who has promised "to be
+a God _to thee and to thy seed after thee_." It _is_ an unspeakable
+blessing to be thus placed under his protection, to be brought within
+the bonds of his covenant, and to be entitled to that pledge of mercy
+which he has made "unto thousands of them that love him and keep his
+commandments." If it were a privilege for children to be brought to
+Christ to receive his blessing while he was on earth, equally is it a
+privilege to be brought to him now that he is exalted to the majesty on
+high, and "able," as then, "to save unto the uttermost." Though God has
+a regard for all his creatures, both his word and providence assure us
+he has a special interest in his people. His language is, "Jacob have I
+loved, and Israel have I chosen." His elect are those in whom he
+delights. Their names are in his book of life. "All things" are
+overruled for their good. They are regarded with more than maternal
+tenderness, for though a mother forget her infant child, God will not
+forget his people. _And in this affection their children share._
+Repeated instances are given in which the offspring of believers, though
+wicked, were spared for the _sake of their parents_. The descendants of
+David were not utterly banished from the throne for generations, _for
+their father's sake_. Of Israel it was said, when oppressed for their
+sins by Hazael, King of Syria, "the Lord had compassion and respect unto
+them, because of _his covenant_ with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
+would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet."
+Even since they have rejected and crucified their Messiah, there is a
+remnant of them left, according to the election of grace, who are
+"_beloved for their father's sake_." The children of the covenant do
+unquestionably receive manifold temporal and spiritual mercies, and to
+this more than anything else on earth, it may be, they are indebted for
+their present and eternal well-being. They are not forgotten when those
+who bore them to God's altar, and dedicated them to him in faith, have
+passed away. When father or mother forsake, or are called from them, the
+Lord shall take them up. Though they stray from the fold of the good
+Shepherd, and seem to wander beyond the reach of mercy, often, very
+often, does His grace reclaim and make them the monuments of his
+forgiving love. This covenant-relation is indeed one whose benefits we
+cannot here fully estimate, for they can be known only when the secret
+dealings of God are revealed, and we are permitted to trace their
+bearing upon an eternal destiny. They do not secure salvation in every
+instance, but who shall say they would not obtain even that blessing
+were they never perverted, and were parent and children alike faithful
+to the responsibilities they involve?
+
+_Son._--These are, indeed, great benefits, but are there any other?
+
+_Father._--Yes; besides sustaining this marked and honored relation to
+God, the baptized sustain a different relation to his church from that
+of others. They are members of the visible church. Their names are
+enrolled among God's preferred people. They have a place in the
+sanctuary of which David sung, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord
+of hosts." Nor is _this relation_ without its benefits. They are brought
+thereby within the supervision and nurture of the church. They become
+the subjects of her care, instruction and discipline. In addition to
+household privileges, to the prayers, examples and labors of pious
+parents, they have a special claim to the prayers and efforts of the
+church. They are remembered as "the sons and daughters of Zion." "For
+them the public prayer is made." They can be interceded for not only as
+needing the grace of God, but as authorized to expect it in virtue of
+their covenant with him. With all faith and hope may they be brought to
+the throne of mercy as those of whom God has said, "_I will be their
+God._" They may claim, too, as they ought to receive, a special
+solicitude on the part of ministers, officers and members of the church,
+in their instruction, and in the tender interest which those of the same
+body should feel in each other. They are to be watched over, sought out
+and cared for in private and in public; to be borne with in their
+weakness and reclaimed in their wanderings. They are "Lambs" of the
+flock, dear to the good Shepherd, and to be loved and labored for,
+therefore, for his sake. Though they become openly wicked it is not
+beyond the province of the church to rebuke them for their sins, warn
+them of their danger, and by all the moral means in her power to seek
+for their reformation. And these considerations are fraught with
+benefit. It was the lament of one of old, a lament that may be taken up
+by numbers in our day--"No man careth for my soul." But the church does
+care for the souls of her baptized children. She recognizes them as
+within her pale, provides in her standards for their nurture, and though
+not faultless in her treatment of them, she does seek their improvement,
+through the influence of her ministers, and by urging upon parents their
+responsibility.--There is in these facts, moreover, a tendency to draw
+them to the church, to bring them within hearing of the Gospel and
+within the scope of its ordinances. They will be attracted to the
+sanctuary of their fathers and attached to the faith and worship of
+those among whom they have been solemnly dedicated to God. How often in
+after years do we in fact see them coming themselves and esteeming it a
+privilege to bring their own children to receive, as they have received,
+the seal of the covenant!--The baptized are, further, candidates for all
+the immunities of Christ's house. They may come to the Lord's table as
+soon as they have attained to the requisite knowledge and piety. It is a
+distinguished honor, and exalted privilege, to be a guest at Christ's
+table, to partake of that feast which is a type of the marriage supper
+of the Lamb, and to this they are invited whenever they are ready
+publicly to avow their faith and love as his professed disciples. They
+are for the present excluded, as children in their minority are
+forbidden to exercise the rights of citizens; or rather in virtue of
+their power to discipline, as well as instruct, the officers of the
+church may exclude them, like other unworthy members, from the
+communion. But it is the aim and desire of the church that they may
+speedily acquire the knowledge, faith and godliness that shall qualify
+them for this delightful service.--Now, all this is happy in its
+tendency and beneficial in its effects. It is a high honor to sustain a
+covenant relation to God, and to be favored with the peculiar regard of
+his people. It is a privilege to stand in a different relation to the
+church of Christ from that of a mere heathen, and to share in the kind
+offices and be objects of the prayers of those who are "the excellent of
+the earth," and whose intercession availeth much. It is a blessing to be
+under influences adapted to counteract the power of an evil heart and an
+evil world, and thus be made meet for the glories of Christ's kingdom.
+And though the baptized may be, in fact often are, insensible to these
+benefits, they do in themselves constitute their choicest mercies. If
+valued and improved, they will become effectual for their salvation. And
+should they be brought ultimately to share in the blessings of this
+covenant, they will praise God for the agency it exerted, and adore the
+wisdom and beneficence of its arrangements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."
+
+     "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+     might."--ECCLESIASTES 9:10.
+
+
+"Dear mother," said little Emily Manvers, as she turned over the leaves
+of an elegant annual which she had just received, "Is not uncle Albert
+very kind to send me this beautiful book? I wonder sometimes that he
+gives me such costly presents, but I suppose it is because he sees me so
+careful of my gifts."
+
+Mrs. Manvers smiled. "That speech sounds rather egotistic, my dear. Do
+you really think you are such a _very_ careful little girl?"
+
+"I am sure, mother," replied Emily, coloring slightly, "that I take more
+care of my things than many other girls I know. There is my wax doll, I
+have had three years, and she is not even soiled; and that handsome
+paint-box uncle gave me a year ago this Christmas, is in as good order
+as ever, though I have used it a great deal; there is not one paint lost
+or broken, and the brushes and crayons are all safe and perfect."
+
+"That is as it should be, my daughter," returned Mrs. Manvers, "for
+even in small things, we should use our gifts as not abusing them; but
+what will you say when I tell you that you possess a treasure of
+inestimable value, which you often misuse sadly, and neglect most
+heedlessly,--a gift that properly employed will procure wonderful
+privileges, but which I sometimes fear you will never learn to value
+until you are about to lose it forever."
+
+"Why, mother, what _can_ you mean!" exclaimed Emily, in astonishment.
+"It can't be that costly fan cousin Henry sent me from India, that was
+broken when I laid it down just a minute, instead of putting it
+immediately away, or do you mean my pet dove that I sometimes have not a
+minute's time to feed in the morning; you cannot surely think that I
+will let it starve."
+
+"No, Emily," answered the mother, "it is something far more precious
+than either, although by your own admission you have two gifts of which
+you are not at all careful. But I fear that if I tell you what the
+treasure is, I shall fail in making you see clearly how much you misuse
+it; I will therefore keep a little memorandum of your neglect and
+ill-usage of it for one week, and that I hope will make you more careful
+in future. I will begin on Monday, as to-morrow, being the Sabbath, I
+have this gift of yours more under my immediate care."
+
+Emily wondered very much what this wonderful treasure could be that she
+used so badly, and puzzled her brain the whole evening in guessing, but
+her mother told her to have patience, and in a week she would find out.
+
+Emily Manvers was a kind, amiable little girl, between ten and eleven
+years old; she was dutiful and obedient, but had an evil habit of
+procrastination, which her mother had tried in vain to overcome. It was
+always "time enough" with Emily to do everything, and consequently her
+lessons were frequently imperfect, and her wardrobe in a sad state, as
+Mrs. Manvers insisted upon her daughter sewing on strings, and hooks and
+eyes, when they were wanting, thus endeavoring to instill early habits
+of neatness. "Put not off till to-morrow what should be done to-day,"
+was a copy the little girl frequently wrote, but she never allowed its
+meaning to sink into her heart. It was this truth which her mother hoped
+now to teach her.
+
+On Monday morning, Emily jumped up as soon as her mother called her, and
+seated herself on a low stool to put on her shoes and stockings; there
+was a story book lying upon the table, and as her eyes fell on it, she
+began to think over all the stories it contained, (some of them quite
+silly ones, I am sorry to say,) and pulling her night-dress over her
+feet, sat thinking about worse than nothing, until her mother opened the
+bed-room door, and exclaimed in surprise,
+
+"What! not dressed yet, Emily! It is full fifteen minutes since I called
+you."
+
+"I will be dressed directly, mother," said she, jumping up quite
+ashamed, and she hurriedly put on her clothes, brushed her hair and
+prepared for breakfast.
+
+After breakfast she had to look over her lessons, but remembering her
+mother's remarks, she stole a few minutes to feed her doves, and then
+hurried to school afraid of being late. On her return home in the
+afternoon, her mother told her to mend her gloves, which she had torn.
+Emily went to her work-basket, but could not find her thimble.
+
+"Where can my thimble be?" she cried, after looking two or three minutes
+for it. "Oh, I remember now; I left it on the window sill," and off she
+ran to get it.
+
+She was gone some time, and on her return her mother asked, "Couldn't
+you find your thimble, Emily?"
+
+"Yes, mamma, but James and George were flying their kites, so I stopped
+just a minute to look at them. I will sit down now."
+
+She opened her work-box and took out a needle, then looking about said,
+
+"Why, where is my cotton spool? I left it on the chair a minute ago."
+
+She moved the chairs, turned up the hearth-rug, and tumbled over her
+work-box in vain; the cotton could not be found. Presently she espied
+puss, under the sofa, busily employed tossing something about with her
+paw.
+
+"Oh, you naughty kitty, _you_ have got my spool," cried Emily, as she
+stooped down and caught hold of the thread which puss had entangled
+about the sofa legs; but kitty was in a playful mood and would not give
+up the cotton-spool at once, so Emily amused herself playing with the
+cat and thread for some time longer. At last, she remembered her gloves,
+and sitting down mended them in a few moments.
+
+Had Emily's mother told her that she looked at her watch when the little
+girl first went for the thimble, and that she had passed exactly
+three-quarters of an hour in idleness, she would not have credited it.
+
+After a while Mrs. Manvers sent Emily up stairs to get something for
+her. She stayed so long that her mother called, "Emily, what keeps you
+so?"
+
+"Nothing, mamma; I stopped just a minute to look at my new sash, it is
+so pretty."
+
+Ten minutes more were added to the wasted time. The next day Emily came
+home from school without any ticket for punctuality.
+
+"How is this?" asked the mother; "you started from home in good time?"
+
+"Yes, mother," returned the little girl, "but I stopped just a minute to
+speak to Sarah Randall, and I know our school-clock must be wrong, for
+it was half-past nine by it when I went in."
+
+Mrs. Manvers took the trouble to walk around to the school and compare
+her watch with the clock; they agreed exactly, and thus she found her
+daughter had wasted half an hour that morning.
+
+"Do you know your lessons, Emily?" she asked, after her return, as the
+little girl had been sitting for more than an hour with her books upon
+her lap.
+
+"Not quite, mother."
+
+"Have you been studying all the time, my dear?"
+
+"Pretty near; there was a man beating his horse dreadfully, and I just
+looked out of the window a minute."
+
+Mrs. Manvers smiled, and yet sighed, for she knew that Emily had spent
+half an hour humming a tune and gazing idly from the window upon the
+passers by.
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A CHILD'S READING.
+
+
+In this day of books, when so many pens are at work writing for
+children, and when so many combine instruction with entertainment, every
+family should be, to some extent, a reading family. Books have become
+indispensable; they are a kind of daily food; and we take for granted
+that no parent who reads this Magazine neglects to provide aliment of
+this nature for his family. How many leisure hours may thus be turned to
+profitable account! How many useful ideas and salutary impressions may
+thus be gained which will never be lost! If any family does not know the
+pleasure and the benefit of such employment of a leisure hour, we advise
+them to make the experiment forthwith. The district library, the
+Sabbath-school or village library in almost every town afford the
+facilities necessary for the experiment. But my object is not so much to
+induce any to form the _taste_ for reading, for who, now a-days, does
+not read? nor is it to write a dissertation on the pleasures and
+advantages of reading; but simply to suggest a few plain hints upon the
+_subject matter_ and the _manner_ of reading.
+
+And, in the first place, the parent should know _what_ his child reads.
+The book is the companion or teacher. Parent, would you receive into
+your family a playmate or a teacher of whose tastes and habits and moral
+character you were ignorant? Would you admit them for one day in such a
+capacity without having previously ascertained as far as possible their
+qualifications for such an intimate relationship to your child? But
+remember that the book has great influence. It puts a great many
+thoughts into the mind of the young reader, to form its tastes and make
+lasting impressions; and how can you be indifferent to this matter, when
+our land is flooded with so many vicious and contaminating books; when
+they come, like the frogs of Egypt, into every house and bed-chamber,
+and even into the houses of the servants! A single book may ruin your
+child! You yourself may not be proof against evil thoughts and corrupt
+principles. Look well, then, to the thoughts that come into your child's
+mind from such a companion or teacher of your child as a printed book,
+having perhaps all the fascination of a story or a romance. And,
+besides, there are so many volumes that are tried and proved, and
+acceptable to all, that there can be no excuse for admitting into your
+family any which are even of a doubtful character. And do not merely
+exercise supervision over the books which come to you and _ask_
+admission. Avail yourself of the best means of information, and _choose_
+the _best books_; I mean those best adapted to your purpose. Do not get
+too many, but make a _choice selection_. Judge whether your child can
+comprehend what you put into its hand; whether it is fitted to convey
+instruction, or wholesome entertainment, or right moral impressions. If
+it can do neither of these, it will be either an idle or a vicious
+companion for your child, and you should exclude it at once.
+
+But, furthermore, see in _what manner_ the book is read. Draw out the
+thoughts of your child upon it; ascertain whether it has been read
+understandingly and is remembered. In this way you will strengthen the
+power of attention and of memory and judgment, and exercise also the
+power of language, by drawing out an expression of thought. In this way
+reading will be doubly interesting, and will be an invigorating exercise
+without overloading and clogging all the powers of thought.
+
+But, one thing more: Is your child inclined to pore over its books _too
+much_? Be careful, lest its mind be over-stimulated at the expense of
+the body. Many a child is at this hour undermining its physical
+constitution by reading in the house, when it should be playing out of
+doors, or using its muscular system in some kind of domestic employment.
+Beware of any cause which shall induce a sickly precocity or a hotbed
+mental growth. Let no partiality for mental prodigies induce you to make
+_physical invalids_. The sacrifice is too great; seek rather a healthy
+and complete development of the whole child, watching each power as it
+unfolds, and training all for the most efficient fulfillment of the
+practical duties of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+We venture to devote more space than usual to "Notices of Books," as we
+have a large number on our table deserving a word of commendation. We
+shall confine ourselves to the class of works of which the topics of
+consideration come within the scope of this magazine.
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND TRIALS OF A YOUTHFUL CHRISTIAN, in Pursuit of
+Health, as developed in the Biography of NATHANIEL CHEEVER, M.D. By Rev.
+HENRY T. CHEEVER. With an Introduction by Rev. GEORGE B. CHEEVER, D.D.
+New York: Charles Scribner.
+
+We have laid down this book, after attentive perusal, with the feeling
+that among the many things to be learned from it, one stands prominently
+forth,--_the beauty of family affection in a Christian household_. "To
+our _Beloved_ and _Honored_ MOTHER, these Memorials of her
+Youngest Son are affectionately Dedicated." Here we stand at the
+foundation stone, and are not surprised afterward to see taking their
+place in the fair edifice of family love, "stones polished after the
+similitude of a palace."
+
+The history presented in this memoir has no startling incidents. The
+subject of it, a beautiful and promising boy, full of life and
+happiness, is suddenly smitten with a disease which hangs like an
+incubus upon his progress through life, and terminates his course just
+after he has entered successfully on the practice of the medical
+profession, in the island of Cuba, led, as he had previously been, on
+repeated voyages across the ocean, by the hope of permanent benefit from
+change of climate. Scattered through the book are descriptions of
+scenery, observations on men and manners, and pleasant narratives, which
+give variety to its pages, but its charm rises in the character of
+uncommon loveliness which it presents; in the unvarying cheerfulness and
+patience with which the young sufferer met pain, disappointment of
+cherished plans of life, defeat and delay in his efforts for
+intellectual improvement, separation from the friends to whom his
+sensitive spirit clung with a tenacity of affection which is often
+developed by suffering, but which seems to have been an original element
+in his nature; years of banishment from the home circle, and at last,
+_death_, away from every friend, on the ocean, which he was struggling
+to cross once more that he might breathe his last sigh on his mother's
+bosom. The conscientiousness, the integrity, the simplicity of this
+young Christian are as beautiful to contemplate as his elasticity of
+spirit, his cheerful submission, and his resolute determination to be
+all that, with the shattered materials, he was capable of making
+himself. His patient efforts, retarded by his severe sufferings, to
+educate himself, and acquire a profession, are touching and instructive,
+though few, who have not experienced the slow martyrdom of chronic
+disease, can fully appreciate his energy, or sympathize with his
+difficulties. Better than all this is his unwavering trust in God, from
+his boyhood to the day of his early death. Here was the secret of his
+joyfulness. His biographer well remarks, "Beyond all doubt the
+inalienable treasure and guarantee of cheerfulness, being
+reconciliation to God, was in that heart, whose pulsations are still
+beating in the leaves of this book. In his sky the star of hope was
+always in the ascendant. The aspect which life had to him,
+notwithstanding all his suffering, was green and cheerful. He was wont
+to view things on the sunny side, or if a cloud intervened to look
+beyond it."
+
+Such a cheerfulness, so based, is worth more than "silver and gold." We
+commend the book to the attention of our readers, as a beautiful
+illustration of early and consistent piety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+POETRY FOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+_Mrs. Whittelsey_:--"The influence of poetry," says another, "in forming
+the moral character, and guiding the thoughts of children, is immense.
+How often has a simple couplet made an indelible impression on their
+memories, and been the means of shaping their conduct for life! It
+cannot be a matter of indifference, then, whether the poetry they read
+and hear be good or bad, healthful or poisonous. And every parent should
+see that it be of the former kind; such as not only to cultivate the
+taste, but such as will form the character and mould the heart to all
+that is holy and excellent."
+
+These thoughts have come up to my mind with strong interest, since I
+have lately examined a little work published by Mr. M.W. Dodd of your
+city, entitled, "Select Poetry for Children and Youth," a book worthy to
+be in every family, and possessed by every mother in the land. It is
+full of just the kind of poetry to interest children deeply, and profit
+them truly; and is such a work as every parent may safely and wisely
+introduce to his household. As a parent, I have taken it home, and read
+it to my own family circle, and have found all, from oldest to youngest,
+absorbed in attention to its choice selections, which are from such
+writers as Mary Howitt, Jane Taylor, Mrs. Hemans, Cowper, &c., &c., &c.
+And I am persuaded that if other parents will make the same experiment,
+they will find it attended with the same result.
+
+And now, in conclusion, as a parent who has always taken your excellent
+Magazine, and who through it would speak to parents, let me ask, Ought
+we not to be more careful as to the reading of our children--more
+careful that the couplets they learn, and the little ballads they hear,
+and the verses they commit to memory, are such as they ought to be?
+Lessons from such sources will leave a deep and lasting impression long
+after we are silent in the grave! The verses which the writer was taught
+by a pious mother, in early days, are all vividly remembered, and
+probably will be while life shall last. And if every parent would seek
+to make _verses_ the vehicle of instruction to the young (for children
+delight in _poetry_ earlier than in prose), they might easily implant
+the seeds of virtue and piety that would never be lost, but that in due
+season would spring up and bear fruit an hundred-fold to eternal life.
+
+                                              A PARENT.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.
+
+
+We beg those readers of this Magazine who have had the patience to
+follow us thus far in our study, now to open their Bibles with an
+earnest invocation of the aid of that Spirit who indited the sacred
+pages, and so far from being satisfied with the meager thoughts which we
+are able to furnish, we entreat that they will bend diligently to the
+work of ascertaining the real interest which we and all the mothers of
+earth have in the scenes which transpired at the foot of Horeb's holy
+mount. To the instructions there uttered, the mighty ones of every
+age,--the founders of empires, statesmen, law-givers, philanthropists,
+patriots, and wise men, have sought for their noblest conceptions, and
+their most beneficent regulations, and it would be impossible to
+estimate the influence of those instructions upon all the after history
+of the world. But if the Almighty there revealed himself as the God of
+kingdoms, the all-wise and infinitely good Ruler of men in a national
+capacity, not less did He make himself known as the God of the family,
+and his will there made known regulating the mutual relations of parents
+and children, has been at once the foundation and bulwark of all that
+has been excellent or trustworthy in family government from that day to
+this.
+
+It is impossible, in the brief space allotted to us, that we should
+begin to give any adequate view of the subject which here opens before
+us, or follow out fully a single one of the many trains of thought to
+which it gives rise.
+
+At Horeb, Jehovah, amid fire and smoke, and in that voice which so
+filled with terror all that heard, first inculcated the duty of filial
+piety on all the future generations of men. Filial piety! how much it
+implies. It stands at the head of the duties enjoined from man to man.
+It comes next in order to those which man owes to his Maker. It
+inculcates on the part of children toward their parents feelings akin to
+those which he has required toward Himself, and far surpassing any which
+he demands toward any other human being. It speaks of reverence, of a
+love superior to ordinary affection, of unqualified submission and
+obedience. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is the solemn command, and
+the comments which infinite wisdom has made on it, scattered up and down
+on the pages of inspiration, throw light on its length and breadth, and
+on the heinous nature of the sin which is committed in its infringement.
+"Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my
+Sabbaths; I am the Lord." In the Jewish law, a man who smote his
+neighbor must be smitten in return; but "he that smiteth father or
+mother shall be surely put to death." "He that curseth," or as it more
+exactly reads, "he that disparages or speaks lightly of his parents, or
+uses contemptuous language to them, shall surely be put to death." "If a
+man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of
+his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastised
+him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay
+hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and unto the gate
+of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This, our
+son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice. And all the
+men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; so shall thou
+put away evil from among you, that all Israel shall hear and fear."
+
+Still more fearful is the practical commentary upon this solemn command,
+given in Ezekiel 22:7, when Jehovah, in enumerating the crying sins
+which demanded his vengeance on the people, and brought upon them the
+terrible calamities of long captivity says, "In thee have they set light
+by father and mother."
+
+But some one will say, You profess to be speaking to parents, and this
+command is given to children. True, friend, but the duty required of
+children implies a corresponding duty on the part of parents. Who shall
+teach children to reverence that father and mother in whose character
+there is nothing to call forth such a sentiment? "Though children are
+not absolved from the obligation of this commandment by the misconduct
+of their parents, yet in the nature of things, it is impossible that
+they should yield the same hearty respect and veneration to the unworthy
+as to the worthy, nor does God require a child to pay an irrational
+honor to his parents. If his parents are atheists, he cannot honor them
+as Christians. If they are prayerless and profane, he cannot honor them
+as religious. If they are worldly, avaricious, over-reaching,
+unscrupulous as to veracity and honest dealing, he cannot honor them as
+exemplary, upright, conscientious and spiritually-minded."
+
+If parents only say, like Eli, in feeble accents, "Nay, my sons; for it
+is no good report that I hear. Why do ye such things?" they will not
+only have disobedient and irreverent children, but often, if not always,
+they will be made to understand that their sin is grievous in the sight
+of God, and he will say of them also, "I will judge his house forever
+for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile
+and _he restrained them not_." "And therefore have I sworn unto the
+house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with
+sacrifice nor offering forever."
+
+Unto parents God has committed the child, in utter helplessness, and
+weakness, and ignorance, an unformed being. The power and the knowledge
+are theirs, and on their side is He, the Almighty and infinitely wise,
+with his spirit and his laws, and his promises. If they are
+faithful,--if from the first they realize their responsibility, and the
+advantages of their position, can the result be doubtful? But they will
+not be faithful; imperfection is stamped on all earthly character, and
+they will fail in this as in all other duties. What then? Blessed be
+God, the Gospel has a provision for erring parents. If Sinai thunders,
+Calvary whispers peace. For men, as sinners, the righteousness of Christ
+prevails, and for sinners, as parents, not less shall it be found
+sufficient. Line and plummet can soon measure the extent of human
+perfection, but they cannot fathom the merit of that righteousness, and
+when laid side by side with the most holy law, there is no deficiency.
+If, then, we find ourselves daily coming short of the terms of that
+covenant which God has made with us as parents, we need not despair of
+his fulfilling his part, for we can plead our surety's work, and that is
+ever acceptable in his eyes, and answers all his demands.
+
+Let not, however, the negligent and willfully-ignorant parent conclude
+that the spotless robe of the perfect Savior will be thrown as a shield
+over his deficiencies and deformity. Let not those who have blindly and
+carelessly entered on parental duties, without endeavoring to ascertain
+the will of God and the requirements of his law, expect that the
+blessing of obedient and sanctified children will crown their days. Let
+not those who suffer their children to grow up around them like weeds,
+without religious culture or pruning, who demand no obedience, who
+command no reverence, who offer no earnest, ceaseless prayer, let them
+not suppose that the blessing of the God who spoke from Horeb will come
+upon their families. "He is in one mind and who can turn him." Not an
+iota has he abated from his law since that fearful day. Not less sinful
+in his eyes is disobedience to parents now, than when he commanded the
+rebellious son to be "stoned with stones until he died." Yet, how far
+below His standard are the ideas even of many Christian parents? "How
+different," says Wilberforce, "nay, in many respects, how contradictory,
+would be the two systems of mere morals, of which the one should be
+formed from the commonly-received maxims of the Christian world, and the
+other from the study of the Holy Scriptures;" and we are never more
+forcibly impressed with this difference than when we see it exemplified
+in this solemn subject.
+
+The parents who stood at Horeb learned that God required them to train
+their children to implicit and uncompromising obedience, and he who
+closely studies the Word of God can find no other or lighter
+requisition. How will the received opinions and customs of this age
+compare with the demand?
+
+We ask our young friends, who may perchance glance over these pages, to
+pause a moment and consider: If capital punishment should now be
+inflicted on every disobedient child, how many roods of earth would be
+planted with the instruments of death? If every city were doomed to
+destruction in which the majority of sons and daughters "set light by
+father and mother," how many would remain? To every child living comes a
+voice, "Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
+judgment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another.
+
+     (Concluded from page 108.)
+
+
+To aid you in making the effort to comply with the injunction we have
+been considering, I add the following considerations:
+
+1st. It is right, this you will all acknowledge, no matter how unkindly
+a brother or sister may treat you, you will acknowledge that it is never
+right for you, never pleasing to God, that you should treat them
+unkindly in return. Yes, you will all (except when you are angry)
+acknowledge that the injunction Be kindly affectioned one to another in
+brotherly love, is right, proper, beautiful; could there be a better
+reason for trying to obey the injunction?
+
+2d. You have already often disobeyed this injunction. You cannot
+remember many of the instances, but you can some where you acted
+unbrotherly or unsisterly. Alas, such are the pride and selfishness of
+our hearts that we begin very early to sin against our dearest friends.
+Little boy, did you not get angry the other day, when your little
+brother or sister took one of your playthings which you wanted
+yourself, and if you did not speak unkindly or snatch it away roughly,
+did you not go and complain to mother, and was that very kind and
+loving? Would it not have been kinder and more brotherly to try to make
+little brother and sister happy, and not to have troubled mother? Little
+children, I say this especially for you, I want you all to make it a
+rule to love everybody, and to try and make everybody around you happy.
+That is the way to be happy yourselves. But, my young friends, you, who
+are older, are in equal danger of sinning, and I am afraid that your
+consciences can also condemn you. Indeed I know not but the danger of
+violating this law is greater with those more advanced in life. There is
+a transition period when the childhood is about losing itself in the
+youth, which is often very trying to brotherly and sisterly affection.
+The sister is not quite a woman, the brother not quite a young man, and
+each is sometimes disposed to demand an attention which the other is not
+quite willing to yield on demand--each would yield, perhaps, if it were
+asked as a favor--but the spirit of an independent existence is
+beginning to rise, and that spirit spurns any claim. This spirit is
+generally the stronger in the brother than in the sister, and he
+therefore sins most frequently against the law of love, and he will
+treat his sister as he will allow no other young man to do, and will
+treat every other young lady with more politeness and courtesy than he
+does his own noble-hearted and loving sister. Oh, there is many a
+brother, who, if any young man were to say and do what he says and does
+to his sister, he would consider him to be no gentleman and a scoundrel.
+Now, I would ask, does the fact of your being a brother alter the nature
+of your conduct? You are her brother, and therefore may act
+ungentlemanly and like a scoundrel! Why, oh, shame, cowardly shame!
+because there is no one to resent your ill-treatment--there is no one to
+defend a sister from the unkindness of a brother, or to defend the
+brother, I may add, from the sister's unkindness; for though I speak to
+the brother, let each sister who reads this, ask her conscience whether
+her own sister's heart condemn her not.
+
+Time will not allow me to enter into any great detail, in illustrating
+the frequency of these violations of the law of family affection, nor
+indeed is it needed. I can give you a general rule, which your own minds
+will approve, and which will meet all cases. Let the sister treat no man
+with more courtesy and politeness than she treats her father and her
+brothers--treat no woman more kindly and politely than she does her
+mother and her sisters. Let her not confine all her graces and
+fascinations to strangers, and make her family to endure all her
+petulance and unamiability. So let the brother treat his mother and
+sisters. So let the father and mother treat each other and their
+children, and you will, my readers, obtain a noble reward in the
+increasing happiness and comfort of your family circles--in the
+manliness which will belong to the sons--in the mental and moral graces
+which will adorn the daughters. The family will thus become the school
+of virtue and the bulwark of society--the reciprocal influence of
+brothers and sisters thus trained will be of untold power on each
+other's character.
+
+One word further, and I close. I have been describing the legitimate
+influence of religion in a family. True religion will make just such
+fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. It is in this way that religion
+develops itself; that religion which is beautiful abroad and has no
+beauty at home, is of little worth. If, then, you would make your
+families what I have described, you must yourself come under the power
+of religion, must give your heart to God, and then you will find the
+duties of the family becoming comparatively easy. Unless you do so, you
+will find yourselves constantly failing in your most strenuous efforts,
+and will be far from reaching the point which I have sought to describe.
+Natural affection may indeed be much cultivated by this course, and
+drawn forth in its native simplicity or regulated by the forms of
+refined education, it will throw an inestimable beauty and charm around
+the fireside. But it will be, after all, but merely natural affection.
+It cannot rise so high nor exert such heavenly influence over the family
+circle as will the power of religion. It sanctifies and exalts natural
+affections. It not only restrains but actually softens the natural
+asperities of the temper, harmonizes discordant feelings and interests,
+and secures that happy co-operation which makes a Christian circle an
+emblem of heaven. In one word, religion will make you a happy family
+forever, happy here and happy in yonder world of bliss. Without religion
+also, allow me to add, the very beauty and enjoyment, arising from the
+exercise of these domestic virtues, will prove injurious to your eternal
+interests. They will serve to strew with comforts your path leading away
+from God to heaven. The powerful influence of a much loved brother is
+exerted to keep the sister in the path of worldliness; while, in return,
+the sister's boundless influence, for in such a family the sister's
+influence may be said to be boundless, will all be added to the snares
+of an ungodly world, to drive the brother onward in his neglect of God
+and his own soul. My young friends, seek not only to make those around
+you happy in this world, but happy forever. Give thine own heart to
+Jesus, and thou mayest save thy brother and thy sister, and thou shalt
+meet them on high. Refuse to do so, and thou mayest drag these loved
+ones down with thee to that cold dark region, where affection is unknown
+and nothing is heard but blasphemies and curses. Oh, thou kind and
+loving brother and sister, can ye endure the thought of spending an
+eternity in cursing each other as the instruments of each other's
+destruction? Christ alone can deliver you from such a woe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABIT.--"I trust everything, under God," said Lord Brougham,
+"to habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the
+schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes
+everything easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from a
+wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful;
+make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to
+the nature of the child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes
+are to any of your lordships."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+AN APPEAL TO BAPTIZED CHILDREN.
+
+BY REV. WM. BANNARD.
+
+
+It is presumed, young friends, that you have reached an age when you are
+capable of appreciating your obligations, but have hitherto neglected
+them. It is proposed, therefore, in what follows, briefly to call your
+attention to your position and responsibilities. If you have considered
+your privileges as the children of pious parents who have dedicated you
+to God in baptism, you are now prepared to examine your duties. You have
+then a name and a place in Christ's visible church; you sustain covenant
+relations to God, and these, fraught as they are with manifold benefits,
+cannot be without corresponding responsibilities.
+
+You are not the children of the world but the children of the covenant.
+Solemn vows have been assumed for you, and these vows are binding _upon
+your consciences_. They were taken with the hope and intention that you
+should assume them for yourselves when you arrived at years of
+discretion. You were given to God with the expectation that you would
+grow up to serve him. And this it is your duty to do. You are his
+property. You are his by sacred engagement, and you cannot violate this
+engagement; you cannot renounce His service, and devote yourselves to
+the service of Satan or of the world, without dishonoring your parents,
+doing injustice to God, and periling your own salvation. You may say
+this contract was formed without my consent, and when too young to
+understand its requirements. No matter; this does not release you from
+obligation to perform it. Ability and responsibility are not always
+co-extensive. We are bound perfectly to keep God's holy law, and yet no
+man of himself is able to do it. His inability, however, does not
+diminish it's binding force. God cannot abate one jot or tittle of the
+law's demands, for that would be a confession of its imperfection or of
+his variableness. Or, should he diminish his demands because our
+wickedness has made us incapable of keeping them, then the more wicked
+we become, the less binding would be his authority, and if we only grew
+depraved enough we might escape from all obligation to obedience. Such
+an idea, cannot, of course, be tolerated. The truth is, that under the
+government of God, as well as under human government, children are held
+responsible for the conduct of their parents. Parents have a right to
+act for them, and children must abide by their decisions, and endure the
+consequences of their acts. They cannot escape from it, for this is a
+natural as well as moral law which is continually operating. The
+character and destiny of the child are determined mainly by the parent.
+He may educate him to be refined, intelligent and useful, or to be
+vicious, debased and dangerous. This process is going on continually.
+The parent may make positive engagements in behalf of his children,
+which they are bound to perform, and which the law recognizes as valid.
+A father dying, for example, while his children are in infancy or in
+their minority, may require them to appropriate a portion of his estate
+for certain ends, as a condition on which they shall receive it. Another
+may require of his children a given service, on condition of receiving
+his blessing; and if the requirement be not morally wrong, who would not
+feel themselves bound to observe it? But there are examples, perhaps
+more in point, in Scripture, in which parents have entered into formal
+covenants that have had direct reference to their children. Adam
+covenanted for himself and posterity. They had no personal agency in it,
+in any sense, and yet all are held accountable for its transgression;
+all suffer a portion of its penalty, as they might, if he had kept it,
+been made possessors of its blessings. So Abraham covenanted with God
+for himself and his seed; and his descendants felt themselves bound to
+fulfill its requirements. They knew, in fact, that unless they did, its
+benefits could not be enjoyed. The same principle holds good in
+reference to the baptized. You are bound by the covenant engagements of
+your parents. You cannot be released from them on the ground that you
+had no agency in assuming them. They were assumed for you by those who
+had the right to do it--a right recognized by both God and man--and you
+cannot therefore throw them off; you cannot willfully disregard or live
+contrary to them, without guilt and dishonor. The apostle urges this
+principle when he testifies "to every man that is circumcised that he is
+a debtor to do the whole law." His consecration to God in this rite
+bound him to keep his whole law; and yet this obligation was imposed on
+him when an infant only eight days old; but after arriving at maturity,
+he could not shake it off. He was a debtor still, for he was placed in
+that position in accordance with the divine command and by those who had
+the authority over him. With equal propriety may we now testify unto you
+who are baptized, that you are debtors unto Christ. You are bound to
+keep the laws of his kingdom, bound to serve him to whose service you
+have been set apart. You are not your own; you are not, therefore, to
+live unto yourselves. The vows of God are upon _you_. You have been
+sealed with his seal. And since you have attained an age at which you
+can understand your position, you are bound to perform those vows; to
+seek to be sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. There
+is no escape from this obligation; and when, therefore, you live utterly
+regardless of it, as many do, your conduct is doubly criminal. You may
+have flattered yourselves that you enjoyed superior advantages, and that
+you were more highly favored than others; and this is true. But you must
+take into the account your corresponding responsibilities. There is a
+broad distinction between your position, and that of mere worldlings,
+and there ought to be a like difference in your practice. You cannot
+give yourselves to the sins of youth, or the gayeties of life. You
+cannot set your hearts on fashion, dress, amusements, business or any
+mere worldly ends, with as much consistency, or with as little guilt, as
+your unbaptized associates. _You_ cannot harden yourselves against the
+truth, grieve the Holy Spirit, turn away in coldness or disdain from
+the claims of Christ, without exposing yourselves to an aggravated
+condemnation. Shall you who are pledged servants of Christ, who are
+bound to him by solemn covenant, be regardless of these vows, or be
+recreant to Him as his avowed enemies? Ah, this is approaching fearfully
+near the appalling sin of "treading under foot the Son of God, of
+counting the blood of his covenant an unholy thing, and doing despite
+unto the Spirit of grace." You cannot, surely, have considered your
+relations to Christ and to his church. You cannot have pondered the
+nature of your baptismal vows which were taken for you, but which are
+now binding upon your own souls. You cannot realize against what
+gracious promises, what high, privileges you sin, in living contrary to
+your obligations, and in remaining at heart, and by your conduct,
+"strangers to God and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." Review
+your position, and remember you are placed where you cannot recede.
+Duties press upon you which you cannot disregard; vows are upon you
+which you cannot break with safety or with honor. It is not enough that
+you lead a moral life, or that you continue in your present position.
+You are required to advance. You have been pledged to God; and to
+fulfill this pledge you must be His in heart. You _must choose_ His
+service. You must take Christ's yoke upon you and dedicate yourselves to
+Him. Nothing short of this will fulfill your covenant vows or insure
+your enjoyment of its blessings. As to receding, that is utterly
+inadmissible. You have been put in this relation by those who loved you
+and had the right, nay, were commanded of God, to dispose of you in this
+manner. You cannot then evade it. You may say you never gave it your
+consent, and that it is hard to be thus bound to act contrary to your
+natural inclinations; but it is right, and you cannot help it. You are
+in this position, and you cannot break away but at the peril of your
+salvation; nay, without the certainty of perdition. But it is not hard,
+or cruel, to require you to love and obey God. You were created for
+this, and your nature will never attain to its perfection until you
+fulfill this its noblest destiny. A hard thing to do right! A grievous
+thing to be saved from the pollution of sin and the very gulf of
+perdition! A hard thing to be taken under divine protection; to be
+enriched with God's blessing; to be numbered among his people on earth
+and ultimately admitted to his kingdom in heaven! Impossible! You did
+not think it; you did not mean to urge this as an objection to your most
+obvious duty. You would not object to your parents' securing for you a
+costly estate while in your minority, and why then discard the heavenly
+inheritance they would provide for you? Fulfill your vows. Choose His
+service, and be blessed now and forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE PROMISE FULFILLED.
+
+     "Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+     them alive."
+
+     (Concluded from page 119.)
+
+
+The elder brother, DE WITT, from childhood, was of a thoughtful
+cast of mind, regular in his habits, careful in forming his
+associations, kind and dutiful as a son and brother. He ever proved a
+help and solace to his mother in the family circle, where he was the
+oldest child. In pursuing his course of studies he evinced industry of
+application, and sustained an excellent standing in his classes. His
+regular and interested attendance on the exercises of the
+Sabbath-school, as well as the services of the sanctuary; his conduct in
+the family circle, and the developments of the closing scenes of his
+life, all tend to form the conviction that divine truth had obtained a
+lodgment in his mind by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. At
+the interesting period of nineteen years, full of hope and promise, the
+seeds of pulmonary disease sprang forth within him. In the fall of 1850,
+he began to cough, and since then, with variations as to its severity,
+it continued with him, and his friends marked that it became deeply
+seated, and apprehended its probable termination. He, however, retained
+his active habits and course of study till last fall. His earnest
+attention to sermons, his occasional remarks on their evangelical and
+practical character as profitable, and his prayerful reading of the
+Bible, showed the influence divine truth was exerting upon him. The
+sickness and rapid decline of his brother Joseph was to him most
+affecting, as they had grown up from childhood together in uninterrupted
+intercourse and love. In his feeble state of health, he saw his beloved
+brother hastening to death and the grave, while their dear mother was
+yearning over both in view of their spiritual welfare. While everything
+indicated a deep interest in the matter of the soul's salvation, doubts
+and difficulties prevented him from finding joy and peace in believing.
+About ten days before his death, and just before the death of Joseph, he
+received the remarkable letter from his Uncle Scudder which wrought
+powerfully on his mind, and followed by Joseph's death, was doubtless
+instrumental, under the divine blessing, in leading him to the decision
+of giving himself to the Savior by the profession of his faith. The
+Sabbath, January 11, on the morning of which Joseph died, was indeed a
+memorable and impressive one in many of its associations. De Witt had
+just made profession of his faith, and was admitted into the communion
+of the Presbyterian Church in Canal street, of which the Rev. Mr.
+Carpenter is pastor, and was carried into the church to unite with God's
+people in celebrating the Lord's supper, and it was just at the
+expiration of the two months of special prayer by his uncle in India.
+When his mother, this morning, announced to him the death of his
+brother, he just exclaimed, with much emotion, "Is Joseph dead? Then I
+have no brother." He left the room for a moment and returned, saying,
+"Mother, we have no cause to mourn. Joseph is only gone to the new
+Jerusalem, where dear father was waiting to receive him," and then
+calmly prepared himself for the sacramental service in the church before
+him. The writer of this had an interview with him the following morning
+(Monday). Everything conspired to render the scene impressive. As I saw
+the remains of Joseph, I observed in the appearance of De Witt the
+indications of approaching death, and heard the account of his
+attendance at the Lord's table on the preceding day. After conversation,
+he asked me to pray that it would please God to spare his life that he
+might be a support and comfort to his mother, and be permitted to labor
+for Christ. I replied that such desires were in themselves worthy, but
+that I strongly felt it would be with him as with David in whose heart
+was the desire to build the house of God. God accepted the desire, but
+denied him the work, and assigned it to another. I told him that I must
+affectionately tell him that every indication denoted that the Savior
+was preparing him shortly to enter upon his service in heaven, and that
+he would soon join his brother, whose mortal remains were then waiting
+for the tomb. He received this without agitation, and calmly replied
+that he then wished me to pray that it would please God to impart and
+preserve to him the light of his countenance, and his divine peace, and
+enable him to glorify Him during the little portion of time which might
+still be allotted to him on earth. His mother states she does not
+remember after this to have heard him say much about living, and that
+only as connected with the service of his Savior. His mind, which had
+been opening to the light and peace of the Gospel, became more and more
+established in the faith of Christ, and enriched with the comforts of
+the Spirit. While his body was fast wasting, his soul as rapidly grew
+strong. There has rarely been a more striking growth in grace, calm and
+substantial, free from all vain excitements and feverish heats. Many
+interesting incidents connected with the spirit he displayed, and the
+words he uttered during the week following my interview with him just
+alluded to, are treasured up in the heart's memory. But there is no room
+for details until we reach the closing scene, from Friday to Monday,
+January 19. I shall copy from some memoranda furnished by the mother.
+She had before urged that he should pray in view of continued life only
+for strength to speak of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
+living, and thus live a long life in the little time spared to him. This
+seemed to be verified. Mrs. Hunt writes: "On Friday morning he arose as
+usual, and reclined on the sofa. He was weak, and his throat sore, so
+that he could only swallow liquids. When the physician visiting him
+left, I told him that he thought him very low, but I requested him to
+remember what his beloved minister had told him, to look away from death
+to Jesus and Heaven; he exclaimed, 'O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength
+of sin is the law; but thanks to God, who giveth me the victory, through
+my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.' He expressed the delightful thought
+that he would be where 'the Lamb would feed him, lead him to living
+waters, and wipe away all tears from his eyes.' Sometimes he would say,
+'Precious Savior. Mother, what would I do without such a Savior?
+Precious hope, what would I do without such a hope?' And then he would
+speak of the mansions in Heaven. The 27th and 40th Psalms, which his
+dear father had selected for us a short time before his death, that we
+might read them for our comfort after he was gone, were given. When the
+27th was commenced he took it up and repeated the whole. On Saturday he
+had severe pain in the lungs, and thought his end near. Several of his
+friends called, and he noticed them all distinctly. He addressed two of
+his fellow-students in the University in an affectionate appeal to what
+he supposed their spiritual condition. In a conversation with Rev. Mr.
+C., he said that if God had been pleased to spare his life, he should
+have felt himself consecrated to the ministry and missionary service;
+and expressed the calm assurance of his faith. Prayer was offered that
+he might spend one more precious Sabbath on earth. The night passed, and
+the Sabbath came. My child exclaimed, soon after waking, '_Precious
+Sabbath_,' and his eyes beamed with hallowed feeling. I said, 'Dear son,
+can you truly say this morning that you feel the peace of God which
+passeth understanding?' He raised his eyes and replied, most
+impressively, '_Oh, yes_.' He said with delight, 'Mother, O think that
+Joseph is now by the river of the water of life.' He said also to me,
+'Mother, you will not weep for me?' I replied, 'If I do joy will mingle
+with my tears.' He continued, 'I shall be nearer to you in Heaven than
+in India' (alluding to his purpose, if his life should be spared, to be
+a missionary in India). I asked him what message I should send to his
+Uncle Scudder. He said, 'Tell him I think my heart was in the right
+place when his letter reached me, or I know not what I should have
+done.' Two friends came in. De Witt said, 'I thought I should have spent
+part of this day around the throne in heaven.' And one (a pious young
+college companion) said to the other, 'If this be dying, I envy him.'
+After service in the afternoon, Rev. Mr. Carpenter came in with two of
+his elders, and three other Christian friends were present. Singing was
+proposed; De Witt was delighted with the thought of it, and selected the
+hymns. '_Come, thou fount of every blessing_,' was sung first. My child
+could not join with his voice, but stretched out his arm, and with his
+arm, having the forefinger extended, beat the time. It was a touching,
+solemn scene; the singing filled the room, and seemed to go up to
+Heaven. After we had ended the second hymn, '_Rise, my soul, and stretch
+thy wings_,' he exclaimed, 'I thought I was almost in heaven.' On
+Sabbath night, about ten o'clock, he inquired of a friend, 'whether she
+did not think he would soon die?' I went to him and asked him if he felt
+any change that induced him to ask the question. He replied, 'Everything
+seems to fail.' I then talked to him about the Savior being with him
+when he passed through the dark valley, and added, 'Dear son, I will
+give you up to the Lord.' Directly he said, 'I am now ready any moment
+to say, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' He afterward repeated 'Lord
+Jesus, receive my spirit. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom
+shall I be afraid? It is better to die than live.' A little before six
+o'clock he looked intensely upon me. I asked what he wished to give
+me?--his farewell kiss, which he repeated several times. He then again
+gave me an intense look. I said, 'My son, God will take care.' He
+replied, 'I know he will.' He shook hands with two of his youthful
+companions, and sent a message to the brother of one of them, expressive
+of his solicitude for his spiritual welfare. I said to him, 'I have
+taken care of you these nineteen years, for the Lord.' He said, 'Yes,
+these nineteen years,' but did not proceed. He asked one of his friends
+to pray, which he did. After this he ceased to speak, and sank,
+continuing to breathe hard, without a struggle, until the precious
+spirit took its everlasting flight a little before eight o'clock,
+January 19."
+
+I have thus given, from the notes furnished by the bereaved and
+mourning, but grateful and comforted mother, a sketch of the closing
+hours and dying scene of this youth, which, in connection with the
+similar scene in the younger brother, beautifully and strongly
+illustrates the precious trust committed to mothers, the importance and
+value of maternal influence, and the encouragement to its faithful and
+wisely-directed exercise.
+
+T. D. W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."
+
+     "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+     might."--ECCLESIASTES 9:10.
+
+     (Continued from page 128.)
+
+
+That evening a little schoolmate came to visit her; they played several
+amusing games, and Emily staid up much past her usual hour. The next
+morning when her mother called her, she felt very sleepy, and unwilling
+to rise, so instead of jumping up at once, she turned her head on the
+pillow thinking "I will get up in a minute." But in less than that
+minute she was fast asleep again, and did not awake until aroused by
+Mary the nurse, whose voice sounded close in her ear, exclaiming,
+
+"Why, Miss Emily, are you in bed yet! Here have I been looking all
+through the house and garden for you. Jump up quick, breakfast is just
+over."
+
+You may be sure Emily did not wait a second bidding, but hurrying on her
+clothes, hastened down stairs without even thinking about saying her
+prayers, which no little child should ever forget to do, because it is
+the kind and merciful God who keeps us safely through the night, and our
+first thoughts when we awaken should be gratitude to him for protecting
+us, and we should pray to Him to keep us all day out of sin and danger,
+and teach us how to improve the time which He has intrusted to our care.
+
+Emily thought of none of these things, but ran down to the
+breakfast-room, feeling rather ashamed of being so late. Her papa had
+finished his breakfast, and gone out, and when her mother looked up to
+the clock as she entered, she saw that it wanted twenty minutes to nine.
+
+"How very late it is!" thought the little girl, as she hurried off to
+school, "mamma always calls me at seven. I did not think I had slept so
+long."
+
+Despite all Emily's haste she was too late; school had commenced when
+she entered, and worse than all, she did not know her lessons, and was
+kept in an hour after the rest were dismissed. She could not study the
+evening before, and had depended upon an hour's study before breakfast,
+but her unlucky morning nap left her no time to think about lessons
+before school, and her consequent disgrace was the punishment. The
+little girl returned home that day very unhappy.
+
+Emily had not forgotten the conversation about the wasted gift, and had
+determined to give no opportunity for her mother to complain. She
+thought she was very careful that week, but never imagined how much of
+the precious gift she wasted each day in idleness.
+
+The day after her unfortunate disgrace in school, she brought down
+several articles of dress that needed repairing, and seated herself at
+the window to work. Her mother had promised to take her out with her,
+and Emily had to finish her mending first. She plied the needle very
+steadily for a while, but presently her attention was attracted by the
+opposite neighbors.
+
+"Look, mamma," she exclaimed, "there is Mrs. Dodson and Lucy; they are
+just going out, and Lucy has on a new hat."
+
+"Well, my dear," returned her mother quietly, "it is not unusual for
+people to get new bonnets at this season."
+
+Emily felt a little abashed at this reply, but could not refrain from
+casting furtive glances across the way. The afternoon was fine, and the
+street filled with well-dressed people. The little girl watched the
+passers-by, holding her needle listlessly in her fingers, and presently
+cried out,
+
+"Did you see that lady, mamma? How oddly she was dressed."
+
+"No," answered Mrs. Manvers, "I am attending to my work now, but I hope
+soon to join the promenaders myself."
+
+Emily stole a glance at her mother to see whether her countenance
+implied reproof, but Mrs. Manvers's eyes were fixed upon her work and
+the little girl again endeavored to fix her attention upon her sewing.
+At length Mrs. Manvers rose and put aside her work-basket. "I am going
+to dress, Emily," she said.
+
+"Very well, mother, I will be ready in a minute," replied her daughter,
+and she followed her mother up stairs.
+
+Emily tossed over her bureau in vain to find a clean pair of pantalets,
+and then she remembered of having taken several pairs down stairs to
+mend. She ran hastily down and selected the best pair. Some of the
+button-holes were torn out, but she could not wait to mend them now, so
+hastily pinning on the pantalets, she dressed and joined her mother.
+
+As they pursued their walk, Emily felt something about her feet, and
+looking down discovered her pantalets; she hastily stooped to pull them
+off and the pin scratched her foot severely. Mrs. Manvers saw all this,
+but said nothing; she knew that her daughter had wasted time enough to
+have mended all her pantalets, and she added another hour to the already
+long account of wasted minutes in her memorandum.
+
+The following day was Friday, and it was part of Emily's duties on this
+day to arrange her bureau-drawers and put her closet in order. She went
+up stairs after dinner with this intention, but there were so many
+little gifts and keep-sakes in her drawers, to be successively admired
+and thought over, so many sashes to unfold, and odd gloves to be paired,
+that the whole afternoon was consumed, and the tea-bell rang before she
+had quite finished the second drawer, and consequently the duty of that
+day remained to be finished on the next.
+
+"Well, my little girl," said her father the next morning, "I hope you
+will have my handkerchief nicely hemmed by this afternoon; you have had
+it several days now, and I suppose it is nearly finished. I shall want
+it, as I am going away after dinner."
+
+"You shall have it, papa," replied Emily. She did not like to tell him
+the handkerchief was not yet commenced, as she felt quite sure she could
+finish it in time, and determined to begin immediately after breakfast.
+
+When she went up stairs to get the handkerchief out of her drawer she
+saw her bureau was yet in disorder. "Mamma will be displeased to see
+this," she thought, "and I shall have time enough to put it in order and
+hem papa's handkerchief beside." She went eagerly to work, but the
+bureau took her longer than she anticipated, and when her father came
+home to dinner she had not finished his handkerchief.
+
+Now she made her needle fly, but her industry came too late; her father
+could not wait, and Emily had the mortification of hearing him say:
+
+"I hope my handkerchief will not be like my gloves, that you kept so
+long to mend, and mamma had to finish after all."
+
+She cried bitterly after he was gone, but managed through her tears to
+finish the handkerchief at last, and carried it to her mother, asking
+her to beg her papa's forgiveness.
+
+After tea was over, Mrs. Manvers called Emily to her, and folding her
+arm fondly around the little girl's waist, pointed to a small book lying
+open upon the table, saying as she did so:
+
+"Do you remember, my love, our conversation last Saturday night upon the
+subject of your gifts?"
+
+"Oh, yes, mamma, and you told me you would keep an account of my
+ill-usage of one of them."
+
+"I have done so, my dear, and now tell me can you not imagine what this
+gift is which you so much abuse?"
+
+"Indeed, I cannot, mamma," replied the little girl with a sigh. Mrs.
+Manvers placed the memorandum book in her daughter's hand without saying
+a word.
+
+There, written at the head of the page, were these words:
+
+  "_Emily's Waste of Time._"
+
+and beneath was quite a long column of figures, and a list of duties
+unfulfilled.
+
+"Oh, mamma," cried Emily, throwing herself upon her mother's breast, "it
+is time, precious time, that is the gift I waste; but surely I have not
+spent so many idle minutes in just one week."
+
+"I am sorry to say that you have, my dear daughter, all these and even
+more. I have promised to keep an account, and I have done so; add them
+up and see how many there are."
+
+Emily added up the figures with tearful eyes, and said, "there are four
+hundred and twenty, mamma."
+
+"And how many hours does that make, Emily?"
+
+The little girl thought a moment, and then answered,
+
+"Seven hours."
+
+"Very well; then you see you waste seven hours in a week, which would
+make three hundred and sixty-four in a year, and if you should live the
+allotted period of life, which would be sixty years from the present
+time, you will willfully waste twenty one thousand eight hundred and
+forty hours of the precious time God has given you in which to work out
+His will."
+
+"Oh, dear mamma, it does not seem possible; I am sure I don't know how
+the time slips away," said Emily, sadly.
+
+"I will tell you, my love," replied Mrs. Manvers. "It slips away in just
+a minute; as uncounted drops of water form the sea, so do millions of
+minutes make up the sum of life; but so small are they that they pass
+without our heeding them, yet once gone they come back to us no more.
+Time is the one talent, the precious gift which God has bestowed upon
+all his creatures, and which we are bound to improve. Every hour brings
+its duty, and do you think it is right, Emily, to leave that duty
+unfulfilled?"
+
+Emily hung her head, while tears slowly coursed down her cheek.
+
+"Do you not see, my dear, that by idling away the precious moments you
+crowd the duty of one hour into the next, so your task can never be
+finished, or at best very imperfectly? If you reflect, the experience of
+the past week will tell you this. I have kept this memorandum on purpose
+to convince you of your sinful waste of that most precious of all
+gifts,--the time which our Master allows us here to work out our
+happiness hereafter. Remember, my love, that you are accountable to Him
+for your use of His gifts, and a proper improvement of time will not
+only save you many mortifications and produce much pleasure and comfort
+to yourself and all about you, but it is a duty you owe to the God who
+bestowed it. Do not think me unnecessarily earnest, my dear little girl;
+the subject is of fearful importance, and this habit of putting off till
+to-morrow what should be done to-day, is your greatest fault. Remember
+hereafter that 'Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it now with all
+thy might,' and then I shall have no more occasion to remind you of the
+wasted gift."
+
+Emily never forgot the lesson of that week, but gradually overcame the
+evil habits of idleness and procrastination which were becoming fixed
+before she was made fully aware of their danger, and a long life of
+usefulness attested the good impression left upon her mind by her
+mother's memorandum of "The Wasted Gift."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAULT FINDING--THE ANTIDOTE.
+
+
+"Will you excuse me, mother," said a bright looking boy of twelve or
+thirteen to his mother, as soon as he had finished his meat and potato.
+"Yes, if you wish." "And may I be excused too, mother?" cried his little
+brother of some six or seven years. "Yes, dear, if there is any occasion
+for such haste, but why do you not wish for your pudding or fruit?" "Oh,
+Charley is going to show me something," replied the happy little boy, as
+he eagerly hastened from his seat, and followed his brother to the
+window, where they were both speedily intent upon a new bow and arrow,
+which had just been presented to Charley by a poor wandering Indian, to
+whom he had been in the habit of giving such little matters as his means
+would allow. Sometimes a little tobacco for his pipe, a pair of his
+father's cast-off boots or a half-worn pair of stockings, and sometimes
+he would beg of his mother a fourpence, which instead of purchasing
+candy for himself was slid into the hand of his aboriginal friend, and
+whenever he came, a good warm dinner was set before him, under Charley's
+special direction. He loved the poor Indian, and often told his mother
+he would always help an Indian while he had the power, for "Oh, how
+sorry I am that they are driven away from all these pleasant lands," he
+often used to say, "and are melting away, like the snows in April.
+Mother, I should think they would hate the sight of a white man." But
+the poor Indian is grateful for kindness from a white man, and this day
+as Charley came from school, poor Squantum was sitting at the corner of
+the house waiting for him, with a fine long smooth bow, and several
+arrows. "I give you this," he said, "for you always good to Squantum;"
+and without waiting for Charley's thanks, or accepting his earnest
+invitation to come in and get some dinner, he strode away. Charley was
+wild with delight. He flew to the house with his treasure, but the
+dinner-bell rang at that moment. He could not find in his heart to put
+it out of his hand, so he took it with him, and seated himself at the
+table, and as soon as his hunger was appeased, he nodded to his brother
+and hurried to show him his precious gift. The family were quietly
+conversing and finishing their dinner, when crash! and smash! went
+something! Poor Charley! In the eagerness of his delight, while showing
+the beautiful bow to his brother, he had brought the end of it within
+the handle of a large water-pitcher, which stood on the side table near
+him, and alas, the twirl was too sudden--the poor pitcher came to the
+floor with a mighty emphasis. "Boy! what are you about? What have you
+done? What do you mean by such carelessness? Will you break everything
+in the house, you heedless fellow? I'd rather you had broken all on the
+table than that pitcher, you young scapegrace. Take that, and learn to
+mind what you are about, or I'll take measures to make you." And with a
+thorough shaking, and a sound box on the ear, the father quitted the
+room, took his hat, and marched to his office, there to explain the law,
+and obtain _justice_ for all offenders. But alas for Charley! How great
+was the change of feeling in his boyish heart. His mother looked for a
+moment with an expression of fear and sorrow upon her countenance, and
+telling a servant to wipe up the water he had spilled--she took his hand
+gently to lead him away. For a moment he repulsed her, and stood as if
+transfixed with astonishment and rage. But he could not withstand her
+pleading look, and she led him to her own room. As soon as the door
+closed upon them, his passion burst forth in words. "Father treats me
+like a dog. I never will bear it--never, never, another day. Mother, you
+know I did not not mean to do a wrong thing, and what right has my
+father to shake and cuff me as if I were a vile slave? Mother, I'll
+break the house down itself if he treats me so--to box my ears right
+before all the family! And last night he sent me out of the room, so
+stern, just because I slammed the door a little. I was glad he had to go
+to the office, and I wish he would stay there--"
+
+"Hush, hush, my son, what are you saying? Stop, for a moment, and think
+what you are saying of your own kind father! Charles, my son, you are
+adding sin to sin. Sit down, my dear child, and crush that wicked spirit
+in the bud." And she gently seated him in a chair, and laying her cool
+hand upon his burning brow, she smoothed his hair, and pressing her lips
+to his forehead, he felt her tears. "Mother, mother, you blessed good
+mother." His heart melted within him, and he wept as if it would burst.
+For a few moments, both wept without restraint, but feeling that the
+opportunity for making a lasting impression must not be lost, Mrs.
+Arnold struggled to command herself. "Charles, my son, you have
+displeased your father exceedingly, and you cannot wonder that he was
+greatly disturbed. That pitcher, you often heard him say, was used for
+many years in his father's family. It is an old relic which he valued
+highly. It was very strong, and has been used by us so long, that it
+seemed like a familiar friend. It is not strange that for a moment he
+was exceedingly angry to see it so carelessly broken, and oh, my son,
+what wicked feelings have been in your heart, what undutiful words upon
+your tongue!"
+
+"I cannot help it, mother--I cannot help it," replied the excited boy,
+"he ought not to treat me so, and I will not--" "Charles, Charles, you
+are wrong, you are very wrong, and I pray you may be sorry for it,"
+interrupted his mother, in a tone of the deepest sorrow. "Do not speak
+again till you can conquer such a spirit," and they were both silent for
+a few moments. The mother's heart went up in fervent prayer that this
+might be a salutary trial, and that she might be enabled to guide his
+young and hasty spirit aright.
+
+At length he spoke slowly, and his voice trembled with the strong
+feelings which had shaken him. "Mother, you are the dearest and best
+mother that ever lived. I wish I could be a good boy, for your sake; but
+when father speaks so harsh, I am angry all the time, and I cannot help
+being cross and ugly too. I know I am more and more so; I feel it, and
+the boys tell me so sometimes. John Gray said, yesterday, I was not half
+as pleasant in school as I used to be. I feel unhappy, and I am sure if
+I grow wicked, I grow wretched too." And again he burst into a passion
+of tears.
+
+"Does not sin always bring misery, my dear boy?" asked his mother, after
+a little pause, "and will you not daily meet with circumstances to make
+you angry and unhappy, if you give way to your first impulse of
+impatience,--and is it not our first duty to resist every temptation to
+feel or act wrong? God has not promised us happiness here, but He _has_
+promised that if we resist evil it will flee from us. He has promised
+that if we strive to conquer our wicked feelings and do right when we
+are tempted to do wrong He will aid us, and give us sweet peace in so
+doing. To-day you have given way to anger, and you are wretched. You are
+blaming your father and think he is the cause of your trouble; but think
+a moment. If you had borne the punishment he gave you meekly and
+patiently, would not a feeling of peace be in your bosom, to which you
+are now a stranger? You know that when we suffer patiently for doing
+well, God is well pleased; and would not the consciousness that you had
+struggled against and overcome a wicked feeling, and that God looked
+upon you with approbation, make you more really happy than anything else
+can? My dear, dear boy, your happiness does not consist in what others
+say or do to you, but in the feelings you cherish in your own heart.
+There you must look for happiness, and there, if you do right, you will
+find it."
+
+"I know you always say right, mother, and I will try, I will try, if I
+can, to bear patiently; but oh, if father only was like you"--and again
+tears stopped his utterance.
+
+"My dear child," said his mother, "your father has many troubles. It is
+a great care to provide for his family, and you know he suffers us to
+want for nothing. He often has most perplexing cases, and his poor
+brains are almost distracted. You are a happy boy, with no care but to
+get your lessons, and obey your parents, and try to help them. You know
+nothing yet of the anxieties which will crowd upon you when you are a
+man. Try now to learn to bear manfully and patiently all
+vexations--looking for help to that blessed One, who, when he was
+reviled, reviled not again. How much happier and better man you will
+be, how you will comfort your mother, and still more, you will please
+that blessed Savior, who has left such an example of meekness--suffering
+for sinners, and even dying for his cruel enemies. Oh, my son, my son,
+ask that blessed Savior to make you like himself, and you will be happy,
+and His own Spirit will make you holy. Let us ask Him to do it," and she
+knelt by her bedside, and her son placed himself beside her. It was no
+new thing for him to pray with this devoted mother. Often had she been
+with him to the throne of grace, when his youthful troubles or faults
+had made him feel the need of an Almighty helper and friend, but never
+had he come before with such an earnest desire to obtain the gift of
+that blessed Spirit, to subdue and change his heart and make him like
+his Savior. When they rose from prayer he sought his own room. He felt
+unable to go to school, and his mother hoped the impression would be
+more lasting, if he thought it over in the solitude of his own chamber,
+and she had much reason afterward to hope that this solemn afternoon was
+the beginning of good days to the soul of her child. As she looked
+anxiously at the expression of his countenance when the family assembled
+at the tea-table, she was pleased to notice, though an air of sadness
+hung around him, he was subdued, gentle, and affectionate, and she hoped
+much from this severe contest with his besetting sin. His father said
+little, and soon hurried away to a business engagement for the evening.
+Mr. Arnold was a lawyer, a gentleman and a professing Christian, and
+though never very strongly beloved, yet few of his neighbors could tell
+why, or say aught against his respectability and general excellence of
+character. He was immersed in the cares of an extensive business, and
+spent little time at home, and when there he seemed to have no room in
+his busy heart for the prattle of his children, no time to delight and
+improve them, with the stores of knowledge he might have brought forth
+from his treasury. If company were present, he was polite and agreeable.
+If only his wife and children, he said little, and that little was
+chiefly confined to matters of domestic interest--what they should have
+for dinner--what schools the children should attend--or the casual
+mention of the most common news of the day. He provided liberally for
+his family, what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should
+be clothed and instructed--but he took no pains to gain their affections
+or their confidence, to enlarge their ideas and awaken within them the
+thirst for knowledge, and plant within them the deathless principles of
+right and wrong--or even to inspire their young minds with love and
+reverence for their Divine Creator and Preserver. All this most
+important duty of a father was left to his wife, and blessed is the man
+who has _such_ a wife and mother, to whom to intrust the precious charge
+he neglects. Most amiable and affectionate, intelligent and judicious,
+and of ardent and cheerful piety, this excellent woman devoted herself
+with untiring zeal to the training of her cherished flock, and as she
+saw and felt with poignant grief that she would have no help in this
+greatest and first earthly duty, from him who had solemnly promised to
+sustain and comfort, and assist, and cherish her, to bear and share with
+her the trials and cares of life (and what care is greater than the
+right training of our offspring), she again and again strove with
+earnest faith and humble prayer, to cast all her care upon Him, who she
+was assured cared for her, and go forward in every duty with the
+determination to fulfill it to the utmost of her power. Many times did
+the cold and stern manner of her husband, his anger at trifles, and his
+thoughtless punishment for accidental offenses, cause her heart to bleed
+for the effects of such government, or want of government, upon her
+children's hearts and minds. But she uttered no word of blame in their
+presence, she ever showed them that any want of love or respect for
+their father grieved her, and was, moreover, a heinous sin, and by
+patient continuance in well doing, she yet hoped to reap the full
+reward. Her eldest, Charles, felt most keenly his father's utter want of
+sympathy, and to him she gave her most constant tender care.
+Affectionate, but hasty, he was illy constituted to bear the harsh
+command, or the frequent fault finding of his father, and often she
+trembled lest he should throw off all parental control, and goaded by
+his irritated feelings, rush into sin without restraint. And so,
+probably, he would have done but for the unbounded love and reverence
+with which he regarded his "blessed mother." Her gentle influence he
+could not withstand, and it grew more and more powerful with him for
+good, till the glance of her loving eye would check his wayward spirit,
+and calm him often, when passion struggled for the mastery. Often did
+she venture to hope he had indeed given himself to his Savior, and her
+conversations with him from time to time, showed so much desire to
+conquer every evil passion, and to shun every false way with so much
+affectionate reverence for his God and Redeemer, that the mother's heart
+was sweetly comforted in her first-born.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE TREASURY OF THOUGHTS.
+
+
+The days of primer, and catechism, and tasks for the memory are gone.
+The schoolmaster is no longer to us as he was to our mothers, associated
+with all that is puzzling and disagreeable in hard unmeaning rules, with
+all that is dull and uninteresting in grave thoughts beyond the reach of
+the young idea. He is to us now rather the interpreter of mysteries, the
+pleasant companion who shows us the way to science, and beguiles its
+tediousness. If there is now no "royal road," certainly its opening
+defiles are made easier for the ascent of the little feet of the
+youthful scholar. The memory is not the chief faculty which receives a
+discipline in the present system of things. The "how," the "why," are
+the subjects of interest and attention. This is well; but it may be that
+in our anxiety to reach the height of the hill, and to keep up with the
+progress of the age, we are neglecting too much the training of the
+memory, which should be to us a treasury of beautiful thoughts, to cheer
+us in the prose of every-day life, to refine and elevate taste and
+feeling. We do not think it was a waste of time to learn, as our
+mothers did, long extracts from Milton, the sweet lyrics of Watts, the
+Psalms of David. Have we not often been soothed by their recitation of
+them in the time of sickness, at the hour of twilight, when even the
+mind of the child seems to reach out after the spiritual, and to need
+the aliment of high and holy thought? The low, sweet voice, the harmony
+of the verse, were conveyancers of ideas which entered the soul to
+become a part of it forever.
+
+If we would be rich in thought, we must gather up the treasures of the
+past, and make them our own. It is not enough, certainly, for ordinary
+minds, simply to read the English classics; they must be studied,
+learned, to get from them their worth. And the mother who would
+cultivate the taste, the imagination of the child, must give him, with
+the exercise of his own inventive powers, the rich food of the past.
+
+It need not be feared that there will not be originality in the mind of
+one thus stored with the wealth which others have left. Where there is a
+native vigor, and invention, it will remould truth into new forms, and
+add a value of its own, having received an inspiration from the great
+masters of thought.
+
+If, then, you would bless your child, persuade him to make Milton and
+Cowper, and other authors of immortal verse, his familiar friends. They
+shall be companions in solitude, ministers of joy in hours of sadness.
+And let the "songs of Zion" mould the young affections, and be
+associated with a mother's love, and the dear delights of home. Perhaps
+in a strange land, and in a dying hour, when far from counselor and
+friend, they may lead even the prodigal to think upon his ways, and be
+his guide to Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+"THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD."--This is a charming book, written by
+one of our own countrywomen, which we think may be safely and
+appropriately given to a pure-minded and simple-hearted daughter. If it
+is fictitious, it is only so as the ideal landscape of an artist, which,
+though unreal, compels us to exclaim, How true to nature! If the
+delineation of true religious character is not its main object, that of
+piety and benevolence is as truly a part of it, as is its fragrance a
+part of the rose. We should love to give it to some of our friends whose
+Christianity may be vital, but which does not make them lovely--who may
+show some of its fruits, but who hardly cultivate what may be called the
+leaves and flowers of a holy character. If the sternness and want of
+sympathy of Aunt Fortune does not rebuke them, perhaps the loveliness
+and patience of Ellen, and her friends, may win them to an imitation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"LIFE IN THE WEST; OR, THE MORETON FAMILY."--This tasteful
+little work, coming out under the sanction of the American Sunday-School
+Union, hardly needs from us an item of praise; but we cannot consent to
+pass it by unnoticed. A more faithful and interesting picture of the
+trials of a Christian family in removing westward, and of their
+surmounting such trials, we have never seen. Religion, the religion of
+home, they take with them; and by the wayside, and in the log cottage,
+they worship their father's God. We needed such a delineation, in the
+form of an attractive narrative, to show us that in passing through the
+trials of a strange country, we are yet to be _on the Lord's side_. But
+beside this, there is in the work the loveliness of a well-ordered home;
+the picture of a faithful, thoughtful _mother_, and of children and
+husband appreciating such a mother. To give one little extract--"The
+_mother's room_! What family knows not that sociable spot--that _heart_
+of the house? To it go the weary, the sick, the sad and the happy, all
+sure of sympathy and of aid; all secure in their expectation of meeting
+there the cheering word, the comforting smile, and the loving friend."
+In thorough ignorance of what a _new home_ should mean, little Willie
+inquires, "_Home_ is not a _house_, is it?" Most sensible question _for
+a child_. To such as desire an answer to the inquiry, we recommend the
+work, as one which will be of value to them and their children.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PARENTAL SOLICITUDE.
+
+
+In my intercourse with Christian parents, and it has not been limited, I
+have often found a deep anxiety pervading their hearts in relation to
+the spiritual state of their children. And why should not such anxiety
+exist? If a parent has evidence that his child is in an impenitent
+state--especially if that child is growing up in habits of vicious
+indulgence--he ought to feel, and deeply feel. That child is in danger,
+and the danger is the greater by how much the more his heart has become
+callous, under the hardening influence of a wicked life; and every day
+that danger increases. God's patience may be exhausted. The brittle
+thread of life may be sundered at any moment, and the impenitent and
+unprepared soul be summoned to the bar of God. With great propriety,
+therefore, may the parent feel anxious in regard to his unconverted
+children.
+
+But to some parents it seems mysterious that such deep, constant,
+corroding anxiety should be their allotment. They sometimes attempt to
+cast it off. They would feel justified in doing so, were they able. But
+that is impossible. Now, to such parents allow me to address a few
+thoughts which, may the Divine Spirit, by his gracious influence, bless
+to their comfort and direction.
+
+And the first thing I have to say is, that the solicitude they feel for
+their children may be excessive. That it should be deep must be
+admitted, and it should continue as long as the danger lasts. It should
+even increase as that danger increases up to a given point; but there is
+a point beyond which even parental solicitude should never be suffered
+to proceed. It should not become excessive. It should never be suffered
+to weaken our confidence in the divine goodness, nor in the wisdom of
+the divine dispensations. It should never prompt the parent to desire
+that God should alter the established order of his providence, or change
+or modify the principles of his moral government. It would not be right
+for me to wish my children saved at all adventures. That anxiety which
+prompts to such a desire is both excessive and selfish. It can never be
+justified, nor can God ever favorably regard it.
+
+My second remark is, that a deep solicitude of the parent for the
+spiritual good of his children is most desirable. I am aware that it is
+more or less painful, and in itself is neither pleasant nor desirable.
+But may it not, notwithstanding, be beneficial in its results, and even
+of incalculable importance? Where no danger is apprehended, no care will
+be exercised. Who knows not that the unsolicitous mariner is far more
+likely to suffer shipwreck than he who, apprehensive of rocks and reefs,
+exercises a wise precaution? The parent who never suffers himself to be
+disturbed--whose sleep is never interrupted while his children are
+abroad, exposed to temptation--may for that very reason neglect them at
+the critical juncture, and the head-waters may become too impulsive; the
+tendencies to vice and crime too powerful to be resisted. Oh! had the
+parent been a little more anxious--had he looked after his children with
+a higher sense of his obligations, how immeasurably different, probably,
+had been the result! The truth is, that where one parent feels too much
+in relation to his children, hundreds of parents are criminally
+indifferent. In regard to such parents, it is our duty to awaken their
+anxieties by every means in our power. But what shall we say to those
+who may be thought already over-solicitous? Such parents are seldom to
+be found. If any such there be, let them moderate what may possibly be
+excessive; but be sure to bless God, who has given you a deep anxiety
+for the salvation of your loved ones. Remember that it prompts you to
+greater watchfulness and care than you would otherwise exercise. You
+pray more, you instruct them more, you guard them more. And your
+children, therefore, are more likely to become the children of God. And
+remember, further, that your Heavenly Father knows just what solicitudes
+you feel, their weight, their painfulness; and just so long as you feel
+them, and in consequence of them, _act_ in the use of those legitimate
+means which God has instituted for the restraint and conversion of your
+children, you have reason to hope. The very end and object of those
+Christian anxieties are just what you desire, and for which you are
+daily praying--the conversion of your children; and if you pursue a
+proper course under them, you are probably more likely to see your hopes
+accomplished than if they did not exist.
+
+I had contemplated adding other suggestions, but time and space will not
+allow. But I cannot dismiss this subject without saying, that instead of
+ever complaining that God has imparted to you such a deep anxiety for
+the spiritual good of your children, let that time thus spent be
+employed in fervent, importunate and agonizing prayer for them. That is
+the best way of washing off these accumulated and accumulating loads of
+anxiety. Plead in view of your deep solicitude--plead in Christ's
+name--plead by the worth of your children's souls--plead by every
+consideration you can think of, and then plead by every consideration
+which the All Omniscient mind of God can think of--especially plead the
+divine honor and glory, as involved in such a desired result, and when
+you have done all these, then act wisely, and efficiently as you can.
+Never give up--never falter--not even for a moment. But be steady to
+your purpose--yet in every step of your progress say, "O God, thy will
+be done."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+EXCESSIVE LEGISLATION.
+
+
+A family is a community or government, of which the parents are the
+legislators, and the children are the subjects. The parents are required
+by the family constitution to superintend and direct the conduct of
+their children, and others under their care. And children, by the same
+authority, are required to obey their parents. "Children, obey your
+parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." But
+parents are more than legislators; they possess the executive power.
+They are to see their rules carried out. And, still further, they are to
+judge of the penalty due to infraction and disobedience, and of the time
+and manner in which punishment is to be inflicted. The authority vested
+in parents is great, and most judiciously should it be exercised. God
+has given general directions in his word touching the exercise of their
+authority. To Him they are amenable. And by all the love they bear to
+their offspring, their desire for their welfare, and the hope of the
+future approbation of God, they should endeavor to bring up their
+children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord."
+
+But are not parents apt to legislate too much? This is often an error in
+all legislative assemblies. Perhaps there is not a State in the Union in
+which the laws are not too many, and too minute. Every legislator feels
+desirous of leaving his impress on the statute book. And so there is
+yearly an accumulation of laws and resolves, one-half of which might
+probably be dispensed with, with advantage to the people.
+
+The same over legislation often obtains in the school-room, springing
+doubtless from a desire on the part of the teacher to preserve a more
+perfect order among his pupils. Hence the number and minuteness of his
+rules; and in his endeavor to reduce them to practice, and make
+clock-work of the internal machinery, he quite likely defeats the very
+object he has in view. A school-teacher who pretends to notice every
+aberration from order and propriety is quite likely to have his hands
+full, and just so with parents. Some children cannot keep still. Their
+nervous temperament does not admit of it. I once heard an elderly
+gentleman say, that when riding in a coach, he was so confined that he
+felt as if he should die because he could not change his position. Oh!
+if he could have stirred but an inch! Children often feel just so. And
+it is bad policy to require them to sit as so many little immoveable
+statues. "There, sit in just that spot, and don't you move an inch till
+I bid you." Who has not heard a parent give forth such a mandate? And a
+school-master, too, to some little urchin, who tries to obey, but from
+that moment begins to squirm, and turn, and hitch, and chiefly because
+his nervous system is all deranged by the very duty imposed upon him.
+And, besides, what if Tommy, in the exuberance of his feelings, while
+sitting on the bench, does stick out his toe a little beyond the
+prescribed line. Or suppose Jimmy crowds up to him a little too closely,
+and feeling that he can't breathe as freely as he wishes, gives him a
+hunch; or suppose Betty, during a temporary fit of fretfulness, induced
+by long setting in one posture, or overcome with the heat of a midsummer
+afternoon, or the sweltering temperature of a room where an
+old-fashioned box stove has been converted into a furnace; suppose Betty
+gives her seat-mate a sly pinch to make her move to a more tolerable
+distance, shall the teacher utter his rebuke in tones which might
+possibly be appropriate if a murder was about being committed? I have
+known a schoolmaster "fire up" like a steam-engine, and puff and whiz at
+the occurrence of some such peccadilloes, and the consequence was that
+the whole school was soon at a stand-still as to study, and the askance
+looks and suppressed titter of the little flock told you that the
+teacher had made no capital that time. I have seen essentially the same
+thing in parents.
+
+Now, I am not exactly justifying such conduct in children. But such
+offences will exist, despite of all the wisdom, authority, and sternness
+in the wide world. My position is, that these minor matters must
+sometimes be left. They had better not always be seen, or if seen, not
+be noticed. I think those who have the care of children may take a
+lesson from a slut and her pups, or a cat and her kittens. Who has not
+seen the puppy or the kitten taking some license with their
+dams?--biting as puppies and kittens bite at play? Well, and what sort
+of treatment do they sometimes get from the older folks? Now and then
+you hear a growl, or see a spat. But, generally, the "old ones" know
+better. The little frolicsome creatures are indulged. Nature seems to
+teach these canine and feline parents that their progeny must and will
+have sport. I have, indeed, as I have said, heard the ominous growl and
+the warning spat or spit, but what good has it done? Why, the growl
+seems only to inspirit the young dog. He plays so much the more; or, at
+least, if he plays shy for a brief space, the next you'll see, he jumps
+on to the old dog and plays the harder, and the kitten acts in like
+manner.
+
+But I have said enough. The sum is, that it is wise not to take
+cognizance of all that might be considered amiss in children. Correct
+the faults which are the most prominent. Let the statute-book not be
+overburdened with small enactments. Nothing is small which is morally
+wrong; but little physical twitchings, and nervous peccadilloes are not
+worthy of grave legislation. The apostle's account of himself has some
+pertinence here. "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a
+child"--Paul, doubtless acted as a child; "but when I became a man, I
+put away childish things." The experience and observation of years often
+make salutary corrections, which you would in vain attempt to effect in
+early childhood, by all the laws of a ponderous octavo, or by all the
+birch saplings to be found in a western forest.
+
+A GRANDFATHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MAGNETISM.
+
+
+Kind reader, whoever thou art, I come to thee with an earnest plea, and
+that I may the more surely prevail in my suit, let me for a time exert
+over thee the mesmeric power; thy bodily eyes being closed, and thy
+spirit set free from its encumbering clay, let me introduce thee to
+distant scenes.
+
+The hour is midnight,--the place an humble home in far off Michigan. Let
+us enter; nothing hinders, for bolts and bars are here unknown. Step
+quietly, that we may not disturb the sleeping. Come with me to this
+bed-chamber; it is indeed dark, but the spirit does not need material
+light. On this rude bed reposes an aged man with whitened locks and
+furrowed face, and yonder lies a little child whose tiny feet have yet
+taken but few steps on life's rude journey. Listen!--she moves--she is
+not asleep. What has wakened thee, gentle one?--the slumbers of
+childhood should be undisturbed. She sings--in the silent, lonely night,
+with sweet low voice she is singing--
+
+  "Jesus, Saviour, Son of God,
+  Who for me life's pathway trod;
+  Who for me became a child,
+  Make me humble, meek, and mild.
+
+  I thy little lamb would be,
+  Jesus, I would follow thee;
+  Samuel was thy child of old,
+  Take me now within thy fold."
+
+The old man wakens--she has disturbed him. Shall he stop her?--no; he
+loves that little one, and he has not the heart to bid her be silent.
+One after another she pours forth her sweet melodies, till at last her
+voice grows fainter and fainter, and soon she and her grandfather are
+both lying again in unbroken repose. The morning comes. The old man
+calls to him the petted one, and says: "Lucy, why did you sing last
+night when you should have been asleep? What were you singing?" Stopping
+her play she looks up and says brightly--"I was singing to Jesus,
+grandpa, and you ought to sing to him, too."
+
+Why does he start and tremble, that stern, gray-headed man? He has lived
+more than sixty years an unbeliever--a despiser of the lowly Savior. No
+thought of repentance or remorse has afflicted him--no desire has he
+ever had to hear the words of eternal life. He has trained up his family
+in ignorance of God, and only in _his memory_ has the blessed Sabbath
+had a name since he went to his distant western home.
+
+Not long ago a benevolent man passing through the town, gathered some of
+the ragged and forsaken little ones into a Sabbath-school, and bestowed
+on them the inestimable gift of a few small books. The little Lucy
+heard from her young companions the wonderful story, and begged to go.
+But she was sternly refused. He wanted nothing with the Sabbath-school.
+She could not be pacified, however, and at length with prayers and tears
+she was permitted to prevail. She went, and returned with her Testament
+and little hymn-book, and with such joy and glee, that even her
+grandfather came to think the Sabbath-school an excellent thing. Of that
+blessed school he is now a member, and is weekly found studying the word
+of God, as humbly and diligently as a little child. The infidel of sixty
+years is a penitent follower of that Jesus to whom little Lucy sung her
+midnight song, and who out of the mouths of babes often perfects his
+praise.
+
+But we cannot tarry here; let us journey on. Our way lies through these
+woods. Do you hear the sound of an axe? Yonder is a woodman, and by his
+side a little boy. We will approach. Never fear. Spirits cannot be
+discerned by mortal eyes, and though we come very near, they will be
+unconscious of our presence. How attractive is childhood. The little
+fellow is as merry as a lark, and chatters away to his father, who, with
+silent absorption pursues his work. Suddenly his axe slips, and a large
+limb, which should have fallen in the other direction, descends with
+violence upon his foot. Can spirits be deaf at pleasure? If so we will
+quickly close our ears, for fearful is the torrent of oaths proceeding
+from the mouth of the infuriated man. But where is the child? Look at
+him where he stands; his innocent prattle hushed--his whole appearance
+and attitude showing the utmost fear and distress. Listen--he
+speaks--slowly and solemnly: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
+thy God in vain." Who made thee a preacher of righteousness, a rebuker
+of sin, thou little stray lamb of the Savior's fold? _The
+Sabbath-school_,--lone instrument of good in these western wilds, has
+taught thee, and thou teachest thy father. Nor is the reproof vain.
+Heart-stricken and repentant he is henceforth a new man. "God moves in a
+mysterious way, his wonders to perform." But we will on. The woods are
+passed, and we emerge again into the highway. Who goes yonder with
+painful effort in the road before us? It is a crippled boy. Stop--let us
+speak to him. Can spirits converse in human tones? We will try. "Good
+morning, my poor boy; are you going far on your crutches over this rough
+road?"
+
+"Only to the village, sir, about a mile from this."
+
+"And pray what may be your errand that you make so much effort?"
+
+"Oh, sir, one of the boys, last week, gave me a little book, which told
+about God, and heaven, and hell, and I am frightened about my soul, and
+I am going to ask the good minister who lives in the village what I
+shall do that I may go to heaven."
+
+"God speed and teach thee, and give us to see thee at last among the
+ransomed ones."
+
+We have left the village where the "good minister" lived, far behind,
+and now we approach a populous town. By our side travels a thoughtful
+man, all unwitting of his company. It is the Sabbath, and he has been
+ten miles to hear the gospel preached. No church-going bell has as yet
+ever gladdened the place which he calls his home. Deep sighs escape from
+his breast, as he rides slowly along. He meditates on the wretched
+condition of his neighbors and friends. As we approach the town the
+sound of voices is heard. The good man listens, and distinguishes the
+tones of children familiar and dear. He approaches the hedge from which
+they proceed. What anguish is depicted on his face as he gazes on the
+boys, sitting under the hedge, on God's holy day, busily engaged _in
+playing cards_! Are you a parent, kind reader? Are you a Christian
+parent? If so, perhaps you can understand his feelings as he turns
+desparingly away, and murmurs to himself--"No preacher of the gospel--no
+Sunday-school--no Sabbath day. Alas! what shall save our children?"
+
+Our journey is ended. Every incident which we have imagined we saw, is
+recorded in God's book of remembrance as a fact.
+
+My plea is in behalf of those who would establish Sabbath-schools among
+the thousands of precious infant souls in the far-off West.
+
+Do you ask what you can do? Perhaps you can increase your donations to
+the Home Missionary and Sunday-school Societies. Every dollar goes far,
+given to either. But perhaps you are doing all you can in that way. Have
+you then no good books lying about your home which have done their work
+for your loved ones, and can be dispensed with? Can you collect among
+your friends a dozen or more? Do not think it a small thing. Gather them
+together, and put them in some box of clothing which is destined to
+Michigan. Every one of those defaced and cast-off books may be a
+messenger of life to some starving soul.
+
+More than this you can do. Train your own precious children to value
+their abundant privileges, and embue them with the earnest desire to
+impart freely what is so freely given. Look upon your son, your pride
+and joy. A few years hence may find him living side by side with one of
+those unfortunate boys who knew no better than to desecrate the holy day
+with gambling. Will he be able to withstand the influences which will
+surround him in such society? That, under God, depends on your prayers
+and efforts. Ask earnestly for grace to prepare him to do the blessed
+work, wherever he goes, of winning souls to Christ, and not be himself
+enticed to evil. Your daughter--your gentle, bright-eyed one--over whom
+your heart yearns with unspeakable tenderness--her home may be yet
+appointed far toward the setting sun. For her sake, lend all your
+influence to the good work of saving those rapidly populating towns from
+the dominion of evil. Labor and pray, and day by day, instil into her
+young mind the principles which governed her Savior's earthly life--who
+went about doing good, and who valued not the riches of heaven's glory
+that he might redeem souls.
+
+SIGMA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE STUPID, DULL CHILD.
+
+
+There is always great danger of wounding the sensibilities of a timid,
+retiring child. It requires great forbearance and discrimination on the
+part of parents and teachers, in their endeavors to develop the latent
+faculties of the minds of such children, (whether this dullness is
+natural, or the effect of untoward circumstances,) without injuring the
+sensibilities of the heart.
+
+This is especially true at the present day, when the world is laying
+such heavy demands upon the time and attention of parents.
+
+We not unfrequently hear a father confessing, with regret, to be sure,
+but without any apparent endeavors to obviate the evil, that his time
+and thoughts are so absorbed in the cares of his business, that his
+little children scarcely recognize him, as he seldom returns to his
+family, till they are in bed, and goes forth to his business before they
+are up in the morning.
+
+This is, indeed, a sad evil, and if possible ought to be remedied. How
+can we expect that such a father will understand the peculiar temper and
+dispositions of his children so as to aid a mother in their proper
+training? Perhaps in some cases such evils cannot be remedied.
+
+But, alas! what heavy responsibilities does such neglect, on the part of
+the father, devolve upon the mother! Methinks the circumstances of such
+a mother may be even more difficult to meet than if she were a widow!
+
+We invite the attention of parents to a consideration of this topic and
+some of the evils growing out of the wrong treatment of timid, dull
+children. We can do no more at present than attempt to show, in a given
+case, how such an existing evil was cured by forbearance and kindness.
+The illustration is taken from "Pictures of Early Life," in the case of
+a little girl by the name of Lilias Tracy.
+
+This poor child, though her father was rich, and held an honorable
+station in society, yet on account of her mother's sorrows, and
+subsequent insanity, her poor child, Lilias, who was allowed to remain
+with her mother, was brought up in an atmosphere of sadness, and it was
+no wonder that she became melancholy and reserved.
+
+After the death of her mother, her father understood too little of the
+character of his only child to be able to afford her much solace, and he
+therefore determined to send her to a boarding-school.
+
+If there be a trial which exceeds a child's powers of endurance, it is a
+first entrance into a boarding-school. Little Lilias felt at once this
+painful situation in all its bitterness.
+
+Shy and sensitive at all times, she had never felt so utterly forlorn,
+as when she first found herself in the play-ground belonging to Mrs.
+Bellamy's school.
+
+Not only was she timid and shy, but the necessity of being always with
+her mother to soothe the paroxysms of distress, had deprived Lilias of
+many opportunities of education, and she was therefore far less advanced
+in knowledge than most of her companions. Numberless were the
+mortifications to which she was obliged to submit on account of her
+ignorance, while her timidity and shyness increased in proportion to the
+reproofs of her teachers, and the ridicule of her schoolfellows. She at
+length came to be regarded as one of those hopelessly dull pupils who
+are to be found cumbering the benches of every large school, and but for
+her father's wealth and honorable station in society, she would,
+probably, have been sent away in disgrace.
+
+Fortunately, Providence raised up for poor Lilias, at this juncture, a
+kind friend and patient teacher in a schoolfellow, by the name of
+Victorine Horton. This amiable young lady, seeing the trials and
+mortifications of this sensitive child, begged Mrs. Bellamy to allow
+Lilias to become her room-mate, and she would assist her in her lessons.
+Some few weeks after this arrangement took place, Victorine was accosted
+thus--
+
+"How can you waste so much time on that _stupid_ child, Miss Horton?"
+said one of the teachers. "She does not seem to improve any, with all
+your pains; she will never repay your trouble."
+
+"I do not despair," said Victorine, smiling. "She is an affectionate
+little creature, and if continual dropping will wear away a stone,
+surely, repeated kindness will melt the icy mantle of reserve which now
+conceals her better qualities."
+
+A happy child was little Lilias, thus to become the companion and
+bedfellow of such a kind-hearted friend as she found in Victorine.
+Stimulated by affection, she applied herself to her studies, and as
+"perfect love casteth out fear," she was enabled to get her lessons, and
+to recite them without that nervous timidity which had usually deprived
+her of all power.
+
+A few months after Victorine had thus undertaken the charge of Lilias, a
+prize was offered, in each class, for the most elegantly written French
+exercise. Lilias observed the eagerness of the pupils to compete for the
+medals, but she never dreamed of becoming a candidate till Victorine
+suggested it.
+
+"I wish you would try to win the prize in your class, dear Lilias," said
+Victorine.
+
+"I, Victorine! It would be impossible."
+
+"Why, impossible, Lilias? You have lately made great progress in the
+study of French, and if I may judge by your last translation, you will
+stand as good a chance as any of the class."
+
+"But, you know, I have your assistance, Victorine, and if I were writing
+for the prize I should be obliged to do it all myself."
+
+"I gave you little aid in your last exercises, Lilias, and there are yet
+two months before the time fixed for awarding the premiums, so you will
+have opportunity enough to try your skill."
+
+"But if I should not succeed, the whole school will laugh at me for
+making the attempt."
+
+"No, Lilias; those who possess proper feelings will never laugh at an
+attempt to do right, and for those who can indulge an ill-natured jest
+at the expense of a schoolfellow's feelings, you need not care. I am
+very anxious you should make the attempt."
+
+"Well, if _you_ wish it, Victorine, I will do my best; but I know I
+shall fail."
+
+"Do you know how I generally succeed in such tasks, Lilias? It is never
+by thinking of the possibility of failure. I have almost forgotten to
+say, _I can't_, and have substituted, upon every occasion, _I'll try_."
+
+"Well, then, to please you, Victorine, '_I'll try_,'" said Lilias,
+smiling.
+
+"Poor child," thought Victorine, "with your affectionate nature, and
+noble principles, it is a pity you should be regarded only as a dull and
+sullen little dunce, whom no one cares to waste a thought upon."
+
+For a long time, Lilias' project in regard to the medal was concealed
+from the school. To tell the truth, Victorine, herself, had many doubts
+as to the success of her little friend, but she knew if she failed to
+obtain the prize, the exertion would be of service to herself.
+
+Long before the day arrived, Lilias had twenty times determined to
+withdraw from all competition; but she never broke a promise, and as she
+had pledged herself to Victorine, she resolved to persevere.
+
+In the sequel, Victorine was surprised at the beauty of the thoughts in
+Lilias' exercise, as well as the correctness of the language. She was
+satisfied that Lilias had done well; her only fear was lest others
+should do better.
+
+At the head of the class to which Lilias belonged was Laura Graham; and
+a mutual dislike had always existed between them. Laura was a selfish,
+as well as an avaricious girl; and she had often looked with a covetous
+eye upon the costly trifles which Lilias' father had bestowed upon his
+daughter. To her narrow mind it seemed impossible that Victorine should
+not have an interested motive in her kindness to Lilias, and she thought
+an opportunity was now offered her of sharing some of her spoils.
+
+About a week before the trial day, Laura G. sought Lilias, and leading
+her to a remote part of the garden, she unfolded to her a scheme for
+insuring the prize she so much coveted. She proposed to destroy her own
+theme, knowing she was one of the best French pupils, thereby securing
+the prize to Lilias, on condition she should receive, in return, a pearl
+brooch and bracelet she had long coveted. Lilias, as might have been
+expected, expressed the greatest contempt and resentment at the
+proposal.
+
+When the day arrived, many a little heart beat high with hope and fear.
+Victorine, as might have been expected, took the first prize in the
+first class. The class to which Lilias belonged was next in order. As
+Mrs. Bellamy arose, Lilias perceived she held in her hand two themes,
+while before her on the table lay a small box. Addressing Laura Graham,
+who sat with an air of conscious superiority at the head of the class,
+Mrs. Bellamy said,
+
+"Of the two themes I hold in my hand, the one written by you, Miss
+Graham, and the other by Miss Lilias Tracy, I am _sorry_ to say that
+_yours_ is best."
+
+Lilias could scarce restrain her tears, as she saw Laura advance,
+proudly, towards Mrs. Bellamy, and bend her head as if to receive the
+riband that suspended the glittering prize; but what was her surprise,
+when Mrs. Bellamy, instead of offering it to Laura, in the usual manner,
+handed her a small box, closely sealed.
+
+"As the best French scholar, Miss Graham," said she, "I am compelled to
+bestow on you the medal which you will find enclosed in a box; but, as
+an act of justice, and a proper punishment for your want of integrity,
+(Mrs. B. having casually overheard what passed in the garden), I forbid
+you to wear, or exhibit it, for twelve months."
+
+"Come hither," said Mrs. B. to Lilias, as Laura, pale and trembling, and
+drowned in tears, hurried in shame and sorrow from the room. Lilias,
+scarcely less overwhelmed than her guilty fellow-pupil, advanced with
+faultering step, and Mrs. Bellamy, suspending from her neck a small and
+highly-finished locket, said:
+
+"I can give but one medal in each class for improvement in French, and
+had not Miss Graham been in your class, yours, Miss Tracy would have
+been the best; I cannot, however, allow this opportunity to pass without
+some lasting memorial of your merit. I therefore present you with a
+locket containing the hair of your beloved friend, Victorine, as a
+testimonial of my esteem for your integrity and honor."
+
+Poor Lilias! She had never been so happy in her life as when she threw
+herself in Victorine's arms, and shed tears of joy upon her bosom.
+
+Whether these few outlines of this truly interesting story be founded on
+fact or not, we cannot forbear to say that God will assuredly, sooner or
+later, fully reward all those who live up to the holy principles and
+precepts of his own blessed truth, and he is no less faithful in
+punishing every proud and wicked doer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FAULT FINDING--THE ANTIDOTE.
+
+(Continued from page 162.)
+
+
+At length it was time to choose his path in life, and being inclined to
+mercantile pursuits, his father placed him in the store of one of their
+friends, where he would have every facility for acquiring a thorough
+knowledge of business. Oh, how carefully did his mother watch the effect
+of a closer contact with the world, and a more prolonged absence from
+her hallowed influence--and how gratefully did she perceive that her
+precious boy still came to her with the confiding love of his childhood,
+in all the temptations of his business life, and that her influence was
+still potent with him for good.
+
+"Mother, I was terribly urged to go to the theater last week," said he
+in one of his frequent visits at home. "Harvey and Brown were going, and
+they are pretty steady fellows, and I really was half inclined to go."
+
+"Well, what saved you?"
+
+"Oh, I knew just how you would look, mother, dear, and I would rather
+never see a theater than face that grieved look of yours. Mother, the
+thought of you has saved me from many, many temptations to do wrong, and
+if I am good for anything, when I am a man, I must thank God for my
+mother."
+
+"Thank God for his preserving grace, my dearest Charley, and ask him to
+give you more and more of it."
+
+Not many days after, Mrs. Arnold was in company with her son's employer.
+"Your son promises well, Mrs. Arnold," said he, "he is very accurate,
+obliging, respectful. I am somewhat hasty at times, and a few days since
+blamed him severely for something which I thought he had done wrong. He
+showed no ill-temper, but received it with so much meekness, my heart
+smote me. The next day he asked me very respectfully if I would inquire
+of one of the clerks about it, which I did, and found he had done
+nothing blameworthy in the least. He is a fine boy, madam, a very fine
+boy, and I hope will make as good a man as his father."
+
+But a good _man_ Charley was not destined to be. Her reward was nearer
+than she had thought, and he who had learned of the lowly Saviour to be
+meek and lowly of heart, was soon to be transplanted to dwell with
+loving and holy ones above. One day he returned home unexpectedly, and
+the first glance told his mother he was in trouble. "Mother, I feel
+really sick. I was sick yesterday, but I kept in the store; but to-day I
+could only go down and see Mr. Barker, and tell him I must come home for
+a day or two. Oh, mother it is a comfort to see your dear kind face
+again," said he, as she felt his pulse, examined his tongue, and
+inquired how he felt, "and perhaps if I can rest quietly an hour or two
+this dreadful pain in my head will be relieved."
+
+He went to his pleasant chamber, to his quiet bed, the physician was
+summoned, and all that skill and the tenderest care could do was done,
+but he rapidly drew near the grave. He was patient, gentle, grateful,
+beautiful upon that bed of death, and while his mother's soul was poured
+forth in earnest prayer, for his continued life, her heart swelled with
+grateful thanksgiving for the sweet evidence he gave of a subdued and
+Christian spirit, and she could say with true and cheerful submission,
+"Not my will but _Thine_ be done, whether for life or death, for it is
+well with the child."
+
+Just at twilight one evening, he awoke from a short slumber, and his eye
+sought his mother at his bedside. She leaned over him and softly pressed
+her lips to his forehead. "Mother," he said, faintly, "the Doctor has
+given up all hope of my life, has he not?" Nerving herself to calmness
+for his sake, she answered, "He thinks you very sick, Charley, but I
+cannot give up all hope. How can I part with you, my beloved?"
+
+"Mother," said he, as he took her hand in both his, and laid it on his
+breast, "I want, while I am able, to tell you how I feel, and I want you
+to know what you have done for me. I was a passionate, bad tempered boy,
+and you know father--" He stopped. "Mother, I should have been a ruined
+boy but for you. I see it all now plainly. You have saved me, mother.
+You have saved my soul. You have been my guide and comfort in life. You
+have taught me to meet even death and fear no evil, for you have shown
+me my sin, and taught me to repent of it, and love and trust the
+precious Saviour, who died that His blood might cleanse even my guilt. I
+feel that I can lie in His arms, sure that He has forgiven my sin and
+washed my sinful soul white in His blood. How often you have told me He
+would do it if I asked Him, and I have asked Him constantly, and He will
+do it, He will not cast me off. Mother, when you think of me, be
+comforted, for you have led me to my Saviour, and I rejoice to go and be
+with Him forever."
+
+The next sun arose on the cold remains of what was so lately the active
+and happy Charles Arnold, and there was bitter grief in that dwelling,
+for very dear had the kind and loving brother been to them. The father
+was stunned--thunderstruck. Little had he expected such a grief as this,
+and he seemed utterly unable to endure it, or to believe it. How much he
+communed with his own heart of his neglected duty to that departed boy,
+we know not, but dreadful was the anguish he endured, and the mother
+had the joy to perceive that his manner afterward was far more tender to
+his remaining children, whom he seemed now for the first time to realize
+he might not always have with him, to be neglected and put aside, as a
+trouble and as a care, rather than as a precious gift, to be most
+carefully trained up for God.
+
+But all wondered at the perfect calmness of that afflicted mother. So
+devoted--so saintlike--it would seem that she was in constant and sweet
+communing with the redeemed spirit of her boy. No regret, no repining
+escaped her lips, and many who knew how fondly she loved her children,
+and had feared that this sudden blow would almost overwhelm her, gazed
+with wonder at her perfect submission, her cheerful touching tenderness
+of voice and speech. And though tears would at times flow, yet she would
+say in the midst of them, "These are not tears of grief but of joy, that
+my darling son is safe, and holy, and blessed forever. Tears of
+gratitude to God for His goodness." And when hours of sadness, and of
+longing for her absent one came, as they _will_ come to the bereaved at
+times, a faint voice seemed to whisper in her ear. "Mother, you have
+saved me, you have saved my soul!" And sweetest comfort came with that
+never to be forgotten whisper from the dying bed of her precious child,
+to sustain her in the darkest hour.
+
+Fathers! Plead as you will, that you are full of care and labor to
+support your families. Say it over and over, till you really believe it
+yourself, if you please, that when you come home tired at night, you
+cannot be crazed with the clatter of children's tongues. You want to
+rest and be quiet. So you do, and so you should--but have you any right
+to be so perfectly worn out with business, that the voice of your own
+child is irksome to you? Try, for once, a little pleasant, quiet,
+instructive chat with him. Enter for a few moments into his feelings,
+and pursuits and thoughts--for that child _has_ feelings, that need
+cherishing tenderly, for your own future comfort. He _has_ pursuits, and
+you are the one to talk with him about them, and kindly tell him which
+are right and useful, and which he would do better to let alone. He
+_has_ thoughts, and who shall direct that mind aright which must think
+forever, if not the author of his being? Ask of his school, and his
+playmates, and see if your own spirit is not rested and refreshed, and
+your heart warmed by this little effort to win the love and confidence,
+and delight the heart of this young immortal, who owes his entrance into
+this weary world to you, and whom you are under the most solemn
+obligations, to strive to prepare to act well his part in it. Do not say
+this is his mother's business. Has the Bible laid any command upon
+mothers? Would it not seem that He who formed her heart, knew that she
+needed not to be told to labor, in season and out of season, for her
+beloved offspring? But to _you_ is the strong command, "_Fathers_,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but _bring them up_ in the nurture
+and admonition of the Lord."
+
+Mothers, do you not reap a rich reward for curbing your own spirits, for
+every self-denial, for untiring devotion to the immortals given to your
+care, with souls to be saved or lost? Oh! neglect them not, lest
+conscience utter the fearful whisper, "Mother, _you might have saved
+that soul_!"
+
+                          ELLEN ELLISON.
+  Feb. 1852.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+NEVER TEMPT ANOTHER.
+
+
+There are thousands of persons in the United States to whom the name of
+Jonathan Trumbull, formerly a governor of Connecticut, is familiar--I
+mean the first governor of that name. He was a friend and supporter of
+General Washington during the Revolutionary War, and greatly contributed
+by his judicious advice and prompt aid to achieve the Independence of
+America.
+
+This Governor Trumbull had a son by the name of John, who became
+distinguished in the use of the pencil, and who left several paintings
+of great merit commemorative of scenes in the history of our
+revolutionary struggle. My story relates to an incident which occurred
+during the boyhood of John.
+
+His father, for the purpose of giving employment to the Mohegan Indians,
+a tribe living within the bounds of the Connecticut colony, though at
+some distance from the governor's residence, hired several of their
+hunters to kill animals of various kinds for their furs. One of the most
+successful of these hunters was a sachem by the name of Zachary.
+
+But Zachary was a drunkard, and persisted in his intemperate habits till
+he reached the age of fifty. By whose means I am unable to say, but at
+that time he was induced utterly to abandon the use of intoxicating
+drinks. His life was extended to eighty years, but he was never known
+after the above reformation, although often under powerful temptation,
+to taste in a single instance of the "accursed thing."
+
+In his history of the Indians of Connecticut, De Forest has given us an
+account of the manful resistance of Zachary on one occasion of an artful
+temptation to violate his temperance principles, spread before him by
+John Trumbull, at his father's house. He says, "In those days the annual
+ceremony of election was a matter of more consequence than it is now;
+and the Indians, especially, used to come in considerable numbers to
+Hartford and New Haven to stare at the governor, and the soldiers, and
+the crowds of citizens, as they entered those cities, Jonathan
+Trumbull's house was about half-way between Mohegan and Hartford, and
+Zachary was in the habit of stopping, on his way to election, to dine
+with his old employer.
+
+"John Trumbull, then about ten years old, had heard of the reformation
+of Zachary, and, partaking of the common contempt for the intemperate
+and worthless character of the Indians, did not entirely credit it. As
+the family were sitting around the dinner-table, he resolved to test the
+sincerity of the visitor's temperance.
+
+"Sipping some home-brewed beer, which stood on the table, he said to the
+old man, 'Zachary, this beer is excellent; won't you taste it?' The
+knife and fork dropped from the Indian's hand; he leaned forward with a
+stern intensity of expression, his dark eyes, sparkling with
+indignation, were fixed on the young tempter: 'John,' said he, 'you
+don't know what you are doing. You are serving the devil, boy. Don't you
+know that I am an Indian? I tell you that I am; and if I should taste
+your beer, I could never stop until I got to rum, and become again the
+drunken, contemptible wretch your father once knew me. _John, while you
+live, never again tempt any man to break a good resolution._'"
+
+This was said in an earnest, solemn tone, and deeply affected Governor
+Trumbull and lady, who were at the table. John was justly awed, and deep
+was the impression made upon him. His parents often recurred to the
+incident, and charged their son never to forget it.
+
+The advice of the sachem was indeed most valuable. "Never again tempt
+any man to break a good resolution." It were well if this precept were
+followed by all. How many who are reformed from evil habits, yet not
+firm and established, but who would persevere in their better
+resolutions were they encouraged, are suddenly, and to themselves
+surprisingly, set back by some tempter! What sorrow is engendered! and
+how difficult to regain what is thus lost! All this is essentially true
+of the young. Their good resolutions are assaulted; the counsels of a
+pious mother--the precepts of a kind father, and the determinations
+which a son may have formed in view of those counsels and those
+precepts, may be easily undermined and destroyed by the flattery or the
+ridicule, the reproach or the banter of some subtle or even of some
+thoughtless companion. To those who may read these pages, and who may at
+any time be tempted to seduce others from paths of virtue, or to break
+over solemn resolutions which they may have formed as to an upright and
+commendable course of life, let the injunction of old Zachary, the
+Mohegan sachem, not come in vain. "Never tempt any one to break a good
+resolution."
+
+                                       G.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+DESPONDENCY AND HOPE.
+
+AN ALLEGORY.
+
+BY MRS. J. NORTON.
+
+
+  In a lone forest, dark and drear,
+  Stood wrapt in grief a maiden fair;
+  Her flowing locks were wet with dew,
+  Her life was sad, her friends were few.
+
+  A sparkling light gleam'd distant far,
+  Like twinkling faint of evening star;
+  Quickly it spread its brilliant ray,
+  Till forest drear looked bright and gay.
+
+  And on the wings of love and light,
+  A radiant figure, pure and white,
+  Approached and spake with accents mild:
+  "Why so despondent, sorrow's child?
+
+  "When thy lone feet the violet press,
+  Its perfume rises still to bless;
+  While groves and lawns, with landscape fair,
+  Are bathed in healthful mountain air."
+
+  "Ah, friend! thy path shines bright and clear;
+  Daily thou breath'st the mountain air;
+  But mine is in the barren wild,
+  Where naught looks bright to sorrow's child."
+
+  "Then take my arm, pale sister, dear,
+  With you I'll tread this forest drear;
+  When guided by this light from Heav'n,
+  Strength and peace will both be given."
+
+  They journeyed on through glade and fen,
+  'Till passing near a rocky glen,
+  Mild Patience came and sweetly smiled
+  Upon the path of sorrow's child.
+
+  The measured way still brighter grew,
+  'Till cares and griefs were faint and few.
+  Thus, Hope and Patience oft beguiled
+  The toil-worn path of sorrow's child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.
+
+
+There is no path of duty appointed for man to tread, concerning which
+the Almighty has not expressed his will in terms so plain that the
+sincere inquirer may always hear a voice behind him saying, "This is the
+way, walk ye in it;" nor are there any relations of life, nor any human
+affections which he has not constituted, and bestowed, nor any
+disappointment of those affections for which he has not manifested a
+sympathy so sincere, that the desolate and heart-stricken may always
+say, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."
+
+Yet, it is something difficult for us to realize in our hours of
+darkness and despondency, that toward us personally and individually,
+the great heart of Infinite Love yearns with tenderness and pity. Even
+if we can say, "Though clouds and darkness are round about him, justice
+and judgment are the habitation of his throne," and can acquiesce meekly
+in all his dispensations, and believe sincerely that they will work for
+our good, yet we often fail of the blessedness which might be ours, if
+we could be equally assured that, "_As a father pitieth his children, so
+doth the Lord pity them that fear him._" This assurance only the
+faithful student of the Bible can feel, as the great truth gleams forth
+upon him from time to time, illuming "dark afflictions midnight gloom"
+with rays celestial, and furnishing balm for every wound, the balm of
+sympathy and love.
+
+We often hear it said, by those who even profess themselves Christians,
+and devout lovers of the sacred oracles, "How can you read the book of
+Leviticus? What can you find in the dry details of the ceremonial law to
+detain you months in its study and call forth such expressions of
+interest?" Such will probably pass by this article when they find
+themselves invited again to Horeb. Turn back, friends. You are not the
+only ones who have excused themselves from a _feast_. And we--we will
+extend our invitation to others. On the by-ways and lanes they can be
+found; in every corner of this wide-spread earth are some for whom our
+table is prepared. We leave the prosperous, the gay, the happy, and
+speak to the desolate--the widowed.
+
+Dearly beloved, you can look back to a day in your history over which no
+cloud lowered, when you wore the bridal wreath, and stood at the sacred
+altar, and laid your hand in a hand faithful and true, and pledged vows
+of love, and when hope smiled on all your future path; but who have
+lived to see all you then deemed most precious, laid beneath the clods
+of the valley, and have exchanged buds of orange for the most intensely
+sable of earthly weeds; you who once walked on your earthly journey in
+sweet companionship which brightened your days; who were wont to lay
+your weary head every night on the faithful "pillowing breast," and
+there forget your woes and cares, but who are now _alone_; you who
+trusted in manly counsel and guidance for your little ones, but who now
+shed bitter, unavailing tears in every emergency which reminds you that
+they are fatherless; and, worse than all, you who had all your wants
+supplied by the loving, toiling husband and father, but have now to
+contend single-handed with poverty,--come, sorrowing, widowed hearts,
+visit with us Horeb's holy mound. It is, indeed, a barren spot;
+nevertheless, it has blossoms of loveliness for you. Come in faith, and
+perchance the prophet's vision shall be yours--peradventure, the "still,
+small voice" which bade to rest the turmoil of his soul, shall soothe
+your griefs also; the words which are heard from its summit as Jehovah
+gives to Moses his directions, have indeed to do with "meats and drinks
+and divers washings," yet, if you listen intently, you will now and then
+hear those which, as the expression of your Heavenly Father's heart,
+will amply repay the toil of the ascent. Draw near and hearken:
+
+"Ye shall not afflict any widow nor fatherless child. If thou afflict
+them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their
+cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword;
+and your wives shall be widows, your children fatherless."
+
+Will you not now be comforted? "The Eternal makes your sorrows his own,"
+and Himself stands forth as your protector against every ill.
+
+"When thou cuttest down thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten the
+sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it, but it shall be
+for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands."
+
+If God's will is done, you see you will not suffer. He will raise you up
+friends, and those who obey Him, who wish to please Him, will always be
+ready to aid you for His sake. As shown to himself, he regards and will
+reward the kindness shown to you, and He has all hearts in his hands.
+But this is not all. A certain portion of every Israelite's possessions
+is to be given to furnish the table of the Lord, and, as if to assure
+you that He considers you His own, and will perform the part of husband
+and father for you at that table, and in his own house he provides for
+you ever a place. "In the tithes of wine, corn and oil, the firstlings
+of the herds and flocks, in all that is to be devoted to the service of
+the Lord, you have your share.
+
+"At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine
+increase the same year and lay it up within the gates. And the Levite,
+because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and
+the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come
+and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all
+the work of thine hand which thou doest."
+
+Do you sorrowfully say that no such table is now spread? But He who thus
+provided still lives, and is the same as then. The silver and the gold
+are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and he ruleth all things
+by the Word of His power. They that trust in him shall never be
+confounded.
+
+"Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the
+fatherless, nor take the widow's raiment to pledge. Why? Because they
+have no earthly friend to redeem the latter or plead for the former.
+Weak and unguarded, they are exposed to all these evils, but that He,
+the Eternal, takes them under his own especial care; and instead of
+compelling them to depend on the insecure tenure of man's compassion, or
+even justice, institutes laws for their benefit, the disobedience of
+which is sin against Himself."
+
+Scattered through all the sacred volume are words which, equally with
+those we have quoted, speak forth Jehovah's interest in the helpless.
+"Leave thy fatherless children to me," he said, by his prophet Jeremiah,
+at a time when misery, desolation, and destruction were falling on Judea
+and her sons for their awful impiety. "Leave thy fatherless children, I
+will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." "A father of
+the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy
+habitation."
+
+Oh, do we receive the full import of these soul-cheering words? Lone,
+solitary one! who hidest in thy heart a grief which, untasted, cannot be
+understood, there is a Being sitting on the circle of the heavens, who
+knows every pang thou endurest. He formed thee susceptible of the love
+which thou hast felt and enjoyed; Himself ordained the tie which bound
+thee. He, better than any other, comprehends thy loss. Dost thou
+doubt--study faithfully His word; obey his voice. Yield thy heart to Him
+and trust Him implicitly. He will prove himself able to bless thee in
+thine inmost soul. The avenues to that soul are all open to Him, and He
+can cause such gentle, soothing influences to flow in upon thee as shall
+make thee "Sing even as in the days of thy youth."
+
+Fatherless child! whose heart fails thee when thou dost miss from every
+familiar place the guide of thy youth, faint not nor be discouraged,
+though the way is rough, and the voice that ever spoke tenderly to thee
+is silent. Thou hast a father in heaven; and He who calls himself such
+understands better than thou what is implied in that sacred name. Tell
+Him thy woes and wants.
+
+  "Thou art as much His care, as if beside
+  Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INFANTS TAUGHT TO PRAY.
+
+
+Persons who have never investigated the subject cannot believe that
+young children are capable of being taught to pray, intelligently. As
+infants cannot be supposed to understand the essential nature and design
+of prayer, we may profitably inquire, "Of what use can prayer be to a
+young child?"
+
+Miss H. More defines prayer to be "The application of want to Him who
+alone can relieve it; the confession of sin to Him who alone can pardon
+it; the urgency of poverty, the prostration of humility, the fervency of
+penitence--the confidence of trust. It is the 'Lord save us, we perish,'
+of drowning Peter--the cry of faith to the ear of mercy." Now, are not
+children, for several of their first years, absolutely dependent upon
+others for the supply of all their wants? And yet, though no beings are
+so weak, so helpless, yet none are so eloquent in pleading or praying
+for what they want as young children in distress, though they have not
+yet acquired the language of speech, and simply because this language is
+nature's voice.
+
+How irresistible are the entreaties of an infant in sickness, pain, and
+trouble. It will not be pacified or comforted by any one but its
+mother--her bosom is its sanctuary--her voice its sweetest melody--her
+arms its only refuge. What a preparation is this in the ordering of
+Providence, and in direct reference to what is to succeed, evidently
+with the design that when a child is of a suitable age, it may transfer
+its highest love and confidence from its earthly parents to a heavenly
+Father. At first the mother stands in the place of God to her child, and
+is all the world to him. But if she be a praying mother, the child will
+very early discover that, like himself, she too is a helpless,
+dependent, needy creature, and he will learn to trust in that great
+Being whom his mother adores.
+
+Perhaps she has been in the habit, when her child was drawing its
+nutriment from her breast, to feel more than at any other time her
+responsibility to the little helpless being who is a part of herself,
+and especially to "train it up in the way it should go." And she will
+usually improve this opportunity to commune with her God, saying with
+more solemn importunity, day by day, "How shall I order thee, child?"
+She feels the need of more wisdom, for she now begins to realize that
+her arms will not always encircle her child, and if they could, she
+could not ward off the arrows of disease and death. She thinks too of
+the period as near when it will be more out from under her scrutinizing
+watch, and will be more exposed to temptations from without and from
+within. Perhaps, too, she may die early, and then who will feel for her
+child, who will train it, who will consecrate it to God as sedulously as
+she hopes to do? O, if she could be certain of its eternal well-being.
+She eagerly inquires, "Is there any way by which my child can be so
+instructed, so consecrated, that I may be absolutely certain that I
+shall meet him, a ransomed soul, and dwell with him forever among the
+blessed in heaven?" "Yes, there is." I find in the unerring Scriptures
+many precious examples of children who were thus early dedicated to God,
+and were accepted and blessed of Him. She loves to remember those
+mothers on the plains of Judea who brought their infants to the Savior
+for his blessing. They were not discouraged, though the disciples, like
+many of the present day, forbade them to come, saying, "Of what possible
+use can it be to bring young children to the Savior?" But behold, the
+Savior welcomes and blesses them. Children who have been thus blessed of
+the Savior will not, cannot be lost. His promise is, "None shall pluck
+them out of my father's hand;" and again, "I will keep that what is
+committed to me till the final day."
+
+With such Scripture promises and examples, this praying mother, hour by
+hour, lifts her heart to God, and implores that the Savior would crown
+with success her endeavors to obey his precepts, and, in doing so, to
+accept her consecrated child. How sweet and gentle are her accents!
+With a loud voice she puts up her petitions which, till now, under
+similar circumstances, have not even been whispered aloud.
+
+But her emotions have risen so high, that not only does her voice become
+inarticulate, but her tears fall like April showers upon the face of
+her, till now, unconscious child.
+
+The child looks inquiringly. It now perceives that that countenance,
+which has hitherto been lighted up only by smiles, and been radiant with
+hope, at times is beclouded by fears. No wonder if this scene should
+attract the attention of this infant listener. Perhaps it is overawed.
+It rises up, it looks round to see if any one is present, with whom its
+mother is holding converse. Seeing no one, it hides its little head in
+the folds of its mother's dress, and is still.
+
+What does all this do but to awaken, on the part of the mother, a still
+deeper interest in the welfare of her sympathizing little one. She now
+realizes as she never did before, what an influence she has in swaying
+the mind and affections of her darling child, and her responsibility
+seems to increase at every step. She presses her child more and more
+fondly to her bosom. With daily and increasing faith, love and zeal, she
+resorts to the throne of grace, and pleads for that wisdom she so
+pre-eminently needs.
+
+It cannot be but that her love to her child should be daily strengthened
+by such communings with her own heart and her Savior, in sweet
+fellowship with her little one, though so young as not fully to
+comprehend all it sees and hears, yet it will remember and be
+influenced, eternally, by what has been done and said in its presence.
+This mother fully realizes that she is under the watchful eye of God,
+her Maker and Redeemer--that the Holy Trinity--the mysterious "three in
+one" have been present, more than spectators of what has transpired. For
+she is sure that these aspirations after holiness for herself and for
+her child are not earth-born--but emanations from the triune God.
+
+It is natural to suppose that lasting impressions would be made upon the
+heart of a child thus early taught to pray.
+
+No wonder if this little child, ever after, should find a sacred
+pleasure in visiting the place where prayer is wont to be made, which at
+first was hallowed and sweetened by tender and endearing associations.
+
+And we would here remark, that it is chiefly by the power of association
+that young children can be supposed to be benefited by such teachings
+and examples.
+
+A striking incident occurred in my mother's nursery, not only
+illustrative of the power of association, but showing how very tenacious
+is the memory of young children.
+
+My mother had a fit of sickness when my little brother was but seven
+months old, and she was obliged to wean him at that early age.
+
+He was always a feeble child and clung to our mother with almost a
+death-grasp. The weaning of that child will never fade from my
+recollection. In fact our mother used to say that that boy was never
+weaned.
+
+When he was about a year old, he was found fast asleep one day behind
+the bed-room door, leaning his little head upon a chest. Over the chest
+was a line, and across the line had been thrown a chintz shawl,
+memorable as having always been worn by our mother when nursing her
+children. In one hand he had hold of the end of the shawl, which he
+could just reach, and he was sucking the thumb of the other.
+
+This shawl, which this little child had not previously seen for some
+time, was associated in his mind with its sweetest, but short-lived
+comfort. This fact will serve to explain the propriety of taking all the
+ordinary week day play-things from children on the Sabbath, and
+substituting in their place others more quiet--for instance, relating
+Scripture stories, explaining Scripture pictures, and the like.
+
+Such scenes and experience as have been above alluded to, must be more
+or less familiar to every faithful and praying mother. Children who have
+been dedicated to God, as was Samuel, and David, and Timothy, in all
+ages of the world, will be found in after life to be, to the praise, and
+glory, and riches of God's grace, vouchsafed to parents, in answer to
+their faith and prayers, and pious teachings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE YOUNGLING OF THE FLOCK.
+
+
+  Welcome! thrice welcome to my heart, sweet harbinger of bliss!
+  How have I looked, till hope grew sick, for a moment bright as this;
+  Thou hast flashed upon my aching sight when fortune's clouds are dark,
+  The sunny spirit of my dreams--the dove unto mine ark.
+
+  Oh! no, not even when life was new, and life and hope were young,
+  And o'er the firstling of my flock with raptured gaze I hung,
+  Did I feel the glow that thrills me now, the yearnings fond and deep,
+  That stir my bosom's inmost strings as I watch thy placid sleep!
+
+  Though loved and cherished be the flower that springs 'neath summer skies,
+  The bud that blooms 'mid wintry storms more tenderly we prize.
+  One does but make our bliss more bright; the other meets our eye,
+  Like a radiant star, when all besides have vanished from on high.
+
+  Sweet blossom of my stormy hour, star of my troubled heaven,
+  To thee that passing sweet perfume, that soothing light is given;
+  And precious art thou to my soul, but dearer far than thou,
+  A messenger of peace and love art sent to cheer me now.
+
+  What, tho' my heart be crowded close with inmates dear though few,
+  Creep in, my little smiling _babe_, there's still a niche for you;
+  And should another claimant rise, and clamor for a place,
+  Who knows but room may yet be found, if it wears as fair a face.
+
+  I cannot save thee from the griefs to which our flesh is heir,
+  But I can arm thee with a spell, life's keenest ills to bear.
+  I may not fortune's frowns avert, but I can with thee pray
+  For wealth this world can never give nor ever take away.
+
+  But wherefore doubt that He who makes the smallest bird his care,
+  And tempers to the _new shorn lamb_ the blast it ill could bear,
+  Will still his guiding arm extend, his glorious plan pursue,
+  And if he gives thee ills to bear, will give thee courage too.
+
+  Dear youngling of my little flock, the loveliest and the last,
+  'Tis sweet to dream what thou may'st be, when long, long years have past;
+  To think when time hath blanched my hair, and others leave my side,
+  Thou may'st be still my prop and stay, my blessing and my pride.
+
+  And when this world has done its worst, when life's fevered fit is o'er,
+  And the griefs that wring my weary heart can never touch it more,
+  How sweet to think thou may'st be near to catch my latest sigh,
+  To bend beside my dying bed and close my glazing eye.
+
+  Oh! 'tis for offices like these the last sweet child is given;
+  The mother's joy, the father's pride, the fairest boon of heaven:
+  Their fireside plaything first, then of their failing strength the rock,
+  The rainbow to their wavering years, the youngling of their flock.
+
+                                               ALARIC A. WATTS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHER OF SAMSON.
+
+
+In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges is recorded the short
+but suggestive story which is our Bible lesson for the present month.
+Horeb is long since left behind. The evil generation, who forty years
+tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen in the wilderness, and their
+successors are now in possession of the promised land. Moses, and
+Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and Israel, bereft of their
+counsel, follow wise or evil advices as a wayward fancy may dictate, and
+receive a corresponding recompense at the hands of their God. The
+children proved in no respect wiser or more obedient than their fathers.
+Again and again "they forsook the Lord and served the idols of the
+Canaanites, and in wrath He gave them up to their enemies." Often in
+pity he raised up for them deliverers who would lead them for a time in
+better paths, "but when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted
+themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve
+them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings
+nor from their stubborn way," and therefore were they often for long
+tedious years in bondage to the various nations which God had left in
+the land "to prove them whether they would walk in his ways." It was
+during one of these seasons of trouble that the subject of our study is
+mentioned. She was the wife of Manoah, a citizen of Zorah, of the tribe
+of Dan. Of her previous history, and the events of her after life, we
+know nothing. He who sitteth on the circle of the heavens, and beholdeth
+all things that are done under the sun, and readeth all hearts, had
+marked her out as the instrument, wherewith he would work to get glory
+to himself, and however little known to others, He deemed her worthy of
+this distinguished honor, and to receive a direct communication from
+himself. Of her character nothing is said, but we gather with unerring
+certainty that she was a self-denying, obedient child of God, for He
+would not have chosen one who would not adhere strictly to his every
+injunction.
+
+It is not necessary that we should detail every incident of those
+interviews with the angel Jehovah, which the mother of Samson was
+permitted to enjoy. Take your Bible, friend, and read for yourself in
+words more befitting than we can use, and as you rise from the perusal,
+if the true spirit of a Christian reigns in your heart, you will perhaps
+exclaim, "Oh, that the Lord would come to me also and tell me how I
+shall order my children that so they may be the subjects of his grace
+and instruments of his will!" If you meditate deeply while you read,
+perhaps you will conclude that in His directions to this mother, our
+Heavenly Father has revealed to us wonderful and important things, which
+may answer us instead of direct communications from Himself, and which,
+if heeded and obeyed, will secure to us great peace and satisfaction.
+Bear in mind, that he who speaks is our Creator--that all the wonders of
+the human frame are perfectly familiar to Him, and that He knows far
+more than earthly skill and science have ever been able to ascertain, or
+even hint at, concerning the relations which Himself ordained. He comes
+to Manoah's wife with these words: "Now, therefore, beware, and drink
+not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, lo! thou
+shall conceive and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for
+the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb." Can you discern
+in this only an allusion to Jewish customs and ceremonies, long since
+obsolete, and in no way interesting to us, except as a matter of
+history? Can you not rather see gleaming out a golden rule which all
+would be blessed in following? To us, in this history, Jehovah says,
+"Mother, whatever you wish your child to be, that must you also in all
+respects be yourself." Samson is to be consecrated to God by the most
+solemn of vows all the days of his life, and the conditions of that vow
+his mother is commanded to fulfill from the moment that she is
+conscious of his existence until he is weaned, a period of four years at
+least, according to the custom of her time.
+
+These thoughts introduce to us a theme on which volumes have been
+written and spoken. Men of deep research and profound judgment have been
+ready to say to all the parents of earth, "Whatever ye are such will
+also your children prove always, and in every particular to be;" and
+there are not wanting multitudes of facts to strengthen and confirm the
+position. In certain aspects of it it is assuredly true, since the
+principal characteristics of the race remain from age to age the same.
+Nor is it disproved by what seem at first adverse facts, for although
+children seem in physical and intellectual constitution often the direct
+opposite of their parents, yet a close study into the history of
+families may only prove, that if unlike those parents in general
+character, they have nevertheless inherited that particular phase which
+governed the period from which they date their existence. No person
+bears through life precisely the same dispositions, or is at all times
+equally under the same influences or governed by the same motives. The
+gentle and amiable by nature may come into circumstances which shall
+induce unwonted irritability and ill-humor; the irascible and
+passionate, surrounded in some favored time, by all that heart can wish,
+may seem as lovely as though no evil tempers had ever deformed them; and
+the children who may be the offspring of these episodes in life, may
+bear indeed a character differing wholly from the usual character of
+their parents, but altogether corresponding to the brief and unusual
+state which ruled their hour of beginning life. So is it also in
+physical constitution. The feeble and sickly have sometimes intervals of
+health, and the robust see months of languor and disease. Hence,
+perhaps, the differences which are observable many times in the children
+of the same family with regard to health and natural vigor.
+
+We cannot enter into the subject. It is wide and extended as human
+nature itself. It is also, apart from the Gospel of God's grace, a very
+discouraging subject to the parent who contemplates it with
+seriousness, and with an earnest desire to ascertain the path of duty.
+"How useless," we may be tempted to exclaim, "any attempt to gain an end
+which is so uncertain as the securing any given constitution, either of
+body or mind, for my children. To-day I am in health, full of
+cheerfulness and hope; a year hence I may be broken and infirm, a prey
+to depressing thoughts and melancholy forbodings. My mind is now
+vigorous and active; who knows how soon the material shall subject the
+intellectual and clog every nobler faculty? What will it suffice that
+to-day I feel myself controlled by good motives, and swayed by just
+principles, and possessed of a well-balanced character, since in some
+evil hour, influences wholly unexpected may gain the ascendancy, and I
+be so unlike my present self that pitying friends can only wonder and
+whisper, How changed! and enemies shall glory in my fall. No. It is vain
+to strive after certainty in this world of change and vicissitude, since
+none of us can tell what himself shall be on the morrow. Do what I will,
+moreover, my child can only inherit a sinful nature." In the midst of
+gloomy thoughts like these, we turn to the story of Samson's mother, and
+hear Jehovah directing her to walk before Him in the spirit of
+consecration, which is to be the life-long spirit of her son. He surely
+intimates that the child's character begins with, and depends upon, that
+of the mother. A ray of light and encouragement dawns upon us. True, we
+are fickle and changeable, and subject to vicissitude; but He, our God,
+is far above all these shifting scenes, and all the varying
+circumstances of this mortal life are under his control, and he can turn
+the hearts of men as He will; His counsel shall stand. True, we are
+transgressors like our first father, partakers of his fallen nature, and
+inheritors of the curse; but "where sin abounds, grace does much more
+abound," and "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
+made a curse for us." For all the evils under which we groan, the Gospel
+has a remedy, and we have faith that in spite of all obstacles and
+difficulties, our Savior will yet present us, as individuals, faultless
+before the throne. Why may not our faith take a still higher flight?
+There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. The Holy
+Spirit, first of all, shall be given to all who ask. They who hunger and
+thirst for righteousness shall be filled. He has never said to the seed
+of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. There are on almost every page of the
+sacred word, these precious promises. By them you are encouraged daily
+in your onward struggle, Christian friend. What shall hinder you now
+from taking them to your heart as a mother with the same faith? If God
+is able to secure your soul against all evil influences, yes, even
+against the arch enemy himself, and if he has made the character of your
+child to depend upon your own in any degree, why may you not plead the
+promises of His word with double power, when your prayers ascend not
+merely for yourself, but for another immortal being whom he has so
+intimately associated with you. You are accustomed daily to seek from
+Him holy influences; you pray that you may grow in grace and knowledge,
+and be kept from the evil that is in the world, and from dishonoring
+your Savior. Can you not offer these same petitions as a mother, and beg
+all these blessings in behalf of your child, who is to take character
+from you? Can you not consecrate yourself in a peculiarly solemn manner
+to the Lord, and viewing the thousand influences which may affect you,
+pray to be kept from all which would be adverse to the best good of the
+precious soul to be intrusted to you, and believe by all you know of
+your Heavenly Father and of his plan of grace, that you will be accepted
+and your petitions answered? And then can you not _act_ upon that faith?
+Desiring your child to be a man of prayer, will you not, during the
+years in which you are acting directly on him, give yourself much to
+prayer? Hoping that he may not be slothful, but an active and diligent
+servant of his Lord, will you not give your earnest soul and busy hands
+to the work which you find to do? Wishing him to be gentle and lovely,
+will you not strive to clothe yourself with meekness? In short, will you
+not cultivate every characteristic that is desirable for the devoted
+Christian, in order that, at least, your child may enter on life with
+every possible advantage which you can give him? And since a sane mind,
+and rightly-moving heart, are greatly dependent on a sound body, will
+you not study to be yourself, by temperance and moderation, and
+self-denial and activity, in the most perfect health which you can by
+any effort gain?
+
+Who does not believe that if all Christian mothers would thus believe
+and act, most blessed results would be secured? The subject appeals to
+fathers also, and equal responsibility rests upon them.
+
+Some will doubtless be ready to say, "This would require us to live in
+the spirit of a Nazarite's vow all the time. You have drawn for us a
+plan of life which is difficult to follow, and demands all our
+vigilance, constant striving, and unwearied labors." True, friends; but
+the end to be gained is worth the cost, and you have "God
+all-sufficient" for your helper.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+  _June_ 2, 1852.
+
+MY DEAR MADAM,--I send you an extract from an unpublished
+memoir of the Rev. E.J.P. Messinger, who died in Africa, where he was
+sent as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. This biography
+is not finished; but I think the following passage is well adapted to
+your Magazine.
+
+                            Yours, with respect,
+                          STEPHEN H. TYNG.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE BOY WHO NEVER FORGOT HIS MOTHER.
+
+
+When James was ten years old his father was suddenly removed by death.
+His mother was then left to provide for the aged mother of her husband,
+as well as her own little family, of whom the youngest was an infant of
+a few weeks old. This was a weary and toilsome task. Neither of her sons
+were old enough to render her any assistance on the farm, and the
+slender income arising from it would not warrant the expense of hiring
+needful laborers. She was obliged to lease it to others, and the rent of
+her little farm, together with the avails of their own industry, became
+the support of the widow and fatherless. With this she was still able to
+send her children to school, and to give them all the advantages which
+her retired dwelling allowed.
+
+It was during these first years of his mother's lonely widowhood that
+the tenderness and the loveliness of her son's character were brought
+out to view. All that he could do to relieve her under her burden became
+his delight. Though but a child, he was ready to make every sacrifice to
+promote her comfort and happiness, and to gratify and console his aged
+grandmother. Attention to his mother's wants from this time entered into
+all his plans of life. Her interests and welfare were a part of his
+constant thoughts. It seemed to be his highest earthly delight to
+increase her happiness and to relieve her trials. He never forgot his
+mother. He might be called "the boy who always loved his mother."
+Beautiful trait of character! And God blessed him in his own character
+and life, according to his promise. After he had gone from his native
+home to enter upon the business of life, this trait in his character was
+very constant and very remarkable. At a subsequent period, when his
+younger brother was about leaving home to learn a trade, James wrote to
+him, "Mother informs me that you intend learning a trade. I am very glad
+of it, because I know that it will be advantageous to you. But before
+you leave home, I hope you will endeavor to leave our dear mother, and
+grandmother, and the rest of the family, as comfortable as possible. The
+desire of mother that I should come home and in some measure supply your
+place, I should not hesitate to comply with, had I not been strongly
+impressed with the idea that I could render more substantial help by
+remaining here than by coming home. But I hope before you leave home you
+will do everything you can for mother; and should you be near home, that
+you will often visit them, and afford them all the assistance in your
+power. You know, dear brother, that mother has had many hardships for
+our sakes. Well do I remember how she used to go out in cold, stormy
+weather, to assist us about our work, in order to afford us the
+opportunity of attending school. May we live to enjoy the pleasure of
+having it in our power to return in some small degree the debt we owe
+her, by contributing to her comfort in the decline of life."
+
+Then again he wrote to his sister, referring to his brother's absence:
+"I scarcely know how you will get along without him, as mother wrote me
+he was going to learn a trade this fall. You must try to do all you can
+to help along. Think how much trouble and hardship mother has undergone
+for our sakes. Surely we are old enough to take some of the burden off
+her hands. I hope you will not neglect these hints. Never suffer mother
+to undergo any hardship of which you can relieve her. Strive to do all
+you can to lessen the cares and anxieties which must of necessity come
+upon her. Be kind, obedient, and cheerful in the performance of every
+duty. Consider it a pleasure to do anything by which you can render
+assistance to her."
+
+To another sister he wrote, "I hope you will do all you can to
+contribute to the assistance and comfort of grandmother and mother. You
+have it in your power to do much for them. Take care that you never
+grieve them by folly or misconduct. If my influence will have any effect
+on your mind, think how much your brother wishes you to behave well, and
+to render yourself useful and beloved; but remember above all, that God
+always sees you, and that you never can be guilty of a fault that is not
+known to him. Strive then to be dutiful and obedient to our only
+remaining parent, and to be kind and affectionate to all around you."
+
+These are beautiful exhibitions of his filial love. A remembrance of his
+mother's wants and sorrows was a constantly growing principle of his
+youthful heart. It was a spirit, too, which never forsook him through
+his whole subsequent life. Even while on his bed of death in Africa, his
+heart still yearned over the sorrows and cares of his widowed mother.
+Then he gave directions for the sale of his little earthly property,
+that the avails of it might be sent back to America to his mother.
+Though the sum was small it was enough to contribute much to her comfort
+for her remaining years. How precious is such a recollection of a boy
+who never forgot, and never ceased to love his mother. What a beauty
+does this fact add to the character and conduct of a youth! How valuable
+is such a tribute to the memory of a youth, "He never forgot his
+mother!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.
+
+     "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+     them."--MATTHEW 6:6.
+
+
+In an obscure country village lived two little girls of nearly the same
+age, named Annie Grey and Charlotte Murray; their homes were not very
+distant from each other, and they were constant companions and
+playmates.
+
+Charlotte Murray was the eldest of five children, and her parents,
+though poor, were kept removed from want by constant frugality and
+industry. Her father labored for the neighboring farmers, and her mother
+was a thrifty, notable housewife, somewhat addicted to loud talking and
+scolding, but considered a very good sort of woman.
+
+Charlotte was ten years old, and assisted her mother very much in
+attending to the children, and performing many light duties about the
+house. She was healthy, robust and good-natured, but unfortunately had
+never received any religious instruction, more than an occasional
+attendance at church with her mother, and thus was entirely ignorant of
+any higher motives of action than to please her parents, which, though
+in itself commendable, often led her to commit serious faults. She did
+not scruple to tell a falsehood to screen herself or brothers from
+punishment, and would often misrepresent the truth for the sake of
+obtaining praise. Charlotte was also very fond of dress, and as her
+parents' means forbade the indulgence of this feeling, she loved to
+decorate herself with every piece of faded ribbon or soiled lace that
+came in her way.
+
+Annie Grey was the only child of a poor widow, who supported herself and
+daughter by spinning and carding wool for the farmers' wives. Mrs. Grey
+was considered much poorer than any of her neighbors, but her humble
+cottage was always neat and in perfect order, and the small garden patch
+which supplied the few vegetables which she needed was never choked with
+weeds. The honeysuckle was carefully trained about the door, and little
+Annie delighted in tying up the pinks, and fastening strings for the
+morning glories that she loved so much.
+
+Mrs. Grey, though poor in this world's goods, had laid up for herself
+"those treasures in Heaven, which no moth nor rust can corrupt." She had
+once been in better circumstances, and surrounded by all that makes life
+happy, but her mercies had been taken from her one by one, until none
+was left save little Annie; then she learned that "whom God loveth, he
+chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth;" and thus were
+her afflictions sanctified unto her.
+
+Annie was a delicate little girl, and had never associated much with the
+village children in their rude sports. Once, when her mother spent a
+week at Mrs. Murray's, assisting her to spin, she had taken Annie, and
+thus a friendship commenced between herself and Charlotte.
+
+Annie had been early taught by her mother to abhor deceit and falsehood
+as hateful to God, and Charlotte often startled her by equivocating, but
+she had never known her to tell a direct untruth, and she loved her
+because she was affectionate and kind. Some kind and pious ladies had
+succeeded in establishing a Sunday-school in the village, and Annie was
+among the first who attended; she told Charlotte, who prevailed upon her
+mother to let her go, and they were both regular scholars.
+
+One pleasant Sunday morning, the two little girls went together to
+school, and after all the children had recited their lessons, the
+superintendent rose and said that a good missionary was about to leave
+his home, and go to preach the Gospel to the heathens far over the sea,
+and that they wanted to raise a subscription and purchase Bibles to send
+out with him, that he might distribute them among those poor people who
+had never heard God's holy word.
+
+He told them how the poor little children were taught to lie and steal
+by their parents, and how they worshiped images of carved wood, and
+stone, and sometimes killed themselves and drowned the infants, thinking
+thus to please the senseless things they called their gods. He said that
+children who could read and write, and go to church, ought to be
+grateful to God for placing them in a Christian country, and they should
+pray for the poor little heathen children, and do all they could to
+provide instruction for them.
+
+"I do not expect you to do much, my dear children," he said, "but all I
+ask is, to do what you can; some of you have money given you to buy toys
+or cakes; would you not rather know that it had helped a little heathen
+child to come to God, than to spend it in anything so soon destroyed and
+forgotten? And to those who have no money, let me ask, can you not earn
+it? There are very many ways in which children may be useful, and God
+will most graciously accept a gift which has cost you labor or
+self-denial. You remember Jesus himself said that the poor widow's two
+mites were of more value than all that the rich cast into the treasury,
+because they gave of their abundance, but she cast in all that she had;
+will you not, therefore, endeavor to win the Savior's blessing by
+following the widow's example, and 'Go and do likewise?'"
+
+The children listened very attentively to all the superintendent said,
+and after school there was much talking among the scholars as to the
+amount to be given, and how to obtain it. The following Sunday was
+appointed to receive the collection, and all seemed animated with a
+generous feeling, and anxious to do what they could.
+
+"I have a bright new penny," cried little Patty Green, who was scarcely
+six years old. "I didn't like to spend it, because it was so pretty,
+but I will send it to the little heathen children to buy Bibles with!"
+
+"And I," added James Blair, "have a tenpence that Mr. Jones gave me for
+holding his horse; I was saving it to buy a knife, but I can wait a
+while for that; uncle has promised me one next Christmas."
+
+"You may add my sixpence to it, brother," said his sister Lucy. "I did
+want a pair of woolen gloves, but it is long until winter, and I do not
+need them now."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed merry, good-natured Simon Bounce. "Ten and six are
+sixteen, and Patty's bright penny makes seventeen; and let me see, I've
+got fivepence, and John Blake offered me three cents for my ball, that
+will make two shillings exactly, quite a good beginning. Why what a
+treasure there will be if we all put in our savings at this rate!"
+
+Thus talking, the children strolled away in groups, and Charlotte and
+Annie walked slowly toward their homes. Annie looked thoughtful, and
+Charlotte spoke first.
+
+"I wish," said she, "that father would give me sixpence; but I know he
+wont, for he never goes to church, and cares nothing about the heathen,
+and as for mother, she would call me a simpleton if I was to ask her. I
+am determined I wont go to school next Sunday if I can't take something,
+it looks so mean; I will say I am sick and cannot go."
+
+"Oh, Charlotte!" said Annie, "that would be a great deal worse than not
+giving anything, for it would not only be a falsehood, but you would
+tempt God to make you sick. I know you do not mean what you say."
+
+"You always take everything so seriously," replied the other, laughing
+and looking a little ashamed. "But what are you going to do, Annie? Your
+mother cannot give you anything; but I am sure she would if she had it,
+she is so kind, and never scolds. I wish mother was so always."
+
+"I have been thinking," returned Annie, "that if I take the two hours
+mother gives me to play in the garden, and card wool for her, as she has
+more than she can do this week, perhaps she will give me two or three
+pennies. I wish I could earn more, but I will do what I can."
+
+"Maybe your mother will let me help her too," said Charlotte, eagerly;
+"but I have so little time to play that I could not earn much, and I
+would be ashamed to give so little. I would rather put in more than any
+one, it would please the teacher and make the girls envy me."
+
+"I am sure," answered Annie, gently, "the teacher would not like us to
+do anything that would make another envy us, because that is a very
+wicked and unhappy feeling, and though she might be pleased to see us
+put in so much, yet it is God whom we are seeking to serve, and he looks
+at the heart, and knows our feelings. He tells us not to give alms to be
+seen of men, and you remember, Charlotte, what the superintendent said
+about the widow's mite, which pleased Jesus, though the gift was so
+small."
+
+"You speak like a superintendent yourself," cried Charlotte, gaily, "but
+ask your mother, Annie, and I will come over to-night and hear what she
+says."
+
+They had now reached Mrs. Grey's house, and bidding each other good-by
+they parted. Charlotte hurried home to tell her mother about the
+contributions, and was laughed at, as she expected; however, Mrs. Murray
+said she would give, if she had it to spare, but charity began at home,
+and it was not for poor folks to trouble their heads about such matters.
+Let those who had means, and nothing else to do, attend to it.
+
+When Annie told her mother what had been said in school, Mrs. Grey told
+her that it had also been given out in church, and a collection was to
+be taken up on the following Sunday, when the missionary himself would
+preach for them.
+
+"I shall give what little I can," she added, with a slight sigh. "I wish
+it was more, but my earnest prayers shall accompany this humble offering
+to the Lord."
+
+Annie now unfolded her plan to her mother, and asked her consent, which
+was readily given, and then Annie told her of Charlotte's request. And
+her mother said that although she did not require Charlotte's help,
+still she would not refuse her, as she liked to encourage every good
+inclination. And when Charlotte came in the evening, Annie had the
+pleasure of telling her that her mother had consented, and would give
+them a little pile of wool to card every day, for which each should
+receive a penny.
+
+"And that will be sixpence a-piece, you know," continued Annie, "and we
+can change it to a silver piece, for fear we might drop a penny by the
+way."
+
+"Oh, how nice that will be," cried Charlotte. "Do you think many of the
+girls will put in as much? I hope, at any rate, that none will put in
+any more."
+
+Then, thanking Annie, she ran home, leaving her friend not a little
+puzzled to know why Charlotte should wish to make a show.
+
+The difference between the little girls was this; Charlotte only sought
+to please others from a selfish feeling to obtain praise, while Annie
+had been taught that God is the searcher of all hearts, and to please
+him should be our first and only aim.
+
+The next morning Annie was up bright and early, and it seemed to her
+that the wool was never so free from knots before. After she had said
+her prayers in the morning, and read a chapter with her mother, the
+little girl ate her frugal breakfast, and seated herself at her work,
+and so nimbly did she ply the cards, that her task was accomplished full
+half an hour before the usual time. She was just beginning her own pile
+when Charlotte came in; they sat down together, and worked away
+diligently. Charlotte said that her mother laughed at her, but told her
+she might do as she pleased, for it was something new for her to prefer
+work to play, and availing herself of this permission she came.
+
+Annie, who was accustomed to the work, finished her pile first; she then
+assisted Charlotte, and they each received a penny; there was plenty of
+time beside for Annie to walk home with her friend.
+
+The two following days passed in the same manner, but on Thursday
+Charlotte went out with a party of girls, blackberrying, thinking she
+could make it up on Friday; but it was as much as she could do to earn
+the penny with Annie's assistance, and Saturday was a busy day, so her
+mother could not spare her, and Charlotte had but fourpence at the end
+of the week. Annie had worked steadily, and on Saturday afternoon
+received the last penny from her mother. She had now six cents, and
+after supper went with a light heart to get them changed for a sixpenny
+piece, at the village store.
+
+On the way she met Charlotte. "I could not come to-day," said the
+latter. "Mother could not spare me, and I cried enough about it. I might
+have earned another penny, and then I would have changed it for a silver
+fivepence. Is it not too bad? How much have you got?"
+
+"I have six pennies," answered Annie, "And I am going to change them
+now; but if you feel so bad about it, I will give you one of them, and
+then we will each have alike; it makes no difference, you know, who puts
+it in the box, so that it all goes for the one good purpose."
+
+"How kind you are! How much I love you!" exclaimed Charlotte,
+gratefully, as she took the money, and kissed her friend. "I will run
+home and get my fourpence directly."
+
+Annie went on with a contented heart; she had obliged her companion and
+done no injustice to the good cause, since Charlotte would put the money
+to the same use. The store-keeper changed the pennies for a bright, new
+fivepence, and she went on her way rejoicing.
+
+(To be Continued.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE RIDDLE SOLVED.
+
+
+Some years since, the pastor of a country congregation in a neighboring
+State was riding through his parish in company with a ministerial
+friend. As they passed a certain house, the pastor said to his friend,
+"Here is a riddle which I wish you would solve for me. In yonder house
+lives one of my elders, a man of sterling piety and great consistency of
+character, who prays in his closet, in his family, and in public. He has
+seven or eight children, several of whom are grown up, and yet not one
+is hopefully converted, or even at all serious. Just beyond him, on the
+adjoining farm, lives a man of the same age, who married the elder's
+sister. This man, if a Christian at all, is one of those who will 'be
+saved so as by fire;' he is very loose and careless in his talk, is in
+bad repute for honesty, and, although not guilty of any offense which
+church authorities can take hold of, does many things which grieve the
+people of God, and are a stumbling-block to others. Yet, of his eleven
+or twelve children, seven are valued and useful Christians, and there is
+every reason to anticipate that the rest, as they grow up, will follow
+in the same course. Now, solve me this difficulty, that the careless
+professor should be so blessed in his family, while the godly man mourns
+an entire absence of converting grace, especially as both households are
+as nearly equal as may be in their social position, their educational
+facilities, and their means of grace?"
+
+"Let me know all the facts," said the pastor's friend, "before I give my
+opinion. Have you ever considered the character of the _mothers_,
+respectively?"
+
+At once the pastor clasped his hands and said, "I have it; the secret is
+out. It is strange I never thought of it before. The elder's wife,
+although, as I trust, a good woman, is far from being an active
+Christian. She never seems to take any pleasure in religious
+conversation, but whenever it is introduced, either is silent or
+speedily diverts it to some worldly subject. She is one of those persons
+with whom you might live in the same house for weeks and months, and yet
+never discover that she was a disciple of Christ. The other lady, on the
+contrary, is as eminent for godliness as her husband is for
+inconsistency. Her heart is in the cause; she prays with and for her
+children, and whatever example they have in their father, in her they
+have a fine model of active, fervent, humble piety, seated in the heart
+and flowing out into the life."
+
+The friends prosecuted the inquiry no further; they felt that the riddle
+was solved, and they rode on in silence, each meditating on the wide
+extent, the far-spreading results of that marvellous agency--_a mother's
+influence_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PRAYER FOR CHILDREN SOMETIMES UNAVAILING.
+
+
+Matthew, in his Gospel (chap. 20th), has recorded a highly instructive
+incident in relation to the disciples, James and John, whose parents
+were Zebedee and Salome. The latter, it would seem, being of an
+ambitious turn, was desirous that her two sons should occupy prominent
+stations in the temporal kingdom, which, according to the popular
+belief, Jesus Christ was about to establish in the world. That she had
+inspired _them_ also with these ambitious aspirations, is apparent from
+the narrative; she even induces them to accompany her in her visit to
+Christ, and so far they concurred with her designs. On entering his
+presence she prefers her request, which is, that these sons may sit, the
+one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom. The
+request was made with due respect, and, doubtless, in all sincerity.
+
+Now, it cannot be denied that there may be a just and reasonable desire
+on the part of parents, that their children should be advanced to posts
+of honor and distinction in the world. But that desire should ever be
+accompanied with a wish that those honors and distinctions should be
+attained by honest and honorable means, and be employed as
+instrumentalities of good. If such wish be wanting, the desire is only
+selfish. And selfishness seems to have characterized the desires of
+Salome, and probably of James and John. We trust that they all, at
+length, had more correct views of the character and kingdom of Jesus,
+and sought and obtained spiritual honor in it, infinitely to be
+preferred to the honor which cometh from men.
+
+But at the time we speak of, the desires of the mother were narrow and
+selfish. Yet, it is remarkable with what courtesy Christ treated her and
+her sons, while at the same time he gave them to understand that they
+did not know the nature of their request, nor the great matters involved
+in it.
+
+Passing from the contemplation of the prayer of Salome for the temporal
+advancement of her sons to the prayers of many parents, at the present
+day, for the salvation of their children, have we not reason to
+apprehend the prevalence in them, if not of a similar ambition, of a
+similar selfishness? I would wish to speak with just caution on a
+subject of so much interest to parents, and one on which I may easily be
+misunderstood. And yet a subject in reference to which the most sad and
+fatal mistakes may be made.
+
+God in his providence has intimately connected parents and children. In
+a sense, parents are the authors of their being; they are their
+guardians; they are bound to provide for them, educate them, teach them
+the knowledge of God, and use all proper means for their present and
+eternal welfare. In all these respects, they are required to do more for
+their children than for the children of others, unless the latter are
+adopted by them, or come under their guardianship. It is doubtless my
+duty and my privilege to seek more directly and more assiduously the
+salvation of my children than the salvation of the children of others.
+This seems to be according to the will of God, and according to the
+family constitution. And, moreover, it is most reasonable and right.
+
+And if parents have a just apprehension of their responsibilities, they
+cannot rest satisfied without laboring for the salvation of their
+offspring, and laboring assiduously and perseveringly for its
+attainment. And among other things which they will do--they will _pray_.
+The Christian parent who does not pray for his children, is not entitled
+to the name of Christian. There is no such Christian parent, and we
+doubt if there can be.
+
+But it is obvious that the spirit of Salome, at least in the selfishness
+of that spirit, may sometimes be even the governing principle of the
+parent in his prayers for the salvation of his child. Knowing, as he
+must know, something of the value of his child's soul, and the eternal
+misery of it if finally lost, how natural to desire his conversion as
+the only means of escape from a doom so awful! And we admit that the
+parent is justified, and his parental affinities require him to make
+all possible efforts to bring that soul to repentance. And he should
+pray and wrestle with God, as fervently, as importunately, as
+perseveringly as the object sought is important and desirable.
+
+But, then, here is a point never to be overlooked, and yet is it not
+often overlooked? viz., that the grand governing motive of the parent in
+seeking the salvation of his child should be the glory of God--not
+simply the honor of that soul, as an heir of a rich inheritance--not
+simply the exemption of his child from misery--nor yet his joy, as a
+participator in joys and glories which mortal eye has not yet seen, nor
+human heart yet conceived. The glory of God! the glory of Jesus! that is
+the all in all--the paramount motive, which is to guide, govern parents,
+and all others in their desires and labors for the salvation of children
+and friends!
+
+I do not mean to intimate that parents _can_ ever, or _ought_ ever to
+take pleasure in the contemplated ruin of their children. God takes no
+pleasure in the death of him that dieth. But it is not enough for the
+parent simply to wish his child _saved_. That desire may be selfish, and
+only selfish. And that prayer which terminates there, may be as selfish
+as was the desire of Salome that her sons might occupy the chief places
+of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The parent may, indeed, wish, and ought
+to wish, that his child may be _saved,_ and for that he should labor and
+toil--but in a way which will illustrate the marvels of redeeming mercy,
+and which shall be in consonance with the established principles of the
+Gospel.
+
+The parent, then, who prays for the salvation of his child, irrespective
+of all other considerations, excepting his exemption from misery, prays
+in vain, for he prays with a heart which is supremely selfish. Where is
+the parent who could not thus pray? Pray, do I say; such is not prayer.
+Such pleas, however ardent, however long, however importunate, can never
+be consistently answered. Prayer, to be acceptable and effectual, must
+always have the glory of God in view, and be offered in submission to
+the divine will. It must have reference not merely to what is good, but
+to a good which shall consist with those eternal principles of justice
+and mercy, according to which God has decided to conduct the affairs of
+his spiritual kingdom. We may never wish our children to sit with Christ
+in his kingdom to the exclusion of others. We may not wish them
+introduced into that kingdom on other principles, or by other
+instrumentalities, than those which God has recognized and appointed.
+The great law which governs in relation to other matters is to govern
+here. Whatsoever ye do or seek, do and seek, even the salvation of your
+children, for the glory of God.'
+
+And, now, in conclusion, allow me to inquire whether it be not owing to
+this selfish feeling that so many parents, who nevertheless abound in
+prayer for their children, fail in seeing those prayers answered? They
+fail, not because they do not pray often and earnestly, but because they
+desire the salvation of their children rather than a humble, holy,
+self-denying walk with God on earth. They forget that the chief end of
+man is to glorify God, and that the enjoyment of Him is an effect or
+result of such a course.
+
+The object of the writer is not to discourage parents in praying for
+their children, not for a moment, only, dear friend, I show you "a more
+excellent way." I would urge you to abound in prayer still more than you
+do. Pray on--"pray always"--pray, and "never faint." But, at the same
+time, pray so that you may obtain. AMICUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SUPERIOR REVERENCE FOR THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND, as aptly
+represented by the anecdote of the American geologist, who was walking
+out for meditation one Sabbath day in Glasgow. As he passed near the
+cottage of a peasant, he was attracted by the sight of a peculiar
+species of stone, and thoughtlessly broke a piece of it. Suddenly a
+window was raised, and a man's coarse voice reprovingly asked, "Ha! man,
+what are ye doing?" "Why, only breaking a piece of stone." "An', sure,"
+was the quaint reply, "ye are doing more than breaking the stone; ye are
+breaking the Lord's day."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE.--No. 1.
+
+LOVE AND FEAR.
+
+  "Do with thy might whatsoever thy hand findeth to do."
+
+
+I rose one morning, before six, to write letters, and hastened to put
+them into the post-office before breakfast. It was a dark, lowery
+morning, not very inviting abroad, for an April shower was then falling.
+
+I had the privilege of depositing my letters in a box kept by Mr. D., a
+thriving merchant, not very remote from my dwelling. As I entered the
+store, Mr. D. expressed surprise to see me out from home at so early an
+hour, remarking that he was sure but few ladies were even up at that
+time, and much less abroad.
+
+I told him in reply, that I had been accustomed from my childhood to
+strive to "do with my might whatsoever my hand found to do." That
+persons often expressed surprise that one so far advanced in life could
+do so much, and endure so much fatigue and labor, and still preserve
+health. I told Mr. D. that I had myself often reflected upon the fact
+that I could do more in one day, with ease and comfort to myself, and
+could endure more hardships, than most others. And when I came to
+analyze the subject, and go back to first principles, I could readily
+perceive all this had grown out of an irrepressible desire to please and
+honor my parents.
+
+My love towards them, coupled with fear, was perfectly unbounded, and
+became the guiding and governing principles of my whole life. I could
+not bear, when a very young child, to have either of my parents even
+raise a finger, accompanied by a look of disapprobation, and whenever
+they did, I would, as soon as I could, unperceived, seek out some
+retired place where I could give vent to my sorrowful feelings and
+troubled conscience.
+
+That I might not often incur their censure, I strove by all possible
+means to do everything to please them. My parents had a large family of
+children; there was a great deal to be done, and our mother was always
+in feeble health. I felt that I could not do enough, each day, in
+sweeping, dusting, mending, &c., besides the ordinary occupation of each
+day, that I might gratify my father, for he was very careful and tender
+of our mother. I was not conscious of a disposition to outvie my
+brothers and sisters, but when anything of consequence was to be done I
+would exert myself to the utmost in my efforts to accomplish the largest
+share. When we went into the garden or the fields to gather fruits or
+vegetables, I was constantly influenced to be diligent, and to make
+haste and gather all I could, so that on our return home I might receive
+the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful child." So it was in knitting
+and sewing. That I might be able to accomplish more and more each day, I
+would often induce one or more of my sisters to strive with me, to see
+which could do the most in a given period.
+
+So profitable did I find this excitement, that I often carried the
+practice into my hours of study, as when my busy fingers plied the
+needle. And often when I had no one to strive with me, I would strive
+with myself, by watching the clock,--that is, I would see if I could not
+knit or sew this hour more than I did the previous hour, if I could not
+commit to memory more verses, or texts, or lessons, than I had the last
+hour.
+
+In this way I not only cultivated habits of vigorous efforts, but I
+acquired that cheerful, happy disposition which useful occupation is
+always sure to impart. In this way, too, I obtained that kind of
+enthusiasm when anything of importance was to be done, that a boy has
+when he is indulged in going out on a fishing or hunting excursion. A
+boy thus situated, needs no morning summons. On the contrary, he is
+usually on his way to the field of action before it is quite light; and
+it concerns him but little whether he eats or fasts till his toils are
+at an end.
+
+Children, who thus early acquire habits of industry, and a love of
+occupation, instead of living to eat in after life, will eat to live.
+
+Oh, how do early right habits and principles help to form the character,
+and mould the affections, and shape the destiny in all the future plans
+and modes of living. How do they lead their possessor to strive after
+high attainments, not only in this life, but thus lay the foundation for
+activity in the pursuit of high and holy efforts throughout the endless
+ages of eternity.
+
+It will be perceived that the ruling motives of my conduct, in my early
+childhood, towards my parents, were those of love and fear. Indeed these
+are the two great principles that actuate the holy inhabitants of heaven
+towards their Maker, whether they be saints or angels.
+
+It was not the fear of the rod that led me to obey my best of parents.
+It was not all the gifts or personal gratifications that could be
+offered to a child that won my love.
+
+I saw in both of my parents heavenly dispositions, heavenly tendencies,
+drawing them, day by day, towards the great source of all perfection and
+blessedness. I saw the noble and sublime principles of the Gospel acted
+out in the nursery as sedulously as in the sanctuary, in fact far more
+when at home than when abroad, for here there were more ample
+opportunities afforded for their full development than perhaps anywhere
+else. They loved each other with a pure heart, fervently, and they
+sought not only the temporal good of their children, but their eternal
+felicity and happiness. There was no constraint in their daily and
+hourly watchings and teachings, but it was of a ready mind.
+
+They aspired, themselves, after a perfect conformity to the image of the
+blessed Savior--whose name is love--and they taught their children by
+precept, and by their own lovely examples, to walk in his footsteps, who
+said, "Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy."
+
+What powerful motives then have all parents so to demean themselves
+towards each other, and towards their children, as to deserve and to
+secure their filial regard! Parents and children, thus influenced, will
+forever respond to the following beautiful sentiment:
+
+  "Happy the heart where graces reign,
+    Where love inspires the breast;
+  Love is the brightest of the train,
+    And strengthens all the rest."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GOD'S BIBLE, A BOOK FOR ALL.
+
+
+At a meeting of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the American Bible
+Society, May 13, 1852, many thoughts were suggested worthy the special
+attention of all Christian mothers. A few are here registered, in the
+hope that they may continue to call forth the prayers and efforts of all
+Christian parents, and lead them to feel that whatever else they neglect
+in the daily instructions of their children, they cannot safely overlook
+their sacred obligations to see to it that the minds and hearts of their
+children be early imbued with a love and reverence for this Book of
+books.
+
+As was justly remarked, the Bible is the teacher of true philosophy, in
+fact the only fountain of truth, and suggests the best and only plan
+adequate to the conversion of the world.
+
+Let the prayers, then, of all Christian mothers be daily concentrated in
+asking God's blessing upon this noble institution, keeping in mind the
+Savior's last prayer for his beloved disciples, "Sanctify them through
+thy truth: thy word is truth."
+
+We particularly invite attention to a resolution offered on that
+occasion by Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler of Trenton, N.J.:
+
+"_Resolved_, That the adaptedness of the Bible to all conditions of
+society, and all grades of intellect, as shown by past history, brings
+us evidence of its divine origin, and inspires us with hope of its
+future success in enlightening and purifying the world."
+
+Mr. C. remarked--"A wide field swells out before me in this resolution,
+for it is nothing less than the universality of God's Word in its
+complete adaptedness to the possible conditions of humanity. The truth
+which I hold up for you all to gaze upon is, that 'God's Bible is the
+book for all.' Like the air which visits alike the palace and the
+cottage; like the water which meanders its way, or gushes from deep
+fountains for the use of all men; so this book is adapted to the wants
+of all immortal men. It is adapted to every grade of mind and heart,
+rising higher than human intellect ever reached, and descending lower
+than human degradation ever sank.
+
+"Go to that closet in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, and see one of the
+mightiest intellects the world has ever produced, upon whose
+transcendent eloquence a Brougham, a Canning, and the greatest names of
+the age, have hung entranced, bending over the pages of the Book of
+Life. He reads, and writes his thoughts as he reads, until his writings
+become volumes, and the world is blessed with his meditations on the
+whole Bible. So thoroughly does his spirit become imbued with the
+thoughts of this book, that Chalmers was said to have held the whole
+Bible in solution.
+
+"Upon Alpine peaks it spreads a moral verdure which makes their rugged
+valleys smile, and adorns them with flowers of heavenly origin. Upon the
+Virginia plantation, it made Honest John, the happy negro. It was
+adapted to all climates and all conditions of life. It was the only book
+which comforts in the last hour.
+
+"This was vividly illustrated by the closing scene in the life of Sir
+Walter Scott. The window of his chamber was open, through which entered
+the breeze, bearing upon its wings the music of the silvery Tweed, which
+had so often lulled his mighty spirit. His son-in-law was present, to
+whom he said, 'Lockhart, read to me.' Lockhart replied, 'What shall I
+read?' The dying bard turned to him his pale countenance and said,
+'Lockhart, there is but one book!'
+
+"What a tribute from the world's mightiest master of enchantment, who
+had himself penned so many works which were the admiration of his
+fellows, were those brief words uttered, when the spirit hung between
+two worlds, 'There is but one book.' Would you learn true sublimity?
+Throw away Virgil, the Greek and Roman classics, and even Milton and
+Shakspeare, and go to the Bible.
+
+"Amid all turbulence, agitation and danger, there is no other foundation
+upon which we can rest the welfare and peace of society. This is the
+only resort of every scheme of human elevation. This contains the primal
+lessons of all duty. Let reformers recollect this, and let us all gather
+around and protect this pillar of truth. Diffuse this 'blessed book,' as
+one of England's poets, when pressing it to his lips in his dying hour,
+called it. Wheel up this sun of light to the mid-heavens, and cause its
+rays to gleam in every land."
+
+Rev. Mr. Goodell, missionary to Constantinople, remarked, that during
+thirty years residence in Mahomedan countries, he had learned something
+of the importance of that book. The nations of the East are all wrong in
+their conceptions of God. He had often stood upon the goodly mountain,
+Lebanon, and upon the heights around Constantinople, and raised his
+thoughts to God, asking, How long shall this darkness prevail? Without
+this book we could have effected little in our missionary work; but by
+it God hath done great things, whereof we are glad. The Bible was once
+found only in dead languages; now it is translated into the language of
+almost every people with whom we come in contact. Every friend of the
+Bible will rejoice to know that it is becoming the great book of the
+East. Before its translation into the Greco-Armenian, it was a mere
+outside book, kept and admired for its handsome binding, and from a
+superstitious reverence. Now it is an inside book; it has taken hold of
+the heart of the Armenian nation. Once it was looked at; now it is read.
+It has come to assume a great importance in the eyes of that people.
+They have a great anxiety to read. More than one hundred aged women are
+now engaged in learning to read, that they may read the New Testament
+for themselves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit and breathe
+its life into her heart; refine her affections, sanctify her intellect,
+elevate her aims and hallow her physical beauty, and she is, indeed, to
+our race, of all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our
+glory, the perfection of our life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PROMISES.
+
+  "And though to his own hurt he swears,
+  Still he performs his word."
+
+
+I was yet a boy, when one day a gentleman came into the lot where my
+father was superintending the in-gathering of his hay crop, and
+addressing himself to a mower in my father's employment, inquired
+whether he would assist him the following day. He replied, "Yes." "How
+is this," said my father; "are you not engaged to mow for me?" "O yes,"
+said the man. "Why, then," continued my father, "do you promise to mow
+for Gen. K----?" "Why," said the man, "I wish to oblige him; I love to
+oblige everybody." "And so," said my father, "you are willing to incur
+the guilt of falsehood, for you cannot perform your promise to him and
+myself, and in the end you must disappoint one of us; and, maybe,
+seriously injure our interests and your reputation."
+
+Nothing, surely, is more common, it is believed, than this heedless
+manner of making promises which cannot be fulfilled. The modes in which
+such promises are made are multitudinous, but it is not within the
+compass of this article to specify them. That they are utterly wrong,
+and indicate, on the part of those who make them, a light regard for
+truth, is obvious. Besides, they often lay the foundation for grievous
+disappointments, they thwart important plans, derange business
+calculations, give birth to vexatious feelings, cause distrust between
+man and man, and sap the foundations of morality and religion. Promises
+should always be made with due caution and due reservation: "If the Lord
+will," "if life is spared," "if unforeseen circumstances do not
+interpose to prevent." It is always easy to state some conditions, or
+make some such reservations. Or, rather, it would be easy, were it not
+that one is often urged beyond all propriety, to make the promise, as if
+the making of it, of course insured its fulfillment, although a
+thousand circumstances may interfere to prevent it.
+
+This is a subject of vast importance to the community. There are evils
+also connected with it of alarming magnitude, and which all needful
+efforts should be made to remove. Especially should this subject attract
+the attention of parents. The mischief often begins with them and around
+their own hearths. How common it is for parents to make promises to
+their children, while the latter are yet tottering from chair to chair,
+which are never designed to be fulfilled. And, at length, the deception
+is discovered by the little prattlers, and often much earlier than
+parents imagine. Often, too, is the parent reminded of his promise and
+of its non-fulfillment. And, sometimes, this is done days and weeks
+after the promise has been made and neglected. The consequence is, that
+the child comes to feel that his parent has little or no regard to truth
+himself, and that truth is a matter of minor importance. So that child
+grows up. So he goes forth into society, and enters upon business. Will
+he be likely to forget the lessons thus early taught him, and the
+example thus early set him?
+
+I am able to illustrate this subject by an incident which occurred in my
+own experience within the last two months. I must tell the story in my
+own simple way, and as it is entirely truthful, I hope salutary
+impressions may be made in every quarter where they are needed, and
+where this article shall be read.
+
+Having occasion for the services of a mechanic in relation to a certain
+piece of work, I called upon one in my neighborhood, then in the
+employment of a gentleman, and was informed, on stating my object, that
+as he should be through with his present engagement on the evening of a
+certain day, he would commence my work on the following morning. The
+specified time arrived, but the man did not appear. I waited two or
+three days, in hourly expectation of his appearance, but was doomed to
+disappointment. At length, I again called upon him and found him still
+in the employment of the gentleman aforenamed. On inquiring the reason
+of his delay, I was informed that on completing his former engagement
+the gentleman had concluded to have more done than he originally
+intended, and insisted upon the continuance of the mechanic in his
+service until his work was entirely finished.
+
+I said to him, "But did you not agree with me for a specified day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did not your engagement with Mr. ---- terminate on the evening previous
+to that day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Were you under obligation to that gentleman beyond that time?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did not your continuance with him involve a violation of your promise
+to me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was not this wrong? and how are you able to justify your conduct?"
+
+"Sir," said he, "you do not understand the matter. I am to blame, but my
+employer is still more to blame. Look at it. I am a mechanic and a poor
+man. I am dependent on my labor for the support of myself and family.
+This gentleman is rich, and gives me a great deal of employment; I do
+not like to disoblige him, and, sir, when I told him, on the termination
+of my engagement to him, that I had promised to enter upon a piece of
+work for you, he would not release me. He claimed that I was in good
+faith bound to work for him till his various jobs were done."
+
+"And did you think so, my friend?"
+
+"No," he replied, "I did not; but he told me that if I did not stay he
+would give me no further employment."
+
+"And so," said I, "you violated your conscience, wronged your own soul,
+disappointed me, and all for the sake of obliging a man who was willing
+that you should suffer in point of conscience and reputation, if his
+selfish purposes might be answered."
+
+"I am sensible," said he, "that I did wrong, but what course shall we
+pursue, who are dependent upon our daily labor, for our support?"
+
+"I admit," said I, "that you and others similarly situated, are under a
+grievous temptation. But honesty, in the long run, is the best policy.
+Acting upon the same principles with the gentleman who has detained you,
+_I_ might hereafter refuse to employ you. And others might refuse, whose
+work you are probably engaged to perform, but are postponing to gratify
+_him_. The consequence of all this is, that your promises will soon pass
+for nothing. You will be considered as a man not of your word, and when
+once your good name is lost, you will become poorer than you now are,
+and remain without employment and without friends."
+
+No one, it is believed, can read the foregoing incident without being
+impressed with the great impropriety chargeable upon the gentleman
+referred to. The temptation he spread before the poor mechanic was
+utterly wrong and unbecoming. It was nothing short of oppression. It was
+bringing his wealth to bear upon a point with which it had no legitimate
+connection. It was placing self before right; it was a reckless
+sacrifice of the interests of others for his own gratification.
+
+That such cases are common, is well known; but their frequency is only a
+proof of the slight regard in which the sacredness of promises is held,
+and to the violation of which employers frequently contribute by the
+temptations which they spread, and the coercion which they practice. We
+do not justify for a single moment the mechanics and laborers who
+violate their pledges. We insist upon it that it is their solemn duty to
+encounter any and every temporal evil rather than sacrifice truth and
+conscience; but it is believed they would seldom be guilty of this
+violation were they not pressed beyond measure by employers.
+
+We must for a moment again advert to parents. You see, friends, what an
+evil exists throughout the community. It is everywhere, and is helping
+to work the ruin of immortal souls. It often begins, it is believed, in
+the family. Parents are guilty, in the first place, and they early
+inoculate their children with the evil. And the infection, once taken,
+is likely to spread and to pervade the whole moral system. It enters
+into other relations of life. It reaches to other departments of duty,
+and tends to destroy our sense of obligation to God. It weakens our
+regard for promises made to the Author of our being. In short, this
+disregard for the fulfillment of sacred promises helps to sap the
+foundations of moral virtue, and to prepare the soul for a world where
+falsehood reigns supreme, and where there is no confidence between man
+and man.
+
+                                VERITAS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TRIALS.
+
+
+The Rev. Wm. Jay has sweetly said of the trials of the people of God:
+"Have they days of affliction? God knows them; knows their source, their
+pressure, how long they have continued, the support they require, and
+the proper time to remove them. Have they days of danger? He knows them,
+and will be a refuge and defense in them. Have they days of duty? He
+knows them, and will furnish the strength and the help they require.
+Have they days of inaction when they are laid aside from their work, by
+accident or disease? He knows them, and says to his servants under every
+privation, 'It is well that it was in thy heart.' Have they days of
+privation when they are denied the ordinances of religion, after seeing
+his power and glory in the temple, and going with the voice of gladness
+to keep holy day? He knows them, and will follow his people when they
+cannot follow him, and be a little sanctuary to them in their losses.
+Have they days of declension and of age in which their strength is fled,
+and their senses fail, and so many of their connection have gone down to
+the dust, evil days, wherein they have no pleasure? He knows them, and
+says, 'I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth. Even down to old age
+I am He, and to hoary hairs will I bear and carry you.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
+
+
+Our friend, Mrs. Sigourney, has, at our request, kindly sent us the
+subjoined hymn and remarks: "The Young Men's Christian Association I
+consider one of the very best designs of this age of philanthropy. I
+send you a hymn, elicited by the Boston branch of this same Society, a
+circumstance which will not, I hope, diminish its adaptation to your
+pages."
+
+We cannot omit to ask mothers and daughters to give this Association
+their countenance and prayers. We trust it will be the means of
+accomplishing great good.
+
+HYMN FOR THE "YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION."
+
+  GOD of our children! hear our prayer,
+    When from their homes they part,
+  Those idols of our fondest care,
+    Those jewels of the heart.
+
+  We miss their smile in hall and bower;
+    We miss their voice of cheer;
+  We speak their names at midnight hour
+    When none but Thou dost hear.
+
+  God of their spirits! be their stay,
+    When from their parents' side,
+  Their boat is launched to find its way
+    O'er life's tempestuous tide.
+
+  Tho' toss'd 'mid breakers wild and strong,
+    Its veering helm should stray
+  Where syrens wake the mermaid song,
+    Guide thou their course alway.
+
+  Oh, God of goodness, bless the band
+    Who, moved by Christian love,
+  Take the young stranger's friendless hand
+    And lead his thoughts above.
+
+  May their own souls the sunbeam feel,
+    They thus have freely given,
+  And be the plaudit of their zeal
+    The sweet "_well-done_" of heaven.
+
+L. H. S.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+NAOMI AND RUTH.
+
+
+It would be only presumption in us to attempt giving in any other than
+the beautifully simple words of Scripture the story of Ruth and her
+mother-in-law. The narration is inimitable, and needs nothing to make it
+stand out like a picture before the mind. Suffice it then that we now
+attend only to the lessons which may be gathered from it, and endeavor
+to profit by them through all our coming lives. Nor let any think the
+lessons afforded by these four short chapters few or easily acted upon,
+though they may be soon comprehended. They will amply reward earnest
+study and persevering practice.
+
+The first thing which wins our admiration is Ruth's faith. She had been
+educated in the degrading worship of Chemosh, the supreme deity of Moab.
+Probably no conception of the one living God had been formed in her mind
+until her acquaintance with the Jewish youth, the son of Elimelech and
+Naomi. How long she had the happiness of a wife we are not informed. We
+know it was only a few years. But during that period she had learned to
+put such confidence in Jehovah, that she was willing to forsake country
+and friends, even the home of her childhood and beloved parents, and go
+forth with her mother-in-law to strange scenes, and willing to brave
+penury and vicissitude that she might be numbered among His people.
+Firmly she adhered to her resolution. The entreaties of Naomi--the
+thought of her mother--the prospects which might await her in her own
+land--even the retreating form of Orpah--nothing had power to prevail
+over her desire to see Canaan and unite in the worship of her husband's
+God. "The Lord recompense thy work," said Boaz to her, "and a full
+reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou
+art come to trust." He is not unfaithful, and that reward was made
+sure. "Of the life that now is," the promise speaks, and it was
+fulfilled to her. Of an undying honorable name it says nothing, but that
+is also awarded her. "Upon a monument which has already outlasted
+thrones and empires, and which shall endure until there be a new heaven
+and a new earth--upon the front page of the New Testament is inscribed
+the name of RUTH. Of her came David--of her came a long line of
+illustrious and good men--of her came Christ."
+
+Why will we not learn--why will we not daily and constantly act upon the
+truth that implicit faith is pleasing to God? "None of them that trust
+in Him shall be desolate."
+
+There is a fund of instruction also in the few glimpses which we gain of
+the intercourse of Naomi and Ruth as they journey on and after their
+arrival in Canaan. How does the law of love dictate and pervade every
+word and action! Naomi had once been an honored wife and mother in
+Judah, and far above the reach of want. But in "the days when the judges
+ruled," those days during which "every man did what was right in his own
+eyes," her husband had deserted his people; and now on her return she
+was probably penniless, her inheritance sold until the year of jubilee,
+and she in her old age, unable by her own efforts to gain a subsistence.
+The poor in Israel were not forlorn, but it required genuine humility on
+Ruth's part, and a sincere love for her mother-in-law, to induce her to
+avail herself of the means provided. She hesitated not. It was "in the
+beginning of the barley harvest" that they came to Bethlehem, and as
+soon as they were settled, apparently in a small and humble tenement,
+she went forth to glean in some field after the reapers, not knowing how
+it would fare with her, but evidently feeling that all depended on her
+labors. The meeting of the mother and daughter at the close of that
+important day is touching indeed. The joy with which the aged Naomi
+greets her only solace, and the kind and motherly care with which she
+brings the remains of her own scanty meal, which she had laid aside, her
+eager questions, and Ruth's cheerful replies as she lays down her burden
+and relates the pleasant events of the day--what gratitude to God--what
+dawning hopes--what a delightful spirit of love appear through all! And
+as days pass, how tenderly does Naomi watch over the interests of her
+child, and how remarkable is the deference to her wishes which ever
+animates Ruth. Even in the matter of her marriage,--a subject on which
+young people generally feel competent to judge for themselves,--she is
+governed entirely by her mother's directions. "All that thou sayest unto
+me I will do." Said a young lady in our hearing, not long since, "When I
+am married I shall desire that my husband may have no father or mother."
+This is not an unusual wish, nor is it uttered in all cases lightly and
+without reason. We know of a mother who would never consent that her
+only son should bring his wife to dwell under her roof, although she was
+entirely satisfied with his choice, and was constantly doing all in her
+power to promote their happiness. What were her reasons? She was a
+conscientious Christian and fond mother, but she would not risk their
+mutual happiness. She felt herself unable to bear the test, and she was
+unwilling to subject her children to it. Often do we hear expressions of
+pity bestowed on the young wife who is so "unfortunate" as to be
+compelled to live with her mother-in-law, and many are the sighs and
+nods and winks of gossip over the trials which some of their number
+endure from their sons' wives. Why is all this? The supreme selfishness
+of our human nature must answer. Having a common love for one object,
+the mother for her son, the wife for her husband, they should be bound
+by strong ties, and their mutual interests should produce mutual
+kindness and sympathy, and this would always be the case if each were
+governed by the spirit of the Gospel. But alas! love of self rather than
+the pure love inculcated by Jesus Christ most often rules. Brought
+together from different paths, unlike, it may be, in natural
+temperament, perhaps differing in opinion, the mother wishing to retain
+her wonted control over her son, the wife feeling hers the superior
+claim, there springs up a contest which is the fruitful source of
+unhappiness, and which mars many an otherwise fine character. Before us
+in memory's glass as we write, sits one of a most fair and beautiful
+countenance, but over which hang dark clouds of care, and from the eyes
+drop slowly bitter tears. She is what all around her would call a happy
+wife and mother. Fortune smiles upon her, and the blessing of God abides
+by the hearth-stone. Her husband is a professing Christian, as is also
+his yet youthful-looking mother and the wife herself. Beautiful children
+gambol around her, and look wonderingly in her face as they see those
+tears. What is the secret of her unhappiness? She deems hers a very hard
+lot, and yet if we rightly judge, could her sorrow be resolved to its
+elements, it would be found that the turmoil of her spirit is occasioned
+solely by the fact that she finds it hard to maintain her fancied
+rights, her desired superiority over her husband and servants, because
+of the presence of her calm, firm, dignified mother-in-law, whose very
+lips seem chiseled to indicate that they speak only to be obeyed. What
+would be the result if the tender, considerate love of Naomi and the
+yielding spirit of Ruth were introduced to the bosom of each?
+
+We cannot leave this record of Holy Writ without commenting also on the
+remarkable state of society which existed in Bethlehem in those far
+distant days. When Naomi returned after an absence of ten years--an
+absence which to many might have seemed very culpable--with what
+enthusiastic greetings was she received. "The whole city was moved." It
+made no difference that she "went out full but had returned empty;" nor
+did they stop to consider that "the Lord had testified against her." The
+truest sympathy was manifested for her and for the stranger who had
+loved her and clung to her. In her sorrow they clustered around to
+comfort her, and when the bright reverse gave her again an honored name
+and "a restorer of her life" in her young grandson, they were eager to
+testify their joy. The apostolic injunction, "Rejoice with them that do
+rejoice, and weep with them that weep," seems to have been strictly
+obeyed in Bethlehem. The distinctions of society, although as marked
+apparently as in our own time, seem not to have caused either
+unhappiness nor the slightest approach to unkind or unchristian
+feeling. Witness the greeting between Boaz and the reapers on his
+harvest field. "And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the
+reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless
+thee." Boaz was "a mighty man of wealth;" he had his hired workmen
+around him, and in the same field was found the poor "Moabitish damsel,"
+gleaning here and there the scattered ears, her only dependence. Yet we
+find them all sitting together in the hut which was erected for shelter,
+and eating together the parched grain which was provided for the noon's
+refreshment, while Boaz enters into a conversation with Ruth which
+indicates his truly noble and generous character, and speaks words which
+are like balm to the sorrowing spirit. "Thou hast comforted me and
+spoken to the heart of thy handmaid," she said as she rose to leave the
+tent and felt herself no longer a stranger, since one so excellent and
+so exalted in station appreciated and sympathized with her. We see
+little in these Gospel days and in this favored land which will compare
+with the genuine kindliness which breathes in every word and act
+recorded in the book of Ruth.
+
+But the most surprising revelation is made in the account which follows
+the scene in the tent. What exalted principle--what respect for
+woman--what noble virtue must have characterized those among whom a
+mother could send her daughter at night to perform the part assigned to
+Ruth, apparently without a fear of evil, and receive her again, not only
+unharmed, but understood, honored, and wedded by the man to whom she was
+sent, and that notwithstanding her foreign birth and dependent
+situation, and fettered with the condition that her first-born son must
+bear the name and be considered the child of a dead man!
+
+We have friends who will fasten their faith on the New Testament only,
+and can see nothing in the Old akin to it in precept or spirit. We
+commend to them the Book of Ruth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.
+
+     "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+     them."--MATTHEW 6:6.
+
+     (Concluded from page 211.)
+
+
+In the mean time Charlotte ran home for her pennies, and on her return
+met an acquaintance who did not belong to the Sunday-school.
+
+"Where are you going so fast, Charlotte?" said she; "stop, I want to
+show you what a lovely blue ribbon I have just bought at Drake's, only
+four cents a yard, and half a yard makes a neck ribbon; isn't it sweet?
+just look;" and she displayed a bright blue ribbon to the admiring gaze
+of Charlotte.
+
+"It is very pretty," said Charlotte longingly, "and I wish I could
+afford to buy one like it, but I've got no money."
+
+"What is that in your hand?" asked the other, as she espied the pennies
+in Charlotte's hand.
+
+"That is mission money," she replied; "I am going to give it to the
+missionary to buy Bibles for the heathen."
+
+"Buy fiddlesticks!" said the other, with a loud laugh. "Why, you _are_ a
+little simpleton to send your money the dear knows where, when you might
+buy a whole yard of this beautiful ribbon and have a penny left!"
+
+Charlotte looked wishfully at the ribbon, and sighed as she answered,
+"But I earned this money on purpose to give."
+
+"More goose you to work for money to give away; but if you are so very
+generous, buy half a yard, and then you will have three cents left to
+give, that is enough I am sure; but do as you like, I must go. They have
+got some splendid pink, that would become you exceedingly. Good bye;"
+and so saying she left her.
+
+Charlotte walked thoughtfully on; her love of dress and finery was a
+ruling passion, and had been aroused at a most unfortunate moment; she
+had never possessed a piece of new ribbon, and she longed to see how it
+would look with her white cape. Thus thinking she arrived at Mr. Drake's
+store, and the first thing she saw temptingly displayed in a glass case
+upon the counter was the identical ribbon she coveted. There were
+customers in the store, and Charlotte had to wait her turn; during those
+few moments various thoughts passed through her mind.
+
+"If I buy the ribbon what will Annie say?" suggested conscience. "Why
+need you care for Annie?" whispered temptation, "the ribbon will look
+pretty and becoming; you earned the money, and beside, Annie need not
+know anything about it; tell her you had not time to change the money,
+and throw the pennies quickly in the box; there will be more there, and
+no one will know how much you put in."
+
+Poor Charlotte! she did not know that the best way to avoid sin is to
+flee from temptation. The shopman was at leisure, and waited to know
+what she wished. She had not decided what to do; but the ribbon was
+uppermost in her thoughts, and she asked, "What is the price of that
+ribbon?" "Four cents," said the shopman as he quickly unrolled it; "here
+are pink, white, blue and yellow; pink I should think the most becoming
+to you, Miss. How much shall I cut you? enough to trim a bonnet?"
+
+Charlotte was agitated; the man's volubility confused her, and she
+stammered forth, "Half a yard, if you please, sir."
+
+It was cut off, rolled up, and in her hand, and she had paid the two
+cents before she collected her thoughts; and then as she slowly returned
+home, she unfolded her purchase, and tried in her admiration of its gay
+color to forget she had done wrong.
+
+Perhaps if Charlotte had read her Bible she would have remembered how
+Ananias and his wife Sapphira were struck dead for mocking the Lord, by
+pretending they had given all when they had reserved a part of their
+goods. Their sin consisted not so much in keeping back a part as in
+lying unto God; and this sin Charlotte was about to commit by
+pretending to put in the mission box more than she really did.
+
+Sunday morning dawned bright and lovely. Annie was up and tidily dressed
+long before the hour for school. She had time to sing a sweet morning
+hymn, and to feed the tame robins with the crumbs she had carefully
+swept up, and then with her little Bible sat down to study her lesson
+again, and assure herself that she had it perfect. As she read the
+sacred volume, and dwelt upon its precious promises, which her mother
+had explained to her, she felt doubly sorry for those poor people who
+were deprived of so great a blessing; and then she thought of her little
+offering, and wished with all her heart it had been more.
+
+Charlotte, on the contrary, awoke late, after an uneasy slumber, and
+hurriedly eating her breakfast, for which she had but little appetite,
+dressed herself, and opening the box where she kept her little
+treasures, took out the gay pink ribbon, and after a long admiring gaze,
+pinned it carefully about her neck. As she closed the box cover she saw
+the three cents lying in one corner, and hastily put them in her pocket
+with a feeling of self-abasement that made her cheeks glow with shame.
+She ran quickly down stairs, lest her mother should see her and question
+her about the ribbon, for although Mrs. Murray would not have
+disapproved of her daughter's purchase, Charlotte dreaded her mother's
+ridicule for so soon abandoning her new-fangled notions, as she called
+them.
+
+She had promised to call for Annie, and she walked quietly along, hoping
+her friend would not notice the ribbon nor ask to see the money. As she
+slowly approached Mrs. Grey's cottage, she saw Annie's favorite kitten
+jump up in the low window seat to bask in the warm sunshine. Charlotte
+saw the little cat put out her paw to play with something, and just as
+she was opposite the window a small bright piece rolled down into the
+road. She hastened forward and picked it up; it was a bright new
+five-pence.
+
+"This must be Annie's," she thought; and looking in the window she saw
+the room was empty, and Annie's Bible and handkerchief laid on the
+window seat. Puss was busy playing with the leaves of the book, and
+Charlotte walked slowly on with the piece yet in her hand.
+
+"How pretty and bright it looks," she thought. "I wish that I had one to
+give. I know the girls will stare to see Annie put in so much. How lucky
+it was that I passed; if I had not it would have been lost, or some one
+else would have picked it up. I will give it to her in school; I shall
+not keep it, of course." Thus quieting her conscience she walked quickly
+to school, and took her seat among the rest.
+
+How gradual is the descent to sin. Charlotte would have spurned the idea
+of stealing, and yet from desiring to give with a wrong motive she had
+been led on step by step, and when the girl who sat next her asked what
+she had brought, she opened her hand and showed the piece of money.
+
+School had commenced when Annie came in; she looked disheartened, and
+her eyes were red with crying. Charlotte's heart smote her, and could
+she have spoken to Annie, she would doubtless have returned the piece of
+money, but she dared not leave her seat, and after a few moments it was
+whispered around the class that Annie Grey had lost her mission money.
+Then the girls about Charlotte told each other how much she had brought,
+and she began to think,
+
+"What difference will it make if I put it in the box? it is all the
+same, Annie says, who gives the money, so that it is given;" and so when
+the box was handed round she dropped the five cent piece in. Her
+conscience reproved her severely as she glanced at poor Annie, whose
+tears were flowing afresh, and who, when the teacher handed her the box,
+said in low, broken tones, that she had lost her offering and had
+nothing to give.
+
+After dismissal the children crowded around Annie, pitying and
+questioning her. Charlotte moved away, she could not speak to her
+injured friend; but as she passed she heard Annie say, "I laid it on my
+Bible. I was just about tying it in the corner of my pocket handkerchief
+when mother called me away; when I came back it was gone. Kitty was
+sitting in the window, and I suppose must have knocked it down in the
+road. I searched all over the room, and out in the road, but could not
+find it."
+
+"I am really sorry," said one.
+
+"And I, and I," added three or four more.
+
+"Let us go and help her look for it again," said they all, "perhaps we
+may find it yet," for Annie's gentleness had made her beloved by all.
+
+Charlotte's feelings were far from enviable as she went towards home;
+she hated herself and felt perfectly miserable. As soon as she arrived
+at the house she went hastily up stairs, and took off the hateful
+ribbon, as it now appeared, with a feeling of disgust, and throwing
+herself on the bed cried long and bitterly. Charlotte did not know how
+to pray to God to give her a clean heart and forgive her sin; she never
+thought of asking His forgiveness, or confessing her fault; she felt
+sick at heart, restless and unhappy. Such are ever the consequences of
+sin. She ate no dinner, and her mother told her to go and lie down, as
+she did not look well. Charlotte gladly went up stairs again, and after
+another hearty crying spell fell fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke it was evening, and going down stairs she found that her
+mother had gone to visit a neighbor. Charlotte stood out by the door,
+and although it was a lovely summer night, a gloom seemed to her to
+overhang everything. Her little brothers spoke to her, and she answered
+them harshly and sent them away. While she stood idly musing a miserable
+old beggar woman, who bore but an indifferent character in the
+neighborhood, came hobbling along; she came up to the little girl and
+asked an alms. Almost instinctively she put her hand in her pocket, and
+taking thence the three cents placed them with a feeling of relief in
+the beggar's hand. She thought she was doing a good act, and would atone
+for her wicked conduct. The old woman was profuse of thanks, and taking
+from her dirty apron a double handful of sour and unripe fruit, placed
+it in Charlotte's lap and went away.
+
+Charlotte's parents had forbidden her eating unripe fruit; but a day
+begun in sin was not unlikely to end in disobedience. She felt feverish
+and thirsty, and so biting one of the apples went on eating until all
+were gone. She then went up to bed, and feeling afraid to be alone, for
+a bad conscience is always fearful, she closed her eyes and fell almost
+immediately asleep.
+
+She was awakened in the night by sharp and violent pain; she dreaded to
+call her mother, as she would have to tell her what she had been eating,
+and so she bore the suffering as long as she could; but her restless
+tossings and moans aroused her mother, who slept in an adjoining room,
+and hastening in to her daughter, she found her in a high state of
+fever. She did all she could for her, but the next morning Charlotte was
+so much worse that a physician was sent for. She was quite delirious
+when he came, and he pronounced her situation dangerous.
+
+The poor girl raved incessantly about ribbons and Annie's tearful face,
+and seemed to be in great distress of mind. Annie heard that Charlotte
+was very ill, and came to see her. She was shocked to hear her talk so
+wildly, and to see her face flushed with fever. She stayed some time,
+but Charlotte did not know her, although she often mentioned her name.
+When Annie returned home she asked her mother's permission to stay with
+Charlotte as much as possible, which Mrs. Grey cheerfully gave, and went
+to visit her herself.
+
+For a whole week poor Charlotte's fever raged violently, and as Annie or
+her mother were with her constantly, they could not fail to discover
+from the sick girl's ravings that she had taken the lost fivepence.
+Annie, however, who heartily forgave her playmate, never mentioned what
+she heard to her mother, and Mrs. Grey also wisely refrained from
+telling her suspicions. She was better acquainted with the treatment of
+the sick than Mrs. Murray, and she watched over Charlotte with the
+tenderness of a mother. One day Annie sat reading her Bible by the
+bedside when Charlotte awoke from a long sleep, the first she had
+enjoyed, and looking towards Annie said in a feeble voice,
+
+"Oh, dear Annie, is that you?"
+
+The little girl rose, and bending over her sick playmate, begged her in
+a gentle voice to lie still and be quiet.
+
+"I will, I will," answered Charlotte, clasping her hands feebly about
+her friend's neck as she leaned towards her, "if you will only say you
+forgive me. Oh, you know not what a wicked girl I am, and yet it seems
+as if I had been telling everybody."
+
+"Never mind now, dear," whispered Annie, "only keep still or you will
+bring on your fever again."
+
+"I believe I have been very ill, and have said many strange things,"
+murmured Charlotte, "but I know you now and understand what I say. Do
+you think you can forgive me, Annie?"
+
+"Yes, dear Charlotte, and I love you better than ever now, so do not
+talk any more." Annie kissed her tenderly as she spoke, and the sick
+girl laid her head upon the pillow still holding Annie's hand in her
+own.
+
+From this time Charlotte rapidly improved, and one afternoon, when her
+mother and Mrs. Grey and Annie were sitting with her, she told them the
+whole truth about the lost money, and begged them to forgive her. Little
+Annie, whose tears were flowing fast, kissing her again and again,
+assured her of her entire forgiveness, and told her never to mention it
+again.
+
+Mrs. Grey then said, "I think that we all forgive your fault, my dear
+child, but there is One whose forgiveness you must first seek before
+your repentance can be sincere. The sin you have committed against God
+is far greater than any injury you have done us. In the first place, my
+dear Charlotte, you wished to give with a wrong motive; you did not seek
+to please God and serve Him, by giving your trifle with a sincere heart
+and earnest prayers. You sought rather the praise of your teachers; and
+worse even than this, you wished to awaken the envy of your companions.
+Such a gift, however large, could never be acceptable to the just God,
+who knows all hearts, and bids us to do good in secret and He will
+reward us openly. You see, my little girl, how one misstep makes the way
+for another,--how this pride begat envy, and envy covetousness, and
+then how quickly did deceit and dishonesty and disobedience come after.
+Do not think me harsh, my dear child, from my heart I forgive you; your
+punishment has been severe, but I trust it will be to you a well-spring
+of grace; and now let us humbly ask the forgiveness and blessing of that
+just and yet merciful God who for Jesus' sake will hear our prayers."
+
+They knelt, and Mrs. Grey made a touching and earnest prayer; even Mrs.
+Murray was affected to tears; she felt ashamed of her daughter's
+conduct; she knew she herself was to blame, and this event had a good
+effect upon her future conduct.
+
+After a little while Charlotte asked for her box, and taking out the
+pink ribbon placed it in Mrs. Grey's hand and begged her to burn it, as
+she could not bear to see it.
+
+"No," said Mrs. Grey, "keep it, Charlotte; it will remind you of your
+fatal error, and perhaps, through God's blessing, may sometimes lead you
+from the path of sin into that of holiness."
+
+Charlotte took her friend's advice, and after her recovery never gave
+utterance to a falsehood. She and Annie became Sunday-school teachers,
+and through the grace of God Charlotte was the means of bringing her
+whole family into the fold of the Good Shepherd; and while she lived she
+always carefully treasured the pink ribbon, which was a memento alike of
+her fault and her sincere repentance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LETTER FROM A FATHER TO A SON.
+
+
+MY DEAR SON:--Seldom, if ever, have I perused a letter of
+deeper interest to myself as a father, than the one you lately addressed
+to your sister. Long had it been my daily prayer that the Spirit of God
+would impress you with the importance of becoming a Christian; from your
+letter I infer that you are anxiously inquiring after the "great
+salvation." It is all-important that you be guided aright. _What must
+you do?_
+
+The Bible should be our guide in matters involving our spiritual
+interests, and we need not fear to follow its directions. The Bible
+declares that in order to be saved the sinner must "_repent_." This is
+the first step.
+
+But what is it to repent? Let me tell you. Suppose, then, that a person
+spreads a false and injurious report about another, by which his
+character is wounded, his influence lessened, and his business
+destroyed. This is wrong. Of this wrong, the injurer at length becoming
+sensible, and deeply regretting it, repairs to the one whom he has
+injured, confesses the wrong, seeks forgiveness, does all in his power
+to make amends, and offends no more. This is repentance.
+
+Now, when such sorrow is exercised toward God for wrong done to Him,
+when that wrong is deeply deplored, is honestly confessed, and is
+followed by a permanent reformation, that is repentance toward God. Such
+repentance God requires; nor can one become a Christian who does not
+exercise it. This is one unalterable condition of salvation. I do not
+mean that the penitent sinner will never afterwards, in no instance, sin
+again. He may sometimes, again, do wrong, for so long as he is in the
+world imperfection will pertain to him; but the ruling power of sin will
+be broken in his heart. He may sometimes sin; but whenever he does he
+will lament it. He will retire to his closet, and while there alone with
+God his tears will flow. Oh! how will he pray and wrestle that he may be
+forgiven; and what solemn resolutions will he make to sin no more! This
+he will continue to do month after month, and year after year, as long
+as he lives, as long as he ever does any wrong. To forsake sin becomes a
+principle of his life; to confess and forsake it, a habit of his soul.
+Repentance, then, is the first step.
+
+But the Bible adds, "Repent and _believe_ on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
+thou shalt be saved." Belief, or faith, as it is called, is another
+exercise required in order to be saved. What now is _faith_? Let me
+illustrate this.
+
+Suppose a person is standing on the branch of a tree. It appears to be
+sufficiently firm to bear him, and he feels secure. But presently he
+perceives that it is beginning to break, and if it break he may be
+dashed on the rocks below. What shall he do? He looks abroad for help.
+At this critical moment a person presents himself at the foot of the
+tree, and says, "Let go, let go, and I will catch you." But he is
+afraid. He fears that the person may not be able, or may be unwilling to
+save him. But the branch continues to break, and destruction is before
+him. Meanwhile the kind-hearted person below renews his assurance, "Let
+go, let go, confide in me and I'll catch you." At last the person on the
+branch becomes satisfied that no other hope remains for him, so he says,
+"I'll do as this friend bids me; I'll trust him." He lets go, falls, and
+the other catches him. This is _faith_, or in other words it is
+_confidence_.
+
+Now the sinner is liable to fall under the wrath of God for the wrong he
+has done, and there to perish. He may repent of that wrong, and
+repentance is most reasonable, and is, we have seen, required; but
+repentance of itself never repairs a wrong. One may repent that he has
+killed another, but that does not restore life. One may be sorry that he
+has broken God's commands, but that does not repair the dishonor done to
+the Divine government. That government must be upheld. How can it be
+done? I will tell you how it has been done. Christ consented to take the
+sinner's place. On the cross he suffered for and instead of the sinner;
+and God has decided that whosoever, being penitent for sin, will confide
+in his Son, or trust him, shall be saved.
+
+Sinners are wont to put a high value upon some goodness which they fancy
+they possess, or upon good actions which they imagine they have done.
+These, they conceive, are sufficient to save them; and sinners generally
+feel quite secure. How little concerned, my son, have you been. But
+sinners mistake as to their goodness. They are all "dead in trespasses
+and sins." They are under condemnation. They are in imminent danger. Any
+day they may fall into the hands of an angry God. Sinners under
+conviction see this and feel this. The branch of self-righteousness on
+which they stand is insufficient to bear them. By-and-by it begins to
+give way. When the sinner feels this he cries, "What shall I do? Who
+will save me?"
+
+Now Christ is commissioned to save, and when the poor sinner sees that
+he is about to perish, and in that state cries for help, Christ comes to
+him and says, "Let go all hope in yourself; let go dependence upon every
+other thing; trust to me and I will save you." "Come, for all things are
+ready." But may be the sinner is afraid. Will Christ do as he promises?
+Is he able to save? Well, the sinner looks round--he hesitates--perhaps
+prays--weeps--promises; but while all these are well enough in their
+places, they never of themselves bring peace and safety to the anxious
+heart. At length he sees and feels that there is no one but Christ, who
+stands as it were at the bottom of the tree, that can save him. And now
+he lifts up his voice and cries, "Lord, save me, or I perish." Into the
+hands of Christ he falls, and from that moment he is safe. This is
+Gospel faith or confidence.
+
+And this repentance and faith which I have described are necessary in
+order to salvation. So the Bible decides; and whenever a soul exercises
+them that soul is a Christian soul, and that man is a Christian man.
+
+There is yet one question further of great moment. You hope, perhaps,
+that you are a Christian--that you have truly repented, and do exercise
+true faith. You ask, _How shall one decide?_
+
+I will tell you this also. Suppose you agree with a nurseryman to
+furnish you with a tree of a particular kind. He brings you one. You
+inquire, "Is this the kind of tree I engaged?" He replies, "Yes." But
+you say, "How do I know? It looks indeed like the tree in question, and
+you say it is; but there are other trees which strongly resemble it." He
+rejoins, "I myself grafted it, and I almost know." "Ah! yes, _almost_;
+but are you certain?" "No," he replies, "I am not absolutely certain,
+and no one can be sure at this moment." "But what shall I do?" you ask.
+"I want that particular tree." "Well," says he, "I will suggest one
+infallible test. Set it out on your grounds. It will soon bear _fruit_,
+and that will be a sure and satisfactory test." "Is there no other way?"
+you ask--"no shorter, better way?" "None," he replies. "This is the only
+sure evidence which man can have."
+
+Let us apply these remarks. As there is but one infallible test as to a
+tree, so there is but one in respect to a man claiming to be a
+Christian. "What _fruit_ does he bear?" "By their fruits," says our
+Savior, "ye shall know them." Only a good tree brings forth good fruit.
+Here, then, we have a plain, simple, and, I may add, infallible rule for
+testing ourselves. What kind of fruit are we bearing? What fruit must we
+bear? "The fruits of the Spirit," says the Bible, "are love, joy, peace,
+long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," &c. If, then, we have been
+born of the Spirit, _i.e._, born again, or in other words, if we are
+Christians, we shall bear the fruits of the Spirit.
+
+I have known persons suggest various marks or tests by which to try
+themselves; but I have never found any which could certainly be depended
+upon besides the one which I have named--_the fruit which one brings
+forth_. The application of this test requires time. For evidence of
+Christian character, a person must examine himself month after month and
+year after year. His great aim must be to glorify God. He will,
+therefore, strive to keep his commandments. He will shun all known evil,
+and let others see that he sets a high value upon all that is "lovely
+and of good report." He will pray, not one day or one month, but
+habitually. His life will be a life of prayer, and in all the duties of
+the Christian profession he will endeavor to persevere. He will find
+himself imperfect, and will sometimes fail; but when he fails he will
+not sink down in despair and give up, but he will repent and say, "I'll
+do better next time;" and thus he will go forward gathering strength.
+Many trials and difficulties he will find, but the way will grow
+smoother and easier. His evidence will increase. The path of the
+righteous is as the light which shines brighter and brighter unto the
+perfect day.
+
+And now, my dear son, are you willing to set out in all sober
+earnestness so to live, not one day, but always? If you are, God will
+bless and aid you. You will be a happy boy, and as you grow older you
+will be happier still; and in the end you will go to God and to your
+pious friends now in heaven, or who may hereafter reach that blissful
+abode, and spend an eternity in loving, praising and serving God. This
+is the constant prayer of your affectionate father.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN OF THE PARSONAGE.
+
+BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.
+
+
+Little Charlie, the youngest child of our pastor, was the delight of all
+the household, but especially of the infirm grand-mother, to whose aid
+and solace he devoted his little efforts. He was a beautiful and active
+child, of nearly three years, and was to the parsonage what the father
+emphatically called him,--its "_fountain of joy_." But little Charlie
+was suddenly taken from it, after an illness of a few hours. A week
+afterward, FANNY, a beautiful and highly intelligent child of
+five years, died of the same fearful disease, scarlet fever. The
+following little poems were intended as sketches of the characteristics
+of the two lovely children.
+
+Some three years after, death bore away also little EMMA, a
+child two years old, who had in some measure replaced the lost children
+of the parsonage. To express the sparkling and exuberant vivacity of
+this last darling of friends very dear to the writer, has been the
+object of another simple lay. There are smitten hearts enough in the
+homes to which this magazine finds its way to respond to notes that
+would commemorate the infant dead.
+
+
+LITTLE CHARLIE.
+
+  Beside our pilgrim path there sprang
+    A pleasant little rill,
+  Whose murmur, ever in our ear,
+    Was cheerful music still.
+
+  The earliest rays of brightening morn,
+    Back to our eyes it flashed,
+  And onward through the livelong day,
+    In tireless sport it dashed.
+
+  We loved the little sparkling rill,
+    We sunned us in its glance;--
+  The turf looked green where, near our feet,
+    It kept its joyous dance.
+
+  And welcome to our weariness
+    Was the clear draught it gave;
+  E'en way-worn age took heart and bowed,
+    Its aching brow to lave.
+
+  But where is now our pleasant rill,
+    We miss it from our side;
+  We looked, and it was at its full--
+    We turned, and it was dried.
+
+  Oh Father.--thou whose gracious hand
+    Bestowed the boon at first,
+  A parched and desert land is this--
+    Let not thy servants thirst!
+
+  Fountains of joy at thy right hand
+    Are gushing evermore--
+  Bid them for us, thy fainting ones,
+    Their rich abundance pour.
+
+
+FANNY.
+
+  We miss thee on the threshold wide.
+                             Smiling little Fanny!
+  Thine offered hand was wont to guide
+  Our footsteps to thy mother's side,
+                             Ready little Fanny!
+
+  We miss the welcome of thy face,
+                             Winning little Fanny!
+  We miss thy bright cheek's rounded grace
+  Thy clear blue eyes' confiding gaze,
+                             Lovely little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thy glowing earnestness,
+                              Guileless little Fanny!
+  We miss thy clasping arms' caress,
+  The solace of thy tenderness,
+                              Loving little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thy haste at school-time bell,
+                              Docile little Fanny!
+  Learning with eager face to spell,
+  Thy Sabbath verses conning well,
+                              Studious little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thee at the hour of prayer,
+                              Gentle little Fanny!
+  Thy sweet low voice and thoughtful air,
+  Reading God's word with earnest care,
+                              Serious little Fanny!
+
+  The hour of play brings woeful dearth,
+                              Merry little Fanny!
+  _With thee the voice of childhood's mirth,_
+  _Died from about our twilight hearth_,
+                              Joyous little Fanny!
+
+  But angels' gain doth our loss prove,
+                              Precious little Fanny!
+  Now dwelleth with our God above[C]
+  That little one whose life was love,
+                              Blessed little Fanny!
+
+
+EMMA.
+
+  A floweret on the grassy mound
+    Of buried hopes sprang up;--
+  Tears fell upon its bursting leaves
+    And gemmed its opening cup.
+
+  But such a rosy sun-light fell
+    Upon those tear-drops there,
+  That no bright crystals of the morn
+    Such diamond-hues might wear.
+
+  No glancing wing of summer-bird
+    Was ever half so gay
+  As that fair flower--no insect's hues
+    Shone with such changeful play.
+
+  It nodded gaily to the touch
+    Of every wandering bee,
+  Its petals tossed in every breeze,
+    And scattered odors free.
+
+  And they who watched the pleasant plant
+    In its bright bursting bloom,
+  Hailed in its growth their bower of rest,--
+    Solace for years to come.
+
+  But He who better knew their need
+    Laid its fair blossoms low;--
+  Between their souls and heaven's clear light
+    Tendril nor leaf might grow.
+
+  Then oh! how sad the grassy mounds
+    Its graceful growth had veiled!--
+  How sere and faded was their life,
+    Its fragrance all exhaled;--
+
+  Till from the blue o'erarching sky,
+    A clearer beam was given,
+  A light that showed them _labor_ here,
+    And promised _joy_ in heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 2.
+
+
+I shall attempt to show by an every-day sort of logic, rather than by
+any set argument, that young children, when religiously educated, do at
+a very early age comprehend the being of a God,--that the mind is so
+constituted that to such prayer is usually an agreeable service,--that
+in times of sickness or difficulty, or when they have done wrong, they
+do usually find relief in looking to God for relief and for forgiveness.
+
+I have known quite young children, in a dying state, when their parents
+have hesitated as to the expediency of referring, in the presence of the
+child, to the period of dissolution as near, in some paroxysm of
+distress at once soothed and quieted by the strains of agonizing prayer
+of the father, that relief might be afforded to the little sufferer,
+commending it to Jesus.
+
+From my own early experience I cannot but infer that young children do
+as readily comprehend the sublime doctrine of a superintending
+providence as the man of gray hairs. We know from reason and revelation
+that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that the earth showeth
+forth his handiwork--day unto day utterreth speech, and night unto night
+showeth forth knowledge of him.
+
+As soon therefore as a child begins to reason and to ask questions, "Who
+made this?" and "who made that?" it can understand that "the great and
+good God made heaven and earth." Indeed this truth is so self-evident
+that the heathen who have not the Bible are said to be without excuse if
+they do not love and worship the only living and true God, as God.
+
+The man, therefore, of fourscore years, though he may understand all
+things else,--how to chain the lightning, to analyze all earthly
+substances, to solve every problem in Euclid, yet in matters of Gospel
+faith, before he can enter the kingdom of God, must come down to the
+capacity of a little child, and take all upon trust, and believe, and
+obey, and acquiesce, simply on the ground, "My Father told me so."
+
+One of the first things I remember with distinctness as having occurred
+in the nursery, related to the matter of prayer. One night when a sister
+a year and a half older than myself had, as usual, repeated all our
+prayers suited to the evening, which had been taught to us, from a
+sudden impulse I made up a prayer which I thought better expressed my
+feelings and wants than any which I had repeated. My sister, who was
+more timid, was quite excited on the occasion. She said that as I did
+not know how to make up prayers, God would be very angry with me. We
+agreed to refer the case in the morning to our mother. When we came to
+repeat our morning prayers, the preceding transaction came to mind, and
+we hurried as fast as possible to dress, each one eager first to obtain
+the desired verdict.
+
+Almost breathless with excitement, we stated the affair to mother. Her
+quick reply was, "The Bible says that Hezekiah, king of Israel, had been
+sick, and he went upon the house-top, and his noise was as the
+chattering of a swallow, but the Lord heard him." Without asking any
+further questions, ever after we both framed prayers for ourselves.
+
+Soon after this occurrence a sudden death occurred in our neighborhood,
+and my mind was deeply affected. I went stealthily into our spare
+chamber to offer up prayer, feeling the need of pardon. Just as I knelt
+by the bedside, my eldest sister opened the door. Seeing her surprise at
+seeing me there and thus engaged, I was about to rise, when she came up
+to me, put her arms about my neck, kissed me, and without saying
+anything, left the room. This tacit approval of my conduct, so
+delicately manifested, won for her my love and my confidence in her
+superior wisdom; and though nearly sixty years with all their important
+changes have intervened, yet that trifling act is still held in grateful
+remembrance.
+
+One such incident is sufficient to show the immense influence which an
+elder brother or sister may have, for weal or for woe, over the younger
+children. The smothered falsehood, the petty theft, the robbing of a
+bird's-nest, the incipient oath, the first intoxicating draught, the
+making light of serious things, with the repeated injunction--"Don't
+tell mother!" may foster in a younger brother the germ of evil
+propensities, and lead on till some fatal crime is the result.
+
+When I was nine years old a letter was received by my father, the
+contents of which set us children in an uproar of joy. It was from our
+father's elder brother, who resided in a city seventy miles distant from
+our country residence. This letter stated if all was favorable we might
+expect all his family to become our guests on the following week, our
+aunt and cousins to remain in our family some length of time, and be
+subjected to the trial of inoculation from that dreaded
+disease--small-pox. We were all on tip-toe to welcome our friends, and
+especially our uncle, who from time to time had supplied us with many
+rare books, so that we had now quite a valuable library of our own. All
+our own family of children were at the same time put into the hospital.
+I shall never forget "O dear," "O dear, I have got the symptoms, I have
+got the symptoms!" that went around among us children.
+
+I cannot but take occasion to offer a grateful tribute of thankfulness
+that we are not now required by law, as then, to subject our children to
+such an ordeal and to such strict regimen. Who ever after entirely
+recovered from a dread of "hasty pudding and molasses" without salt?
+
+When all was safely over, and my uncle came to take his family home,
+there seemed to have been added a new tie of affection by this recent
+intimacy, and it was agreed that my uncle's eldest son, a year or two
+older than myself, should remain, and for one year recite to my father,
+and that I should spend that time in my uncle's family, and become the
+companion of a cousin three years younger, who never had a sister.
+
+I have often wished that such exchanges might be more frequently made by
+brothers and sisters and intimate friends. It is certainly a cheap and
+admirable method of securing to each child those kind and faithful
+attentions which money will not always command. I needed the polish of
+city life--the freedom and the restraints imposed in well-disciplined
+schools, where personal graces and accomplishments were considered
+matters of importance as well as furniture for the mind; while my cousin
+would be benefited in body and mind by such country rambles, such
+fishing and hunting excursions, such feats of ball-playing, as "city
+folks" know but little about. Some fears were expressed lest this boy
+should lose something by forsaking his well-organized school, and fall
+behind his classmates. But I have heard that cousin say, as to literary
+attainments, this year was but the beginning of any high intellectual
+attainments; for till now he had never learned how to study so that
+intellectual culture became agreeable to him. And what was gratifying,
+it was found on his return home that he was far in advance of his
+classmates. So needful is it often to have the body invigorated, and
+the mind should receive a right bias, and that such kind of stimulants
+be applied as my father was able to give to the wakeful, active mind, of
+his aspiring nephew.
+
+Many times after my return home did my mother bless "sister N----" for
+the many useful things she had taught me. My highest ambition had been
+to iron my uncle's large fine white cravats, which, being cut bias, was
+no easy attainment for a child.
+
+I cannot well describe my astonishment and grief of heart, on being
+installed in my new and otherwise happy, delightful home, to find
+wanting a _family altar_. I had indeed the comfort of knowing that in my
+own distant home the "absent child" was never for once forgotten, when
+the dear circle gathered for family worship.
+
+So certain was the belief which my parents entertained that an
+indispensable portion was to be obtained for each child in going in unto
+the King of kings, that in case of a mere temporary sickness, if at all
+consistent, family prayer was had in the room of the invalid. Not even a
+blessing was invoked at the morning meal till every child was found in
+the right seat. In case of a delinquency, perhaps not a word of rebuke
+was uttered, but that silent, _patient waiting_, was rebuke enough for
+even the most tardy.
+
+It was felt, I believe, by each member of the family, that there was
+meaning in the every-day, earnest petition, "May we all be found
+_actually_ and _habitually_ ready for death, our great and last change."
+My father did not pray as an old lady is said to have done each day,
+"that God would bless her descendants as long as grass should grow or
+water should run." But there was something in his prayers equivalent to
+this. He did seldom omit to pray that God would bless his children and
+his children's children to the latest generation.
+
+Oh how often, while absent, did my mind revert to that assembled group
+at home! Nothing, I believe, serves to bind the hearts of children so
+closely to their parents and to each other as this taking messages for
+each other to the court of heaven. Never before did I realize that each
+brother and sister were to me a second self.
+
+I was a most firm believer in the truth of the Bible, and I have often
+thought more inclined to take the greater part as literal than most
+others. I had often read with fear and trembling the passage, "I will
+pour out my fury upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not
+upon my name." To dwell in a Christian land and be considered no better
+than heathen--what a dreadful threatening; a condemnation, however, not
+above the comprehension of a child. Here I was in such a family, and
+here I was expected to remain for a full year. I do not recollect to
+have entertained any fears for my personal safety, yet every time a
+thunder-storm seemed to rack the earth, and as peal after peal with
+reverberated shocks were re-echoed from one part of the firmament to the
+other, I was in dread lest some bolt might be sent in fury upon our
+dwelling on account of such neglect. Little did these friends know what
+thoughts were often passing through my mind as I ruminated upon their
+privileges and their disregard of so plain and positive a duty. I did
+often long to confide to my aunt, whom I so much venerated, my thoughts
+and feelings on religious subjects, with the same freedom I had been
+encouraged to do to my own dear mother. I can never forget the struggle
+I had on one occasion. A lady came to pass a day in the family. The
+conversation happened to turn upon the importance and efficacy of
+prayer. Here now, I thought, is an opportunity I may never have again to
+express an opinion on a subject I had thought so much about; and
+summoning to my aid all the resolution I could, I ventured to remark,
+"the Bible says, 'the effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous
+_prevaileth_ much.'" I saw a smile pass over the radiant and beautiful
+countenance of my aunt, and I instantly conjectured that I had misquoted
+the passage. For a long time, as I had opportunity, I turned over the
+pages of my Bible, before I could detect my mistake. I cannot say how
+long a period elapsed, after I left this pleasant family, before the
+family-altar was erected, but I believe not a very long period. One
+thing I am grateful to record, that when my aunt died at middle age,
+all with her was "peace," "peace," "sweet peace." And my venerated uncle
+recently fell asleep in Jesus, at the advanced age of more than
+fourscore years, like a shock of corn fully ripe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+INTELLECTUAL POWER OF WOMAN.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+There has been a long-standing dispute respecting the intellectual
+powers of the two sexes, and the consequent style of education suitable
+to each. Happily, the truth on this subject may be fully spoken, without
+obliging me to exalt the father at the expense of the mother, or ennoble
+man by denying the essential equality of woman. It is among the things
+settled by experience, that, equal or not equal in talents, woman, the
+moment she escapes from the despotism of brute force, and is suffered to
+unfold and exercise her powers in her own legitimate sphere, shares with
+man the sceptre of influence; and without presuming to wrest from him a
+visible authority, by the mere force of her gentle nature silently
+directs that authority, and so rules the world. She may not debate in
+the senate or preside at the bar--she may not read philosophy in the
+university or preach in the sanctuary--she may not direct the national
+councils or lead armies to battle; but there is a style of influence
+resulting from her peculiar nature which constitutes her power and gives
+it greatness. As the sexes were designed to fill different positions in
+the economy of life, it would not be in harmony with the manifestations
+of divine wisdom in all things else to suppose that the powers of each
+were not peculiarly fitted for their own appropriate sphere. Woman gains
+nothing--she always loses when she leaves her own sphere for that of
+man. When she forsakes the household and the gentler duties of domestic
+life for the labors of the field, the pulpit, the rostrum, the
+court-room, she always descends from her own bright station, and
+invariably fails to ascend that of man. She falls between the two; and
+the world gazes at her as not exactly a woman, not quite a man,
+perplexed in what category of natural history to classify her. This
+remark holds specially true as you ascend from savage to refined
+society, where the rights and duties of women have been most fully
+recognized and most accurately defined. Mind is not to be weighed in
+scales. It must be judged by its _uses_ and its _influence_. And who
+that compasses the peculiar purpose of woman's life; who that
+understands the meaning of those good old Saxon words, mother, sister,
+wife, daughter; who that estimates aright the duties they involve, the
+influences they embody in giving character to all of human kind, will
+hesitate to place her intellect, with its quickness, delicacy and
+persuasiveness, as high in the scale of power as that of the father,
+husband and son? If we estimate her mind by its actual power of
+influence when she is permitted to fill to the best advantage her circle
+of action, we shall find a capacity for education equal to that of him
+who, merely in reference to the temporary relations of society, has been
+constituted her lord. If you look up into yonder firmament with your
+naked eye, the astronomer will point you to a star which shines down
+upon you single in rays of pure liquid light. But if you will ascend yon
+eminence and direct towards it that magnificent instrument which modern
+science has brought to such perfection of power, the same star will
+suddenly resolve itself into two beautiful luminaries, equal in
+brilliancy, equal in all stellar excellence, emitting rays of different
+and intensely vivid hues, yet so exactly correspondent to each other,
+and so embracing each other, and so mingling their various colors as to
+pour upon the unaided vision the pure, sparkling light of a single orb.
+So is it with man and woman. Created twofold, equal in all human
+attributes, excellence and influence, different but correspondent, to
+the eye of Jehovah the harmony of their union in life is perfect, and
+as one complete being that life streams forth in rays of light and
+influence upon society.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A LESSON FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES.
+
+
+The following letter, addressed to a mutual friend, we rescue from
+oblivion, containing as it does a lesson for husbands and wives, and
+most gracefully conveyed.
+
+_We_ shall certainly be pardoned if we take a more than ordinary
+interest to preserve a memento of that "_hanging garden_," as for months
+it was as fully seen from our own window as from that of the writer,
+though a little more remote, yet near enough to feast our eyes, and by
+its morning fragrance to cause our hearts to render more grateful
+incense to Him who clothes the lily with such beauty, and gives to the
+rose its sweet perfume. It is a sad pity that there are not more young
+wives, who, like the writer of the following letter, are ready to strive
+by their overflowing love, their gentleness and forbearance, to win
+their husbands to love and good works.
+
+Perhaps some good divine who may perchance read this article will tell
+us whether the Apostle Peter, when he said, "For what knowest thou, O
+wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?" did not by this language
+mean to convey the idea of a promise that if the wife did conduct
+herself towards her husband on strictly Gospel principles, she would be
+the honored instrument of saving his soul?
+
+"I would like to tell you how my husband and I amuse ourselves, and
+contrive to have all we want. You will see that we illustrate the old
+saying, that 'where there is a _will_, there is a _way_,' and that some
+people can do things as well as others. We both love flowers extremely,
+but we neither own nor control a foot of ground; still, we have this
+summer cultivated and enjoyed the perpetual bloom of more than a
+hundred varieties. You will wonder how this is done when you know that
+we are at board, and our entire apartments consist of a parlor and
+dormitory--both upon the second floor. Very fortunately our windows open
+upon a roof which shelters a lower piazza, and this roof we make our
+balcony. Last May we placed here eight very large pots of rich earth,
+which we filled with such seeds and plants as suited our fancy. Now,
+while I sit writing, my windows are shaded with the scarlet runner,
+morning glory, Madeira and cypress vines, so that I need no other
+curtains. Then, on a level with my eye, is one mass of pink and
+green--brilliant verbenas, petimas, roses and oleanders seem really to
+_glow_ in the morning light. Flowers in the city are more than
+beautiful, for the language they speak is so different from everything
+about them. Their lives are so lovely, returning to the culturer such
+wealth of beauty--and then their _odors_ seem to me instead of voices.
+Often, when I am reading, and forget for a time my sweet companions, the
+fragrance of a heliotrope or a jessamine greets me, causing a sense of
+delight, as if a beautiful voice had whispered to me, or some sweet
+spirit kissed me. With this _presence_ of beauty and purity around me, I
+cannot feel loneliness or discontent.
+
+"Our flowers are so near to us we have become really _intimate_ with
+them. We know all their habits, and every insect that harms them. I love
+to see the tender tendril of a vine stretch for the string that is
+fastened at a little distance for its support, and then wind about it so
+gladly. Every morning it is a new excitement to see long festoons of our
+green curtains, variegated with trumpet-shaped morning-glories, looking
+towards the sun, and mingled with them the scarlet star of the cypress
+vine. When my husband comes home wearied and disgusted with Wall-street,
+it refreshes his body and soul to look into our "_hanging garden_," and
+note new beauties the day has developed. I trust the time and affection
+we thus spend are not wasted, for I believe the sentiment of Coleridge's
+lines--
+
+  'He prayeth best who loveth best
+    All things, both great and small
+  For the dear God who loveth us,
+    He made and loveth all.'
+
+But there is one circumstance that makes this garden precious, which I
+have yet to tell you, and you will agree with me that it is the best
+part of it. When we were married, my husband was in the habit of
+drinking a glass of beer daily. I did not approve of it, and used to
+fancy he was apathetic and less agreeable afterwards; but as he was so
+fond of it, I made up my mind not to disagree upon the subject. Last
+spring, when we wished some flowers, we hesitated on account of the
+expense, for we endeavor to be economical, as all young married people
+should. Then my husband very nobly said that though one glass of beer
+cost but little, a week's beer amounted to considerable, and he would
+discontinue the habit, and appropriate the old beer expenditure upon
+flowers. He has faithfully kept his proposal, and often as we sit by our
+window, he points to the blooming balcony, saying, 'There is my summer's
+beer.' The consequence of this sacrifice is that I am a grateful and
+contented wife; and I do assure you (I being judge) that since beer is
+turned into flowers, my husband is the most agreeable of mankind.
+
+                                  Yours very truly."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+NEVER FAINT IN PRAYER.
+
+     "Men ought always to pray and not to faint."
+
+
+So important is a spirit of prayer to mothers who are bearing the heat
+and burden of the day, that we give for their encouragement a few devout
+meditations by Rev. W. Mason, on the above passage. And though penned
+towards the close of the last century, they have lost none of their
+freshness or fragrance.
+
+Christ opposes praying to fainting, for fainting prevents praying. Have
+you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your
+spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought this
+is not a time for prayer; yea, but it is: pray _always_. Now is the time
+to sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit.
+Now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your
+Father's ear, whose love and care over you is that of a tender and
+affectionate father.
+
+What makes you faint? Do troubles and afflictions? Here is a reviving
+cordial. "Call upon me in the day of trouble, _I will deliver thee_, and
+thou shalt glorify me." Ps. 50:15. Does a body of sin and death? Here is
+a supporting promise. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
+Jesus shall be saved." Rom. 10:13. Do we faint because we have called
+and prayed again and again to the Lord against any besetting sin,
+prevailing temptation, rebellious lust, or evil temper, and yet the Lord
+has not given us victory over it? Still, says the Lord, pray
+_always_--persevere, be importunate, faint not; remember that blessed
+word, "my time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." John
+7:6. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Matt. 26:41. Note
+the difference between being tempted and entering into temptation.
+
+Perhaps you think your prayers are irksome to God, and therefore you are
+ready to faint and to give over praying? Look at David; he begins to
+pray in a very heartless, hopeless way, "How long wilt thou forget me, O
+Lord, forever?" but see how he concludes; he breaks out in full vigor of
+soul, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with
+me." Ps. 13:6. Above all, look to Jesus, who ever lives to pray for you;
+look for his spirit to help your infirmities. Rom. 8:26.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+HANNAH.
+
+
+Imagination can picture no more animating scenes than those which were
+presented to the beholder at the seasons of the year when Judea poured
+forth her inhabitants in crowds to attend the solemn festivals appointed
+by Jehovah, and observed with punctilious exactness by the people. Our
+present study leads us to contemplate one of these scenes.
+
+From some remote town on the borders of Gentile territory the onward
+movement commences. A few families having finished all their
+preparations, close the door of their simple home, and with glowing
+faces and hopeful steps begin their march. They are soon joined by
+others, and again by new reinforcements. Every town, as they pass,
+replenishes their ranks, until, as they approach Shiloh, they are
+increased to a mighty multitude. It is a time of joy. Songs and shouts
+rend the air, and unwonted gladness reigns. All ages and conditions are
+here, and every variety of human form and face. Let us draw near to one
+family group. There is something more than ordinarily interesting in
+their appearance. The father has a noble mien as he walks on, conversing
+gaily with his children, answering their eager questions, and pointing
+out the objects of deepest import to a Jew as they draw near the
+Tabernacle. The children are light-hearted and gay, but the mother's
+countenance does not please us. We feel instinctively that she is not
+worthy of her husband; and especially is there an expression wholly
+incongruous with this hour of harmony and rejoicing. While we look, she
+lingers behind her family, and speaks to one, who, with slow step and
+downcast looks, walks meekly on, and seems as if she pondered some deep
+grief. Will she whisper a word of comfort in the ear of the sorrowful?
+Ah, no. A mocking smile is on her lips, which utter taunting words, and
+she glances maliciously round, winking to her neighbors to notice how
+she can humble the spirit of one who is less favored than herself. "What
+would you give now to see a son of yours holding the father's hand, or a
+daughter tripping gladly along by his side? Where are your children,
+Hannah? You surely could not have left them behind to miss all this
+pleasure? Perhaps they have strayed among the company? Would it not be
+well to summon them, that they may hear the father's instructions, and
+join in the song which we shall all sing as we draw near to Shiloh?"
+Cruel words! and they do their work. Like barbed arrows, they stick fast
+in the sore heart of this injured one. Her head sinks, but she utters no
+reply. She only draws nearer to her husband, and walks more closely in
+his footsteps.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The night has passed, and a cloudless sun looks down on the assembled
+thousands of Israel. Elkanah has presented his offering at the
+Tabernacle, and has now gathered his family to the feast in the tent. As
+is his wont, he gives to each a portion, and hilarity presides at the
+board. The animated scene around them--the white tents stretching as far
+as the eye can reach--the sound of innumerable voices--the meeting with
+friends--all conspire to make every heart overflow, and the well-spread
+table invites to new expressions of satisfaction and delight. But here,
+also, as on the journey, one heart is sad. At Elkanah's right hand sits
+Hannah, her plate filled by the hand of love with "a worthy portion;"
+but it stands untasted before her. Her husband is troubled. He has
+watched her struggles for self-control, and seen her vain endeavors to
+eat and be happy like those around her; and, divining in part the cause
+of her sorrow, he tenderly strives to comfort her. "Hannah, why weepest
+thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am I not
+better to thee than ten sons?" That voice of sympathy and compassion is
+too much. She rises and leaves the tent to calm in solitude, as best she
+may, her bosom's strife. Why must she be thus afflicted? Severe, indeed,
+and bitter are the elements which are mingled in her cup. Jehovah has
+judged her. She has been taught to believe that those who are childless
+are so because of His just displeasure. Her fellow-creatures also
+despise her; her neighbors look suspiciously upon her. Wherefore should
+it be thus? She wanders slowly, and with breaking heart, towards the
+Tabernacle. The aged Eli sits by one of the posts of the door as she
+enters the sacred inclosure, but she heeds him not. She withdraws to a
+quiet spot, and finds at last a refuge. She kneels, and the long pent-up
+sorrow has now its way; she "pours out her soul before the Lord." Happy,
+though sorrowful, Hannah! She has learned one lesson of which the
+prosperous know nothing; she has learned to confide in her Maker, as she
+could in no other friend. It were useless to go to her husband with the
+oft-told trouble. He is ever fond and kind; but though she is childless,
+he is not, and he cannot appreciate the extent of her grief. All that
+human sympathy can do, he will do, but human sympathy cannot be perfect.
+It were worse than useless to tell him of Peninnah's taunts and
+reproaches. It would be wicked, and bring upon her Heaven's just wrath,
+if she did aught to mar the peace of a happy family. No; there is no
+earthly ear into which she can "pour out her soul." But here her tears
+may flow unrestrained, and she need leave nothing unsaid.
+
+"O Thou who hidest the sorrowing soul under the shadow of thy wings--who
+art witness to the tears which must be hidden from all other eyes--who
+dost listen patiently to the sighs and groans which can be breathed in
+no other presence--to whom are freely told the griefs which the dearest
+earthly friend cannot comprehend,--Thou who upbraidest not--who
+understandest and dost appreciate perfectly the woes under which the
+stricken soul sways like a reed in the tempest, and whose infinite love
+and sympathy reaches to the deepest recesses of the heart--unto whom
+none ever appealed in vain--God of all grace and consolation, blessed
+are they who put their trust in thee."
+
+Long and earnest is Hannah's communion with her God; and as she pleads
+her cause with humility, and penitence, and love, she feels her burdened
+heart grow lighter. Hope springs up where was only despair, and a new
+life spreads itself before her; even the hard thoughts which she had
+harbored towards Peninnah had melted as she knelt in that holy presence.
+The love of the Eternal has bathed her spirit in its blessed flood, and
+grief, and selfishness, and envy have alike been washed away.
+Strengthened with might by the spirit of the Lord, she puts forth a
+vigorous faith; and taking hold on the covenant faithfulness of Jehovah,
+she makes a solemn vow. The turmoil within is hushed. She rises and goes
+forth like one who is prepared for any trial--who is endued with
+strength by a mighty though unseen power, and sustained by a love which
+has none of the imperfect and unsatisfying elements that must always
+mingle with the purest earthly affection. Meek, confiding, and gentle as
+ever, she is yet not the same. She meets reproach even from the High
+Priest himself with calmness. She returns to her husband and his family
+no longer shrinking and bowed down: "she eats, and her countenance is no
+more sad."
+
+Another morning dawns. Hannah, has obtained her husband's sanction to
+the vow which she made in her anguish. Elkanah and his household rise
+early and worship before the Lord, and return to their house in Ramah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A year passes, another and another, but Hannah is not found among the
+multitude going up to Shiloh. Has she, the pious and devoted one, become
+indifferent to the service of Jehovah, or have the reproaches and taunts
+of Peninnah become too intolerable in the presence of her neighbors, so
+that she remains at home for peace? No. Reproach will harm her no
+longer. As the company departs, she stands with smiling countenance
+looking upon their preparations, and in her arms a fair son; and her
+parting words to her husband are--"I will not go up until the child be
+weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord,
+and there abide forever."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will she really leave him? Will she consent to part from her treasure
+and joy--her only one? What a blessing he has been to her! Seven years
+of peace and overflowing happiness has that little one purchased for her
+burdened and distracted spirit. Can she return to Ramah without him, to
+solitude and loneliness, uncheered by his winning ways and childish
+prattle? Surely this is a sorrow which will wring her heart, as never
+before. Not so. There she stands again on the spot where she once knelt
+and wept and vowed, but no tears fall now from her eyes--no grief is in
+her tones. She has come to fulfill her vow, "to lend her son to the Lord
+as long as he liveth." Again she prays as she is about parting from him.
+What a prayer!--a song of exultation rather. Listen to its sublime
+import. "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the
+Lord." How did we wrong thee, Hannah! We said thy son had purchased
+peace and joy for thee. Our low, selfish, doting hearts had not soared
+to the heights of thy lofty devotion. We deemed thee such an one as
+ourselves. In the gift, truly thou hast found comfort; but the Giver is
+He in whom thou hast delighted, and therefore thou canst so readily
+restore what he lent thee, on the conditions of thy vow. The Lord thy
+God has been, and is still to be, thy portion, and thou fearest not to
+leave thy precious one in His house. We thought to hear a wail from
+thee, but we were among the foolish. Thy soul is filled with the beauty
+and glory of the Lord, and thou hast not a word of sadness now. Thou
+leavest thy lamb among wolves--thy consecrated one with the "sons of
+Belial"--yet thou tremblest not. Who shall guide his childish feet in
+wisdom's ways when thou art far away? What hinders that he shall look on
+vice till it become familiar, and he be even like those around him? The
+old man is no fit protector for him. Does not thy heart fear? "Oh,
+woman, great is thy faith!"
+
+Come hither, ye who would learn a lesson of wisdom; ponder this record
+of the sacred word. Hannah returned to Ramah. She became the mother of
+sons and daughters; and yearly as she went with her husband to Shiloh,
+she carried to her first-born a coat wrought by maternal love, and
+rejoiced to see him growing before the Lord. How long she did this, we
+are not told. We have searched in vain for a word or hint that she lived
+to see the excellence and greatness of the son whom she "asked of God."
+The only clew which we can find is, that Samuel's house was in Ramah,
+the house of his parents; and we wish to think he lived there to be with
+them; and we hope his mother's eyes looked on the altar which he built
+there unto the Lord, and that her heart was gladdened by witnessing the
+proofs of his wisdom and grace, and the favor with which the Almighty
+regarded him.
+
+But though we know little of Hannah--she being many thousand years
+"dead, yet speaketh."--Come hither, ye who are tempest-tossed on a sea
+of vexations. Learn from her how to gain the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit. Come ye who feel that God hath judged you, and that you
+suffer affliction from his displeasure. Learn that you should draw
+nearer to him, instead of departing from him. Come with Hannah to his
+very courts. "Pour out your soul" before Him; keep back none of your
+griefs; confess your sins; offer your vows; multiply your prayers; rise
+not till you also can go forth with a countenance no more sad. He is
+"the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Come hither, ye who long to
+know how your children may assuredly be the Lord's. Strive to enter into
+the spirit of Hannah's vow, remembering, meantime, all it implied as she
+afterwards fulfilled it. Appreciate, if you can, her love and devotion
+to her God; and when you can so entirely consecrate your all to Him, be
+assured he will care for what is His own, and none shall be able to
+pluck it out of his hand. Come hither, ye who are called to part with
+your treasures; listen to Hannah's song as she gives up her only son, to
+call him hers no more--listen till you feel your heart joining also in
+the lofty anthem, and you forget all selfish grief, as she did, in the
+contemplation of His glories who is the portion of the soul. "_My heart
+rejoiceth in the Lord._" Alas! alas! how does even the Christian heart,
+which has professed to be satisfied with God, and content with his holy
+will, often depart from him, and "provoke him to jealousy" with many
+idols! Inordinate affection for some earthly object absorbs the soul
+which vowed to love him supremely. In its undisguised excess, it says
+to the beloved object, "Give me your heart; Jehovah must be your
+salvation, but let me be your happiness. A portion of your time, your
+attention, your service, He must have; but your daily, hourly thoughts,
+your dreams, your feelings, let them all be of me--of mine." Oh for such
+a love as she possessed! We should not then love our children less, but
+more, far more than now, and with a better, happier love--a love from
+which all needless anxiety would flee--a perfect love, casting out fear.
+
+Ye who feel that death to your loved ones would not so distress you as
+the fear of leaving them among baleful influences--who tremble in view
+of the evil that is in the world, remember where Hannah left, apparently
+without a misgiving, her gentle child. With Eli,--who could not even
+train his own sons in the fear of the Lord--with those sons who made
+themselves vile, and caused Israel to transgress,--she left him _with
+the Lord_. "Go ye and do likewise," and remember, also, He is the God of
+the whole earth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+"OPENING THE GATE."
+
+
+I lately met with an account of a youth, under the above title, which
+contains a volume of instruction. It is from a southern paper, and while
+particularly designed for a latitude where servants abound, it contains
+hints which may prove highly useful to lads in communities where
+servants are less numerous:
+
+"'I wish that you would send a servant to open the gate for me,' said a
+well-grown boy of ten to his mother, as he paused with his satchel upon
+his back, before the gate, and surveyed its clasped fastening.
+
+"'Why, John, can't you open the gate for yourself?' said Mrs. Easy. 'A
+boy of your age and strength ought certainly to be able to do that.'
+
+"'I _could_ do it, I suppose,' said the child, 'but it's heavy, and I
+don't like the _trouble_. The servant can open it for me just as well.
+Pray, what is the use of having servants if they are not to wait upon
+us?'
+
+"The servant was sent to open the gate. The boy passed out, and went
+whistling on his way to school. When he reached his seat in the academy,
+he drew from his satchel his arithmetic and began to inspect his sums.
+
+"'I cannot do these,' he whispered to his seat-mate; they are too hard.'
+
+"'But you _can try_,' replied his companion.
+
+"'I know that I can,' said John, 'but it's too much trouble. Pray, what
+are teachers for if not to help us out of difficulties? I shall carry my
+slate to Prof. Helpwell."
+
+"Alas! poor John. He had come to another closed gate--a gate leading
+into a beautiful and boundless science, 'the laws of which are the modes
+in which God acts in sustaining all the works of His hands'--the science
+of mathematics. He could have opened the gate and entered in alone and
+explored the riches of the realm, but his mother had injudiciously let
+him rest with the idea, that it is as well to have gates opened for us,
+as to exert our own strength. The result was, that her son, like the
+young hopeful sent to Mr. Wiseman, soon concluded that he had no
+'genius' for mathematics, and threw up the study.
+
+"The same was true of Latin. He could have learned the declensions of
+the nouns and the conjugation of the verbs as well as other boys of his
+age; but his seat-mate very kindly volunteered to 'tell him in class,'
+and what was the use in _opening the gate_ into the Latin language, when
+another would do it for him? Oh, no! John Easy had no idea of tasking
+mental or physical strength when he could avoid it, and the consequence
+was, that numerous gates remained closed to him all the days of his
+life--_gates of honor_--_gates to riches_--_gates to happiness_.
+Children ought to be early taught that it is always best to help
+themselves."
+
+This is the true secret of making a man. What would Columbus, or
+Washington and Franklin, or Webster and Clay, have accomplished had they
+proceeded on the principle of John Easy? No youth can rationally hope to
+attain to eminence in any thing who is not ready to "open the gate" for
+_himself_. And then, poor Mrs. Easy, how _she_ did misjudge! Better for
+her son, had she dismissed her servants--or rather had she directed them
+to some more appropriate service, and let Master John have remained at
+the gate day and night for a month, unless willing, before the
+expiration of that time, to have opened it for himself, and by his own
+strength. Parents in their well-meant kindness, or, perhaps, it were
+better named, thoughtless indulgence, often repress energies which, if
+their children were compelled to put forth, would result in benefits of
+the most important character.
+
+It is, indeed, painful to see boys, as we sometimes see them, struggling
+against "wind and tide;" but watch such boys--follow them--see how they
+put forth strength as it accumulates--apply energies as they
+increase--make use of new expedients as they need them, and by-and-by
+where are they? Indeed, now and then they are obliged to lift at the
+gate pretty lustily to get it open; now and then they are obliged to
+turn a pretty sharp corner, and, perhaps, lose a little skin from a
+shin-bone or a knuckle-joint, but, _at length_, where are they? Why, you
+see them sitting _in_ "the gate"--a scriptural phrase for the post of
+honor. Who is that judge who so adorns the bench? My Lord Mansfield, or
+Sir Matthew Hale, or Chief Justice Marshall? Why, and from what
+condition, has he reached his eminence? That was a boy who some years
+since was an active, persevering little fellow round the streets, the
+son of the poor widow, who lives under the hill. She was poor, but she
+had the faculty of infusing her own energy into her boy, Matthew or
+Tommy; and now he has grown to be one of the eminent men of the country.
+Yes; and I recollect there was now and then to be seen with Tommy, when
+he had occasionally a half hour of leisure--but that was not
+often--there was one John Easy, whose mother always kept a servant to
+wait upon him, to open and shut the gate for him, and almost to help him
+breathe. Well, and where is John Easy? Why there he is, this moment, a
+poor, shiftless, penniless being, who never loved to open the gate for
+himself, and now nobody ever desires to open a gate to him.
+
+And the reason for all this difference is the different manner in which
+these boys were trained in their early days. "Train up a child," says
+the good book, "in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
+depart from it." Analyze the direction, and see how it reads. Train up a
+child--what? Why _train_ him--_i.e._, educate him, discipline him. Whom
+did you say? A _child_. Take him early, in the morning of life, before
+bad habits, indolent habits, vicious habits are formed. It is easy to
+bend the sapling, but difficult to bend the grown tree. You said _train
+a child_, did you? Yes. But how? Why, _in the way_ in which he _ought to
+go_--_i.e._, in some useful employment--in the exercise of good moral
+affections--pious duties towards God, and benevolent actions towards his
+parents, brothers, companions. Thus train him--a child--and what
+then--what result may you anticipate? Why, the royal preacher says that
+when he is old--of course, then, during youth, manhood, into old age,
+_through life_ he means, as long as he lives he will not--what? He will
+_not depart_ from it, he will neither go back, nor go zig-zag, but
+_forward_, in that way in which he ought to walk, as a moral and
+accountable being of God, and a member of society, bound to do all the
+good he can. And thus he will come under the conditions of a just or
+honest man, of whom another Scripture says, "His path is as the shining
+light, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." The
+_perfect_ day! But when is that? Why in it may mean the day when God
+will openly acknowledge all the really good as his sons and daughters.
+But I love to take it in more enlarged sense--I take the perfect day to
+be when the good will be as perfect as they can be; but as that will not
+be to the end of eternity, those who are trained up in the way they
+_should_ go, will probably continue to walk in it till the absolutely
+perfect day comes which will never come, for the good are going to grow
+better and better as long as _eternity_ lasts. So much for setting out
+right with your _children_, parents!--bringing them up right--and this
+involves, among other things, teaching them to "open the gate for
+themselves" and similar sorts of things.
+
+GRATIS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION.
+
+BY REV. SAMUEL W. FISHER.
+
+
+The nature of female education, its influence, its field of action,
+comprehending a wide range of the noblest topics, render it utterly
+impossible to do justice to the entire theme in the brief limits here
+assigned to it. Indeed it seems almost a superfluous effort, were it not
+expected, nay, demanded, to discuss the subject of education in a work
+like this.
+
+Thanks to our Father in Heaven, who, in the crowning work of his
+creation, gave woman to man, made weakness her strength, modesty her
+citadel, grace and gentleness her attributes, affection her dower, and
+the heart of man her throne. With her, toil rises into pleasure, joy
+fills the breast with a larger benediction, and sorrow, losing half its
+bitterness, is transmitted into an element of power, a discipline of
+goodness. Even in the coarsest life, and the most depressing
+circumstances, woman hath this power of hallowing all things with the
+sunshine of her presence. But never does it unfold itself so finely as
+when education, instinct with religion, has accomplished its most
+successful work. It is only then that she reveals all her varied
+excellence, and develops her high capacities. It only unfolds powers
+that were latent, or develops those in harmony and beauty which
+otherwise would push themselves forth in shapes grotesque, gnarled and
+distorted. God creates the material, and impresses upon it his own laws.
+Man, in education, simply seeks to give those laws scope for action. The
+uneducated person, by a favorite figure of the old classic writers, has
+often been compared to the rough marble in the quarry; the educated to
+that marble chiselled by the hand of a Phidias into forms of beauty and
+pillars of strength. But the analogy holds good in only a single point.
+As the chisel reveals the form which the marble may be made to assume,
+so education unfolds the innate capacities of men. In all things else
+how poor the comparison! how faint the analogy! In the one case you have
+an aggregation of particles crystallized into shape, without organism,
+life or motion. In the other, you have life, growth, expansion. In the
+first you have a mass of limestone, neither more nor less than insensate
+matter, utterly incapable of any alteration from within itself. In the
+second, you have a living body, a mind, affections instinct with power,
+gifted with vitality, and forming the attributes of a being allied to
+and only a little lower than the angels. These constitute a life which,
+by its inherent force, must grow and unfold itself by a law of its own,
+whether you educate it or not. Some development it will make, some form
+it will assume by its own irrepressible and spontaneous action. The
+question, with us, is rather what that form shall be; whether it shall
+wear the visible robes of an immortal with a countenance glowing with
+the intelligence and pure affection of cherub and seraph, or through the
+rags and sensual impress of an earthly, send forth only occasional
+gleams of its higher nature. The great work of education is to stimulate
+and direct this native power of growth. God and the subject, co-working,
+effect all the rest.
+
+In the wide sense in which it is proposed to consider the subject of
+education, three things are pre-supposed--personal talents, personal
+application, and the divine blessing. Without capacities to be
+developed, or with very inferior capacities, education is either wholly
+useless, or only partially successful. As it has no absolute creative
+power, and is utterly unable to add a single faculty to the mind, so
+the first condition of its success is the capacity for improvement in
+the subject. An idiot may be slightly affected by it, but the feebleness
+of his original powers forbids the noblest result of education. It
+teaches men how most successfully to use their own native force, and by
+exercise to increase it, but in no case can it supply the absence of
+that force. It is not its province to inspire genius, since that is the
+breath of God in the soul, bestowed as seemeth to him good, and at the
+disposal of no finite power. It is enough if it unfold and discipline,
+and guide genius in its mission to the world. We are not to demand that
+it shall make of every man a Newton, a Milton, a Hall, a Chalmers, a
+Mason, a Washington; or of every woman a Sappho, a De Stael, a Roland, a
+Hemans.
+
+The supposition that all intellects are originally equal, however
+flattering to our pride, is no less prejudicial to the cause of
+education than false in fact. It throws upon teachers the responsibility
+of developing talents that have scarcely an existence, and securing
+attainments within the range of only the very finest powers, during the
+period usually assigned to this work. To the ignorant it misrepresents
+and dishonors education, when it presents for their judgment a very
+inferior intellect, which all the training of the schools has not
+inspired with power, as a specimen of the result of liberal pursuits.
+Such an intellect can never stand up beside an active though untutored
+mind--untutored in the schools, yet disciplined by the necessities
+around it. It is only in the comparison of minds of equal original
+power, but of different and unequal mental discipline, that the result
+of a thorough education reveal themselves most strikingly. The genius
+that, partially educated, makes a fine bar-room politician, a good
+county judge, a respectable member of the lower house in our State
+Legislature, or an expert mechanic and shrewd farmer, when developed by
+study and adorned with learning, rises to the foremost rank of men.
+Great original talents will usually give indication of their presence
+amidst the most depressing circumstances. But when a mind of this stamp
+has been allowed to unfold itself under the genial influence of large
+educational advantages, how will it grow in power, outstripping the
+multitude, as some majestic tree, rooted in a soil of peculiar richness
+rises above and spreads itself abroad over the surrounding forest? Our
+inquiry, however, at present, is not exclusively respecting individuals
+thus highly gifted.
+
+Geniuses are rare in our world; sent occasionally to break up the
+monotony of life, impart new impulses to a generation, like comets
+blazing along the sky, startle the dosing mind, no longer on the stretch
+to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge, and rouse men to gaze on
+visions of excellence yet unreached. Happily, the mass of mankind are
+not of this style of mind. Uniting by the process of education the
+powers which God has conferred upon them, with those of a more brilliant
+order which are occasionally given to a few, the advancement of the
+world in all things essential to its refinement, and purity, and
+exaltation, is probably as rapid and sure as it would be under a
+different constitution of things. Were all equally elevated, it might
+still be necessary for some to tower above the rest, and by the sense of
+inequality move the multitude to nobler aspirations. But while it is not
+permitted of God that all men should actually rise to thrones in the
+realm of mind, yet such is the native power of all sane minds, and such
+their great capacity of improvement, that, made subject to a healthful
+discipline they may not only qualify us for all the high duties of life
+on earth, but go on advancing in an ever-perfecting preparation for the
+life above.
+
+The second thing pre-supposed in education is personal application.
+There is no thorough education that is not self-education. Unlike the
+statue which can be wrought only from without, the great work of
+education is to unfold the life within. This life always involves
+self-action. The scholar is not merely a passive recipient. He grows
+into power by an active reception of truth. Even when he listens to
+another's utterances of knowledge, what vigor of attention and memory
+are necessary to enable him to make that knowledge his own? But when he
+attempts himself to master a subject of importance, when he would rise
+into the higher region of mathematics, philosophy, history, poetry,
+religion, art; or even when he would prepare himself for grappling with
+the great questions of life, what long processes of thought! what
+patient gathering together of materials! what judgment, memory,
+comparison, and protracted meditation are essential to complete success?
+The man who would triumph over obstacles and ascend the heights of
+excellence in the realm of mind, must work with the continuous vigor of
+a steamship on an ocean voyage. Day by day the fire must burn, and the
+revolve in the calm and in the gale--in the sunshine and the storm. The
+innate excellency of genius or talents can give no exemption to its
+possessor from this law of mental growth. An educated mind is neither an
+aggregation of particles accreted around a center, as the stones grow,
+nor a substance, which, placed in a turner's lathe, comes forth an
+exquisitely wrought instrument. The mere passing through an academy or
+college, is not education. The enjoyment of the largest educational
+advantages by no means infers the possession of a mind and heart
+thoroughly educated; since there is an inner work to be performed by the
+subject of those advantages before he can lay claim to the possession of
+a well-disciplined and richly-stored intellect and affections. The
+phrase, "self-made men" is often so used as to convey the idea that the
+persons who have enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, are
+rather made by their instructors. The supposition is in part unjust.
+
+The outward means of education stimulate the mind, and thus assist the
+process of development; but it is absolutely essential to all growth in
+mental or moral excellence, that the person himself should be enlisted
+vigorously in the work. He must work as earnestly as the man destitute
+of his faculties. The difference between the two consists not in the
+fact that one walks and the other rides, but that the one is obliged to
+take a longer road to reach the same point. Teachers, books, recitations
+and lectures facilitate our course, direct us how most advantageously to
+study, point out the shortest path to the end we seek, and tend to rouse
+the soul to the putting forth of its powers; but neither of these can
+take the place of, or forestall intense personal application. The man
+without instructors, like a traveler without guide-boards, must take
+many a useless step, and often retrace his way. He may, after this
+experimental traveling, at length reach the same point with the person
+who has enjoyed superior literary aids, but it will cost the waste of
+many a precious hour, which might have been spent in enlarging the
+sphere of his vision and perfecting the symmetry of his intellectual
+powers. In cases of large attainments and ripe character, in either sex,
+the process of growth is laborious. Thinking is hard work. All things
+most excellent are the fruits of slow, patient working. The trees grow
+slowly, grain by grain; the planets creep round their orbits, inch by
+inch; the river hastens to the ocean by a gentle progress; the clouds
+gather the rain-drop from the invisible air, particle by particle, and
+we are not to ask that this immortal mind, the grandest thing in the
+world, shall reach its perfection by a single stride, or independently
+of the most early, profound and protracted self-labor. It is enough for
+us that, thankfully accepting the assistance of those who have ascended
+above us, we give ourselves to assiduous toil, until our souls grow up
+to the stature of perfect men.
+
+The third thing pre-supposed in education is the divine benediction. In
+all spheres of action, we recognize the over-ruling providence of God
+working without us, and his Spirit commissioned to work within us. Nor
+is there any work of mortal life in which we need to allay unto
+ourselves the wisdom and energy of Jehovah, as an essential element of
+success than is this long process where truth, affection, decision,
+judgment, and perseverance in the teacher, are to win into the paths of
+self-labor minds of every degree of ability, and dispositions of every
+variety. When God smiles upon us, then this grand work of moulding
+hearts and intellects for their high destiny moves forward without
+friction, and the young heart silently and joyously comes forth into the
+light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 3.
+
+
+A river never rises higher than the source from whence it springs; so a
+character is never more elevated and consistent, in mature life, than
+the principles which were adopted in childhood were pure, reasonable,
+and consistent with truth: so a tree is either good or bad, and brings
+forth fruit after its own kind, though it be ever so stinted. If you
+find a crab-apple on a tree, you may be sure that the tree is a
+crab-tree. So one can predicate a pretty correct opinion of a person, as
+to character, disposition, and modes of thinking and acting, from a
+single isolated remark, incidentally made, or an act performed on the
+spur of the moment.
+
+This I shall attempt to show by reference to two occurrences which took
+place in the case of a young husband and wife.
+
+Joseph, the father of a young child, one day brought home "Abbott's
+Mother at Home," remarking to his wife, as he presented it, "Louise, I
+have been persuaded to buy this book, in the hope that it may aid us in
+the training of our little daughter."
+
+Her quick and tart reply was--"I don't think I shall 'bring up' my child
+by a book."
+
+It may be useful to learn under what peculiar circumstances this young
+wife and mother had herself been "brought up."
+
+Certainly not, as a matter of course, in the country, where good books
+are comparatively difficult to be obtained, and (though every one has
+much to do) are usually highly prized, and read with avidity. Certainly
+not, as a matter of course, where there was a large family of children,
+and where all must share every thing in common, and where each must
+perform an allotted part in household duties, perhaps to eke out a
+scanty salary. Not in a farm-house, where the income will yield but a
+bare competency for the support of ten or twelve children. If there is
+a good and wise father and mother at the helm, it is under such
+conflicting circumstances that children are usually the most thoroughly
+and practically taught the great principles which should govern human
+society.
+
+Louise was educated under very different circumstances. Her father's
+residence was the great metropolis. He was a very wealthy man, and he
+had the means of choosing any mode of education which he might prefer to
+adopt.
+
+The mother of Louise was said to have been a noble-minded woman, but
+always in delicate health. She early dedicated this infant daughter to
+God, but died while she was quite young. Unfortunately, poor little
+Louise was for a few years left to the care of ignorant and selfish
+relatives, who intermeddled, and often in the child's hearing, with a
+significant nod of the head, would utter the piteous inuendo, "Who knows
+how soon the poor thing may have a step-mother!"
+
+From this and similar ill-timed remarks, poor little Louise very early
+fostered an inveterate dislike to her father's ever marrying a second
+time.
+
+But he did soon marry again. Instead of at once taking this cruel sliver
+out of the flesh, acting on the sublime principle, "Duty belongs to us;
+leave consequences with God," the father of Louise very injudiciously
+and selfishly fell in with this child's foolish and wicked notions, and
+in order, as he thought, to remunerate this darling child for her great
+trial, allowed her to live almost entirely abstracted from the family
+circle.
+
+She was allowed to have a room entirely by herself, which was the
+largest and best in the house, and in all respects to maintain a
+separate interest. No one might interfere with this or that, for it
+belonged to Miss Louise.
+
+Her father said, at any rate, she should not be annoyed by any
+participation in the care of the little ones, as she left no one in
+doubt of the fact, that above every thing she disliked children, and
+especially the care of them. Certainly, he said, they should not
+interfere in any way with her in acquiring a "liberal education." And
+thus she lost the sweet privilege of acting the honorable and useful
+part usually assigned to an "elder daughter," and an "elder sister."
+
+To atone for her isolated and unfortunate situation--made unfortunate by
+the contracted and selfish views of this ill-judging father--her father
+made another mistake under the circumstances, for, instead of sending
+her to a good select school, where she would come in contact with
+children of her own age, and her intellectual powers might be sharpened
+by coming in contact with other minds, he procured for her _private
+teachers_, and she had not even the benefit of a good long walk to and
+from school in the open air.
+
+Thus was this mere child, day after day, and hour after hour, confined
+to the piano, to her drawing and painting lessons, and her worsted work.
+She became a proficient in these external accomplishments, and was by
+some considered quite a prodigy--possessing a rare genius, which often
+means nothing more nor less than a distorted character.
+
+Her health for a time was sadly undermined, and her nervous system was
+shattered by too close attention to pursuits which imposed too great a
+tax upon the visual organs, and too much abstraction from common
+objects.
+
+Who would not rather see a young daughter--the merry, laughing companion
+of a group of girls--out after wild flowers, weaving them into garlands
+to crown the head of some favorite of the party, making up bouquets as a
+gift for mamma, or some favorite aunt--cutting paper into fantastic
+figures, and placing them upon the wall to please children, or dressing
+a doll for little sister? Who would not rather see their young daughter
+a jumping delicate little romp, chasing a bird in mirthful glee, as if
+she verily thought she could catch it?
+
+How could this young wife and mother, so differently trained, be
+expected all at once to judge and act wisely and impartially about the
+grave matter of infant training--a subject she absolutely knew nothing
+about, having never contemplated it? What do parents think, or expect
+when their young daughters marry and become parents? Do they suppose
+that some magic spell will come over a girl of eighteen in going through
+the matrimonial ceremony, which shall induct her into all the mysteries
+of housewifery, and initiate her into the more intricate and important
+duty of training the infant, so as to give it a sound mind in a sound
+body, so that it shall possess a symmetrical character?
+
+The father of Louise saw too late his mistake in allowing this daughter
+the great privilege, as he thought at the time, of having her own way in
+every thing.
+
+If this were a proper place to give advice to young men on the grave
+subject of selecting a wife, we should say, "Never marry a young lady
+merely for her showy, outward accomplishments, which, ten chances to
+one, have been attained at the expense of more valuable and useful
+acquirements--perhaps at the sacrifice of the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Never select
+for a wife a young lady who dishonors her name and sex by the avowal
+that she dislikes children; that she even hates the care of them, and
+that she never could find pleasure in household duties. She could never
+love flowers, or find satisfaction in cultivating them."
+
+A lovely infant is the most beautiful object of all God's handy works.
+"Flowers _are_ more than beautiful;" they give us lessons of practical
+wisdom. So the Savior teaches us. If I did not love little children--if
+I did not love flowers--I would studiously hide the fact, even from
+myself, for then I could not respect myself.
+
+But to return to the remark which Louise made to her husband, when he
+presented her with that good and useful book--a book which has elicited
+praise from many able writers, and called forth the gratitude of many
+wise and good parents.[D]
+
+This remark was anything rather than a grateful acknowledgment to her
+husband for his thinking of her when absent; and it not only evinced a
+spirit of thoughtlessness and ingratitude to him, but manifested a
+remarkable share of self-sufficiency and self-complacency.
+
+Just so it is with a head of wheat. When it is empty, it stands
+perfectly erect, and looks self-confident; but as soon as it is filled
+with the precious grain, it modestly bends its head, and waives most
+gracefully, as if to welcome every whispering breeze.
+
+But was Louise wanting in affection and care to her own child? No; not
+in one sense, for she was foolishly fond of this little paragon of
+perfection. She one day said, boastingly, "My child has never been
+washed but with a fine cambric handkerchief, which is none too good for
+her soft flesh. Nothing can be too good for this precious darling, and
+while I live she shall never want for any indulgence I can procure for
+her."
+
+It might be said, too, that Louise evinced a fondness for her husband;
+and she was proud of the attentions of a youth who was admired for his
+remarkable polish of manners; but she certainly had not at this
+time--whatever she might afterwards acquire--a warm and generous heart,
+free from selfish interests, to bestow upon any object on earth or in
+heaven.
+
+Notwithstanding Joseph's elegant address and appearance, his character
+was in one respect vulnerable, as will be seen from a trivial act which
+I have yet to mention.
+
+His mother was an occasional assistant in her son's family. He was her
+only son. She was in most respects a highly-educated woman, with no
+ordinary share of self-possession, having pleasing manners, unless it
+might be said that she evinced a kind of _hauteur_, which made her
+rather feared than loved. But it was apparent to every one that she was
+selfishly attached to this only son. Louise said one day to a friend--"I
+never had occasion to be jealous of Joseph's attentions to me, or of his
+affection for me, except when his mother was present."
+
+No one could help noticing the greater deference this mother paid to her
+son, even when his father was present; and most fully did this son
+reciprocate his mother's respectful attachment. This love and reverence
+for his mother, on the part of this son, would have been right and
+beautiful if it had not been so exclusive.
+
+In one of her visits in her son's family, when she was in feeble health,
+this son proposed to his mother, towards night, in the presence of
+Louise, but without conferring with her, that his mother should lodge in
+his broad bed, with Louise, in their well-heated nursery.
+
+To this Louise objected, saying she would quickly have a fire made in
+the spare chamber, and there would be ample time to have it thoroughly
+heated; and if she did not choose to lodge alone, she would offer her a
+charming young lady to sleep in the room with her. The choice was again
+referred by Joseph to his mother. Louise now expostulated with her
+husband. She said, as she was not strong, she needed his assistance a
+part of the night, as usual, in the care of the infant. But still,
+without any regard for her feelings and her wishes to the contrary,
+Joseph _insisted_ that his mother should make a choice; and, strange to
+say, she chose to lodge with Louise.
+
+This unaccountable preference, unless it was because it was proffered by
+her son, it would seem, must have produced unhappiness and discomfort,
+on her part, on witnessing this daughter the livelong night restlessly
+turning from side to side, and her child restless and crying. But not
+one expression of regret was manifested the next day by either mother or
+son.
+
+The day after the incident referred to above occurred, a kind friend
+whispered in Joseph's ear a truth, which, perhaps, till then had been
+entirely overlooked by him. This friend reminded him that when he
+plighted his vows to his young wife at the altar, he did most solemnly
+promise, agreeably to God's ordinance, "that he would forsake father and
+mother, and all others, and he would cleave to his wife, and to her
+alone; that he would take her for better or for worse."
+
+We may laud the conduct of Naomi and Ruth in their beautiful attachment
+to each other, at the point of history where they are first introduced
+to us. But their love to each other was doubtless greatly modified by
+the circumstances into which they were now brought. They had a
+remarkable sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other in their
+sufferings. That son and husband, the bond of this tender and happy
+union, and the occasion had there been any strife between them when this
+loved object was living, was now forever removed from them, and not a
+trace of any thing to blame or to regret was still remembered by them.
+
+I can never be sufficiently grateful for the oft-reiterated advice of my
+father to his children. "Never," he would say, "act a selfish part." In
+all your plans and purposes in life, do not have an exclusive regard to
+self-interest. If you do, you will find many competitors. But if you
+strive to render others happy, you will always find a large and open
+field of enterprise; and let me assure you that this is the best way to
+promote your own happiness for time and for eternity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+ONE-SIDED CHRISTIANS.
+
+
+How difficult a thing it is in the present day to find a well-balanced
+Christian! In this day of fits and of starts, of impulse and of action,
+a day of revolution both in thought and kingdoms, where is the man who
+is formed in _all respects_ after the image of his Savior?--where the
+Christian, who, "being _fitly framed together_, groweth unto an holy
+temple in the Lord?" Many of the followers of Christ seem to have
+forgotten that His alone is the example after which they are to pattern,
+and are looking to some distinguished neighbor or friend, or to their
+own selfish and sensual desires, to inquire how they shall walk in this
+evil world. Many appear to have made an estimate in their hearts how
+little religion will suffice them--how little humbling of the
+spirit--how little self-denying labor for Christ and dying men. It may
+be they "do justly," and, in their own eyes, "walk humbly;" but their
+religion is of the negative sort. They are "neither extortioners,
+unjust, nor even as this publican:" they give to every man his due, and
+take good care to obey the precept--"to look every man on his own
+things, and not on the things of his neighbors." But they forget that
+"Love mercy" was a part of the triad! that the religion of Jesus is not
+a religion of selfishness, and that the Master has said, "Go ye out into
+the streets and lanes, and _compel them_ to come in, that my house may
+be filled!" They forget His _example_ who came down from heaven to
+suffer and die for guilty man; who _went about_ doing good, and whose
+meat and drink was to accomplish the work which the Father had given him
+to do. They forget that one of his last acts was to wash his disciples'
+feet, saying, "As I have done to you, so do ye also to one another;"
+and, as if our selfish and proud hearts would rebel, he adds--"The
+disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord."
+
+This want of conformity to Christ is also shown in the speech of many of
+his followers. He who was the _Searcher of hearts_ must certainly be
+expected to condemn iniquity, and condemn it severely; but how unwilling
+do we find him to pass sentence upon the guilty--how comforting and
+consoling to the sinner! To the offending woman he says--"Neither do I
+condemn thee; go, and sin no more." For his murderers he cries--"Father,
+forgive them; they _know not_ what they do!" And must vain, erring man
+be more harsh towards his fellow-man than his Maker? "Blessed are the
+merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "I came," says Jesus, "to seek
+and to save _the lost_!" therefore, who so lost but in Jesus shall find
+a friend? And shall it not be so with his followers, when they remember
+his words, "_I have given you an example_, that ye should do as I have
+done to you"?
+
+In this day of the multiplicity of good works, and of trusting to them
+for salvation, it may seem strange for us to urge their necessity. But
+in speaking of those who lack the beautiful oneness in character and
+conduct which distinguished Jesus, we would not omit many who, having
+been educated in the full belief of the doctrine of "justification by
+faith," carry it to such an extent as to despise good works, and almost
+to look upon them as heretical. They set them down in their religious
+calendar as _savoring of ostentation_, and thus run into the opposite
+extreme, neglecting entirely the command of our Lord, to "Let your light
+so shine before men, that they _may see your good works_." They take a
+one-sided view of truth and duty, forgetting that "he who shall break
+one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so" (even by
+practice), shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Could
+they but know, by sweet experience, the luxury of giving "even a cup of
+cold water in His name," they would never again refrain from the blessed
+work. Could they fully understand the words to be pronounced on the
+final day, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
+my brethren, _ye have done it unto me_," no earthly inducement would be
+able to deter them from obtaining a part in that commendation and
+reward. Did they but read with divine enlightening the parable of the
+good Samaritan, and hear the Master saying, "Go and do thou likewise,"
+what possible excuse would remain for them for not obeying his command?
+They little realize that they may read and meditate and _believe_, and
+still remain very selfish and un-Christ-like; for if Christ had been
+possessed of their supineness, he would still have remained in heaven,
+and we and ours yet been in the bonds of wickedness. Christian mothers
+have greatly erred in not _training_ their children to a life of
+Christian self-denial and usefulness. In their visits to the poor and
+perishing, they should early accustom their little ones to accompany
+them, thus overcoming that sensitive dread of misery in its various
+forms, so common to the young. They would thus be laying up for them a
+good foundation against the time to come--training them in the way they
+should go--guiding their feet into the imitation of that blessed One
+whom they hope soon to see them following. Of how many delightful hours
+have parents deprived their children, who have never taught them, by
+precept and example, the luxury of doing good! How many gracious
+promises in God's blessed word are yet sealed to them--promises for
+time and for eternity! Mothers, awake! to know more of Jesus, of his
+life, his example, and of the high and holy inducements which he holds
+out to you in his word, to be conformed to his image.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LUX IN TENEBRAS; OR A CHAPTER OF HEART HISTORY.
+
+BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.
+
+
+It was a beautiful winter-morning. The new fallen snow lay light and
+fleecy about the porch and on the evergreens before the door, and
+cushioned and covered all the thousand minute branches of the trees till
+they stood forth as if traced in silver on the deep blue of the sky. A
+sparkling, dazzling scene it was, which lay spread out before the
+windows of that comfortable family parlor, where the morning sunshine
+and the blazing wood-fire on the hearth seemed to feel a generous
+rivalry as to which should be most inspiriting.
+
+There were children in the room, a merry group of all sizes, from the
+boy of ten years old to the little one whose first uncertain footsteps
+were coaxed forth by a lure, and cheered onward like a triumphal
+progress by admiring brothers and sisters. It was the morning of
+New-Year's day, which had always been held as a high festival in the
+family, as it is in many families of New England, all the merriment and
+festal observance elsewhere bestowed upon Christmas having been
+transferred by Puritan preferences to this holiday.
+
+It was just the weather for a holiday--brisk and bracing. Sleigh-bells
+were jingling merrily, as the deep drifts of the road having been
+overcome, one after another of the families of the neighborhood had
+commenced their round, bearing baskets filled with gifts and pleasant
+tokens of remembrance, with the customary wishes and salutations of the
+day.
+
+The young mother sat in the group of happy children, but she did not
+smile on them. Her hand rested fondly on one little head and another, as
+they pressed to her side with eager question or exclamation. She drew
+the little one with a quick, earnest clasp to her heaving bosom. Her
+tremulous lips refused to obey the impulse of her will; she left
+Edward's question unanswered, and abruptly placing Willie in the arms of
+his careful nurse, she rushed away from the gladness she could not bear,
+to the solitude of her own chamber. There she fell upon her knees and
+covered her face, while the storm of sorrow she had striven so hard to
+stem, swept over her. Amid groans of agony, came forth the low
+murmur--"'Write his children _fatherless_, and his wife a _widow_!' Oh,
+my God, why must this be? _His_ children fatherless, _his_ wife a
+widow!"
+
+Soon came the quick sobs which told that the overcharged heart which had
+seemed ready to burst, had found temporary relief in tears; then
+followed the low moans of calmer endurance, and the widow's heart sunk
+back into all it had yet found of peace under this great bereavement,
+though it had been months since the blow fell; the peace of
+submission--"Not my will, but thine, O God, be done!" This time it
+expressed itself in the quaint words of Herbert;
+
+  "Do thou thy holy will;--
+  _I will lie still_."
+
+Then came the mother's habitual recollection of her children. They must
+not bear the weight of this great sorrow in the days of their tender
+youth, lest the hopefulness and energy they would certainly need in
+after life should be discouraged and disheartened out of them. Edward is
+naturally too reflective; he dwells too much on his loss, and evidently
+begins to ponder already how so many children are to be taken care of
+without a father. Sensitive Mary feels too deeply the shadow of the
+cloud which has come over her home; her face reflects back her mother's
+sadness.
+
+So, rising, the mother rang the bell, and gave directions that the
+children should be prepared for a visit to their grandfather's, and
+that the sleigh should be brought to the door.
+
+"They must go," thought she, "I cannot bear them about me. I must spend
+this day alone;" and she bade Mary replenish the fire, and seated
+herself in the arm-chair by the window. What a sickness fell upon the
+sad heart as the eye roved over the cheerful winter landscape! Here were
+the hurryings to and fro of congratulation, the gay garments, such as
+she and hers had laid aside, the merry chiming of the many-toned
+sleigh-bells, all so familiar to her ear that she knew who was passing,
+even if she had not looked up. Here is Thomas with the sleigh for the
+children, and, preceding it, is Ponto in his highest glee--now he dashes
+forward with a few quick bounds, and turns to bark a challenge at Thomas
+and the horses--now he plunges into a snow-drift, and mining his way
+through it, emerges on the other side to shake himself vigorously and
+bark again.
+
+Has Ponto forgotten his master? Ponto, who lies so often at his
+mistress's feet, and looks up wistfully into her face, as if he
+understood much, but would like to ask more, and seems, with his low
+whine, to put the question--Why, when his master went away so many
+months ago, he had never come back again:--Ponto, who would lie for
+hours, when he could steal an access to them, beside the trunks which
+came home unaccompanied by their owner, and which still stood in a
+closed room, which was to the household like the silent chamber of
+death. There had been for the mourner a soothing power in Ponto's dumb
+sympathy, even when, with the caprice of suffering, she could not bear
+the obtrusiveness of human pity.
+
+Out trooped the merry, noisy children, well equipped with caps and
+comforters. Good Thomas arranged them on the seats, and wrapped the
+buffalo-robes about them, and encircling his special darling, a
+prattling little girl of three years old, with his careful arm, away
+they went, down the hill and out of sight.
+
+With a sigh of relief, the mother drew her chair to the hearth, and
+resolved, for that one day, to give over the struggle, and let sorrow
+have its way. She dwelt on all the circumstances of the change, which so
+suddenly had darkened her life. She permitted her thoughts to run upon
+themes from which she had sedulously kept them, thus indulging, and as
+it were, nursing her grief. She recalled the thoughtful love which had
+been hers till it seemed as natural and as necessary to her as the air
+she breathed. She had been an indulged wife, constantly cared for, and
+lavishly supplied with everything that heart could wish. The natural
+sensitiveness of her temperament had been heightened by too much
+tenderness; she had been encouraged to cling like a vine, and to expect
+support from without herself. She was still young and beautiful. She was
+accustomed to be loved and admired by many, but that was nothing to her
+in comparison with the calm unvarying estimation in which she had been
+held by one faithful heart. How was she to live without this essential
+element of her life?
+
+Then the darkened future of her life rushed over her like an
+overwhelming flood: the cares and duties which were henceforward to
+devolve on her alone; the children who were never to know any other
+parent but herself; never to know any stronger restraints from evil or
+incentives to good than she in her feebleness could exert over them.
+What would become of her boys as they grew older, and needed a father's
+wise counsels? She saw with grief that she was even less qualified than
+most mothers to exercise the sole government and providence over a
+family. She had been too much indulged--too entirely screened from
+contact with the world's rough ways.
+
+How were the wants of her large family to be provided for with the
+lessened income she could now command? Pecuniary loss had followed close
+upon her great bereavement, and though this constituted but a small
+element in her sorrow, yet now that it came before her on the morning of
+this new year, it added yet another shade to the "horror of great
+darkness" which encompassed her. She knew that it must have a direct
+bearing upon her welfare, and that of her family.
+
+Then she reverted to the New Year's Day of last year; the little
+surprises she had helped to plan; the liberal expenditure by which she
+had sent pleasure, for one day at least, into the dwellings of the poor,
+her generous gifts to her servants, which it had been a pleasant study
+to adapt to their several tastes and wants; the dependencies, near and
+remote, which she had used as channels for conveying a measure of
+happiness to many a heart. Now there must be an end to all this; she
+could be generous no more. Even her children, partly from her
+pre-occupied mind, had no gifts provided for them to-day. Was she not a
+"widow and desolate?"
+
+"Desolate, _desolate_!" she repeated in bitterness of soul. She paused.
+A voice within her seemed to say--"Now she that is a widow and desolate
+_trusteth in God_." A moment after there came into her mind yet another
+verso, "And _none of them that trust in Him shall be_ DESOLATE."
+
+Could it be that she remembered the passage aright? Her Bible lay open
+on the table before her. She had that morning earnestly sought strength
+from it, and from communion with God before she could nerve herself to
+meet her children, and bear their reiterated salutations, heart-rending
+to her, "Happy New Year, mother"--"Mother, dear mother, I wish you a
+Happy New Year."
+
+Now as she drew it towards her, and turned over its pages to verify the
+exactness of the words, it soon opened to _the blessed thirty-fourth
+psalm_, which has proved to many an anchor of hope when they cried to
+God "out of the depths."
+
+"I will bless the Lord at all times;" Oh, surely not!--How could any one
+bless the Lord at such a time as this? Yet there it stood:--
+
+"I will bless the Lord _at all times_; his praise shall continually be
+in my mouth." If others could do this, and had done it, God helping her,
+she would do it too. She, too, would bless the Lord, and speak his
+praises.
+
+"My soul shall _make her boast in the Lord_." A feeling of exultation
+began to rise within her. Something was yet left to her. Her earthly
+"boast" was indeed broken; but why might not she, too, "_make her boast
+in the Lord_"?
+
+Touched with living light, verse by verse stood out before her, as
+written by the finger of a present God. Humbled to the earth,
+overpowered by deep self-abasement and contrition of soul, she clung as
+with a death-grasp to the words that were bearing her triumphantly
+through these dark waves.
+
+"They looked unto Him _and were lightened_." Was not her darkness
+already broken as by a beam from His face?
+
+"This poor man cried, and _the Lord heard him_, and delivered him out of
+all his troubles."
+
+"The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him, and
+delivereth them."
+
+"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto
+their cry."
+
+"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but _the Lord delivereth him
+out of them all_."
+
+Who was this, that, under these comfortable words, looked peacefully
+upward? It was one who was learning to _trust God_; taught it, as most
+of us are, by being placed in circumstances where there is _nothing
+else_ to trust.
+
+It is not for us to portray all that passes in the human soul when it is
+brought into vivid communion with its Maker. It is enough for us to know
+that this sorrowful heart was made to exult in God, even in the calm
+consciousness of its irretrievable loss; and that before the sun of a
+day specially consecrated to grief had attained its meridian, the
+mourner came cheerfully forth from her place of retirement, while a
+chant, as of angelic voices, breathed through the temple of her
+sorrowful soul, even over its broken altar.
+
+"_Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good_; blessed is the man that
+trusteth in Him."
+
+"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints; _for there is no want to them that
+fear Him_."
+
+The group of banished little ones was recalled, but while the messenger
+was gone for them, the mother in the strength of her new-found peace,
+had brought forth from that closed chamber the gifts which the fond
+father had designed for each of his children, and had spread them out
+in fair array on the parlor table. So it was New Year's Day to the
+children after all.
+
+The trust of that mother _in the widow's God_ was never put to shame.
+Her children grew up around her, and hardly realized that they had not
+father and mother both in the one parent who was all in all to them. She
+was efficient and successful in all her undertakings. Her home, with its
+overshadowing trees, its rural abundance and hearty hospitalities, lives
+in the hearts of many as their brightest embodiment of an ideal, a
+cheerful, Christian home. The memory of that mother, dispensing little
+kindnesses to everybody within her reach, is a heritage to her children
+worth thousands of gold and silver. Truly, "they that seek the Lord
+_shall not want any good thing_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FILIAL REVERENCE OF THE TURKS.
+
+
+A beautiful feature in the character of the Turks is, their reverence
+and respect for the author of their being. Their friends' advice and
+reprimands are unheeded; their words are _leash_--nothing; but their
+mother is an oracle. She is consulted, confided in, listened to with
+respect and deference, honored to her latest hour, and remembered with
+affection and regret beyond the grave.
+
+"My wife dies, and I replace her; my children perish, and others may be
+born to me; but who shall restore to me the mother who has passed away,
+and who is no more?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+ICHABOD'S MOTHER.
+
+                         "Strength is born
+  In the deep silence of long-suffering hearts,
+  Not amidst joy."
+
+
+The noblest characters the world knows are those who have been trained
+in the school of affliction. They only who walk in the fiery furnace are
+counted worthy the companionship of the Son of God. The modes of their
+discipline are various as are their circumstances and peculiar traits,
+but in one form or other stern trials have proved them all. They partake
+of the holiness of the Lord, because they have first endured the
+chastening of his love. They are filled with righteousness, because they
+have known the pangs of spiritual hunger and the extremity of thirst.
+They abound, because they have been empty. They are heavenly-minded,
+because they have first learned in the bitterness of their spirits how
+unsatisfying is earth. They are firmly anchored by faith, because
+frequent tempests and threatened shipwreck have taught them their need.
+The Master himself was made perfect through suffering, and with his
+baptism, must they who would follow him closely, be baptized.
+
+While Hannah was undergoing at Ramah the discipline which wrought in her
+such noble qualities, there dwelt in Shiloh one of kindred spirit, who
+was called to endure even severer tests, inasmuch as that which should
+have constituted her happiness, was evermore the bitterest ingredient in
+her cup; what might have been her purest joys became her greatest
+griefs. She was a wife, but only in name. Of the serenity and bliss
+which attend on true wedded love she was deprived. Her bridal pillow was
+early planted with thorns, which henceforth forbade all peace. She was a
+mother, but her children were to be partakers of their father's shame,
+disgraced, and doomed to early death or lives of wickedness and woe. She
+seemingly enjoyed abundant privileges, but her trials as a child of God
+were deeper than all others. She dwelt on sacred ground, but alas!
+herein lay the secret of her sorrow. Had her home been among the
+thousands in the outer camps, it had not been so sadly desecrated. Her
+husband was the High Priest's son, and daily performed the priest's duty
+among holy things. Had he been a humble member of Dan or Naphtali, his
+crimes had not been so heinous. She lived under the shadow of the
+tabernacle; had her abode been farther from the sacred enclosure, she
+had not been daily witness to the heaven-daring deeds which made men
+abhor the offering of the Lord, and called for vengeance on her nearest
+and dearest. Her food was constantly supplied from the sacred offerings;
+had it been procured in ordinary ways, she had not been a partaker with
+those who committed sacrilege.
+
+No trifling vexations, no light sorrows were hers; and as might be
+expected, her virtues bore their proportion to the purifying process to
+which she was subjected. Disappointed in her earthly hopes, she clung to
+her God, and fastened her expectations on Him. Humiliated in her human
+relations, she aspired to nothing henceforth but His honor and glory.
+Wounded in heart, her wealth of love despised, lonely, deserted, she
+sought in Him the portion of her soul, and her lacerated affections
+found repose and satisfaction, without the fear of change in His
+unchanging love.
+
+It is often so ordered in the Providence of God, that those who have
+borne the yoke in their youth, live to see days of comparative quietude
+and exemption from trouble. Hannah, after the birth of Samuel, appears
+to have passed the remainder of her life in peace and prosperity. But
+the nameless woman whose memorial we record had no respite. Her life was
+a life of endurance, and she was cut off in the midst of her days by a
+most fearful and agonizing stroke.
+
+Israel was as usual at war with the Philistines. The army had pitched
+beside Eben-ezer, "And the Philistines put themselves in array against
+Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the
+Philistines." Alarmed and distressed by this defeat, the Israelites
+vainly imagining that wherever the ark of God was, there He would be
+also with his favoring presence, sent up to Shiloh to bring from thence
+the sacred symbol. With great pomp and solemnity it was borne by the
+Priests and Levites, and uproarious was the rejoicing as it entered the
+camp, but no account is given of the feelings of those who remained near
+the deserted tabernacle. Did the aged Eli forbode that the awful event
+which should signal the fulfillment of prophetic woe against his family
+was about to befall? Did the abused wife dream that she should behold no
+more her husband's face? We know not what of personal apprehension
+mingled with their trouble, but we do know that with trembling hearts
+these faithful servants of God awaited tidings of the ark of his
+covenant. How portentous soever might be the cloud which hung over their
+own happiness, they deemed it of small importance in comparison with the
+honor of Jehovah. The messenger came, but who shall portray the scene
+when he rendered his tidings!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a darkened chamber, whither death, clothed in unwonted horrors, has
+suddenly come for the fourth victim of that doomed family, lies the
+subject of our meditations, panting under his iron grasp. The
+afflictions of her life are now consummated. The husband of her youth,
+his follies and faults against her, now are forgotten in the bitter
+thought that _he is dead_, has gone unrepentant to the bar of God to
+give account of his priesthood--her venerable father-in-law alone, with
+no friend to cheer his dying agonies, has also departed from earth--her
+people are defeated in battle, and worse than all, the ark of God is
+fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines--who doubtless
+glory as if Dagon had conquered the invincible Jehovah. What to her are
+the pangs and throes under which her tortured body labors? She heeds
+them not. Pitying friends endeavor to rouse her from her dying lethargy,
+by the most glad tidings a Hebrew woman could learn, "Fear not; for thou
+hast borne a son!" But she answers not. Shorter and shorter grows her
+breath--nearer and nearer she approaches the eternal shore. But she is a
+mother, and though every other tie is sundered, and she is dying of the
+wounds which the cruel breaking of those heart strings has caused, she
+feels one cord drawing her to her new-born child, and asks that he may
+be brought. It is too much! Why was he born? No cheering thought comes
+with his presence. Nor joy nor honor are in store for him. Call him
+Ichabod, (without glory) she gasps with feeble accents, "for the glory
+is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken." A moment more and
+her freed spirit is in His open presence, who she deemed was forever
+departed from her people.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christian friend, you who are walking through desert places, and perhaps
+fainting under the heavy hand of God, let not your heart fail you.
+Shrink not back from the path, though it seem beset with thorns. Some
+good is in store for you. Affliction, indeed, is not for the present
+joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
+fruits of righteousness. If, like the mother of Ichabod, you learn to
+forsake the turbid waters of earth for the Fountain of eternal love--if
+you make the Lord your portion, you will not in the end be the loser,
+though wave on wave roll over you and strip you of every other joy. No,
+not even if at length your sun shall set in clouds impenetrable to
+mortal vision. A glorious cloudless morning lies beyond, and you shall
+be forever satisfied with Him who has chosen you in the furnace of
+affliction.
+
+      "Then rouse thee from desponding sleep,
+      Nor by the wayside lingering weep,
+  Nor fear to seek Him farther in the wild,
+      Whose love can turn earth's worst and least
+      Into a conqueror's royal feast;
+  Thou will not be untrue, thou shall not be beguiled."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION--PHYSICAL TRAINING.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+I have presupposed three things in reference to education. The field
+which it covers is also three-fold--the body, the intellect, and the
+heart.
+
+The body is the living temple of the soul. It is more than a casket for
+the preservation of the jewel; it is more than the setting of the
+diamond; it is more even than an exquisitely-constructed dwelling
+wherein the soul lives, and works and worships. It is a living,
+sensitive agent, into which the spirit pours its own life, through which
+it communes with all external nature, and receives the effluxes of God
+streaming from a material creation. It is the admirable organ through
+which the man sends forth his influence either to bless and vivify, or
+to curse and wither. By it, the immortal mind converts deserts into
+gardens, creates the forms of art, sways senates, and sheds its plastic
+presence over social life. The senses are the finely-wrought gates
+through which knowledge enters the sublime dome of thought; while the
+eye, the tongue, the hand, are the instruments of the Spirit's power
+over the outer world. The soul incarnate in such a body, enjoys a living
+medium of reciprocal communication between itself and all things
+without. Meanwhile the body itself does not arrive here mature in its
+powers; nor does it spring suddenly from the imbecility of the infant to
+the strength of the man. By slow development, by a gradual growth, in
+analogy with that of a tree whose life is protracted, it rises, after
+years of existence, to its appointed stature. Advancing thus slowly, it
+affords ample time for its full and free development.
+
+In this physical training, there are two points of special importance.
+The first is the removal of all unnatural restraints and the pressure
+of unhealthy customs; the second, is the opportunity, the motive and the
+habit of free exercise in the pure air of heaven. These, as causes of
+health and fine physical development, are interwoven as are their
+opposites. In the progress of society from barbarism to refinement, it
+has often been the case that men, in departing from what was savage,
+have lost that which was natural; and in their ascent from the rude have
+left behind that which was essential to the highest civilization. In
+escaping from the nakedness of the barbarian, they have sometimes
+carried dress to an extreme of art which renders it untrue to nature and
+productive of manifold evils. In ascending from the simple and rude
+gastronomy of the savage, they have brought the art of cookery to such
+an excess of luxury as to enervate society by merely factitious
+appetites. In the formation of habits of life, social intercourse and
+amusements adapted to a refined state, they have introduced many things
+at war with the healthful development of both body and mind. The manly
+exercises of swimming, skating, riding, hunting, ball playing; the
+bracing walk in storm and sunshine; the free ramble over hill and dale,
+all adapted to develop an independent, self-relying character; with the
+occasional reunion where wit, science, healthful industry and serene
+piety shed their benedictions; associating that which is free and bold
+with the refined and sacred; all these are, in many cases, displaced by
+frivolous and less healthful excitements. Our girls and boys,
+prematurely exalted into young gentlemen and ladies, are tutored by
+dancing masters; their manners disciplined into an artificial stiffness;
+and the free developments of an open nature formed under the genial
+influence of truly polite parents--the finest discipline in the
+world--arrested by the strictures of a purely conventional regimen, in
+which the laws of health and the higher spiritual life seem never to
+have been consulted.
+
+With such a physical training, associated with a corresponding education
+of the mind and heart, they are ripe for the customs and fashions of
+life in harmony therewith; and totally averse to the purer, manlier and
+nobler duties and pleasures of a better state of society. To dress and
+exhibit themselves; to crowd the saloon of every foreign trifler, who,
+under the abused name of art, and for the sake of gold, seeks to
+minister to us those meretricious excitements which associate themselves
+with declining states and artificial forms of life; to waste the most
+precious hours of night, set apart by the God of nature for repose, in
+dancing, eating, drinking, and revelry, follow naturally enough upon
+such training. Then in the rear, come disease of body and mind, broken
+constitutions and broken hearts; and last of all, with grim majesty,
+death, prematurely summoned, avenges this violation of the laws of
+nature upon the miserable victims, and quenches the glare of this
+brilliant day in the darkness of the tomb. How utterly different is such
+training and such modes of life consequent upon it, from those which are
+dictated by a thorough understanding of our nature and the great
+purposes of our existence. For in all these things we shall find there
+exists a connection sufficiently obvious between the right education of
+the spirit and the body; and that so strong is their mutual influence as
+to render it of great importance to care for them both in harmony with
+each other. Then shall we regard the perfection of the form and the
+vigor of our bodily powers. Casting away whatever did not consist with
+the health and finer developments of the physical system, we should
+pursue that course of education which best prepared the body for its
+grand work as the living agent of the spirit.
+
+In considering physical training it is allowable for us to look both at
+beauty and intellectual power. A noble form in man; a fine, beautiful,
+healthful form in woman, are desirable for their outward influence.
+Created susceptible of deep impressions from external appearances, it is
+neither religion nor good sense to undervalue them. That men generally
+have over-estimated their worth, is a reason why we should reduce them
+to their true position, and not sink them below it. The palace of the
+soul should befit its possessor. And as God has taken pleasure in
+scattering images of beauty all over the earth, and made us susceptible
+of pleasure therefrom, it is right that in the education of our
+children we should seek for the unfolding of the noblest and most
+beautiful forms. Shall we beautify our dwellings; adorn our grounds with
+plants, flowers, and trees of various excellence; improve the breed of
+our cattle, and yet care not for the constitutions and forms of those
+who are on earth the master-pieces of divine wisdom and the possessors
+of all this goodly heritage? Most of all, however, as the agent of the
+spirit, should we seek to rear our children in all healthful customs and
+invigorating pursuits. It is possible, indeed, that a mind of gigantic
+powers may sometimes dwell in a feeble frame, swayed to and fro by every
+breath of air. But we are sure that such a physical state is the source
+of manifold vexations, pains and loss of power. It is a state which the
+possessor never covets; which oppresses him with the consciousness of an
+energy he is forbidden to put forth, and a force for moving the world
+crippled by the impediment of a frail body. For the full discharge of
+all the duties of life; for the affording to our mental powers a fair
+field for their action; and especially for the education and advancement
+of succeeding generations, it is indispensable the vigor of the body
+should correspond to the vigor of the intellect, so far as to constitute
+the one the most efficient agent of the other. It has rarely been taken
+into view, that, aside from the personal benefits of health in the
+greater power of present action, the intense intellects and feeble
+frames of one generation are a ruinous draft upon both the physical and
+mental powers of that which succeeds. A race of overwrought brains in
+enfeebled bodies must be recruited from a more healthful stock, or their
+posterity will, in time, decline into idiocy or cease from the earth.
+The process of degeneracy, by an infallible law, will pass from the body
+to the intellect; and the descendant of a Luther or a Bacon go down to
+the level of the most stupid boor that drives his oxen over the sands of
+southern Africa.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INORDINATE GRIEF THE EFFECT OF AN UNSUBDUED WILL.
+
+
+I called on a friend a few months since, who for a full year had been
+watching with maternal solicitude over an invalid daughter still in the
+morning of life, upon whom had been lavished all the fond caresses of
+parental love and tenderness. Every advantage which wealth, and the
+means of education could impart to qualify her for happiness in this
+life had been hers--nor had her religious culture been entirely
+overlooked.
+
+In her father's family there had been little effort made to instill into
+the minds of their children the principles of holy living, and it was
+felt that there was but little necessity to give them habits of
+self-denial or self-reliance.
+
+This daughter, notwithstanding her happy childhood in having all her
+wants anticipated, and upon whose pathway the sun had shone most
+brightly, was now, like an unsubdued child, under a most painful
+infliction of the rod of God.
+
+Two years previous to this time, during a revival of religion, she
+publicly covenanted to walk in all the statutes and ordinances of God's
+Word and house, blamelessly. Thus was she married to Christ, and she
+then felt, and her friends felt, that she had chosen Christ to be the
+guide of her youth.
+
+But how could she be expected, never having had her will thoroughly
+subdued, or been called to bear any yoke or burden, fully to understand,
+or to realize what was implied, or required in becoming a disciple of
+Christ, so that she could at once fully adopt the language,
+
+  "Jesus, I my cross have taken,
+    All to leave and follow thee,
+  Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,
+    Thou from hence my all shall be."
+
+Just one year from her espousal to Christ the village of ---- was all
+excitement, on an occasion which had called the young and the
+middle-aged to the house of her father,--the wealthy Mr. G----, when
+this lovely daughter was to be united in marriage to the accomplished,
+the graceful, the pious Mr. L----, a universal favorite with persons of
+all ages and ranks. A short time previous to his union to the young and
+beautiful belle of ----, he had, under most favorable auspices,
+commenced a lucrative business in the city of ----.
+
+Immediately after the nuptial ceremony, Mr. L---- accompanied his bride
+to the Falls of Niagara, that favorite place of resort on such memorable
+occasions. They were now all the world to each other. Alas, how utterly,
+for a time, did they overlook the injunction, "Little children, keep
+yourselves from idols." Nor did they for once even dream how insensibly
+the streams of God's bounty and goodness were withdrawing their hearts
+from the fountain of all blessedness and perfection.
+
+On their return from this delightful excursion, this envied young
+husband was soon found at his post of business, surrounded by numerous
+friends all eager to aid and encourage him on in his preparations to
+welcome to his home and his heart, his darling "wife." Oh, how sweet to
+him did that treasured name sound, when greeted by his young friends,
+and the question was asked, "How is your _wife_?" "When do you expect
+your _wife_?" Never, he felt, was there another more truly blessed.
+
+How sudden must have been the transition, for the summons came, as it
+were, in a moment, "The Master has come, and calleth for thee." Young
+Mr. L---- had been in the city but two days, when retiring to his bed,
+he was suddenly siezed with a bilious attack, and in a few brief hours,
+even before his friends could reach his bed-side, he was wrapped in the
+habiliments of the grave. His last faint farewell was uttered in hurried
+and broken accents, just as he expired, "Tell her that Jesus makes me
+willing"--"makes me willing."
+
+In his ready, cheerful, and manly willingness to obey the Master's call,
+though so sudden, we see the blessed influence of early parental
+discipline--absolute unconditional submission to parental authority.
+
+Truly this was a most sad and unexpected reverse for that youthful and
+happy bride. Her face at once became as pale and almost marble-like, as
+the icy hand of death had made that of her husband's. No wonder if this
+world should now seem to her as a barren wilderness. No wonder if her
+thoughts, for a time, should brood mournfully over the words, "Lover and
+friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."
+No wonder if to her desolate heart, solitude, and gloom, and the grave,
+should, for a season, be her chosen themes of contemplation. She does
+well to grieve. There is nothing wrong in the mourner's tears. We have
+the example of Jesus in such an expression--tears are Nature's own sweet
+relief. It is safe--yes, it is well to bleed when our limbs are taken
+from our side.
+
+But let such as mourn remember, in all cases of bereavement, it is God,
+whose discipline is strictly parental, hath done it, and "He doeth all
+things well." How sad it is when the bereaved, who are not called to
+mourn as those who have no hope, allow their thoughts to find a lodgment
+only in the grave. How widely different had been the condition of this
+youthful mourner, if, instead of shutting herself up in her chamber,
+taking to her bed, chiefly, for a full year refusing to be
+comforted--had she dwelt more upon that touching "farewell" to her,
+receiving it as a beam of light and love from the spirit land, inviting
+her to the contemplation of heavenly themes. Had she rather considered
+her departed companion as _favored_ in this early call to glory,--had
+she considered the passage in Isaiah 57:1, "The righteous are taken away
+from the evil."--why did she not meekly and penitently reflect, that as
+God does not willingly afflict, he must have had some special design in
+this severe chastisement upon her. Had her mind been open to
+conviction--had she been bowed down under a sense of sin--would she not
+have inquired whether the blessed Saviour, perceiving the lurking danger
+there was to this young couple, from a disposition to find their heaven
+upon earth, to seek their chief happiness in each other, had not with
+the voice of love and tender compassion said to her husband, "The Master
+hath need of thee, come up hither." Had her heart been right with God,
+as she contemplated her departed friend in his new-born zeal to honor
+and glorify his Redeemer, flying on swift wings to perform Heaven's
+mandates, would she not resolve, by the grace of God, to emulate him in
+his greater efforts to save lost souls, for whom Christ died? Were not
+the same motives set before her, by his death, to seek a new and holy
+life? Was not the same grace--the same strength proffered to her, which,
+if accepted and improved aright, would have enabled her to deny
+herself--to take up her cross and to follow Jesus whithersoever he might
+see fit to lead her?
+
+But, alas, this was in nowise her happy experience. On the contrary, she
+turned away from the consolations proffered to her in God's blessed
+Word, and by his Holy Spirit, and in the teachings of that last touching
+"farewell."
+
+May we not suppose that her husband, on finding himself liberated from
+the trappings of earth, from sin and temptation, as his thoughts would
+naturally revert to the friends he had left behind--finding his chosen,
+bosom friend, a mere clod of clay, sunk down in a state of hopeless
+misery and sorrow, at his loss, having no sympathy with him in his new
+and blessed abode, and in his more exalted employments and purer
+enjoyments, would he not rather bless God, more ardently, that he was so
+quickly removed from such chilling, blighting earth-born influences as
+she might have exerted over him?
+
+Oh, that this youthful mourner might now hear that voice of God to his
+chosen people, "Ye have compassed this mountain long enough--turn you
+northward." God grant that the past time of her life may suffice that
+she has "wrought the will of the flesh." We most earnestly commend to
+her prayerful contemplation the last words of our blessed Saviour to his
+disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions." I go to prepare _a
+place_ for you--just such a mansion--such a place as each ransomed soul,
+by improving the discipline of God--by holy and self-denying efforts in
+this life, to do his will, is fitted to fill, and enjoy.
+
+And so it will ever be with the heirs of salvation, while they remain in
+a world of sin and temptation. They are daily and hourly working out
+their salvation with fear and with trembling, while God is working in
+them to will and to do of his good pleasure. The improvement which is
+made of afflictions has a great deal to do in this process.
+
+And thus, too, will it be with those who wilfully, or even thoughtlessly
+neglect the great salvation--those who reject the overtures of pardoning
+mercy and salvation by Christ. They will hereafter know and acknowledge
+that "they knew their duty but they did it not." It is said that "Judas
+went to his _own place_"--and that "Dives _made his bed_ in hell." And
+herein will these words of the poet be strikingly fulfilled in every
+human soul--
+
+  "'Tis not the whole of life to live,
+  Nor all of death to die."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN'S APPREHENSION OF THE POWER OF PRAYER.
+
+
+While visiting in the family of Rev. Mr. F----, one morning as we were
+quietly seated at the breakfast table, his two little boys, Willie and
+Georgie were seated between their father and mother. All at once
+Georgie, the youngest, a child of five years, reached his head forward,
+and in a half-whisper said to his brother, "Willie, Willie, if you were
+going a journey, which would you give up, your breakfast or your
+prayers?"
+
+Willie replied, "I should want both."
+
+"But," said the little fellow, still more earnestly, "What if you
+couldn't have both, then which would you give up?"
+
+"I would give up my breakfast," said Willie.
+
+The little urchin said in an undertone, "I think mother would take
+something along in her bag." There was certainly a good "look out" for
+two worlds.
+
+A mother who resides near me, and has a large family of small children,
+related to me the following circumstance of her eldest boy, when quite
+young. From the time her children began to talk, she accustomed them,
+each in their turn, to kneel by her side, on rising and retiring each
+morning and evening, and repeat to her their little prayers.
+
+One day when her eldest boy, as she thought, was old enough to
+comprehend her, she said to him rather seriously, "My son, there is one
+kind of prayer to God to which I have not directed your attention. It is
+called 'secret prayer.' The direction and encouragement for this kind of
+prayer is found in the passage, 'Enter into thy closet and shut to thy
+door, and pray to thy Father which is in heaven, and thy Father which
+seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' Now do you not desire to
+obtain this open reward. If you would like a closet of your own, there
+is a little retired place near my bed-room--you can go there each day by
+yourself, and shut your door as directed."
+
+One day, not long after, the child was gone some time; his mother did
+not like to accuse him of having trifled on so serious an occasion, for
+he was a remarkably conscientious and honest boy--and she said to him,
+"Frank, you have been gone so long I fear you may have been using 'vain
+repetitions.'"
+
+The color mantled at once in the little fellow's cheeks, and almost
+ready to cry, he said, "Mother, when aunt Mary left us yesterday, she
+said that she and the children would be exposed to many dangers during
+the voyage, and she asked me to pray for them, and it took me a good
+while."
+
+I was told by a friend, of a group of little boys when visiting a little
+companion, all seated on the floor near each other, looking at some
+pictures. They came to one representing Daniel in the den of lions. It
+was noticed that the lions were not chained, and yet they were in a
+reposing posture. None seemed to understand how this was. One little boy
+said to another, "Ah, wouldn't you be afraid to be put into a den of
+lions?" "Oh, yes," was the reply. And so the question went all round,
+eliciting the same answer. At last the youngest of the party reached
+himself forward and pulled his brother by the sleeve, saying, "Johnny,
+Johnny, if lions are afraid of praying people, they'd be afraid of
+mother--wouldn't they? And she wouldn't be afraid of them, for she says
+we needn't fear anything but sin."
+
+I was acquainted with a family where the following circumstance
+occurred. The two youngest boys in the family were often trusted to take
+long walks, and sometimes they were permitted to go over, by themselves,
+to N----, a distance of nearly four miles, and make a call on their aunt
+and cousins, who resided there.
+
+One day they came and asked their mother if they might take a long walk.
+She told them not a very long walk, for that day they had not been as
+studious and dutiful as usual. They took hold of hands, and without
+designing to do so at first, it was believed, they ran on very fast till
+they reached the village of N----, where their aunt lived.
+
+On going to the house, their aunt thought, from their heated appearance,
+and hurried and disconcerted manner, that they were two "runaways." She,
+however, welcomed them as usual--invited them to partake of some fine
+baked apples and new bread and milk--quite a new treat to city boys--but
+N----, the eldest, declined the invitation. She then proposed to them to
+go to the school-house, which was near by, and see their cousins. This,
+too, N---- declined. He said to his brother, "Charley, we must go home."
+And they took hold of hands and ran all the way as fast as possible, and
+immediately on entering the house, their faces as red as scarlet, N----
+confessed to his mother where they had been, and asked her forgiveness.
+This being granted, N---- could not be happy. He said, weeping, "Mother,
+will you go up stairs with us and pray with us?" She did so, with a
+grateful heart, and sought pardon for them. N---- did the same. When it
+came Charley's turn to pray, he made an ordinary prayer--when his
+brother repeatedly touched him, and in a low whisper he said, "Charley,
+why don't you repent--why don't you repent?"
+
+A very little child, not two years old, always seemed delighted to hold
+her little book at prayer time, and when her father said Amen, she
+always repeated it after him aloud. One day she seemed very uneasy
+during prayer time, and though she made great resistance, she was taken
+out of the room. She insisted on going back to the drawing-room, and the
+chairs being still in the order in which the family had been seated
+during prayer time, the little creature went by the side of each, and
+folding her little hands, she repeated "Amen," "Amen," until she had
+been to each one. Thus we see it is not so much for want of knowledge,
+as for a right state of heart, right teachings, right examples, that
+children do not live and act, speak and think and pray aright.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS.
+
+
+In the letters of John Adams to his wife, Sept. 10, 1774, we have an
+account of the _First Prayer_ in Congress. What an instructive and
+encouraging lesson is here taught to all religious persons, always
+unhesitatingly to obey all holy and good impulses.
+
+Had Mr. Cushing, who moved the resolution, held back,--or had Mr. Samuel
+Adams refused to second this resolution,--or had Rev. Mr. Duché
+declined, when called upon to lead on that occasion, our nation might
+never have presented the sublime spectacle of uniting, as a body, in
+calling upon God at the opening of their Congressional sessions.
+
+And who would dare to predict the loss which this omission might at that
+time have occasioned to this infant Republic!
+
+Mr. Adams's account is as follows:--
+
+"When Congress first met, Mr. Cushing moved that it should be opened
+with prayer. This was opposed on the ground that the members, being of
+various denominations, were so divided in their religious sentiments
+that they could not join in any one mode of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams
+arose, and after saying that he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer
+from any gentleman of piety and virtue who was a friend to his country,
+moved that Rev. Mr. Duché--an Episcopal clergyman, who, he said, he
+understood deserved that character--be invited to read prayers before
+Congress the next morning. The motion was passed; and the next morning
+Mr. Duché appeared, and after reading several prayers in the Established
+form, then read the Collect for the 7th of September, which was the
+thirty-fifth Psalm. This was the next morning after the startling news
+had come of the cannonade of Boston;" and, says John Adams, "I never saw
+a greater effect upon an audience: it seemed as if Heaven had ordained
+that Psalm to be read on that morning."
+
+"After this," he continues, "Mr. Duché, unexpectedly to everybody,
+struck out into an extemporaneous prayer, which filled the bosom of
+every man present. I never heard a better prayer, or one so well
+pronounced. Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, ardor,
+earnestness, and pathos, and in language so eloquent and sublime, for
+America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts, and
+especially for Boston. It had an excellent effect upon everybody here,"
+and many, he tells us, were melted to tears.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY BABY.
+
+
+  Within a cradle, still and warm,
+  There lies a little gentle form,
+  Just look beneath the coverlid,
+  And see the tiny sleeper hid!
+
+  Then peep beneath the cap of lace,
+  Behold his rosy happy face;
+  The velvet cheek, so pure and white,
+  Didst ever see a fairer sight?
+
+  His dimpled arm across his breast,
+  His chubby limbs composed to rest,
+  The gentle curls of waving hair,
+  Falling upon the pillow there!
+
+  The drooping lashes shroud his eyes,
+  Blue as the tinge of summer skies,
+  His damask lips like tints of rose
+  Which garden buds at twilight close.
+
+  Art thou a form of human mould,
+  Or stray-lamb of the heavenly fold?
+  A little herald to the earth,
+  Or cherub sent to bless our hearth?
+
+  Must evil spirits intertwine
+  And lead astray that heart of thine?
+  And must thou be with sin defiled,
+  That seemest now an angel child?
+
+  Oh blessed Lamb of God! to thee
+  I come, and with my baby flee
+  Within thy fold, and sheltering care,
+  I lay my child, and leave him there.
+
+                              EUCLID, _Ohio_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.
+
+
+Night was coming on. The tall elms which beautify the little village of
+G---- were waving to and fro their pendent branches, heavy with the
+evening damp, and as the boughs swayed against the window panes of one
+of the largest mansions in the town, the glass was moistened by the
+crystal drops. But heavier and colder was the dew that gathered upon the
+forehead of the sufferer within; for extended upon the couch lay a dying
+woman.
+
+The trembling hand of an aged man wiped the forehead, and the tears that
+stood in his eye told that his remaining days on earth must be uncheered
+by the kind voice and radiant smile of her who had been a mother to his
+children. Those children, grown to full age, were there, and if need be
+could have borne clear and convincing testimony that sometimes, at
+least, the connection between a step-mother and her husband's family is
+only productive of good. But where were her own offspring? Three noble
+looking men, and as many matrons, owed their existence and education to
+her, and she had hoped, ere she died, to behold once more their faces.
+
+Soft and gentle were the hands that smoothed her pillow; low and sweet
+were the voices that inquired of her wants, but dear to her as were
+these, they were not _her own_, and the mother's heart yearned once more
+to trace their father's likeness in the tall dark-eyed sons who but a
+few years ago were cradled in her arms. And can these feelings cause the
+pang which seems at once to contract the face? So thinks her
+step-daughter, as she says, "They will be here to-morrow, mother." "It
+is not that, my dear," murmured the sick one, "but when I was just now
+enjoying the blessedness of committing my soul to Him who died for me,
+when feeling my own unworthiness of one of his many mercies, I had cast
+myself on the mercy of the 'Sinner's Friend,' like a wave of agony
+rushed in upon me the thought that my dear sons have denied the divinity
+of the Savior, into whose name they were baptized, and who laid down his
+life to redeem them. Oh! could I be assured that they would be led back
+to their fathers' God, I could die happy." There was stillness in this
+chamber of death. The invalid's pale lips moved as if in prayer, and
+soon the lids were raised, and the brilliant black eye was lighted up as
+of old, and triumphant was the strain that burst forth. "I know in whom
+I have believed, and am persuaded that He will keep that which I have
+committed to Him, my most precious treasures, _my children_, against
+that day. I know Him--I rest in His faithfulness." The smile lingered on
+her features, but the spirit had fled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Green Mountain range in Massachusetts presents a series of most
+magnificent scenery, and in the villages which nestle among its
+summits, dwell some of the noblest hearts and sturdiest frames of New
+England.
+
+Mountains have always been the rugged nurses of independence of thought
+and action, and the grand chains of our own land form no exception to
+the rule. Nor is this all--none who have not dwelt among our rural
+population know the strong sympathy which pervades the inhabitants of
+the same settlement--long may it continue! Each takes an interest in the
+welfare of all about him, and though there are some things disagreeable
+in the minute surveillance to which one is thus exposed, yet it is more
+than compensated by the affectionate interest which is manifested in the
+weal or woe of each neighbor. Not there, as in the crowded city, may a
+man be laid in his grave, while the occupant of the next dwelling
+neither knows nor cares concerning his fate.
+
+The intelligence of illness spreads from house to house, and who can
+number the kind offices which are immediately exercised by neighbors far
+and near. The very schoolboys lower their voices as they pass the
+darkened windows, and there needs no muffling of the knocker, for who
+would disturb the invalid? And when the bell solemnly announces the
+departure of a soul, sadness settles in every heart, and the cathedral
+hung in sable is a poor tribute to departed worth, compared to the
+general mourning of the whole village, when the long funeral procession,
+whence old and young unite
+
+  "To pay the last sad tribute, and to hear
+  Upon the narrow dwelling's hollow bound,
+      The first earth thrown."
+
+Oh! who would not exchange the pomp and hollow pageantry of the
+metropolis for such attentions?
+
+In one of these same homes of virtue and happiness dwelt a family, who,
+contented with their lot, sought no wide sphere of enjoyment. With a
+good education, fine talents, with a strong constitution, the father had
+commenced his career about forty years before, and by his own exertions
+had risen to wealth, respectability and honor. Having often represented
+the interests of his fellow-townsmen in the assembly of the State, the
+county in which he resided had deemed that they could commit to no safer
+hands the senatorial dignity.
+
+His gentlemanly bearing, his benevolent smile, his tall and commanding
+appearance won all hearts; while his calm judgment, his energetic course
+of action gained respect and demanded admiration. In public and private
+life he was a pattern of excellence. Surely his mother must have looked
+upon such a son with feelings of gratitude and even pride. As you enter
+the door, from which no poor man was ever turned empty away, and
+crossing the hall, advance into the elegant parlor to greet your host
+and his amiable wife, you can fancy a smile of satisfaction upon the
+lips of that mother's portrait, which hangs in the place of honor on the
+wall, a smile which seems to say, "this is my eldest born." But, alas!
+it was for this son that that mother had put up her last prayer--for him
+it was, she had poured forth her soul, and now years have passed since
+he stood by her helpless remains, and her petition is still unanswered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a May morning, two years later, and cheerily does the sun shine
+upon the village of ----. The pine forest at a little distance, sheds
+forth after the last night's rain that fragrance which is so delicious,
+the fields are gay with dandelions, the brooks yellow with the American
+cowslip, close beside which peeps forth the lovely veronica, while
+yonder slope is enameled with bright blue violets, and the little white
+Mayflower. But no children are seen plucking them. The very herds in the
+field low in a subdued manner, and the birds warble their gladsome
+spring song with a depth which belongs only to sacred music. None are
+moving about the streets. The church doors are open, however, for it is
+the Sabbath. Come with me to yonder mansion--the tasteful shrubbery, the
+vine-covered window, the well arranged garden bespeak for its possessor
+wealth and luxury. Enter with me, but tread lightly as we ascend the
+staircase. Upon that white curtained bed, raised by pillows, reposes
+one who has numbered more than sixty summers. His brow is scarcely
+furrowed, though his face is thin. His clasped hands are emaciated, but
+he does not look old. The fever spot burns in his cheeks, and his eye is
+lighted up with a heavenly ray, which shows that now at least the soul
+is triumphing over the body.
+
+A small table, covered with damask of snowy whiteness, stands near, on
+which are placed the emblems of the broken body and poured-forth blood
+of our Redeemer. A few Christian brethren and sisters are kneeling
+around, and the pastor is blessing the bread. Methinks "it is good to be
+here." The great Master is present, and "his banner over this little
+company is love." One can almost see the ministry of angels as they bend
+to watch the scene.
+
+The rite is done. The softly murmured hymn which concludes it, has died
+upon the balmy evening air. The partakers of the Lord's Supper have
+departed. The pastor has for the last time pressed the hand which has so
+recently subscribed to the covenant of the church, and he, too, has
+taken his final leave. Relations alone remain in the chamber of death.
+Solemnity broods over the spot. The brothers who through life have
+looked to this now dying brother, as a father, guide, and friend, sit
+gazing on him in mournful silence, the tears slowly chasing each other
+down their manly cheeks, with something of the feeling of the prophet
+when it was told him, "Know thou that your master will be taken from
+your head to-day".
+
+The sisters watch and anticipate his wishes, till first one and then
+another is overcome by her emotion, and steals away to give it vent. The
+wife, like a ministering spirit, silently wipes the clammy brow and
+moistens the parched lips. But now the sick man speaks: "Brother, will
+you bring mother's portrait! I would take my leave of that--O, how soon
+shall I join her now." It is brought, and the heavy window curtains are
+thrown back, and it is placed at the foot of the bed with reverend care,
+which showed the veneration in which the original was held.
+
+"Look, brother: it smiles upon me!" and observing the astonished
+expression of his friends, the dying man continued in a less excited
+tone, "Do not suppose that my mind is wandering. I assure you on the
+word of one who must shortly appear before a God of truth, that ever
+since my mother's death the picture has frowned upon me. I knew what it
+meant, for you have not forgotten her last prayer, and every time I have
+looked upon it I felt, while I continued to deny the divinity of our
+Savior, I could not expect my mother's approbation or blessing. For
+years I fought against the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, till I examined
+the subject more thoroughly, and to-day I have sealed my renunciation of
+that error, and have testified my faith in the atonement made for
+sinners. The cross of Christ has drawn me with cords of love. I wanted
+to see that portrait once more, and, lo, the frown is gone--and my
+mother beams upon me the same sweet smile as when at sixteen years of
+age I left home a fatherless boy, to make my own way in the world. Thank
+God I die in peace."
+
+My sketch is finished. Shall I make the application? Has not every
+mother's heart made it already? asking the question, "Is my influence
+over my children such that when I am gone my portrait shall have such
+power over them for good?"
+
+Cowper has embalmed his mother's miniature in lines which will touch the
+heart while our language is preserved. But this picture is hallowed by
+strains which are poured forth from angelic choirs, as they tune their
+harps anew "over one sinner that repenteth."
+
+The likeness of Cowper's mother led him to mourn for past delights, but
+this picture led the son to look in humble joy to that blessed hope and
+glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
+
+                                      EDITH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LIGHT READING.
+
+
+During a recent tour in search of health and pleasure, I was surprised
+and pained at seeing the amount of light reading indulged in while
+traveling, by old and young of both sexes and all classes. I observed,
+while rapidly urged over our railways, many thus engaged--many
+purchasing eagerly the trash offered at every station, and could but
+regret they had not provided with the same care food for the mind, by
+placing in the satchel that contained sustenance for the body, some
+valuable book, some truthful work.
+
+Lake George, with its clear waters and lovely islands, its majestic,
+untrod mountains and historical associations, had not attractions
+sufficient to win the lovers of fiction from the false pages of life, to
+the open, beautiful book of Nature. It was a bright July morning when I
+stood upon the deck of the "John Jay."
+
+  "The beautiful sun arose--and there was not
+  A stain upon the sky, the virgin blue
+  Was delicate as light, and birds went up
+  And sang invisibly, the heavenly air
+  Wooed them so temptingly."
+
+Now the mountain-tops were radiant with the golden light, now valley,
+lake, and green islet, rejoiced in the morning sun. Yet, at such an
+hour, amid such scenes, ladies and gentlemen were engrossed with the
+mawkish sentimentalities of fictitious narrations, their eyes closed to
+all the beauty of the time and place, their ears deaf to the delicious
+harmony of awakening nature.
+
+Lake Champlain, with its romantic ruins ever dear to the heart of an
+American, its verdant shores and rural villages, nestling in the valleys
+or crowning the hills, could scarce obtain a passing glance from those
+enraptured with the improbable if not impossible pictures of life.
+
+When upon the St. Lawrence, gliding swiftly through the charming scenery
+of the Thousand Isles, that like emerald gems adorn the bosom of that
+noble river, now passing one with cultivated fields and quiet
+farm-house, another low and level bathed in the rays of a setting sun,
+others rocky and precipitous, crowned with cedar and fir; again a little
+quiet spot where one would like long to tarry, or one with shrubbery and
+light-house so peaceful in its rural beauty you almost envied the
+occupants their retirement; even here, as I turned from the scene at the
+whispered exclamation of a friend, "O, how beautiful!" my eye fell upon
+two ladies bending over the pages of newly issued novels, their
+countenances glowing--not with holy emotions awakened by the enjoyment
+of a summer's sun-set upon the St. Lawrence, but with feverish
+excitement, kindled by the overwrought pictures of the novelist. Fair,
+young girls, how could you linger over the unreal when passing through
+such scenes of God's own work? How could you shut out that gorgeous
+sunset, turn from all the pure and heavenly feelings such scenes must
+awaken, to sympathize with imaginary beings and descriptions?
+
+And now I tarried at Niagara, wonderful, sublime Niagara--
+
+  ----"Speaking in voice of thunder
+  Eternally of God--bidding the lips of man
+  Keep silence, and upon the rocky altar, pour
+  Incense of sweet praise."
+
+Rambling along the shore of Iris Island, every step presenting a new
+scene, impressing the mind with the greatness of God and the
+insignificance of man, while "the voice of many waters" proclaimed to
+erring reason "there is a God:" also, here, under the shade of a noble
+oak, in full view of the great Cataract, sat a small group of ladies; in
+their midst, a gentle girl reading aloud from one of the many works that
+"charm the greedy reader on, till done, he tries to recollect his
+thoughts and nothing finds--but dreamy emptiness." I lingered, and
+learned this was the tale of a young authoress, whose writings are now
+winning golden opinions from a portion of our religious press. Yet how
+unsuitable the place for delighting in the extravagant and improbable
+blending of truth and fiction, though it may have a _moral_ and
+_religious_ under-current. At the side of that young reader sat her
+_mother_. The favorable moments for impressing that immortal mind
+committed to her guardianship, with right views of the Infinite Supreme,
+were swiftly passing away, the opportunity of awakening in her young
+heart while beholding His wonderful work emotions of humility and
+reverence was alike forgotten; with the daughter just entering upon
+womanhood she gave all thought and feeling, alone to the ideal. Could I
+have aroused that parent to a sense of her obligations, of her neglected
+opportunities, of the priceless value of her child's soul, stranger
+though I was, I would have earnestly besought her, to take away that
+romance, to step with her to the point but just before them--open the
+"Book of books," and let her read of Him "who hath measured the waters
+in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span; who hath
+compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end;
+whose way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters. The Lord,
+whose name alone is excellent, his glory above the earth and heaven."
+
+                                        THETA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TO MY FATHER,
+
+AFTER A WRECK OF FORTUNE, AND IN A FOREIGN LAND.
+
+
+  All gone--yet 'mid this heavy loss
+    A ray of light behold;
+  If thou art parted with the dross,
+    There's left for thee the gold.
+
+  A name unsullied--conscience clear,
+    From aught that man can prove;
+  And, what must be to thee most dear,
+    Thy children's changeless love.
+
+  The visions of the world so fair
+    Are fading from our sight;
+  Yet hope sinks not in vain despair,
+    But points to one more bright.
+
+  Oh, may misfortune's chilling blight,
+    But bind us closer here,
+  Till we behold the dawning light
+    Of yonder blessed sphere.
+
+  And O, my father, linger not,
+    In exile, from our hearth;
+  Ah, this has been a cherished spot,
+    To make us cling to earth.
+
+  'Tis where the youngest of the seven
+    First drew his fleeting breath,
+  Sweet cherished flower, the gift of heaven,
+    To fill our blooming wreath.
+
+  And saddened memories linger not
+    Around each faded year;
+  Oh, let it never be forgot
+    Death hath not entered here.
+
+  The shrine of many a fervent prayer,
+    More loved than words can tell,
+  Is passing to another's care,
+    And we must say, Farewell.
+
+  But O, my father, hasten home,
+    'Tis in each loved one's heart;
+  Thy wife, thy children, bid thee come,
+    And ne'er again depart.
+
+  For me, my love shall ever twine
+    Around thy future years;
+  And my most fervent prayers be thine
+    Amid this vale of tears,
+
+  That when life's busy cares shall cease--
+    Its feeble ties be riven;
+  Thine honored head may rest in peace,
+    Thy soul ascend to heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAMILY GOVERNMENT
+
+
+It is generally admitted that there has been a lamentable declension in
+family government within a few years. I propose to show some of the
+causes of this growing evil, and to point out the remedy.
+
+1. _Inattention and blindness to the faults of children._--As a matter
+of course we cannot expect parents will restrain their children without
+observing their faults. They must see an error before they can correct
+it.
+
+It would not be strange if affection or love for our children should
+sometimes hide their faults, or that others should sometimes notice them
+before we do. They are often, too, looked upon as trivial, as of small
+importance. The mother of pirate Gibbs might have thought it very
+trivial that her little son should kill flies, and catch and torture
+domestic animals. But it had its influence in forming the character of
+the pirate. The man who finishes his days in state-prison as a notorious
+thief began his career in the nursery by stealing pins, or in the pantry
+by stealing sugar and cake, and as soon as old enough to look abroad, to
+take a little choice fruit from a neighbor's garden or orchard. The
+finished gambler began his career by the side of his mother, by taking
+pins stealthily from her cushion. Children cannot do great things when
+young. They have not the power. Their powers and views are too limited
+to perform what may be called great deeds of wickedness. Yet the grossly
+immoral usually begin their downward course in youth. The germ of
+wickedness is then planted. Time only matures what is thus begun. Those
+trivial things which you suffer to pass without a rebuke, constitute the
+germ of all their future depravity. The wickedness of youth differs from
+that of mature age rather in degree than in kind. The character of the
+man may often be read in the conduct of the child. Thus bad government
+originates in overlooking the faults of children, or in wrong views of
+their conduct. The deeds of childhood are considered of small moment.
+Childhood with them has no connection with manhood. The child may be
+anything, and make a giant in intellect, or a professor in morals. But
+it should be remembered that the very essence of good government lies in
+watching the connection of one act with another, in tracing the relation
+between the conduct of mature age and the little developments of
+childhood and youth. Good government respects not only the present good
+of its subjects but their future. It takes in eternity as well as time.
+A great many parents are totally blind to the faults of their children.
+They see none when they are even gross. Everybody else can see them, and
+is talking about them, and they know not that they exist. Like Eli, of
+ancient days, the first that they know of the wickedness of their
+children they hear it from all the people. It is a sad thing when others
+have to tell us of the depravity of our children. And it is then
+generally too late to correct them. The public do not know the first
+aberrations of childhood and youth. They can only be learnt in the
+nursery. If parents are blind to them, and they are suffered to become
+habits, it is generally too late to correct them. It is in the form of
+habits that neighbors become acquainted with them. Woe to that child
+then, whose faults are rebuked by every one else, but not by his
+parents! His faults are in every one's mouth, but not in theirs.
+
+2. _The interference of one parent while the other is endeavoring to
+enforce rightful discipline._--Nothing has a more injurious influence
+upon family government than such a course. It presents the two, in whom
+the children should place the most implicit confidence, at variance. As
+a matter of course, the disobedient child will throw himself into the
+hands of the one interfering, as a kind of shield from the rod. In such
+a case it is almost utterly impossible to maintain government and
+support discipline. The child justifies himself, and stoutly persists in
+his rebellion while he receives countenance from one of his parents.
+This, if I mistake not, is often done. Many a family has been ruined in
+this way for time and eternity. Government was entirely disobeyed in the
+outset. The father undertook the correction of the child, but the
+mother threw her arms over him--she pleads that he is a little
+child--that he knew not what correction means, as for _what_ he is
+corrected--or the rod is applied too severely. The child cried most
+unmercifully, when perhaps he only cried because he was rebellious and
+stubborn. This repeated a few times, and the one who is determined to
+maintain discipline becomes discouraged, and silently the management, or
+rather the mismanagement of the family passes into the hands of the
+other parent, and for peace sake.
+
+The above is a fruitful cause of bad management. In truth no one is
+prepared to govern others unless he governs himself. A fretful spirit
+and an impatient manner can do but little else than awaken opposition in
+the breast of the child. Such a course can never secure confidence and
+love. Every parent is here exposed to err. We are never prepared to
+administer discipline without possessing the spirit of Christ. It would
+probably be a good rule to adopt never to correct a child until we have
+been upon our knees before God in prayer. It would be a great preventive
+to a spirit of impatience.
+
+3. _A want of decision._--One reason why some find so much difficulty in
+the management of their families, is owing to the manner in which they
+address their children. They never speak with any degree of decision.
+The child judges it doubtful whether the parent means what he requires.
+He therefore hesitates and hesitates before he obeys. He foresees this
+habit, and hence he neglects obedience altogether. For the want of
+decision, he is under the necessity of repeating his commands again and
+again. What a wretched practice! No one should think he governs his
+children without they obey him _at once_. He should never expect to
+repeat his commands, and he should speak in such a manner as to lead the
+child to infer the parent _expected him to obey._ Manner has great
+influence. _Expression_ is more than half.
+
+Where submission takes place under such circumstances, it is generally
+of the genuine kind. There is no spuriousness about it. And there is not
+often any more trouble about discipline after that. The question is
+decisively settled. It is not every child that manifests its rebellion
+so much all at once. They manifest it little by little, daily, as
+opportunity offers, and then they will appear more easily to yield. It
+is to be feared, there is but little genuine submission in many such
+instances. At least there is but one course for the parent--to keep up
+the discipline so long as he manifests the least particle of rebellion.
+If he shows rebellion in any particular way, you should not try to avoid
+it, but meet it, and effect the work of entire submission.
+
+4. _Correcting with an improper spirit and in an improper manner is
+another cause of bad government._--Some never chastise except in a rage,
+and then no one is prepared to do it. They must get very much excited
+before they undertake to correct the child, and then perhaps when the
+child is not in the least to blame. He lets a pitcher fall, or breaks a
+plate, the parent flies into a passion, and begins to beat the unlucky
+boy or girl. Perhaps no positive correction was deserved. Such a spirit
+can never benefit a child. Some never think of reproving a real fault.
+It is only when an accident occurs, or some unintentional mishap is
+done, that the rod is ever used. To be sure there might be blame, but
+nothing compared with some acts of deliberate and willful transgression,
+when no correction is given.
+
+Parents, your children cannot purchase at any price what you can give
+them; I mean a subdued will. To effect this it is necessary to begin
+when a child is very young. The earlier the better, if you can make
+yourself understood. You need not fix upon any particular age when to
+begin; let this depend on circumstances, and different children will
+show their rebellion upon different points.
+
+5. _Coming short of attaining the object when you make the
+attempt--leaving discipline half completed._--When a child is corrected,
+every reasonable object should be attained. No point should be evaded.
+The parent should not stop until perfect and entire submission is
+effected on every point of dispute. And first I would invite your
+attention to instances by no means rare, where the child shows rebellion
+on some particular point. At such a point he stops; you cannot move him.
+He will do anything else but just the thing required. He may never have
+showed a stubborn will before. You have now found a point where you
+differ; there is a struggle between will and will; the stakes are set,
+and one or the other must yield. There is no avoiding it; you cannot
+turn to the right nor to the left; there is but one course for you. You
+must go forward, or the ruin of your child is sealed. You have come to
+an important crisis in the history of your child, and if you need motive
+to influence you to act, you may delineate as upon a map his temporal
+and eternal destiny--these mainly depend upon the issue of the present
+struggle. If you succeed, your child is saved; if you fail, he is lost.
+You may think perhaps your child will die before he will yield. We had
+almost said he might as well die as not to yield. I have known several
+parents who found themselves thus situated. Perhaps they possessed a
+feeble hand, their strength began to fail, but it was no time to parley.
+They summoned all their energy to another mighty struggle. Victory was
+theirs--a lost child was saved. Some are contented with anything that
+looks like obedience in such instances. The occasion passes. It soon,
+however, recurs with no better nor as good prospects. Thus the struggle
+is kept up while the child remains under the parental roof.
+
+A father one day gave his little son some books, his knife, and last of
+all his watch to amuse him. He was right under his eye. At length he
+told him to bring them all to him. He brought the books and knife to him
+cheerfully; the watch he wanted to keep--that was his idol. The father
+told him to bring that; he refused. The father used the rod. He took up
+the watch and brought it part way, and laid it down. The father told him
+to put it in his hand, but he would not. He corrected him again. He
+brought it a little farther and laid it down. Again he whipped him. At
+length he brought it and held it right over his father's hand, but would
+not put it in. The father, wearied by the struggle, struck the son's
+hand with the stick, and the watch fell into his hand. It was not given
+up. There was no submission. That son has been known to be several times
+under conviction, but he would never submit to God.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE
+
+RIZPAH.
+
+
+In order fully to understand the subject of our present study, we must
+return upon the track, to the days of Joshua, before Israel had wholly
+entered upon the possession of the promised land. The tribes were
+encamped at Gilgal to keep the passover, and from there, by the
+direction of Jehovah, they made incursions upon the surrounding
+inhabitants. Jericho and Ai had been taken, and the fear of these
+formidable Hebrews and their mighty God had fallen upon the hearts of
+the nations and stricken them almost to hopelessness. Feeling that a
+last effort to save themselves and their homes must be made, they banded
+together and resolved to defend their rights, and to put to proof the
+combined power of their deities. One clan, however, despairing of
+success by any such means, having heard that the utter extirpation of
+the Canaanites was determined upon, resorted to stratagem, and thus
+secured their safety in the midst of the general ruin. "They did work
+wilily," says the sacred record, "and made as if they had been
+ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles old,
+and rent, and bound up; and old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and
+old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and
+mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto
+him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, now
+therefore make ye a league with us." At first the Israelites seem to
+have suspected trickery, but when the supposed ambassadors produced
+their mouldy bread, and declared that it was taken hot from the oven on
+the morning of their departure from their own country, and that their
+wine bottles were new, now so shrunk and torn, and pointed to their
+shoes and garments quite worn out by the length of the journey; and
+told their pitiful story, and in their humility stooped to any terms if
+they might only be permitted to make a covenant, Joshua and his elders
+were completely deceived, and without stopping to ask counsel of the
+Lord, "they made peace with them, and made a league with them to let
+them live."
+
+The Lord abhors treachery, and although his people had greatly erred in
+this act, and although these Hivites were among the nations whom he had
+commanded them to destroy, yet since a covenant had been made with them,
+it must be kept on peril of his stern displeasure and severe judgments.
+Only three days elapsed before the Israelites discovered that the crafty
+ambassadors were their near neighbors, and were called upon to come to
+their defense against the other inhabitants of the land, who having
+heard of the transaction at Gilgal, had gathered together to smite their
+principal city, Gibeon, and destroy them because they had made peace
+with Joshua. Before the walls of that mighty city, and in behalf of
+these idolaters, because Jehovah would have his people keep faith with
+those to whom they had vowed, was fought that memorable battle, the like
+of which was never known before or since, when to aid the cause, the
+laws of Nature were suspended upon human intercession--when Joshua said,
+"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of
+Ajalon." "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not
+to go down about a whole day."
+
+The tribes gained their inheritance, and their enemies were mostly
+driven out of the land, but in their midst ever dwelt the Gibeonites,
+safe from molestation, though the menial services of the tabernacle were
+performed by them, because of the deceit by which they purchased their
+lives, and they were contented to be thus reduced to perpetual bondage
+so they might escape the doom of their neighbors.
+
+Years passed on, and vicissitudes came to the Israelites of one kind and
+another. Sometimes they were victorious in their battles and peaceful
+among themselves; and again they fled before enemies or were embroiled
+in civil dissensions. Ever, above, caring for them, and bringing them
+safely on through all; instructing, guiding and disciplining, sat on
+his throne, their mighty invisible King. They demanded an earthly
+monarch, and in judgment he granted their desire. _In judgment_, and
+miserable in many ways were the results of his reign. Among his other
+evil acts not recorded, but alluded to in the history, was one of cruel
+treachery to the Gibeonites. "It would seem that Saul viewed their
+possessions with a covetous eye, as affording him the means of rewarding
+his adherents, and of enriching his family, and hence, on some pretense
+or other, or without any pretense, he slew large numbers of them, and
+doubtless seized their possessions." In this wicked deed we gather that
+many of the Israelites, and the members of Saul's family in particular,
+had an active share, and were benefited by the spoils. The Almighty
+beheld and took cognisance, but no immediate retribution followed.
+Towards the close of David's reign, however, for some unknown reason,
+the whole land was visited with a famine. Month after month it stalked
+abroad, and year after year, until three years of want had afflicted the
+chosen people. At the end of that time David, having resorted to all
+possible means of providing food in vain, began to reflect that there
+was meaning in the visitation, and "sought the face of the Lord," to
+inquire why he was displeased with his people. The answer was explicit
+and terrible. "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the
+Gibeonites." Though men forget, the Lord does not. He will plead the
+cause of the oppressed sooner or later, and though his vengeance sleep
+long, yet will he reward to those that deal treachery sevenfold sorrow.
+
+Driven by famine and by the expressed will of Jehovah, David sent to ask
+of the injured people what should be done to satisfy their sense of
+justice. "And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor
+gold of Saul nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in
+Israel.
+
+"The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be
+destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
+
+"Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them
+up unto the Lord in Gibeon of Saul. And the king said, I will give
+them."
+
+Dreadful days of blood! Fearful fiat! which though needful and just, yet
+invaded the sanctuary of home so gloomily. Sad world! in which the
+innocent so often bear the sins of the guilty,--when will thy groans,
+ever ascending into the ears of Almighty love, be heard and bring
+release?
+
+The sentence was executed. Two sons of Saul by Rizpah, his inferior
+wife, and five of Merab his eldest daughter, whom Michal had, for some
+reason, educated, were delivered up and hung by the Gibeonites.
+
+Who can imagine, much less portray, the mother's anguish when her noble
+sons were torn from her for such a doom! We do not know whether Merab
+was living to see that day of horror, but Rizpah felt the full force of
+the blow which blasted all her hopes. Her husband, the father of her
+sons, had been suddenly slain in battle; her days of happiness and
+security had departed with his life, and now, all that remained of
+comfort, her precious children, must be put to a cruel death to satisfy
+the vengeance due to crimes not hers nor theirs. Wretched mother! a
+bitter lot indeed was thine! But the Lord had spoken, and there was no
+reprieve. To the very town where they had all dwelt under their father's
+roof, were these hapless ones dragged and their bodies ignominiously
+exposed upon the wall until they should waste away--a custom utterly
+abhorrent to all humanity, and especially to the Hebrews, whose
+strongest desire might be expressed in the words of the aged Barzillai,
+"Let me die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father
+and mother."
+
+Behold now that lone and heart-broken mother, on the spot where day and
+night, week after week, and month after month, she may be found. Neither
+heat nor cold--distressing days nor fearful nights--the entreaties of
+friends, nor the weariness of watching, nor the horrifying exhibition of
+decaying humanity, could drive her from her post. Upon the sackcloth
+which she had spread for herself upon the rock she remained "from the
+beginning of the harvest until the rain dropped upon them out of
+heaven," and suffered neither the birds of the air by day, nor the
+beasts of the field by night to molest those precious remains. O
+mother's heart! of what heroism art thou capable! Before a scene like
+this the bravest exploits of earth's proudest heroes fade into dim
+insignificance. At this picture we can only gaze. Words wholly fail when
+we would comment on it. Of the agonies it reveals we cannot speak. There
+are lessons to be learned from it, and upon them we can ponder.
+
+The value which the Lord our God sets upon truth is here displayed. He
+will have no swerving from the straight path of perfect fidelity to all
+engagements and covenants. Severe and awful appears his character as
+thus presented to us, and yet it is upon this very attribute that all
+our hopes rely. "He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man
+that he should repent." If he thus defends those who love him not, how
+safe and happy may his children rest.
+
+The days in which Rizpah lived were dark and gloomy days. The words of
+Samuel to Agag may stand as their memorial, "As thy sword hath made
+women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." Let us
+be thankful that we see no such direful scenes, and let us act worthy of
+our higher lot. Let us remember also that there is a destruction of life
+more terrible even than that which Rizpah witnessed--the destruction of
+the soul. If the mother's love within us prompts us to half the care of
+the spiritual life of our children, which she bestowed on the decaying
+forms of her loved ones, He who rewards faithfulness will not suffer us
+to labor in vain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Each day is a new life; regard it therefore, as an epitome of the world.
+Frugality is a fair fortune, and industry a good estate. Small faults
+indulged, are little thieves to let in greater.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION--INTELLECTUAL TRAINING.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+Let us now enter upon the second part of the field of education, the
+training of the intellect. It is obvious that we have in this, a much
+higher subject to deal with than that on which we have just dwelt. The
+physical form in a few years develops itself, and soon reaches its
+utmost limits of growth. It is then an instrument whose powers we seek
+to maintain but cannot increase. As time advances, indeed, those powers
+gradually yield to the influence of disease or age, until the senses
+begin to neglect their office, the brain declines in vigor, while the
+tongue, the eye, the hand, forget their accustomed work in the
+imbecility wrought by the approach of death. But no such limitation is
+manifest to us in the growth and future life of the intellect. Dependent
+upon the body for a healthful home in this world, and so far limited by
+the conditions of mortality, it yet seems to have in itself no absolute
+limitation bounding its prospective and possible attainments, save as
+the finite never can fully attain to the infinite. Granting it a
+congenial home, a fitting position, with full opportunity for progress,
+and there is scarcely a height this side infinity which in the ascent of
+ages it seems not capable of reaching. All creatures are finite, and as
+such, limited; but the horizon around the soul is so amazingly
+expansive, and the capacities of the mind for progress so immense, that
+to us, in our present state, it is almost as if there were no
+limitations at all.
+
+The power of the intellect to acquire facts and relations, and from them
+to ascend to the laws which control; its power to advance in a daily
+ascending path into the region of intuition, where masses of things,
+once isolated or chaotic, range themselves into harmony, and move in
+numbers most musical; its power thus to rise into an enlarging vision
+of truths now latent, and behold directly laws, relations and facts
+which once evaded the sight, or were only seen dimly and after great
+toil, it is utterly beyond our sphere to limit. We know that what to us
+in childhood was a mystery, is now simple; that some of the grandest
+laws of the material world which a few years back were reached only
+after stupendous labor, are now become intuitive truths; and we can see
+no reason why the human mind is not capacitated for just such advances
+eternally; at every ascent sweeping its vision over a broader range of
+truth, and rising ever nearer that Omniscient Intellect to which all
+things open. The instinct and imperfect reason of the noblest brutes,
+are here in marked contrast to the mind of man. They reach the limit of
+knowledge with the ripening of their physical frame; a limit which no
+training, however protracted and ingenious, can overpass; which never
+varies, except as a cord drawn round a center may vary, by being
+enlarged on the one side and contracted on the other; and which prepares
+them without the acquisition of a particle of superfluous intelligence
+for their brute life as the servitors of man. While his mind, never
+wholly stationary for a long period, has capacities for development that
+seem to spurn a merely sensual life, and lift the spirit to a
+companionship with angels; which, instead of resting satisfied with the
+mere demands of the body, seeks to penetrate the deep springs of life,
+discern the exquisite organism of an insect's wing, measure the stars,
+and analyze the light that reveals them.
+
+Possessing an intellect of so fine a nature, it is not to be questioned
+that, according to our opportunities, it is incumbent on us to carry
+forward its improvement from childhood to hoary age. A power like this,
+of indefinite expansion, in directions surpassingly noble, among
+subjects infinitely grand, has been conferred that it might be expanded,
+and go on expanding in an eternal progression; that it might sweep far
+beyond its present horizon and firmament, where the stars now shining
+above us, shall become the jeweled pavement beneath us, while above
+still roll other spheres of knowledge, destined in like manner to
+descend below us as the trophies of our victorious progress.
+
+To bury such an intellect as this in the commonplaces of a life of mere
+sense; to confine it to the narrow circle of a brute instinct and
+reason; to live in such a world, with the infinite mind of Jehovah
+looking at us from all natural forms, breathing around us in all tones
+of music, shining upon us from all the host of heaven, and soliciting us
+to launch away into an atmosphere of knowledge and ascend to an
+acquaintance with the great First Cause, even as the bird challenges the
+fledgling to leave its nest, and be at home on the wing; to live amid
+such incitements to thought, yet never lift the eyes from the dull round
+of physical necessities, is treason toward our higher nature, the
+voluntary defacement of the grandest characteristic of our being. The
+education of the intellect is not a question to be debated with men who
+have the slightest appreciation of their noble capacities. The
+obligation to improve it is commensurate with its susceptibility of
+advancement and our opportunities. It is not limited to a few years in
+early life, it presses on us still in manhood and declining age. Such is
+a general statement of the duty of intellectual improvement.
+
+In the actual education of the mind, our course will necessarily be
+modified by the ultimate objects at which we aim. Properly these are
+twofold--the first general, the second specific. The first embraces the
+general training of our intellectual powers, with direct reference to
+the high spiritual life here and hereafter. We place before us that
+state of immortality to which the present stands in the relation of a
+portico to a vast temple. The intellect is itself destined to survive
+the body, and as the instrument through which the heart is to be
+disciplined and fitted for this condition of exalted humanity, is to be
+informed with all that truth most essential for this purpose. Whatever
+there be in the heavens or the earth--in books or works of men, to
+discipline, enlarge and exalt the mind, to that we shall be attracted. A
+right heart breathes in an atmosphere of truth; it grows and rejoices in
+communion with all the light that shines upon it from the works or word
+of God. All truth, indeed, is not of the same importance. There is that
+which is primary and essential; there is that which adds to the
+completeness, without going to the foundation of character. The truths
+that enter a well cultivated mind, animated by right sentiments, will
+arrange themselves by a natural law in the relative positions they hold
+as the exponents of the character of God, and the means more or less
+adapted to promote the purity and elevation of man. All truth is of God;
+yet it is not all of equal value as an educational influence. There are
+different circles--some central, some remote. The crystals of the rock,
+the stratification of the globe, and the facts of a like character, will
+fill an outer circle, as beautiful, or skillful, or wonderful, in the
+demonstration of divine powers, but not so in themselves unfolding the
+highest attributes of God. The architecture of animate nature, the
+processes of vegetable life, the composition of the atmosphere, the
+clouds and the water, will range themselves in another circle, within
+the former, and gradually blending with it, as the manifestations of the
+wisdom and benificence of God. Then the unfoldings of his moral
+character in the government of nations, in the facts of history, and in
+the general revelation of himself in the Scriptures, will constitute
+another band of truth concentric with the others, yet brighter and
+nearer the center. While at length in the cross and person of Christ--in
+the system of redemption, and all the great facts which it embodies, we
+behold the innermost circle that, sweeping round Jehovah as its center,
+reflects the light of his being, most luminously upon the universe. Such
+is obviously the relative order of the truth we seek to know. It is the
+different manifestations of God, ascending from the lowest attributes of
+divinity, to those which constitute a character worthy the homage and
+love of all beings. Now, as it is the great object of life to know God
+and enjoy him, so in education we are to keep this steadily in view, and
+follow the order of procedure for the attainment of it which God has
+himself established. To spend the life or the years of youth on the
+study of rocks and crystals, to the neglect of the higher moral truths
+which lie within their circle, is unpardonable folly--a folly not to be
+redeemed by the fact that such knowledge is a partial unfolding of God
+to man. It is little better than studying the costume to the neglect of
+the person--than the examination of the frame to the neglect of the
+master-piece of a Raphael inclosed within it--than the criticism of a
+single window to the neglect of the glorious dome of St. Peter's--than
+viewing the rapids to the neglect of the mighty fall of Niagara. In
+education, the observance of this natural order of truth will bring us,
+at length, to that which fills the outer circle, and thus _all_ the
+kinds of knowledge will receive a just attention. Indeed, the study of
+the one naturally leads us to the other. We shall pass from the inner to
+the outer lines of truth, and back again, learning all the while this
+important lesson, that the study of the more remote class of truths is
+designed to conduct us to a more perfect appreciation of that which is
+moral, religious, central and saving; while the study of the higher
+parts of revelation will show us that the former come in to finish and
+perfect the latter. We do not despise the frieze--the architrave--the
+cornice--the spires, and the other ornaments of the temple, because we
+regard as most essential the foundation, the corner stone, the walls and
+the roofing; but in due time we seek to impart to our edifice not only
+strength and security, but the beauty of the noblest and richest
+adornment. According to our means, and as the necessities of life will
+permit, we shall seek for knowledge from all its various spheres, and
+despise nothing that God has thought worthy of his creative power or
+supporting energy.
+
+Now this large course of education in obedience to its first great
+object, is not limited by anything in itself or in us, to a particular
+class of individuals. It is the common path along which all intelligent
+beings are to pass. The object to which it conducts is before us all,
+and common to all. It is not divided into departments for separate
+classes. Woman, as well as man, has an interest in it, and an obligation
+to seek for it, just as binding as that which rests on him. All souls
+are equal, and though intellects may vary, yet the pursuit of truth for
+the exaltation of the soul is common to all. As this obligation to
+unfold the powers of the intellect, that we may grasp the truth, is
+primary, taking precedence of other objects--since all duty is based on
+knowledge, and all love and worship, and right action on the
+intelligence and apprehension of God--so education, which in this
+department is but the development of our capacity, preparing us to
+pursue the truth, and master the difficulties which frown us away from
+its attainment, rises into a duty the most imperative upon all rational
+beings. The same path here stretches onward before both sexes, the same
+motives impel them, the same objects are presented to them, the same
+obligations rest upon them. Neither youth nor age--neither man nor
+woman, can here make a limitation that shall confine one sex to a narrow
+corner--an acre of this broad world of intelligence--and leave the other
+free to roam at large among all sciences. Whatever it is truly healthful
+for the heart of man to know, whatever befits _his_ spiritual nature and
+immortal destiny, that is just as open to the mind of woman, and just as
+consistent with her nature. To deny this abstract truth, we must either
+affirm the sentiment falsely ascribed to Mahomet, although harmonizing
+well enough with his faith in general, that women have no souls; or take
+the ground that truth in this, its widest extent, is not as essential to
+their highest welfare as it is to ours; or assert, that possessing
+inferior intellects, they are incapable of deriving advantage from the
+general pursuit of knowledge, and therefore must be confined to a few
+primary truths, of which man is to be the judge. The first supposition
+we leave with the fanaticism that may have given it birth, and with
+which it so well harmonizes; the second we surrender to those atheistic
+fools and swindling politicians who can see no excellence in knowledge,
+save as it may minister to their sensual natures, or assist them to
+cajole the people; while the man who maintains the third, we would
+recommend to a court of Ladies, with Queen Elizabeth as judge, Madame de
+Stael as prosecuting attorney, and Hannah More, Mrs. Hemans, and other
+bright spirits of the same sex, as jury.
+
+I have dwelt thus at length on the first and most general object before
+us in the pursuit of knowledge, because it is really of the highest and
+noblest education, common to both sexes and unlimited by anything in
+their character or different spheres of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, DERIVED FROM
+THE GERMAN PRACTICE, AND ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN POPULATION.
+
+
+The great difficulty in this country is, that we try to do too much for
+our children. If we would let them alone a little more, we should do
+better; that is, if we would content ourselves with keeping them warm
+and clean, and feeding them on simple, wholesome food, it would be
+enough.
+
+They will take exercise of themselves, if we will let them alone, and
+they will shout and laugh enough to open their lungs. It is really
+curious for a scientific person to look on and observe the numerous and
+sometimes, alas! fatal mistakes that are constantly made. You will see a
+family where the infants are stout and vigorous as a parent's heart
+could desire, and, if only let alone, would grow up athletic and fine
+people; but parents want to be doing, so they shower them every morning
+to make them strong--they are strong already!
+
+Then, even before they are weaned, they will teach them to suck raw
+beef; for what? Has not their natural food sustained them well? An
+infant will have teeth before it wants animal food.
+
+But all these courses they have heard were strengthening, so they
+administer them to the strongest, till excess of stimulants produces
+inflammation, and the natural strength is wasted by disease. Then the
+child grows pale and feeble; now the stimulants are redoubled, they are
+taken to the sea-shore, kept constantly in the open air, and a great
+amount of exercise is insisted on. By this time all the symptoms of
+internal inflammation show themselves: the skin is pale, the hands and
+feet cold, dark under the eyes, reluctance to move, &c., &c. But no one
+suspects what is the matter; even the physician is often deceived at
+this stage of the process, and if he is, the child's case will be a hard
+one.
+
+I mention particularly this course of stimulants, as it is just now the
+prevalent mania. Every one ought to understand, that those practices
+which are commonly called strengthening, are, in other words,
+stimulating, and that to apply stimulants where the system is already in
+a state of health, will produce too much excitement. The young, from the
+natural quickness of their circulation, are particularly liable to this
+excess of action, which is inflammation. This general inflammation, in
+time, settles into some form of acute disease, so that in fact, by
+blindly attempting to strengthen, we inflame, disease, and enfeeble to
+the greatest possible degree.
+
+If we look at nature--at the animal instincts that are around us, what a
+different course does it advise! The Creator has taught the lower races
+to take care of their young; and if some accident does not happen to
+them they never lose one; just as they manage to-day, just so did they
+do for them a thousand years ago. Man is left to his own reason, I had
+almost said to his caprice; every age has produced different customs,
+and in consequence different diseases. More than half of the human race
+die under five years old; how small a portion live to the full
+"_threescore and ten_."
+
+Morally and intellectually, man may advance to an almost unlimited
+extent; but he must remember, that physically he is subjected to the
+same laws as other animals. Is it not quite time that we should bow our
+pride of reason, and look to the practice of those animals that raise
+all their young, and live out their own natural lives? How do they
+manage? We need not look far; see, madam, the cat; how does she contrive
+to rear her young family? Who ever saw her give one of them a
+shower-bath? Who ever saw her take a piece of meat to her nest, that her
+little ones might try their gums on it, before their teeth had grown?
+Who ever saw her taking them out of a cold winter's day for exercise in
+the open air, till their little noses were as red as those of the
+unfortunate babies one meets every cold day? Not one of all these
+excellent fashionable plans does she resort to. She keeps them
+clean--very clean, warm--very warm indeed. The Creator sends them to
+make their way in the world dressed completely, cap and all, in a
+garment unexceptionable as to warmth; there is no thick sock on the feet
+to protect from chills, and the head left with the bare skin uncovered,
+because reason had discovered that the head was the hottest part of the
+body, and that it was all a mistake that it should be so; therefore it
+was left exposed to correct this natural, universal law of the animal
+economy. Pussy knows nothing of all this, so kittie's cap is left on,
+coming snug over the little ears; and who ever saw a cat deaf (but from
+age) or a kitten with the ear-ache? Yet the first thing that strikes a
+stranger, in coming to our land of naked heads, is the number of persons
+he meets, that are partially deaf, or have inflamed eyes. All this
+sounds like a joke, but is it not a pretty serious one? Is it not
+strange, that men do not look oftener in this direction? It is not the
+cat alone, every animal gives the same lessons. The rabbit is so
+careful, that lest her young should take cold while she is from home,
+she makes a sort of thick pad or comforter of her own hair, and lays it
+for a covering over them. We do not hear that the old rabbits, when they
+go out into life, (in our cold climate too) are any more liable to take
+cold from having been so tenderly brought up. In fact, I doubt whether
+they ever take cold at all, young or old; while with man, to have a cold
+seems to be his natural state, particularly in the winter season. I have
+heard some persons go so far as to say, that a cold does not do a child
+any hurt; but it is not true, let who will say it; every cold a child
+takes, makes him more liable to another; and another, and another
+succeeds, till chronic disease is produced.
+
+(To be Continued.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A FAINT PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE.
+
+THE BOY; THE FATHER OF THE MAN
+
+
+On my first visit to New York, many years since, I was accompanied by a
+young nephew. He was made up of smiles and cheerfulness. Such a
+traveling companion, of any age, is rare to be found, so gallant--so
+ready to serve--so full of bright thoughts--anticipating all my wishes,
+and yet so unobtrusive and modest--at the same time disposed to add to
+his own stock of knowledge from every passing incident. Nothing, in
+fact, escaped his observation. The variety and richness of scenery which
+is everywhere to be found in the New England States, seemed to delight
+his young heart. This alone, was enough to inspire my own heart with
+sunny thoughts, though I was in affliction, and was seldom found absent
+from my own happy home.
+
+As I recall to mind that journey and that happy, cheerful child, I often
+think how much comfort even a child can impart to others, when their
+hearts have been sanctified by the Spirit of God. I cannot forbear to
+say that cheerfulness is a cardinal virtue, and ought to be more
+cultivated by the old and by the young. A cheerful disposition not only
+blesses its possessor but imparts happiness to all that come within its
+reach.
+
+As we entered the city at an early hour, everything wore a cheerful
+aspect, every step seemed elastic and every heart buoyant with hope.
+There was a continual hum of busy men and women, as we were passing near
+a market. Such a rolling of carts and carriages--so many
+cheerful children, some crying "Raddishes"--"raddishes"--others
+"Strawberries"--"strawberries"--others with baskets of flowers--all wide
+awake, each eager to sell his various articles of merchandise. This was
+indeed a novel scene to us--it did seem a charming place. My young
+companion remarked, Aunt C----, "I think everybody here must be happy."
+I could not but at first respond to the sentiment. But presently we
+began to meet persons--some halt--some blind--some in rags--looking
+filthy and degraded.
+
+Every face was new to us--not one person among the throngs we met that
+we had ever seen before. An unusual sense of loneliness came over me,
+and I thought my young attendant participated in this same feeling of
+solitude, and though I said nothing, I sighed for the quiet and familiar
+faces and scenes of the "Home, sweet home" I had so recently left.
+
+We had not proceeded far before we saw men and boys in great commotion,
+all running hurriedly, in one direction, bending their steps towards the
+opposite shore. Their step was light and quick, but a look of sadness
+was in every face. We could only, now and then, gather up a few
+murmuring words that fell from the lips of the passers-by.
+
+"There were more than thirty persons killed," said one. "Yes, more than
+fifty," said another. We soon learned that a vessel on fire, the
+preceding evening had entered the harbour, but the fire had progressed
+so far that it was impossible to extend relief to the sufferers, and
+most of the crew perished in the flames, or jumped overboard and were
+drowned.
+
+The awful impression of distress made upon the minds of persons
+unaccustomed to such disasters, cannot well be described--they certainly
+were by no means transient.
+
+It was sad to reflect that many who had thus perished after an absence
+from home, some a few weeks, others for months, instead of greeting
+their friends, were hurried into eternity so near their own homes, under
+such aggravated circumstances. And then what a terrible disappointment
+to survivors! Many families as well as individuals were by this calamity
+not only bereft of friends, but of their property--some reduced to a
+state of comparative beggary.
+
+This day's experience was but a faint picture of human life.
+
+But to return to that young nephew. Does any one inquire with interest,
+Did his cheerful, benevolent disposition, his readiness to impart and to
+receive happiness continue with him through life? It did in a
+pre-eminent degree. It is believed that even then "The joy of the Lord
+was his strength."--Neh. viii. 10.
+
+He died at the age of 37, having been for nearly six years a successful
+missionary among the spicy breezes which blow soft o'er Ceylon's Isle. A
+friend who had known him most intimately for many years while a student
+at Yale, and then tutor, and then a student of Theology, after his
+death, in writing to his bereaved mother, says, "We had hope that your
+son, from his rare qualifications to fill the station he occupied, his
+remarkable facilities in acquiring that difficult language, his
+cheerfulness in imparting knowledge, his indomitable perseverance, his
+superior knowledge, and love of the Bible, which it was his business to
+teach--that in all this God had raised him up for a long life of service
+to the Church; but instead of this, God had been fitting him, all this
+time, for some more important sphere of service in the upper sanctuary."
+
+Here, as in thousands of other cases, we see that "The boy was the
+father of the man."
+
+Would any mother like to know the early history of that cheerful young
+traveler, we reply, as in the case of the prophet Samuel, he was "asked
+of the Lord," and was, therefore, rightly named Samuel. The Lord called
+him by his Spirit, when a mere child, "Samuel," "Samuel," and he replied
+"Here am I;" and his subsequent life and character were what might be
+expected from his obedient disposition and his lowly conduct in early
+childhood.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A young prince having asked his tutor to instruct him in religion and to
+teach him to say his prayers, was answered, that "he was yet too young."
+"That cannot be," said the little boy, "for I have been in the burying
+ground and measured the graves; I found many of them shorter than
+myself."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MUSIC IN CHRISTIAN FAMILIES.--NO. 1.
+
+
+It gives me much pleasure, in accordance with your suggestions, Mrs. W.,
+to lay before the readers of the Magazine, a few thoughts on the subject
+of music in Christian families. The subject is a very interesting one;
+and I regret that time and space will not allow me to do it more ample
+justice.
+
+Music is one of those precious gifts of Providence which are liable to
+be misused and misinterpreted. It has been applied, like oratory, to
+pernicious, as well as to useful purposes. It has been made to minister
+to vice, to indolence and to luxury--as well as to virtue, to industry,
+and to true refinement. But we must not on this account question the
+preciousness of the gift itself. The single circumstance that the Master
+of Assemblies requires it to be employed through all time, in the solemn
+assemblies of his worshipers, should suffice to prevent us from holding
+it in light estimation.
+
+Other good things besides music have been abused. Poetry, and prose, and
+eloquence, for example; but shall we therefore undervalue them?
+Painting, too, has its errings--some of them very grievous; but shall it
+therefore be neglected, as unworthy of cultivation? Things the most
+precious all have this liability, and should on this account be guarded
+with more vigilance.
+
+Music, merely as one of the fine arts, has many claims to our attention.
+We could not well say, in this respect, too much in its favor. Wrong
+things, indeed, have been said; and many pretensions have been raised to
+which we could never subscribe. It does not possess, as some seem to
+think, any _inherent_ moral or religious efficacy. It is not _always
+safe_, as a _mere_ amusement. An unrestrained passion for it, has often
+proved injurious, and those who would become artists or distinguished
+amateurs, have need of much caution on this head. Music is in this
+respect, like poetry, painting, and sculpture. The Christian may cherish
+any of these arts, as a means to some useful end; but the moment he
+loses sight of real utility he is in danger, for everything that he does
+or enjoys should be in accordance with the glory of God.
+
+The most interesting point of view in which music is to be regarded is
+that which relates to the worship of God. This gives it an importance
+which is unspeakable. There is no precept which requires us to employ
+oratory, or painting, or sculpture in the worship of the Most High. Nor
+is there any direct precept for the consecrated use of poetry; for
+"psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," may be written in elevated
+prose. But the Bible is filled with directions for the employment of
+music in the sacred service. Both the Old Testament and the New require
+us to sing with devout affections, to the praise and glory of God. The
+command, too, seems to be general, like those in relation to prayer. If
+all are to pray, so "in everything" are all to "give thanks." If we are
+to "pray without ceasing," so we are told, "let every thing that hath
+breath praise the Lord." Again, "is _any_ man afflicted, let him pray:
+is he merry (joyful), let him _sing_ psalms." The direction is not, "if
+any man is joyful, let him attend a concert or listen to exercises in
+praise," but "let him _sing_." There is something to be done in his own
+proper person.
+
+Our necessities compel us to pray. A mere permission to do so, might
+seem to suffice. For we must pray earnestly and perseveringly, or perish
+forever. But will it do meanwhile to be sparing in our thanks? True, one
+may say, I am under infinite obligations to give thanks, and I generally
+endeavor to do so when engaged in the exercise of prayer. But, remember
+there is another divinely constituted exercise called praise. Why not
+engage in this also, and mingle petitions with your praises? This is the
+scriptural method of expressing gratitude and adoration, and for
+ourselves, we see not how individuals are to be excused in neglecting
+it. Every one, it is true, would not succeed as an artist, if he had
+never so many advantages. But every one who has the ordinary powers of
+speech, might be so far instructed in song, as to mingle his voice with
+others in the solemn assembly, or at least to use it in private to his
+own edification. This position has been established in these later times
+beyond the possibility of a rational doubt. Proofs of it have been as
+clear as demonstration. These, perhaps, may be exhibited in another
+number.
+
+But in reply to this statement it will be said, that cultivation is
+exceedingly difficult if deferred to adult years. Well, be it so. It
+follows, that since it is not difficult in years of childhood and youth,
+all our children should have early and adequate instruction. There
+should be singing universally in Christian families. And this is the
+precise point I have endeavored to establish in the present article. How
+far the neglects and miscarriages of youth may excuse the delinquences
+of adult years, I dare not presume to decide or conjecture. It may
+suffice my present purpose to show that according to the Bible all
+_should_ sing; and that all _might_ sing if instruction had not been
+neglected. Is it not high time for such neglect to be done away? And how
+shall it ever be done away, except by the introduction of music into
+Christian families?
+
+Let Christian parents once become awake to the important results
+connected with this subject, and they can ordinarily overcome what had
+seemed to them mountains of difficulty; nay, more, what seemed
+impossibilities, by considerable effort and a good share of
+perseverance.
+
+Even one instance of successful experiment in this way should be quite
+sufficient to induce others to make similar efforts.
+
+A father who for many years, during his collegiate and professional
+studies, was for a long period abstracted from all domestic endearments,
+much regretted this, as he was sensible of the prejudicial influence it
+had in deadening the affections. Not many years after he became settled
+in business, he found himself surrounded by quite a little group of
+children. He became exceedingly interested in their spiritual welfare,
+and in the success of Sabbath-school instruction. His heart was often
+made to rejoice as he contemplated the delightful influence upon
+himself of these home-scenes, and which he longed to express in sacred
+song. But as he had never cultivated either his ear or his voice, he
+felt at his time of life it would be quite useless for him to try to
+learn. Neither did the mother of his children know anything about the
+rules of music.
+
+They had at one time a very musical young relative for a visitor in
+their family. The children were so delighted with his lofty strains that
+they kept him singing the greater part of the time. The mother expressed
+great regret that neither she nor her husband could gratify the children
+in their eager desire to enjoy music.
+
+This young friend said he was sure, if she would but try, he would soon
+convince her of the practicability of learning. She promised to try--and
+in the attempt she was greatly encouraged by the assurances of her
+husband that he also would try.
+
+It was soon found that all the children had a good ear and a good voice,
+and particularly the eldest, a girl of seven, who was at length able to
+take the lead in singing a few tunes at family worship.
+
+After a few months' trial, no money could have tempted these parents to
+relinquish the pleasure and the far-reaching benefits which they felt
+must result from this social and exalted pleasure of uniting on earth in
+singing the sacred songs of Zion, as a preparation for loftier strains
+in Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It has been beautifully said that Reason is the compass by which we
+direct our course; and Revelation the pole star by which we correct its
+variations.
+
+Experience, like the stern-light of a ship, only shows us the path which
+has been passed over.
+
+Happiness, like the violet, is only a way-side flower.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+"WHY ARE WE NOT CHRISTIANS?"
+
+A SKETCH FOR DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+It was the day for the meeting of the Monthly Missionary Society, in the
+village of C.; a day of pure unclouded loveliness in early summer, when
+the sweetest flowers were blossoming, and the soft delicious air was
+laden with their perfume, and that of the newly-mown hay. All nature
+seemed rejoicing in the manifestations of the goodness and love of its
+Creator, while the low mingled murmurings of insects, breezes and
+rivulets, with the songs of birds, formed a sweet chorus of praise to
+God. The society was to meet at deacon Mills's, who lived about four
+miles out of the village, and whose house was the place where, of all
+others, all loved to go. Very early in the afternoon all the spare
+wagons, carriages, carryalls, chaises and other vehicles were in demand.
+A hay-rack was filled with young people, as a farmer kindly offered to
+carry them nearly to the place, and toward evening, they considered, it
+would be pleasant to walk home. So deacon Mills's house was filled with
+old, middle-aged and young, who were all soon occupied with the
+different kinds of work, requisite for filling a box to be sent to a
+missionary family among the distant heathen. Seaming, stitching,
+piecing, quilting and knitting, kept every hand busy, while their
+owners' tongues were equally so, yet the conversation was not the
+common, idle talk of the day, but useful and elevating, for religion was
+loved, and lived, by most of those dear and pleasant people, and it
+could not but be spoken of. Still there was interest in each other's
+welfare, as their social and domestic pursuits and plans were related
+and discussed.
+
+There was a piazza in front of the house, the pillars of which were
+covered with vines, running from one to another, gracefully interlacing,
+and forming a pleasant screen from the sun's rays. At one end of this
+piazza, a group of five young girls were seated at their work. They were
+chosen and intimate friends, who shared with each other all that was
+interesting to themselves. They had been talking pleasantly together for
+some time, and had arrived at a moment's pause, when Clara Glenfield
+said, "Girls, I think this is a good opportunity to say to you something
+that I have for a long time wished to say. You know we are in the habit
+of speaking to each other upon every subject that interests us,
+excepting that of religion. None of us profess to be Christians,
+although we know it is our duty to be. We have all pious mothers, and,
+if yours are like mine, they are constantly urging, as well as our other
+friends, to give our hearts to God, and we cannot but think of the
+subject; now, why should we not speak of it together? and why are we not
+Christians?"
+
+Emily Upton. "I should really be very glad, Clara, if we could. It seems
+to me we might talk much more freely with each other, than with older
+persons; for some things trouble me on this subject, and if I should
+speak of them to mother, or any one else, I am afraid they would think
+less of me, or blame me."
+
+Clara. "Then let us each answer the question, why are we not Christians?
+You tell us first, Emily."
+
+Emily. "Well, then, it seems to me, I am just as good as many in the
+church. I do not mean to say that I am good, but only if they are
+Christians, I think I am. There is Leonora D., for instance, she dresses
+as richly with feathers and jewels, attends parties instead of the
+prayer-meetings, and acts as haughtily as any lady of fashion I ever
+knew. Now, I go to the Bible class, evening meetings, always attend
+church, and read the Bible, and pray every day. Notwithstanding all,
+mother says, so tenderly, 'Emily, my child, I wish you were a
+Christian,' and I get almost angry that she will not admit that I am
+one."
+
+Alice Grey. "Well, I do not blame Leonora much. To tell the truth, I do
+not believe in so much church-going and psalm-singing. I think God has
+given us these pleasant things to enjoy them, and it is perfectly
+natural for a young girl to sing and dance, visit, dress, and enjoy
+herself. It seems to me there is time enough for religion when we grow
+older, but give me youthful pleasures and I can be happy enough."
+
+Sophia. "But you think religion is important, do you not?"
+
+Alice. "Yes, I suppose it is necessary to have religion to die by, and I
+own I sometimes feel troubled for fear that I may die before possessing
+it, but I am healthy and happy, and do not think much about it. I want
+to enjoy life while I can, like these little birds in the garden who are
+singing and skipping so merrily."
+
+Clara. "Annie, you are the reverse of Alice, quiet, gentle, and sedate;
+why are not you a Christian?"
+
+Annie. "Since we are talking so candidly, I will tell you. I really do
+not know how to be. I cannot feel that I have ever done anything that
+was so very sinful, although I know, for the Bible says so, that I am a
+sinner. To be sure, I have done a great many wrong things, but it does
+not seem as though God would notice such little things, and besides it
+did not seem as though I could have done differently in the
+circumstances. Mother has always commended me, and held me up for a
+pattern to the younger children, and I suppose I have become, at least,
+you will think I have, a real Pharisee. Yet when I have been urged to
+repent and believe in Christ, I have not known what to do. I have spent
+hours in the still, lonely night, thinking upon the subject, and saying,
+if I could only feel that I am a sinner I would repent. I have always
+believed in Jesus, that He is the Son of God, that He assumed our
+nature, and bore the punishment we deserve, and will save all who
+believe in Him. Now what more can I do? I know that I must do
+everything, for I feel that I am far from being a Christian, and yet I
+know not what. I suppose your experience does not correspond with mine,
+Clara?"
+
+Clara. "Not exactly. I not only know, but deeply feel, that I am a great
+sinner; sometimes my sinfulness appears too great to be forgiven. The
+trouble with me is _procrastination_. I cannot look back to the time
+when I did not feel that I ought to be a Christian, but I have always
+put off the subject, thinking I would attend to it another time, and it
+has been just so for year after year. Only last week I was sitting alone
+in my room at twilight, enjoying the quiet loveliness and beauty of the
+view from my window. I could not help thinking of Him who had made all
+things, and had given me the power of enjoying them, besides so many
+other blessings, and I longed to participate in the feeling which Cowper
+ascribes to the Christian, and say, '_My Father_ made them all.' Then
+something seemed to whisper, 'wilt thou not from _this time_ cry unto
+me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?' 'Now is the accepted
+time.' 'To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.' But I
+did harden my heart. I did not feel willing, like Alice, to give up the
+pleasures which are inviting me all around, and become a devoted,
+consistent Christian, for I do not mean to be a half-way Christian,
+neither one thing or the other."
+
+Sophia. "Nearly all these reasons have been my excuse for not becoming a
+Christian, but another has been, that I do not like to be noticed, and
+made an object of remark. My father and mother and friends would be so
+much pleased, they would be talking of it, and watching me, to see if my
+piety was real, and I would feel as if I were too conspicuous a person.
+Now if we would all at the same time resolve to consecrate ourselves to
+the Lord, I think each particular case might not be so much noticed."
+
+"But why should you dread it so much Sophy?" asked Emily.
+
+"I hardly know _why_" she replied, "but I have always felt so since I
+was quite a child, but since I have for the first time spoken of it, it
+seems a much more foolish reason than I had before considered it."
+
+Alice. "And I must confess that I am not always so careless and
+thoughtless on this subject. When I am really possessing and enjoying
+the pleasures I have longed for, there seems to be always something more
+that I need to make me happy. Fanny Bedford, pious and good as she is,
+seems always happier than I, and I have often wished that I was such a
+Christian as she is."
+
+"Who has not," exclaimed the other girls; and their praise of her was
+warm and sincere.
+
+"She is so consistent and religious, and yet so humble, and so full of
+love to every one, that it is impossible not to love her and the
+religion she loves so much. Annie, I have never wished so much that I
+was a Christian, as when I have thought of her; how much I wish I was
+like her." "There is Fanny in the hall, let us speak to her of what we
+have been saying," said Sophia.
+
+They agreed that they were willing she should know it all, and called to
+her. She came and sat with them, and they related to her the
+conversation which they had had together, to which she listened with
+much interest, and a warm heart, and replied, "It is a great wonder to
+me now, dear girls, that any should need to be _persuaded_ to accept of
+Christ, and devote themselves to His service; yet it was once just the
+same with me. I had all of your excuses and many more, and considered
+them good reasons for not becoming a Christian. How true it is, that
+'the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,
+lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them.' Could you
+but once experience the blessedness of being children of God, you would
+be surprised and ashamed that you have so long refused so precious a
+privilege, to possess instead, the unsatisfying pleasures of earth.
+Consider, to be a Christian, is to have God for your father, to have all
+that is glorious and excellent in his perfections engaged for your good.
+It is to have Jesus for an ever-present, almighty friend, ready to
+forgive your sins, to save you from sin, to bear your sorrows, to
+heighten your joys, to lead and bless you in all the scenes of life, to
+guide and assist you while you engage in his blessed service, to be with
+you in the hour of death, and to admit you to the realms of eternal joy.
+I can scarcely commence telling you of all the benefits he bestows on
+His people."
+
+"What must we do, Fanny?" inquired Annie.
+
+"The first thing of all, dear Annie," she replied, "is to go to the
+Savior, at His feet ask for repentance and true faith in Him. Consecrate
+yourself to Him, and resolve that you will from this time serve the
+Lord. Then, Annie, you will have done what you could, and 'He giveth the
+Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.' That Spirit will convince you of
+sin, and you will be surprised and grieved that you could ever have
+thought of yourself as other than the chief of sinners, and while you
+shed tears of sorrow and repentance, He will lead you to Christ, the
+Lamb of God, whose precious blood will prevail with God for the pardon
+of your sins; in it you can wash away your sins, and be made pure and
+holy in his sight. Do what you know how to do, and then shall you know
+if you follow on to know the Lord; will you not?"
+
+Annie. "I will try."
+
+Fanny. "I think the sin of procrastination must be very displeasing to
+God, as it is to our earthly parents, when we defer obeying their
+commands. It is solemn to think that He against whom we thus sin, is He
+in whose hands our breath is, and who can at any time take it away. If
+He were not so slow to anger, what would become of us? Dear Clara, and
+each of you, you are only making cause for sorrow and shame in thus
+neglecting to do what you know you ought to do. 'Enter in at the strait
+gate and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life,' and you will
+find that every step in that way is pleasure. Not such pleasure as the
+world gives, Alice, but more like the happiness of angels. Religion
+takes away no real pleasures, nor the buoyancy and happiness of the
+youthful spirit. It only sanctifies and leads its possessor to do
+nothing but what a kind heavenly Father will approve, Alice."
+
+"But, Fanny, all Christians are not happy ones."
+
+Fanny. "Yet those who are the most devoted and consistent, are the most
+happy. Some have troubles and sorrows which they could scarcely bear if
+it were not for religion. They are sanctified by means of these
+afflictions and so made happier; holiness and happiness are inseparable.
+''Tis religion that must give, sweetest pleasure while we live,' you
+know the hymn says, and it is true. Do you think Emily, that because you
+are as good as you think Leonora is, you are good enough?"
+
+Emily. "No, Fanny, it was a poor excuse; I see that I must not look at
+others, but at what God requires of _me_."
+
+Fanny. "How common is the excuse, so many people profess to think they
+can do without religion, because so many who call themselves Christian
+are inconsistent. Dear girls, I pray that if you are ever Christians,
+you may be consistent, sincere ones. Who can estimate the good, or the
+evil, you may do by your example. If you love the Savior more than all
+else beside, you will find his yoke easy and his burden light, and for
+his sake it will be pleasant to do what would naturally be unpleasant.
+Remember this, Sophy, and I hope you will soon all know the blessedness
+of being Christians. It is our highest duty and our highest happiness.
+Do, dear girls, resolve, each of you, to seek the Lord now."
+
+Just then, their pastor came; he spoke kindly to each of the little
+group, before entering the house.
+
+"It is nearly tea-time," said Clara, "let us go and offer our assistance
+to Mrs. Mills; as we are the youngest here, perhaps she would like to
+have us carry around the plates and tea. We will try to not forget what
+you have told us, Fanny."
+
+"Pray for me, Fanny," said Sophia softly, as she passed her, and kissed
+her.
+
+"And for me," said Annie.
+
+"And for us, too," continued Clara, Emily and Alice, as they stepped
+back for a moment.
+
+Tea was soon over, the missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy
+mountains," was sung, and prayer offered by the pastor, and then the
+pleasant interview was ended.
+
+A few days after, Fanny and Annie met each other in the street. "Have
+you tried to do, Annie, what seemed your duty to do?" Fanny asked.
+
+"I have," she replied, as she looked up with a happy smile.
+
+"You have done what you could," said Fanny; "it is all that God requires
+of you, continue to do so." Annie's heart thrilled with joy, at the
+first faint hope that she was indeed a Christian, and from that time
+her course, like that of the shining light, was onward and brighter.
+
+C. L.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MOTHERS NEED THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST.
+
+
+At one period of my life, during a revival of religion, God led me by
+his Spirit to see and feel that the many years I had been a professed
+follower of Christ--which had been years of alternate revivings and
+backslidings, had only resulted in dishonor to Him and condemnation to
+my own soul. True, I had many times thought I had great enjoyment in the
+service of God, and was ever strict in all the outward observances of
+religion. But my heart was not fixed, and my affections were easily
+turned aside and fastened upon minor objects. In connection with this
+humiliating view of my past life, a deep sense of my responsibilities as
+a mother, having children old enough to give themselves to God, and
+still unreconciled to him, weighed me to the earth.
+
+I plainly saw that God could not consistently convert them while I lived
+so inconsistent a life. I felt that if they were lost I was responsible.
+I gave myself to seek the Lord with all my heart, by fasting and prayer.
+One day, in conversation with my dear pastor, I told him my trials, and
+he said to me, "What you want is a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Give
+yourself up to seek this richest of all blessings." I did so--and rested
+not until this glorious grace was mine. Then, oh how precious was Jesus
+to my soul! How perfectly easy was it now to deny myself and follow
+Christ!
+
+I now knew what it was to be led by the constraining love of Jesus, and
+to do those things that please him. Then it was that he verified to me
+his precious promise, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall ask what ye
+will, and it shall be done unto you." Very shortly, one of my dear
+loved ones was brought to make an entire surrender of herself to Christ.
+
+I trust I was also made the instrument of good to others, who professed
+to submit their hearts to my precious Savior. Will not many more be
+induced to take God at his word and believe him when he says, "Then
+shall ye find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts"?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+EXTRAVAGANCE.
+
+
+The following paragraphs, which we have met in the course of our
+reading, contain a great deal of truth worthy the consideration of our
+readers.
+
+_Extravagance in living._--"One cannot wonder that the times
+occasionally get hard," said a venerable citizen the other day, "when
+one sees the way in which people live and ladies dress." We thought
+there was a great deal of truth in what the old gentleman said. Houses
+at from five hundred to a thousand dollars rent, brocades at three
+dollars a yard, bonnets at twenty, and shawls, and cloaks, &c., from
+fifty dollars up, are enough to embarrass any community that indulges in
+such extravagances as Americans do. For it is not only the families of
+realized wealth, who could afford it, that spend money in this way, but
+those who are yet laboring to make a fortune, and who, by the chances of
+trade, may fail of this desirable result. Everybody wishes to live,
+now-a-days, as if already rich. The wives and daughters of men, not
+worth two thousand a-year, dress as rich nearly as those of men worth
+ten or twenty thousand. The young, too, begin where their parents left
+off. Extravagance, in a word, is piled on extravagance, till
+
+  "Alps o'er Alps arise."
+
+The folly of this is apparent. The sums thus lavished go for mere show,
+and neither refine the mind nor improve the heart. They gratify vanity,
+that is all. By the practice of a wise economy, most families might, in
+time, entitle themselves to such luxuries; and then indulgence in them
+would not be so reprehensible. If there are two men, each making a clear
+two thousand a-year, and one lays by a thousand at interest, while the
+other spends his entire income, the first will have acquired a fortune
+in sixteen years, sufficient to yield him an income equal to his
+accustomed expenses, while the other will be as poor as when he started
+in life. And so of larger sums. In fine, any man, by living on half of
+what he annually makes, be it more or less, can, before he is forty,
+acquire enough, and have it invested in good securities, to live for the
+rest of his life in the style in which he has been living all along. Yet
+how few do it! But what prevents? Extravagance! extravagance! and again
+extravagance!
+
+_Wives and carpets._--In the selection of a carpet, you should always
+prefer one with small figures, for the two webs, of which the fabric
+consists, are always more closely interwoven than in carpeting where
+large figures are wrought. "There is a good deal of true philosophy in
+this," says one, "that will apply to matters widely different from the
+selection of carpets. A man commits a sad mistake when he selects a wife
+that cuts too large a figure on the green carpet of life--in other
+words, makes much display. The attractions fade out--the web of life
+becomes weak--and all the gay figures, that seemed so charming at first,
+disappear like summer flowers in autumn. _This_ is what makes the
+bachelors, or some of them. The wives of the present day wish to cut too
+large a figure in the carpet of life."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Selected.
+
+EVERY PRAYER SHOULD BE OFFERED UP IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
+
+
+Through Him alone have we access with boldness to the throne of grace.
+He is our advocate with the Father. When the believer appears before God
+in secret, the Savior appears also: for he "ever liveth to make
+intercession for us." He hath not only directed us to call upon his
+Father as "Our Father," and to ask him to supply our daily need, and to
+forgive our trespasses; but hath graciously assured us, that
+"_whatsoever_ (we) shall ask _in his name_, he will do it, that the
+Father may be glorified in the Son."--(John 14:13.) And saith (verse
+14), "If ye shall ask _anything in my name_, I will do it." And again
+(John 15:23, 24), "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall
+ask the Father _in my name_ he will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked
+nothing _in my name_; ask, and _ye shall receive_, that your joy may be
+full."
+
+All needful blessings suited to our various situations and circumstances
+in this mortal life, all that will be necessary for us in the hour of
+death, and all that can minister to our felicity in a world of glory,
+hath he graciously promised, and given us a command to ask for, _in his
+name_. And what is this but to plead, when praying to our heavenly
+Father, that Jesus hath sent us; and to ask and expect the blessings for
+his sake alone?
+
+H. MORE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+BATHSHEBA.
+
+
+A summons from the king! What can it mean? What can he know of her? She
+is, indeed, the wife of one of his "mighty men," but though he highly
+esteems her husband, he can have no interest in her. She meditates. Her
+cheek pales. Can he have heard evil tidings from the distant city of the
+Ammonites, and would he break kindly to her news of her husband's death?
+It cannot be. Why should he do this for her more than for hundreds of
+others in like trouble? Again, she ponders, and now a crimson hue mounts
+to her temples--her fatal beauty! Away with the thought--it is shame to
+dwell upon it--would she wrong by so foul a suspicion the Lord's
+anointed? She wearies herself with surmises, and all in vain. But there
+is the command, and she must be gone. The king's will is absolute.
+Whatever that summons imports, "dumb acquiescence" is her only part. She
+goes forth in her youth, beauty and happiness--she returns--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Weeks pass, and behold another message, but this time it is the king who
+receives, and Bathsheba who sends. What is signified in those few words
+from a woman's hand, that can so unnerve him who "has his ten thousands
+slain"? It is now his turn to tremble and look pale. Yet a little while,
+and he, the man after God's own heart, the chosen ruler of his
+people--the idol of the nation, shall be proclaimed guilty of a heinous
+and abominable crime, and shall, according to the laws of the land, be
+subjected to an ignominious death. _He_ ponders now. Would he had
+thought of all this before, but it is too late. The consequences of his
+ungoverned passion stare him in the face and well nigh overwhelm him.
+Something must be done, and that speedily. He cannot have it thus. He
+has begun to fall, and the enemy of souls, is, as ever, at hand to
+suggest the second false and ruinous step.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another summons. A messenger from the king to Joab. "Send me Uriah the
+Hittite." It is peremptory; no reasons are given, and Joab does as he is
+bidden. Unsuspecting as loyal, Uriah hastens on his way, mindful only of
+duty, and is soon in the presence of his royal master, who, always kind,
+is now remarkably attentive to his wants and thoughtful of his
+interests. He inquires for the commander of his forces and of the war
+and how the people fare, and it would almost seem had recalled him only
+to speak kindly to him and manifest his regard for the army, though he
+had not himself led them to battle.
+
+But though unsuspecting and deceived, the high-minded and faithful
+soldier cannot even unwittingly be made to answer the end for which he
+has been summoned, and after two days he returns to Joab, bearing a
+letter, of whose terrible contents he little dreams and is happy in his
+ignorance.
+
+Meantime Bathsheba has heard of his arrival in Jerusalem, and is
+momentarily expecting his appearance. Alas! that she should dread his
+coming. Alas! that she should shudder at every sound of approaching
+footsteps. How fearful is the change which has come over her since last
+she looked on his loved face! He is her husband still, and she, she is
+his lawful loving wife. Never was he so dear to her as now. Never did
+his noble character so win her admiration, as she contemplates all the
+scenes of her wedded life and reviews the evidences of it in the past.
+How happy they have been! What bliss has been hers in the enjoyment of
+his esteem and affection! She is even now to him, in his absence, the
+one object of tender regard and constant thought. She knows how fondly
+he dwells on her love, and how precious to him is the beauty which first
+won him to her side. She is the "ewe lamb which he has nourished, which
+has drank from his own cup and lain in his bosom"--she is his all. He
+has been long away; the dangers of the battle field have surrounded
+him, and now he is returned, alive, well; her heart bounds, she cannot
+wait till she shall see him; yet how can she meet him? Ah! fatal
+remembrance, how bitterly it has recalled her from her vision of
+delight. It is not true! it cannot be true! it is but a horrible dream!
+Her heart is true? She would at any moment have died for him. The entire
+devotion of her warm nature is his. She had no willing part in that
+revolting crime. Oh! must she suffer as if she had been an unfaithful
+wife? Must she endure the anguish of seeing him turn coldly from her in
+some future day? Must she now meet him and have all her joy marred by
+that hateful secret? Must she take part in deceiving him, in imposing
+upon him--him, the noble, magnanimous, pure-minded husband? Oh, wretched
+one! was ever sorrow like hers?
+
+The day passes, and the night, and he comes not. Can he have suspected
+the truth? Slowly the tedious hours go by, while she endures the racking
+tortures of suspense. The third day dawns, and with it come tidings that
+he has returned to Rabbah, and his words of whole-souled devotion to his
+duty and his God are repeated in her ears.--Faint not yet, strong heart;
+a far more bitter cup is in store for thee.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bathsheba is again a wife, the wife of a king, and in her arms lies her
+first-born son. Terrible was the tempest which burst over her head, and
+her heart will never again know aught of the serene, untroubled
+happiness which once she knew. The storm has indeed lulled, but she sees
+the clouds gathering new blackness, and her stricken spirit shrinks and
+faints with foreboding fears. The little innocent being which she holds
+fondly to her bosom, which seemed sent from heaven to heal her wounds,
+lies panting in the grasp of fierce disease. She has sent for the king,
+and together they look upon the suffering one. Full well he knows, that
+miserable man, what mean those moans and piteous signs of distress, and
+what they betoken. He gazes on the wan, anguished features of his wife
+as she bends over her child; his thoughts revert hurriedly to her
+surpassing beauty when first he saw her--a vision of the murdered Uriah
+flits before him--the three victims of his guilt and the message of
+Nathan, which he has just received--the stern words, "Thou art the man,"
+bring a full and realizing sense of the depth to which he has fallen,
+and overwhelmed with remorse and wretchedness, he leaves the chamber to
+give vent to his grief, to fast and weep and pray, in the vain hope of
+averting the threatened judgment.
+
+Seven days of alternate hope and fear, of watching and care have fled,
+and Bathsheba is childless. Another wave has rolled over her. God grant
+it be the last. Surely she has drained the cup of sorrow. She sits
+solitary and sad, bowed down with her weight of woes; her thoughts
+following ever the same weary track; direful images present to her
+imagination; her frame racked and trembling; the heavens clothed in
+sackcloth, and life for ever divested of happiness and delight. The king
+enters and seats himself beside her. And if Bathsheba is changed, David
+is also from henceforth an altered man. "Broken in spirit by the
+consciousness of his deep sinfulness, humbled in the eyes of his
+subjects and his influence with them weakened by their knowledge of his
+crimes; even his authority in his own household, and his claim to the
+reverence of his sons, relaxed by his loss of character;" filled also
+with fearful anticipations of the future, which is shadowed by the dark
+prophecy of Nathan--he is from this time wholly unlike what he has been
+in former days. "The balance of his character is broken. Still he is
+pious--but even his piety takes an altered aspect. Alas for him! The
+bird which once rose to heights unattained before by mortal pinion,
+filling the air with its joyful songs, now lies with maimed wing upon
+the ground, pouring forth its doleful cries to God." He has scarcely
+begun to descend the declivity of life, yet he appears infirm and old.
+He is as one who goes down to the grave mourning. Thus does he seem to
+Bathsheba as he sits before her. But there is more in David thus humble,
+contrite and smitten, to win her sympathy and even love, than there was
+in David the absolute, and so far as she was concerned, tyrannical
+monarch, though surrounded with splendors, the favorite of God and man.
+A few days since had he assayed the part of comforter, she would have
+felt her heart revolt; but now repentant and forgiven, though not
+unpunished by Jehovah, she can listen without bitterness while he speaks
+of the mercy of the Lord which has suffered them both to live, though
+the law could have required their death, and which sustains even while
+it chastises.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another message--by the hand of the prophet to David and Bathsheba--a
+message of peace and tender consideration--a name for their new-born
+child, the gift to them from his own hand. "Call him Jedediah--beloved
+of the Lord."
+
+"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
+unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out."' In his
+dealings with his sinful children how far are his ways above the ways of
+men! "As the heaven is high above the earth, _so great_ is his mercy
+toward them that fear him." He dealeth not with them after their
+sins--he rewardeth them not according to their iniquities, but knowing
+their frame--remembering that they are dust--that a breath of temptation
+will carry them away--pitying them with a most tender compassion, he
+deals with them according to the everlasting and abounding and
+long-suffering love of his own mighty heart. Whenever those who have
+known him best, to whom he has manifested his grace most richly, whom he
+has blessed with most abundant privileges, fall, in some evil hour, and
+without reason, upon the slightest cause, bring dishonor on his name and
+give occasion to his enemies to blaspheme, and incur his just judgment,
+behold how he treats them. Upon the first sign of contrition, the first
+acknowledgment "I have sinned," how prompt, how free, how full is the
+response, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die." No
+lingering resentment--no selfish reminding of his wounded honor--no
+thoughts but of love, warm and tender, self-forgetting love and pity for
+his sorrowing child. Even when he must resort to chastisement, "his
+strange work"--when he must for his great name's sake, raise up for
+David evil out of his own house--when he must, before the sun and before
+all Israel, show his displeasure at sin; with one hand he applies the
+rod, and with the other pours into the bleeding heart the balm of
+consolation, so pure, so free, that his children almost feel that they
+could never have understood his goodness but for the need of his
+severity. When, notwithstanding the earnest prayer of the father, he
+smites the child of his shame, how soon does he return with a better
+gift--a son of peace, who shall remind him only of days of contrition
+and the favor of God--a Jedediah, who shall ever be a daily witness to
+his forgiving love.
+
+And to those who suffer innocently from the crimes of others, how tender
+are the compassions of our heavenly Father. To the injured, afflicted
+Bathsheba is given the honor of being the mother of Israel's wisest,
+most mighty and renowned king; and she is, by father and son, by the
+prophet of the Lord, by the aspirant to the throne, and by all around
+her, ever approached with that deference and confidence which her truly
+dignified character and gentle virtues, not less than her high station,
+demand. And while not a word of reproach is permitted to be left on
+record against her, on that monument of which we have before spoken,
+among mighty and worthy names, destined to stand where many of earth's
+wisest and greatest are forgotten, with the progenitors of our Lord and
+Savior, is inscribed hers "who was the wife of Urias."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+The second and special object of education, is the preparation of youth
+for the particular sphere of action to which he designs to devote his
+life. It may seem at first, that this general education of which I have
+already spoken, as it is most comprehensive and reaches to the highest
+range of subjects, so it should be the only style of training for an
+immortal mind. If we regarded man simply as spiritual and immortal, this
+might be true; but when we descend to the practical realities of life;
+when we behold him in a mixed nature, on one side touching the earth, on
+the other surveying the heavens, his bodily nature having its
+necessities as well as his spiritual, we find ourselves limited in the
+manner of education and the pursuit of knowledge. The division of labor
+and of objects of pursuit is the natural result of these physical
+necessities in connection with the imperfection of the human mind and
+the constitution of civilized society.
+
+This division of labor constitutes the starting point for the diverse
+training of men, and modifies, in part, all systems of instruction that
+cover childhood and youth. This is, at first, an education common to
+all. The general invigoration of the intellect, and the preparation of
+the mind for the grand, the highest object of life on which I first
+dwelt, embrace all the earliest years of youth. There are elements of
+power common to all men, and instruments of knowledge effective for both
+the general pursuits of a liberal education, and the limited pursuits of
+physical toil. The education of the nursery and school are equally
+useful to all. But when you advance much beyond this, far enough to
+enable the youth to fix upon his probable line of life, then the
+necessity of an early application to that pursuit at once modifies his
+course of education.
+
+When we pass from the diverse professions into which the growth of
+civilized society has divided men, to the distinctions which exist
+between man and woman, we enter upon a still clearer department of our
+subject. The differences which are here to give character to education,
+are not incidental and temporary, but inherent and commensurate with
+life itself. The physical constitution of woman gives rise to her
+peculiar life. It determines alike her position in society and her
+sphere of labor.
+
+In all ages and climes, celebrated by travelers, historians, poets, she
+stands forth as a being of better impulses and nobler affections than
+him, of whom she is the complement. That which is rugged in him, is
+tempered by softness in her; that which is strong in him, is weak in
+her; that which is fierce in him is mild in her. Designed of God to
+complete the cycle of human life, and through a twofold being present a
+perfect _Adam_, she is thus no less different from man than essential to
+his perfection. Her nature at once introduces her into a peculiar sphere
+of action. Soon, maternal cares rest upon her; her throne is above the
+family circle; her scepter of love and authority holds together the
+earliest and happiest elements of social life. To her come young minds
+for sympathy, for care, for instruction. Over that most wonderful
+process of development, when a young immortal is growing every day into
+new thoughts, emotions and habits, which are to abide with it for ever,
+she presides. By night she watches, by day she instructs. Her smile and
+her frown are the two strongest powers on earth, influencing human minds
+in the hour when influence stamps itself upon the heart in eternal
+characters. It is from this point of view, you behold the glorious
+purpose of that attractive form embosoming a heart enriched with so
+copious a treasure of all the sweetest elements of life. She is destined
+to fill a sphere of the noblest kind. In the course of her life, in the
+training of a household, her nature reveals an excellence in its
+adaptation to the purpose for which she is set apart, that signally
+illustrates the wisdom of God, while it attracts the homage of man.
+Scarcely a nobler position exists in the world than that of a truly
+Christian mother; surrounded by children grown up to maturity; moulded
+by her long discipline of instruction and affectionate authority into
+true-hearted, intelligent men and women; the ornament of society, the
+pillars of religion; looking up to her with a reverent affection that
+grows deeper with the passage of time; while she quietly waits the
+advent of death, in the assurance that, in these living representatives,
+her work will shine on for ages on earth, and her influence spread
+itself beyond the broadest calculation of human reason, when she has
+been gathered to the just.
+
+How then are we to educate this being a little lower than the angels;
+this being thus separated from the rest of the world, and divided off,
+by the finger of God writing it upon her nature, to a peculiar and most
+noble office-work in society? It is not as a lawyer, to wrangle in
+courts; it is not as a clergyman, to preach in our pulpits; it is not as
+a physician, to live day and night in the saddle and sick room; it is
+not as a soldier, to go forth to battle; it is not as the mechanic, to
+lift the ponderous sledge, and sweat at the burning furnace; it is not
+as a farmer, to drive the team afield and up-turn the rich bosom of the
+earth. These arts and toils of manhood are foreign to her gentle nature,
+alien to her feeble constitution, and inconsistent with her own high
+office as the mother and primary educator of the race. If their pursuits
+are permitted to modify their education, so as to prepare them for a
+particular field of labor, proceeding upon the same supposition, it is
+equally just and appropriate, that her training should take its
+complexion from the sphere of life she is destined to fill. So far as it
+is best, education should be specific, it should have reference to her
+perfect qualification for her appropriate work. This work has two
+departments. The first, which is most limited, embraces the routine of
+housewifery and the management of the ordinary concerns of domestic
+life.
+
+The second department of her duties, as it is the most important, so it
+must be regarded and exalted in an enlightened system of female
+education. It is as the centre of social influence; the genial power of
+domestic life; the soul of refinement; the clear, shining orb, beneath
+whose beams the germs of thought, feeling, and habit in the young
+immortal are to vegetate and grow to maturity; the ennobling companion
+of man, his light in darkness, his joy in sorrow, uniting her practical
+judgment with his speculative wisdom, her enthusiastic affection with
+his colder nature, her delicacy of taste and sentiment with his
+boldness, and so producing a happy mean, a whole character; natural,
+beautiful and strong; it is as filling these high offices that woman is
+to be regarded and treated in the attempt to educate her. The
+description of her sphere of life at once suggests the character of her
+training. Whatever in science, literature and art is best adapted to
+prepare her to fill this high position with greatest credit, and spread
+farthest around it her appropriate influence, belongs of right to her
+education. Her intellect is to be thoroughly disciplined, her judgment
+matured, her taste refined, her power of connected and just thought
+developed, and a love for knowledge imparted, so that she may possess
+the ability and the desire for future progress.
+
+Who will say that this refiner of the world, this minister of the
+holiest and happiest influences to man, shall be condemned to the
+scantiest store of intellectual preparation for an entertainment so
+large and noble? Is it true that a happy ignorance is the best
+qualification for a woman's life; that in seeking to exalt the fathers
+and sons, we are to begin by the degradation of mothers and daughters?
+Is there anything in that life incompatible with the noblest education,
+or which such an education will not ennoble and adorn? We are not
+seeking in all this to make our daughters profound historians, poets,
+philosophers, linguists, authors. Success of this high character in
+these pursuits, is usually the result of an ardent devotion for years to
+some one of them, for which it is rarely a female has the requisite
+opportunities. But should they choose occasionally some particular walk
+of literature, and by the power of genius vivify and adorn it; should
+there be found here and there one with an intense enthusiasm for some
+high pursuit, combined with that patient toil which, associated with a
+vigorous intellect, is the well-spring of so many glorious streams of
+science, should not such a result of this enlarged education be hailed
+as the sign of its excellence, and rejoiced in as the proof of its
+power? The Mores, the Hemanses, the De Staels, and others among the
+immortal dead and the living, who compose that bright galaxy of female
+wit shining ever refulgent--have they added nothing to human life, and
+given no quick, upward impulse of the world? Besides, that system of
+education which, in occasional instances, uniting with a material of
+peculiar excellence, is sufficient to enkindle an orb whose light,
+passing far beyond the circle of home, shall shine upon a great assembly
+of minds, will only be powerful, in the multitude of cases, to impart
+that intellectual discipline, that refinement of thought, that power of
+expression, that sympathy with taste for knowledge, which will best
+prepare her for her position, and enable her in after life to carry
+forward her own improvement and that of her associated household.
+
+The finest influence of such an education is the development of a
+character at once symmetrical, refined, vigorous, confident in its own
+resources, yet penetrated with a consciousness of its distance from the
+loftiest heights of power; a character which will be an ennobling life
+in a household, gently influencing others into quiet paths of
+excellence; to be felt rather than seen, to be understood rather in its
+results than admired for any manifest attainments in science; an
+intellect informed and active, in sympathy with what is known and read
+among men; able to bear its part in healthful discussions, yet not
+presuming to dictate its opinions; in the presence of which ignorance
+becomes enlightened and weakness strong; creating around its home an
+atmosphere of taste and intelligence, in which the rudest life loses
+some of its asperity, and the roughest toils much of their severity.
+Such is the form of female character we seek to create by so enlarged an
+education.
+
+The education of the _heart_ reaches deeper, and spreads its influence
+further than all things else. The intellect is only a beautiful piece of
+mechanism, until the affections pour into it their tremendous vitality,
+and send it forth in all directions instinct with power. When the
+"dry-light" of the understanding is penetrated by the liquid light of
+the emotions, it becomes both light and heat, powerful to vivify,
+quicken, and move all things. In woman, the scepter of her chief power
+springs from the affections. Endowed most richly with sensibility, with
+all the life of varied and vigorous impulse and deep affection, she
+needs to have early inwrought, through a powerful self-discipline, an
+entire command of her noble nature. There are few more incongruous and
+sadly affecting things than a woman of fine intellect and strong
+passions, without self-control or truly religious feeling. She is like a
+ship whose rudder is unhung; she is like a horse, rapid, high-spirited,
+untamed to the bridle; or, higher still, she is like a cherub fallen
+from its sphere of glory, with no attending seraph; without law, without
+the control of love, whose course no intelligence can anticipate and no
+wisdom guide. Religion seems to have in woman its most appropriate home.
+To her are appointed many hours of pain, of trial, of silent communion
+with her own thoughts. Separated, if she act the true woman, from many
+of the stirring scenes in which man mingles, she is admirably situated
+to nourish a life of love and faith within the circle of her own home.
+Debarred from the pursuits which furnish so quickening an excitement to
+the other sex, she either is confined to the routine of domestic life
+and the quiet society of a social circle, or devotes herself to those
+frivolous pleasures which enervate while they excite; which, like the
+inspiration of the wine-cup, are transient in their joy, but deep and
+lasting in their evil. But when religion enters her heart it opens a new
+and that the grandest array of objects. It imparts a new element of
+thought, a wonderful depth and earnestness of character. It elevates
+before her an ennobling object, and enlists her fine sensibilities,
+emotions and affections in its pursuit. Coming thus through religion
+into harmony with God, she ascends to the highest position a woman can
+occupy in this world.
+
+To woman should Christianity be especially dear. It has led her out of
+the house of bondage; it has lifted her from the stool of the servant to
+an equality with the master; it has exalted her from the position of a
+mere minister of sensual pleasure, the toy of a civilized paganism, to a
+full companionship with man; it has given her soul--once spurned,
+degraded, its immortality doubted, its glory eclipsed--a priceless
+value; and shed around her whole character the radiance of heaven. Let
+pure religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit, and breathe
+its life into her heart; let it refine her affections, sanctify her
+intellect, elevate her aims, and hallow her physical beauty; let it
+mould her early character by its rich influences, and cause the love of
+Jehovah to consecrate all earthly love, and she is indeed to our race of
+all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our glory, the
+perfection of our life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER.
+
+By one of our little friends, seven years of age, for a little sister of
+five, who had committed an offense.
+
+
+  Oh great and glorious God!
+    Thy mercy sweet bestow
+  Upon a little sister,
+    So very full of woe.
+
+  Oh Lord, pray let her live,
+    For lo! at thy right hand,
+  To intercede for sinners,
+    The blessed Savior stands.
+
+  Then pardon her, Most High!
+    Pray cast her not away,
+  But blot out all her sins,
+    And cleanse her heart to-day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+WOMAN.
+
+BY M. S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be
+     alone, I will make him a help meet for him."--GEN.
+     2:18.
+
+     "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
+     created he him; male and female created he
+     them."--GEN. 1:27.
+
+
+These two passages settle beyond controversy the oft-disputed question
+as to the equality of the sexes. In the image of God created he man;
+male and female created he them. Had God created him male and female, in
+_one person_, the question of equality could never have arisen. Nor
+should it arise because in his wisdom he has been pleased to create man
+in two persons--both man and woman are made in the image of God. It is
+not good for man to be alone, I will make a help meet for him. The exact
+rendering of the original translated help meet, is an help as before
+him, _i.e._ one corresponding to him, a counterpart of himself, in a
+word, a second self, contrived to meet what is still wanting to his
+perfection, and to furnish mutually a social and superior happiness, of
+which solitude is incapable. A more delicate and beautiful form was
+united _in the woman_ to a mind possessing gentler and lovelier
+affections, a more refined taste, and more elegant sentiments. In the
+man, a firmer and stronger frame was joined to a mind more robust. In
+each, the other was intended to find that which was wanting in itself,
+and to approve, love, and admire both qualities and actions, of which
+itself was imperfectly capable; while in their reciprocations of
+tenderness, and good will, each beheld every blessing greatly enhanced,
+and intensely endeared. The only instance in which these mental and
+moral qualities were ever united in one person, is in the Lord Jesus
+Christ. And I would here note the fact, that in Christ we have as
+perfect an example of the woman's nature as we have of man's nature. All
+the kindness, gentleness, softness, endurance, and unselfishness of
+woman were in him combined, with all the majesty, firmness and strength
+of the manly nature. All dispute, therefore, about the superiority or
+equality of man and woman is absurd and inconclusive. They stand on the
+same platform, were both made in the image of God, and the platform upon
+which they stand is wide enough for them both, and not completely filled
+until both are upon it.
+
+My object, however, in selecting these passages is to present some
+thoughts on the mission of woman in our world, which have not perhaps
+been as prominently presented as they deserve. Men have their distinct
+objects in life before them, their various professions. One aims to be a
+lawyer, another a merchant, another a physician, another a mechanic, and
+thus through all the vocations of life. But what is woman's aim? what
+her object in life? These questions are more or less frequently asked in
+our day, and asked in reference to that general spirit of reform and
+progress of society which seems to characterize our age, and in relation
+to which, just in proportion as men forget to listen to the Word of God,
+they grope about in the darkness of their own feeble light.
+
+Our theme then is Woman's Mission.
+
+What is it?
+
+The general answer to this inquiry is very plain and easy. God created
+_man_ in his own image; _male and female_ created he them. The general
+design, therefore, of the creation of woman is precisely the same as
+that of the man. He created but one race when he made them male and
+female, and had in view but one object. In relation then to that object,
+no distinction is to be drawn between man and woman, and the perfect
+equality of the two sexes again becomes apparent. Indeed, it is a matter
+of wonder that this question of superiority has ever risen, or at least
+has ever been agitated by reflecting men, who for one moment considered
+the manner in which our race is propagated in the world. Nothing ever
+rises above its own nature. A spark, however high it may rise, however
+brilliantly it may shine in the blue ethereal, can never become a star.
+It ever remains but a spark, and so the offspring of a woman cannot, in
+its nature, rise above its origin. A man can never become superior in
+nature to his mother, and can certainly never, with right or justice,
+exercise authority over her. He may be stronger, wiser, and better, but
+he cannot be a superior being. Such a claim is alike foolish and
+despicable. The two sexes, therefore, being one in nature, their chief
+end is one, and reason and revelation unite in the assertion that man
+was created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God made all things
+for himself. He is presented to us as the sole and supreme object of our
+love and worship. His laws are our only rule of conduct, and he himself
+the sole Lord of our souls. This he claims from us as creatures. This,
+at the same time, he has required with the promise of eternal life to
+obedience, and the threatening of eternal death to disobedience; thus
+showing us that he regards this end as of infinite importance--for this
+end, his own glory, happiness in himself. When we had sinned he sent his
+Son into the world, and formed the plan to save our immortal souls from
+woe, while from the nature of the case it is evident that this is the
+highest and noblest end which man can accomplish. What can be a higher
+aim than to be like God? What can God confer superior to himself as a
+source of happiness? As he is the source and sum of all good, both moral
+and natural, to know and to love _him_ is to know and love all that is
+excellent, great, and lovely, and to serve him is to do all that is
+amiable or desirable, all that is pleasing to God or profitable to his
+rational creatures. True happiness and true worth are thus attained, and
+thus alone. There is, there can be no other design in the creation of
+man than this, to glorify God by loving, serving, and enjoying him; by
+obeying his laws, living for him, living to him. This, then, is of
+course the general answer to the inquiry, What is woman's mission? To
+glorify God and to enjoy him forever. She, as well as man, has come
+short of this. She, as well as man, therefore, needs atoning blood and a
+renewed heart. She is a fallen, depraved being, influenced, until she
+comes under divine grace, by unholy and unworthy motives. Her first and
+imperative duty, therefore, if she would fulfill her mission, is to
+return to God by the way of his appointment, to come to Jesus, repenting
+of sin and believing on him, to receive pardon and eternal life. This,
+indeed, is the imperative duty of all, but it will be seen in the
+prosecution of our subject, that, as far as the welfare of society is
+concerned, it is most imperative upon woman. She needs it most for her
+own happiness here; she needs it most on account of her greater
+influence upon the happiness of others.
+
+Having thus seen the general and ultimate design of woman's creation is
+to glorify God, our next inquiry is, Is there any particular mode by
+which she is to fulfill this duty? How can she most glorify God and
+enjoy him in this life? In order to answer these inquiries it becomes
+necessary for us to examine her peculiar nature. That woman differs from
+man in her very nature is obvious, and the peculiarities of her
+organization clearly intimate that her Maker has assigned to her
+peculiar duties--that she has her allotted sphere for which infinite
+wisdom has fitted her. To enter upon all these peculiarities would
+require a volume. I must therefore be content with a brief notice of
+some of the more prominent and acknowledged ones.
+
+Her physical organization is more delicate than that of man. She
+possesses not the muscular power which belongs to him, and is therefore
+not designed to undergo the outward toil and hard labor of life. The
+same toil and physical exertion which will strengthen and increase the
+power of the man, will often weaken and destroy her more delicate
+organism. And when, in addition to this, you consider that to her alone
+is committed the entire maternal care, you have not only the difference
+between the two sexes distinctly marked, but you have also an intimation
+of where her peculiar sphere is to be found, and in accordance with this
+physical difference you will find a corresponding difference in her true
+spiritual and moral nature. No one who has had around him a youthful
+family circle has failed to notice that even from the cradle there is a
+difference in the very nature of sons and daughters. Every little girl
+knows that she is different from boys of her own age, though she may not
+be able just now to point out that difference; she knows that there are
+many things which boys like, and which they do, which she does not like
+and will not do, and this difference only widens as we advance in life.
+
+There is generally a delicacy of feeling, of thought, and of action,
+corresponding with the delicacy of her physical organism. God hath made
+her gentle by nature, and kind. She likes and longs to be loved and to
+love, must have some object on which she can center her affections. She
+admires flowers, and everything which is beautiful and delicate like
+herself. She has a finer imagination and more curiosity than men. She is
+more conscientious and truthful, and though a fallen, sinful creature,
+and by nature like us all, a hater of God, yet there is not so decided
+an opposition to religious things in her heart, in her loving nature;
+there is not, indeed, a predisposition towards a God of love, but a
+peculiar adaptation which assimilates more easily to religious things
+when her heart is touched by the Holy Spirit. The beauty, the harmony,
+the adaptation of the Gospel to the wants of our fallen nature, are more
+apparent to her, more quickly perceived. This may also, perhaps, be
+traced to another peculiarity which I must not forget to mention--her
+disposition to lean on others. Unlike man, she loves to be
+dependent--place her in danger and she naturally flies to her brother,
+her father, or her husband. I am aware that to all these things there
+are exceptions--there are unwomanly women as there are effeminate men,
+but the fewness of the exceptions only proves the general truth. England
+had her masculine Elizabeth, but she had only one.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN AND THEIR TRAINING.
+
+
+What wonderful provision has God made for the happiness, safety, and
+well-being of infants. He has implanted in the human breast a natural
+love of offspring, and has provided for each child parents, who should
+be of mature age, and who should have been so trained by their parents,
+that by combined wisdom, sagacity and experience, it may be duly watched
+over and cared for, and so trained as to answer life's great end, viz.,
+"To glorify God and enjoy him forever."
+
+Then how wisely is the body framed, and most wonderfully adapted to
+answer all the purposes of life, and especially during the period of
+infancy and childhood, when the body must be more or less exposed to
+accidents; while therefore it is destitute of experience, and cannot
+take care of itself, its bones are all soft and yielding, and more
+particularly of the skull which incloses and protects the brain, and
+those of the limbs are made flexible, so that if it falls they may bend
+and not break.
+
+We see daily some new development of wonderful powers and faculties in
+every new-born infant. An infant has a natural and instinctive desire to
+exercise its limbs, its voice, and indeed all its bodily functions. How
+soon it begins to laugh and coo like a little dove, to show you that it
+is social in its disposition, asking for your sympathy in return.
+
+It is curious and interesting to watch a young child when it first opens
+its eyes upon the light of day or the light of a candle. With what
+evident satisfaction does it slowly open and close its eyelids, so
+adapted--to say nothing of the wonderful mechanism of the eye itself--to
+let in sufficient light to gratify desire, or to shut out every ray that
+would prove injurious to the untried organs.
+
+What incipient efforts are first made to feel and examine different
+objects, and how very soon even infants become possessed of some of the
+elementary principles of the most abstruse sciences, and that without a
+teacher. How many thousands of times will you see it endeavor to put up
+its little hands before its face, before it is able to control its
+movements so as to be able to examine them critically.
+
+We propose to dwell, hereafter, somewhat minutely upon the all-important
+subject of infant training, and in a way to show the care and attention
+which both parents should bestow upon each child, so as to provide
+proper food, clothing, and the means of self-culture and amusement, and
+absolute control over it at the earliest possible period--the earlier
+the better, so as to secure "a sound mind in a sound body."
+
+It is really pitiable to find so large a proportion of young parents who
+seem to think that but little instruction can be imparted, and in fact
+that but little is needed in the care and management of _infants_,
+whereas their education commences, in very many respects, and in a very
+important sense, as soon as they are born.
+
+Man is a complex being, composed of mind, soul and body, mysteriously
+united as to their functions, in beautiful harmony with each other, yet
+so distinct as absolutely to require widely different methods of
+training, that each shall do its office without encroaching upon the
+others, and in a way to secure a symmetrical character.
+
+No wonder the proper training of children should become painfully
+interesting to Christian parents, when they consider the pains-taking,
+the watchfulness, the restraints, the self-denial, and the encouragement
+which may be requisite for this. The faith and prayers which may be
+necessary to bring their children into the fold of the Good Shepherd,
+who in his last commission to his disciples did not forget to remind
+them, saying, "Feed my lambs," and whose promise and prediction, before
+his coming into the world, was, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
+I have _ordained_ praise." The Scriptures inform us that it was the
+purpose of God when he "set the solitary in families," to "seek a goodly
+seed."
+
+How delightful and consoling then is the thought, in this world of sin
+and temptation, where there are three mighty obstacles to the final
+salvation of our children--the world, the flesh and the devil, that
+angels, ministering spirits, are appointed to "keep their watchful
+stations" around the families of the just. "Are they not all ministering
+spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of
+salvation?"
+
+When parents cheerfully fall in with the great designs of God, and in
+dependence upon him in the use of the divinely appointed means, in his
+preparing a people to himself, what a glorious combination there is in
+all this to fulfill his gracious purposes. Not only God the Father, God
+the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, but the angelic hosts, and all good
+people by their prayers and labors, help forward this grand and glorious
+design.
+
+When beyond this sublunary sphere, and the vail is removed which now
+hides from our view the realities of the unseen world, with what
+different emotions may we suppose parents will look upon their mission
+on earth. It will indeed seem wonderful that they should have been thus
+intrusted with the care and guardianship of children, which in a
+peculiar sense is their own, and in this respect widely differing from
+the angelic band, whose happiness, though they are permitted to minister
+to the saints, in such efforts and experience, must be inferior to that
+which parents will feel in training their own offspring--even emulating
+the all-wise Creator in his preparing a people for himself. It is
+certainly but natural to suppose that the happiest souls in Heaven will
+be those parents who are the spiritual parents of their own children.
+
+The benefits which must result to parents in the careful training of
+infants--children who are, by means of parental faith and fidelity,
+converted in early life, can scarcely be apprehended, certainly not
+fully, in this world, even by the most judicious Christian parents.
+
+Considering the instinctive love of offspring which God has implanted in
+the parental bosom, it is most painful to see the utter dislike which so
+many persons at the present day, who have entered the marriage relation,
+evince to the care and responsibility which the guardianship of children
+must ever involve.
+
+There is something in all this manifestly wrong. It is unnatural. It is
+even monstrous--even below the brute creation. It interferes with the
+whole economy of nature, and frustrates the wise and benevolent designs
+of the Creator, when he set the solitary in families. No person who
+takes into view eternal realities and prospects, can, while so doing,
+indulge in such selfish, carnal and sordid views. Those who are without
+natural affection are classed by Paul with the enemies of all
+righteousness. We cannot therefore but look suspiciously upon all such
+as deny the marriage relation, cause of abuses (this is not the way to
+cure them), or, for any pretext, profess to plead the superior
+advantages of those who, for reasons best known to themselves, may
+choose a state of "single blessedness," however plausible or cogent
+their arguments may appear in favor of such a choice. We may not do evil
+that good may come, or in other words, "root up the tares, lest we also
+root up the wheat."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE ORPHAN SON AND PRAYING MOTHER.
+
+
+Some years since a small volume was sent to me by a friend, containing
+an account of the labors of a pious missionary along the line of the
+Erie canal. I read it with great interest, and I trust, with profit. God
+honors his word; he honors his faithful servants; and when the Great Day
+shall reveal the secrets of this world, it will be seen to the glory of
+divine grace, that many a humble missionary was made the instrument of
+eternal consolation to the poor neglected orphan--in answer to a pious
+mother's prayers.
+
+I beg leave to ask the insertion in the Magazine of a touching scene,
+which occurred during a missionary tour of the above friend of the
+outcast and neglected. I shall give the narrative chiefly in his own
+words.
+
+"I called at a horse station one morning very early. The station keeper
+had just got up, and stood in the door. I told him my business, and that
+I desired to see his boys a few moments. He said his boys were in bed,
+and as I was an old man, he did not wish to have me abused. 'You had
+better go on and let my boys alone,' said he; 'they will most assuredly
+abuse you if they get up, for I have got a very wicked set of boys.' I
+told him the very reasons that he assigned why I should not see his
+boys, were the reasons why I wished to see them, for if they were very
+wicked boys, there was the greater necessity for their reformation; and
+as to the abuse, that was the least of my troubles, for my Master had
+been abused before me.
+
+"'Well, sir,' said he, 'don't blame me, if you are abused.' He then
+awoke his boys, and as they came out, I talked to them. Instead of
+abusing, they listened attentively to me, and some of them were much
+affected. They took my tracts, and I presume, read them.
+
+"On leaving them, I remarked, that I supposed the most of them were
+orphans, that I was the orphan's friend, and though I might never see
+them again, they might be assured they had my prayers daily, that they
+might be converted. There was one little fellow who, as I had observed,
+looked very sober, and who at the last remark cried right out. As I
+wished to take the same boat again, I stepped out of the station house,
+but found it had left, and I was walking along, looking for another
+boat, when I heard some one crying behind me, and turning round, saw
+that it was the little fellow who wept so much in the station house.
+
+"He said, 'Sir, you told me you was the orphan's friend; will you stop?
+I want to ask you a question.'
+
+"I asked him if it was because he had now discovered that he was a
+sinner, that he cried, and wished me to talk with him.
+
+"'No, sir,' said he, 'I knew that three years ago.'
+
+"I perceived, from his answer, he was an interesting boy, and said to
+him, 'Sit down here, my son. How old are you?'
+
+"'Thirteen,' he replied.
+
+"'Where did you come from?'
+
+"He said, three years ago his father moved from Massachusetts to Wayne
+county; he was a very poor man, and when they got to their journey's end
+they had nothing left. His father obtained the privilege of building a
+small log house to live in, on another man's land, but just as he had
+got the house finished, he was taken sick and died. I asked him if his
+father was a Christian, but afterwards regretted that I asked him the
+question, for it was a long time before he could answer it.
+
+"At length he said, 'No, sir, if he had been a Christian, we could have
+given him up willingly. We had no hope for _him_; but my mother was a
+Christian. My mother, a sister seven years old, and myself, were all the
+family after my father died. I had no hope that _I_ was a Christian when
+my father died; but my mother used to come up the ladder every night and
+kneel down, and put her hand upon my head, and pray that I might be
+converted. Often, when I was asleep, she would come, and her tears
+running into my face, would wake me. I knew that I was a sinner, but I
+hope God forgave my sins one night, while my dear mother was praying for
+me, and I still hope I was converted then.
+
+"'About a year after my father died, my sister was taken sick and died
+in about two months. My mother was naturally feeble, and her sorrow for
+the loss of my father and sister wore upon her until she was confined to
+her bed. She lay there seven months, and last fall she died.'
+
+"By this time the little fellow was so choked with grief that he could
+hardly speak. 'Then,' said he, '_I_ was taken sick, and lay all winter,
+not expecting to get well.' I shall never forget the appearance of that
+boy, and the expression of his countenance, when he said, 'I am a poor
+orphan, sir; I have nothing in this world except the clothes I have on.'
+
+"All the clothes he had on would not have sold for twenty-five cents.
+
+"What an example is here to induce mothers to be faithful to their
+children. I wish to ask mothers if they have ever gone at the midnight
+hour and awoke their children by a mother's tears while pleading with
+God for the salvation of their souls?"
+
+Many mothers--thousands of mothers--have done no such thing. They have
+neglected their own souls, and the souls of their dear children--and
+both have gone to the bar of God, unprepared for the solemn interview.
+
+But some mothers have been more faithful, and what a rich and divine
+reward have they received! Many a son, now in glory, or on his way
+thither, owes his religious impressions to the prayers of a tender,
+faithful mother.
+
+Nor should mothers be soon or easily discouraged! True, they may not
+live to see their prayers answered--but a covenant-keeping God will
+remember them, and in his own good time and chosen way give them an
+answer.
+
+  Though seed lie buried long in dust,
+    It shan't deceive our hope;
+  The precious grain can ne'er be lost,
+    For grace insures the crop.
+
+The writer, perhaps, cannot better conclude this article than by another
+extract from the work alluded to, much to the same purpose as the one
+already cited.
+
+"In conversing with the captain of a certain boat, I found him a very
+amiable and companionable man, although he acknowledged, that he had no
+reason to hope that he was a Christian. Said he, 'I ought to have been a
+Christian, long ago,' without giving his reasons for such an assertion.
+When the hour for prayer arrived, (I staid on his boat all night,) I
+asked him for a Bible. He seemed to be affected, and I did not know but
+he was destitute of a Bible. I told him I had one in my trunk, on the
+deck, and that if he had none, I would go up and get it. 'I have one,'
+said he, and unlocking his trunk, he took out a very nice Bible, and as
+he reached it out to me, the tears dropped on its cover. 'There, sir,'
+said he, 'is the last gift of a dying mother. My dear mother gave me
+that Bible about two hours before she died; and her dying admonition I
+shall never forget. O, sir, I had one of the best of mothers. She would
+never go to bed without coming to my bed-side, and if I was asleep, she
+would awaken me, and pray for me before she retired. Twelve years have
+elapsed since she died, and five years of that time I have been on the
+ocean, five years on this canal; and the other two years traveling. I do
+not know that I have laid my head on my pillow and gone to sleep, during
+that time, without thinking of the prayers of my mother: yet I am not a
+Christian; but the prayers of my mother are ended. I have put off the
+subject too long, but from this time I will attend to it. I will begin
+now and do all that I can to be a Christian.'
+
+"I hope those dear mothers, who may have an opportunity of reading these
+sketches, will inquire of their own hearts, 'Will my own dear children,
+those little pledges of God's love, remember my prayers twelve years
+after my head is laid in the narrow house appointed for all the living?'
+Oh, could we place that estimate on the soul which we should do, in the
+light of eternity, how much anxiety would be manifested on the part of
+parents for their children, and for the whole families of the earth. The
+midnight slumber would more often be disturbed by cries to God, and
+tears for this fallen, apostate, rebellious world."
+
+Mothers! what do you think of such facts? And what are they designed to
+teach you? Every one of them, as you meet them in the pilgrimage of
+life, is a voice of encouragement from above. Has God been kind towards
+other mothers? he can be kind towards you. Has he blessed their efforts?
+he can bless yours. Has he heard their prayers? he can hear and answer
+yours.
+
+Say not that you have prayed, labored, watched, and all in vain! How
+long have you thus toiled? thus wrestled? Years? Well, and may be you
+will have to toil and strive years to come. What then! Your Heavenly
+Father knows precisely when it is best to answer you, and how! Suppose
+you pray and labor ten, twenty, thirty years--and then you
+succeed--won't the salvation of your children be a sufficient reward?
+How do worldly parents do? Take an example from them. _They_ spend
+_life_ in laying up this world's goods for their children--treasures
+which perish in the using. Surely, then, you may, with great propriety,
+devote a few years to secure an imperishable crown of glory for your
+sons and daughters. For what is the present world--its gold of
+California or its gems of Golconda--what are its honors--its stars,
+coronets, crowns--to an inheritance in the kingdom of God!
+
+The time has not yet come when parents appreciate this subject as they
+will do. Oh, no! and until they realize their duty, their privileges,
+the purchase which they have on the throne of God by means of faith, and
+their covenant interest in the blood of Jesus, there is reason to fear
+that many children will perish, but who need not perish--who would not
+perish were their parents as faithful and energetic as parents will be
+in some more distant age of the world.
+
+But why postpone what may be realized now? Why relinquish blessings of
+vast and incomparable magnitude to others which you may enjoy, and which
+it is no benevolence to forego for others, because when they come upon
+the stage, there will be blessings for them in abundance and to spare?
+Let the sentiment fall upon your hearts, and make its appropriate
+impression there--"While God invites, how blest the day!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If the candle of your earthly comfort be blown out, remember it is but a
+little while to the break of day, when there will be no more need of
+_candles_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHRISTIAN, wouldst thou have an easy death? then get a
+mortified heart; the surgeon's knife is scarcely felt when it cuts off a
+mortified member.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FROST.
+
+BY MRS. JULIA NORTON.
+
+
+  The beams of morn were glittering in the east,
+  The hoary frost had gathered like a mist
+  On every blade of grass, on plant and flower,
+  And sparkling with a clear, reflected light--
+  Shot forth its radiant beams that, dazzling bright,
+  Proclaimed the ruling charm in beauty's power.
+
+  The god of day came forth with conquering glow,
+  When shrinking from his gaze the glittering show
+  In vapor fled, with steady, noiseless flight--
+  But left its blasting mark where'er it pressed
+  The tender plant that on earth's peaceful breast,
+  Still slept, unmindful of the fatal blight.
+
+  Thus sin oft gilds the onward path of youth,
+  Till straying far from virtue and from truth,
+  Heaven's bright, pure rays, in fearful distance gleam;
+  While on the mind the blasting, clinging shade,
+  With deathless power, refuses still to fade--
+  Till life's dark close unfolds the fearful dream.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Fireside, is a seminary of infinite importance. It is important
+because it is universal, and because the education it bestows, being
+woven in with the woof of childhood, gives form and color to the whole
+texture of life. There are few who can receive the honors of a college,
+but all are graduates of the hearth. The learning of the university may
+fade from the recollection; its classic lore may moulder in the halls of
+memory. But the simple lessons of home, enameled upon the heart of
+childhood, defy the rust of years, and outlive the more mature but less
+vivid pictures of after days.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] 2 Cor. 5:21.
+
+[B] The construction put upon this passage is taken from Bush's
+Commentary on Exodus, which see.
+
+[C] 1 John iv:16.
+
+[D] We are glad to see that Mr. Abbott has recently revised and enlarged
+this useful book. We recommend it to the careful perusal of all _young
+people_, as well as parents.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers
+and Daughters, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17775-8.txt or 17775-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/7/17775/
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/17775-8.zip b/17775-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6433f33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775-8.zip
diff --git a/17775-h.zip b/17775-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15dc44f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775-h.zip
diff --git a/17775-h/17775-h.htm b/17775-h/17775-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b6c007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775-h/17775-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,14671 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mrs. Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters Vol. III, edited by Mrs. A.G. Whittelsey.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+
+    .linenum  {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em;
+               padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em;
+               float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em;
+               font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;}
+
+    .bb       {border-bottom: solid 2px;}
+    .bl       {border-left: solid 2px;}
+    .bt       {border-top: solid 2px;}
+    .br       {border-right: solid 2px;}
+    .bbox     {border: solid 2px;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+    .u        {text-decoration: underline;}
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top:
+                 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figright    {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;
+                 margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .footnotes        {border: dashed 1px;}
+    .footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+    .footnote .label  {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;}
+    .fnanchor         {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;}
+
+    .poem             {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem br          {display: none;}
+    .poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+    .poem span.i0     {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+    .poem span.i2     {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+    .poem span.i4     {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and
+Daughters, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters
+       Volume 3
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mrs. A. G. Whittelsey
+
+Release Date: February 16, 2006 [EBook #17775]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image0001.jpg" width="300" height="448" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>MRS. WHITTELSEY'S</h2>
+
+<h1>MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS.</h1>
+
+<h3>EDITED BY</h3>
+
+<h2>MRS. A.G. WHITTELSEY.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that
+our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the
+similitude of a palace.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Bible.</span></p></div>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+VOL. III.<br />
+<br />
+NEW YORK:<br />
+PUBLISHED BY HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,<br />
+128 NASSAU STREET.<br />
+<br />
+1852.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by</p>
+
+<p>HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,</p>
+
+<p>in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for
+the Southern District of New York.</p>
+
+<p>Transcriber's note: Minor typos corrected and footnotes moved to
+end of text.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Child's Prayer.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_369'>369</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Child's Reading.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Lesson for Husbands and Wives.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>An Appeal to Baptized Children.&mdash;By Rev. William. Bannard.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Temptation and its Consequences.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_21'>21</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Word of Exhortation.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_5'>5</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Brotherly Love.&mdash;By Rev. M.S. Hutton, D.D.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Children and their Training.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_375'>375</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Children of the Parsonage.&mdash;By Mrs. G.M. Sykes.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_246'>246</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Children's Apprehension of the Power of Prayer.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_305'>305</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Chinese Daughter.&mdash;Letter of Mrs. Bridgeman.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cousin Mary Rose, or a Child's First Visit.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_69'>69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Despondency and Hope; an Allegory.&mdash;By Mrs. J. Norton.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Every Prayer should be offered in the Name of Jesus.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_356'>356</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Excerpta.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Excessive Legislation.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Extravagance.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_354'>354</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Family Government.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_320'>320</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fault Finding; its Effects.&mdash;By Ellen Ellison.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_13'>13</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;" &nbsp;&nbsp;The Antidote.&mdash;By Ellen Ellison.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Filial Reverence of the Turks.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_292'>292</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>First Prayer in Congress.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_308'>308</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Female Education.&mdash;By Rev. S.W. Fisher.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_271'>271</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Physical Training.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_297'>297</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Intellectual Training.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_330'>330</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_363'>363</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Frost.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_384'>384</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>General Instructions for the Physical Education of Children.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_336'>336</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gleanings by the Wayside.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>God's Bible a Book for all.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Habit.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Infants taught to Pray.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_192'>192</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Inordinate Grief the effect of an Unsubdued Will.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_301'>301</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Instruction of the Young in the Doctrines and Precepts of the Gospel.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Intellectual Power of Woman.&mdash;By Rev. S.W. Fisher.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_255'>255</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Know Thyself.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_93'>93</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Letter from a Father to his Son.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_241'>241</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Light Reading.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_316'>316</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Lux in Tenebras; or a Chapter of Heart History.&mdash;By Mrs. G.M. Sykes.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_286'>286</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Magnetism.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Memoir of Mrs. Van Lennep.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ministering Spirits.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mothers need the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_353'>353</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>My Baby.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_309'>309</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>My Little Niece Mary Jane.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Music in Christian Families.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_342'>342</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Never Faint in Prayer.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_259'>259</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Never tempt another.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_184'>184</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Notices of Books.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Old Juda.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>One-Sided Christians.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_283'>283</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Opening the Gate.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_267'>267</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Parental Solicitude.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Prayer for Children sometimes unavailing.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_213'>213</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Promises.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Recollections Illustrative of Maternal Influence.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Reminiscences of the late Rev. T.H. Gallaudet.&mdash;By Mrs. G.M. Sykes.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Report of Maternal Associations.&mdash;Putnam, O.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2d Presb. Church, Detroit, Mich.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Salem, Mich.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_86'>86</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Sabbath Meditations.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Benefits of Baptism.&mdash;By Rev. W. Bannard.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_120'>120</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Bonnie Bairns.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Boy the Father of the Man.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Boy who never forgot his Mother.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_202'>202</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Death-bed Scene.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Editor's Table.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Family Promise.&mdash;By Rev. J. McCarroll, D.D.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Importance of Family Religion.&mdash;By Rev. H.T. Cheever.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_48'>48</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Mission Money, or the Pride of Charity.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Mothers of the Bible.&mdash;Zipporah.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Mothers of Israel at Horeb.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Mother of Samson.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_197'>197</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Naomi and Ruth.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hannah.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_261'>261</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ichabod's Mother.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_203'>203</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rizpah.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_325'>325</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bathsheba.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_357'>357</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Mother's Portrait.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Orphan Son and Praying Mother.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_378'>378</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Promise Fulfilled.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Riddle Solved.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Stupid, Dull Child.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Treasury of Thoughts.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_162'>162</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Wasted Gift, or Just a Minute.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_125'>125</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Youngling of the Flock.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_196'>196</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Young Men's Christian Association.&mdash;By Mrs. L.H. Sigourney.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>To Fathers.&mdash;By Amicus.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>To my Father.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_318'>318</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Trials.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_227'>227</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Why are we not Christians?</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_346'>346</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Woman.&mdash;By Rev. M.S. Hutton, D.D.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_370'>370</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>MRS. WHITTELSEY'S</h2>
+
+<h3>MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS</h3>
+
+<h3>AND DAUGHTERS.</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Editorial.</h3>
+
+<h2>A WORD OF EXHORTATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Sensible of our accountability to God, of our entire dependence upon his
+blessing for success in all our undertakings, knowing that of ourselves
+we can do nothing, but believing that through Christ strengthening us we
+may accomplish something in his service, we enter upon the duties of
+another year&mdash;the twentieth year of our editorial labors.</p>
+
+<p>With language similar to that which the mother of Moses is supposed to
+have employed when she laid her tender offspring by the margin of the
+Nile:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"Know this ark is charmed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With incantations Pharaoh ne'er employed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With spells that impious Egypt never knew;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With invocations to the living God,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I twisted every slender reed together,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And with a prayer did every ozier weave"&mdash;</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>we launched our frail bark upon the tide of public opinion. Since then,
+with varied success, have we pursued<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> our course&mdash;often amid darkness,
+through difficulties and dangers, and to the present time have we been
+wafted in safety on our voyage, because, as he did Moses in the ark,
+"the Lord hath shut us in."</p>
+
+<p>Referring whatever of success has attended our efforts to His blessing,
+and believing that He has given us length of days, and strengthened our
+weakness, and poured consolation into our hearts when ready to sink in
+despair, in answer to persevering and importunate prayer, we come to
+direct our readers to this source of wisdom and aid,&mdash;to urge upon them
+to engage often in this first duty and highest privilege. Let us go
+forth, dear friends, to the work we have to do in the education of our
+families, having invoked the Divine blessing upon our efforts, holding
+on to the promises of the covenant, and pleading for their fulfillment
+in reference to ourselves and our households.</p>
+
+<p>As Mrs. H. More has beautifully said: "Prayer draws all the Christian
+graces into her focus. It draws Charity, followed by her lovely
+train&mdash;her forbearance with faults&mdash;her forgiveness of injuries&mdash;her
+pity for errors&mdash;her compassion for want. It draws Repentance, with her
+holy sorrows&mdash;her pious resolutions&mdash;her self-distrust. It attracts
+Truth, with her elevated eyes; Hope, with her gospel anchor;
+Beneficence, with her open hand; Zeal, looking far and wide; Humility,
+with introverted eye, looking at home."</p>
+
+<p>And who need these graces more than parents, in the government and
+training of those committed to their charge? Could our Savior rise a
+great while before day,&mdash;forego the pleasures of social intercourse with
+his beloved disciples, and retiring to the mountains, offer up prayers
+with strong crying and tears, unto Him who was able to save from death
+in that he feared, and shall we, intrusted with the immortal destinies
+of our beloved offspring, refuse to follow his example, and pleading
+want of time and opportunity for this service, be guilty of unbelief, of
+indolence, and worldly-mindedness?</p>
+
+<p>You labor in vain, dear readers, unless the arm of the Almighty shall be
+extended in your behalf, and you cannot receive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> the blessing except you
+ask it. Let then your supplications be addressed to your Father in
+heaven;&mdash;pray humbly, believingly, perseveringly, for wisdom and aid,
+then may you expect to be blessed. So important is this duty, and so
+much is it neglected, that we could not forbear to urge your attention
+thereto, ere we entered upon another year.</p>
+
+<p>And will not our Christian friends remember us in their prayers, asking
+that we may be directed in what we shall say and do this present year,
+in the work in which we are engaged? And if God shall answer our united
+petitions, we shall not labor in vain.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>TO FATHERS.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY AMICUS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>How gladly would the writer gain (were it possible) the ear of every
+father in the land, if it were but for the short space of one quarter of
+an hour,&mdash;nay, some ten minutes, at a <i>propitious time</i>,&mdash;such a time
+as, perhaps, occasionally occurs, when business cases are not pressing,
+when the mind is at ease, and the heart has ceased its worldly
+throbbings. He wants such a quarter of an hour, if it ever exists.</p>
+
+<p>"And for what?" That he may have an opportunity to propose some worldly
+scheme,&mdash;some plan which has reference to the probable accumulation of
+hundreds of thousands? Nothing of the kind. Fathers at the present day
+generally need no suggestions of this sort&mdash;no impulses from me in that
+direction. They are already so absorbed, that it is difficult to gain
+their attention to any matters which do not concern the line of business
+in which they are engaged.</p>
+
+<p>Look for a moment at that busy, bustling man; you see him walking down
+Broadway this morning; it is early,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> quite early. May be he is calling a
+physician, or is on some visit to a sick friend. He walks so fast; and
+though early, there is something on his brow which indicates care and
+anxiety. And yet I think no one of his family is sick, nor do I know of
+any of his friends who are sick. I have seen that man out thus early so
+often, and hurrying at just that pace, that I suspect, after all, he is
+on his way to his place of business. That, doubtless, is the whole
+secret. He is engaged in a large mercantile concern. It seems to
+require&mdash;at least it takes&mdash;all his attention. He is absorbed in it.
+And, if you repair to his store or office at any hour of the day, you
+can scarcely see him,&mdash;not at all,&mdash;unless it be on some errand
+connected with his business, or with the business of some office he
+holds, and which <i>must</i> be attended to; and even in these matters you
+will find him restless. He attends to you so far as to hear your errand;
+and what then? Why, if it will require any length of time, he says: "I
+am very busy at this moment, I can't <i>possibly</i> attend to it to-day;
+will you call to-morrow? I may then have more leisure." Well, you agree
+for to-morrow. "Please name the hour," you say. He replies&mdash;"I can't
+<i>name any hour</i>; but call, say after twelve o'clock, and I will catch a
+moment, <i>if I can</i>, to talk over the business."</p>
+
+<p>Now, that merchant is not to blame for putting you off. His business
+calls are so many and so complex, that he scarcely knows which way to
+turn, nor what calculations to make. The real difficulty is, he has
+undertaken too much; his plans are too vast; his "irons," as they say,
+are too many.</p>
+
+<p>This is the <i>morning</i> aspect of affairs. Watch that merchant during the
+day,&mdash;will you find things essentially different? The morning, which is
+dark and cloudy and foggy, is sometimes followed by a clear, bright,
+beautiful day. The mists at length clear off, the clouds roll away, and
+a glorious sun shines out broadly to gladden the face of all nature. Not
+so with the modern man of business. It is labor, whirl, toil, all the
+day, from the hour of breakfast till night puts an end to the active,
+hurrying concerns of all men. There is no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> bright, cheerful, peaceful
+day to him. Scarcely has he time to eat&mdash;never to <i>enjoy</i> his
+dinner,&mdash;that must be finished in the shortest possible time: often at
+some restaurant, rather than with his family. Not one member of that
+does he see from the time he leaves the breakfast table till night, dark
+night has stretched out her curtain over all things.</p>
+
+<p>Let us go home with him, and see how the evening passes.</p>
+
+<p>His residence, from his place of business, perchance, is a mile or two
+distant&mdash;may be some fifteen or twenty, in which latter case he takes
+the evening train of cars. In either case he arrives home only at the
+setting in of the evening shades. How pleasant the release from the
+noise and confusion of the city! or, if he resides within the city, how
+pleasant in shutting his door, as he enters his dwelling, to shut out
+the thoughts and cares of business! His tea is soon ready, and for a
+little time he gives himself up to the comforts of home. His wife
+welcomes him, his children may be hanging upon him, and he realizes
+something of the joys of domestic life!</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely, however, is supper ended, before it occurs to him that there
+is a meeting of such a committee, or such an insurance company, to which
+he belongs, and the hour is at hand, and he <i>must</i> go. And he hies away,
+and in some business on hand he becomes absorbed till the hours of nine,
+ten, or eleven, possibly twelve o'clock. He returns again to his home,
+wearied with the toils of the day,&mdash;his wife possibly, but certainly his
+children, have retired,&mdash;and he lays his aching head upon his pillow to
+catch some few hours of rest, and with the morning light to go through
+essentially the same busy routine, the same absorbing care, the same
+wearing, weary process.</p>
+
+<p>This is an outline of the life which thousands of fathers are leading in
+this country at this present time. We do not pretend that it is true of
+all,&mdash;but is it not substantially true, as we have said, of thousands?
+And not only of thousands in our crowded marts of commerce, but in our
+principal towns&mdash;nay, even in our rural districts. It is an age of
+impulse. Every thing is proceeding with railroad speed. Every branch of
+business is urged forward with all practical earnestness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> Every sail is
+set&mdash;main-sail, top-sails, star-gazers, heaven-disturbers&mdash;all expanded
+to catch the breeze, and urge the vessel to her destined port.</p>
+
+<p>This thirst for gain! this panting after fortune! this competition in
+the race for worldly wealth, or honor, where is it leading the present
+generation&mdash;where?</p>
+
+<p>To men who have families&mdash;to fathers, who see around them children just
+emerging from childhood into youth, or verging toward manhood,&mdash;this is
+and should be a subject of the deepest interest.</p>
+
+<p>Fathers! am I wrong when I say you are neglecting your offspring?
+Neglecting them? do I hear you respond with surprise;&mdash;"Am I not daily,
+hourly stretching every nerve and tasking every power to provide for
+them, to insure them the means of an honorable appearance in that rank
+of society in which they were born, and in which they must move? In
+these days of competition, who sees not that any relaxation involves and
+necessarily secures bankruptcy and ruin?"</p>
+
+<p>I hear you, and you urge strongly, powerfully your cause. You must,
+indeed, provide for your household. You must be diligent in business.
+You may&mdash;you ought in some good measure, to keep up with the spirit, the
+progress of the age. But has it occurred to you that there is danger in
+doing as you do; that you will neglect some other interests of your
+children as important, to say the least, as those you have named? Are
+not your children immortal? Have they not souls of priceless value? Have
+they not tendencies to evil from the early dawn of their being? And must
+not these souls be instructed&mdash;watched over? Do they not need
+counsel&mdash;warning&mdash;restraint? "O yes!" I hear you say, "they must be
+instructed&mdash;restrained&mdash;guided&mdash;all that, but this is the appropriate
+business and duty of their <i>mother</i>. I leave all these to her. I have no
+leisure for such cares myself; my business compels me to leave in charge
+all these matters to her."</p>
+
+<p>And where, my friend&mdash;if I may speak plainly&mdash;do you find any warrant in
+the Word of God for such assumptions as these? Leave all the care of
+your children's moral and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> religious instruction, guidance, restraint,
+to their mother! It is indeed her duty, and in most cases she finds it
+her pleasure, to watch over her beloved ones. And in the morning of
+their being, and in the first years of their childhood, it is <i>hers</i> to
+watch over them, to cherish them, and to bring out and direct the first
+dawnings of their moral and intellectual being.</p>
+
+<p>But beyond this the duties of father and mother are coincident. At a
+certain point your responsibilities touching the training of your
+children blend. I find nothing in the Word of God which separates
+fathers and mothers in relation to bringing up their children in the
+ways of virtue and obedience to God.</p>
+
+<p>I know what fathers plead. I see the difficulties which often lie in
+their path. I am aware of the competition which marks every industrial
+pursuit in the land. And many men who wish it were different, who would
+love to be more with their families, who would delight to aid in
+instructing their little ones, find it, they think, quite impossible so
+to alter their business&mdash;so to cast off pressure and care, as to give
+due attention to the moral and religious training of their children.</p>
+
+<p>But, fathers, might you not do better than you do? Suppose you should
+make the effort to have <i>an hour</i> each day to aid your wife in giving a
+right moral direction to your little ones? How you would encourage her!
+What an impulse would you give to her efforts! Now, how often has she a
+burden imposed upon her, which she is unable to bear! What uneasiness
+and worry&mdash;what care and trouble are caused her, by having, in this
+matter of training the children, to go on single-handed! whereas, were
+your parental authority added to her maternal tenderness, your children
+would prove the joy of your hearts and the comfort of your declining
+years. But as you manage&mdash;or rather as you neglect to manage them, a
+hundred chances to one if they do not prove your sorrow, when in years
+you are not able well to sustain it. Gather a lesson, my friend, from
+the conduct of David in respect to Absolom. He neglected him&mdash;he
+indulged him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> and what was the consequence? The bright, beautiful,
+gifted Absolom planted thorns in his father's crown,&mdash;he attempted to
+dethrone him,&mdash;he was a fratricide,&mdash;he would have been a parricide: and
+what an end! Oh, what an end! Listen to the sorrowful outpourings of a
+fond, too fond, unfaithful parent: "My son, oh, my son Absolom,&mdash;would
+to God I had died for thee, oh, Absolom, my son, my son!"</p>
+
+<p>Take another example, and may it prove a warning to such indulgence and
+such neglect! Eli had sons, and they grew up, and they walked in
+forbidden ways, and he restrained them not; yet he was a good man: but
+good men are sometimes most unfaithful fathers, and what can they
+expect? Shall we sin because grace abounds? Shall we neglect our
+children in expectation that the grace of God will intervene to rescue
+them in times of peril? That expectation were vain while we neglect our
+duty. That expectation is nearly or quite sure to be realized if duty be
+performed.</p>
+
+<p>But I must insist no longer; I will only add, then, in a word,&mdash;that it
+were far, far better that your children should occupy a more humble
+station in life&mdash;that they should be dressed in fewer of the "silks of
+Ormus," and have less gold from the "mines of Ind," than to be neglected
+by a father in regard to their moral and religious training. Better
+leave them an interest in the Covenant than thousands of the treasures
+of the world. Your example, fathers,&mdash;your counsel&mdash;your prayers, are a
+better bequest than any you can leave them. Think of leaving them in a
+cold, rude, selfish world, without the grace of God to secure them,
+without his divine consolation to comfort. Think of the "voyage of awful
+length," you and they must "sail so soon." Think of the meeting in
+another world which lies before you and them, and say, Does the wide
+world afford that which could make amends for a separation&mdash;an eternal
+separation from these objects of your love?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FAULT-FINDING: ITS EFFECTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"What in creation have you done! Careless boy, how could you be so
+heedless? You are forever cutting some such caper, on purpose to ruin me
+I believe. Now go to work, and earn the money to pay for it, will you?
+lazy fellow!"</p>
+
+<p>Coarse and passionate exclamations these, and I am sorry to say they
+were uttered by Mr. Colman, who would be exceedingly indignant if any
+body should hint a suspicion that he was, or could be, other than a
+gentleman, and a <i>Christian</i>. His son, a bright and well-meaning lad of
+fourteen, had accidentally hit the end of a pretty new walking cane,
+which his favorite cousin had given him a few hours before, against a
+delicate china vase which stood upon the mantle-piece, and in a moment
+it lay in fragments at his feet. He was sadly frightened, and would have
+been very sorry too, but for the harsh and ill-timed reproof of his
+father, which checked the humble plea for forgiveness just rising to his
+lips, and as Mr. Colman left the room, put on his hat and coat in the
+hall, and closed the street door with more than usual force, to go to
+his store, the young lad's feelings were anything but dutiful. Just then
+his mother entered.</p>
+
+<p>"Why James Colman! Did you do that? I declare you are the most careless
+boy I ever beheld! That beautiful pair of vases your father placed there
+New Year's morning, to give me a pleasant surprise. I would not have had
+it broken for twenty dollars."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I just hit it accidentally with this little cane, and I'm sure
+I'm as sorry as I can be."</p>
+
+<p>"And what business has your cane in the parlor, I beg to know? I'll take
+it, and you'll not see it again for the present, if this is the way you
+expect to use it. You deserve punishment for such carelessness, and I
+wish your father had chastised you severely." And taking the offending
+cane<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> from his hand, she, too, left him to meditations, somewhat like
+the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis too bad, I declare! If I had tried to do the very wickedest thing
+I possibly could, father and mother would not have scolded me worse.
+That dear little cane! I told Henry I would show it to him on my way to
+school, and now what shall I say about it? It's abominable&mdash;it's right
+down cruel to treat me so. When I had not intended to do the least thing
+wrong, only just as I was looking at the bottom of my cane, by the
+merest accident the head of it touched that little useless piece of
+crockery. I hate the sight of you," he added, touching the many colored
+and gilded fragments with the toe of his boot, as they lay before him,
+"and I hate father and mother, and every body else&mdash;and I'm tired of
+being scolded for nothing at all. Big boy as I am, they scold me for
+every little thing, just as they did when I was a little shaver like
+Eddy. What's the use? I won't bear it. I declare I won't much longer."
+And then followed reveries like others often indulged before, of being
+his own master, and doing as he pleased without father and mother always
+at hand to dictate, and find fault, and scold him so bitterly if he
+happened to make a little mistake. Other boys of his age had left home,
+and taken care of themselves, and he would too. "I am as good a scholar
+as any one in school, except Charles Harvey, and I am as strong as any
+boy I play with, and pity if I can't take care of myself. Home! Yes, to
+be sure it might be a dear good home, but father is so full of business,
+and anxious, and thinking all the time, he never speaks to one of us,
+unless it is to tell us to do something, or to find fault with what is
+done. And mother&mdash;fret, fret, fret, tired to death with the care of the
+children, and company, and servants, and societies, and every thing&mdash;it
+really seems as if she had lost all affection for us&mdash;<i>me</i>, at any rate,
+and I am sure I don't care for any body that scolds at me so, and the
+sooner I am out of the way the better. I am sure if father is trying to
+make money to leave me some of it, I'd a thousand times rather he'd give
+me pleasant words as we go along, than all the dollars I shall ever
+get&mdash;yes, indeed I had."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The above scene, I am sorry to say, is but a sample of what occurred
+weekly, and I fear I might say daily, or even hourly, to some member of
+the family of Mr. Colman, and yet Mr. and Mrs. Colman were very good
+sort of people&mdash;made a very respectable appearance in the world, regular
+at church with their children&mdash;ate symbolically of the body, and drank
+of the blood, of that loving Savior, who ever spake gently to the
+youthful and the erring&mdash;and meant to be, and really thought they were,
+the very best of parents. Their children were well cared for, mentally
+and physically. They were well fed, well clothed, attended the best
+schools&mdash;but as they advanced beyond the years of infancy, there was in
+each of them the sullen look, or the discouraged tone, the tart reply,
+or the vexing remark, which made them any thing but beloved by their
+companions, any thing but happy themselves. At home there was ever some
+scene of dispute, or unkindness, to call forth the stern look, or the
+harsh command of their parents&mdash;abroad, the mingled remains of vexation
+and self-reproach, caused by their own conduct or that of others, made
+them hard to be pleased&mdash;and so the cloud thickened about them, and with
+all outward means for being happy, loving and beloved, they were a
+wretched family. James, the eldest, was impetuous and self-willed, but
+affectionate, generous, and very fond of reading and study, and with
+gentle and judicious management, would have been the joy and pride of
+his family, with the domestic and literary tastes so invaluable to every
+youth, in our day, when temptations of every kind are so rife in our
+cities and larger towns, that scarcely is the most moral of our young
+men safe, except in the sanctuary of God, or the equally divinely
+appointed sanctuary of home. But under the influences we have sketched,
+he had already begun to spend all his leisure time at the stores, the
+railroad d&eacute;p&ocirc;ts, wharves, engine-houses, and other places of resort for
+loiterers, where he saw much to encourage the reckless and disobedient
+spirit, which characterized his soliloquy above quoted. Little did his
+parents realize the effects of their own doings. Full of the busy cares
+of this hurrying life, they fancied all was going on well, nor were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+they aroused to his danger, until some time after the scene of the
+broken vase, above alluded to, when his more frequent and prolonged
+absence from home, at meal times, and until a late hour in the evening,
+caused a severe reprimand from his father. With a heart swelling with
+rage and vexation, James went to his room&mdash;but not to bed. The purpose
+so long cherished in his mind, of leaving parental rule and restraint,
+was at its height. He opened his closet and bureau, and deliberately
+selected changes of clothing which would be most useful to him, took the
+few dollars he had carefully gathered for some time past for this
+purpose, and made all the preparation he could for a long absence from
+the home, parents, and friends, where, but for ungoverned tempers and
+tongues, he might have been so useful, respected and happy. When he
+could think of no more to be done, he looked about him. How many proofs
+of his mother's careful attention to his wishes and his comfort, did his
+chamber afford! And his little brother, five years younger, so quietly
+sleeping in his comfortable bed! Dearly he loved that brother, and yet
+hardly a day passed, in which they did not vex, and irritate, and abuse
+each other. He was half tempted to lie down by his side, and give up all
+thoughts of leaving home. But no. How severe his father would look at
+breakfast, and his mother would say something harsh. "No. I'll quit, I
+declare I will&mdash;and then if their hearts ache, I shall be glad of it.
+Mine has ached, till it's as hard as a stone. No, I've often tried, and
+now I'll go. I won't be called to account, and scolded for staying out
+of the house, when there is no comfort to be found in it." And again
+rose before his mind many scenes of cold indifference or harshness from
+his parents, which had, as he said, hardened his heart to stone. "I'll
+bid good bye to the whole of it. Little Em,&mdash;darling little sister! I
+wish I could kiss her soft sweet cheek once more. But she grows fretful
+every day, and by the time she is three years old, she will snap and
+snarl like the rest of us. I'll be out of hearing of it any way." And he
+softly raised the window sash, and slipped upon the roof of a piazza,
+from which he had often jumped in sport with his brothers, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> a few
+moments was at the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t. Soon the night train arrived, and soon was
+James in one of our large cities&mdash;and inquiring for the wharf of a
+steamer about to sail for California; and when the next Sabbath sun rose
+upon the home of his youth, he was tossing rapidly over the waves of the
+wide, deep, trackless ocean, one moment longing to be again amid scenes
+so long dear and familiar, and the next writhing, as he thought of the
+anger of his father, the reproaches of his mother. On he went, often
+vexed at the services he was called to perform, in working his passage
+out, for which his previous habits had poorly prepared him. On went the
+stanch vessel, and in due time landed safely her precious freight of
+immortal beings at the desired haven&mdash;but some of them were to see
+little of that distant land, where they had fondly hoped to find
+treasure of precious gold, and with it happiness. The next arrival at
+New York brought a list of recent deaths. Seven of that ship's company,
+so full of health and buoyancy and earthly hopes, but a few short months
+before, were hurried by fevers to an untimely, a little expected grave.
+And on that fatal list, was read with agonized hearts in the home of his
+childhood, the name of their first-born&mdash;James Colman, aged sixteen.</p>
+
+<p>Boys! If your father and mother, in the midst of a thousand cares and
+perplexities, of which you know nothing&mdash;cares, often increased
+seven-fold, by their anxieties for you, are less tender and forgiving
+than you think they should be, will you throw off all regard for them,
+all gratitude for their constant proofs of real affection, and make
+shipwreck of your own character and hopes, and break their hearts?
+No&mdash;rather with noble disregard of your own feelings, strive still more
+to please them, to soothe the weary spirit you have disturbed, and so in
+due time you shall reap the reward of well-doing, and the blessing of
+Him, who hath given you the fifth commandment, and with it a promise.</p>
+
+<p>Fathers! Provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged,
+for the tempter is ever at hand to lead them astray. The harsh
+reproof&mdash;the undeserved blame&mdash;cold silence, where should be the kind
+inquiry, or the affectionate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> welcome&mdash;oh, how do these things chill the
+young heart, and plant reserve where should be the fullest confidence,
+if you would save your child.</p>
+
+<p>Mothers! Where shall the youthful spirit look for the saving influence
+of love, if not to you? The young heart craves sympathy. It must have
+it&mdash;it will have it. If not found at home, it will be found in the
+streets, and oh, what danger lurks there! Fathers and mothers&mdash;see to
+it, that if your child's heart cease to beat, your own break not with
+the remembrance of words and looks, that bite like a serpent and sting
+like an adder!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><span class="smcap">Ellen Ellison.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>CHINESE DAUGHTERS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;"><i>Ch&aacute;ngh&aacute;i, Aug. 15th, 1851.</i></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">My dear Mrs. Whittelsey</span>:</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In order to keep before my own mind a deep interest for this people, and
+to awaken corresponding sympathies in my native land, I make short
+monthly memorandums of my observations among the Chinese. They are
+indeed a singular people, with manners and customs peculiar to
+themselves; and it would seem that, in domestic life, every practice was
+the opposite of our own; but in the kindly feelings of our nature, those
+whom I have seen brought under the influence of Christian cultivation,
+are as susceptible as those of any nation on earth. At first they are
+exceedingly suspicious of you,&mdash;they do not, they <i>cannot</i> understand
+your motives in your efforts to do them good; and it is not until by
+making one's actions consistent with our words, and by close observation
+on their part, that you enjoy their confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Since I last wrote I have been quite indisposed. During my husband's
+absence in committee my nurses were Chinese girls, one eleven, the other
+thirteen years of age. No mother who had bestowed the greatest care and
+cultivation upon her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> daughters, could have had more affectionate
+attention than I had from these late heathen girls,&mdash;they were indeed
+unto me as daughters,&mdash;every want was anticipated, and every thing that
+young, affectionate hearts could suggest, was done to alleviate my pain.
+One has been four years, the other a year and a-half, under instruction.
+Christianity softens, subdues, and renders docile the human mind, before
+the dark folds of heathenism have deepened and thickened with increasing
+years.</p>
+
+<p>One of these pupils, after reading in the New Testament the narrative of
+Christ's sufferings, one day asks&mdash;"Why did Jesus come and suffer and be
+crucified?" I then explained to her as well as I could in her own
+tongue. She always seems thoughtful when she reads the Scriptures. Will
+some maternal association remember in prayer these Chinese girls?</p>
+
+<p>During the current month a vile placard has been published against
+foreigners, and some of the pupils have been railed at by their
+acquaintances for being under our instruction. One, on returning from a
+visit to her friends, told me the bitter and wicked things that were
+said and written; I asked her if she had found them true? she said "No."
+I asked her if foreigners, such as she had seen, spoke true or false?
+She said "always true." Did they wish to kill and destroy the Chinese as
+the placard stated? She replied, "No; but they helped the poor Chinese
+when their own people would not." The mothers were somewhat alarmed lest
+we were all to be destroyed. We told them there was nothing to fear, and
+their confidence remained unshaken.</p>
+
+<p>The school has enjoyed a recess of a week from study, but they do not go
+to their own homes, except to return the same day. Our house is just
+like a bee-hive, with their activity at their several employments; and
+usually some <i>deprivation</i> is a sufficient punishment for a dereliction
+from any duty.</p>
+
+<p>Who will pray for these daughters? Who will sympathize with the
+low-estate of the female sex in China? I appeal to the happy mothers and
+daughters of America, our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> dear native land. Though severed from thee
+voluntarily, willingly, cheerfully, yet do we love thee still; thy
+Sabbaths hallowed by the voice of prayer and praise; thy Christian
+ordinances blessed with the Spirit's power. Oh, when will China, the
+home of our adoption, be thus enlightened, and her idol temples turned
+into sanctuaries for the living God?</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">Affectionately,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11.5em;"><span class="smcap">Eliza J. Bridgman</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MINISTERING SPIRITS.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>LINES WRITTEN FOR A LITTLE GIRL BY AN EPISCOPAL CLERGYMAN.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Do <span class="smcap">ANGELS</span> minister to me&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Can such a wonder ever be?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, sure they are too great;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Too glorious with their raiment white,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And wings so beautiful and bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Upon a child to wait.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet so it is in truth, I know,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For Jesus Christ has told us so,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And that to them is given</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The loving task to guard with care</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And keep from every evil snare</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The chosen ones of heaven.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so if I am good and mild,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And try to be a holy child,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My angel will rejoice;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sound his golden harp to Him</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who dwells among the cherubim,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And praise Him with his voice.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But if I sin against the Lord,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By evil thought or evil word,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Or do a wicked thing;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah! then what will my angel say?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, he will turn his face away,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And vail it with his wing.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then let us pray to Him who sends</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His angels down to be our friends,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That, strengthened by his grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I may not prove a wandering sheep,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor ever make my angel weep,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nor hide his glorious face.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>A TEMPTATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Not long since, in one of the cities on the Atlantic seaboard, there was
+a lad employed in a large jewelry establishment. A part of his duty was
+to carry letters to the post-office, or to the mail-bag on the boat,
+when too late to be mailed in the regular way. On one occasion, after
+depositing his letters, he observed a part of a letter, put in by some
+other person, projecting above the opening in the bag. Seizing the
+opportunity he extracted this letter without being seen, and took it
+home. On examination he found it contained a draft for one thousand
+dollars. Forging the name of the person on whom it was drawn, he
+presented the draft at a bank and drew the money, and very soon
+afterwards proceeded to a distant western city.</p>
+
+<p>After a little while, the draft was missed and inquiries made. It was
+found that this lad had been near the mailbag on the day when the
+missing letter had been put in it, that he was unusually well provided
+with money, and that he had suddenly disappeared. Officers of justice
+were commissioned to find him. They soon traced him to his new
+residence, charged him with his crime, which he at once confessed, and
+brought him back to meet the consequences of a judicial investigation.
+After a short imprisonment he was released on bail, but still held to
+answer, and thus the case stands at present. He must of course be
+convicted, but whether the penalty of the law will be inflicted in whole
+or in part, it will be for the Executive to say.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the circumstances suggest some thoughts which may be worth the
+reader's attention. This lad was a member of a Sunday school, but
+irregular in his attendance, and this latter fact may in some degree
+explain his wandering from the right path. He might, indeed, have been a
+punctual attendant on his class, and still have fallen into this gross
+sin, but it is not at all probable. And it is curious and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> instructive,
+that wherever any inmates of prisons, houses of refuge, or other places
+of the kind, are found to have been connected with Sunday-schools, it is
+nearly always stated in accompaniment that they attended only
+occasionally and rarely.</p>
+
+<p>Again, how much weight is there in Job's remarkable expression (ch.
+31:5), <i>I have made a covenant with my eyes</i>! The eye, the most active
+of our senses, is the chiefest inlet of temptation, and hence the
+apostle John specifies "the lust of the eyes" as a leading form or type
+of ordinary sins. The lad in the case before us allowed his eye to dwell
+on the letter, until the covetous desire to appropriate it had grown
+into a fixed purpose. Had he made the same covenant as Job, and turned
+his eye resolutely away as soon as he felt the first wrongful emotion in
+his heart, the result had been widely different. But he rather imitated
+the unhappy Achan, who, in recounting his sin, says, "<i>When I saw</i> among
+the spoils a Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver, and a
+wedge of gold, <i>then</i> I coveted them." A fool's eyes soon lead his hands
+astray.</p>
+
+<p>Here also we see the deceitfulness of the heart. A mere boy of fifteen
+years, of good ordinary training, at least in part connected with a
+Sunday-school, and not prompted by any urgent bodily necessity, commits
+a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment. Had any one foretold to him
+a week before even the possibility of this occurrence, how indignantly
+would he have spurned the very thought! That he should become, and
+deservedly so, the inmate of a felon's cell&mdash;how monstrous the
+supposition! Yet so it came to pass. The heart is deceitful above all
+things, and he who trusts in it is "cursed." Multitudes find their own
+case the renewal of Hazael's experience. When Elijah told him the
+enormities he, when on the throne of Syria, would practice, he
+exclaimed&mdash;"Is thy servant a dog that he should do these things?" He was
+not then, but he afterwards became just such a dog.</p>
+
+<p>But if the heart be deceitful, sin is scarcely less so. When the poor
+boy first clutched his prize, as he esteemed it, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> promised himself
+nothing but pleasure and profit, but how miserably was he deceived!
+After he had converted the draft into money, and thus rendered its
+return impossible without detection, he saw his guilt in its true
+character, and for many nights tossed in torment on a sleepless bed,
+while at last he was made to take his place along with hardened convicts
+in a city prison. Thus it always is with sin. Like the book the apostle
+ate in vision, it is sweet as honey in the mouth, but bitter in the
+belly. Like the wine Solomon describes, it may sparkle in the cup and
+shoot up its bright beads on the surface, but at the last it biteth like
+a serpent and stingeth like an adder. The experiment has been tried
+times without number, from the beginning in Eden down to our own day, by
+communities and by individuals, but invariably with the same result. The
+way of transgressors is hard, however it may seem to them who are
+entering upon it a path of primrose dalliance. And surely "whosoever is
+deceived thereby is not wise."</p>
+
+<p>Finally, how needful is it to pray&mdash;"Lead us not into temptation."
+Snares lie all around us, whether old or young, and it is vain to seek
+an entire escape from their intrusion. The lad we are considering, had
+not gone out of his way to meet the temptation by which he fell. On the
+contrary, he was doing his duty, he was just where he ought to have
+been. Yet there the adversary found him, and there he finds every man.
+The very fact that one is in a lawful place and condition is apt to
+throw him off his guard. There is but one safeguard under grace, and
+that is habitual watchfulness. Without this the strongest may fall&mdash;with
+it, the feeblest may stand firm. O for such a deep and abiding
+conviction of the keenness of temptation and the dreadful evil of sin as
+to lead all to cry mightily unto God, and at the same time be strenuous
+in effort themselves&mdash;to pray and also to watch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MEMOIR OF MRS. VAN LENNEP.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following review, written by Mrs. D.E. Sykes, of the Memoir of Mrs.
+M.E. Van Lennep, we deem among the finest specimens of that class of
+writings. The remarks it contains on the religious education of
+daughters are so much in point, and fall in so aptly with the design of
+our work, that we have obtained permission to publish it. We presume it
+will be new to most of our readers, as it originally appeared in the
+<i>New Englander</i>, a periodical which is seldom seen, except in a
+Theological Library.</p>
+
+<p>An additional reason for our publishing it is, our personal interest
+both in the reviewer, who we are happy to say has become a contributor
+to our pages, and the reviewed&mdash;having been associated with the mothers
+of each, for a number of years, in that most interesting of all
+associations, "The Mother's Meeting."</p>
+
+<p>For eleven years, Mary E. Hawes, afterwards Mrs. Van Lennep, was an
+attentive and interested listener to the instructions given to the
+children at our quarterly meetings&mdash;and it is interesting to know that
+her mother regards the influence of those meetings as powerfully aiding
+in the formation of her symmetrical Christian character.</p>
+
+<p>An eminent painter once said to us, that he always disliked to attempt
+the portrait of a woman; it was so difficult to give to such a picture
+the requisite boldness of feature and distinctness of individual
+expression, without impairing its feminine character. If this be true in
+the delineation of the outer and material form, how much more true is it
+of all attempts to portray the female mind and heart! If the words and
+ways, the style of thinking and the modes of acting, all that goes to
+make up a biography, have a character sufficiently marked to
+individualize the subject, there is a danger that, in the relating, she
+may seem to have overstepped the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> decorum of her sex, and so forfeit the
+interest with which only true delicacy can invest the woman.</p>
+
+<p>It is strange that biography should ever succeed. To reproduce any thing
+that was transient and is gone, not by repetition as in a strain of
+music, but by delineating the emotions it caused, is an achievement of
+high art. An added shade of coloring shows you an enthusiast, and loses
+you the confidence and sympathy of your cooler listener. A shade
+subtracted leaves so faint a hue that you have lost your interest in
+your own faded picture, and of course, cannot command that of another.
+Even an exact delineation, while it may convey accurately a part of the
+idea of a character, is not capable of transmitting the more volatile
+and subtle shades. You may mix your colors never so cunningly, and copy
+never so minutely every fold of every petal of the rose, and hang it so
+gracefully on its stem, as to present its very port and bearing, but
+where is its fragrance, its exquisite texture, and the dewy freshness
+which was its crowning grace?</p>
+
+<p>So in biography, you may make an accurate and ample statement of
+facts,&mdash;you may even join together in a brightly colored mosaic the
+fairest impressions that can be given of the mind of another&mdash;his own
+recorded thoughts and feelings&mdash;and yet they may fail to present the
+individual. They are stiff and glaring, wanting the softening transition
+of the intermediate parts and of attending circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>And yet biography does sometimes succeed, not merely in raising a
+monumental pile of historical statistics, and maintaining for the
+friends of the departed the outlines of a character bright in their
+remembrance; but in shaping forth to others a life-like semblance of
+something good and fair, and distinct enough to live with us
+thenceforward and be loved like a friend, though it be but a shadow.</p>
+
+<p>Such has been the feeling with which we have read and re-read the volume
+before us. We knew but slightly her who is the subject of it, and are
+indebted to the memoir for any thing like a conception of the character;
+consequently we can better judge of its probable effect upon other
+minds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> We pronounce it a portrait successfully taken&mdash;a piece of
+uncommonly skillful biography. There is no gaudy exaggeration in it,&mdash;no
+stiffness, no incompleteness. We see the individual character we are
+invited to see, and in contemplating it, we have all along a feeling of
+personal acquisition. We have found rare treasure; a true woman to be
+admired, a daughter whose worth surpasses estimation, a friend to be
+clasped with fervor to the heart, a lovely young Christian to be admired
+and rejoiced over, and a self-sacrificing missionary to be held in
+reverential remembrance. Unlike most that is written to commemorate the
+dead, or that unvails the recesses of the human heart, this is a
+cheerful book. It breathes throughout the air of a spring morning. As we
+read it we inhale something as pure and fragrant as the wafted odor of</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"&mdash;&mdash; old cherry-trees,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scented with blossoms."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We stand beneath a serene unclouded sky, and all around us is floating
+music as enlivening as the song of birds, yet solemn as the strains of
+the sanctuary. It is that of a life in unison from its childhood to its
+close; rising indeed like "an unbroken hymn of praise to God." There is
+no austerity in its piety, no levity in its gladness. It shows that
+"virtue in herself is lovely," but if "goodness" is ever "awful," it is
+not here in the company of this young happy Christian heart.</p>
+
+<p>We have heard, sometimes, that a strictly religious education has a
+tendency to restrict the intellectual growth of the young, and to mar
+its grace and freedom. We have been told that it was not well that our
+sons and daughters should commit to memory texts and catechisms, lest
+the free play of the fancy should be checked and they be rendered
+mechanical and constrained in their demeanor, and dwarfish in their
+intellectual stature. We see nothing of this exemplified in this memoir.
+One may look long to find an instance of more lady-like and graceful
+accomplishments, of more true refinement, of more liberal and varied
+cultivation, of more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> thorough mental discipline, of more pliable and
+available information, of a more winning and wise adaptation to persons
+and times and places, than the one presented in these pages. And yet
+this fair flower grew in a cleft of rugged Calvinism; the gales which
+fanned it were of that "wind of doctrine" called rigid orthodoxy. We
+know the soil in which it had its root. We know the spirit of the
+teachings which distilled upon it like the dew. The tones of that pulpit
+still linger in our ears, familiar as those of "<i>that good old bell</i>,"
+and we are sure that there is no pulpit in all New England more
+uncompromising in its demands, more strictly and severely searching in
+its doctrines.</p>
+
+<p>But let us look more closely at the events of this history of a life,
+and note their effect in passing upon the character of its subject.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mary</span>, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, Conn., was
+born in 1821. Following her course through her youth, we are no where
+surprised at the development of any remarkable power of mind. She was
+prayerful and conscientious, diligent in acquiring knowledge,
+enthusiastic in her love of nature, evincing in every thing a refined
+and feminine taste, and a quick perception of the beautiful in art, in
+literature, and in morals. But the charm of her character lay in the
+warmth of her heart. Love was the element in which she lived. She loved
+God&mdash;she loved her parents&mdash;she loved her companions&mdash;she loved
+everybody. It was the exuberant, gushing love of childhood, exalted by
+the influences of true piety. She seems never to have known what it was
+to be repelled by a sense of weakness or unworthiness in another, or to
+have had any of those dislikes and distastes and unchristian aversions
+which keep so many of us apart. She had no need to "unlearn contempt."
+This was partly the result of natural temperament, but not all. Such
+love is a Christian grace. He that "hath" it, has it because he
+"dwelleth in God and God in him." It is the charity which Paul
+inculcated; that which "thinketh no evil," which "hopeth" and "believeth
+all things." It has its root in humility; it grows only by the uprooting
+of self. He who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> would cultivate it, must follow the injunction to let
+nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of heart
+esteem others better than himself. As Jesus took a little child and set
+him in the midst to teach his disciples, so would we place this young
+Christian woman in the assemblies of some who are "called of men Rabbi,
+Rabbi," that they may learn from her "which be the first principles" of
+the Christian life.</p>
+
+<p>But let no one suppose that there was any weakness or want of just
+discrimination in the subject of this memoir. It is true that the
+gentler elements predominated in her character, and her father knew what
+she needed, when he gave her the playful advice to "<i>have more of
+Cato</i>." Without Christian principle she might have been a victim of
+morbid sensitiveness, or even at the mercy of fluctuating impulses; but
+religion supplied the tonic she needed, and by the grace of God aiding
+her own efforts, we see her possessed of firmness of purpose and moral
+courage enough to rebuke many of us who are made of sterner stuff.</p>
+
+<p>For want of room we pass over many beautiful extracts from the memoir
+made to exhibit the traits of her character, and to illustrate what is
+said by the reviewer.</p>
+
+<p>In September, 1843, Miss H. was married to the Rev. J. Van Lennep, and
+in the following October sailed with him for his home in Smyrna. Our
+readers have learned from the letter of Rev. Mr. Goodell, which we
+lately published, through what vicissitudes Mrs. Van Lennep passed after
+her arrival at Constantinople, which had been designated as her field of
+labor.</p>
+
+<p>It was there she died, September 27, 1844, in the twenty-third year of
+her age, only one year and twenty-three days from her marriage-day, and
+before she had fully entered upon the life to which she had consecrated
+herself. Of her it has been as truly as beautifully said:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Thy labor in the vineyard closed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long e'er the noon-tide sun,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dew still glistened on the leaves,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When thy short task was done."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And yet this life, "so little in itself," may be found to have an
+importance in its consequences, hardly anticipated at first by those
+who, overwhelmed by this sudden and impetuous providence, were ready to
+exclaim, "To what purpose is this waste?" Her day of influence will
+extend beyond the noon or the even-tide of an ordinary life of labor.
+"<i>Sweet Mary Hawes</i>" (as she is named by one who never saw her, and
+whose knowledge of her is all derived from the volume we have been
+reviewing), shall long live in these pages, embalmed in unfading youth,
+to win and to guide many to Him, at whose feet she sat and learned to
+"choose the better part." Her pleasant voice will be heard in our homes,
+assuring our daughters that "there is no sphere of usefulness more
+pleasant than this;" bidding them believe that "it is a comfort to take
+the weight of family duties from a mother, to soothe and cheer a wearied
+father, and a delight to aid a young brother in his evening lesson, and
+to watch his unfolding mind." They shall catch her alacrity and cheerful
+industry, and her "facility in saving the fragments of time, and making
+them tell in something tangible" accomplished in them. They shall be
+admonished not to waste feeling in discontented and romantic dreaming,
+or in sighing for opportunities to do good on a great scale, till they
+have filled up as thoroughly and faithfully as she did the smaller
+openings for usefulness near at hand.</p>
+
+<p>She shall lead them by the hand to the Sabbath-school teacher's humble
+seat, on the tract distributor's patient circuit, or on errands of mercy
+into the homes of sickness and destitution,&mdash;into the busy
+sewing-circle, or the little group gathered for social prayer. It is
+well too that they should have such a guide, for the offense of the
+Cross has not yet ceased, and the example of an accomplished and highly
+educated young female will not fail of its influence upon others of the
+same class, who wish to be Christians, and yet are so much afraid of
+every thing that may seem to border on <i>religious cant</i>, as to shrink
+back from the prayer-meeting, and from active personal efforts for the
+salvation of others. Her cheerful piety shall persuade us that "<i>it is
+indeed</i> the <i>simplest</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> the <i>easiest</i>, the <i>most blessed thing in the
+world, to give up the heart to the control of God</i>, and by daily looking
+to him for strength to conquer our corrupt inclinations, <i>to grow in
+every thing that will make us like him</i>." Her bright smile is worth
+volumes to prove that "<i>Jesus can indeed satisfy the heart</i>," and that
+if the experience of most of us has taught us to believe, that there is
+far more of conflict than of victory in the Christian warfare,&mdash;more
+shadow than sunshine resting upon the path of our pilgrimage, most of
+the fault lies in our own wayward choice. The child-like simplicity and
+serene faith of this young disciple, shall often use to rebuke our
+anxious fears, and charm away our disquietudes with the whisper&mdash;"<i>that
+sweet word</i>, <span class="smcap">TRUST</span>, <i>tells all</i>." Her early consecration of her
+all to the great work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, shall rouse
+us who have less left of life to surrender, to redouble our efforts in
+spreading like "love and joy and peace," over the earth, lest when it
+shall be said of her, "She hath done what she could," it shall also be
+added, "She hath done more than they all."</p>
+
+<p>There has been no waste here,&mdash;no sacrifice but that by which, in
+oriental alchemy, the bloom and the beauty of the flower of a day is
+transmitted into the imperishable odor, and its fragrance concentrated,
+in order that it may be again diffused abroad to rejoice a thousand
+hearts. If any ask again, "To what purpose was this waste?"&mdash;we answer,
+"The Lord had need of it."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>We are indebted to God for the gift of Washington: but we are no less
+indebted to him for the gift of his inestimable mother. Had she been a
+weak and indulgent and unfaithful parent, the unchecked energies of
+Washington might have elevated him to the throne of a tyrant, or
+youthful disobedience might have prepared the way for a life of crime
+and a dishonored grave.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG IN THE DOCTRINES AND PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. A.G. Whittelsey:</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Madam</span>&mdash;It is among the recollections of my early youth,
+that your departed husband was pastor of one of the churches in the
+southern section of Litchfield County, Conn. Among the distinguishing
+religious characteristics of that portion of country, at that period,
+was the soundness of the Congregational churches in the faith of the
+gospel: the means for which, in diligent use, were, the faithful
+preaching of the gospel in its great and fundamental doctrines and
+precepts; and catechetical instruction, in the family and in the school.
+I am not informed as to the present habits there, on the latter means.
+But knowing what was the practice, extensively, in regard to the
+instruction of children and youth, and what its effects on the interests
+of sound piety and morals in those days, I feel myself standing on firm
+ground for urging upon the readers of your Magazine, the importance of
+the instruction of the young in the doctrines and duties of the gospel.
+The position taken in your Magazine, on that great and important
+subject, Infant Baptism, is one which you will find approved and
+sustained by all who fully appreciate the means for bringing the sons
+and daughters of the Church to Christ. I hope that in its pages will
+also be inculcated all those great and distinguishing doctrines and
+commands of our holy religion, which, in the Bible, and in the minds of
+all sound and faithful men, and all sound confessions of Christian
+faith, stand inseparably associated with Infant Baptism.</p>
+
+<p>Such instruction should be imparted by parents themselves; not left to
+teachers in the Sabbath-school alone; as soon as the minds of children
+begin to be capable of receiving instruction, of any kind, and of being
+impressed, permanently, by such instruction. It should be imparted
+frequently&mdash;or,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> rather, constantly,&mdash;as God directed his anointed
+people: "And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine
+heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou
+shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
+walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up."
+It should be done with clearness and simplicity, adapted to the minds of
+children and youth; with particularity; and with a fullness, as regards
+"the whole word of God," which shall not leave them uninstructed in any
+doctrine or command in the sacred word. These points in the manner of
+instructing the young are suggested, with an eye to the fact, that since
+the establishment of Sunday-schools, there is a temptation for parents
+to leave to others this important work; that it is therefore delayed
+till the age at which children have learned to read,&mdash;by which time,
+some of the best opportunities for impressing truth have become
+lost&mdash;because also there is infrequency and omission of duty; and
+because there is not always the requisite pains taken to have children
+understand what is taught; and indefinite ideas on the doctrines and
+precepts of the gospel are the consequences; and because there is an
+inclination, too often indicated, to pass over some doctrines and
+precepts, under the notion that they are distasteful, and will repel the
+young mind from religion. We set down as a principle of sound common
+sense, as well as religion, that every truth of the Bible which is
+concerned in making men wise unto salvation, is to be taught to every
+soul whose salvation is to be sought, and that at every period of life.</p>
+
+<p>Let a few words be said, relative to the advantages of thorough and
+faithful instruction of the young, in the doctrines and duties of the
+gospel. It pre-occupies and guards their minds against religious error.
+It prepares them early and discriminately to perceive and understand the
+difference between Bible truth, and the words taught by men, however
+ingenious and plausible. It exerts a salutary moral influence, even
+before conversion takes place,&mdash;which is of high importance to a life of
+correct morality. It prepares the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> way for intelligent and sound
+conversion to God, whenever that desirable event takes place; and for
+subsequent solidity and strength of Christian character, to the end of
+life. Added to these, it may in strict propriety be asserted, that the
+influence of thorough instruction in the sound and sacred truths of
+God's word is inestimable upon the intellect as well as on the heart.
+Divine truth is the grand educator of the immortal mind. It is therefore
+an instrumentality to be used in childhood and youth, as well as in
+adult years.</p>
+
+<p>The objection often made, to omit instruction as advocated in this
+article,&mdash;that children and youth cannot understand it,&mdash;is founded in a
+mistake. Thousands and thousands of biographies of children and youth
+present facts which obviate the objection and go to correct the mistake.
+It is the beauty of what our Savior called "the kingdom of God,"&mdash;the
+religion of the gospel,&mdash;that while it is to be "received" by every one
+"<i>as</i> a little child," it is received <i>by</i> many "a little child," who is
+early taught it. But on the other hand, it is an affecting and most
+instructive fact, that of multitudes who are left uninstructed in early
+life, in the truths of the gospel; that Scripture is proved but too
+true, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
+truth."</p>
+
+<p>May your Magazine, dear Madam, be instrumental in advancing the best
+interests of the rising generation, by its advocacy of bringing up
+children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" into which enters,
+fundamentally, teaching to the young,&mdash;by parents themselves,&mdash;and that
+"right early," constantly, clearly, particularly and fully, the truths
+of the gospel; the sure and unerring doctrine and commands of the Word
+of God. With Christian salutations, yours truly,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;"><span class="smcap">E.W. Hooker</span>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>South Windsor, Conn., August, 1851.</i></span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE DEATH-BED SCENE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following death-bed conversation of a beloved daughter, detailed to
+us by her mother, exhibits such sweet resignation and trust in God, that
+we give it a place in our Magazine. Would that we all might be prepared
+to resign this life with cheerfulness, and with like hopes enter upon
+that which is to come!</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said she, "I once thought I could be a Christian without
+making a profession of religion, but when God took my little Burnet from
+me, I knew he did it to subdue the pride of my heart and bring me to the
+foot of the Cross. Satan has been permitted to tempt me, but the Savior
+has always delivered me from his snares."</p>
+
+<p>I was absent from her one day for a short time; when I returned she
+looked at me with such a heavenly expression, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I thought just now I was dying; I went to the foot of the Cross
+with my burden of sins and sorrows, and left them there. Now all is
+peace; I am not afraid to die."</p>
+
+<p>Her father coming, she took his hand in hers and said:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear father, if I have prayed for one thing more than another, it
+has been for your salvation, but God, doubtless, saw that my death
+(which will, I know, be one of the greatest trials you have ever met
+with) is necessary to save you; and although I love my parents, husband
+and children dearly as any one ever did, and have every thing in this
+world that I could wish for, yet I am willing to die&mdash;Here, Lord, take
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Her sister coming in, she said to her:&mdash;"My dear Caroline, you see what
+a solemn thing it is to die. What an awful thing it must be for those
+who have no God. Dear sister, learn to love the Savior, learn to pray,
+do not be too much taken up with the world, it will disappoint you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After saying something to each one present, turning to me, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"My dear mother, I thank you for your kind care of me, for keeping me
+from places of dissipation. I thought once you were too strict, but now
+I bless you for it. I shall not be permitted to smooth your dying
+pillow, but I shall be ready to meet you when you land on the shores of
+Canaan. Dear mother, come soon."</p>
+
+<p>To Mr. H. she said:&mdash;"Dear husband, you were the loadstone that held me
+longest to the earth, but I have been enabled to give you up at last. I
+trust you are a Christian, and we shall meet in heaven. Take care of our
+children, train them up for Christ, keep them from the world." She then
+prayed for them. After lying still for some time, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I thought I was going just, now, and I tried to put up one more
+prayer for my husband, children, and friends, but (looking up with a
+smile), would you believe I could not remember their names, and I just
+said, Here they are, Lord, take them, and make them what thou wouldst
+have them, and bring them to thy kingdom at last."</p>
+
+<p>When she was almost cold, and her tongue stiffened, she motioned me to
+put my head near her.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," said I, "it seems to distress you to talk, don't try."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother, let me leave you all the comfort I can, it is you who must
+still suffer; my sufferings are just over; I am passing over Jordan, but
+the waves do not touch me; my Savior is with me, and keeps them off.
+Never be afraid to go to him. Farewell! And now, Lord Jesus, come, O
+come quickly. My eyes are fixed on the Savior, and all is peace. Let me
+rejoice! let me rejoice!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>NOTICES OF BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Roger Miller," or "Heroism in Humble Life,</span>"&mdash;Is the title of a
+small "Narrative"&mdash;a reprint from a London Edition, by Carter and
+Brothers, 235 Broadway, New York.</p>
+
+<p>The field of benevolent action of this holy man, was that great
+metropolis&mdash;London. His life and character were in fact a counterpart of
+our own Harlan Page. The somewhat extended "Introduction" to this
+reprint was prepared by Dr. James Alexander. We feel justified in
+saying, with his extensive experience, and his keen perceptions of truth
+and of duty in such matters, this Introduction is worth all the book may
+cost.</p>
+
+<p>The main thought of the work suggests "<i>The condition of our
+metropolitan population</i>"&mdash;points out the "<i>true remedy</i>" for existing
+evils&mdash;shows us the value of "<i>lay agency</i>," and "how much may be done
+by individuals of humble rank and least favored circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>Every parent has a personal interest to aid and encourage such
+benevolent action. Vice is contagious. Let our seaboard towns become
+flagrantly wicked&mdash;with "railroad speed" the infection will travel far
+and wide. Mothers are invited to peruse this little volume&mdash;as an
+encouragement to labor and pray, and hope for the conversion of wayward
+wandering sons&mdash;for wicked and profligate youth.</p>
+
+<p>Roger Miller, whose death caused such universal lamentation in the city
+of London, was for many years a wanderer from God, and was at length
+converted by means of a tract, given him by the "<i>way-side</i>," by an old
+and decrepit woman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">"Newcomb's Manual"</span>&mdash;Is a carefully prepared little volume,
+containing Scripture questions, designed for the use of Maternal
+Associations at their Quarterly Meetings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">"Mary Ashton"</span>&mdash;Is the title of a little work recently issued
+from the press, delineating the difference between the character of the
+London boarding-school Miss, and one of nearly the same age, educated
+and trained by the devoted, affectionate care of a pious mother. The
+influence which the latter exerts upon the former is also set forth
+during the progress of the story. Those readers who are fond of
+delineations of English scenery and of the time-hallowed influences of
+the old English Church, will be pleased with the style of the volume,
+while some few mothers may possess the delightful consciousness of
+viewing in <i>Mary Ashton</i> the image of their loved ones now laboring in
+the vineyard of the Lord, or transferred to his more blessed service in
+the skies. But few such, alas! are to be found among even the baptized
+children of the Church; those on whom the dew and rain gently distilled
+in the privacy of home and from the public sanctuary bring forth the
+delightsome plant. God grant that such fruits may be more abundant!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>RECOLLECTIONS ILLUSTRATIVE OF MATERNAL INFLUENCE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In thinking over the scenes of my childhood the other day, I was led to
+trace the path of some of my youthful companions into life; and I could
+not but be struck with the fact, that in almost every instance, both the
+character and the condition were referable, in a great measure, to the
+influence of the mother. Some of them were blessed with good mothers,
+and some were cursed with bad ones; and though the conviction is not in
+all the cases marked with equal distinctness, yet in several of them,
+the very image and superscription of the mother remains upon the child
+to this day. I sometimes visit the place which was the scene of my early
+training, and inquire for those who were the playmates of my childhood,
+and I receive answers to some of my inquiries that well nigh make me
+shudder; but when I think of the early domestic influence, especially
+the maternal influence, to which some of them were subjected, there is
+nothing in the account that I hear concerning them, but what is easily
+explained. For the cause of their present degradation and ruin, I have
+no occasion to go outside of the dwelling in which they were reared. I
+am glad to put on record, for the benefit of both mothers and their
+children, two of the cases which now occur to me, as illustrative of
+different kinds of maternal influence.</p>
+
+<p>One of the boys who attended the same school with me, and whose father's
+residence was very near my father's, was, even at that early period,
+both vulgar and profane in his talk. He seemed destitute of all sense
+and propriety, caring nothing for what was due from him to others, and
+equally regardless of the good-will of his teacher and of his
+companions. When I returned to the place, after a few years' absence,
+and inquired for him, I was told that he was growing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> up, or rather had
+grown up, in habits of vice, which seemed likely to render him an outlaw
+from all decent society: that even then he had no associates except from
+the very dregs of the community. In my visits to my native place ever
+since, I have kept my eye upon him, as a sad illustration of the
+progress of sin. He has been for many years&mdash;I cannot say an absolute
+sot&mdash;but yet an intemperate drinker. He has always been shockingly
+profane; not only using the profane expressions that are commonly heard
+in the haunts of wickedness, but actually putting his invention to the
+rack to originate expressions more revolting, if possible, than anything
+to be found in the acknowledged vocabulary of blasphemy. He has been
+through life an avowed infidel&mdash;not merely a deist, but a professed
+atheist,&mdash;laughing at the idea both of a God and a hereafter; though his
+skepticism, instead of being the result of inquiry or reflection, or
+being in any way connected with it, is evidently the product of
+unrestrained vicious indulgence. His domestic relations have been a
+channel of grief and mortification to those who have been so unfortunate
+as to be associated with him. His wife, if she is still living, lives
+with a broken heart, and the time has been when she has dreaded the
+sound of his footsteps. His children, notwithstanding the brutalizing
+influence to which they have been subjected, have, by no means, sunk
+down to <i>his</i> standard of corruption; and some of them at least would
+seem ready to hang their heads when they call him "father." I cannot at
+this moment think of a more loathsome example of moral debasement than
+this person presents. I sometimes meet him, and from early associations,
+even take his hand; but I never do it without feeling myself in contact
+with the very personification of depravity.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I am not surprised at all this, when I go back to the time when he
+had a mother, and remember what sort of a mother she was. She was coarse
+and vulgar in her habits; and I well recollect that the interior of her
+dwelling was so neglected, that it scarcely rose above a decent stable.
+The secret of this, and most of her other delinquencies was, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> she
+was a lover of intoxicating drinks. I believe she sometimes actually
+made a beast of herself; but oftener drank only so much as to make her
+silly and ridiculous. It happened in her case, as in many similar ones,
+that her fits of being intoxicated were fits of being religious; and
+though, when she was herself, she never, to my knowledge, made any
+demonstrations of piety or devotion; yet the moment her tongue became
+too large for her mouth, she was sure to use it in the most earnest and
+glowing religious professions. A stranger might have taken her at such a
+time for a devoted Christian; but alas! her religion was only that of a
+wretched inebriate.</p>
+
+<p>Now who can think it strange that such a mother should have had such a
+son? Not only may the general corrupt character of the son be accounted
+for by the general corrupt influence of the mother, but the particular
+traits of the son's character may also be traced to particular
+characteristics of the mother, as an effect to its legitimate cause. The
+single fact that she was intemperate, and that her religion was confined
+to her fits of drunkenness, would explain it all. Of course, the
+education of her son was utterly neglected. No pains were taken to
+impress his mind with the maxims of truth and piety. He was never warned
+against the power of temptation, but was suffered to mingle with the
+profane and the profligate, without any guard against the unhallowed
+influences to which he was exposed. This, of itself, would be enough to
+account for his forming a habit of vice&mdash;even for his growing up a
+profligate;&mdash;for such are the tendencies of human nature, that the mere
+absence of counsel and guidance and restraint, is generally sufficient
+to insure a vicious character. But in the case to which I refer, there
+was more than the absence of a good example&mdash;there was the presence of a
+positively bad one&mdash;and that in the form of one of the most degrading of
+all vices. The boy saw his mother a drunkard, and why should he not
+become a drunkard too? The boy saw that his mother's religious
+professions were all identified with her fits of intoxication, and why
+should he not grow up as he did, without any counteracting influence?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+why should he not settle down with the conviction that religion is a
+matter of no moment? nay, why should he not become what he actually did
+become,&mdash;a scoffer and an atheist? Whenever I meet him, I see in his
+face, not only a reproduction of his mother's features, but that which
+tells of the reproduction of his mother's character. I pity him that he
+should have had such a mother, while I loathe the qualities which he has
+inherited from her, or which have been formed through the influence of
+her example.</p>
+
+<p>The other case forms a delightful contrast to the one already stated,
+and is as full of encouragement as <i>that</i> is full of warning. Another of
+my playmates was a boy who was always noticed for being
+perfectly-correct and unexceptionable in all his conduct. I never heard
+him utter a profane or indecent word. I never knew him do a thing even
+of questionable propriety. He was bright and playful, but never
+mischievous. He was a good scholar, not because he had very remarkable
+talents, but because he made good use of his time&mdash;because he was taught
+to regard it as his duty to get his lessons well, and he could not be
+happy in any other course. His teachers loved him because he was
+diligent and respectful; his playmates loved him, because he was kind
+and obliging; all loved him, because he was an amiable, moral,
+well-disposed boy. He evinced so much promise, that his parents, though
+not in affluent circumstances, resolved on giving him a collegiate
+education, and in due time he became a member of one of our highest
+literary institutions. There he maintained a high rank for both
+scholarship and morality, and graduated with distinguished honor. Not
+long after this, his mind took a decidedly serious direction, and he not
+only gave himself to the service of God, but resolved to give himself
+also to the ministry of reconciliation. After passing through the usual
+course and preparation for the sacred office, he entered it; and he is
+now the able and successful minister of a large and respectable
+congregation. He has already evidently been instrumental of winning many
+souls. I hear of him from time to time, as among the most useful
+ministers of the day. I occasionally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> meet him, and see for myself the
+workings of his well-trained mind, and his generous and sanctified
+spirit. I say to myself, I remember you, when you were only the germ of
+what you are; but surely the man was bound up in the boy. I witness
+nothing in your maturity which was not shadowed forth in your earliest
+development.</p>
+
+<p>Here again, let me trace the stream to its fountain&mdash;the effect to its
+cause. This individual was the child of a discreet and faithful
+Christian mother. She dedicated him to God in holy baptism, while he was
+yet unconscious of the solemn act. She watched the first openings of his
+intellect, that no time might be lost in introducing the beams of
+immortal truth. She guarded him during his childhood, from the influence
+of evil example, especially of evil companions, with the most scrupulous
+care. She labored diligently to suppress the rising of unhallowed
+tempers and perverse feelings, with a view to prevent, if possible, the
+formation of any vicious habit, while she steadily inculcated the
+necessity of that great radical change, which alone forms the basis of a
+truly spiritual character. And though no human eye followed her to her
+closet, I doubt not that her good instructions were seconded by her
+fervent prayers; and that as often as she approached the throne of
+mercy, she left there a petition for the well-doing and the well-being,
+the sanctification and salvation of her son. And her work of faith and
+labor of love were not in vain. The son became all that she could have
+asked, and she lived to witness what he became. She lived to listen to
+his earnest prayers and his eloquent and powerful discourses. She lived
+to hear his name pronounced with respect and gratitude in the high
+places of the Church. He was one of the main comforters of her old age;
+and if I mistake not, he was at her death-bed, to commend her departing
+spirit into her Redeemer's hands. Richly was that mother's fidelity
+rewarded by the virtues and graces which she had assisted to form.
+Though she recognized them all as the fruits of the Spirit, she could
+not but know that in a humble, and yet very important sense, they were
+connected with her own instrumentality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such has been the career of two of the playmates of my childhood. They
+are both living, but they have been traveling in opposite directions,&mdash;I
+may say ever since they left the cradle. And so far as we can judge, the
+main reason is, that the one had a mother whose influence was only for
+evil, the other, a mother who was intent upon doing good. Both their
+mothers now dwell in the unseen world; while the one is represented on
+earth by a most loathsome specimen of humanity, the other by a pure and
+elevated spirit, that needs only to pass the gate of death to become a
+seraph.</p>
+
+<p>Mothers, I need not say a word to impress the lessons suggested by this
+contrast. They lie upon the surface, and your own hearts will readily
+take them up. May God save you from looking upon ruined children, and
+being obliged to feel that you have been their destroyers! May God
+permit you to look upon children, whom your faithfulness has, through
+grace, nurtured not only into useful members of human society, but into
+heirs of an endless glorious life!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS H. GALLAUDET.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY MRS. G.M. SYKES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is a little legend of the Queen of Sheba and wise King Solomon,
+which is fragrant with pleasant meaning. She had heard his wonderful
+fame in her distant country, and had come "with a very great company,
+and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious
+stones;" this imposing caravan had wound its way over the deserts, and
+the royal pilgrim had endured the heat and weariness of the way, that
+she "might prove the king with hard questions, at Jerusalem." This we
+have upon the highest authority, though for this particular test we must
+be content<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> with something less. Entering his audience-chamber one day,
+she is said to have produced two crowns of flowers, of rare beauty, and
+apparently exactly alike. "Both are for thee, O wise king," said she,
+"but discern between them, which is the workmanship of the Most High,
+and which hath man fashioned in its likeness?"</p>
+
+<p>We read of costly oriental imitations of flowers in gold and silver, in
+pearls, and amethysts, and rubies. How shall Solomon the King detect the
+cunning mimicry? Solomon the Wise has determined. He causes the windows
+looking upon the gardens of his ivory palace to be thrown open, and
+immediately the crown of true flowers is covered with bees.</p>
+
+<p>Like King Solomon's bees are the instincts of childhood, sure to detect
+the fragrance of the genuine blossom in human nature, and settle where
+the honey may be found. It was a rare distinction of the good man whose
+name stands at the head of this chapter, that children everywhere loved
+him, and recognized in him their true friend. An enduring monument of
+his love for children, and his untiring efforts to do them good is found
+in the books he has written for them. His <i>Child's Book on the Soul</i>,
+has, if I am not mistaken, been translated into French, German, and
+Modern Greek, and has issued from the Mission-press at Ceylon, in one or
+more of the dialects of India. It has also been partially rendered into
+the vernacular at the missionary stations, in opposite parts of the
+world. His <i>Child's Book on Repentance</i>, and his <i>Histories of the
+Patriarchs</i>, published by the American Tract Society, are the result of
+diligent study. The <i>Life of Moses</i> may be specified, as having cost him
+most laborious investigation; and it is true of them all that there is
+in them an amount of illustrative Biblical research, and a depth of
+mental philosophy, which more ambitious writers would have reserved for
+their theological folios. But even his books, widely as they are known
+and appreciated, convey but an imperfect idea of the writer's power to
+interest and benefit children. They cannot present his affectionate,
+playful manner, nor the genial and irresistible humor of his intercourse
+with them. Mothers were glad to meet Mr. Gallaudet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> but they were more
+glad to have their children meet him, even in the street; for a kind
+word, or a smile of pleasant greeting, told every young friend, even
+there, that he was remembered and cared for,&mdash;and these things encourage
+children to try to deserve favor.</p>
+
+<p>In person, Mr. G. was rather short and slender, but with an erectness of
+carriage, and a somewhat precise observance of the usages of refined
+society, which gave him an unfailing dignity of appearance. A certain
+quaintness of manner and expression was an irresistible charm about him.
+Sure I am, that one little girl will always remember the kind hand
+stretched out to seize her own,&mdash;and the question after the manner of
+Mrs. Barbauld: "Child of mortality, whither goest thou?"</p>
+
+<p>His most remarkable personal characteristic was the power of expression
+in his face. The quiet humor of the mouth, and the bright, quick glance
+of the eye, were his by nature; but the extraordinary mobility of the
+muscles was owing, probably, to his long intercourse with deaf mutes. It
+was a high intellectual gratification to see him in communication with
+this class of unfortunates, to whom so large a proportion of the labors
+of his life was devoted. It is said that Garrick often amused his
+friends by assuming some other person's countenance. We are sure Mr.
+Gallaudet could have done this. We remember that he did astonish a body
+of legislators, before whom there was an exhibition, by proving to them
+that he could relate a narrative to his pupils by his face alone,
+without gesture. This power of expression has a great attraction for
+children. Like animals, they often understand the language of the face
+better than that of the lips; it always furnishes them with a valuable
+commentary on the words addressed to them, and the person who talks to
+them with a perfectly immovable, expressionless countenance, awes and
+repulses them. In addition to this, our friend was never without a
+pocketful of intellectual <i>bon-bons</i> for them. A child whom he met with
+grammar and dictionary, puzzled for months over the sentence he gave
+her, assuring her that it was genuine Latin:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Forte dux fel flat in guttur."</p>
+
+<p>To another he would give this problem, from ancient Dilworth:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"If a herring and a half cost three-halfpence, how many will eleven
+pence buy?"</p>
+
+<p>Persons who are too stately to stoop to this way of pleasing childhood,
+have very little idea of the magic influence it exerts, and how it opens
+the heart to receive "the good seed" of serious admonition from one who
+has shown himself capable of sympathy in its pleasures.</p>
+
+<p>Those whose privilege it has been to know Mr. Gallaudet in his own home,
+surrounded by his own intelligent children, have had a new revelation of
+the gentleness, the tenderness and benignity of the paternal relation.
+Many years since I was a "watcher by the bed," where lay his little
+daughter, recovering from a dangerous illness. He evidently felt that a
+great responsibility was resting upon a young nurse, with whom, though
+he knew her well, he was not familiar in that character. I felt the
+earnest look of inquiry which he gave me, as I was taking directions for
+the medicines of the night. He was sounding me to know whether I might
+be trusted. At early dawn, before the last stars had set, he was again
+by the bed, intent upon the condition of the little patient. When he was
+satisfied that she was doing well, and had been well cared for, he took
+my hand in his, and thanked me with a look which told me that I had now
+been tried, and found faithful and competent.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was he a man made of tender charities, but he was an observant,
+thoughtful man, considerate of the little as well as the great wants of
+others. I can never forget his gentle ministrations in the sick room of
+my most precious mother, who was for many years his neighbor and friend.
+She had been brought to a condition of great feebleness by a slow
+nervous fever, and was painfully sensitive to anything discordant,
+abrupt, or harsh in the voices and movements of those about her. Every
+day, at a fixed hour, this good neighbor would glide in, noiselessly as
+a spirit, and, either reading or repeating a few soothing verses from
+the Bible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> would kneel beside her bed, and quietly, in a few calm and
+simple petitions, help her to fix her weak and wavering thoughts on that
+merciful kindness which was for her help. Day after day, through her
+slow recovery, his unwearied kindness brought him thither, and
+gratefully was the service felt and acknowledged. I never knew him in
+the relation he afterwards sustained to the diseased in mind, but I am
+sure that his refined perceptions and delicate tact must have fitted him
+admirably for his chaplaincy in the Retreat.</p>
+
+<p>I retain a distinct impression of him as I saw him one day in a
+character his benevolence often led him to assume, that of a city
+missionary; though it was only the duties of one whom he saw to be
+needed, without an appointment, that he undertook. How he found time, or
+strength, with his feeble constitution, for preaching to prisoners and
+paupers, and visits to the destitute and dying, is a mystery to one less
+diligent in filling up little interstices of time.</p>
+
+<p>I was present at a funeral, where, in the sickness or absence of the
+pastor, Mr. Gallaudet had been requested to officiate. It was on a bleak
+and wintry day in spring: the wind blew, and the late and unwelcome snow
+was falling. There was much to make the occasion melancholy. It was the
+funeral of a young girl, the only daughter of a widow, who had expended
+far more than the proper proportion of her scanty means in giving the
+girl showy and useless accomplishments. A cold taken at a dance had
+resulted in quick consumption, and in a few weeks had hurried her to the
+grave. Without proper training and early religious instruction, it was
+difficult to know how much reliance might safely be placed on the
+eagerness with which she embraced the hopes and consolations of the
+Gospel set before her on her dying bed. Her weak-minded and injudicious
+mother felt that she should be lauded as a youthful saint, and her death
+spoken of as a triumphant entrance into heaven.</p>
+
+<p>There was much to offend the taste in the accompaniments of this
+funeral. It was an inconsistent attempt at show, a tawdry imitation of
+more expensive funeral observances. About the wasted face of the once
+beautiful girl were arranged,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> not the delicate white blossoms with
+which affection sometimes loves to surround what was lovely in life, but
+gaudy flowers of every hue. The dress, too, was fantastic and
+inappropriate. The mother and little brothers sat in one of the two
+small rooms; the mother in transports of grief, which was real, but not
+so absorbing as to be forgetful of self and scenic effect. The little
+boys sat by, in awkward consciousness of new black gloves, and crape
+bands on their hats. Everything was artificial and painfully forlorn;
+and the want of genuineness, which surrounded the pale sleeper, seemed
+to cast suspicion on the honesty and validity of her late-formed hope
+for eternity.</p>
+
+<p>But the first words of prayer, breathed forth, rather than uttered, in
+the low tones the speaker was most accustomed to use, changed the aspect
+of the poor place. <i>He</i> was genuine and in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>The mother's exaggerated sobs became less frequent, and real tears
+glistened in eyes that, like mine, had been wandering to detect
+absurdities and incongruities. We were gently lifted upwards towards God
+and Heaven. We were taught a lesson in that mild charity which "thinketh
+no evil,"&mdash;which "hopeth all things, and endureth all things;" and when
+the scanty funeral train left the house, I could not but feel that the
+ministration of this good man there had been&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"As if some angel shook his wings."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We preserve even trifling memorials of friends whom we have loved and
+lost; and even these recollections, deeply traced, though slight in
+importance, may bear a value for those who knew and estimated the finely
+organized and nicely-balanced character of the man who loved to "do good
+by stealth," and who has signalized his life by bringing, in his own
+peculiar and quiet way, many great enterprises from small beginnings.</p>
+
+<p>Norwich, Ct.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is a very general remark, at the present time, throughout our
+country, and the complaint comes back, especially from the great West,
+through those who are familiarly acquainted with society there, that
+there is a growing spirit of insubordination in the family, and, of
+course, in the State; and it is ascribed to laxity and neglect in the
+<i>Mothers</i> as much as in the Fathers. Its existence is even made the
+matter of public comment on such occasions as the celebration of the
+landing of our Pilgrim Fathers, those bright exemplars of family
+religion. And grave divines and theological professors, in their
+addresses to the people, deprecate it as a growing evil of the times.</p>
+
+<p>Now, without entering into other specifications here, may it not be that
+a chief reason for the <i>increase</i> of family insubordination is to be
+found in the <span class="smcap">DECREASE OF FAMILY RELIGION</span>? By this we mean
+Religion in the household; in other words, the inculcation and
+observance of the duties of religion in American families, in their
+organized capacity as separate religious communities. Family religion,
+in this sense, implies the acknowledgment of God in the family circle,
+by the assembling of all its members around the domestic altar, morning
+and evening, and by united prayer and praise to the God of the families
+of all flesh; by the invocation of God's blessing and the giving of
+thanks at every social repast; by the strict observance of the Sabbath;
+and by the religious instruction and training of children and servants,
+and the constant recognition of God's providence and care. This
+constitutes, and these are the duties of family religion&mdash;duties which
+no Christian head of a family, whether father or mother, can be excused
+from performing. They are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> duties which all who take upon themselves the
+responsibilities of the family should feel it a privilege to observe.</p>
+
+<p>The duty of family prayer, especially by the one or the other head of
+the household, as the leading exercise of the family religion, should be
+performed with seriousness, order and punctuality. John Angell James
+very properly asks if the dwellings of the righteous ought not to be
+filled with the very element of piety, the atmosphere of true religion.
+"Yet, how few are the habitations, even of professors, upon entering
+which the stranger would be compelled to say, Surely this <i>is</i> the house
+of God, this <i>is</i> the gate of heaven! It may be that family prayer is
+gone through with, such as it is, though with little seriousness and no
+unction. But even this, in many cases, is wholly omitted, and scarcely
+anything remains to indicate that God has found a dwelling in that
+house. There may be no actual dissipation, no drunkenness, no
+card-playing, but, oh! how little of true devotion is there! How few
+families are there so conducted as to make it a matter of surprise that
+any of the children of such households should turn out otherwise than
+pious! How many that lead us greatly to wonder that any of the children
+should turn out otherwise than irreligious! On the other hand, how
+subduing and how melting are the fervent supplications of a godly and
+consistent father, when his voice, tremulous with emotion, is giving
+utterance to the desires of his heart to the God of heaven for the
+children bending around him! Is there, out of heaven, a sight more
+deeply interesting than a family, gathered at morning or evening prayer,
+where the worship is what it ought to be?"</p>
+
+<p>It is hardly to be supposed that any pious heads, or pious members, of
+American households, are in doubt whether family worship be a duty. We
+are rather to take it for granted, as a duty universally acknowledged
+among Christians, nature itself serving to suggest and teach it, and the
+word of God abundantly confirming and enforcing it, both by precept and
+example. God himself being the author and constitutor of the family
+relation, it is but a dictate of reason that He should be owned and
+acknowledged as such,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> "who setteth the children of men in families like
+a flock, who hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, and hath blessed
+thy children within thee." Of whom it is said, "Lo, children are an
+heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward."</p>
+
+<p>It is this great Family-God, whose solemn charges, by his servant Moses,
+are as binding upon Christian families now as of old upon the children
+of Israel&mdash;Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
+all thy soul, and with all thy might: and these words which I command
+thee this day shall be in thy heart: and thou shalt teach them
+diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou
+sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
+liest down and when thou risest up.</p>
+
+<p>This is God's command, and He will hold every parent responsible for the
+religious instruction of his or her children. In such an education for
+God, which is the duty of the parent and the right of the child, the
+habit of family worship constitutes an essential part. Nothing can make
+up for the want of this. Neither the best of preaching and instruction
+in the sanctuary or Sabbath-school, nor the finest education abroad, in
+the boarding-schools or seminaries, will at all answer for the daily
+discipline of family religion. This is something which no artificial
+accomplishment can supply. A religious home education, under the daily
+influence of family worship, and the devout acknowledgment of God at the
+frugal board, and the godly example and instruction of a pious
+parentage, are more influential upon the future character and destiny of
+the child than all the other agencies put together.</p>
+
+<p>The true divine origin of the domestic economy is to train children, by
+habits of virtue, obedience, and piety in the family, to become useful
+members of society at large and good subjects of the State, and above
+all to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of faith.
+In order to this the strict maintenance of family religion is absolutely
+essential. It is therefore laid down as an axiom that no State can be
+prosperous where family order and religion are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> generally neglected. The
+present condition of France, and the so far successful villainy of her
+perjured usurper, are in proof of this position, which was understood by
+one of her statesmen a few years ago, when he said with emphasis on his
+dying bed, "What France wants is family religion; what France wants is
+family religion."</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, every State <i>will be prosperous</i>, whatever its
+political institutions, where family religion and healthy domestic
+discipline are strictly maintained. Disorderly and irreligious families
+are the hot-beds of disorderly and irreligious citizens; on the other
+hand, families in which God is honored, and the children educated under
+the hallowed influences of family religion, are heaven's own nurseries
+for the State and the Church. The considerations which should urge every
+Christian householder to be strict in the maintenance of family religion
+are therefore both patriotic and religious. The good results of such
+fidelity and strictness on the part of parents are by no means limited
+to their own children, as the experience of a pious tradesman, related
+to his minister in a conversation on family worship, most instructively
+proves.</p>
+
+<p>When he first began business for himself, he was determined, through
+grace, to be particularly conscientious with respect to family prayer.
+Morning and evening every individual of his household was required to be
+present at the domestic altar; nor would he allow his apprentices to be
+absent on any account. In a few years the benefits of such fidelity in
+daily family religion manifestly appeared; the blessings of the upper
+and nether springs followed him; health and happiness crowned his
+family, and prosperity attended his business.</p>
+
+<p>At length, however, such was the rapid increase of trade, and the
+importance of devoting every possible moment to his customers, that he
+began to think whether family prayer did not occupy too much time in the
+morning. Pious scruples indeed there were against relinquishing this
+part of his duty; but soon wordly interests prevailed so far as to
+induce him to excuse the attendance of his apprentices; and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> was not
+long before it was deemed advisable for the more eager prosecution of
+business, to make praying in the morning when he first arose, suffice
+for the day.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the repeated checks of conscience that followed this
+sinful omission, the calls of a flourishing business concern and the
+prospect of an increasing family appeared so pressing, that he found an
+easy excuse to himself for this unjustifiable neglect of an obvious
+family duty. But when his conscience was almost seared as with a hot
+iron, it pleased God to awaken him by a peculiar though natural
+providence. One day he received a letter from a young man who had
+formerly been an apprentice, previous to his omitting family prayer. Not
+doubting but that domestic worship was still continued in the family of
+his old master, his letter was chiefly on the benefits which he had
+himself received through its agency.</p>
+
+<p>"Never," said he, "shall I be able to thank you sufficiently for the
+precious privilege with which you indulged me in your family devotions!
+O, sir, eternity will be too short to praise my God for what I have
+learned. It was there I first beheld my lost and wretched estate as a
+sinner; it was there that I first found the way of salvation, and there
+that I first experienced the preciousness of Christ in me the hope of
+glory. O, sir, permit me to say, Never, never neglect those precious
+engagements. You have yet a family and more apprentices. May your house
+be the birth-place of their souls!"</p>
+
+<p>The conscience-stricken tradesman could proceed no further, for every
+line flashed condemnation in his face. He trembled, and was alarmed lest
+the blood of his children and apprentices should be demanded at his
+hands. "Filled with confusion, and bathed in tears, I fled," said he,
+"for refuge in secret. I spread the letter before God. I agonized in
+prayer, till light broke in upon my disconsolate soul, and a sense of
+blood-bought pardon was obtained. I immediately flew to my family,
+presented them before the Lord, and from that day to the present, I have
+been faithful, and am determined, through grace, that whenever my
+business becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> so large as to interrupt family prayer, I will give up
+the superfluous part of it and retain my devotion. Better lose a few
+dollars than become the deliberate moral murderer of my family and the
+instrument of ruin to my own soul."</p>
+
+<p>Now this experience is highly instructive and admonitory. It proves how
+much good may be doing by family worship faithfully observed when we
+little know it, and the importance, therefore, of always maintaining it.
+It proves the goodness of God in reproving and checking his children
+when they neglect duty and go astray. And it shows the insidious way in
+which backsliding begins and grievous sin on the part of God's people.
+May the engagements of business never tempt any parent that reads this
+article to repeat the tradesman's dangerous experiment! But if there be
+any that have fallen into the same condemnation, as it is to be feared
+some may have done, may God of his mercy admonish them of it, and bring
+them back before such a declension, begun in the neglect of family
+religion, shall be consummated in the decay and loss of personal
+religion, and the growing irreligion both of your family and your own
+soul.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>THE BONNIE BAIRNS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This exquisitely touching ballad we take from the "Songs of Scotland,
+Ancient and Modern," edited by Allan Cunningham. He says, "It is seldom
+indeed, that song has chosen so singular a theme; but the <i>superstition</i>
+it involves is current in Scotland."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The ladie walk'd in yon wild wood,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Aneath the hollow tree,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And she was aware of twa bonnie bairns</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Were running at her knee.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tane it pulled a red, red rose,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wi' a hand as soft as silk;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The other, it pull'd a lily pale,</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">With a hand mair white than milk.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Now, why pull ye the red rose, fair bairns?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And why the white lily?"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, we sue wi' them at the seat of grace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For soul of thee, ladie!"</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, bide wi' me, my twa bonnie bairns!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I'll cleid ye rich and fine;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And a' for the blaeberries of the wood,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yese hae white bread and wine."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She sought to take a lily hand,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And kiss a rosie chin&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O, naught sae pure can bide the touch</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of a hand red&mdash;wet wi' sin"!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The stars were shooting to and fro,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And wild-fire filled the air,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As that ladie follow'd thae bonnie bairns</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For three lang hours and mair.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, where dwell ye, my ain sweet bairns?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I'm woe and weary grown!"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Oh, ladie, we live where woe never is,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In a land to flesh unknown."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There came a shape which seem'd to her</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As a rainbow 'mang the rain;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sair these sweet babes plead for her,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And they pled and pled in vain.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"My mither maun come in;"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Wash her twa hands frae sin."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"She nursed me on her knee."</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"She's a mither yet to me."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And O! and O!" said the babes baith,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Take her where waters rin,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And white as the milk of her white breast,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wash her twa hands frae sin."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>This little girl was doubtless one of those whom the Savior early
+prepares for their removal to his pure and holy family above. The sweet,
+lovely, and attractive graces of a sanctified childhood, shone with a
+mild luster throughout her character and manners, as she passed from one
+period of intelligence to another, until she had reached the termination
+of her short journey through earth to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Peace to thy ashes, gentle one! "Light lie the turf" upon thy bosom,
+until thou comest forth to a morning, that shall know no night!</p>
+
+<p>After the birth of this their first child, the parents were continually
+reminded of the shortness and uncertainty of life, by repeated
+sicknesses in the social circle, and by the sudden death of one of their
+number, a beloved sister.</p>
+
+<p>Whether it was that this had its influence in the shaping of the
+another's instructions, or not, yet such was the fact, that the subject
+of a preparation for early death, was not unfrequently the theme, when
+religious instruction was imparted. The mind of the mother was also
+impressed with the idea of her own responsibility. She felt that the
+soul of the child would be required at her hands, and that she must do
+all in her power to fit it for heaven. Hence she was importunate and
+persevering in prayer, for a blessing upon her efforts; that God would
+graciously grant his Spirit, not only to open the mind of her child to
+receive instruction, but also to set it home and seal it there.</p>
+
+<p>Her solicitude for the spiritual welfare, of the child was such, as
+often to attract the notice of the writer; while the results forced upon
+her mind the conviction, that the tender bud, nurtured with so much care
+and fidelity, and watered with so many prayers and tears, would never be
+permitted to burst into full flower, in the ungenial soil of earth.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Jane had hardly numbered three winters, when a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> little sister of
+whom she was very fond, was taken dangerously sick. Her mother and the
+nurse were necessarily confined with the sick child; and she was left
+very much alone. I would fain have taken the little girl home with me;
+but it was feared that a change of temperature might prove unfavorable
+to her health, so I often spent long hours with her, in her own home.
+Precious seasons! How they now come up to me, through the long vista of
+the dim and distant past, stirring the soul, like the faint echoes of
+melting music, and wakening within it, remembrances of all pleasant
+things.</p>
+
+<p>I had been spending an afternoon with her in the usual manner, sometimes
+telling her stories, and again drawing forth her little thoughts in
+conversation, and was about taking leave, when I said to her, "Mary
+Jane, you must be sure and ask God to make your little sister well
+again." Sliding down from her chair, and placing her little hand in
+mine, she said with great simplicity, "Who will lead me up there?"
+Having explained to her as well as I could, that it was not necessary
+for her to go up to heaven; that God could hear her, although she could
+neither see him nor hear his answers, I reluctantly tore myself away.
+Yet it was well for the child that I did so; for being left alone, the
+train of her thoughts was not diverted to other objects; and she
+continued to revolve in her mind, as was afterwards found, the idea of
+asking God to make her sister well.</p>
+
+<p>That night, having said her usual evening prayer, "Our Father," "Now I
+lay me down to sleep," &amp;c., the nurse left her quietly composed to
+sleep, as she thought, but having occasion soon to pass her door, she
+found that Mary Jane was awake and "talking loud." On listening, she
+found that the little girl was praying. Her language was, "My dear
+Father up in heaven, do please to make my little sister well again."</p>
+
+<p>Before her sister recovered, she was taken sick herself. A kind relative
+who was watching by her bedside one night, offered her some medicine
+which she refused to take. The watcher said, "I want to have you take
+it; it will make you well." The sick child replied: "The medicine can't
+cure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> me&mdash;the doctors can't cure me&mdash;only God can cure me; but Jesus, he
+can make me well." On being told that it would please God, if she should
+take the medicine, she immediately swallowed it. After this she lay for
+some time apparently in thought; then addressing the watcher she said,
+"Aunty B&mdash;&mdash;, do you know which is the way to heaven?" Then answering
+the question herself she said, "Because if you don't, you go and ask my
+uncle H&mdash;&mdash;, and he will tell you which is the way. He preaches in the
+pulpit every Sabbath to the people to be good,&mdash;and that is the way to
+go to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>Were the dear child to come back now, she could hardly give a plainer or
+more scriptural direction&mdash;for, "without holiness, no man shall see the
+Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Before Mary Jane had recovered from this sickness, a little brother was
+added to the number; thus making a group of infants, the eldest of whom
+could number but three years and one month.</p>
+
+<p>As the little ones became capable of receiving impressions from
+religious truth, Mary Jane, though apparently but an infant herself,
+would watch over them with the most untiring vigilance. One thing she
+was very scrupulous about; it was their evening prayer. If at any time
+this had been omitted, she would appear to be evidently distressed. One
+evening while her mother was engaged with company in the parlor, she
+felt something gently pulling her gown. On looking behind her chair, she
+found little Mary Jane, who had crept in unobserved, and was whispering
+to her that the nurse had put her little brother and sister to bed
+without having said their prayers.</p>
+
+<p>It was often instructive to me to see what a value this dear child set
+upon prayer. I have since thought that the recovery of her infant
+sister, and her own prayer for the same, were so associated in her mind,
+as to produce a conviction of the efficacy of prayer, such as few
+possess.</p>
+
+<p>Being confined so much to the nursery, the mother improved the favored
+season, in teaching her little girl to read, to sew and spell; keeping
+up at the same time her regular<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> routine of instruction in catechism,
+hymns, &amp;c. She had an exercise for the Sabbath which was admirably
+adapted to make the day pass, not only pleasantly but profitably. In the
+morning, unless prevented by illness, she was invariably found in her
+seat in the sanctuary, with such of her children as were old enough to
+be taken to church. In the afternoon she gave her nurse the same
+privilege, but retained her children at home with herself. The moment
+the house was clear, Mary Jane might be seen collecting the little group
+for the nursery; alluring them along with the assurance that "now mother
+was going to make them happy." This meeting was strictly in keeping with
+the sacredness of the day. It was also a social meeting, each little one
+as soon as it could speak, being required to take some part in it, the
+little Mary Jane setting the example, encouraging the younger ones in
+the most winning manner; and always making one of the prayers. The Bible
+was not only the text book, but the guide. It furnished the thoughts,
+and from it the mother selected some portion which for the time, she
+deemed most appropriate to the state of her infant audience. Singing
+formed a delightful part of the exercises. The mother had a fine voice,
+and the little ones tried to fall in with it, in the use of some hymn
+adapted to their tender minds.</p>
+
+<p>These meetings were also very serious, and calculated to make a lasting
+impression on the tender minds of the children. At the close of one, the
+mother who had been telling the children of heaven, turned to Mary Jane,
+and said, "My dear child, if you should die now, do you think you should
+go to heaven?" "I don't know, mother," was her thoughtful reply;
+"sometimes I think I am a good girl, and that God loves me, and that I
+shall certainly go to heaven. But sometimes I am naughty. J&mdash;&mdash; teazes
+me, and makes me unthread my needle, and then I feel angry; and I <i>know</i>
+God does not love me <i>then</i>. I don't know, mother. I am afraid I should
+not go to heaven." Then encouraging herself, she added in a sweet
+confiding manner, "I hope I shall go there; don't you hope so too,
+mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Oh, who of our fallen race would ever see heaven, if sinless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> perfection
+only, were to be the ground of our admittance there? True, we must be
+free from sin, before we can enter that holy place; but this will be,
+because God "hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in Him."<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p>
+
+<p>How much of the great doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ this
+little girl could comprehend, would be very difficult to tell. But, that
+she regarded him as the medium through which she must receive every
+blessing, there could be no doubt. He died that she might live; live in
+the favor and friendship of God here, and live forever in his presence
+hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>Since commencing this simple narrative, I have regretted that more of
+her sweet thoughts respecting Jesus and heaven could not be recalled.
+Every thing relating to the soul, to its preparation for another and
+better state of existence; to the enjoyments and employments of the
+blessed, had an almost absorbing power over her mind; so that she
+greatly preferred to read of them, and reflect upon them, to joining in
+the ordinary sports of childhood. Yet she was a gentle and loving child,
+to her little companions, and would always leave her book, cheerfully
+and sweetly, when requested to join their little circle for play. But it
+was evident that she could not as easily draw back her thoughts from
+their deep and heavenly communings.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever she witnessed a funeral procession, instead of lingering over
+the pageant before her, her thoughts would follow the individual into
+the invisible world. Was the person prepared for death? Had the soul
+gone to God? were questions which she pondered with the deepest
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>A short time previous to her death, she was permitted at her urgent and
+oft repeated request, to witness the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Her
+mother was much affected to see the interest which the dear child
+manifested on the occasion, and also the readiness with which she
+entered into the meaning and design of the sacred ordinance.</p>
+
+<p>The entire sixth year of Mary Jane was a period of unusual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> confinement.
+Several members of the family were sick during that time; her mother
+more than once; and she was often confined for whole days to the nursery
+amusing the younger children and attending to their wants. Hence, when a
+visit to the 'water-side' was talked of, the proposal was hailed with
+joy. The prospect of escaping from her confinement, of being permitted
+to go freely into the fresh air, to see the ocean, and gather shells and
+pebbles upon its beach, was hailed with joyous emotion. Yet all these
+delightful anticipations were destined to disappointment. The family did
+indeed go to the 'water-side'; but they had scarcely reached the place
+when their second daughter was taken alarmingly ill. When the dear child
+was told that she must return home with her little brother, not a murmur
+escaped her lips. Not that she cared nothing for the ocean, or the
+treasures upon its beach; but she had learned the great lesson of
+self-denial, although so young. A moment before, and she was exulting in
+prospect of the joyous rambles in which she should participate, amidst
+the groups of sportive children collected at the watering place. But
+when the carriage was brought to the door, and her little bonnet was
+being tied on, not even, 'I am sorry' was uttered by her, although her
+whole frame trembled with emotion. With a hurried, though cheerful,
+'good bye, mother,' she leaped into the coach and was gone.</p>
+
+<p>The two children were brought home to me; and as day after day passed
+and no favorable intimation reached us respecting the sick child, I had
+ample opportunity to see how she resorted to her old refuge, prayer.
+Often would the dear child return to me with the clear light shining in
+her countenance, after a short season of retirement for prayer. I feel
+my heart grow warm, now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century
+nearly, as I recall <i>that look</i>, and that winning request, 'Aunty, may I
+stay with you? the children plague me.' Her two little playmates were
+boys; and they could not understand why she refused to unite in their
+boisterous sports. She could buckle on their belts, fix on their riding
+caps, and aid them in mounting their wooden horses; but why she would
+not race up and down with them upon a cane,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> they could not comprehend.
+She was patient and gentle, towards her little brother. It was a great
+treat to her, to be permitted to take him out to walk. I have seldom
+seen more gratitude expressed by a child, than she manifested, when she
+found that 'aunty' reposed confidence enough in her, to permit her to
+take him out alone. And how careful she was not to abuse that
+confidence, by going beyond the appointed limits. Often since then I
+have found myself adverting to this scene, as furnishing evidence that a
+child who fears God can be trusted. I can see the dear little girl now,
+as she arrived at a particular corner of the street, from which the
+house could be seen, before turning to go back again, stopping and
+gazing earnestly at the window, if perchance she might catch a bow and
+smile from "aunty," expressing by her countenance more forcibly than
+words could, "you see I am here."</p>
+
+<p><a href="#Page_76">TO BE CONTINUED</a>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>HOW EARLY MAY A CHILD BE CONVERTED TO GOD.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In conversation with some Christian friends, a few days since, one young
+lady remarked that she should never forget a sermon preached by her
+father several years before, in which he remarked that Christian
+biographers of the present day differed very much from those <i>inspired</i>
+of God to write for succeeding generations, for <i>they</i> did not fear to
+tell the faults and expose the sins of primitive Christians who were to
+be held up as examples, while those who now wrote took every possible
+pains to hide the faults and make the subjects of their memoirs
+perfection itself, not admitting they had a fault or flaw in their
+characters. "Since hearing these remarks from my pastor," said she, "I
+have never tried to cultivate a taste for memoirs and have seldom looked
+into one."</p>
+
+<p>"Depend upon it, my dear friend," I replied, "you have denied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> yourself
+one of the richest means of growth in grace, and one of the most
+delightful pleasures afforded the Christian; and while your pastor's
+remarks may have been true of <i>some</i>, I cannot agree with him in
+condemning all, for I have read most that have come within my reach for
+ten years past, and have seen but two that I thought merited censure."</p>
+
+<p>"But you will admit," continued my friend, "that those published of
+children are extravagant, and quite beyond any thing seen in common
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I can admit nothing of the kind, for let me tell you what I
+witnessed when on a visit to a friend missionary's family at Pairie du
+Chien: The mother of little George was one of the most spotless
+characters I ever saw, and as you witnessed her daily walk you could not
+but realize that she enjoyed intercourse with One who could purify and
+exalt the character, and 'keep staid on Him in perfect peace the soul
+who trusted in Him.' And should it have fallen to my lot to have written
+her memoirs, I am quite sure it would have been cast aside by those who
+think with you that memoirs are extravagant. I cannot think because
+David committed adultery, and the wisest man then living had three
+hundred wives, and Peter denied his Savior, that all other Christians
+living in the present enlightened age have done or would do these or
+like grievous sins. It has been my lot at some periods of my life to be
+cast among Christians whose confidence in Christ enabled them to rise
+far above the attainments made by the generality of Christians, indeed
+so far as to be almost lost sight of, who would shine as brightly on the
+pages of written Christian life.</p>
+
+<p>"But, as I was going to say, little George was not yet four years old
+when his now sainted mother and myself stood beside his sick bed, and
+beheld the sweet child with his hands clasped over his eyes, evidently
+engaged in prayer, with a look of anguish on his face. We stood there by
+his side, watching him constantly for over an hour, not wishing to
+interrupt his devotions, and at last we saw that look of distress
+gradually disappear, and as silently we watched him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> we felt that the
+influence of God's Spirit was indeed at work in that young heart.</p>
+
+<p>"At last he looked up at his mother, and a sweet smile lighted up his
+little face as he said, 'Mother, I am going to die; but don't cry, for I
+am going straight to Jesus; my sins are all forgiven, mother.'"</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know that, my sweet child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Jesus said so, ma."</p>
+
+<p>"Said so; did you, indeed, hear any voice, my son?"</p>
+
+<p>"O no, mother; but you know how it is. He speaks it in me, right here,
+here, mother," laying his little hand on his throbbing breast. "I don't
+want to live; I want to go where Jesus is, and be His own little boy,
+and not be naughty any more; and I hope I shan't get well, I am afraid
+if I do I shall be naughty again. O, mother, I have been a great sinner,
+and done many naughty things; but Jesus has forgiven me all my sins, and
+I do wish sister would go to Him and be forgiven for showing that bad
+temper, and all her other sins; don't you, ma?"</p>
+
+<p>"Contrary to expectation this lovely boy recovered, and a few days after
+he got well I saw him take his sister's hand and plead with her to come
+and pray. 'O, sister,' he said, 'you will lose your soul if you don't
+pray. Do, do ask Jesus to forgive your sins, He will hear you, He will
+make you happy; do, do come right to Him, won't you, sissy?' But his
+sister (who was six years old) turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and
+it grieved him so, that he would go away and cry and pray for her with
+exceeding great earnestness.</p>
+
+<p>"Months after, he had the happiness of seeing his sister converted to
+Jesus, and knowing that his infant prayer was answered, and great indeed
+was the joy of this young saint, as well as that of the rest of the
+household as they saw these two of their precious flock going off to
+pray together, not only for themselves, but for an older brother, who
+seemed to have no sympathy with them."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said my friend, "this is indeed as remarkable as any thing I
+ever read, and I must say, hearing it from your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> own lips, has a
+tendency to remove that prejudice I have felt toward reading children's
+conversion. Did this child live?"</p>
+
+<p>"O, yes, and remains a consistent follower of Jesus; he is now twelve
+years old."</p>
+
+<p>"This is a very remarkable case," continued my friend; "very rare
+precocity. I have never met with any thing of the kind in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yet, I have known several such instances in my short life, one more of
+which I must detain you to relate."</p>
+
+<p>TO BE CONTINUED.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>REPORT OF THE MATERNAL ASSOCIATION, PUTNAM, OHIO.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Time, in its rapid flight, my dear sisters, has again brought us to
+another anniversary of our Association. It seems but yesterday since we
+held our last annual meeting, but while we have been busy here and
+there, the fugitive moments have hurried us along almost with the
+celerity of thought through another year. Were it not an established
+usage of our society, that something like a report be rendered of the
+past, the pen of your secretary would have remained silent. The thought
+has often arisen, what foundation have I for giving that which will be
+of any interest to those who may come together? It is true that each
+month has witnessed the quiet assembling of a little band in this
+consecrated place, but how small the number! Have we <i>all</i> been here,
+with united hearts, glowing with love for the souls of our children, and
+feeling that we had power with God, that we had in our possession that
+key which is said to unlock heaven, and bring down precious blessings
+upon those committed to our charge? Have not family cares been suffered,
+too often, to detain some from the place of meeting? and their absence
+has thrown the chill air of despondency over those who <i>were</i> here. The
+average attendance during the year has been but five, while fourteen
+names are upon the record as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> members. Are we manifesting that interest
+in this important cause which those did who were the original founders
+of this society? Almost all of those are now absent, several have
+removed to other places; two, we trust, have long since been joining in
+the praises, and participating in the enjoyments, of heaven; and others,
+by reason of illness or the infirmities of age, are usually detained
+from the place of prayer. But we trust their hearts are with us; and
+shall we not endeavor to be faithful representatives of those whose
+places we now occupy? Have we not motives sufficient to stimulate us to
+a more diligent discharge of duty? God has given to us jewels of rare
+beauty, no gem from mountain or mine, no coral from the ocean's flow,
+can compare with them. And they are of priceless value too; Christ's
+blood alone could purchase them, and this He gave, gave freely too, that
+they might be fitted to deck His diadem of glory. He has encased these
+gems in caskets of exquisite workmanship, and given them to us, that we
+may keep them safely, and return them to Him when He shall ask them of
+us. Shall we be negligent of this trust? Shall we be busy, here and
+there, and suffer the adversary of souls to secure them to himself? We
+know that God is pleased to accept the efforts of the faithful mother;
+his language to us is, "Take this child and nurse it for <i>me</i>, and I
+will give thee thy wages." But on this condition alone, are we to
+receive the reward promised that they be trained for His service. And
+have we not the evidence, even now, before us of the fulfillment of His
+precious promise? Those of us who were privileged on the last Sabbath to
+witness the consecration of that band of youthful disciples to the
+Savior, felt that the efforts of faithful mothers <i>had</i> been blessed,
+their prayers <i>had</i> been answered, and when we remembered that six of
+those loved ones were the children of our little circle, and others were
+intimately connected with some of our number, we felt our confidence in
+God strengthened, and I trust all gained new encouragement to labor for
+those who were yet out of the ark of safety. There are others of our
+number with whom God's Spirit has been striving, and even now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> His
+influences are being felt. Shall they be resisted, and those thus
+influenced go farther from Him who has died that they might live?</p>
+
+<p>Not many years since I was permitted to stand by the death-bed of a
+mother in Israel. Her sons were there, and as she looked at them with
+eyes in which we might almost see reflected the bright glories of the
+New Jerusalem, she exclaimed, "Dear sons, I shall meet you all in
+heaven." Why, we were led to ask, does she say this? Two of them had
+already reached the age of manhood, and had as yet refused to yield
+obedience to their Heavenly Father. But she trusted in her
+covenant-keeping God, she had given them to Him; for them she had
+labored and prayed, and she <i>knew</i> that God delighted to answer prayer.
+We realized the ground of her confidence, when tidings came to us, ere
+that year had expired, that one of those sons, far away upon the ocean,
+with no Sabbath or sanctuary privileges within his reach, had found the
+Savior precious to his soul. The other, ere long, became an active
+member of the church on earth. Is not our God the same in whom she so
+implicitly trusted, and will He not as readily bless our efforts as
+hers, if we are truly faithful?</p>
+
+<p>We are all, I trust, prepared to-day to render a tribute of praise to
+our Heavenly Father, who has so kindly preserved us during the year now
+passed. As we look around our little circle we find no place made vacant
+by death, I mean of those who have been the attendants upon our meeting.
+We do not forget that the messenger has been sent to the family of our
+eldest sister, and removed that son upon whom she so confidently leaned
+for support. He who so assiduously improved every opportunity to
+minister to her comfort and happiness, has been taken, and not only
+mother and sisters have been bereaved, but children, too, of this
+association have, by this providence, been made orphans. We trust <i>they</i>
+have already realized that precious promise, "When my father and mother
+forsake me, then the Lord will take me up;" and may He whose judgments
+are unsearchable, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> His ways past finding out, enable that sorely
+afflicted mother to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."</p>
+
+<p>What the events of the coming year are to be, as it regards ourselves,
+we know not. We would not lift the curtain to gaze into futurity; but
+may we each have strength and wisdom given us to discharge faithfully
+every duty, that whether living or dying we may be accepted of God!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="smcap">Sarah A. Guthrie</span>, <i>Secretary.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>THE EDITOR'S TABLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The steamer <i>Humboldt</i>, after a long passage, having encountered heavy
+seas, and been obliged to put into port for repairs, has just arrived.
+She has proved herself a stanch vessel, thoroughly tested her sea-going
+qualities, and escaped dangers which would have wrecked an ordinary
+steamer. Her passengers express the utmost confidence in the vessel and
+her officers, and advise travelers to take passage in her.</p>
+
+<p><i>Our</i> bark has now accomplished a voyage, during which it met many
+dangers and delays which as thoroughly tested its power and capacity;
+and we too meet with expressions of kindness and confidence, some of
+which we venture to extract from letters which the postman has just laid
+on our table.</p>
+
+<p>A lady, residing near Boston, writes thus: "Permit me to assure you, my
+dear Madam, of my warmest interest in you and your work, and of my
+earnest desire that your enterprise may prove a successful one. Your
+work certainly deserves a wide circulation, and has in my opinion a
+stronger claim upon the patronage of the Christian public than any other
+with which I am acquainted. You must have met with embarrassments in
+commencing a new work, and hence, I suppose, the occasional delays in
+the issuing of your numbers."</p>
+
+<p>A lady from Michigan writes: "My dear Mrs. W., we rejoice in the success
+which has thus far attended your efforts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> in the great work of your
+life. May their results, as manifested in the lives and characters of
+the children of the land, for many many years, prove that your labors
+were not in vain, in the Lord. We were beginning to have some anxiety as
+to the success of your Magazine from not receiving it as early as we
+expected; no other periodical could fill its place. May you, dear Madam,
+long be spared to edit it, and may you have all the co-operation and
+patronage you need."</p>
+
+<p>A friend says: "Our pleasant interview, after a lapse of years, and
+those years marked by many vicissitudes, has caused the tide of feelings
+to ebb and flow till the current of my thoughts is swollen into such a
+stream of intensity as to lead me, through this channel of
+communication, to assure you of my warmest sympathy and my deep interest
+in the important work in which you have been so long engaged. It was
+gratifying to learn from your lips that amid the varied trials which
+have been scattered in your pathway God has been your refuge and
+strength&mdash;a very present help in trouble, and cheering to hear your
+widowed heart sing of mercy and exult in the happiness of that precious
+group who have gone before you into the eternal world." * * *</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend, may the sentiments and doctrines inculcated in your
+work drop as the rain, and distill as the dew, fertilizing and
+enlivening the sluggish soul, and encouraging the weary and heavy-laden.
+I know you need encouragement in your labor of love, and as I expect
+soon to visit M&mdash;&mdash;, when I shall greet that precious Maternal
+Association to which I belonged for so many years, and which has so
+often been addressed by you, through the pages of your Magazine, as well
+as personally, I shall hope to do something in increasing the
+circulation of the work there. * *</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 16.5em;">"Your friend,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 17.5em;">"E.M.R."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We have many other letters from which we might make similar extracts,
+but our purpose in making the above was to give us an opportunity to say
+to our friends, that our bark is again ready for sea, with the
+flattering prospect of making a pleasant voyage, and that our sails are
+trimmed and need but the favoring breeze to speed it on its way.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>COUSIN MARY ROSE; OR, A CHILD'S FIRST VISIT.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY GEORGIANA MAY SYKES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>How capricious is memory, often retaining through life trivial and
+transient incidents, in all the freshness of minute details, while of
+far more important events, where laborious effort has been expended to
+leave a fair and lasting record, but faint and illegible traces
+frequently remain!</p>
+
+<p>Far back in my childhood, so far that I am at a loss where to place it,
+is a little episode, standing so far apart from the main purport of its
+history, that I do not know how it happened, or whether the original
+impression was deepened by its subsequent recurrence. This was a visit
+to the village of W&mdash;&mdash;, the home of my Cousin Mary Rose.</p>
+
+<p>I remember distinctly the ride; short it must have been, since it was
+but four or five miles from home, but it seemed long to me then. There
+was great elation of spirits on my part, and no particular excitement;
+but a very sedate pace on the part of our old horse, to whose swinging
+gait a monotonous creaking of the old-fashioned chaise kept up a steady
+response, not unharmonious, as it was connected in my mind with the idea
+of progress. I remember the wonders of the way, particularly my awe of a
+place called Folly Bridge, where a wide chasm, filled with many
+scattered rocks, and the noisy gurgle of shallow water, had resulted
+from an attempt to improve upon the original ford. Green fields, and
+houses with neat door-yards, thickened at last into a pretty village,
+with a church and school-house, stores and workshops. Then, turning from
+the main street, near the church, we took a quiet lane, which soon
+brought us to a pause, where our wheels indented the turf of a green
+slope, before the gate of a long, low dwelling, half buried in ancient
+lilac trees. This was the home of Aunt Rose, who,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> though no veritable
+aunt of mine, was one of those choice spirits, "to all the world akin,"
+around whose memory lingers the fragrance of deeds of kindness. Here, by
+special invitation, I had come on a visit&mdash;my <i>first</i> visit from home. I
+had passed through no small excitement in the prospect of that event. I
+had anxiously watched every little preparation made for it, and my own
+small packing had seemed momentous. I felt to the full the dignity of
+the occasion. The father and mother, the brothers and sisters, the
+inseparable and often tedious nursery-maid, Harriet, were all left
+behind.</p>
+
+<p>I stood for the first time on my individual responsibility among persons
+of whom I had known but little. The monotony of home-life was broken in
+upon, and my eyes and ears were both open to receive new impressions.
+Doubtless, the careful mother, who permitted me to be placed in this new
+situation, was well satisfied that I should be subjected only to good
+influences, but had they been evil, I should certainly have been
+lastingly affected by them, since every thing connected with the house
+and its inmates, the garden, the fields, the walks in the village, lives
+still a picture of vivid hues.</p>
+
+<p>What induced the family to desire my company, I do not know; I have an
+idea that I was invited because, like many other good people, they liked
+the company of children, and in the hope that I might contribute to the
+element of home-cheerfulness, with which they liked to surround their
+only daughter, my Cousin Mary Rose, whose tall shadowy figure occupies
+in my recollections, as it did in reality, the very center of this
+household group. That she was an invalid, I gather from many remembered
+trifles, such as the constant consideration shown for her strength in
+walks and rides, the hooks in the ceiling from which her swing-chair had
+formerly hung (at which I used to gaze, thinking it <i>such</i> a pity that
+it had ever been removed); her quiet pursuits, and her gentle, and
+rather languid manner. She must have been simple and natural, as well as
+refined in her tastes, and of a delicate neatness and purity in her
+dress. If she was a rose, as her name would indicate, it must have been
+a white rose; but I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> she was more like a spotted lily. There was
+her father, of whom I remember little, except that he slept in his large
+arm-chair at noontide, when I was fain to be quiet, and that he looked
+kindly and chatted pleasantly with me, as I sat on his knee at twilight.
+I found my place at once in the household. If I had any first feelings
+of strangeness to be overcome, which is probable, as I was but a timid
+child, or if I wept any tears under deserved reproof, or was in any
+trouble from childish indiscretions, the traces of these things have all
+vanished; nothing remains but the record of long summer-days of delight.
+Up and down, in and out, I wandered, at will, within certain limits.</p>
+
+<p>An old cider mill (for such things <i>were</i> in New England) in the orchard
+was the remotest verge in one direction; to sit near it, and watch the
+horse go slowly round and round, and chat with Chauncey, the youngest
+son of the house, who was superintending it, was a great pleasure; but
+most of my out-of-doors enjoyments were solitary. I think this must have
+given a zest to them, for at home I was seldom alone. I was one of a
+little troop of brothers' and sisters, whose pleasures were all <i>plays</i>,
+gregarious and noisy. It was a new thing to be so quiet, and to give my
+still fancies such a range. I was never weary of watching the long
+processions of snow-white geese, moving along the turfy sides of the
+road, solemn and stately, each garnished with that awkward appendage the
+"<i>poke</i>," which seemed to me very cruel, since, in my simplicity, I
+believed that the perpendicular rod in the center passed, like a spit,
+directly through the bird's neck. Then, how inexhaustible were the
+resources of the flower garden, on the southern side of the house, into
+which a door opened from the parlor, the broad semicircular stone
+doorsteps affording me a favorite seat.</p>
+
+<p>What a variety of treasures were spread out before me: larkspurs, from
+whose pointed nectaries I might weave "circles without end," varying the
+pattern of each by alternate proportions of blue, and pink, and white.
+There were foxgloves to be examined, whose depths were so mysteriously
+freckled; there were clusters of cowslips, and moss-pinks to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> be
+counted. There were tufts of ribbon-grass to be searched as diligently
+as ever merchandise in later days, for perfect matches; there were
+morning-glories, and moon-sleeps, and four o'clocks, and evening
+primroses to be watched lest they might fail to be true to their
+respective hours in opening and shutting. There were poppies, from whose
+"diminished heads" the loose leaves were to be gathered in a basket,
+(for they might stain the apron,) and lightly spread in the garret for
+drying. There were ripe poppy-seeds to be shaken out through the curious
+lid of their seed-vessel, in which a child's fancy found a curious
+resemblance to a <i>pepper-box</i>; I often forced it to serve as one in the
+imaginary feasts spread out on the door-step, though there were no
+guests to be invited, except plenty of wandering butterflies, or an
+occasional humming-bird, whizzing about the crimson blossoms of the
+balm. Oh, the delights of Aunt Rose's flower-garden!</p>
+
+<p>Then, there were the chickens to be fed, and the milking of the cows to
+be "assisted at," and a chat enjoyed, meanwhile, with good-natured
+Nancy, the maid, to stand beside whose spinning-wheel when, in an
+afternoon, she found time to set it in motion, herself arrayed in a
+clean gown and apron, was another great delight.</p>
+
+<p>But my greatest enjoyments were found in Cousin Mary Rose's pleasant
+chamber, which always seemed bright with the sunshine. From its windows
+I looked out over fields of grain, and fruitful orchards, and green
+meadows, sloping all the way to the banks of the blue Connecticut. I
+doubt if I had ever known before that there was any beauty in a
+prospect. There was plenty of pleasant occupation for me in that
+chamber. I had my little bench, on which I sat at her feet, and read
+aloud to her as she sewed, something which she had selected for me.
+Though I never had an opportunity of knowing her in years when I was
+more capable of judging of character (for we were separated, first by
+distance, and now, alas, by death), I am sure that she must at that time
+have been of more than the average taste and cultivation among young
+ladies. Sure I am that she opened to me many a sealed fountain. My range
+of reading had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> limited to infant story-books and easy
+school-lessons. She took from her book-shelves Cowper, and made me
+acquainted with his hares, <i>Tiny</i> and <i>Bess</i>, and enlisted my sympathies
+for his imprisoned bullfinch. She turned over many leaves of the
+<i>Spectator</i> and <i>Rambler</i>, till she found for me allegories and tales of
+Bagdad and Balsora, and showed me the Vision of Mirza, the Valley of
+Human Miseries, and the Bridge of Human Life; I caught something of
+their meaning, though I could not grasp the whole, and became so
+enamored of them that when I returned home nothing would satisfy me but
+the loan of my favorites, that I might share the great pleasure of these
+wonderful stories with my friends there. How great was my surprise to
+find that the same books held a conspicuous place in the library at
+home!</p>
+
+<p>The little pieces of needlework, too, which filled a part of every day,
+unlike the tedious, never-ending patchwork of school, were pleasant.
+Cousin Mary Rose well understood how to make them so, when she coupled
+the setting of the delicate little stitches with the idea of doing a
+service or giving a pleasure to somebody. This was a bag for Nancy.
+To-morrow, it was a cravat for Chauncey. Now, this same Chauncey was my
+special delight, he being a lively youth of eighteen, the only son at
+home, with whom, after tea, I had always a merry race, or some
+inspiriting game of romps. And then, feat of all, came the hemming of a
+handkerchief for Mr. Williams.</p>
+
+<p>But who was Mr. Williams? I had no manner of idea who he was, or what
+relation he held to the family, which entitled him to come in
+unceremoniously at breakfast, dinner or tea-time, and gave him the
+privilege of driving my Cousin Mary Rose over hill and valley for the
+benefit of her health. In these rides I often had my share, for my
+little bench fitted nicely into the old-fashioned chaise, where I sat
+quietly between the two, looking out for wonders with which to interrupt
+the talk going on above my head. Not that the talk was altogether
+unintelligible to me. It often turned on themes of which I had heard
+much. It spoke of God, of heaven, of the goodness and love of the
+blessed Savior, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> the hopes and privileges of the Christian. I liked
+to hear it; there was no constraint in it. They might have talked of any
+thing else; but I knew they chose the topic because they liked it,&mdash;I
+felt that they were true Christians, and that it was safe and good to be
+near them. Sometimes the conversation turned on earthly hopes and plans,
+and then it became less intelligible to me.</p>
+
+<p>One ride, I remember, which occupied a long summer afternoon. We left
+home after an early dinner, and wound our way over hills rocky and
+steep, from which we would catch views of the river, keeping always near
+its bank, till we came to Mr. Williams's own home, or rather that of his
+mother. What a pleasant visit was that! How Mr. Williams's mother and
+sisters rejoiced over our coming! What a pet they made of me! and how
+much they seemed inclined to pet my Cousin Mary Rose. I have an
+indistinct idea of a faint flush passing now and then over the White
+Rose. What a joyous, bountiful time it was! Such pears, and peaches, and
+apples as were heaped up on the occasion! How social and cheerful was
+the gathering around the teatable, lavishly spread with dainties!</p>
+
+<p>How golden and glorious looked the hills, the trees, and the river in
+the last rays of the setting sun, as we started from the door on our
+return! How the sunset faded to twilight, and the dimness gave place to
+the light of the rising moon, long before we reached the door, where
+anxious Aunt Rose was watching for us! How much talk there was with the
+old people about it all; for I suspect that, in their life of rare
+incidents, it was the custom to make much of every thing that occurred.
+What an unlading there was of the chaise-box, and bringing to light of
+peaches and pears, which kept the journey in remembrance for many days
+after!</p>
+
+<p>That night, as on every other night of my stay, my kind cousin saw me
+safely placed in my bed, after I had knelt beside her to repeat my
+evening prayer. Then, as she bent to kiss me, and gently whispered,
+"<i>God bless thee, child</i>," she seemed to leave her serene spirit as a
+mantle of repose.</p>
+
+<p>When the Sabbath came, I walked hand in hand with her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> to the village
+church. There was much there to distract my attention, particularly in
+that rare sight, the ample white wig (the <i>last of the wigs</i> of
+Connecticut!) on the head of the venerable minister, who, though too
+infirm for much active service, still held his place in the pulpit; but
+I listened with all my might, intent on hearing something which I might
+remember, and repeat to please Cousin Mary Rose; for I knew that she
+would expect me to turn to the text, and would question me whether I had
+understood it. I have pleasant hymns too, in recollection, which date
+back to this very time. They have outlived the beautiful little purse
+which was Mr. Williams's parting gift to me, and the tortoise-shell
+kitten, with which Aunt Rose sought to console me, in my grief at seeing
+myself sent for to return home. The summons was sudden but peremptory,
+and I obeyed it with a sad heart.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot tell how long afterwards it was, for months and years are not
+very different in the calendar of childhood, when I was surprised with
+the announcement that a change had come over Cousin Mary Rose. She was
+changed to Mrs. Williams, and had gone with him, I think, to the South.</p>
+
+<p>I doubt if any trace of the family is still to be found in the pleasant
+village which was their home. The parents have gone to their rest. The
+younger members removed long ago to the distant West.</p>
+
+<p>My Cousin Mary Rose, for many years a happy and useful wife, has at last
+found, in some part of the great western valley, a peaceful grave. I do
+not know the spot where she lies, but I would fain twine around it these
+little blossoms of grateful remembrance.</p>
+
+<p>There is a moral in this slight sketch which I wish to impress on the
+<i>daughters</i> who read this Magazine. It is that their influence is
+greater than they may suppose. Children read the purpose, the motive of
+conduct, and understand the tenor of character; they are attracted by
+feminine grace and refinement; they are keen admirers of personal
+beauty, and they can be won by goodness and gentleness. Never, dear
+young friends, overlook or treat with indifference a child<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> thrown in
+your way. You may lose by it a choice opportunity of conferring
+happiness and lasting benefit.</p>
+
+<p><i>Norwich, Conn.</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.</h2>
+
+<h3>CONCLUDED.</h3>
+
+
+<p>When the sick child had recovered, and the family were again collected,
+Mary Jane was sent to school. This was a delightful change to her&mdash;she
+loved her teacher, she loved the little girls, she loved her book, but
+more than all, her needle. The neatly folded patchwork made by her
+little fingers, is kept as a choice relic to this day.</p>
+
+<p>She had been in school just one month when she was taken sick. Whether
+this was owing to the confined air of the school-room, or to a too close
+application to her studies and work, is not known.</p>
+
+<p>She returned from school one evening, and having sat with the family at
+the table as usual, she went to her mother, and with rather unusual
+earnestness requested her to take her in her lap and tell her a story.
+To be told a story in mother's lap was regarded as a great indulgence by
+the children. The little ones on hearing her request, ran to mother and
+insisted on being attended to first. "Take me up, mother, and do take me
+up." At length Mary Jane with her usual self-denial restored quiet by
+requesting her mother to begin with the youngest first. When a short
+story had been told her little brother, and she was about occupying the
+desired position, she again yielded her right to the importunities of
+her younger sister. A longer story was now told, in which she became
+quite interested herself, so that when her turn came, she appeared
+somewhat exhausted. As her mother took her in her arms, she laid her
+head upon her shoulder, saying it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> ached very hard. It was thought that
+sleep would restore her, so she was placed in bed.</p>
+
+<p>At midnight the mother was aroused by the ineffectual efforts of Mary
+Jane to awaken her nurse. On entering the chamber, she found that the
+dear child had not slept at all. Her head was throbbing with pain, and
+she was saying in a piteous manner, "I can't wake up Nancy." Her mother
+immediately carried her to her own bed, and having placed her there,
+perceived that from an almost icy coldness, she had suddenly changed to
+an intense and burning heat.</p>
+
+<p>Her father was standing by the bed uncertain whether or not to call a
+physician, when in a pleased but excited manner she called out to him
+"to see all those little girls." She imagined that little girls were all
+around her, and although somewhat puzzled in accounting for their
+presence, yet she appeared greatly delighted to see them.</p>
+
+<p>After this she lay for some time in a dozing state, then she became
+convulsed. During her short but distressing sickness, she had but few
+lucid intervals. When not lying in a stupor her mind was usually busied
+amidst past scenes.</p>
+
+<p>At one time as I was standing by her pillow, bathing her head, she said
+in a piteous tone, "I can't thread my needle." Then in a clear sweet
+musical voice she called "Nancy" to come and help her thread it.</p>
+
+<p>At another time her father supposing her unconscious said "I fear she
+will never get well." She immediately opened her eyes, clasped her
+little hands and laying them upon her bosom, looked upward and with
+great earnestness commended herself to God: "My dear Father up in
+heaven," she said, "please to make me well, if you think it is best; but
+if you do not think best, then please to take me up to heaven where
+Jesus is." After this, she continued for some time in prayer, but her
+articulation was indistinct. One expression only was audible. It was
+this, "suffer little children to come."</p>
+
+<p>What gratitude is due to the tender and compassionate Savior for this
+rich legacy of love, to the infant mind! How often has it comforted the
+dying, or drawn to the bosom of everlasting love, the living among
+little children. "Suffer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> little children to come unto me." The
+preciousness and efficiency of this touching appeal seem to be but
+little realized even among believing parents. Were it otherwise, should
+we not see more of infant piety, in the families of professing
+Christians?</p>
+
+<p>Once as the gray dawn approached, she appeared to wake as from a quiet
+sleep, and asked if it was morning. On being told that it was, she
+folded her hands and commenced her morning prayer. Soon, however, her
+mind wandered, and her mother finished it for her.</p>
+
+<p>From this time she lay and moaned her little life away. But whenever
+prayer was offered, the moaning would cease for a short interval,
+indicating that she was conscious, and also interested.</p>
+
+<p>During the last night of her life, her mind appeared perfectly clear.
+She spoke often of "heaven" and of "Jesus"; but little is recollected,
+as her mother was not by. Not apprehending death to be so near, she had
+been persuaded to try to get some rest. Suddenly there was a change. The
+mother was called. Approaching the bed she saw that the last struggle
+had come on. Summoning strength, she said, "Are you willing to die and
+go to heaven where Jesus is?" The dear dying child answered audibly,
+"Yes." The mother then said, "Now you may lay yourself in the arms of
+Jesus. He will carry you safely home to heaven." Again there was an
+attempt to speak, but the little spirit escaped in the effort, and was
+forever free from suffering, and sorrow, and sin.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning I went over to look upon my little niece, as she lay
+sleeping in death. "Aunty B&mdash;&mdash;" was there standing by the sofa.
+Uncovering the little form she said, "She has <i>found the way to heaven</i>
+now;" alluding to the conversation she had with Mary Jane, more than
+three years before.</p>
+
+<p>Soon, the person whose office it was to prepare the last narrow
+receptacle for the little body, entered the room and prepared to take
+the measurement. Having finished his work, he seated himself at a
+respectful distance, and gazed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> on the marvelous beauty of the child. At
+length turning to the father he asked, "How old was she?" "Six years and
+eight months," was the reply. "So young!" he responded; then added that
+he had often performed the same office for young persons, but had never
+seen a more intelligent countenance, at the age of fifteen. Yet
+notwithstanding the indications of intellect, and of maturity of
+character, so much in advance of her tender age; her perfectly infantile
+features, and the extreme delicacy of their texture and complexion, bore
+witness to the truthfulness of the age, beneath her name on the little
+coffin: "six years and eight months."</p>
+
+<p>And now as my thoughts glance backwards and linger over the little
+sleeper upon that sofa, so calm and beautiful in death, a voice seems
+sounding from the pages of Revelation that she shall not always remain
+thus, a prey to the spoiler. That having accomplished his work, "ashes
+to ashes," "dust to dust," Death shall have no more power, even over the
+little body which he now claims as his own.</p>
+
+<p>But it shall come forth, not as then, destined to see corruption, but
+resplendent in beauty, and shining in more than mortal loveliness; a fit
+receptacle for its glorified inmate, in the day of the final
+resurrection of the dead.</p>
+
+<p>Let all Christian parents who mourn the loss of pious children, comfort
+themselves with the words of the apostle, "Them also that sleep in
+Jesus, will God bring with him," "when he shall come to be glorified in
+his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."</p>
+
+<p>It was in the month of November that Mary Jane died, and was buried;
+reminding one of those lines of Bryant:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"In the cold moist earth we laid her,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When the forest cast his leaf;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And we mourn'd that one so lovely,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Should have a life so brief.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet not unmeet it was, that one,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like that young child of ours,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So lovely and so beautiful,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Should perish with the flowers."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>On the return of her birth-day, February 22, when if she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> had lived, she
+would have been seven years old, the following lines were sent to the
+bereaved mother by Mrs. Sigourney.</p>
+
+<p>THE BIRTH-DAY OF THE FIRST BORN.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy first born's birth-day,&mdash;mother!&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">That cold and wintry time,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When deep and unimagined joy</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Swell'd to its highest prime.&mdash;</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy little daughter smileth,&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thy son is fair to see,&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And from its cradle shouts the babe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In health and jollity:</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But still thy brow is shaded,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The fresh tear trickleth free,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where is thy first born darling?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, mother,&mdash;where is she?</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if she be in heaven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">She, who with goodness fraught,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So early on her Father&mdash;God</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Repos'd her bursting thought:&mdash;</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if she be in heaven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The honor how divine,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To give an angel to His arms,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who gave a babe to thine!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>L.H.S.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p>Human improvement must begin through mothers. It is through them
+principally, as far as human agency is concerned, that those evils can
+be <i>prevented</i>, which, age after age, we have been vainly endeavoring to
+<i>cure</i>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p>He that is good will infallibly become better, and he that is bad will
+as certainly become worse; vice, virtue, and time, are three things that
+never stand still.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>SABBATH MEDITATIONS.</h2>
+
+<h3>John 5:1.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is a time of solemnities in Jerusalem&mdash;"a feast of the Jews"&mdash;and
+crowds throng the sacred city, gathered from all parts of Judea,
+mingling sympathies and uniting in the delightful services which the
+chosen people so justly prize. The old and young, the joyful and the
+sad, all classes and all conditions are there, not even are "the
+impotent, the blind, the halt, the withered," absent. Through the aid
+and kindness of friends they have come also, cheered and animated by the
+unwonted excitement of the scene, and doubtless hoping for some relief
+in known or unknown ways, from their various afflictions. Among these, a
+numerous company of whom are lying near the sheep-gate, let us spend an
+hour. By God's help it shall not be wasted time. How many are here who
+for long years have not beheld the sun, nor looked on any loved face,
+nor perused the sacred oracles. A lesson of resignation we may learn
+from them, in their proverbial peacefulness under one of the severest of
+earth's trials, for "who ever looked on aught but content in the face of
+the born-blind?" Here also are those who have felt the fearful grasp of
+pain, whose nerves have been shocked, and the whole frame tortured by
+untold sufferings; and those who cannot walk forth on God's earth with
+free elastic step, nor pursue any manly toil&mdash;the infirm, the crippled,
+the helpless. How it saddens the heart to look upon them, and hear their
+moans! Yet they all have a look of hope on their faces. The kind angel
+who descends to ruffle the hitherto calm waters of the lake may be near
+at hand. Soon sorrow to some of these will give place to proportioned
+gladness. He who can <i>first</i> bathe his limbs in the blessed wave, says
+the sacred oracle, shall find relief from every infirmity. First: It is
+a short and simple word, yet how much of meaning it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> contains, and in
+its connection here how much instruction it affords! It is ever thus
+under the moral and providential government of God. The first to ask his
+blessing are those who gain it. "Those who seek Him early are the ones
+to find Him." The prompt and active are the successful competitors. To
+those who with the dawning day are found offering their daily sacrifice,
+He vouchsafes most of his blessed presence. "Give Him thy first thoughts
+then; so shalt thou keep Him company all day, and in Him sleep."</p>
+
+<p>It is those who dedicate to Him the freshness of youth, that thrive most
+under His culture, and still bring forth fruit in old age. Their whole
+lives are spent beneath the shadow of his wings, and they know not the
+doubts and fears of those who long wandered before they sought that
+sheltering spot. They who are on the watch, who see the cloud as big as
+a man's hand, are the largest recipients of the blessing when the Spirit
+is poured out from on high. The lingerers, who think they need not
+bestir themselves, for the blessing is sure, may nevertheless fail, for
+though there was a sound of rain, the clouds may scatter, when but a few
+drops have fallen, and the <i>first</i> be the only ones who are refreshed.</p>
+
+<p>But we are wandering. In this porch lies one who scarce bears any
+resemblance to living humanity, and from his woe-worn countenance has
+departed the last glimmering of hope. "Thirty and eight years" a
+helpless being! a burden to himself and all around him! Alas, of what
+untold miseries has sin made human flesh the inheritor! He came long
+since to this healing pool, with cheerful anticipations, perhaps
+undoubting faith, that he should soon walk forth a man among men. But he
+has been grievously disappointed. He seems friendless as well as
+impotent. Listen while he answers the inquiry of one who speaks kindly
+to him: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
+the pool; but while I am coming another steppeth down before me." This
+is indeed hopeless wretchedness. But who is it thus asking, "Wilt thou
+be made whole?" Little didst thou dream, unfortunate, yet most
+fortunate, of sufferers, who it was thus bending tenderly over thy
+painful couch! Said we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> that thou wert friendless; that none knew thy
+woes? Blessed be God, there is ever One eye to see, One ear to hear, One
+heart to pity.</p>
+
+<p>"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path."
+"He is not far from every one of us." But, though He is ever near, yet
+God often waits long before he relieves. Why is it thus? We do not
+always see the reason, but we may be sure it is infinite wisdom that
+defers. He would have us feel our dependence on Him, and when we do feel
+this, when we hope no more from any earthly source, and turn a
+despairing eye to Him, then he is ever ready to rescue. Even toward
+those who have long withstood his grace, and rebelled against his love,
+is he moved to kindness "when He seeth that their power is gone." "We
+must sometimes have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
+not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."</p>
+
+<p>Even where we would accomplish most, when we would fain secure the
+salvation of those dearest to us, when we would win eternal life for our
+children, we must be made to rely on Him who, as he can raise the dead,
+even call life from nothing, can also revive the spiritually dead, and
+break the sleep which threatens to be eternal.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>He is gone&mdash;while we looked, suddenly he rose in the full vigor of
+manliness, and now, exulting in his new-found faculties, he is walking
+yonder among the multitude, carrying upon his shoulders the couch which
+has so long borne his weary, helpless frame. See, one with frowning
+countenance and harsh words arrests his steps, and wholly unmindful of
+the joy which lights his pale face, reproves him with severe and bitter
+words: "It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy
+bed." The command indeed is, "Thus saith the Lord, take heed to
+yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the
+gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on
+the Sabbath day; neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath day,
+as I commanded your fathers." He stands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> dismayed and troubled. In his
+new-found happiness he has forgotten the solemn mandate. Timidly he
+answers, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed
+and walk." Thou hast answered well. Only the Lord of the Sabbath could
+have done on thee this work of healing. Go on thy way rejoicing. Return
+not to seek Him, He was here, he spoke to thee; but he is gone. None saw
+him depart. Everywhere present, He is, yet, when He will, invisible to
+mortal eyes.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>REPORTS OF MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.</h2>
+
+<h3>SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF DETROIT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Another year has passed over us, and we, a little band, have met to
+recount, and gratefully to acknowledge, God's goodness and
+loving-kindness to us and our families. Our Association, commencing as a
+small stream, has not yet grown to be a mighty river; yet it has flowed
+steadily in its course, and we confidently believe, has sent forth sweet
+and hallowed influences, refreshing some thirsty souls with pure and
+living waters.</p>
+
+<p>During the year now past, our meetings have been continually sustained,
+although sickness and absence from the city, especially during most of
+the summer, have deprived us of the attendance of a large proportion of
+our members. Notwithstanding our meetings have been much smaller than we
+could desire, and sometimes tempted us to be "<i>faint</i> and <i>weary</i> in
+well-doing," still we believe that our prayers and consultations have
+been a source of blessing to ourselves and to our offspring. We are told
+that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." We
+feel assured that we can testify to the faithfulness of the promise, for
+not only can we gratefully acknowledge the love of God in shedding more
+grace upon our hearts; but the gracious call<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> of the gospel of salvation
+has been accepted by some of our precious children, and we trust that
+they are now in the "narrow way that leadeth unto life." Oh, may the
+Spirit of all truth guide their youthful steps through all the thorny
+mazes of life, preserve them from the alluring and deceitful charms that
+surround them, and bring them at last to those blissful mansions
+prepared for those who love and serve God. We do indeed rejoice with
+those dear mothers who have been made the recipients of so large a
+blessing&mdash;that of seeing the precious lambs of the flock gathered into
+the fold of the Good Shepherd. Oh, may the prayer of faith ever encircle
+them in this only safe retreat from the ravening wolves and the hungry
+monsters of sin!</p>
+
+<p>But whilst we rejoice with those of our number who have been so greatly
+blessed, we turn with heartfelt sympathy toward those whose hearts have
+been wrung by the loss, <i>to them</i>, of the objects of their hopes and
+affections. Three of the children of members of this Association have
+died during the past year. Thus we believe so many sweet angels of God
+have gone from our midst and escaped the sorrows of this evil world. Let
+the dear parents think of them as already far surpassing their own best
+attainments, and praising the blessed Savior, in the heavenly paradise,
+and turn their more anxious and diligent thoughts to the living. Two
+children have been added by birth to the number of those connected with
+the Association.</p>
+
+<p>Our membership has not greatly changed within the past year. Three
+mothers have united with the Association since the last Annual Report,
+and three have left us, making the number the same that it was one year
+since.</p>
+
+<p>While we regret the loss of each and all of those who have departed from
+our midst, we think it would not be deemed invidious to express our deep
+sense of the loss we have sustained by the removal from the city of Mrs.
+Parker, the former secretary. Her devotion and faithfulness in every
+sphere of duty, afforded us all an example well adapted to stimulate us
+in the discharge of our obligations, as well as to guide us in the paths
+of usefulness. We hope and pray that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> she may long be spared to shed a
+hallowed influence around her wherever her lot may be cast.</p>
+
+<p>Our quarterly meetings have been sustained with interest and profit.
+Portions of Scripture have been committed by the children, and the
+instructions and truths contained in them have been enforced by
+appropriate remarks from the Pastor. We consider this an invaluable
+means of instilling saving truth into the tender minds of our children,
+and would urgently request that it be accompanied by the constant and
+believing prayers of all parents. Upon a full review of the past year,
+we see abundant cause for gratitude and encouragement. We have especial
+occasion for thankfulness that none of our number have been removed by
+death. Since we know that the Lord has thus prolonged our stewardship,
+that we may work in his vineyard, let us be the more diligent, that we
+may be prepared to render our account with joy at the last day. Amongst
+the means for preparing ourselves for the faithful discharge of our
+duties to our own families, and as members of this Association, we take
+pleasure in acknowledging the <i>pre-eminent merits of Mrs. Whittelsey's
+Magazine</i>, and would urgently recommend its more general perusal and
+circulation. During the past summer some of us enjoyed the inestimable
+privilege of hearing her experienced counsel, and fervent exhortations.
+We believe that her visit to this city resulted in much good, and we
+wish her abundant success in her noble calling.</p>
+
+<p>Dear Mothers, let us persevere, looking unto the covenant-keeping God
+for the salvation of our children, as well as for the triumph of the
+Gospel throughout the community and this sin-ruined world.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>SALEM, MICHIGAN.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We have been brought, through the kindness of our Heavenly Father, to
+this the first anniversary of our Maternal Association. We meet to-day
+that we may together look back upon the year just closing, and recall
+the mercies and judgments of our God, in which I think we cannot fail
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> recognize the guiding hand of our Heavenly Father, who we believe
+has presided over and defended the dearest interests of this our little
+society. We bless his name that a few individuals, sustaining the sacred
+name of mother, and upon whom consequently devolve important duties,
+were led to roll their burden, in all its magnitude, upon an Almighty
+arm, and in a united capacity to plead for promised grace. We rejoice
+that this feeling has been perpetuated, and that there have been those
+who have not "forsaken the assembling of themselves together," but who
+have been drawn to the place of prayer by an irresistible influence,
+esteeming it a privilege thus to resign their numerous anxieties into
+the hands of an all-wise God. And may we not rejoice, dear sisters, that
+as each returning fortnight has brought its precious opportunity for
+prayer and instruction, our hearts have cheerfully responded to its
+call, and that we have hailed these seasons as acknowledged and
+well-tested sources of profit. If they have not proved so to us, have we
+not reason to fear that our guilt will be greatly increased, and that we
+shall share the condemnation of those who have been frequently and
+faithfully reminded of duty, but who have failed in its performance?
+During the past year we have had twenty-two meetings, the most of which
+have been attended by from six to ten mothers. A small number, indeed;
+yet God, we remembered, promised that where two or three are met
+together in His name, He would be in their midst to bless them. On the
+7th of May the Rev. Mr. Harris preached to the children, from the text,
+"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." Sixteen
+ladies were present, and twenty-three children. On the 28th of
+September, Professor Agnew addressed mothers on their various important
+duties. At the commencement of the year we numbered twelve mothers and
+twenty-three children, under the age of fifteen. We now number sixteen
+mothers and thirty-three children; one little one has been added to our
+number. God, in wise providence, and for some wise purpose, has seen fit
+to lay his afflicting hand upon us. Early in the year it pleased Him to
+call an aged and beloved father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of one of our sisters from time to
+eternity. With our sister we do most sincerely sympathize; may it truly
+be said of us, as an Association:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"We share each other's joys,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Each other's burdens bear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And often for each other flows</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sympathizing tear."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But God has come nearer still unto us as an Association, and has taken
+one of our little number, dear sister Elizabeth C. Hamilton, who was one
+of the four mothers who met together to converse and to ask counsel of
+our pastor on the subject of forming this Association. On the 11th of
+October, her spirit took its flight from this frail tenement of clay, as
+we humbly trust to the mansions of the blest. With her bereaved and
+afflicted companion and infant daughters, we do most sincerely
+sympathize. May we remember that we have promised to seek the spiritual
+and eternal interests of her children as we do that of our own! Let us
+not cease to pray for her children until we shall hear them lisping
+forth the praises of the dear Redeemer. As we commence a new year, shall
+we not commence anew to live for God? Ere another year has gone, some
+one of this our little number may be called from time to eternity; and
+shall we not prove what prayer can do; what heavenly blessings it will
+bring down upon our offspring? But perhaps some mother will say, I
+should esteem it the dearest of all privileges, if I could lay hold in
+faith on God's blessed promises, but when I would do so a sense of my
+own unworthiness shuts my mouth. But which of God's promises was ever
+made to the worthy recipient? Are they not all to the unworthy and
+undeserving? And if "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon
+his knees," shall we not take courage, and claim God's blessed promises
+for ours, and often in silence and in solitude bend the knee for those
+we love most dear?</p>
+
+<p>While memory lasts I shall never forget my mother's earnest,
+supplicating, trembling voice, as she pleaded with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> God for Christ's
+sake to have mercy on her children. And shall our children forget ours?
+No, dear sisters, let our entreaties with our God be as they will, I
+think they will not be forgotten. Therefore, let us be more awake to
+this subject, let us sincerely endeavor to train our children up for
+God, that they may be useful in his service while they live, and that we
+may be that happy band of mothers that may be able to say in God's great
+day: Here, Lord, are we, and the children which thou hast given us.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;"><span class="smcap">A. Hamilton</span>, <i>Secretary</i>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Salem, Wash. Co., Michigan</i>, Dec. 31, 1851.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>BROTHERLY LOVE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+honor preferring one another."</p></div>
+
+
+<p>In no system of morals or religion, except the Bible, can such a precept
+be found. It at once proclaims its divine author. We feel as we read
+it&mdash;here speaks that God and Almighty Father who so loved the world as
+to give his Son to die to save it. We feel that none but a being who
+regards himself as the Father of all, and who would unite his children
+in the bonds of family affection, would think of urging upon a company
+of men and women, gathered from all classes and conditions of life, the
+duly regarding each other with the same sincerity, tenderness, respect
+and kindness as if they were the nearest relatives. Such is the force of
+the expression, "Be kindly affectioned one to another." The word
+expresses properly the strong natural affection between parents and
+children; but the apostle is not satisfied with this, and uses the word
+to qualify that brotherly love which our Lord has made the badge of
+discipleship. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> should be with the tenderness and the unselfishness
+which characterize the filial and paternal relation, blending love with
+natural affection, and making it manifest in common intercourse. Oh, how
+different this from the spirit of the world, the spirit which seeks not
+to bless others, but self; not to confer honor but to obtain it; which
+aims not to diffuse respect, but to attract all others to give honor to
+ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>I design at present to use this divine injunction as conveying the Holy
+Spirit's direction and description of proper family intercourse, in
+reference, particularly, to children in the family circle.</p>
+
+<p>I notice very briefly (for the direction must commend itself to the
+heart of every child) its application to parents: "Be kindly affectioned
+toward your father and mother." It is indeed hardly necessary to urge
+this duty, for God has in his wisdom so constituted us, as in a good
+degree to insure the duty of filial love even in those who do not regard
+his own authority over their spirits. No child can for a moment reflect
+upon the love and care which he has received from his parents, without a
+moved heart, although he can never know their full power until he
+himself becomes a parent; but here indeed lies the difficulty, and here
+do I find the necessity of dwelling for a moment upon this point.
+Children do not reflect upon this. Few ever sit down, calmly and
+consecutively, to recall the parental kindness, and therefore, would I
+ask each of you, my young friends, that you may obey this injunction,
+and be kindly affectionate towards father and mother, to consider their
+kindness to you. Why, if you look at it, you will hardly be able to find
+that they have any other care in the world, or any other object, than
+yourselves. What does that kind mother of yours do which is not for her
+children? does she not seem always to be thinking of you? have you never
+noticed how her eye brightens with delight when you or any of your
+brothers or sisters do right, or even when she looks around on the
+health and happiness of her children? and, when you or any of her dear
+ones are ill, how sad she looks, how her cheek will become pale, and how
+she will watch and wait at the bed-side of her child,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> how her own hand
+gives the medicine, how nothing can call her away from home, no friends,
+no amusements, often not even the church and Sabbath-day, and if she did
+go to church while you were ill, she went there to pray that God would
+make you well. And I would have you also think of the large surrenders
+of ease, time and fortune which your father is daily making for the
+benefit and comfort of his children. How many fathers will compass land
+and sea in quest of provision for them, and in order to give them name
+and station in society? How many adventurously plow the ocean in their
+behalf? How many live for years in exile, and in the estrangement of a
+foreign land, with nothing to soothe them in the midst of their toil and
+fatigue, but the image of their dear and distant home? How many toil and
+plan, day after day, and year after year, from early morn until late at
+night, for no other object than to gather wealth, which in their love
+they expect and intend their children to enjoy, when they themselves
+have gone down to the grave! Oh, my young friends, though ye have not
+perhaps thought of it, yet the devotedness of a parent to his children,
+in the common every-day duties and comforts of life, often equals and
+surpasses that which history has recorded for us of the sublimest
+heroism.</p>
+
+<p>It would often seem utterly impossible to wear out a father's affection
+or a mother's love, and many a child, after the perversities and losses
+of a misdirected manhood, has found himself welcomed back again to the
+paternal home, with all the unquenched and unextinguishable kindness of
+his early and dependent childhood; welcomed even amid the hardships of
+poverty, with which declining years and his own hand, perhaps, have
+united to surround the whitening heads of the authors of his being.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is in view of the reality and strength of these parental
+regards, thus flowing from a father's or a mother's heart upon their
+children, that we bid you see the force, the reason, and the right of
+the direction, Be kindly affectionate in all your intercourse with them.
+And it is in the same view that we appeal to your own hearts, and ask
+whether it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> be not most revolting and wrong for a son or daughter to
+utter the word, or dart the look, or feel the feeling which is prompted
+by wickedness; a disdainful son or disrespectful daughter is a sight
+most painful to every right-minded man.</p>
+
+<p>But while I mention this as the rule which should govern the family in
+their treatment of those who stand at its head, I would also beg leave
+to remark, that this same law should govern the heads of the family
+towards each other and all the members. This is the only way by which
+reciprocal affectionate regard and treatment can be inculcated and
+insured. The Holy Spirit has deemed this so important, that He has given
+the express injunction to parents: "Fathers, provoke not your children;"
+and it is an injunction which parents need constantly to remember. The
+natural and necessary subjection of the children to parental authority,
+unless the hearts of the parents be guided by religious principle, will
+often induce an arbitrary and enforced obedience, which, unless guided
+and controlled by affection, will have only the appearance of harshness,
+and will only produce unpleasant feeling. Parents should never forget
+that it is always as unpleasant to a child to have his will and plans
+crossed as it is to themselves, and that, therefore, it is their own
+obedience to the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, which alone can make
+their authority both strong and pleasant. There are again so many cares
+and anxieties connected with the details of family arrangements, and
+there are so much thoughtlessness and perversity in the depraved hearts
+of the most amiable and properly disposed children, that the patience of
+even the all-enduring mother will often be tried in a manner which
+nothing but divine grace can sustain. Ill health and natural
+irritability, so constantly exposed to attack, will often increase the
+difficulty, and thus make the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, one of
+the most arduous duties of life. But the triumph of principle will
+always be accompanied with corresponding valuable results in the
+happiness and comforts of the whole family circle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>KNOW THYSELF.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Many instructive lessons may be conveyed to the minds of children in
+story and in verse. We do not now remember who is the author of the
+story we are about to relate. It may be familiar to many of our readers.
+We venture, however, to repeat it in our own words, as it has an
+important moral worthy the attention of the old as well as the young:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>A man and his wife were hard at work in a forest, cutting down trees.
+The trees were very hardy and tall, and their axes were dull; the
+weather was cold and dreary, they were but poorly clad, and they had but
+little to eat.</p>
+
+<p>At length, the woman, in her despondency, fell to crying. Her husband
+very kindly inquired, "What is the matter, my dear wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking," said she, "of our hard fate, and it does seem to
+me a hard case that God should curse the ground for Adam's sake, just
+because he and his wife had eaten a green apple; and now all their
+descendants must earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, all their
+days."</p>
+
+<p>The man replied, "Do not, my dear wife, distress yourself thus, seeing
+it will do no good."</p>
+
+<p>She continued, "I do think that Adam and Eve were very foolish to listen
+to any thing that a serpent had to say. If I had been in the place of
+Eve I am sure I should have done otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>To this her husband replied, "True, my dear wife, Eve was a very silly
+woman. I think, if I had been in Adam's place, before I would have
+listened to her foolish advice, and run such a hazard, I would have
+given her a smart box on the ear, and told her to hold her tongue, and
+to mind her own business."</p>
+
+<p>This remark made his wife very angry, and here followed a long dialogue
+on this topic till they began mutually to criminate each other as well
+as the serpent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now, a gentleman, who had all this time been concealed behind the trees,
+and had heard their complaints, and listened with grief to their
+fault-finding disposition, came forward and spoke to them very kindly.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "My friends, you seem to be hard at work, and very unhappy.
+Pray tell me the cause of your misery, and whether I can do anything to
+comfort you?"</p>
+
+<p>So they repeated to this gentleman what they had been saying.</p>
+
+<p>He replied to them thus: "Now, my dear friends, I am truly sorry for
+you, and I desire to make you more comfortable. I have a large estate,
+and I wish to make others as happy as I am myself. I have a fine house,
+plenty of servants, and every thing desirable to eat and to drink. I
+have fine grounds, filled with shrubbery and fruit trees. If you will go
+and live with me you have only to obey the regulations of my house, and
+as long as you do this and are contented, you shall be made welcome."</p>
+
+<p>So they went with this gentleman. At once he took off their rough and
+ragged garments, and clad them in a fine suit of clothes, suited to the
+place, and put them into a spacious apartment, where for a time they
+lived very happily.</p>
+
+<p>One day this gentleman came to them, and said business of importance
+would call him from home for some days. In the mean time he hoped they
+would be happy and do every thing in their power to reflect honor upon
+his hospitality till his return. He said he had but one other suggestion
+to make, and that was, that <i>for his sake</i> they would be very careful to
+set a good example before his servants, and do every thing <i>cheerfully</i>
+that they should direct, for up to this hour not one of his servants had
+ever questioned the reasonableness of his commands.</p>
+
+<p>They thanked him kindly for his generous supply of all their wants, and
+promised implicit obedience.</p>
+
+<p>They now had, if possible, more sumptuous meals, and in greater variety
+than ever, and for a few days every thing went on well. At length, a
+servant placed a covered dish in the center of the table, remarking that
+he always had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> orders from his master, when that particular dish was
+placed upon the table, that no one, on pain of his displeasure, should
+touch it, much less lift the cover.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days these guests were so occupied in examining the new dishes
+that this order was obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>But the woman at length began to wonder why that dish should be placed
+on the table if it were not to be touched; she did not for her part see
+any use in it.</p>
+
+<p>Every meal she grew more and more discontented. She appealed to her
+husband if he did not think such a prohibition very unreasonable. If it
+were not to be touched, why was it placed on the table?</p>
+
+<p>Her husband at length grew very angry; she would neither eat herself nor
+allow him to eat in peace. She at length remonstrated, she threatened;
+she used various arguments to induce him to lift the cover; said no one
+need to know it, &amp;c. Still her good-natured husband tried to reason her
+out of this notion. She now burst into tears, and said her life was
+miserable by this gentleman's singular prohibition, which could do no
+one any good; and she was still more wretched by reason of her husband's
+unkindness,&mdash;she really believed that he had lost all affection for her.</p>
+
+<p>This remark made her husband feel very badly. He lifted the cover and
+out ran a little harmless mouse. They both ran after it, and tried their
+best to catch it, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>While they were feeling very unhappy, and were trembling with fear, the
+gentleman entered, and seeing their great embarrassment, inquired if
+they had dared to lift the cover?</p>
+
+<p>The woman replied that she did not see what harm there could be in doing
+so. She did not think it kind to place such a temptation before them; it
+could do no one any good.</p>
+
+<p>The man added that his wife teazed him so that he had no peace, and
+rather than see her unhappy he had lifted the cover.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman then reminded them of their fault-finding while in the
+forest, their hard thoughts of God, of the serpent, and of Adam and Eve.
+Had it been their case<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> they should have acted more wisely! But, alas!
+they did not know themselves!</p>
+
+<p>He immediately ordered his servants to take off their nice new clothes
+and to put on their old garments, and he sent them back to the forest,
+ever after to eat their bread <i>by the sweat</i> of their brow.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>OLD JUDA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Many years since, I took into my service an old colored woman by the
+name of Juda. She was a poor, pitiful object, almost worn out by hard
+and long service. But I needed just such services as she could render,
+and intrusted to her the general supervision of my kitchen department.</p>
+
+<p>Under the care bestowed upon her she fast recruited, and I continued to
+employ her for three years. I gave her good wages, and, as for years I
+had induced all my help to do, I persuaded her to deposit in the
+savings' bank all the money she could spare. Fortunately for poor old
+Juda, she laid up during these three years a considerable sum.</p>
+
+<p>Before this, she had always been improvident, careless of her earnings,
+and from a disposition to change often out of place. But as one extreme
+is apt to follow another, when she found that she had several dollars
+laid aside, entirely a new thing for her, there was quite a revolution
+in her feelings and character. She now inclined to covetousness, and
+could hardly be persuaded to expend a sum sufficient to make herself
+comfortable in extreme cold weather which sensibly affected her in her
+old age and feeble health. At length her disposition to hoard up her
+earnings increased to that degree that she resorted to many unnecessary
+and imprudent means to avoid expense and to evade my requirements with
+regard to her apparel. But for this parsimony she might have held out
+some years longer. She greatly improved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> in health and strength for the
+first two years, and was more comfortable and useful than I expected she
+would be. Always at her post, patient, faithful, economical and
+obliging, I really felt grateful for the relief she afforded me in the
+management of a large family; but at length I was obliged to dismiss her
+from my service. For a few months she found employment in a small
+family, but soon fell sick, and required the services of a physician.
+She had to find a place of retirement and take to her bed, and soon her
+money began to disappear.</p>
+
+<p>Her miserable sister, who had exercised an injurious influence over
+Juda, and whom I had found it necessary to forbid coming to my house,
+now came constantly to me for this money, for Juda's use, it is true,
+but which I had reason to fear was not wisely spent. Under this
+impression, I broke away from my cares and set out to look after her
+welfare. I was pained to find her in a miserable hovel, surrounded by a
+crew of selfish, ignorant, lazy and degraded women, who were ready to
+filch the last farthing from the poor, helpless invalid.</p>
+
+<p>My first interview with Juda was extremely painful. She hid her head,
+her great wall eyes rolling fearfully, and cried bitterly, "Oh! I am
+forever undone. Why did I not listen to your entreaties, and heed the
+kind advice of my good master, to lay up treasures in heaven as well as
+in the savings' bank!" I remained silent by her bedside, thinking it
+better for her to give full vent to her agonized feelings before I
+should probe her wounded spirit, or try to console her. "Oh," said she,
+"that I could once more have health, that I might attend to what ought
+to have been the business of my life&mdash;the care of my soul." "Yes, Juda,"
+I replied, "but I see, I think, plainly, how it would be had you ever so
+much time. You would not be very likely to improve it aright, for even
+now you are wasting this last fragment of time that remains to you in
+fruitless regrets; why not rather inquire earnestly, 'Is there still any
+hope for me? What shall I do to be saved? Lord, save me, or I perish.'"
+For some time her emotions choked her utterance, at length she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> seized
+both my hands so forcibly that it seemed as if she would sever them from
+my wrists, and exclaimed, "Oh, pray for me!"</p>
+
+<p>Her condition was an awful one. From the nature of her ailment she was a
+loathsome object. Not one of her old companions would approach her, for
+to them she was now peculiarly an object of terror. Her entreaties that
+I would not leave her in the power of such cruel wretches, to perish
+alone, and without hope, prevailed over my own reluctance and the
+remonstrances of my husband, and summoning up all my resolution, I
+remained with her, with but little respite, for three days and nights.</p>
+
+<p>Her bodily sufferings continued to be extreme to the last, but were
+nothing in comparison to her mental agonies. What a condition of mind
+and body was hers! Every moment demanding something to cool her parched
+tongue, or to allay her fears, or to encourage her hopes.</p>
+
+<p>Never shall I forget the last night of painful and protracted suffering.
+The miserable woman who pretended to assist me in watching, had taken
+some stupefying potion, and I watched alone, as David expressed it,
+longing for the first ray of the morning. At length, the day dawned, and
+I was relieved by good old Mr. Moore. As he entered, I said to him,
+"Poor Juda is still living, and is a great sufferer; will you not pray
+for her?" He replied, "I come purpose pray with Juda." Then kneeling,
+prayed, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord God Almighty, we come to thee for this poor
+dying creature. Have mercy on her precious soul&mdash;Lord God, it will never
+die. Forgive her sins; oh, Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, <span class="smcap">TO-DAY, TO-DAY</span>; Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, for Christ's sake. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>This was indeed her dying day, and I could not but hope that this humble
+but pertinent prayer was prevalent with God.</p>
+
+<p>Very many times since then, as I have caught the first glimpse of day,
+have I said, This may prove my dying day, and prayed, Oh Lord, take the
+lead of my thoughts to-day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GOD IS FAITHFUL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"The fruits of maternal influence, well directed," said a good minister,
+"are peace, improvement, and often piety, in the nursery; but if the
+children of faithful mothers are not converted in early life, God is
+true to his promise and will remember his covenant, perhaps after those
+mothers sleep with the generations of their ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>"Several years since," that same minister stated, "he was in the
+Alms-house in Philadelphia, and was attracted to the bedside of a sick
+man, whom he found to be a happy Christian, having embraced the Gospel
+after he was brought, a stranger in a strange land, to that infirmary.
+Though religiously educated by a pious mother, he clandestinely left
+home at the age of ten years, and since that period&mdash;he was now forty,
+or more&mdash;had been wandering over the earth, regardless of the claims of
+God or the worth of his own soul.</p>
+
+<p>"In Philadelphia he was taken with a dangerous fever, and was brought to
+the place where I met him. There, on that bed of languishing, the scenes
+of his early childhood clustered around him, and among them the image of
+his mother was fairest and brightest, and in memory's vision she seemed
+to stand, as in former days, exhorting him to become the friend and
+disciple of the blessed Savior. The honeyed accents were irresistible.</p>
+
+<p>"Through the long lapse of thirty years&mdash;though she was now sleeping in
+the grave&mdash;her appeal came with force to break his flinty heart.</p>
+
+<p>"With no living Christian to direct him on that bed of sickness,
+remembering what his mother had told him one-third of a century before,
+he yielded to the claims of Jesus."</p>
+
+<p>Here the power and faithfulness of a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering
+God were exhibited. Here was a mother's influence crowned with a
+glorious conquest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>EXCERPTA.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">An American Home</span>.&mdash;The word Home we have obtained from the old
+Saxon tongue. Transport the word to Africa, China, Persia, Turkey or
+Russia, and it loses its meaning. Where is it but in our favored land
+that the father is allowed to pursue his own plan for the good of his
+family, and with his sons to labor in what profession he chooses and
+then enjoy the avails of his labor? The American Home is the abode of
+neatness, thrift and competence, not the wretched hut of the Greenlander
+or Caffrarian, or under-ground place of Kamschatka. The American Home is
+the house of intelligence; its inmates can read; they have the Bible;
+they can transmit thought. The American Home is the resting-place of
+contentment and peace; there is found mutual respect, untiring love and
+kindness; there, virtue claiming respect; there, the neighbor is
+regarded and prized; there, is safety; the daily worship; the principle
+of religion.</p>
+
+<p>Ten thousand good people noiselessly at work every day, making more firm
+all good felt at home or abroad, and fixing happiness and good
+institutions on a basis lasting as heaven.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Christian Union</span>.&mdash;In "D'Aubigne's Reformation" we find a short,
+beautiful sentiment on the subject of Christian Union. He says: "Truth
+may be compared to the light of the sun. The light comes from heaven
+colorless and ever the same; and yet it takes different hues on earth,
+varying according to the objects on which it falls. Thus different
+formularies may sometimes express the same Christian truth, viewed under
+different aspects. How dull would be this visible creation if all its
+boundless variety of shape and color were to give place to one unbroken
+uniformity? How melancholy would be its aspects, if all created beings
+did but compose a solitary and vast unity? The unity which comes from
+heaven, doubtless has its place; but the diversity of human nature has
+its proper place also. In religion we must neither leave out God nor
+man. Without <i>unity</i> your religion cannot be of God; without <i>diversity</i>
+it cannot be the religion of man, and it ought to be of both."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>ZIPPORAH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the mountainous and wild region which lies around Horeb and Sinai,
+were found, in the days of that Pharaoh, whose court was the home of
+Israel's law-giver, many descendants of Abraham, children of one of the
+sons which Keturah bore him in his old age. We know little of them, but
+here and there on the sacred page they are mentioned, and we gain brief
+glimpses of their character and of the estimation in which they were
+held by Jehovah. Like all the other nations, they were mostly idolaters,
+against whom He threatened vengeance for their inventions and
+abominations. But among them were found some families who evidently
+retained a knowledge of Abraham's God, and who, although they did not
+offer him a pure worship, "seem, nevertheless, to have been imbued with
+sentiments of piety, and intended to serve Him so far as they were
+acquainted with his character and requirements." For these, from time to
+time, a consecrated priest stood before the altar, offering sacrifices
+which were doubtless accepted in Heaven, since sincerity prompted, and
+the spirit of true obedience animated, the worshipers.</p>
+
+<p>In the family of this priest, who was also a prince among his people, a
+stranger was at one time found, who had suddenly appeared in Midian, and
+for a slight kindness shown to certain members of the household, had
+been invited to sojourn with them and make one of the domestic circle.
+He was an object of daily increasing interest to all around him. Whence
+had he come? Why was he thus apparently friendless and alone? Wherefore
+was his countenance sad and thoughtful; and his heart evidently so far
+away from present scenes? Seven sisters dwell beneath the paternal roof,
+and we can readily imagine the eagerness with which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> discussed
+these questions and watched the many interviews between him and their
+father, which seemed of a most important character. The result was not
+long kept from them. Moses was henceforth to perform what had been their
+daily task, and as his reward, was to sustain the relation of son,
+husband, and brother in the little circle. Zipporah, whether willingly
+or reluctantly we are not told, became the wife of the silent man, nor
+has he, in the record which he has left, given us any account of those
+forty years of quiet domestic life, watching his flocks amid the
+mountain solitudes, and in intercourse with the "priest of Midian," and
+taught of that God who chose him before all other men. As a familiar
+friend, he was daily learning lessons of mighty wisdom, and gaining that
+surpassing excellence of character which has made his name immortal. Was
+the wife whom he had chosen the worthy daughter of her father, and a fit
+companion for such a husband? Did they take sweet counsel together, and
+could she share his noble thoughts? Did she listen with tearful eyes to
+his account of the woes of his people, and rejoice with him in view of
+the glorious scenes of deliverance which he anticipated? Did she
+appreciate the sublime beauties which so captivated and enthralled his
+soul as he pored over the pages of that wonderful poem which portrays
+the afflictions of the man of Uz? Did she worship and love the God of
+their common father with the same humility and faith? We cannot answer
+one of the many questions which arise in our minds. All we know is, that
+Zipporah was Moses's wife, and the mother of Moses's sons, and we feel
+that hers was a favorite lot, and involuntarily yield her the respect
+which her station would demand.</p>
+
+<p>Silently the appointed years sped. The great historian found in them no
+event bearing upon the interests of the kingdom of God, worthy of note,
+and our gleanings are small. At their close he was again found in close
+consultation with Jethro, and with his consent, and in obedience to the
+divine mandate, the exile once more turned his steps toward the land of
+his birth. Zipporah and their sons, with asses and attendants,
+accompanied him, and their journey was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> apparently prosperous until near
+its close, when a strange and startling providence arrested them.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> An
+alarming disease seized upon Gershom, the eldest son, and at the same
+time intimations not to be mistaken convinced his parents that it was
+sent in token of divine displeasure for long-neglected duty. God's eye
+is ever on his children, and though He is forbearing, He will not
+forever spare the chastening rod, if they live on in disobedience to his
+commands. Both Moses and Zipporah knew what was the appointed seal of
+God's covenant with Abraham, and we cannot understand why they so long
+deferred including their children in that covenant. We do not know how
+many times conscience may have rebuked them, nor what privileges they
+forfeited, but we are sure they were not blessed as faithful servants
+are. Now there was no delaying longer. The proof of God's disapprobation
+was not to be mistaken, and they could not hesitate if they would
+preserve the life of their child. "There is doubtless something
+abhorrent to our ideas of propriety in a mother's performing this rite
+upon an adult son," for Gershom was at this time probably more than
+thirty years of age, but we must ever bear in mind that she was
+complying with "a divine requisition," and among a people, and in a
+state of society whose sentiments and usages were very different from
+ours. Her duty performed, she solemnly admonished Gershom that he was
+now espoused to the Lord by this significant rite, and that this bloody
+seal should ever remind him of the sacred relation. The very moment
+neglected obligations are cheerfully assumed, that moment does God smile
+upon his child. He accepts and upbraids not. The frown which but now
+threatened precious life has fled, and children rejoice in new found
+peace, and in that peculiar outflowing of tenderness, humility, and love
+which ever follows upon repentance, reparation and forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p>For some reason, to us wholly inexplicable, Moses seems to have sent his
+family back to the home which they had just left, before reaching Egypt,
+and they resided with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> Jethro until the tribes, having passed through
+all the tribulations which had been prophesied for them, made their
+triumphant exodus from the land of bondage and encamped at the foot of
+Sinai. Jethro, who seems to have taken a deep interest in the mission of
+Moses, immediately on hearing of their arrival, took his daughter and
+her sons to rejoin the husband and father from whom they had been long
+separated. Touching and delightful was the re-union, and we love to
+linger over the few days which Zipporah's father spent with her in this
+their last interview on earth. The aged man listened with wonder and joy
+to the recital of all that Jehovah had wrought. He found his faith
+confirmed and his soul strengthened, and doubtless felt it a great
+privilege to leave his child among those who were so evidently under the
+protection of the Almighty, and before whom he constantly walked in the
+pillar of fire and cloud. With a father's care and love, he gave such
+counsel as he saw his son-in-law needed, and after uniting with the
+elders in solemn sacrifice and worship, in which he assumed his priestly
+office, he departed to his own land. We seem to see Zipporah, as with
+tearful eyes she watched his retreating footsteps, and felt that she
+should see her father's face no more on earth. Not without fearful
+struggles are the ties which bind a daughter to her parents sundered,
+though as a wife she cleaves to her husband, and strives for his sake to
+repress her tears and hide the anguish she cannot subdue. One comfort,
+however, remained to Zipporah. Soothingly fell on her ear the invitation
+of her husband to her brother, the companion of her childhood, "We are
+journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you:
+Come thou with us and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken
+good concerning Israel." Deprecatingly she doubtless looked upon him, as
+he answered, "I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to
+my kindred;" and united in the urgent entreaty, "Leave us not, I pray
+thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness,
+and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." With her husband and brother
+near, on whom to lean, she must have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> cheered, and the bitterness
+of her final separation from home alleviated.</p>
+
+<p>Feelings of personal joy or grief were soon, however, banished from her
+mind by the mighty wonders which were displayed in the desert, and by
+the absorbing scenes which transpired while Israel received the law, and
+were prepared to pursue their way to Canaan. Of her after history we
+gather little, and the time of her death is not mentioned. One
+affliction, not uncommon in this evil world, fell to her lot. Her
+husband's family were unfriendly and unkind to her, and she was the
+occasion of their reproach and ridicule. But she was happy in being the
+wife of one meek above all the men upon the earth, and she was
+vindicated by God himself. What were her hopes in prospect of seeing the
+promised land, in common with all the nation, or whether she lived to
+hear the terrible command of God to Moses, "Avenge Israel of the
+Midianites," we do not know. The slaughter of her people may have caused
+her many a pang, and she probably went to her rest long before the weary
+forty years were ended. She has a name and a place on the sacred
+page,&mdash;she was a wife and mother,&mdash;and though hers is a brief memorial,
+yet, if we have been led to study the word of God more earnestly,
+because we would fain learn more concerning her, that memorial is not
+useless.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>BROTHERLY LOVE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+honor preferring one another."</p></div>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Continued from page <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.)</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>I remarked that this precept was important in the heads of families, in
+regulating their intercourse with each other, as well as that between
+themselves and their children. I take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> it for granted that there is in
+truth no want of real affection and regard between husband and wife, and
+yet there may be, in their treatment of each other, frequent violations
+of the duty of kindly affection. The merely outward manner is indeed
+never as important as the real feeling, but it always will be regarded
+more or less as the indication of the real feeling, and parents should
+never forget, that in their children they have most observant and
+reflecting minds; and you may rest assured that the parental cords are
+loosed most sadly when the child is led to remark that his parents do
+not cordially harmonize. Nay, more, if those parents be Christians, such
+conduct throws a shade of doubt over their Christian character. There
+were both force and sincerity in the remark of the man who, when the
+reality of his religion was questioned, replied: "If you doubt whether I
+am a changed man, go and ask my wife." I fear that many a professing
+Christian could not stand this test; he could appeal with confidence to
+the testimony of his church, and receive the most favorable answer, but
+could he appeal with the same confidence to the testimony of his home,
+of one who knows him best? Is his intercourse with them whom he truly
+loves best, always regulated by the law of that kindly affection which
+religion imperatively demands, nay, which good sense and common humanity
+require? Many a man will speak at times to his wife in a most unkind and
+even uncourteous manner, in a manner in which he would not dare to speak
+to any one else; I know he may not mean unkindness, but is it not a
+wrong? I say nothing of its unchristianness; is it not a wrong done to
+her who loves him more than she does all the world, to treat her far
+more uncourteously than the world would do?</p>
+
+<p>Is it not shameful that she who has borne all the pain, and care, and
+anxiety, and burden of his children, should ever have an unkind word or
+look from him? Nay, is it not a meanness, an entirely unchristian
+meanness, that a husband should presume upon the very loveliness of his
+wife, upon the very affections of her pure heart, to treat her thus
+rudely? And is it not as cowardly as it is mean, thus to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> act towards
+one whose only defense is in himself? I say cowardly, for were many a
+husband to speak, and to act towards another woman as he allows himself
+to do and to speak towards his own wife, he would not always escape the
+punishment due his ungentlemanly conduct. Let us, who are husbands and
+wives, endeavor all of us to be on the watch in this thing; and let it
+be our rule to treat no one in the world more kindly or more politely
+than we do our own wives and our own husbands. Not long since, at the
+bedside of a dying wife, I heard a husband, with quivering lip and
+tearful eye, say, "Beloved wife, forgive me, if I have ever treated you
+unkindly." If you would be saved from the anguish of ever feeling that
+you needed forgiveness from the dying lips of your dearest earthly ones,
+be kindly affectioned, therefore, one to another.</p>
+
+<p>Let us, in the next place, seek to apply this direction to the
+intercourse of brothers and sisters. No association of beings on earth
+can be more interesting than that of the family; there are found the
+tenderest sympathies and the most endearing relations. There the painter
+seeks for the sweetest scenes by which to exhibit his art, and the poet
+finds the inspiration which gives melody to his song. The highest praise
+which we can give to any other association of men, whether in church or
+state, is to say that they dwell together as a family; and cold and hard
+indeed must be that heart which does not sympathize and rejoice in
+family ties. In nothing short of the developments made in the cross of
+Jesus do the wisdom and love of God towards our race shine more
+conspicuously than they do in this grouping us in families. The result
+has been, that society has been preserved, even though the authority of
+God has been condemned; and even the annals of heathenism afford us very
+many displays of those kindly feelings, which adorn and beautify human
+nature. These would not have existed, had not the heart been cultivated
+in the family; and where religious principle is added as the guiding
+influence of the circle, the family becomes the nursery of all that is
+great and good in our nature, it becomes the very type and antepast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> of
+heaven. Now, the great development of this religious principle would
+chiefly show itself in obedience to the apostolic injunction in the
+precept, "Be kindly affectioned, one to another, with brotherly love; in
+honor preferring one another." I do not, however, so much seek just now
+to urge upon the members of the family the existence of kind feelings,
+for I take it for granted that in obedience to the call of nature, and
+the ties of blood, these feelings are already in existence; but what I
+desire to present is the duty of always making these feelings apparent
+in common intercourse, for just in proportion to the neglect of this, is
+the family influence on the happiness of its members affected. If you
+would combine the greatest possible elements of unhappiness you could
+not imagine any which would surpass that of a family of brothers and
+sisters, hating each other, yet compelled to live together as a family,
+where no word of kindness passes from one to the other, where no act of
+kindness draws out the affections, where the success of one only excites
+the envy of the others; no smile lights up the countenance; no gladness
+found in each other's society, the aim of each to thwart and annoy the
+other. In such dwellings there would be no light, no peace, no joy, no
+pleasant sounds. Indeed such a picture does not belong to even our
+fallen world, it is the description of the misery of the lost. A
+picture, perhaps, of a family in hell. The further, therefore, from
+this, my friends, that you can remove your own family, the greater will
+be your own happiness and comfort, and you must remember that the
+responsibility of this rests upon each one of you individually. Let your
+brother or sister never receive an unkind, unbrotherly or unsisterly
+act, never perceive an unaffectionate look, nor experience an
+uncourteous neglect, and you will do very much towards making your
+family the abode of as perfect peace as can be enjoyed upon earth, and
+cause it to present the loveliest and most attractive scene this side of
+heaven. Now, I will freely acknowledge that in urging this duty upon
+brothers and sisters, I am setting you upon no easy work; I know that it
+will require often much self-denial, much restraint in word and deed,
+but the gain will far more than repay the struggle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE FAMILY PROMISE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY JOSEPH M'CARRELL, D.D.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar
+off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. From the beginning of
+the creation God has dealt with man as a social being. He made them a
+male and a female, and the first institution in innocence and in Eden,
+was marriage. In his dealings with Adam, God deals with the race. He
+made with them his covenant when he made it with Him. Hence, by the
+disobedience of one, many were made sinners; in Adam all die. With Noah
+he made a covenant never to drown the world again by the waters of a
+flood. This promise belongs to the children of Noah, the human race.</p>
+
+<p>To Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Almighty God said, "I will
+establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
+their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee
+and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17:7.) In token of this covenant,
+Abraham was circumcised, and his family, and his posterity, at eight
+days old. This principle of the ecclesiastical unity of the many, this
+family, is continued under the new dispensation of the covenant, and
+distinctly announced in the memorable sermon of Peter, on the day of
+Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission
+of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the
+promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
+even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:38, 39.)
+Accordingly, when Lydia believed she was baptized, and her household;
+and when the jailor believed he was baptized, he and his, straightway.
+(Acts 16.) And so clearly was this principle established, that it
+extends to the children of parents of whom one only is in the covenant;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+"for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
+unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children
+unclean, but now are they holy." (1 Cor. 7:14.) The first mother derived
+her personal name from this great principle. Under the covenant of works
+her name is simply the feminine form of the man, &#1488;&#1513;&#1492; the woman,
+from &#1488;&#1513; the man. But when, in the awful darkness which
+followed the fall, the first light broke upon the ruined race, in the
+grand comprehensive promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the
+woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head and
+thou shalt bruise his heel," it was promised that she should be the
+mother of a Savior who should destroy the grand adversary of man, though
+he himself should suffer in his inferior nature in the eventful
+conflict. In view of this great honor, that she should be the mother,
+according to the flesh, of the living Savior, and all that should live
+by his mediation and grace, Adam called his wife's name Eve, &#1495;&#1493;&#1492;,
+because she was the mother of all living, &#1495;&#1497;. (Gen.
+3:20.) The family identity, established at the beginning of the
+dispensation of grace, and continued to the end of divine revelation
+without the least shadow of change, gives to Christian parents their
+grand encouragement and constraining motive to seek the salvation of the
+children whom God hath given them. His former respects, first,
+themselves, and then their children, as part of themselves. As it is
+necessary that they should believe the promise to themselves, in order
+that they may enjoy it; so they must believe the promise respecting
+their children, in order that the children may enjoy the blessing. And
+as they must prove the reality of their faith in the promise which
+respects themselves by their works, so they must prove the reality of
+their faith in the promise which respects their children by the faithful
+discharge of the duties which they owe to God in their behalf. Fathers,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
+admonition of the Lord. Train up a child in the way he should go, and
+when he is old he will not depart from it.</p>
+
+<p>A soldier is not trained for the service of his country or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> the field of
+battle by a few lectures on the art of war. He must be drilled,
+practiced, in the very things which he must do upon the field of blood.
+So the children of believers, who are to take the places of their
+fathers and mothers in the grand warfare against Satan, the world, and
+the flesh, must be practiced in these very truths, and graces, and
+duties which they must labor and do, that they may be saved and be
+instrumental in extending that kingdom which is righteousness and peace
+and joy in the Holy Ghost, to the end of the earth and to the end of
+time. Let Christian parents make full proof of the family promise, use
+it in their prayers at the Throne of grace, cling to it as the anchor of
+their hope for those who are as dear to them as their own lives, and
+prove the sincerity of their prayers by unmeasured diligence in
+instruction and parental authority and influence, and a holy example. It
+was a high commendation of Abraham, in whose seed shall all the families
+of the earth be blessed, that He who is the fountain of honor and
+blessing should say, "I know Abraham, that he will command his children,
+and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to
+do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing
+that he hath spoken of him." If you would not that the blood of souls
+should be found in your skirts at the last day, and that the souls of
+your own children, plead incessantly the family promise, plead it in
+faith, approved by diligence and a holy example, not only point the road
+to heaven, but lead the way. So shall each Christian parent say to the
+Redeemer, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired
+in all that believe, Here am I, Lord, and the children which thou hast
+given me. Let children of Christian parents plead the promise made on
+their behalf. It has kept the true religion from becoming extinct; it
+will yet fill the earth with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
+the sea. Plead it for yourselves and show your faith in it by giving
+yourselves up to Emanuel, the great high priest of our profession, as
+free-will offerings in the day of his power, as his progeny, whom he
+will adorn with the beauties of holiness, as the dew from the womb of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+the morning, when reflecting the light of the sun refracts the prismatic
+colors. Say with David, "I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid,
+and therefore belonging to His household, to serve Him, to glorify Him,
+to enjoy Him forever." But beware, on the peril of your souls, how you
+<i>abuse</i> your relation to the family of God. Think not in your hearts we
+have Abraham to our father; make not the holy promise, nor its holy
+author, a minister of sin, an apology for unbelief and all ungodliness.
+Wilt thou not at this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of
+my youth? Hear, believe, plead and obey the gracious word. "I will pour
+water upon him that is thirsty, and upon the dry ground. I will pour my
+Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they
+shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses; one
+shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name
+of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and
+surname himself by the name of Israel."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE PROMISE FULFILLED.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+them alive."</p></div>
+
+
+<p>How often has this promise been offered in the prayer of faith at the
+mercy-seat, and proved a spring of consolation to the heart of a pious
+widowed mother! In the desolation caused by the death of the husband and
+father, who was the helper, counselor, and guardian in reference to
+spiritual as well as temporal interests, and in the deepened sense of
+parental responsibility in the charge now singly resting upon her, how
+often and readily does the widow cast herself upon the sure and precious
+promise of the covenant, "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after
+thee." In the faith of this her heart imbibes comfort, her prayers
+become enlarged and constant, and her efforts become wisely directed,
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> steadily exerted, in behalf of the spiritual interests of her
+children. When we carefully observe such cases, we shall find proof that
+the blessing of the God of grace peculiarly rests upon the household of
+the pious and faithful widow. God, in the truth and promises of his
+Word, takes peculiar notice of the widow and the orphan, and his
+providence works in harmony with his word. The importance and efficiency
+of maternal influence in every sphere of its exercise cannot be too
+highly estimated, but nowhere does it possess such touching interest, or
+such high promise, as the scene of widowhood. How would faith, laying
+hold upon the truth of the following promise, and securing its proper
+influence in all appropriate labors, realize the fulfillment of the
+blessing: "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that
+is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not
+depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
+the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and
+forever." Isaiah 59:21.</p>
+
+<p>These remarks receive a new confirmation in the case of the recent
+deaths of two young sons of <span class="smcap">Mrs. Jane Hunt</span>, widow of the late
+Rev. Christopher Hunt, pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Franklin
+street, in this city. They died within eight days of each other, the
+elder, <i>De Witt</i>, in his twentieth year, on the 19th of January, and the
+younger, <i>Joseph Scudder</i>, in his sixteenth year, on the 11th January,
+both of pulmonary disease. Their father, the Rev. Mr. Hunt, was a
+faithful and successful minister of Christ, much beloved by the people
+of his pastoral charge. The writer of this well remembers a sermon
+preached by him at the close of a series of services in the visitation
+of the Reformed Dutch churches of this city, which was solemn and
+impressive, from the text, "There is but a step between me and death."
+This was in January, 1839. At this time the seeds of disease (perhaps
+unconsciously to himself) were springing up within him, and after a few
+more services in his church, he was confined to his house, and lingered
+until the following May. His soul was firm in faith and full of peace,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+on his sick and dying bed. He committed them, again and again, to the
+care and faithfulness of their covenant God, and felt that therein he
+left them the best of legacies, whatever they might want of what the
+world could give. At the time of his decease, they had four children,
+the youngest of whom was three weeks old. The two oldest were the sons
+to whose deaths we are now adverting. The two youngest (daughters) are
+surviving. The elder son was seven years old at his father's death. The
+responsible trust of rearing these children for Christ and heaven was
+thus cast upon the widowed mother. Mrs. Hunt is the daughter of the late
+Joseph Scudder, of Monmouth, N.J., and sister of the venerable,
+long-tried, and devoted missionary, Rev. Dr. John Scudder, now in India.
+Brought up under the influences and associations of piety, she was early
+brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ, and a profession of faith
+in Him within the church. The consistency and ripeness of her piety has
+been evinced in the different spheres and relations of life where
+Providence placed her. With the infant children cast upon her care, at
+the death of her husband, she plied herself with toilful industry to
+provide for them, while her soul was ever intent upon their early
+conversion to Christ. She aimed to give these sons such a course of
+education as would, under God's sanctifying blessing, prepare them to
+engage in the work of the ministry, perhaps the missionary service. She
+had the gratification of seeing them as they grew up evincing
+thoughtfulness of mind, amiableness of spirit, and correctness of
+conduct, and by an affectionate spirit, and ready obedience,
+contributing to her comfort. At the time of his death, De Witt was in
+the Junior class, and Joseph had just entered the Freshman class, and
+there had gained a good distinction for study and scholarship, and drawn
+forth the respect and affection of their instructors and
+fellow-students. While pursuing his own studies, the elder brother led
+on the younger brother at home, and it is believed that by his close
+application he hastened the bringing on of his disease. In addition to
+this, the mother's heart was yearning for the proofs of their having
+given their hearts to God. Attentive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> as they were to divine truth in
+the sanctuary and Sabbath-school, in the reading of it at home, and
+careful in forming associations favorable to piety, she yet looked
+beyond these to their full embrace of, and dedication to, the Savior.
+How mysterious is that dispensation which, at this interesting period,
+when these only two sons were moulding their characters for life opening
+before them; and when they seemed to be preparing to realize a mother's
+hope, and reward a mother's prayers, and toils, and anxieties, they
+should, both together, within a few days of each other be removed from
+time to eternity. But in the circumstances and issues of their sickness
+and death we find an explanation of this apparent mystery by the
+satisfactory evidence they afforded of their being prepared by an early
+death to be translated to the blissful worship and service of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Previous to a brief sketch of the sick-bed and dying scene of these dear
+youths, a circumstance may be adverted to, beautifully and strongly
+illustrative of the value and efficacy of the prayer of faith. Rev. Dr.
+Scudder, in his appeals, has frequently and ardently pressed upon
+parents the importance of the duty of seeking the early conversion of
+their children, and their consecration to the service of the Savior.
+With his heart intent upon this duty in the spirit of continued
+believing intercession, God has signally blessed him in his own large
+family of children in their early conversion to Christ, and in the
+training of his sons for the foreign missionary service in which he is
+himself engaged. Two of his sons are now engaged in that service; one
+training for it some time since entered into the heavenly rest, and
+others are now in preparation for it. On the 12th of November last,
+1851, Dr. S. addressed a letter from Madura, in India, to his nephew, De
+Witt Hunt. So remarkable is this letter, not only in the matter it
+contains, and spirit it breathes, but also in the fulfillment of the
+prayers it refers to, as the end of the two months stipulated found De
+Witt brought into the hope and liberty of the Gospel, on the very verge
+of his removal to heaven, that we make the following copious extracts
+from it:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"My dear Nephew,&mdash;My daughter Harriet received your letter by the last
+steamer. I have not the least evidence from the letter that you love the
+Savior, for you do not even refer to him. On this account I may perhaps
+be warranted in coming to the conclusion that he is not much in your
+thoughts. Be this, however, as it may, I have become so much alarmed
+about your spiritual condition as to make it a special subject of
+prayer, or to set you apart for this purpose; and I design, God willing,
+to pray for you in a special manner until about the time when this shall
+reach you, that is, about two months. After that I can make no promise
+that I shall pray for you any further than I may pray for my friends in
+general. I have now set apart a little season to pray for you and to
+write to you. Do you wonder at this? Has it never occurred to you as <i>a
+very strange thing</i> that others should be so much concerned in you,
+while you are unconcerned for yourself? I can explain the mystery. Your
+friends have seen you, and your uncle, among the rest, has seen you
+walking on the pit of destruction, on a rotten covering, as it were,
+liable at every moment to fall through it, and drop into everlasting
+burnings. <i>This</i> you have not seen, and therefore you have remained
+careless and indifferent. Whether this carelessness and indifference
+will continue I know not. All that I can say is, that I am greatly
+alarmed for you. It is no small thing for you to trample under foot the
+blood of Christ for eighteen years. Justly might the Savior say of you,
+as he said of his people of old, 'Ephraim is joined to idols, let him
+alone.' Your treatment of the blessed Savior is what grieves me to the
+heart. What has He not done to serve you? Were you to fall into a well,
+and a stranger should run to your help and take you out, that stranger
+should forever afterwards be esteemed as your chief friend. Nothing
+could be too much for you to do for him. Of nothing would you be more
+cautious than of grieving him. And has Christ come down from heaven to
+save you? Has He died for you? Has He shed his very blood for you that
+you might be delivered from the worm that dieth not, and the fire which
+is never quenched? And can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> you be so wicked as not to love Him? My dear
+nephew, this will not do; it <i>must</i> not do. You must alter your course.
+But I will stop writing for a moment and kneel down and entreat God's
+mercy for <i>you</i>. I will endeavor to present the sacrifice of the
+Redeemer at the Throne of grace, and see if I cannot, for this
+sacrifice' sake, call down the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon you."</p>
+
+<p>As a remarkable coincidence evidencing an answer to earnest believing
+prayer, this letter found both the nephews drawing near to their eternal
+state. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the end of the two
+stipulated months for special daily prayer in his behalf, found De Witt
+brought into the light and liberty of the Gospel, rejoicing in his
+Savior.</p>
+
+<p>A few incidents occurring in the progress of the sickness, and during
+the death-bed scene, will now be adverted to; and as the death of
+<span class="smcap">Joseph</span> took place first, I shall first allude to his case. He
+was in his fifteenth year, and last fall, in September, entered the
+Freshman class in the New York University. He had been characterized
+from childhood for an amiable and docile spirit, filial kindness and
+obedience, and correctness of deportment. His mind opened to religious
+instruction in the family and Sabbath-school. He loved the Bible, and it
+is believed was observant of the habit of prayer. It was the anxious
+prayer, and assiduous labor of his pious mother that all this might be
+crowned with the saving knowledge of Christ as his Redeemer. He took a
+cold soon after entering the University which at first excited no alarm,
+but it was soon accompanied with hectic fever, which made rapid
+progress, and gave indications that his death was not remote. In the
+early part of November, their mother, realizing these indications, and
+also the precarious state of De Witt's health, who had been afflicted
+with a cough during the whole of the preceding year, which had been
+slowly taking root, and now furnished sad forebodings of the issue,
+plied her labors with greater earnestness for their spiritual welfare.
+The visits and conversations of Rev. Mr. Carpenter were most acceptable
+and blessed after this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> period. I shall here make extracts from some
+notes and reminiscences furnished me by the mother: "The evening of
+Sabbath, November 16, was a solemn one to myself and sons. We spent the
+time alone; I entreating them to yield their hearts unto God, <i>they</i> in
+listening to the words of their mother as though they felt and
+understood their import. I begged them not to be wearied with my
+importunity, and wearied they had been had they not cared for the things
+belonging to their everlasting peace. I knew not how to part with them
+that night until they should yield themselves, body, soul and spirit, to
+Whom they had been invited often to go." After this, Joseph's disease
+rapidly advanced, and the physicians pronounced his case hopeless. He
+was throughout meek, quiet, patient. Mrs. Hunt again writes: "Sabbath
+morning, November 30, I endeavored to entreat God to make this the
+spiritual birthday of my children. I was with Joseph in the morning,
+reading and conversing with him. In the afternoon I urged him to go to
+Christ just as he was, feeling his own nothingness, and casting himself
+upon His mercy. He replied, in a low, solemn voice, 'I have tried to go
+many times, but I want faith to believe I shall be accepted.' After a
+few minutes he said, 'Sometimes I think I shall be, and sometimes that I
+shall not be.' Again, there was a pause and waiting, and then his gentle
+voice was heard saying, 'I can give my heart to the Savior.' Truly did I
+bless God for his loving kindness and tender mercy." It is worthy of
+observation, that the evening before, Saturday, a small number of pious
+young men of their acquaintance met for special prayer on behalf of
+Joseph, De Witt, and another young man very ill. I continue to quote
+Mrs. H.: "On Friday night, the 2d of January, I asked him in regard to
+his feelings. He replied, 'I pray that I may give myself away to Christ,
+and He may be with me when I pass through the valley of the shadow of
+death.' I remarked, then, Joseph, you want to enter the heavenly Canaan,
+to praise Him, and cast your crown at his feet. He said, 'Yes, to put on
+the robe of righteousness.' On Wednesday night, January 7, he was
+restless. After he awoke<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> on Thursday morning, I said to him, Joseph,
+try now to compose yourself to prayer; to which he assented and closed
+his eyes. During the day he remarked to me, 'I prayed for the teachings
+of God's Holy Spirit that I might be made wise unto salvation; that he
+would lift upon me the light of his countenance, and uphold me with his
+free Spirit; give me more light that I may tell around what a precious
+Savior I have found. I say, Precious Savior, wash me in thine own blood,
+and make me one of thine own children. I come to thee just as I am, a
+poor sinner.'" On Wednesday, the day before De Witt received the letter
+from his uncle, Dr. Scudder, before referred to and quoted. "Joseph
+wished me to read it to him, which I did. After I had finished, he
+remarked, 'Before Uncle Scudder prays for me all his prayers will be
+fulfilled,' but afterwards added, 'he thought his uncle would now be
+praying for him, and sending a letter to him.'" After this he grew
+weaker and weaker, and continued peacefully and patiently to wait his
+coming death, giving expressions of fond attachment to his mother, in
+acknowledgment of her pious care. On Saturday he was visited, as he lay
+very low, by Rev. Mr. C., who held a plain and satisfactory conversation
+with him. Passages of Scripture and hymns were read to him, which gave
+him pleasure, and to the import of which he responded. He expressed to
+him the blessed hope of soon reaching heaven. He sank during the night,
+and died at half-past one o'clock, of the morning of the blessed day of
+the Lord, January 11, 1852, surrounded by weeping but comforted
+Christian friends. T.D.W.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#Page_145">TO BE CONTINUED</a>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p>John Newton one day called upon a family whose house and goods had been
+destroyed by fire. He found its pious mistress in tears. Said he,
+"Madam, I give you joy." Surprised and almost offended, she exclaimed,
+"What! joy that all my property is consumed?" "I give you joy," he
+replied, "that you have so much property that no fire can touch."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE BENEFITS OF BAPTISM.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. WM. BANNARD.</h3>
+
+
+<p><i>Son.</i>&mdash;Father, how do you reconcile the distinction which the apostle
+Paul makes in 1 Cor. 7:14, between children as "holy" and "unclean,"
+with the fact that all the descendants of Adam inherit a corrupt nature?</p>
+
+<p><i>Father.</i>&mdash;The distinction is not moral, but federal or ecclesiastical.
+The apostle is speaking, you perceive, of the children of believers and
+unbelievers. The one, he says, are "holy," the other "unclean." But he
+does not mean by this that the children of pious parents are by nature
+different from others, or that, unlike them, they are not tainted with
+evil. He means that they stand in a different relation to God and his
+church. "<i>Holy</i>," in Scripture, means primarily "set apart or
+consecrated to a sacred use." Thus, the temple at Jerusalem, its altar,
+vessels and priests, were holy. The Jews themselves, as a people, were
+in covenant with God. They belonged to him, were set apart to his
+service, and in this sense "<i>holy</i>." Now, the apostle is to be
+understood as teaching that children of believing parents, under the
+Gospel, are allowed to participate in this heritage of God's ancient
+people, and hence are holy.</p>
+
+<p><i>Son.</i>&mdash;But how can this be?</p>
+
+<p><i>Father.</i>&mdash;I will tell you, briefly, though I cannot now go into detail.
+In virtue, then, of their parents' faith in God's covenant, into which
+he entered with Abraham, and through him with all believing parents,
+their children, also, are brought into covenant with him and entitled to
+its privileges and blessings. They are set apart and given to him by
+their parents when they are sealed with the seal of his covenant in
+baptism. In this manner, and in this sense, they become "<i>holy</i>."</p>
+
+<p><i>Son.</i>&mdash;In what sense are all others "<i>unclean</i>?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>Father</i>.&mdash;The children of unbelievers are "unclean" because they
+sustain no such relation to God. They have not been consecrated to him
+by their parents' faith in offering them to him in the ordinance of
+baptism, and are not interested, therefore, in the provisions or
+benefits of the Abrahamic covenant. They have, moreover, no special
+relation to the church; no more title to its immunities, deeper interest
+in its regards, than the children of the heathen. They may, indeed, when
+they reach a suitable age, hear the Gospel, and upon repentance and
+faith, be admitted to its ordinances, but they have no <i>special</i> claim
+upon its care, or right to its prayers and nurture.</p>
+
+<p><i>Son.</i>&mdash;But, after all, is not this relation one of mere name or form?
+Has it any positive or practical benefits?</p>
+
+<p><i>Father.</i>&mdash;It is, indeed, too often disregarded, yet it is positive in
+its character and fraught with striking benefits. If you will give me
+your attention I will state a few of the benefits which accrue to
+children from this relation. You, then, my son, and all children of
+believing parents who have been consecrated to God in baptism, are
+considered as thereby belonging to Him. You are set apart to his
+service, in a sense that others are not, and consequently are "<i>holy</i>."
+In this solemn dedication, your parents professed their faith in the
+triune God, and their desire that you should be his servants. They took
+him to be your God according to the terms of his covenant; they desired
+that you might be engrafted into Christ, and claimed for you the promise
+of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and sanctify you. Now this, in itself,
+is an unspeakable blessing. On their part it was an act of faith and
+obedience. In compliance with the divine direction, they claimed for
+themselves and for you a privilege which has been the birthright of the
+church in all ages. They commended you in the most solemn manner to
+God&mdash;the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, a covenant-keeping God,
+who is rich in mercy, infinite in resources, and who has promised "to be
+a God <i>to thee and to thy seed after thee</i>." It <i>is</i> an unspeakable
+blessing to be thus placed under his protection, to be brought within
+the bonds of his covenant, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> to be entitled to that pledge of mercy
+which he has made "unto thousands of them that love him and keep his
+commandments." If it were a privilege for children to be brought to
+Christ to receive his blessing while he was on earth, equally is it a
+privilege to be brought to him now that he is exalted to the majesty on
+high, and "able," as then, "to save unto the uttermost." Though God has
+a regard for all his creatures, both his word and providence assure us
+he has a special interest in his people. His language is, "Jacob have I
+loved, and Israel have I chosen." His elect are those in whom he
+delights. Their names are in his book of life. "All things" are
+overruled for their good. They are regarded with more than maternal
+tenderness, for though a mother forget her infant child, God will not
+forget his people. <i>And in this affection their children share.</i>
+Repeated instances are given in which the offspring of believers, though
+wicked, were spared for the <i>sake of their parents</i>. The descendants of
+David were not utterly banished from the throne for generations, <i>for
+their father's sake</i>. Of Israel it was said, when oppressed for their
+sins by Hazael, King of Syria, "the Lord had compassion and respect unto
+them, because of <i>his covenant</i> with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
+would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet."
+Even since they have rejected and crucified their Messiah, there is a
+remnant of them left, according to the election of grace, who are
+"<i>beloved for their father's sake</i>." The children of the covenant do
+unquestionably receive manifold temporal and spiritual mercies, and to
+this more than anything else on earth, it may be, they are indebted for
+their present and eternal well-being. They are not forgotten when those
+who bore them to God's altar, and dedicated them to him in faith, have
+passed away. When father or mother forsake, or are called from them, the
+Lord shall take them up. Though they stray from the fold of the good
+Shepherd, and seem to wander beyond the reach of mercy, often, very
+often, does His grace reclaim and make them the monuments of his
+forgiving love. This covenant-relation is indeed one whose benefits we
+cannot here fully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> estimate, for they can be known only when the secret
+dealings of God are revealed, and we are permitted to trace their
+bearing upon an eternal destiny. They do not secure salvation in every
+instance, but who shall say they would not obtain even that blessing
+were they never perverted, and were parent and children alike faithful
+to the responsibilities they involve?</p>
+
+<p><i>Son.</i>&mdash;These are, indeed, great benefits, but are there any other?</p>
+
+<p><i>Father.</i>&mdash;Yes; besides sustaining this marked and honored relation to
+God, the baptized sustain a different relation to his church from that
+of others. They are members of the visible church. Their names are
+enrolled among God's preferred people. They have a place in the
+sanctuary of which David sung, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord
+of hosts." Nor is <i>this relation</i> without its benefits. They are brought
+thereby within the supervision and nurture of the church. They become
+the subjects of her care, instruction and discipline. In addition to
+household privileges, to the prayers, examples and labors of pious
+parents, they have a special claim to the prayers and efforts of the
+church. They are remembered as "the sons and daughters of Zion." "For
+them the public prayer is made." They can be interceded for not only as
+needing the grace of God, but as authorized to expect it in virtue of
+their covenant with him. With all faith and hope may they be brought to
+the throne of mercy as those of whom God has said, "<i>I will be their
+God.</i>" They may claim, too, as they ought to receive, a special
+solicitude on the part of ministers, officers and members of the church,
+in their instruction, and in the tender interest which those of the same
+body should feel in each other. They are to be watched over, sought out
+and cared for in private and in public; to be borne with in their
+weakness and reclaimed in their wanderings. They are "Lambs" of the
+flock, dear to the good Shepherd, and to be loved and labored for,
+therefore, for his sake. Though they become openly wicked it is not
+beyond the province of the church to rebuke them for their sins, warn
+them of their danger, and by all the moral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> means in her power to seek
+for their reformation. And these considerations are fraught with
+benefit. It was the lament of one of old, a lament that may be taken up
+by numbers in our day&mdash;"No man careth for my soul." But the church does
+care for the souls of her baptized children. She recognizes them as
+within her pale, provides in her standards for their nurture, and though
+not faultless in her treatment of them, she does seek their improvement,
+through the influence of her ministers, and by urging upon parents their
+responsibility.&mdash;There is in these facts, moreover, a tendency to draw
+them to the church, to bring them within hearing of the Gospel and
+within the scope of its ordinances. They will be attracted to the
+sanctuary of their fathers and attached to the faith and worship of
+those among whom they have been solemnly dedicated to God. How often in
+after years do we in fact see them coming themselves and esteeming it a
+privilege to bring their own children to receive, as they have received,
+the seal of the covenant!&mdash;The baptized are, further, candidates for all
+the immunities of Christ's house. They may come to the Lord's table as
+soon as they have attained to the requisite knowledge and piety. It is a
+distinguished honor, and exalted privilege, to be a guest at Christ's
+table, to partake of that feast which is a type of the marriage supper
+of the Lamb, and to this they are invited whenever they are ready
+publicly to avow their faith and love as his professed disciples. They
+are for the present excluded, as children in their minority are
+forbidden to exercise the rights of citizens; or rather in virtue of
+their power to discipline, as well as instruct, the officers of the
+church may exclude them, like other unworthy members, from the
+communion. But it is the aim and desire of the church that they may
+speedily acquire the knowledge, faith and godliness that shall qualify
+them for this delightful service.&mdash;Now, all this is happy in its
+tendency and beneficial in its effects. It is a high honor to sustain a
+covenant relation to God, and to be favored with the peculiar regard of
+his people. It is a privilege to stand in a different relation to the
+church of Christ from that of a mere heathen, and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> share in the kind
+offices and be objects of the prayers of those who are "the excellent of
+the earth," and whose intercession availeth much. It is a blessing to be
+under influences adapted to counteract the power of an evil heart and an
+evil world, and thus be made meet for the glories of Christ's kingdom.
+And though the baptized may be, in fact often are, insensible to these
+benefits, they do in themselves constitute their choicest mercies. If
+valued and improved, they will become effectual for their salvation. And
+should they be brought ultimately to share in the blessings of this
+covenant, they will praise God for the agency it exerted, and adore the
+wisdom and beneficence of its arrangements.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+might."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ecclesiastes</span> 9:10.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>"Dear mother," said little Emily Manvers, as she turned over the leaves
+of an elegant annual which she had just received, "Is not uncle Albert
+very kind to send me this beautiful book? I wonder sometimes that he
+gives me such costly presents, but I suppose it is because he sees me so
+careful of my gifts."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Manvers smiled. "That speech sounds rather egotistic, my dear. Do
+you really think you are such a <i>very</i> careful little girl?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure, mother," replied Emily, coloring slightly, "that I take more
+care of my things than many other girls I know. There is my wax doll, I
+have had three years, and she is not even soiled; and that handsome
+paint-box uncle gave me a year ago this Christmas, is in as good order
+as ever, though I have used it a great deal; there is not one paint lost
+or broken, and the brushes and crayons are all safe and perfect."</p>
+
+<p>"That is as it should be, my daughter," returned Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Manvers, "for
+even in small things, we should use our gifts as not abusing them; but
+what will you say when I tell you that you possess a treasure of
+inestimable value, which you often misuse sadly, and neglect most
+heedlessly,&mdash;a gift that properly employed will procure wonderful
+privileges, but which I sometimes fear you will never learn to value
+until you are about to lose it forever."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, mother, what <i>can</i> you mean!" exclaimed Emily, in astonishment.
+"It can't be that costly fan cousin Henry sent me from India, that was
+broken when I laid it down just a minute, instead of putting it
+immediately away, or do you mean my pet dove that I sometimes have not a
+minute's time to feed in the morning; you cannot surely think that I
+will let it starve."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Emily," answered the mother, "it is something far more precious
+than either, although by your own admission you have two gifts of which
+you are not at all careful. But I fear that if I tell you what the
+treasure is, I shall fail in making you see clearly how much you misuse
+it; I will therefore keep a little memorandum of your neglect and
+ill-usage of it for one week, and that I hope will make you more careful
+in future. I will begin on Monday, as to-morrow, being the Sabbath, I
+have this gift of yours more under my immediate care."</p>
+
+<p>Emily wondered very much what this wonderful treasure could be that she
+used so badly, and puzzled her brain the whole evening in guessing, but
+her mother told her to have patience, and in a week she would find out.</p>
+
+<p>Emily Manvers was a kind, amiable little girl, between ten and eleven
+years old; she was dutiful and obedient, but had an evil habit of
+procrastination, which her mother had tried in vain to overcome. It was
+always "time enough" with Emily to do everything, and consequently her
+lessons were frequently imperfect, and her wardrobe in a sad state, as
+Mrs. Manvers insisted upon her daughter sewing on strings, and hooks and
+eyes, when they were wanting, thus endeavoring to instill early habits
+of neatness. "Put not off till to-morrow what should be done to-day,"
+was a copy the little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> girl frequently wrote, but she never allowed its
+meaning to sink into her heart. It was this truth which her mother hoped
+now to teach her.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday morning, Emily jumped up as soon as her mother called her, and
+seated herself on a low stool to put on her shoes and stockings; there
+was a story book lying upon the table, and as her eyes fell on it, she
+began to think over all the stories it contained, (some of them quite
+silly ones, I am sorry to say,) and pulling her night-dress over her
+feet, sat thinking about worse than nothing, until her mother opened the
+bed-room door, and exclaimed in surprise,</p>
+
+<p>"What! not dressed yet, Emily! It is full fifteen minutes since I called
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be dressed directly, mother," said she, jumping up quite
+ashamed, and she hurriedly put on her clothes, brushed her hair and
+prepared for breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast she had to look over her lessons, but remembering her
+mother's remarks, she stole a few minutes to feed her doves, and then
+hurried to school afraid of being late. On her return home in the
+afternoon, her mother told her to mend her gloves, which she had torn.
+Emily went to her work-basket, but could not find her thimble.</p>
+
+<p>"Where can my thimble be?" she cried, after looking two or three minutes
+for it. "Oh, I remember now; I left it on the window sill," and off she
+ran to get it.</p>
+
+<p>She was gone some time, and on her return her mother asked, "Couldn't
+you find your thimble, Emily?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mamma, but James and George were flying their kites, so I stopped
+just a minute to look at them. I will sit down now."</p>
+
+<p>She opened her work-box and took out a needle, then looking about said,</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where is my cotton spool? I left it on the chair a minute ago."</p>
+
+<p>She moved the chairs, turned up the hearth-rug, and tumbled over her
+work-box in vain; the cotton could not be found. Presently she espied
+puss, under the sofa, busily employed tossing something about with her
+paw.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you naughty kitty, <i>you</i> have got my spool," cried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Emily, as she
+stooped down and caught hold of the thread which puss had entangled
+about the sofa legs; but kitty was in a playful mood and would not give
+up the cotton-spool at once, so Emily amused herself playing with the
+cat and thread for some time longer. At last, she remembered her gloves,
+and sitting down mended them in a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>Had Emily's mother told her that she looked at her watch when the little
+girl first went for the thimble, and that she had passed exactly
+three-quarters of an hour in idleness, she would not have credited it.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Mrs. Manvers sent Emily up stairs to get something for
+her. She stayed so long that her mother called, "Emily, what keeps you
+so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, mamma; I stopped just a minute to look at my new sash, it is
+so pretty."</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes more were added to the wasted time. The next day Emily came
+home from school without any ticket for punctuality.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this?" asked the mother; "you started from home in good time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, mother," returned the little girl, "but I stopped just a minute to
+speak to Sarah Randall, and I know our school-clock must be wrong, for
+it was half-past nine by it when I went in."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Manvers took the trouble to walk around to the school and compare
+her watch with the clock; they agreed exactly, and thus she found her
+daughter had wasted half an hour that morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know your lessons, Emily?" she asked, after her return, as the
+little girl had been sitting for more than an hour with her books upon
+her lap.</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite, mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you been studying all the time, my dear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty near; there was a man beating his horse dreadfully, and I just
+looked out of the window a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Manvers smiled, and yet sighed, for she knew that Emily had spent
+half an hour humming a tune and gazing idly from the window upon the
+passers by.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#Page_150">TO BE CONTINUED</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>A CHILD'S READING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In this day of books, when so many pens are at work writing for
+children, and when so many combine instruction with entertainment, every
+family should be, to some extent, a reading family. Books have become
+indispensable; they are a kind of daily food; and we take for granted
+that no parent who reads this Magazine neglects to provide aliment of
+this nature for his family. How many leisure hours may thus be turned to
+profitable account! How many useful ideas and salutary impressions may
+thus be gained which will never be lost! If any family does not know the
+pleasure and the benefit of such employment of a leisure hour, we advise
+them to make the experiment forthwith. The district library, the
+Sabbath-school or village library in almost every town afford the
+facilities necessary for the experiment. But my object is not so much to
+induce any to form the <i>taste</i> for reading, for who, now a-days, does
+not read? nor is it to write a dissertation on the pleasures and
+advantages of reading; but simply to suggest a few plain hints upon the
+<i>subject matter</i> and the <i>manner</i> of reading.</p>
+
+<p>And, in the first place, the parent should know <i>what</i> his child reads.
+The book is the companion or teacher. Parent, would you receive into
+your family a playmate or a teacher of whose tastes and habits and moral
+character you were ignorant? Would you admit them for one day in such a
+capacity without having previously ascertained as far as possible their
+qualifications for such an intimate relationship to your child? But
+remember that the book has great influence. It puts a great many
+thoughts into the mind of the young reader, to form its tastes and make
+lasting impressions; and how can you be indifferent to this matter, when
+our land is flooded with so many vicious and contaminating books; when
+they come, like the frogs of Egypt, into every house and bed-chamber,
+and even into the houses of the servants! A single book may ruin your
+child! You yourself may not be proof against evil thoughts and corrupt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+principles. Look well, then, to the thoughts that come into your child's
+mind from such a companion or teacher of your child as a printed book,
+having perhaps all the fascination of a story or a romance. And,
+besides, there are so many volumes that are tried and proved, and
+acceptable to all, that there can be no excuse for admitting into your
+family any which are even of a doubtful character. And do not merely
+exercise supervision over the books which come to you and <i>ask</i>
+admission. Avail yourself of the best means of information, and <i>choose</i>
+the <i>best books</i>; I mean those best adapted to your purpose. Do not get
+too many, but make a <i>choice selection</i>. Judge whether your child can
+comprehend what you put into its hand; whether it is fitted to convey
+instruction, or wholesome entertainment, or right moral impressions. If
+it can do neither of these, it will be either an idle or a vicious
+companion for your child, and you should exclude it at once.</p>
+
+<p>But, furthermore, see in <i>what manner</i> the book is read. Draw out the
+thoughts of your child upon it; ascertain whether it has been read
+understandingly and is remembered. In this way you will strengthen the
+power of attention and of memory and judgment, and exercise also the
+power of language, by drawing out an expression of thought. In this way
+reading will be doubly interesting, and will be an invigorating exercise
+without overloading and clogging all the powers of thought.</p>
+
+<p>But, one thing more: Is your child inclined to pore over its books <i>too
+much</i>? Be careful, lest its mind be over-stimulated at the expense of
+the body. Many a child is at this hour undermining its physical
+constitution by reading in the house, when it should be playing out of
+doors, or using its muscular system in some kind of domestic employment.
+Beware of any cause which shall induce a sickly precocity or a hotbed
+mental growth. Let no partiality for mental prodigies induce you to make
+<i>physical invalids</i>. The sacrifice is too great; seek rather a healthy
+and complete development of the whole child, watching each power as it
+unfolds, and training all for the most efficient fulfillment of the
+practical duties of life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>NOTICES OF BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>We venture to devote more space than usual to "Notices of Books," as we
+have a large number on our table deserving a word of commendation. We
+shall confine ourselves to the class of works of which the topics of
+consideration come within the scope of this magazine.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Memoirs of the Life and Trials of a youthful Christian</span>, in
+Pursuit of Health, as developed in the Biography of <span class="smcap">Nathaniel
+Cheever, M.D.</span> By Rev. <span class="smcap">Henry T. Cheever</span>. With an
+Introduction by Rev. <span class="smcap">George B. Cheever, D.D.</span> New York: Charles
+Scribner.</p>
+
+<p>We have laid down this book, after attentive perusal, with the feeling
+that among the many things to be learned from it, one stands prominently
+forth,&mdash;<i>the beauty of family affection in a Christian household</i>. "To
+our <i>Beloved</i> and <i>Honored</i> <span class="smcap">Mother</span>, these Memorials of her
+Youngest Son are affectionately Dedicated." Here we stand at the
+foundation stone, and are not surprised afterward to see taking their
+place in the fair edifice of family love, "stones polished after the
+similitude of a palace."</p>
+
+<p>The history presented in this memoir has no startling incidents. The
+subject of it, a beautiful and promising boy, full of life and
+happiness, is suddenly smitten with a disease which hangs like an
+incubus upon his progress through life, and terminates his course just
+after he has entered successfully on the practice of the medical
+profession, in the island of Cuba, led, as he had previously been, on
+repeated voyages across the ocean, by the hope of permanent benefit from
+change of climate. Scattered through the book are descriptions of
+scenery, observations on men and manners, and pleasant narratives, which
+give variety to its pages, but its charm rises in the character of
+uncommon loveliness which it presents; in the unvarying cheerfulness and
+patience with which the young sufferer met pain, disappointment of
+cherished plans of life, defeat and delay in his efforts for
+intellectual improvement, separation from the friends to whom his
+sensitive spirit clung with a tenacity of affection which is often
+developed by suffering, but which seems to have been an original element
+in his nature; years of banishment from the home circle, and at last,
+<i>death</i>, away from every friend, on the ocean, which he was struggling
+to cross once more that he might breathe his last sigh on his mother's
+bosom. The conscientiousness, the integrity, the simplicity of this
+young Christian are as beautiful to contemplate as his elasticity of
+spirit, his cheerful submission, and his resolute determination to be
+all that, with the shattered materials, he was capable of making
+himself. His patient efforts, retarded by his severe sufferings, to
+educate himself, and acquire a profession, are touching and instructive,
+though few, who have not experienced the slow martyrdom of chronic
+disease, can fully appreciate his energy, or sympathize with his
+difficulties. Better than all this is his unwavering trust in God, from
+his boyhood to the day of his early death. Here was the secret of his
+joyfulness. His biographer well remarks, "Beyond all doubt the
+inalienable treasure and guarantee of cheerfulness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> being
+reconciliation to God, was in that heart, whose pulsations are still
+beating in the leaves of this book. In his sky the star of hope was
+always in the ascendant. The aspect which life had to him,
+notwithstanding all his suffering, was green and cheerful. He was wont
+to view things on the sunny side, or if a cloud intervened to look
+beyond it."</p>
+
+<p>Such a cheerfulness, so based, is worth more than "silver and gold." We
+commend the book to the attention of our readers, as a beautiful
+illustration of early and consistent piety.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>POETRY FOR CHILDREN.</h2>
+
+
+<p><i>Mrs. Whittelsey</i>:&mdash;"The influence of poetry," says another, "in forming
+the moral character, and guiding the thoughts of children, is immense.
+How often has a simple couplet made an indelible impression on their
+memories, and been the means of shaping their conduct for life! It
+cannot be a matter of indifference, then, whether the poetry they read
+and hear be good or bad, healthful or poisonous. And every parent should
+see that it be of the former kind; such as not only to cultivate the
+taste, but such as will form the character and mould the heart to all
+that is holy and excellent."</p>
+
+<p>These thoughts have come up to my mind with strong interest, since I
+have lately examined a little work published by Mr. M.W. Dodd of your
+city, entitled, "Select Poetry for Children and Youth," a book worthy to
+be in every family, and possessed by every mother in the land. It is
+full of just the kind of poetry to interest children deeply, and profit
+them truly; and is such a work as every parent may safely and wisely
+introduce to his household. As a parent, I have taken it home, and read
+it to my own family circle, and have found all, from oldest to youngest,
+absorbed in attention to its choice selections, which are from such
+writers as Mary Howitt, Jane Taylor, Mrs. Hemans, Cowper, &amp;c., &amp;c., &amp;c.
+And I am persuaded that if other parents will make the same experiment,
+they will find it attended with the same result.</p>
+
+<p>And now, in conclusion, as a parent who has always taken your excellent
+Magazine, and who through it would speak to parents, let me ask, Ought
+we not to be more careful as to the reading of our children&mdash;more
+careful that the couplets they learn, and the little ballads they hear,
+and the verses they commit to memory, are such as they ought to be?
+Lessons from such sources will leave a deep and lasting impression long
+after we are silent in the grave! The verses which the writer was taught
+by a pious mother, in early days, are all vividly remembered, and
+probably will be while life shall last. And if every parent would seek
+to make <i>verses</i> the vehicle of instruction to the young (for children
+delight in <i>poetry</i> earlier than in prose), they might easily implant
+the seeds of virtue and piety that would never be lost, but that in due
+season would spring up and bear fruit an hundred-fold to eternal life.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 23em;"><span class="smcap">A Parent.</span></span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.</h3>
+
+
+<p>We beg those readers of this Magazine who have had the patience to
+follow us thus far in our study, now to open their Bibles with an
+earnest invocation of the aid of that Spirit who indited the sacred
+pages, and so far from being satisfied with the meager thoughts which we
+are able to furnish, we entreat that they will bend diligently to the
+work of ascertaining the real interest which we and all the mothers of
+earth have in the scenes which transpired at the foot of Horeb's holy
+mount. To the instructions there uttered, the mighty ones of every
+age,&mdash;the founders of empires, statesmen, law-givers, philanthropists,
+patriots, and wise men, have sought for their noblest conceptions, and
+their most beneficent regulations, and it would be impossible to
+estimate the influence of those instructions upon all the after history
+of the world. But if the Almighty there revealed himself as the God of
+kingdoms, the all-wise and infinitely good Ruler of men in a national
+capacity, not less did He make himself known as the God of the family,
+and his will there made known regulating the mutual relations of parents
+and children, has been at once the foundation and bulwark of all that
+has been excellent or trustworthy in family government from that day to
+this.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible, in the brief space allotted to us, that we should
+begin to give any adequate view of the subject which here opens before
+us, or follow out fully a single one of the many trains of thought to
+which it gives rise.</p>
+
+<p>At Horeb, Jehovah, amid fire and smoke, and in that voice which so
+filled with terror all that heard, first inculcated the duty of filial
+piety on all the future generations of men. Filial piety! how much it
+implies. It stands at the head of the duties enjoined from man to man.
+It comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> next in order to those which man owes to his Maker. It
+inculcates on the part of children toward their parents feelings akin to
+those which he has required toward Himself, and far surpassing any which
+he demands toward any other human being. It speaks of reverence, of a
+love superior to ordinary affection, of unqualified submission and
+obedience. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is the solemn command, and
+the comments which infinite wisdom has made on it, scattered up and down
+on the pages of inspiration, throw light on its length and breadth, and
+on the heinous nature of the sin which is committed in its infringement.
+"Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my
+Sabbaths; I am the Lord." In the Jewish law, a man who smote his
+neighbor must be smitten in return; but "he that smiteth father or
+mother shall be surely put to death." "He that curseth," or as it more
+exactly reads, "he that disparages or speaks lightly of his parents, or
+uses contemptuous language to them, shall surely be put to death." "If a
+man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of
+his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastised
+him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay
+hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and unto the gate
+of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This, our
+son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice. And all the
+men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; so shall thou
+put away evil from among you, that all Israel shall hear and fear."</p>
+
+<p>Still more fearful is the practical commentary upon this solemn command,
+given in Ezekiel 22:7, when Jehovah, in enumerating the crying sins
+which demanded his vengeance on the people, and brought upon them the
+terrible calamities of long captivity says, "In thee have they set light
+by father and mother."</p>
+
+<p>But some one will say, You profess to be speaking to parents, and this
+command is given to children. True, friend, but the duty required of
+children implies a corresponding duty on the part of parents. Who shall
+teach children to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> reverence that father and mother in whose character
+there is nothing to call forth such a sentiment? "Though children are
+not absolved from the obligation of this commandment by the misconduct
+of their parents, yet in the nature of things, it is impossible that
+they should yield the same hearty respect and veneration to the unworthy
+as to the worthy, nor does God require a child to pay an irrational
+honor to his parents. If his parents are atheists, he cannot honor them
+as Christians. If they are prayerless and profane, he cannot honor them
+as religious. If they are worldly, avaricious, over-reaching,
+unscrupulous as to veracity and honest dealing, he cannot honor them as
+exemplary, upright, conscientious and spiritually-minded."</p>
+
+<p>If parents only say, like Eli, in feeble accents, "Nay, my sons; for it
+is no good report that I hear. Why do ye such things?" they will not
+only have disobedient and irreverent children, but often, if not always,
+they will be made to understand that their sin is grievous in the sight
+of God, and he will say of them also, "I will judge his house forever
+for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile
+and <i>he restrained them not</i>." "And therefore have I sworn unto the
+house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with
+sacrifice nor offering forever."</p>
+
+<p>Unto parents God has committed the child, in utter helplessness, and
+weakness, and ignorance, an unformed being. The power and the knowledge
+are theirs, and on their side is He, the Almighty and infinitely wise,
+with his spirit and his laws, and his promises. If they are
+faithful,&mdash;if from the first they realize their responsibility, and the
+advantages of their position, can the result be doubtful? But they will
+not be faithful; imperfection is stamped on all earthly character, and
+they will fail in this as in all other duties. What then? Blessed be
+God, the Gospel has a provision for erring parents. If Sinai thunders,
+Calvary whispers peace. For men, as sinners, the righteousness of Christ
+prevails, and for sinners, as parents, not less shall it be found
+sufficient. Line and plummet can soon measure the extent of human
+perfection,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> but they cannot fathom the merit of that righteousness, and
+when laid side by side with the most holy law, there is no deficiency.
+If, then, we find ourselves daily coming short of the terms of that
+covenant which God has made with us as parents, we need not despair of
+his fulfilling his part, for we can plead our surety's work, and that is
+ever acceptable in his eyes, and answers all his demands.</p>
+
+<p>Let not, however, the negligent and willfully-ignorant parent conclude
+that the spotless robe of the perfect Savior will be thrown as a shield
+over his deficiencies and deformity. Let not those who have blindly and
+carelessly entered on parental duties, without endeavoring to ascertain
+the will of God and the requirements of his law, expect that the
+blessing of obedient and sanctified children will crown their days. Let
+not those who suffer their children to grow up around them like weeds,
+without religious culture or pruning, who demand no obedience, who
+command no reverence, who offer no earnest, ceaseless prayer, let them
+not suppose that the blessing of the God who spoke from Horeb will come
+upon their families. "He is in one mind and who can turn him." Not an
+iota has he abated from his law since that fearful day. Not less sinful
+in his eyes is disobedience to parents now, than when he commanded the
+rebellious son to be "stoned with stones until he died." Yet, how far
+below His standard are the ideas even of many Christian parents? "How
+different," says Wilberforce, "nay, in many respects, how contradictory,
+would be the two systems of mere morals, of which the one should be
+formed from the commonly-received maxims of the Christian world, and the
+other from the study of the Holy Scriptures;" and we are never more
+forcibly impressed with this difference than when we see it exemplified
+in this solemn subject.</p>
+
+<p>The parents who stood at Horeb learned that God required them to train
+their children to implicit and uncompromising obedience, and he who
+closely studies the Word of God can find no other or lighter
+requisition. How will the received opinions and customs of this age
+compare with the demand?</p>
+
+<p>We ask our young friends, who may perchance glance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> over these pages, to
+pause a moment and consider: If capital punishment should now be
+inflicted on every disobedient child, how many roods of earth would be
+planted with the instruments of death? If every city were doomed to
+destruction in which the majority of sons and daughters "set light by
+father and mother," how many would remain? To every child living comes a
+voice, "Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
+judgment."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>BROTHERLY LOVE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+honor preferring one another.</p>
+
+<p>(Concluded from page <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.)</p></div>
+
+
+<p>To aid you in making the effort to comply with the injunction we have
+been considering, I add the following considerations:</p>
+
+<p>1st. It is right, this you will all acknowledge, no matter how unkindly
+a brother or sister may treat you, you will acknowledge that it is never
+right for you, never pleasing to God, that you should treat them
+unkindly in return. Yes, you will all (except when you are angry)
+acknowledge that the injunction Be kindly affectioned one to another in
+brotherly love, is right, proper, beautiful; could there be a better
+reason for trying to obey the injunction?</p>
+
+<p>2d. You have already often disobeyed this injunction. You cannot
+remember many of the instances, but you can some where you acted
+unbrotherly or unsisterly. Alas, such are the pride and selfishness of
+our hearts that we begin very early to sin against our dearest friends.
+Little boy, did you not get angry the other day, when your little
+brother or sister took one of your playthings which you wanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+yourself, and if you did not speak unkindly or snatch it away roughly,
+did you not go and complain to mother, and was that very kind and
+loving? Would it not have been kinder and more brotherly to try to make
+little brother and sister happy, and not to have troubled mother? Little
+children, I say this especially for you, I want you all to make it a
+rule to love everybody, and to try and make everybody around you happy.
+That is the way to be happy yourselves. But, my young friends, you, who
+are older, are in equal danger of sinning, and I am afraid that your
+consciences can also condemn you. Indeed I know not but the danger of
+violating this law is greater with those more advanced in life. There is
+a transition period when the childhood is about losing itself in the
+youth, which is often very trying to brotherly and sisterly affection.
+The sister is not quite a woman, the brother not quite a young man, and
+each is sometimes disposed to demand an attention which the other is not
+quite willing to yield on demand&mdash;each would yield, perhaps, if it were
+asked as a favor&mdash;but the spirit of an independent existence is
+beginning to rise, and that spirit spurns any claim. This spirit is
+generally the stronger in the brother than in the sister, and he
+therefore sins most frequently against the law of love, and he will
+treat his sister as he will allow no other young man to do, and will
+treat every other young lady with more politeness and courtesy than he
+does his own noble-hearted and loving sister. Oh, there is many a
+brother, who, if any young man were to say and do what he says and does
+to his sister, he would consider him to be no gentleman and a scoundrel.
+Now, I would ask, does the fact of your being a brother alter the nature
+of your conduct? You are her brother, and therefore may act
+ungentlemanly and like a scoundrel! Why, oh, shame, cowardly shame!
+because there is no one to resent your ill-treatment&mdash;there is no one to
+defend a sister from the unkindness of a brother, or to defend the
+brother, I may add, from the sister's unkindness; for though I speak to
+the brother, let each sister who reads this, ask her conscience whether
+her own sister's heart condemn her not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Time will not allow me to enter into any great detail, in illustrating
+the frequency of these violations of the law of family affection, nor
+indeed is it needed. I can give you a general rule, which your own minds
+will approve, and which will meet all cases. Let the sister treat no man
+with more courtesy and politeness than she treats her father and her
+brothers&mdash;treat no woman more kindly and politely than she does her
+mother and her sisters. Let her not confine all her graces and
+fascinations to strangers, and make her family to endure all her
+petulance and unamiability. So let the brother treat his mother and
+sisters. So let the father and mother treat each other and their
+children, and you will, my readers, obtain a noble reward in the
+increasing happiness and comfort of your family circles&mdash;in the
+manliness which will belong to the sons&mdash;in the mental and moral graces
+which will adorn the daughters. The family will thus become the school
+of virtue and the bulwark of society&mdash;the reciprocal influence of
+brothers and sisters thus trained will be of untold power on each
+other's character.</p>
+
+<p>One word further, and I close. I have been describing the legitimate
+influence of religion in a family. True religion will make just such
+fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. It is in this way that religion
+develops itself; that religion which is beautiful abroad and has no
+beauty at home, is of little worth. If, then, you would make your
+families what I have described, you must yourself come under the power
+of religion, must give your heart to God, and then you will find the
+duties of the family becoming comparatively easy. Unless you do so, you
+will find yourselves constantly failing in your most strenuous efforts,
+and will be far from reaching the point which I have sought to describe.
+Natural affection may indeed be much cultivated by this course, and
+drawn forth in its native simplicity or regulated by the forms of
+refined education, it will throw an inestimable beauty and charm around
+the fireside. But it will be, after all, but merely natural affection.
+It cannot rise so high nor exert such heavenly influence over the family
+circle as will the power of religion. It sanctifies and exalts natural
+affections. It not only restrains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> but actually softens the natural
+asperities of the temper, harmonizes discordant feelings and interests,
+and secures that happy co-operation which makes a Christian circle an
+emblem of heaven. In one word, religion will make you a happy family
+forever, happy here and happy in yonder world of bliss. Without religion
+also, allow me to add, the very beauty and enjoyment, arising from the
+exercise of these domestic virtues, will prove injurious to your eternal
+interests. They will serve to strew with comforts your path leading away
+from God to heaven. The powerful influence of a much loved brother is
+exerted to keep the sister in the path of worldliness; while, in return,
+the sister's boundless influence, for in such a family the sister's
+influence may be said to be boundless, will all be added to the snares
+of an ungodly world, to drive the brother onward in his neglect of God
+and his own soul. My young friends, seek not only to make those around
+you happy in this world, but happy forever. Give thine own heart to
+Jesus, and thou mayest save thy brother and thy sister, and thou shalt
+meet them on high. Refuse to do so, and thou mayest drag these loved
+ones down with thee to that cold dark region, where affection is unknown
+and nothing is heard but blasphemies and curses. Oh, thou kind and
+loving brother and sister, can ye endure the thought of spending an
+eternity in cursing each other as the instruments of each other's
+destruction? Christ alone can deliver you from such a woe.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Habit.</span>&mdash;"I trust everything, under God," said Lord Brougham,
+"to habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the
+schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes
+everything easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from a
+wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful;
+make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to
+the nature of the child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes
+are to any of your lordships."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>AN APPEAL TO BAPTIZED CHILDREN.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. WM. BANNARD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is presumed, young friends, that you have reached an age when you are
+capable of appreciating your obligations, but have hitherto neglected
+them. It is proposed, therefore, in what follows, briefly to call your
+attention to your position and responsibilities. If you have considered
+your privileges as the children of pious parents who have dedicated you
+to God in baptism, you are now prepared to examine your duties. You have
+then a name and a place in Christ's visible church; you sustain covenant
+relations to God, and these, fraught as they are with manifold benefits,
+cannot be without corresponding responsibilities.</p>
+
+<p>You are not the children of the world but the children of the covenant.
+Solemn vows have been assumed for you, and these vows are binding <i>upon
+your consciences</i>. They were taken with the hope and intention that you
+should assume them for yourselves when you arrived at years of
+discretion. You were given to God with the expectation that you would
+grow up to serve him. And this it is your duty to do. You are his
+property. You are his by sacred engagement, and you cannot violate this
+engagement; you cannot renounce His service, and devote yourselves to
+the service of Satan or of the world, without dishonoring your parents,
+doing injustice to God, and periling your own salvation. You may say
+this contract was formed without my consent, and when too young to
+understand its requirements. No matter; this does not release you from
+obligation to perform it. Ability and responsibility are not always
+co-extensive. We are bound perfectly to keep God's holy law, and yet no
+man of himself is able to do it. His inability, however, does not
+diminish it's binding force. God cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> abate one jot or tittle of the
+law's demands, for that would be a confession of its imperfection or of
+his variableness. Or, should he diminish his demands because our
+wickedness has made us incapable of keeping them, then the more wicked
+we become, the less binding would be his authority, and if we only grew
+depraved enough we might escape from all obligation to obedience. Such
+an idea, cannot, of course, be tolerated. The truth is, that under the
+government of God, as well as under human government, children are held
+responsible for the conduct of their parents. Parents have a right to
+act for them, and children must abide by their decisions, and endure the
+consequences of their acts. They cannot escape from it, for this is a
+natural as well as moral law which is continually operating. The
+character and destiny of the child are determined mainly by the parent.
+He may educate him to be refined, intelligent and useful, or to be
+vicious, debased and dangerous. This process is going on continually.
+The parent may make positive engagements in behalf of his children,
+which they are bound to perform, and which the law recognizes as valid.
+A father dying, for example, while his children are in infancy or in
+their minority, may require them to appropriate a portion of his estate
+for certain ends, as a condition on which they shall receive it. Another
+may require of his children a given service, on condition of receiving
+his blessing; and if the requirement be not morally wrong, who would not
+feel themselves bound to observe it? But there are examples, perhaps
+more in point, in Scripture, in which parents have entered into formal
+covenants that have had direct reference to their children. Adam
+covenanted for himself and posterity. They had no personal agency in it,
+in any sense, and yet all are held accountable for its transgression;
+all suffer a portion of its penalty, as they might, if he had kept it,
+been made possessors of its blessings. So Abraham covenanted with God
+for himself and his seed; and his descendants felt themselves bound to
+fulfill its requirements. They knew, in fact, that unless they did, its
+benefits could not be enjoyed. The same principle holds good in
+reference to the baptized. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> are bound by the covenant engagements of
+your parents. You cannot be released from them on the ground that you
+had no agency in assuming them. They were assumed for you by those who
+had the right to do it&mdash;a right recognized by both God and man&mdash;and you
+cannot therefore throw them off; you cannot willfully disregard or live
+contrary to them, without guilt and dishonor. The apostle urges this
+principle when he testifies "to every man that is circumcised that he is
+a debtor to do the whole law." His consecration to God in this rite
+bound him to keep his whole law; and yet this obligation was imposed on
+him when an infant only eight days old; but after arriving at maturity,
+he could not shake it off. He was a debtor still, for he was placed in
+that position in accordance with the divine command and by those who had
+the authority over him. With equal propriety may we now testify unto you
+who are baptized, that you are debtors unto Christ. You are bound to
+keep the laws of his kingdom, bound to serve him to whose service you
+have been set apart. You are not your own; you are not, therefore, to
+live unto yourselves. The vows of God are upon <i>you</i>. You have been
+sealed with his seal. And since you have attained an age at which you
+can understand your position, you are bound to perform those vows; to
+seek to be sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. There
+is no escape from this obligation; and when, therefore, you live utterly
+regardless of it, as many do, your conduct is doubly criminal. You may
+have flattered yourselves that you enjoyed superior advantages, and that
+you were more highly favored than others; and this is true. But you must
+take into the account your corresponding responsibilities. There is a
+broad distinction between your position, and that of mere worldlings,
+and there ought to be a like difference in your practice. You cannot
+give yourselves to the sins of youth, or the gayeties of life. You
+cannot set your hearts on fashion, dress, amusements, business or any
+mere worldly ends, with as much consistency, or with as little guilt, as
+your unbaptized associates. <i>You</i> cannot harden yourselves against the
+truth, grieve the Holy Spirit, turn away in coldness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> or disdain from
+the claims of Christ, without exposing yourselves to an aggravated
+condemnation. Shall you who are pledged servants of Christ, who are
+bound to him by solemn covenant, be regardless of these vows, or be
+recreant to Him as his avowed enemies? Ah, this is approaching fearfully
+near the appalling sin of "treading under foot the Son of God, of
+counting the blood of his covenant an unholy thing, and doing despite
+unto the Spirit of grace." You cannot, surely, have considered your
+relations to Christ and to his church. You cannot have pondered the
+nature of your baptismal vows which were taken for you, but which are
+now binding upon your own souls. You cannot realize against what
+gracious promises, what high, privileges you sin, in living contrary to
+your obligations, and in remaining at heart, and by your conduct,
+"strangers to God and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." Review
+your position, and remember you are placed where you cannot recede.
+Duties press upon you which you cannot disregard; vows are upon you
+which you cannot break with safety or with honor. It is not enough that
+you lead a moral life, or that you continue in your present position.
+You are required to advance. You have been pledged to God; and to
+fulfill this pledge you must be His in heart. You <i>must choose</i> His
+service. You must take Christ's yoke upon you and dedicate yourselves to
+Him. Nothing short of this will fulfill your covenant vows or insure
+your enjoyment of its blessings. As to receding, that is utterly
+inadmissible. You have been put in this relation by those who loved you
+and had the right, nay, were commanded of God, to dispose of you in this
+manner. You cannot then evade it. You may say you never gave it your
+consent, and that it is hard to be thus bound to act contrary to your
+natural inclinations; but it is right, and you cannot help it. You are
+in this position, and you cannot break away but at the peril of your
+salvation; nay, without the certainty of perdition. But it is not hard,
+or cruel, to require you to love and obey God. You were created for
+this, and your nature will never attain to its perfection until you
+fulfill this its noblest destiny. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> hard thing to do right! A grievous
+thing to be saved from the pollution of sin and the very gulf of
+perdition! A hard thing to be taken under divine protection; to be
+enriched with God's blessing; to be numbered among his people on earth
+and ultimately admitted to his kingdom in heaven! Impossible! You did
+not think it; you did not mean to urge this as an objection to your most
+obvious duty. You would not object to your parents' securing for you a
+costly estate while in your minority, and why then discard the heavenly
+inheritance they would provide for you? Fulfill your vows. Choose His
+service, and be blessed now and forever.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE PROMISE FULFILLED.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+them alive."</p></div>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Concluded from page <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.)</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>The elder brother, <span class="smcap">De Witt</span>, from childhood, was of a thoughtful
+cast of mind, regular in his habits, careful in forming his
+associations, kind and dutiful as a son and brother. He ever proved a
+help and solace to his mother in the family circle, where he was the
+oldest child. In pursuing his course of studies he evinced industry of
+application, and sustained an excellent standing in his classes. His
+regular and interested attendance on the exercises of the
+Sabbath-school, as well as the services of the sanctuary; his conduct in
+the family circle, and the developments of the closing scenes of his
+life, all tend to form the conviction that divine truth had obtained a
+lodgment in his mind by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. At
+the interesting period of nineteen years, full of hope and promise, the
+seeds of pulmonary disease sprang forth within him. In the fall of 1850,
+he began to cough, and since then, with variations as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> its severity,
+it continued with him, and his friends marked that it became deeply
+seated, and apprehended its probable termination. He, however, retained
+his active habits and course of study till last fall. His earnest
+attention to sermons, his occasional remarks on their evangelical and
+practical character as profitable, and his prayerful reading of the
+Bible, showed the influence divine truth was exerting upon him. The
+sickness and rapid decline of his brother Joseph was to him most
+affecting, as they had grown up from childhood together in uninterrupted
+intercourse and love. In his feeble state of health, he saw his beloved
+brother hastening to death and the grave, while their dear mother was
+yearning over both in view of their spiritual welfare. While everything
+indicated a deep interest in the matter of the soul's salvation, doubts
+and difficulties prevented him from finding joy and peace in believing.
+About ten days before his death, and just before the death of Joseph, he
+received the remarkable letter from his Uncle Scudder which wrought
+powerfully on his mind, and followed by Joseph's death, was doubtless
+instrumental, under the divine blessing, in leading him to the decision
+of giving himself to the Savior by the profession of his faith. The
+Sabbath, January 11, on the morning of which Joseph died, was indeed a
+memorable and impressive one in many of its associations. De Witt had
+just made profession of his faith, and was admitted into the communion
+of the Presbyterian Church in Canal street, of which the Rev. Mr.
+Carpenter is pastor, and was carried into the church to unite with God's
+people in celebrating the Lord's supper, and it was just at the
+expiration of the two months of special prayer by his uncle in India.
+When his mother, this morning, announced to him the death of his
+brother, he just exclaimed, with much emotion, "Is Joseph dead? Then I
+have no brother." He left the room for a moment and returned, saying,
+"Mother, we have no cause to mourn. Joseph is only gone to the new
+Jerusalem, where dear father was waiting to receive him," and then
+calmly prepared himself for the sacramental service in the church before
+him. The writer of this had an interview with him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the following morning
+(Monday). Everything conspired to render the scene impressive. As I saw
+the remains of Joseph, I observed in the appearance of De Witt the
+indications of approaching death, and heard the account of his
+attendance at the Lord's table on the preceding day. After conversation,
+he asked me to pray that it would please God to spare his life that he
+might be a support and comfort to his mother, and be permitted to labor
+for Christ. I replied that such desires were in themselves worthy, but
+that I strongly felt it would be with him as with David in whose heart
+was the desire to build the house of God. God accepted the desire, but
+denied him the work, and assigned it to another. I told him that I must
+affectionately tell him that every indication denoted that the Savior
+was preparing him shortly to enter upon his service in heaven, and that
+he would soon join his brother, whose mortal remains were then waiting
+for the tomb. He received this without agitation, and calmly replied
+that he then wished me to pray that it would please God to impart and
+preserve to him the light of his countenance, and his divine peace, and
+enable him to glorify Him during the little portion of time which might
+still be allotted to him on earth. His mother states she does not
+remember after this to have heard him say much about living, and that
+only as connected with the service of his Savior. His mind, which had
+been opening to the light and peace of the Gospel, became more and more
+established in the faith of Christ, and enriched with the comforts of
+the Spirit. While his body was fast wasting, his soul as rapidly grew
+strong. There has rarely been a more striking growth in grace, calm and
+substantial, free from all vain excitements and feverish heats. Many
+interesting incidents connected with the spirit he displayed, and the
+words he uttered during the week following my interview with him just
+alluded to, are treasured up in the heart's memory. But there is no room
+for details until we reach the closing scene, from Friday to Monday,
+January 19. I shall copy from some memoranda furnished by the mother.
+She had before urged that he should pray in view of continued life only
+for strength to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> speak of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
+living, and thus live a long life in the little time spared to him. This
+seemed to be verified. Mrs. Hunt writes: "On Friday morning he arose as
+usual, and reclined on the sofa. He was weak, and his throat sore, so
+that he could only swallow liquids. When the physician visiting him
+left, I told him that he thought him very low, but I requested him to
+remember what his beloved minister had told him, to look away from death
+to Jesus and Heaven; he exclaimed, 'O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength
+of sin is the law; but thanks to God, who giveth me the victory, through
+my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.' He expressed the delightful thought
+that he would be where 'the Lamb would feed him, lead him to living
+waters, and wipe away all tears from his eyes.' Sometimes he would say,
+'Precious Savior. Mother, what would I do without such a Savior?
+Precious hope, what would I do without such a hope?' And then he would
+speak of the mansions in Heaven. The 27th and 40th Psalms, which his
+dear father had selected for us a short time before his death, that we
+might read them for our comfort after he was gone, were given. When the
+27th was commenced he took it up and repeated the whole. On Saturday he
+had severe pain in the lungs, and thought his end near. Several of his
+friends called, and he noticed them all distinctly. He addressed two of
+his fellow-students in the University in an affectionate appeal to what
+he supposed their spiritual condition. In a conversation with Rev. Mr.
+C., he said that if God had been pleased to spare his life, he should
+have felt himself consecrated to the ministry and missionary service;
+and expressed the calm assurance of his faith. Prayer was offered that
+he might spend one more precious Sabbath on earth. The night passed, and
+the Sabbath came. My child exclaimed, soon after waking, '<i>Precious
+Sabbath</i>,' and his eyes beamed with hallowed feeling. I said, 'Dear son,
+can you truly say this morning that you feel the peace of God which
+passeth understanding?' He raised his eyes and replied, most
+impressively, '<i>Oh, yes</i>.' He said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> with delight, 'Mother, O think that
+Joseph is now by the river of the water of life.' He said also to me,
+'Mother, you will not weep for me?' I replied, 'If I do joy will mingle
+with my tears.' He continued, 'I shall be nearer to you in Heaven than
+in India' (alluding to his purpose, if his life should be spared, to be
+a missionary in India). I asked him what message I should send to his
+Uncle Scudder. He said, 'Tell him I think my heart was in the right
+place when his letter reached me, or I know not what I should have
+done.' Two friends came in. De Witt said, 'I thought I should have spent
+part of this day around the throne in heaven.' And one (a pious young
+college companion) said to the other, 'If this be dying, I envy him.'
+After service in the afternoon, Rev. Mr. Carpenter came in with two of
+his elders, and three other Christian friends were present. Singing was
+proposed; De Witt was delighted with the thought of it, and selected the
+hymns. '<i>Come, thou fount of every blessing</i>,' was sung first. My child
+could not join with his voice, but stretched out his arm, and with his
+arm, having the forefinger extended, beat the time. It was a touching,
+solemn scene; the singing filled the room, and seemed to go up to
+Heaven. After we had ended the second hymn, '<i>Rise, my soul, and stretch
+thy wings</i>,' he exclaimed, 'I thought I was almost in heaven.' On
+Sabbath night, about ten o'clock, he inquired of a friend, 'whether she
+did not think he would soon die?' I went to him and asked him if he felt
+any change that induced him to ask the question. He replied, 'Everything
+seems to fail.' I then talked to him about the Savior being with him
+when he passed through the dark valley, and added, 'Dear son, I will
+give you up to the Lord.' Directly he said, 'I am now ready any moment
+to say, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' He afterward repeated 'Lord
+Jesus, receive my spirit. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom
+shall I be afraid? It is better to die than live.' A little before six
+o'clock he looked intensely upon me. I asked what he wished to give
+me?&mdash;his farewell kiss, which he repeated several times. He then again
+gave me an intense look. I said, 'My son, God will take care.' He
+replied, 'I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> know he will.' He shook hands with two of his youthful
+companions, and sent a message to the brother of one of them, expressive
+of his solicitude for his spiritual welfare. I said to him, 'I have
+taken care of you these nineteen years, for the Lord.' He said, 'Yes,
+these nineteen years,' but did not proceed. He asked one of his friends
+to pray, which he did. After this he ceased to speak, and sank,
+continuing to breathe hard, without a struggle, until the precious
+spirit took its everlasting flight a little before eight o'clock,
+January 19."</p>
+
+<p>I have thus given, from the notes furnished by the bereaved and
+mourning, but grateful and comforted mother, a sketch of the closing
+hours and dying scene of this youth, which, in connection with the
+similar scene in the younger brother, beautifully and strongly
+illustrates the precious trust committed to mothers, the importance and
+value of maternal influence, and the encouragement to its faithful and
+wisely-directed exercise.</p>
+
+<p>T.D.W.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+might."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ecclesiastes</span> 9:10.</p>
+
+<p>(Continued from page <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.)</p></div>
+
+
+<p>That evening a little schoolmate came to visit her; they played several
+amusing games, and Emily staid up much past her usual hour. The next
+morning when her mother called her, she felt very sleepy, and unwilling
+to rise, so instead of jumping up at once, she turned her head on the
+pillow thinking "I will get up in a minute." But in less than that
+minute she was fast asleep again, and did not awake until aroused by
+Mary the nurse, whose voice sounded close in her ear, exclaiming,</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Miss Emily, are you in bed yet! Here have I been looking all
+through the house and garden for you. Jump up quick, breakfast is just
+over."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You may be sure Emily did not wait a second bidding, but hurrying on her
+clothes, hastened down stairs without even thinking about saying her
+prayers, which no little child should ever forget to do, because it is
+the kind and merciful God who keeps us safely through the night, and our
+first thoughts when we awaken should be gratitude to him for protecting
+us, and we should pray to Him to keep us all day out of sin and danger,
+and teach us how to improve the time which He has intrusted to our care.</p>
+
+<p>Emily thought of none of these things, but ran down to the
+breakfast-room, feeling rather ashamed of being so late. Her papa had
+finished his breakfast, and gone out, and when her mother looked up to
+the clock as she entered, she saw that it wanted twenty minutes to nine.</p>
+
+<p>"How very late it is!" thought the little girl, as she hurried off to
+school, "mamma always calls me at seven. I did not think I had slept so
+long."</p>
+
+<p>Despite all Emily's haste she was too late; school had commenced when
+she entered, and worse than all, she did not know her lessons, and was
+kept in an hour after the rest were dismissed. She could not study the
+evening before, and had depended upon an hour's study before breakfast,
+but her unlucky morning nap left her no time to think about lessons
+before school, and her consequent disgrace was the punishment. The
+little girl returned home that day very unhappy.</p>
+
+<p>Emily had not forgotten the conversation about the wasted gift, and had
+determined to give no opportunity for her mother to complain. She
+thought she was very careful that week, but never imagined how much of
+the precious gift she wasted each day in idleness.</p>
+
+<p>The day after her unfortunate disgrace in school, she brought down
+several articles of dress that needed repairing, and seated herself at
+the window to work. Her mother had promised to take her out with her,
+and Emily had to finish her mending first. She plied the needle very
+steadily for a while, but presently her attention was attracted by the
+opposite neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, mamma," she exclaimed, "there is Mrs. Dodson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> and Lucy; they are
+just going out, and Lucy has on a new hat."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear," returned her mother quietly, "it is not unusual for
+people to get new bonnets at this season."</p>
+
+<p>Emily felt a little abashed at this reply, but could not refrain from
+casting furtive glances across the way. The afternoon was fine, and the
+street filled with well-dressed people. The little girl watched the
+passers-by, holding her needle listlessly in her fingers, and presently
+cried out,</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see that lady, mamma? How oddly she was dressed."</p>
+
+<p>"No," answered Mrs. Manvers, "I am attending to my work now, but I hope
+soon to join the promenaders myself."</p>
+
+<p>Emily stole a glance at her mother to see whether her countenance
+implied reproof, but Mrs. Manvers's eyes were fixed upon her work and
+the little girl again endeavored to fix her attention upon her sewing.
+At length Mrs. Manvers rose and put aside her work-basket. "I am going
+to dress, Emily," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, mother, I will be ready in a minute," replied her daughter,
+and she followed her mother up stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Emily tossed over her bureau in vain to find a clean pair of pantalets,
+and then she remembered of having taken several pairs down stairs to
+mend. She ran hastily down and selected the best pair. Some of the
+button-holes were torn out, but she could not wait to mend them now, so
+hastily pinning on the pantalets, she dressed and joined her mother.</p>
+
+<p>As they pursued their walk, Emily felt something about her feet, and
+looking down discovered her pantalets; she hastily stooped to pull them
+off and the pin scratched her foot severely. Mrs. Manvers saw all this,
+but said nothing; she knew that her daughter had wasted time enough to
+have mended all her pantalets, and she added another hour to the already
+long account of wasted minutes in her memorandum.</p>
+
+<p>The following day was Friday, and it was part of Emily's duties on this
+day to arrange her bureau-drawers and put her closet in order. She went
+up stairs after dinner with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> this intention, but there were so many
+little gifts and keep-sakes in her drawers, to be successively admired
+and thought over, so many sashes to unfold, and odd gloves to be paired,
+that the whole afternoon was consumed, and the tea-bell rang before she
+had quite finished the second drawer, and consequently the duty of that
+day remained to be finished on the next.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my little girl," said her father the next morning, "I hope you
+will have my handkerchief nicely hemmed by this afternoon; you have had
+it several days now, and I suppose it is nearly finished. I shall want
+it, as I am going away after dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have it, papa," replied Emily. She did not like to tell him
+the handkerchief was not yet commenced, as she felt quite sure she could
+finish it in time, and determined to begin immediately after breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>When she went up stairs to get the handkerchief out of her drawer she
+saw her bureau was yet in disorder. "Mamma will be displeased to see
+this," she thought, "and I shall have time enough to put it in order and
+hem papa's handkerchief beside." She went eagerly to work, but the
+bureau took her longer than she anticipated, and when her father came
+home to dinner she had not finished his handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>Now she made her needle fly, but her industry came too late; her father
+could not wait, and Emily had the mortification of hearing him say:</p>
+
+<p>"I hope my handkerchief will not be like my gloves, that you kept so
+long to mend, and mamma had to finish after all."</p>
+
+<p>She cried bitterly after he was gone, but managed through her tears to
+finish the handkerchief at last, and carried it to her mother, asking
+her to beg her papa's forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p>After tea was over, Mrs. Manvers called Emily to her, and folding her
+arm fondly around the little girl's waist, pointed to a small book lying
+open upon the table, saying as she did so:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember, my love, our conversation last Saturday night upon the
+subject of your gifts?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, mamma, and you told me you would keep an account of my
+ill-usage of one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done so, my dear, and now tell me can you not imagine what this
+gift is which you so much abuse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, I cannot, mamma," replied the little girl with a sigh. Mrs.
+Manvers placed the memorandum book in her daughter's hand without saying
+a word.</p>
+
+<p>There, written at the head of the page, were these words:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"<i>Emily's Waste of Time.</i>"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>and beneath was quite a long column of figures, and a list of duties
+unfulfilled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma," cried Emily, throwing herself upon her mother's breast, "it
+is time, precious time, that is the gift I waste; but surely I have not
+spent so many idle minutes in just one week."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry to say that you have, my dear daughter, all these and even
+more. I have promised to keep an account, and I have done so; add them
+up and see how many there are."</p>
+
+<p>Emily added up the figures with tearful eyes, and said, "there are four
+hundred and twenty, mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"And how many hours does that make, Emily?"</p>
+
+<p>The little girl thought a moment, and then answered,</p>
+
+<p>"Seven hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well; then you see you waste seven hours in a week, which would
+make three hundred and sixty-four in a year, and if you should live the
+allotted period of life, which would be sixty years from the present
+time, you will willfully waste twenty one thousand eight hundred and
+forty hours of the precious time God has given you in which to work out
+His will."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear mamma, it does not seem possible; I am sure I don't know how
+the time slips away," said Emily, sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you, my love," replied Mrs. Manvers. "It slips away in just
+a minute; as uncounted drops of water form the sea, so do millions of
+minutes make up the sum of life; but so small are they that they pass
+without our heeding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> them, yet once gone they come back to us no more.
+Time is the one talent, the precious gift which God has bestowed upon
+all his creatures, and which we are bound to improve. Every hour brings
+its duty, and do you think it is right, Emily, to leave that duty
+unfulfilled?"</p>
+
+<p>Emily hung her head, while tears slowly coursed down her cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you not see, my dear, that by idling away the precious moments you
+crowd the duty of one hour into the next, so your task can never be
+finished, or at best very imperfectly? If you reflect, the experience of
+the past week will tell you this. I have kept this memorandum on purpose
+to convince you of your sinful waste of that most precious of all
+gifts,&mdash;the time which our Master allows us here to work out our
+happiness hereafter. Remember, my love, that you are accountable to Him
+for your use of His gifts, and a proper improvement of time will not
+only save you many mortifications and produce much pleasure and comfort
+to yourself and all about you, but it is a duty you owe to the God who
+bestowed it. Do not think me unnecessarily earnest, my dear little girl;
+the subject is of fearful importance, and this habit of putting off till
+to-morrow what should be done to-day, is your greatest fault. Remember
+hereafter that 'Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it now with all
+thy might,' and then I shall have no more occasion to remind you of the
+wasted gift."</p>
+
+<p>Emily never forgot the lesson of that week, but gradually overcame the
+evil habits of idleness and procrastination which were becoming fixed
+before she was made fully aware of their danger, and a long life of
+usefulness attested the good impression left upon her mind by her
+mother's memorandum of "The Wasted Gift."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FAULT FINDING&mdash;THE ANTIDOTE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Will you excuse me, mother," said a bright looking boy of twelve or
+thirteen to his mother, as soon as he had finished his meat and potato.
+"Yes, if you wish." "And may I be excused too, mother?" cried his little
+brother of some six or seven years. "Yes, dear, if there is any occasion
+for such haste, but why do you not wish for your pudding or fruit?" "Oh,
+Charley is going to show me something," replied the happy little boy, as
+he eagerly hastened from his seat, and followed his brother to the
+window, where they were both speedily intent upon a new bow and arrow,
+which had just been presented to Charley by a poor wandering Indian, to
+whom he had been in the habit of giving such little matters as his means
+would allow. Sometimes a little tobacco for his pipe, a pair of his
+father's cast-off boots or a half-worn pair of stockings, and sometimes
+he would beg of his mother a fourpence, which instead of purchasing
+candy for himself was slid into the hand of his aboriginal friend, and
+whenever he came, a good warm dinner was set before him, under Charley's
+special direction. He loved the poor Indian, and often told his mother
+he would always help an Indian while he had the power, for "Oh, how
+sorry I am that they are driven away from all these pleasant lands," he
+often used to say, "and are melting away, like the snows in April.
+Mother, I should think they would hate the sight of a white man." But
+the poor Indian is grateful for kindness from a white man, and this day
+as Charley came from school, poor Squantum was sitting at the corner of
+the house waiting for him, with a fine long smooth bow, and several
+arrows. "I give you this," he said, "for you always good to Squantum;"
+and without waiting for Charley's thanks, or accepting his earnest
+invitation to come in and get some dinner, he strode away. Charley was
+wild with delight. He flew to the house with his treasure, but the
+dinner-bell rang at that moment. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> could not find in his heart to put
+it out of his hand, so he took it with him, and seated himself at the
+table, and as soon as his hunger was appeased, he nodded to his brother
+and hurried to show him his precious gift. The family were quietly
+conversing and finishing their dinner, when crash! and smash! went
+something! Poor Charley! In the eagerness of his delight, while showing
+the beautiful bow to his brother, he had brought the end of it within
+the handle of a large water-pitcher, which stood on the side table near
+him, and alas, the twirl was too sudden&mdash;the poor pitcher came to the
+floor with a mighty emphasis. "Boy! what are you about? What have you
+done? What do you mean by such carelessness? Will you break everything
+in the house, you heedless fellow? I'd rather you had broken all on the
+table than that pitcher, you young scapegrace. Take that, and learn to
+mind what you are about, or I'll take measures to make you." And with a
+thorough shaking, and a sound box on the ear, the father quitted the
+room, took his hat, and marched to his office, there to explain the law,
+and obtain <i>justice</i> for all offenders. But alas for Charley! How great
+was the change of feeling in his boyish heart. His mother looked for a
+moment with an expression of fear and sorrow upon her countenance, and
+telling a servant to wipe up the water he had spilled&mdash;she took his hand
+gently to lead him away. For a moment he repulsed her, and stood as if
+transfixed with astonishment and rage. But he could not withstand her
+pleading look, and she led him to her own room. As soon as the door
+closed upon them, his passion burst forth in words. "Father treats me
+like a dog. I never will bear it&mdash;never, never, another day. Mother, you
+know I did not not mean to do a wrong thing, and what right has my
+father to shake and cuff me as if I were a vile slave? Mother, I'll
+break the house down itself if he treats me so&mdash;to box my ears right
+before all the family! And last night he sent me out of the room, so
+stern, just because I slammed the door a little. I was glad he had to go
+to the office, and I wish he would stay there&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush, my son, what are you saying? Stop, for a moment, and think
+what you are saying of your own kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> father! Charles, my son, you are
+adding sin to sin. Sit down, my dear child, and crush that wicked spirit
+in the bud." And she gently seated him in a chair, and laying her cool
+hand upon his burning brow, she smoothed his hair, and pressing her lips
+to his forehead, he felt her tears. "Mother, mother, you blessed good
+mother." His heart melted within him, and he wept as if it would burst.
+For a few moments, both wept without restraint, but feeling that the
+opportunity for making a lasting impression must not be lost, Mrs.
+Arnold struggled to command herself. "Charles, my son, you have
+displeased your father exceedingly, and you cannot wonder that he was
+greatly disturbed. That pitcher, you often heard him say, was used for
+many years in his father's family. It is an old relic which he valued
+highly. It was very strong, and has been used by us so long, that it
+seemed like a familiar friend. It is not strange that for a moment he
+was exceedingly angry to see it so carelessly broken, and oh, my son,
+what wicked feelings have been in your heart, what undutiful words upon
+your tongue!"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot help it, mother&mdash;I cannot help it," replied the excited boy,
+"he ought not to treat me so, and I will not&mdash;" "Charles, Charles, you
+are wrong, you are very wrong, and I pray you may be sorry for it,"
+interrupted his mother, in a tone of the deepest sorrow. "Do not speak
+again till you can conquer such a spirit," and they were both silent for
+a few moments. The mother's heart went up in fervent prayer that this
+might be a salutary trial, and that she might be enabled to guide his
+young and hasty spirit aright.</p>
+
+<p>At length he spoke slowly, and his voice trembled with the strong
+feelings which had shaken him. "Mother, you are the dearest and best
+mother that ever lived. I wish I could be a good boy, for your sake; but
+when father speaks so harsh, I am angry all the time, and I cannot help
+being cross and ugly too. I know I am more and more so; I feel it, and
+the boys tell me so sometimes. John Gray said, yesterday, I was not half
+as pleasant in school as I used to be. I feel unhappy, and I am sure if
+I grow wicked, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> grow wretched too." And again he burst into a passion
+of tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Does not sin always bring misery, my dear boy?" asked his mother, after
+a little pause, "and will you not daily meet with circumstances to make
+you angry and unhappy, if you give way to your first impulse of
+impatience,&mdash;and is it not our first duty to resist every temptation to
+feel or act wrong? God has not promised us happiness here, but He <i>has</i>
+promised that if we resist evil it will flee from us. He has promised
+that if we strive to conquer our wicked feelings and do right when we
+are tempted to do wrong He will aid us, and give us sweet peace in so
+doing. To-day you have given way to anger, and you are wretched. You are
+blaming your father and think he is the cause of your trouble; but think
+a moment. If you had borne the punishment he gave you meekly and
+patiently, would not a feeling of peace be in your bosom, to which you
+are now a stranger? You know that when we suffer patiently for doing
+well, God is well pleased; and would not the consciousness that you had
+struggled against and overcome a wicked feeling, and that God looked
+upon you with approbation, make you more really happy than anything else
+can? My dear, dear boy, your happiness does not consist in what others
+say or do to you, but in the feelings you cherish in your own heart.
+There you must look for happiness, and there, if you do right, you will
+find it."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you always say right, mother, and I will try, I will try, if I
+can, to bear patiently; but oh, if father only was like you"&mdash;and again
+tears stopped his utterance.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," said his mother, "your father has many troubles. It is
+a great care to provide for his family, and you know he suffers us to
+want for nothing. He often has most perplexing cases, and his poor
+brains are almost distracted. You are a happy boy, with no care but to
+get your lessons, and obey your parents, and try to help them. You know
+nothing yet of the anxieties which will crowd upon you when you are a
+man. Try now to learn to bear manfully and patiently all
+vexations&mdash;looking for help to that blessed One, who, when he was
+reviled, reviled not again. How much happier and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> better man you will
+be, how you will comfort your mother, and still more, you will please
+that blessed Savior, who has left such an example of meekness&mdash;suffering
+for sinners, and even dying for his cruel enemies. Oh, my son, my son,
+ask that blessed Savior to make you like himself, and you will be happy,
+and His own Spirit will make you holy. Let us ask Him to do it," and she
+knelt by her bedside, and her son placed himself beside her. It was no
+new thing for him to pray with this devoted mother. Often had she been
+with him to the throne of grace, when his youthful troubles or faults
+had made him feel the need of an Almighty helper and friend, but never
+had he come before with such an earnest desire to obtain the gift of
+that blessed Spirit, to subdue and change his heart and make him like
+his Savior. When they rose from prayer he sought his own room. He felt
+unable to go to school, and his mother hoped the impression would be
+more lasting, if he thought it over in the solitude of his own chamber,
+and she had much reason afterward to hope that this solemn afternoon was
+the beginning of good days to the soul of her child. As she looked
+anxiously at the expression of his countenance when the family assembled
+at the tea-table, she was pleased to notice, though an air of sadness
+hung around him, he was subdued, gentle, and affectionate, and she hoped
+much from this severe contest with his besetting sin. His father said
+little, and soon hurried away to a business engagement for the evening.
+Mr. Arnold was a lawyer, a gentleman and a professing Christian, and
+though never very strongly beloved, yet few of his neighbors could tell
+why, or say aught against his respectability and general excellence of
+character. He was immersed in the cares of an extensive business, and
+spent little time at home, and when there he seemed to have no room in
+his busy heart for the prattle of his children, no time to delight and
+improve them, with the stores of knowledge he might have brought forth
+from his treasury. If company were present, he was polite and agreeable.
+If only his wife and children, he said little, and that little was
+chiefly confined to matters of domestic interest&mdash;what they should have
+for dinner&mdash;what schools the children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> should attend&mdash;or the casual
+mention of the most common news of the day. He provided liberally for
+his family, what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should
+be clothed and instructed&mdash;but he took no pains to gain their affections
+or their confidence, to enlarge their ideas and awaken within them the
+thirst for knowledge, and plant within them the deathless principles of
+right and wrong&mdash;or even to inspire their young minds with love and
+reverence for their Divine Creator and Preserver. All this most
+important duty of a father was left to his wife, and blessed is the man
+who has <i>such</i> a wife and mother, to whom to intrust the precious charge
+he neglects. Most amiable and affectionate, intelligent and judicious,
+and of ardent and cheerful piety, this excellent woman devoted herself
+with untiring zeal to the training of her cherished flock, and as she
+saw and felt with poignant grief that she would have no help in this
+greatest and first earthly duty, from him who had solemnly promised to
+sustain and comfort, and assist, and cherish her, to bear and share with
+her the trials and cares of life (and what care is greater than the
+right training of our offspring), she again and again strove with
+earnest faith and humble prayer, to cast all her care upon Him, who she
+was assured cared for her, and go forward in every duty with the
+determination to fulfill it to the utmost of her power. Many times did
+the cold and stern manner of her husband, his anger at trifles, and his
+thoughtless punishment for accidental offenses, cause her heart to bleed
+for the effects of such government, or want of government, upon her
+children's hearts and minds. But she uttered no word of blame in their
+presence, she ever showed them that any want of love or respect for
+their father grieved her, and was, moreover, a heinous sin, and by
+patient continuance in well doing, she yet hoped to reap the full
+reward. Her eldest, Charles, felt most keenly his father's utter want of
+sympathy, and to him she gave her most constant tender care.
+Affectionate, but hasty, he was illy constituted to bear the harsh
+command, or the frequent fault finding of his father, and often she
+trembled lest he should throw off all parental control, and goaded by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>
+his irritated feelings, rush into sin without restraint. And so,
+probably, he would have done but for the unbounded love and reverence
+with which he regarded his "blessed mother." Her gentle influence he
+could not withstand, and it grew more and more powerful with him for
+good, till the glance of her loving eye would check his wayward spirit,
+and calm him often, when passion struggled for the mastery. Often did
+she venture to hope he had indeed given himself to his Savior, and her
+conversations with him from time to time, showed so much desire to
+conquer every evil passion, and to shun every false way with so much
+affectionate reverence for his God and Redeemer, that the mother's heart
+was sweetly comforted in her first-born.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE TREASURY OF THOUGHTS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The days of primer, and catechism, and tasks for the memory are gone.
+The schoolmaster is no longer to us as he was to our mothers, associated
+with all that is puzzling and disagreeable in hard unmeaning rules, with
+all that is dull and uninteresting in grave thoughts beyond the reach of
+the young idea. He is to us now rather the interpreter of mysteries, the
+pleasant companion who shows us the way to science, and beguiles its
+tediousness. If there is now no "royal road," certainly its opening
+defiles are made easier for the ascent of the little feet of the
+youthful scholar. The memory is not the chief faculty which receives a
+discipline in the present system of things. The "how," the "why," are
+the subjects of interest and attention. This is well; but it may be that
+in our anxiety to reach the height of the hill, and to keep up with the
+progress of the age, we are neglecting too much the training of the
+memory, which should be to us a treasury of beautiful thoughts, to cheer
+us in the prose of every-day life, to refine and elevate taste and
+feeling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> We do not think it was a waste of time to learn, as our
+mothers did, long extracts from Milton, the sweet lyrics of Watts, the
+Psalms of David. Have we not often been soothed by their recitation of
+them in the time of sickness, at the hour of twilight, when even the
+mind of the child seems to reach out after the spiritual, and to need
+the aliment of high and holy thought? The low, sweet voice, the harmony
+of the verse, were conveyancers of ideas which entered the soul to
+become a part of it forever.</p>
+
+<p>If we would be rich in thought, we must gather up the treasures of the
+past, and make them our own. It is not enough, certainly, for ordinary
+minds, simply to read the English classics; they must be studied,
+learned, to get from them their worth. And the mother who would
+cultivate the taste, the imagination of the child, must give him, with
+the exercise of his own inventive powers, the rich food of the past.</p>
+
+<p>It need not be feared that there will not be originality in the mind of
+one thus stored with the wealth which others have left. Where there is a
+native vigor, and invention, it will remould truth into new forms, and
+add a value of its own, having received an inspiration from the great
+masters of thought.</p>
+
+<p>If, then, you would bless your child, persuade him to make Milton and
+Cowper, and other authors of immortal verse, his familiar friends. They
+shall be companions in solitude, ministers of joy in hours of sadness.
+And let the "songs of Zion" mould the young affections, and be
+associated with a mother's love, and the dear delights of home. Perhaps
+in a strange land, and in a dying hour, when far from counselor and
+friend, they may lead even the prodigal to think upon his ways, and be
+his guide to Heaven.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>NOTICES OF BOOKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">The Wide, Wide World.</span>"&mdash;This is a charming book, written by
+one of our own countrywomen, which we think may be safely and
+appropriately given to a pure-minded and simple-hearted daughter. If it
+is fictitious, it is only so as the ideal landscape of an artist, which,
+though unreal, compels us to exclaim, How true to nature! If the
+delineation of true religious character is not its main object, that of
+piety and benevolence is as truly a part of it, as is its fragrance a
+part of the rose. We should love to give it to some of our friends whose
+Christianity may be vital, but which does not make them lovely&mdash;who may
+show some of its fruits, but who hardly cultivate what may be called the
+leaves and flowers of a holy character. If the sternness and want of
+sympathy of Aunt Fortune does not rebuke them, perhaps the loveliness
+and patience of Ellen, and her friends, may win them to an imitation.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Life in the West; or, the Moreton Family.</span>"&mdash;This tasteful
+little work, coming out under the sanction of the American Sunday-School
+Union, hardly needs from us an item of praise; but we cannot consent to
+pass it by unnoticed. A more faithful and interesting picture of the
+trials of a Christian family in removing westward, and of their
+surmounting such trials, we have never seen. Religion, the religion of
+home, they take with them; and by the wayside, and in the log cottage,
+they worship their father's God. We needed such a delineation, in the
+form of an attractive narrative, to show us that in passing through the
+trials of a strange country, we are yet to be <i>on the Lord's side</i>. But
+beside this, there is in the work the loveliness of a well-ordered home;
+the picture of a faithful, thoughtful <i>mother</i>, and of children and
+husband appreciating such a mother. To give one little extract&mdash;"The
+<i>mother's room</i>! What family knows not that sociable spot&mdash;that <i>heart</i>
+of the house? To it go the weary, the sick, the sad and the happy, all
+sure of sympathy and of aid; all secure in their expectation of meeting
+there the cheering word, the comforting smile, and the loving friend."
+In thorough ignorance of what a <i>new home</i> should mean, little Willie
+inquires, "<i>Home</i> is not a <i>house</i>, is it?" Most sensible question <i>for
+a child</i>. To such as desire an answer to the inquiry, we recommend the
+work, as one which will be of value to them and their children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>PARENTAL SOLICITUDE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In my intercourse with Christian parents, and it has not been limited, I
+have often found a deep anxiety pervading their hearts in relation to
+the spiritual state of their children. And why should not such anxiety
+exist? If a parent has evidence that his child is in an impenitent
+state&mdash;especially if that child is growing up in habits of vicious
+indulgence&mdash;he ought to feel, and deeply feel. That child is in danger,
+and the danger is the greater by how much the more his heart has become
+callous, under the hardening influence of a wicked life; and every day
+that danger increases. God's patience may be exhausted. The brittle
+thread of life may be sundered at any moment, and the impenitent and
+unprepared soul be summoned to the bar of God. With great propriety,
+therefore, may the parent feel anxious in regard to his unconverted
+children.</p>
+
+<p>But to some parents it seems mysterious that such deep, constant,
+corroding anxiety should be their allotment. They sometimes attempt to
+cast it off. They would feel justified in doing so, were they able. But
+that is impossible. Now, to such parents allow me to address a few
+thoughts which, may the Divine Spirit, by his gracious influence, bless
+to their comfort and direction.</p>
+
+<p>And the first thing I have to say is, that the solicitude they feel for
+their children may be excessive. That it should be deep must be
+admitted, and it should continue as long as the danger lasts. It should
+even increase as that danger increases up to a given point; but there is
+a point beyond which even parental solicitude should never be suffered
+to proceed. It should not become excessive. It should never be suffered
+to weaken our confidence in the divine goodness, nor in the wisdom of
+the divine dispensations. It should never prompt the parent to desire
+that God should alter the established order of his providence, or change
+or modify the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> principles of his moral government. It would not be right
+for me to wish my children saved at all adventures. That anxiety which
+prompts to such a desire is both excessive and selfish. It can never be
+justified, nor can God ever favorably regard it.</p>
+
+<p>My second remark is, that a deep solicitude of the parent for the
+spiritual good of his children is most desirable. I am aware that it is
+more or less painful, and in itself is neither pleasant nor desirable.
+But may it not, notwithstanding, be beneficial in its results, and even
+of incalculable importance? Where no danger is apprehended, no care will
+be exercised. Who knows not that the unsolicitous mariner is far more
+likely to suffer shipwreck than he who, apprehensive of rocks and reefs,
+exercises a wise precaution? The parent who never suffers himself to be
+disturbed&mdash;whose sleep is never interrupted while his children are
+abroad, exposed to temptation&mdash;may for that very reason neglect them at
+the critical juncture, and the head-waters may become too impulsive; the
+tendencies to vice and crime too powerful to be resisted. Oh! had the
+parent been a little more anxious&mdash;had he looked after his children with
+a higher sense of his obligations, how immeasurably different, probably,
+had been the result! The truth is, that where one parent feels too much
+in relation to his children, hundreds of parents are criminally
+indifferent. In regard to such parents, it is our duty to awaken their
+anxieties by every means in our power. But what shall we say to those
+who may be thought already over-solicitous? Such parents are seldom to
+be found. If any such there be, let them moderate what may possibly be
+excessive; but be sure to bless God, who has given you a deep anxiety
+for the salvation of your loved ones. Remember that it prompts you to
+greater watchfulness and care than you would otherwise exercise. You
+pray more, you instruct them more, you guard them more. And your
+children, therefore, are more likely to become the children of God. And
+remember, further, that your Heavenly Father knows just what solicitudes
+you feel, their weight, their painfulness; and just so long as you feel
+them, and in consequence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of them, <i>act</i> in the use of those legitimate
+means which God has instituted for the restraint and conversion of your
+children, you have reason to hope. The very end and object of those
+Christian anxieties are just what you desire, and for which you are
+daily praying&mdash;the conversion of your children; and if you pursue a
+proper course under them, you are probably more likely to see your hopes
+accomplished than if they did not exist.</p>
+
+<p>I had contemplated adding other suggestions, but time and space will not
+allow. But I cannot dismiss this subject without saying, that instead of
+ever complaining that God has imparted to you such a deep anxiety for
+the spiritual good of your children, let that time thus spent be
+employed in fervent, importunate and agonizing prayer for them. That is
+the best way of washing off these accumulated and accumulating loads of
+anxiety. Plead in view of your deep solicitude&mdash;plead in Christ's
+name&mdash;plead by the worth of your children's souls&mdash;plead by every
+consideration you can think of, and then plead by every consideration
+which the All Omniscient mind of God can think of&mdash;especially plead the
+divine honor and glory, as involved in such a desired result, and when
+you have done all these, then act wisely, and efficiently as you can.
+Never give up&mdash;never falter&mdash;not even for a moment. But be steady to
+your purpose&mdash;yet in every step of your progress say, "O God, thy will
+be done."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>EXCESSIVE LEGISLATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A family is a community or government, of which the parents are the
+legislators, and the children are the subjects. The parents are required
+by the family constitution to superintend and direct the conduct of
+their children, and others under their care. And children, by the same
+authority, are required to obey their parents. "Children, obey your
+parents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." But
+parents are more than legislators; they possess the executive power.
+They are to see their rules carried out. And, still further, they are to
+judge of the penalty due to infraction and disobedience, and of the time
+and manner in which punishment is to be inflicted. The authority vested
+in parents is great, and most judiciously should it be exercised. God
+has given general directions in his word touching the exercise of their
+authority. To Him they are amenable. And by all the love they bear to
+their offspring, their desire for their welfare, and the hope of the
+future approbation of God, they should endeavor to bring up their
+children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>But are not parents apt to legislate too much? This is often an error in
+all legislative assemblies. Perhaps there is not a State in the Union in
+which the laws are not too many, and too minute. Every legislator feels
+desirous of leaving his impress on the statute book. And so there is
+yearly an accumulation of laws and resolves, one-half of which might
+probably be dispensed with, with advantage to the people.</p>
+
+<p>The same over legislation often obtains in the school-room, springing
+doubtless from a desire on the part of the teacher to preserve a more
+perfect order among his pupils. Hence the number and minuteness of his
+rules; and in his endeavor to reduce them to practice, and make
+clock-work of the internal machinery, he quite likely defeats the very
+object he has in view. A school-teacher who pretends to notice every
+aberration from order and propriety is quite likely to have his hands
+full, and just so with parents. Some children cannot keep still. Their
+nervous temperament does not admit of it. I once heard an elderly
+gentleman say, that when riding in a coach, he was so confined that he
+felt as if he should die because he could not change his position. Oh!
+if he could have stirred but an inch! Children often feel just so. And
+it is bad policy to require them to sit as so many little immoveable
+statues. "There, sit in just that spot, and don't you move an inch till
+I bid you." Who has not heard a parent give forth such a mandate? And a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+school-master, too, to some little urchin, who tries to obey, but from
+that moment begins to squirm, and turn, and hitch, and chiefly because
+his nervous system is all deranged by the very duty imposed upon him.
+And, besides, what if Tommy, in the exuberance of his feelings, while
+sitting on the bench, does stick out his toe a little beyond the
+prescribed line. Or suppose Jimmy crowds up to him a little too closely,
+and feeling that he can't breathe as freely as he wishes, gives him a
+hunch; or suppose Betty, during a temporary fit of fretfulness, induced
+by long setting in one posture, or overcome with the heat of a midsummer
+afternoon, or the sweltering temperature of a room where an
+old-fashioned box stove has been converted into a furnace; suppose Betty
+gives her seat-mate a sly pinch to make her move to a more tolerable
+distance, shall the teacher utter his rebuke in tones which might
+possibly be appropriate if a murder was about being committed? I have
+known a schoolmaster "fire up" like a steam-engine, and puff and whiz at
+the occurrence of some such peccadilloes, and the consequence was that
+the whole school was soon at a stand-still as to study, and the askance
+looks and suppressed titter of the little flock told you that the
+teacher had made no capital that time. I have seen essentially the same
+thing in parents.</p>
+
+<p>Now, I am not exactly justifying such conduct in children. But such
+offences will exist, despite of all the wisdom, authority, and sternness
+in the wide world. My position is, that these minor matters must
+sometimes be left. They had better not always be seen, or if seen, not
+be noticed. I think those who have the care of children may take a
+lesson from a slut and her pups, or a cat and her kittens. Who has not
+seen the puppy or the kitten taking some license with their
+dams?&mdash;biting as puppies and kittens bite at play? Well, and what sort
+of treatment do they sometimes get from the older folks? Now and then
+you hear a growl, or see a spat. But, generally, the "old ones" know
+better. The little frolicsome creatures are indulged. Nature seems to
+teach these canine and feline parents that their progeny must and will
+have sport. I have, indeed, as I have said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> heard the ominous growl and
+the warning spat or spit, but what good has it done? Why, the growl
+seems only to inspirit the young dog. He plays so much the more; or, at
+least, if he plays shy for a brief space, the next you'll see, he jumps
+on to the old dog and plays the harder, and the kitten acts in like
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>But I have said enough. The sum is, that it is wise not to take
+cognizance of all that might be considered amiss in children. Correct
+the faults which are the most prominent. Let the statute-book not be
+overburdened with small enactments. Nothing is small which is morally
+wrong; but little physical twitchings, and nervous peccadilloes are not
+worthy of grave legislation. The apostle's account of himself has some
+pertinence here. "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a
+child"&mdash;Paul, doubtless acted as a child; "but when I became a man, I
+put away childish things." The experience and observation of years often
+make salutary corrections, which you would in vain attempt to effect in
+early childhood, by all the laws of a ponderous octavo, or by all the
+birch saplings to be found in a western forest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Grandfather.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MAGNETISM.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Kind reader, whoever thou art, I come to thee with an earnest plea, and
+that I may the more surely prevail in my suit, let me for a time exert
+over thee the mesmeric power; thy bodily eyes being closed, and thy
+spirit set free from its encumbering clay, let me introduce thee to
+distant scenes.</p>
+
+<p>The hour is midnight,&mdash;the place an humble home in far off Michigan. Let
+us enter; nothing hinders, for bolts and bars are here unknown. Step
+quietly, that we may not disturb the sleeping. Come with me to this
+bed-chamber; it is indeed dark, but the spirit does not need material
+light. On<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> this rude bed reposes an aged man with whitened locks and
+furrowed face, and yonder lies a little child whose tiny feet have yet
+taken but few steps on life's rude journey. Listen!&mdash;she moves&mdash;she is
+not asleep. What has wakened thee, gentle one?&mdash;the slumbers of
+childhood should be undisturbed. She sings&mdash;in the silent, lonely night,
+with sweet low voice she is singing&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Jesus, Saviour, Son of God,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who for me life's pathway trod;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who for me became a child,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Make me humble, meek, and mild.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I thy little lamb would be,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jesus, I would follow thee;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel was thy child of old,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Take me now within thy fold."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The old man wakens&mdash;she has disturbed him. Shall he stop her?&mdash;no; he
+loves that little one, and he has not the heart to bid her be silent.
+One after another she pours forth her sweet melodies, till at last her
+voice grows fainter and fainter, and soon she and her grandfather are
+both lying again in unbroken repose. The morning comes. The old man
+calls to him the petted one, and says: "Lucy, why did you sing last
+night when you should have been asleep? What were you singing?" Stopping
+her play she looks up and says brightly&mdash;"I was singing to Jesus,
+grandpa, and you ought to sing to him, too."</p>
+
+<p>Why does he start and tremble, that stern, gray-headed man? He has lived
+more than sixty years an unbeliever&mdash;a despiser of the lowly Savior. No
+thought of repentance or remorse has afflicted him&mdash;no desire has he
+ever had to hear the words of eternal life. He has trained up his family
+in ignorance of God, and only in <i>his memory</i> has the blessed Sabbath
+had a name since he went to his distant western home.</p>
+
+<p>Not long ago a benevolent man passing through the town, gathered some of
+the ragged and forsaken little ones into a Sabbath-school, and bestowed
+on them the inestimable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> gift of a few small books. The little Lucy
+heard from her young companions the wonderful story, and begged to go.
+But she was sternly refused. He wanted nothing with the Sabbath-school.
+She could not be pacified, however, and at length with prayers and tears
+she was permitted to prevail. She went, and returned with her Testament
+and little hymn-book, and with such joy and glee, that even her
+grandfather came to think the Sabbath-school an excellent thing. Of that
+blessed school he is now a member, and is weekly found studying the word
+of God, as humbly and diligently as a little child. The infidel of sixty
+years is a penitent follower of that Jesus to whom little Lucy sung her
+midnight song, and who out of the mouths of babes often perfects his
+praise.</p>
+
+<p>But we cannot tarry here; let us journey on. Our way lies through these
+woods. Do you hear the sound of an axe? Yonder is a woodman, and by his
+side a little boy. We will approach. Never fear. Spirits cannot be
+discerned by mortal eyes, and though we come very near, they will be
+unconscious of our presence. How attractive is childhood. The little
+fellow is as merry as a lark, and chatters away to his father, who, with
+silent absorption pursues his work. Suddenly his axe slips, and a large
+limb, which should have fallen in the other direction, descends with
+violence upon his foot. Can spirits be deaf at pleasure? If so we will
+quickly close our ears, for fearful is the torrent of oaths proceeding
+from the mouth of the infuriated man. But where is the child? Look at
+him where he stands; his innocent prattle hushed&mdash;his whole appearance
+and attitude showing the utmost fear and distress. Listen&mdash;he
+speaks&mdash;slowly and solemnly: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
+thy God in vain." Who made thee a preacher of righteousness, a rebuker
+of sin, thou little stray lamb of the Savior's fold? <i>The
+Sabbath-school</i>,&mdash;lone instrument of good in these western wilds, has
+taught thee, and thou teachest thy father. Nor is the reproof vain.
+Heart-stricken and repentant he is henceforth a new man. "God moves in a
+mysterious way, his wonders to perform." But we will on. The woods are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+passed, and we emerge again into the highway. Who goes yonder with
+painful effort in the road before us? It is a crippled boy. Stop&mdash;let us
+speak to him. Can spirits converse in human tones? We will try. "Good
+morning, my poor boy; are you going far on your crutches over this rough
+road?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only to the village, sir, about a mile from this."</p>
+
+<p>"And pray what may be your errand that you make so much effort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sir, one of the boys, last week, gave me a little book, which told
+about God, and heaven, and hell, and I am frightened about my soul, and
+I am going to ask the good minister who lives in the village what I
+shall do that I may go to heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"God speed and teach thee, and give us to see thee at last among the
+ransomed ones."</p>
+
+<p>We have left the village where the "good minister" lived, far behind,
+and now we approach a populous town. By our side travels a thoughtful
+man, all unwitting of his company. It is the Sabbath, and he has been
+ten miles to hear the gospel preached. No church-going bell has as yet
+ever gladdened the place which he calls his home. Deep sighs escape from
+his breast, as he rides slowly along. He meditates on the wretched
+condition of his neighbors and friends. As we approach the town the
+sound of voices is heard. The good man listens, and distinguishes the
+tones of children familiar and dear. He approaches the hedge from which
+they proceed. What anguish is depicted on his face as he gazes on the
+boys, sitting under the hedge, on God's holy day, busily engaged <i>in
+playing cards</i>! Are you a parent, kind reader? Are you a Christian
+parent? If so, perhaps you can understand his feelings as he turns
+desparingly away, and murmurs to himself&mdash;"No preacher of the gospel&mdash;no
+Sunday-school&mdash;no Sabbath day. Alas! what shall save our children?"</p>
+
+<p>Our journey is ended. Every incident which we have imagined we saw, is
+recorded in God's book of remembrance as a fact.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>My plea is in behalf of those who would establish Sabbath-schools among
+the thousands of precious infant souls in the far-off West.</p>
+
+<p>Do you ask what you can do? Perhaps you can increase your donations to
+the Home Missionary and Sunday-school Societies. Every dollar goes far,
+given to either. But perhaps you are doing all you can in that way. Have
+you then no good books lying about your home which have done their work
+for your loved ones, and can be dispensed with? Can you collect among
+your friends a dozen or more? Do not think it a small thing. Gather them
+together, and put them in some box of clothing which is destined to
+Michigan. Every one of those defaced and cast-off books may be a
+messenger of life to some starving soul.</p>
+
+<p>More than this you can do. Train your own precious children to value
+their abundant privileges, and embue them with the earnest desire to
+impart freely what is so freely given. Look upon your son, your pride
+and joy. A few years hence may find him living side by side with one of
+those unfortunate boys who knew no better than to desecrate the holy day
+with gambling. Will he be able to withstand the influences which will
+surround him in such society? That, under God, depends on your prayers
+and efforts. Ask earnestly for grace to prepare him to do the blessed
+work, wherever he goes, of winning souls to Christ, and not be himself
+enticed to evil. Your daughter&mdash;your gentle, bright-eyed one&mdash;over whom
+your heart yearns with unspeakable tenderness&mdash;her home may be yet
+appointed far toward the setting sun. For her sake, lend all your
+influence to the good work of saving those rapidly populating towns from
+the dominion of evil. Labor and pray, and day by day, instil into her
+young mind the principles which governed her Savior's earthly life&mdash;who
+went about doing good, and who valued not the riches of heaven's glory
+that he might redeem souls.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sigma.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE STUPID, DULL CHILD.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There is always great danger of wounding the sensibilities of a timid,
+retiring child. It requires great forbearance and discrimination on the
+part of parents and teachers, in their endeavors to develop the latent
+faculties of the minds of such children, (whether this dullness is
+natural, or the effect of untoward circumstances,) without injuring the
+sensibilities of the heart.</p>
+
+<p>This is especially true at the present day, when the world is laying
+such heavy demands upon the time and attention of parents.</p>
+
+<p>We not unfrequently hear a father confessing, with regret, to be sure,
+but without any apparent endeavors to obviate the evil, that his time
+and thoughts are so absorbed in the cares of his business, that his
+little children scarcely recognize him, as he seldom returns to his
+family, till they are in bed, and goes forth to his business before they
+are up in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>This is, indeed, a sad evil, and if possible ought to be remedied. How
+can we expect that such a father will understand the peculiar temper and
+dispositions of his children so as to aid a mother in their proper
+training? Perhaps in some cases such evils cannot be remedied.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas! what heavy responsibilities does such neglect, on the part of
+the father, devolve upon the mother! Methinks the circumstances of such
+a mother may be even more difficult to meet than if she were a widow!</p>
+
+<p>We invite the attention of parents to a consideration of this topic and
+some of the evils growing out of the wrong treatment of timid, dull
+children. We can do no more at present than attempt to show, in a given
+case, how such an existing evil was cured by forbearance and kindness.
+The illustration is taken from "Pictures of Early Life," in the case of
+a little girl by the name of Lilias Tracy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This poor child, though her father was rich, and held an honorable
+station in society, yet on account of her mother's sorrows, and
+subsequent insanity, her poor child, Lilias, who was allowed to remain
+with her mother, was brought up in an atmosphere of sadness, and it was
+no wonder that she became melancholy and reserved.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of her mother, her father understood too little of the
+character of his only child to be able to afford her much solace, and he
+therefore determined to send her to a boarding-school.</p>
+
+<p>If there be a trial which exceeds a child's powers of endurance, it is a
+first entrance into a boarding-school. Little Lilias felt at once this
+painful situation in all its bitterness.</p>
+
+<p>Shy and sensitive at all times, she had never felt so utterly forlorn,
+as when she first found herself in the play-ground belonging to Mrs.
+Bellamy's school.</p>
+
+<p>Not only was she timid and shy, but the necessity of being always with
+her mother to soothe the paroxysms of distress, had deprived Lilias of
+many opportunities of education, and she was therefore far less advanced
+in knowledge than most of her companions. Numberless were the
+mortifications to which she was obliged to submit on account of her
+ignorance, while her timidity and shyness increased in proportion to the
+reproofs of her teachers, and the ridicule of her schoolfellows. She at
+length came to be regarded as one of those hopelessly dull pupils who
+are to be found cumbering the benches of every large school, and but for
+her father's wealth and honorable station in society, she would,
+probably, have been sent away in disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, Providence raised up for poor Lilias, at this juncture, a
+kind friend and patient teacher in a schoolfellow, by the name of
+Victorine Horton. This amiable young lady, seeing the trials and
+mortifications of this sensitive child, begged Mrs. Bellamy to allow
+Lilias to become her room-mate, and she would assist her in her lessons.
+Some few weeks after this arrangement took place, Victorine was accosted
+thus&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"How can you waste so much time on that <i>stupid</i> child,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> Miss Horton?"
+said one of the teachers. "She does not seem to improve any, with all
+your pains; she will never repay your trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not despair," said Victorine, smiling. "She is an affectionate
+little creature, and if continual dropping will wear away a stone,
+surely, repeated kindness will melt the icy mantle of reserve which now
+conceals her better qualities."</p>
+
+<p>A happy child was little Lilias, thus to become the companion and
+bedfellow of such a kind-hearted friend as she found in Victorine.
+Stimulated by affection, she applied herself to her studies, and as
+"perfect love casteth out fear," she was enabled to get her lessons, and
+to recite them without that nervous timidity which had usually deprived
+her of all power.</p>
+
+<p>A few months after Victorine had thus undertaken the charge of Lilias, a
+prize was offered, in each class, for the most elegantly written French
+exercise. Lilias observed the eagerness of the pupils to compete for the
+medals, but she never dreamed of becoming a candidate till Victorine
+suggested it.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you would try to win the prize in your class, dear Lilias," said
+Victorine.</p>
+
+<p>"I, Victorine! It would be impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, impossible, Lilias? You have lately made great progress in the
+study of French, and if I may judge by your last translation, you will
+stand as good a chance as any of the class."</p>
+
+<p>"But, you know, I have your assistance, Victorine, and if I were writing
+for the prize I should be obliged to do it all myself."</p>
+
+<p>"I gave you little aid in your last exercises, Lilias, and there are yet
+two months before the time fixed for awarding the premiums, so you will
+have opportunity enough to try your skill."</p>
+
+<p>"But if I should not succeed, the whole school will laugh at me for
+making the attempt."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Lilias; those who possess proper feelings will never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> laugh at an
+attempt to do right, and for those who can indulge an ill-natured jest
+at the expense of a schoolfellow's feelings, you need not care. I am
+very anxious you should make the attempt."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if <i>you</i> wish it, Victorine, I will do my best; but I know I
+shall fail."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know how I generally succeed in such tasks, Lilias? It is never
+by thinking of the possibility of failure. I have almost forgotten to
+say, <i>I can't</i>, and have substituted, upon every occasion, <i>I'll try</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, to please you, Victorine, '<i>I'll try</i>,'" said Lilias,
+smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor child," thought Victorine, "with your affectionate nature, and
+noble principles, it is a pity you should be regarded only as a dull and
+sullen little dunce, whom no one cares to waste a thought upon."</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, Lilias' project in regard to the medal was concealed
+from the school. To tell the truth, Victorine, herself, had many doubts
+as to the success of her little friend, but she knew if she failed to
+obtain the prize, the exertion would be of service to herself.</p>
+
+<p>Long before the day arrived, Lilias had twenty times determined to
+withdraw from all competition; but she never broke a promise, and as she
+had pledged herself to Victorine, she resolved to persevere.</p>
+
+<p>In the sequel, Victorine was surprised at the beauty of the thoughts in
+Lilias' exercise, as well as the correctness of the language. She was
+satisfied that Lilias had done well; her only fear was lest others
+should do better.</p>
+
+<p>At the head of the class to which Lilias belonged was Laura Graham; and
+a mutual dislike had always existed between them. Laura was a selfish,
+as well as an avaricious girl; and she had often looked with a covetous
+eye upon the costly trifles which Lilias' father had bestowed upon his
+daughter. To her narrow mind it seemed impossible that Victorine should
+not have an interested motive in her kindness to Lilias, and she thought
+an opportunity was now offered her of sharing some of her spoils.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>About a week before the trial day, Laura G. sought Lilias, and leading
+her to a remote part of the garden, she unfolded to her a scheme for
+insuring the prize she so much coveted. She proposed to destroy her own
+theme, knowing she was one of the best French pupils, thereby securing
+the prize to Lilias, on condition she should receive, in return, a pearl
+brooch and bracelet she had long coveted. Lilias, as might have been
+expected, expressed the greatest contempt and resentment at the
+proposal.</p>
+
+<p>When the day arrived, many a little heart beat high with hope and fear.
+Victorine, as might have been expected, took the first prize in the
+first class. The class to which Lilias belonged was next in order. As
+Mrs. Bellamy arose, Lilias perceived she held in her hand two themes,
+while before her on the table lay a small box. Addressing Laura Graham,
+who sat with an air of conscious superiority at the head of the class,
+Mrs. Bellamy said,</p>
+
+<p>"Of the two themes I hold in my hand, the one written by you, Miss
+Graham, and the other by Miss Lilias Tracy, I am <i>sorry</i> to say that
+<i>yours</i> is best."</p>
+
+<p>Lilias could scarce restrain her tears, as she saw Laura advance,
+proudly, towards Mrs. Bellamy, and bend her head as if to receive the
+riband that suspended the glittering prize; but what was her surprise,
+when Mrs. Bellamy, instead of offering it to Laura, in the usual manner,
+handed her a small box, closely sealed.</p>
+
+<p>"As the best French scholar, Miss Graham," said she, "I am compelled to
+bestow on you the medal which you will find enclosed in a box; but, as
+an act of justice, and a proper punishment for your want of integrity,
+(Mrs. B. having casually overheard what passed in the garden), I forbid
+you to wear, or exhibit it, for twelve months."</p>
+
+<p>"Come hither," said Mrs. B. to Lilias, as Laura, pale and trembling, and
+drowned in tears, hurried in shame and sorrow from the room. Lilias,
+scarcely less overwhelmed than her guilty fellow-pupil, advanced with
+faultering step, and Mrs. Bellamy, suspending from her neck a small and
+highly-finished locket, said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I can give but one medal in each class for improvement in French, and
+had not Miss Graham been in your class, yours, Miss Tracy would have
+been the best; I cannot, however, allow this opportunity to pass without
+some lasting memorial of your merit. I therefore present you with a
+locket containing the hair of your beloved friend, Victorine, as a
+testimonial of my esteem for your integrity and honor."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Lilias! She had never been so happy in her life as when she threw
+herself in Victorine's arms, and shed tears of joy upon her bosom.</p>
+
+<p>Whether these few outlines of this truly interesting story be founded on
+fact or not, we cannot forbear to say that God will assuredly, sooner or
+later, fully reward all those who live up to the holy principles and
+precepts of his own blessed truth, and he is no less faithful in
+punishing every proud and wicked doer.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>FAULT FINDING&mdash;THE ANTIDOTE.</h2>
+
+<p>(Continued from page <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.)</p>
+
+
+<p>At length it was time to choose his path in life, and being inclined to
+mercantile pursuits, his father placed him in the store of one of their
+friends, where he would have every facility for acquiring a thorough
+knowledge of business. Oh, how carefully did his mother watch the effect
+of a closer contact with the world, and a more prolonged absence from
+her hallowed influence&mdash;and how gratefully did she perceive that her
+precious boy still came to her with the confiding love of his childhood,
+in all the temptations of his business life, and that her influence was
+still potent with him for good.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, I was terribly urged to go to the theater last week," said he
+in one of his frequent visits at home. "Harvey and Brown were going, and
+they are pretty steady fellows, and I really was half inclined to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what saved you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I knew just how you would look, mother, dear, and I would rather
+never see a theater than face that grieved look of yours. Mother, the
+thought of you has saved me from many, many temptations to do wrong, and
+if I am good for anything, when I am a man, I must thank God for my
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God for his preserving grace, my dearest Charley, and ask him to
+give you more and more of it."</p>
+
+<p>Not many days after, Mrs. Arnold was in company with her son's employer.
+"Your son promises well, Mrs. Arnold," said he, "he is very accurate,
+obliging, respectful. I am somewhat hasty at times, and a few days since
+blamed him severely for something which I thought he had done wrong. He
+showed no ill-temper, but received it with so much meekness, my heart
+smote me. The next day he asked me very respectfully if I would inquire
+of one of the clerks about it, which I did, and found he had done
+nothing blameworthy in the least. He is a fine boy, madam, a very fine
+boy, and I hope will make as good a man as his father."</p>
+
+<p>But a good <i>man</i> Charley was not destined to be. Her reward was nearer
+than she had thought, and he who had learned of the lowly Saviour to be
+meek and lowly of heart, was soon to be transplanted to dwell with
+loving and holy ones above. One day he returned home unexpectedly, and
+the first glance told his mother he was in trouble. "Mother, I feel
+really sick. I was sick yesterday, but I kept in the store; but to-day I
+could only go down and see Mr. Barker, and tell him I must come home for
+a day or two. Oh, mother it is a comfort to see your dear kind face
+again," said he, as she felt his pulse, examined his tongue, and
+inquired how he felt, "and perhaps if I can rest quietly an hour or two
+this dreadful pain in my head will be relieved."</p>
+
+<p>He went to his pleasant chamber, to his quiet bed, the physician was
+summoned, and all that skill and the tenderest care could do was done,
+but he rapidly drew near the grave. He was patient, gentle, grateful,
+beautiful upon that bed of death, and while his mother's soul was poured
+forth in earnest prayer, for his continued life, her heart swelled with
+grateful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> thanksgiving for the sweet evidence he gave of a subdued and
+Christian spirit, and she could say with true and cheerful submission,
+"Not my will but <i>Thine</i> be done, whether for life or death, for it is
+well with the child."</p>
+
+<p>Just at twilight one evening, he awoke from a short slumber, and his eye
+sought his mother at his bedside. She leaned over him and softly pressed
+her lips to his forehead. "Mother," he said, faintly, "the Doctor has
+given up all hope of my life, has he not?" Nerving herself to calmness
+for his sake, she answered, "He thinks you very sick, Charley, but I
+cannot give up all hope. How can I part with you, my beloved?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," said he, as he took her hand in both his, and laid it on his
+breast, "I want, while I am able, to tell you how I feel, and I want you
+to know what you have done for me. I was a passionate, bad tempered boy,
+and you know father&mdash;" He stopped. "Mother, I should have been a ruined
+boy but for you. I see it all now plainly. You have saved me, mother.
+You have saved my soul. You have been my guide and comfort in life. You
+have taught me to meet even death and fear no evil, for you have shown
+me my sin, and taught me to repent of it, and love and trust the
+precious Saviour, who died that His blood might cleanse even my guilt. I
+feel that I can lie in His arms, sure that He has forgiven my sin and
+washed my sinful soul white in His blood. How often you have told me He
+would do it if I asked Him, and I have asked Him constantly, and He will
+do it, He will not cast me off. Mother, when you think of me, be
+comforted, for you have led me to my Saviour, and I rejoice to go and be
+with Him forever."</p>
+
+<p>The next sun arose on the cold remains of what was so lately the active
+and happy Charles Arnold, and there was bitter grief in that dwelling,
+for very dear had the kind and loving brother been to them. The father
+was stunned&mdash;thunderstruck. Little had he expected such a grief as this,
+and he seemed utterly unable to endure it, or to believe it. How much he
+communed with his own heart of his neglected duty to that departed boy,
+we know not, but dreadful was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> the anguish he endured, and the mother
+had the joy to perceive that his manner afterward was far more tender to
+his remaining children, whom he seemed now for the first time to realize
+he might not always have with him, to be neglected and put aside, as a
+trouble and as a care, rather than as a precious gift, to be most
+carefully trained up for God.</p>
+
+<p>But all wondered at the perfect calmness of that afflicted mother. So
+devoted&mdash;so saintlike&mdash;it would seem that she was in constant and sweet
+communing with the redeemed spirit of her boy. No regret, no repining
+escaped her lips, and many who knew how fondly she loved her children,
+and had feared that this sudden blow would almost overwhelm her, gazed
+with wonder at her perfect submission, her cheerful touching tenderness
+of voice and speech. And though tears would at times flow, yet she would
+say in the midst of them, "These are not tears of grief but of joy, that
+my darling son is safe, and holy, and blessed forever. Tears of
+gratitude to God for His goodness." And when hours of sadness, and of
+longing for her absent one came, as they <i>will</i> come to the bereaved at
+times, a faint voice seemed to whisper in her ear. "Mother, you have
+saved me, you have saved my soul!" And sweetest comfort came with that
+never to be forgotten whisper from the dying bed of her precious child,
+to sustain her in the darkest hour.</p>
+
+<p>Fathers! Plead as you will, that you are full of care and labor to
+support your families. Say it over and over, till you really believe it
+yourself, if you please, that when you come home tired at night, you
+cannot be crazed with the clatter of children's tongues. You want to
+rest and be quiet. So you do, and so you should&mdash;but have you any right
+to be so perfectly worn out with business, that the voice of your own
+child is irksome to you? Try, for once, a little pleasant, quiet,
+instructive chat with him. Enter for a few moments into his feelings,
+and pursuits and thoughts&mdash;for that child <i>has</i> feelings, that need
+cherishing tenderly, for your own future comfort. He <i>has</i> pursuits, and
+you are the one to talk with him about them, and kindly tell him which
+are right and useful, and which he would do better to let alone. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+<i>has</i> thoughts, and who shall direct that mind aright which must think
+forever, if not the author of his being? Ask of his school, and his
+playmates, and see if your own spirit is not rested and refreshed, and
+your heart warmed by this little effort to win the love and confidence,
+and delight the heart of this young immortal, who owes his entrance into
+this weary world to you, and whom you are under the most solemn
+obligations, to strive to prepare to act well his part in it. Do not say
+this is his mother's business. Has the Bible laid any command upon
+mothers? Would it not seem that He who formed her heart, knew that she
+needed not to be told to labor, in season and out of season, for her
+beloved offspring? But to <i>you</i> is the strong command, "<i>Fathers</i>,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but <i>bring them up</i> in the nurture
+and admonition of the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Mothers, do you not reap a rich reward for curbing your own spirits, for
+every self-denial, for untiring devotion to the immortals given to your
+care, with souls to be saved or lost? Oh! neglect them not, lest
+conscience utter the fearful whisper, "Mother, <i>you might have saved
+that soul</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;"><span class="smcap">Ellen Ellison.</span></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feb. 1852.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>NEVER TEMPT ANOTHER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There are thousands of persons in the United States to whom the name of
+Jonathan Trumbull, formerly a governor of Connecticut, is familiar&mdash;I
+mean the first governor of that name. He was a friend and supporter of
+General Washington during the Revolutionary War, and greatly contributed
+by his judicious advice and prompt aid to achieve the Independence of
+America.</p>
+
+<p>This Governor Trumbull had a son by the name of John, who became
+distinguished in the use of the pencil, and who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> left several paintings
+of great merit commemorative of scenes in the history of our
+revolutionary struggle. My story relates to an incident which occurred
+during the boyhood of John.</p>
+
+<p>His father, for the purpose of giving employment to the Mohegan Indians,
+a tribe living within the bounds of the Connecticut colony, though at
+some distance from the governor's residence, hired several of their
+hunters to kill animals of various kinds for their furs. One of the most
+successful of these hunters was a sachem by the name of Zachary.</p>
+
+<p>But Zachary was a drunkard, and persisted in his intemperate habits till
+he reached the age of fifty. By whose means I am unable to say, but at
+that time he was induced utterly to abandon the use of intoxicating
+drinks. His life was extended to eighty years, but he was never known
+after the above reformation, although often under powerful temptation,
+to taste in a single instance of the "accursed thing."</p>
+
+<p>In his history of the Indians of Connecticut, De Forest has given us an
+account of the manful resistance of Zachary on one occasion of an artful
+temptation to violate his temperance principles, spread before him by
+John Trumbull, at his father's house. He says, "In those days the annual
+ceremony of election was a matter of more consequence than it is now;
+and the Indians, especially, used to come in considerable numbers to
+Hartford and New Haven to stare at the governor, and the soldiers, and
+the crowds of citizens, as they entered those cities, Jonathan
+Trumbull's house was about half-way between Mohegan and Hartford, and
+Zachary was in the habit of stopping, on his way to election, to dine
+with his old employer.</p>
+
+<p>"John Trumbull, then about ten years old, had heard of the reformation
+of Zachary, and, partaking of the common contempt for the intemperate
+and worthless character of the Indians, did not entirely credit it. As
+the family were sitting around the dinner-table, he resolved to test the
+sincerity of the visitor's temperance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sipping some home-brewed beer, which stood on the table, he said to the
+old man, 'Zachary, this beer is excellent; won't you taste it?' The
+knife and fork dropped from the Indian's hand; he leaned forward with a
+stern intensity of expression, his dark eyes, sparkling with
+indignation, were fixed on the young tempter: 'John,' said he, 'you
+don't know what you are doing. You are serving the devil, boy. Don't you
+know that I am an Indian? I tell you that I am; and if I should taste
+your beer, I could never stop until I got to rum, and become again the
+drunken, contemptible wretch your father once knew me. <i>John, while you
+live, never again tempt any man to break a good resolution.</i>'"</p>
+
+<p>This was said in an earnest, solemn tone, and deeply affected Governor
+Trumbull and lady, who were at the table. John was justly awed, and deep
+was the impression made upon him. His parents often recurred to the
+incident, and charged their son never to forget it.</p>
+
+<p>The advice of the sachem was indeed most valuable. "Never again tempt
+any man to break a good resolution." It were well if this precept were
+followed by all. How many who are reformed from evil habits, yet not
+firm and established, but who would persevere in their better
+resolutions were they encouraged, are suddenly, and to themselves
+surprisingly, set back by some tempter! What sorrow is engendered! and
+how difficult to regain what is thus lost! All this is essentially true
+of the young. Their good resolutions are assaulted; the counsels of a
+pious mother&mdash;the precepts of a kind father, and the determinations
+which a son may have formed in view of those counsels and those
+precepts, may be easily undermined and destroyed by the flattery or the
+ridicule, the reproach or the banter of some subtle or even of some
+thoughtless companion. To those who may read these pages, and who may at
+any time be tempted to seduce others from paths of virtue, or to break
+over solemn resolutions which they may have formed as to an upright and
+commendable course of life, let the injunction of old Zachary, the
+Mohegan sachem, not come in vain. "Never tempt any one to break a good
+resolution."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 19.5em;">G.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>DESPONDENCY AND HOPE.</h2>
+
+<h3>AN ALLEGORY.</h3>
+
+<h4>BY MRS. J. NORTON.</h4>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a lone forest, dark and drear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stood wrapt in grief a maiden fair;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her flowing locks were wet with dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her life was sad, her friends were few.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A sparkling light gleam'd distant far,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like twinkling faint of evening star;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quickly it spread its brilliant ray,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till forest drear looked bright and gay.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And on the wings of love and light,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A radiant figure, pure and white,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Approached and spake with accents mild:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Why so despondent, sorrow's child?</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"When thy lone feet the violet press,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its perfume rises still to bless;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While groves and lawns, with landscape fair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Are bathed in healthful mountain air."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Ah, friend! thy path shines bright and clear;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daily thou breath'st the mountain air;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But mine is in the barren wild,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where naught looks bright to sorrow's child."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Then take my arm, pale sister, dear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With you I'll tread this forest drear;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When guided by this light from Heav'n,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Strength and peace will both be given."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They journeyed on through glade and fen,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Till passing near a rocky glen,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mild Patience came and sweetly smiled</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon the path of sorrow's child.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The measured way still brighter grew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Till cares and griefs were faint and few.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus, Hope and Patience oft beguiled</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The toil-worn path of sorrow's child.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There is no path of duty appointed for man to tread, concerning which
+the Almighty has not expressed his will in terms so plain that the
+sincere inquirer may always hear a voice behind him saying, "This is the
+way, walk ye in it;" nor are there any relations of life, nor any human
+affections which he has not constituted, and bestowed, nor any
+disappointment of those affections for which he has not manifested a
+sympathy so sincere, that the desolate and heart-stricken may always
+say, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."</p>
+
+<p>Yet, it is something difficult for us to realize in our hours of
+darkness and despondency, that toward us personally and individually,
+the great heart of Infinite Love yearns with tenderness and pity. Even
+if we can say, "Though clouds and darkness are round about him, justice
+and judgment are the habitation of his throne," and can acquiesce meekly
+in all his dispensations, and believe sincerely that they will work for
+our good, yet we often fail of the blessedness which might be ours, if
+we could be equally assured that, "<i>As a father pitieth his children, so
+doth the Lord pity them that fear him.</i>" This assurance only the
+faithful student of the Bible can feel, as the great truth gleams forth
+upon him from time to time, illuming "dark afflictions midnight gloom"
+with rays celestial, and furnishing balm for every wound, the balm of
+sympathy and love.</p>
+
+<p>We often hear it said, by those who even profess themselves Christians,
+and devout lovers of the sacred oracles, "How can you read the book of
+Leviticus? What can you find in the dry details of the ceremonial law to
+detain you months in its study and call forth such expressions of
+interest?" Such will probably pass by this article when they find
+themselves invited again to Horeb. Turn back, friends.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> You are not the
+only ones who have excused themselves from a <i>feast</i>. And we&mdash;we will
+extend our invitation to others. On the by-ways and lanes they can be
+found; in every corner of this wide-spread earth are some for whom our
+table is prepared. We leave the prosperous, the gay, the happy, and
+speak to the desolate&mdash;the widowed.</p>
+
+<p>Dearly beloved, you can look back to a day in your history over which no
+cloud lowered, when you wore the bridal wreath, and stood at the sacred
+altar, and laid your hand in a hand faithful and true, and pledged vows
+of love, and when hope smiled on all your future path; but who have
+lived to see all you then deemed most precious, laid beneath the clods
+of the valley, and have exchanged buds of orange for the most intensely
+sable of earthly weeds; you who once walked on your earthly journey in
+sweet companionship which brightened your days; who were wont to lay
+your weary head every night on the faithful "pillowing breast," and
+there forget your woes and cares, but who are now <i>alone</i>; you who
+trusted in manly counsel and guidance for your little ones, but who now
+shed bitter, unavailing tears in every emergency which reminds you that
+they are fatherless; and, worse than all, you who had all your wants
+supplied by the loving, toiling husband and father, but have now to
+contend single-handed with poverty,&mdash;come, sorrowing, widowed hearts,
+visit with us Horeb's holy mound. It is, indeed, a barren spot;
+nevertheless, it has blossoms of loveliness for you. Come in faith, and
+perchance the prophet's vision shall be yours&mdash;peradventure, the "still,
+small voice" which bade to rest the turmoil of his soul, shall soothe
+your griefs also; the words which are heard from its summit as Jehovah
+gives to Moses his directions, have indeed to do with "meats and drinks
+and divers washings," yet, if you listen intently, you will now and then
+hear those which, as the expression of your Heavenly Father's heart,
+will amply repay the toil of the ascent. Draw near and hearken:</p>
+
+<p>"Ye shall not afflict any widow nor fatherless child. If thou afflict
+them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their
+cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> I will kill you with the sword;
+and your wives shall be widows, your children fatherless."</p>
+
+<p>Will you not now be comforted? "The Eternal makes your sorrows his own,"
+and Himself stands forth as your protector against every ill.</p>
+
+<p>"When thou cuttest down thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten the
+sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it, but it shall be
+for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands."</p>
+
+<p>If God's will is done, you see you will not suffer. He will raise you up
+friends, and those who obey Him, who wish to please Him, will always be
+ready to aid you for His sake. As shown to himself, he regards and will
+reward the kindness shown to you, and He has all hearts in his hands.
+But this is not all. A certain portion of every Israelite's possessions
+is to be given to furnish the table of the Lord, and, as if to assure
+you that He considers you His own, and will perform the part of husband
+and father for you at that table, and in his own house he provides for
+you ever a place. "In the tithes of wine, corn and oil, the firstlings
+of the herds and flocks, in all that is to be devoted to the service of
+the Lord, you have your share.</p>
+
+<p>"At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine
+increase the same year and lay it up within the gates. And the Levite,
+because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and
+the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come
+and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all
+the work of thine hand which thou doest."</p>
+
+<p>Do you sorrowfully say that no such table is now spread? But He who thus
+provided still lives, and is the same as then. The silver and the gold
+are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and he ruleth all things
+by the Word of His power. They that trust in him shall never be
+confounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the
+fatherless, nor take the widow's raiment to pledge. Why? Because they
+have no earthly friend to redeem the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> latter or plead for the former.
+Weak and unguarded, they are exposed to all these evils, but that He,
+the Eternal, takes them under his own especial care; and instead of
+compelling them to depend on the insecure tenure of man's compassion, or
+even justice, institutes laws for their benefit, the disobedience of
+which is sin against Himself."</p>
+
+<p>Scattered through all the sacred volume are words which, equally with
+those we have quoted, speak forth Jehovah's interest in the helpless.
+"Leave thy fatherless children to me," he said, by his prophet Jeremiah,
+at a time when misery, desolation, and destruction were falling on Judea
+and her sons for their awful impiety. "Leave thy fatherless children, I
+will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." "A father of
+the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy
+habitation."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, do we receive the full import of these soul-cheering words? Lone,
+solitary one! who hidest in thy heart a grief which, untasted, cannot be
+understood, there is a Being sitting on the circle of the heavens, who
+knows every pang thou endurest. He formed thee susceptible of the love
+which thou hast felt and enjoyed; Himself ordained the tie which bound
+thee. He, better than any other, comprehends thy loss. Dost thou
+doubt&mdash;study faithfully His word; obey his voice. Yield thy heart to Him
+and trust Him implicitly. He will prove himself able to bless thee in
+thine inmost soul. The avenues to that soul are all open to Him, and He
+can cause such gentle, soothing influences to flow in upon thee as shall
+make thee "Sing even as in the days of thy youth."</p>
+
+<p>Fatherless child! whose heart fails thee when thou dost miss from every
+familiar place the guide of thy youth, faint not nor be discouraged,
+though the way is rough, and the voice that ever spoke tenderly to thee
+is silent. Thou hast a father in heaven; and He who calls himself such
+understands better than thou what is implied in that sacred name. Tell
+Him thy woes and wants.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Thou art as much His care, as if beside</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>INFANTS TAUGHT TO PRAY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Persons who have never investigated the subject cannot believe that
+young children are capable of being taught to pray, intelligently. As
+infants cannot be supposed to understand the essential nature and design
+of prayer, we may profitably inquire, "Of what use can prayer be to a
+young child?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss H. More defines prayer to be "The application of want to Him who
+alone can relieve it; the confession of sin to Him who alone can pardon
+it; the urgency of poverty, the prostration of humility, the fervency of
+penitence&mdash;the confidence of trust. It is the 'Lord save us, we perish,'
+of drowning Peter&mdash;the cry of faith to the ear of mercy." Now, are not
+children, for several of their first years, absolutely dependent upon
+others for the supply of all their wants? And yet, though no beings are
+so weak, so helpless, yet none are so eloquent in pleading or praying
+for what they want as young children in distress, though they have not
+yet acquired the language of speech, and simply because this language is
+nature's voice.</p>
+
+<p>How irresistible are the entreaties of an infant in sickness, pain, and
+trouble. It will not be pacified or comforted by any one but its
+mother&mdash;her bosom is its sanctuary&mdash;her voice its sweetest melody&mdash;her
+arms its only refuge. What a preparation is this in the ordering of
+Providence, and in direct reference to what is to succeed, evidently
+with the design that when a child is of a suitable age, it may transfer
+its highest love and confidence from its earthly parents to a heavenly
+Father. At first the mother stands in the place of God to her child, and
+is all the world to him. But if she be a praying mother, the child will
+very early discover that, like himself, she too is a helpless,
+dependent, needy creature, and he will learn to trust in that great
+Being whom his mother adores.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Perhaps she has been in the habit, when her child was drawing its
+nutriment from her breast, to feel more than at any other time her
+responsibility to the little helpless being who is a part of herself,
+and especially to "train it up in the way it should go." And she will
+usually improve this opportunity to commune with her God, saying with
+more solemn importunity, day by day, "How shall I order thee, child?"
+She feels the need of more wisdom, for she now begins to realize that
+her arms will not always encircle her child, and if they could, she
+could not ward off the arrows of disease and death. She thinks too of
+the period as near when it will be more out from under her scrutinizing
+watch, and will be more exposed to temptations from without and from
+within. Perhaps, too, she may die early, and then who will feel for her
+child, who will train it, who will consecrate it to God as sedulously as
+she hopes to do? O, if she could be certain of its eternal well-being.
+She eagerly inquires, "Is there any way by which my child can be so
+instructed, so consecrated, that I may be absolutely certain that I
+shall meet him, a ransomed soul, and dwell with him forever among the
+blessed in heaven?" "Yes, there is." I find in the unerring Scriptures
+many precious examples of children who were thus early dedicated to God,
+and were accepted and blessed of Him. She loves to remember those
+mothers on the plains of Judea who brought their infants to the Savior
+for his blessing. They were not discouraged, though the disciples, like
+many of the present day, forbade them to come, saying, "Of what possible
+use can it be to bring young children to the Savior?" But behold, the
+Savior welcomes and blesses them. Children who have been thus blessed of
+the Savior will not, cannot be lost. His promise is, "None shall pluck
+them out of my father's hand;" and again, "I will keep that what is
+committed to me till the final day."</p>
+
+<p>With such Scripture promises and examples, this praying mother, hour by
+hour, lifts her heart to God, and implores that the Savior would crown
+with success her endeavors to obey his precepts, and, in doing so, to
+accept her consecrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> child. How sweet and gentle are her accents!
+With a loud voice she puts up her petitions which, till now, under
+similar circumstances, have not even been whispered aloud.</p>
+
+<p>But her emotions have risen so high, that not only does her voice become
+inarticulate, but her tears fall like April showers upon the face of
+her, till now, unconscious child.</p>
+
+<p>The child looks inquiringly. It now perceives that that countenance,
+which has hitherto been lighted up only by smiles, and been radiant with
+hope, at times is beclouded by fears. No wonder if this scene should
+attract the attention of this infant listener. Perhaps it is overawed.
+It rises up, it looks round to see if any one is present, with whom its
+mother is holding converse. Seeing no one, it hides its little head in
+the folds of its mother's dress, and is still.</p>
+
+<p>What does all this do but to awaken, on the part of the mother, a still
+deeper interest in the welfare of her sympathizing little one. She now
+realizes as she never did before, what an influence she has in swaying
+the mind and affections of her darling child, and her responsibility
+seems to increase at every step. She presses her child more and more
+fondly to her bosom. With daily and increasing faith, love and zeal, she
+resorts to the throne of grace, and pleads for that wisdom she so
+pre-eminently needs.</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be but that her love to her child should be daily strengthened
+by such communings with her own heart and her Savior, in sweet
+fellowship with her little one, though so young as not fully to
+comprehend all it sees and hears, yet it will remember and be
+influenced, eternally, by what has been done and said in its presence.
+This mother fully realizes that she is under the watchful eye of God,
+her Maker and Redeemer&mdash;that the Holy Trinity&mdash;the mysterious "three in
+one" have been present, more than spectators of what has transpired. For
+she is sure that these aspirations after holiness for herself and for
+her child are not earth-born&mdash;but emanations from the triune God.</p>
+
+<p>It is natural to suppose that lasting impressions would be made upon the
+heart of a child thus early taught to pray.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder if this little child, ever after, should find a sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+pleasure in visiting the place where prayer is wont to be made, which at
+first was hallowed and sweetened by tender and endearing associations.</p>
+
+<p>And we would here remark, that it is chiefly by the power of association
+that young children can be supposed to be benefited by such teachings
+and examples.</p>
+
+<p>A striking incident occurred in my mother's nursery, not only
+illustrative of the power of association, but showing how very tenacious
+is the memory of young children.</p>
+
+<p>My mother had a fit of sickness when my little brother was but seven
+months old, and she was obliged to wean him at that early age.</p>
+
+<p>He was always a feeble child and clung to our mother with almost a
+death-grasp. The weaning of that child will never fade from my
+recollection. In fact our mother used to say that that boy was never
+weaned.</p>
+
+<p>When he was about a year old, he was found fast asleep one day behind
+the bed-room door, leaning his little head upon a chest. Over the chest
+was a line, and across the line had been thrown a chintz shawl,
+memorable as having always been worn by our mother when nursing her
+children. In one hand he had hold of the end of the shawl, which he
+could just reach, and he was sucking the thumb of the other.</p>
+
+<p>This shawl, which this little child had not previously seen for some
+time, was associated in his mind with its sweetest, but short-lived
+comfort. This fact will serve to explain the propriety of taking all the
+ordinary week day play-things from children on the Sabbath, and
+substituting in their place others more quiet&mdash;for instance, relating
+Scripture stories, explaining Scripture pictures, and the like.</p>
+
+<p>Such scenes and experience as have been above alluded to, must be more
+or less familiar to every faithful and praying mother. Children who have
+been dedicated to God, as was Samuel, and David, and Timothy, in all
+ages of the world, will be found in after life to be, to the praise, and
+glory, and riches of God's grace, vouchsafed to parents, in answer to
+their faith and prayers, and pious teachings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>THE YOUNGLING OF THE FLOCK.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Welcome! thrice welcome to my heart, sweet harbinger of bliss!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How have I looked, till hope grew sick, for a moment bright as this;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou hast flashed upon my aching sight when fortune's clouds are dark,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The sunny spirit of my dreams&mdash;the dove unto mine ark.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh! no, not even when life was new, and life and hope were young,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And o'er the firstling of my flock with raptured gaze I hung,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Did I feel the glow that thrills me now, the yearnings fond and deep,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That stir my bosom's inmost strings as I watch thy placid sleep!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Though loved and cherished be the flower that springs 'neath summer skies,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The bud that blooms 'mid wintry storms more tenderly we prize.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One does but make our bliss more bright; the other meets our eye,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a radiant star, when all besides have vanished from on high.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweet blossom of my stormy hour, star of my troubled heaven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To thee that passing sweet perfume, that soothing light is given;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And precious art thou to my soul, but dearer far than thou,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A messenger of peace and love art sent to cheer me now.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What, tho' my heart be crowded close with inmates dear though few,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Creep in, my little smiling <i>babe</i>, there's still a niche for you;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And should another claimant rise, and clamor for a place,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who knows but room may yet be found, if it wears as fair a face.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I cannot save thee from the griefs to which our flesh is heir,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But I can arm thee with a spell, life's keenest ills to bear.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I may not fortune's frowns avert, but I can with thee pray</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For wealth this world can never give nor ever take away.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But wherefore doubt that He who makes the smallest bird his care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tempers to the <i>new shorn lamb</i> the blast it ill could bear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Will still his guiding arm extend, his glorious plan pursue,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And if he gives thee ills to bear, will give thee courage too.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dear youngling of my little flock, the loveliest and the last,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis sweet to dream what thou may'st be, when long, long years have past;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To think when time hath blanched my hair, and others leave my side,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou may'st be still my prop and stay, my blessing and my pride.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And when this world has done its worst, when life's fevered fit is o'er,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the griefs that wring my weary heart can never touch it more,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How sweet to think thou may'st be near to catch my latest sigh,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To bend beside my dying bed and close my glazing eye.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh! 'tis for offices like these the last sweet child is given;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mother's joy, the father's pride, the fairest boon of heaven:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their fireside plaything first, then of their failing strength the rock,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The rainbow to their wavering years, the youngling of their flock.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 23.5em;">ALARIC A. WATTS.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MOTHER OF SAMSON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges is recorded the short
+but suggestive story which is our Bible lesson for the present month.
+Horeb is long since left behind. The evil generation, who forty years
+tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen in the wilderness, and their
+successors are now in possession of the promised land. Moses, and
+Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and Israel, bereft of their
+counsel, follow wise or evil advices as a wayward fancy may dictate, and
+receive a corresponding recompense at the hands of their God. The
+children proved in no respect wiser or more obedient than their fathers.
+Again and again "they forsook the Lord and served the idols of the
+Canaanites, and in wrath He gave them up to their enemies." Often in
+pity he raised up for them deliverers who would lead them for a time in
+better paths, "but when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted
+themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve
+them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings
+nor from their stubborn way," and therefore were they often for long
+tedious years in bondage to the various nations which God had left in
+the land "to prove them whether they would walk in his ways." It was
+during one of these seasons of trouble that the subject of our study is
+mentioned. She was the wife of Manoah, a citizen of Zorah, of the tribe
+of Dan. Of her previous history, and the events of her after life, we
+know nothing. He who sitteth on the circle of the heavens, and beholdeth
+all things that are done under the sun, and readeth all hearts, had
+marked her out as the instrument, wherewith he would work to get glory
+to himself, and however little known to others, He deemed her worthy of
+this distinguished honor, and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> receive a direct communication from
+himself. Of her character nothing is said, but we gather with unerring
+certainty that she was a self-denying, obedient child of God, for He
+would not have chosen one who would not adhere strictly to his every
+injunction.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary that we should detail every incident of those
+interviews with the angel Jehovah, which the mother of Samson was
+permitted to enjoy. Take your Bible, friend, and read for yourself in
+words more befitting than we can use, and as you rise from the perusal,
+if the true spirit of a Christian reigns in your heart, you will perhaps
+exclaim, "Oh, that the Lord would come to me also and tell me how I
+shall order my children that so they may be the subjects of his grace
+and instruments of his will!" If you meditate deeply while you read,
+perhaps you will conclude that in His directions to this mother, our
+Heavenly Father has revealed to us wonderful and important things, which
+may answer us instead of direct communications from Himself, and which,
+if heeded and obeyed, will secure to us great peace and satisfaction.
+Bear in mind, that he who speaks is our Creator&mdash;that all the wonders of
+the human frame are perfectly familiar to Him, and that He knows far
+more than earthly skill and science have ever been able to ascertain, or
+even hint at, concerning the relations which Himself ordained. He comes
+to Manoah's wife with these words: "Now, therefore, beware, and drink
+not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, lo! thou
+shall conceive and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for
+the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb." Can you discern
+in this only an allusion to Jewish customs and ceremonies, long since
+obsolete, and in no way interesting to us, except as a matter of
+history? Can you not rather see gleaming out a golden rule which all
+would be blessed in following? To us, in this history, Jehovah says,
+"Mother, whatever you wish your child to be, that must you also in all
+respects be yourself." Samson is to be consecrated to God by the most
+solemn of vows all the days of his life, and the conditions of that vow
+his mother is commanded to fulfill from the moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> that she is
+conscious of his existence until he is weaned, a period of four years at
+least, according to the custom of her time.</p>
+
+<p>These thoughts introduce to us a theme on which volumes have been
+written and spoken. Men of deep research and profound judgment have been
+ready to say to all the parents of earth, "Whatever ye are such will
+also your children prove always, and in every particular to be;" and
+there are not wanting multitudes of facts to strengthen and confirm the
+position. In certain aspects of it it is assuredly true, since the
+principal characteristics of the race remain from age to age the same.
+Nor is it disproved by what seem at first adverse facts, for although
+children seem in physical and intellectual constitution often the direct
+opposite of their parents, yet a close study into the history of
+families may only prove, that if unlike those parents in general
+character, they have nevertheless inherited that particular phase which
+governed the period from which they date their existence. No person
+bears through life precisely the same dispositions, or is at all times
+equally under the same influences or governed by the same motives. The
+gentle and amiable by nature may come into circumstances which shall
+induce unwonted irritability and ill-humor; the irascible and
+passionate, surrounded in some favored time, by all that heart can wish,
+may seem as lovely as though no evil tempers had ever deformed them; and
+the children who may be the offspring of these episodes in life, may
+bear indeed a character differing wholly from the usual character of
+their parents, but altogether corresponding to the brief and unusual
+state which ruled their hour of beginning life. So is it also in
+physical constitution. The feeble and sickly have sometimes intervals of
+health, and the robust see months of languor and disease. Hence,
+perhaps, the differences which are observable many times in the children
+of the same family with regard to health and natural vigor.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot enter into the subject. It is wide and extended as human
+nature itself. It is also, apart from the Gospel of God's grace, a very
+discouraging subject to the parent who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> contemplates it with
+seriousness, and with an earnest desire to ascertain the path of duty.
+"How useless," we may be tempted to exclaim, "any attempt to gain an end
+which is so uncertain as the securing any given constitution, either of
+body or mind, for my children. To-day I am in health, full of
+cheerfulness and hope; a year hence I may be broken and infirm, a prey
+to depressing thoughts and melancholy forbodings. My mind is now
+vigorous and active; who knows how soon the material shall subject the
+intellectual and clog every nobler faculty? What will it suffice that
+to-day I feel myself controlled by good motives, and swayed by just
+principles, and possessed of a well-balanced character, since in some
+evil hour, influences wholly unexpected may gain the ascendancy, and I
+be so unlike my present self that pitying friends can only wonder and
+whisper, How changed! and enemies shall glory in my fall. No. It is vain
+to strive after certainty in this world of change and vicissitude, since
+none of us can tell what himself shall be on the morrow. Do what I will,
+moreover, my child can only inherit a sinful nature." In the midst of
+gloomy thoughts like these, we turn to the story of Samson's mother, and
+hear Jehovah directing her to walk before Him in the spirit of
+consecration, which is to be the life-long spirit of her son. He surely
+intimates that the child's character begins with, and depends upon, that
+of the mother. A ray of light and encouragement dawns upon us. True, we
+are fickle and changeable, and subject to vicissitude; but He, our God,
+is far above all these shifting scenes, and all the varying
+circumstances of this mortal life are under his control, and he can turn
+the hearts of men as He will; His counsel shall stand. True, we are
+transgressors like our first father, partakers of his fallen nature, and
+inheritors of the curse; but "where sin abounds, grace does much more
+abound," and "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
+made a curse for us." For all the evils under which we groan, the Gospel
+has a remedy, and we have faith that in spite of all obstacles and
+difficulties, our Savior will yet present us, as individuals, faultless
+before the throne. Why may not our faith take a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> still higher flight?
+There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. The Holy
+Spirit, first of all, shall be given to all who ask. They who hunger and
+thirst for righteousness shall be filled. He has never said to the seed
+of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. There are on almost every page of the
+sacred word, these precious promises. By them you are encouraged daily
+in your onward struggle, Christian friend. What shall hinder you now
+from taking them to your heart as a mother with the same faith? If God
+is able to secure your soul against all evil influences, yes, even
+against the arch enemy himself, and if he has made the character of your
+child to depend upon your own in any degree, why may you not plead the
+promises of His word with double power, when your prayers ascend not
+merely for yourself, but for another immortal being whom he has so
+intimately associated with you. You are accustomed daily to seek from
+Him holy influences; you pray that you may grow in grace and knowledge,
+and be kept from the evil that is in the world, and from dishonoring
+your Savior. Can you not offer these same petitions as a mother, and beg
+all these blessings in behalf of your child, who is to take character
+from you? Can you not consecrate yourself in a peculiarly solemn manner
+to the Lord, and viewing the thousand influences which may affect you,
+pray to be kept from all which would be adverse to the best good of the
+precious soul to be intrusted to you, and believe by all you know of
+your Heavenly Father and of his plan of grace, that you will be accepted
+and your petitions answered? And then can you not <i>act</i> upon that faith?
+Desiring your child to be a man of prayer, will you not, during the
+years in which you are acting directly on him, give yourself much to
+prayer? Hoping that he may not be slothful, but an active and diligent
+servant of his Lord, will you not give your earnest soul and busy hands
+to the work which you find to do? Wishing him to be gentle and lovely,
+will you not strive to clothe yourself with meekness? In short, will you
+not cultivate every characteristic that is desirable for the devoted
+Christian, in order that, at least, your child may enter on life with
+every possible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> advantage which you can give him? And since a sane mind,
+and rightly-moving heart, are greatly dependent on a sound body, will
+you not study to be yourself, by temperance and moderation, and
+self-denial and activity, in the most perfect health which you can by
+any effort gain?</p>
+
+<p>Who does not believe that if all Christian mothers would thus believe
+and act, most blessed results would be secured? The subject appeals to
+fathers also, and equal responsibility rests upon them.</p>
+
+<p>Some will doubtless be ready to say, "This would require us to live in
+the spirit of a Nazarite's vow all the time. You have drawn for us a
+plan of life which is difficult to follow, and demands all our
+vigilance, constant striving, and unwearied labors." True, friends; but
+the end to be gained is worth the cost, and you have "God
+all-sufficient" for your helper.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>June</i> 2, 1852.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Madam</span>,&mdash;I send you an extract from an unpublished
+memoir of the Rev. E.J.P. Messinger, who died in Africa, where he was
+sent as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. This biography
+is not finished; but I think the following passage is well adapted to
+your Magazine.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">Yours, with respect,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;"><span class="smcap">Stephen H. Tyng.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE BOY WHO NEVER FORGOT HIS MOTHER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>When James was ten years old his father was suddenly removed by death.
+His mother was then left to provide for the aged mother of her husband,
+as well as her own little family, of whom the youngest was an infant of
+a few weeks old. This was a weary and toilsome task. Neither of her sons
+were old enough to render her any assistance on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> farm, and the
+slender income arising from it would not warrant the expense of hiring
+needful laborers. She was obliged to lease it to others, and the rent of
+her little farm, together with the avails of their own industry, became
+the support of the widow and fatherless. With this she was still able to
+send her children to school, and to give them all the advantages which
+her retired dwelling allowed.</p>
+
+<p>It was during these first years of his mother's lonely widowhood that
+the tenderness and the loveliness of her son's character were brought
+out to view. All that he could do to relieve her under her burden became
+his delight. Though but a child, he was ready to make every sacrifice to
+promote her comfort and happiness, and to gratify and console his aged
+grandmother. Attention to his mother's wants from this time entered into
+all his plans of life. Her interests and welfare were a part of his
+constant thoughts. It seemed to be his highest earthly delight to
+increase her happiness and to relieve her trials. He never forgot his
+mother. He might be called "the boy who always loved his mother."
+Beautiful trait of character! And God blessed him in his own character
+and life, according to his promise. After he had gone from his native
+home to enter upon the business of life, this trait in his character was
+very constant and very remarkable. At a subsequent period, when his
+younger brother was about leaving home to learn a trade, James wrote to
+him, "Mother informs me that you intend learning a trade. I am very glad
+of it, because I know that it will be advantageous to you. But before
+you leave home, I hope you will endeavor to leave our dear mother, and
+grandmother, and the rest of the family, as comfortable as possible. The
+desire of mother that I should come home and in some measure supply your
+place, I should not hesitate to comply with, had I not been strongly
+impressed with the idea that I could render more substantial help by
+remaining here than by coming home. But I hope before you leave home you
+will do everything you can for mother; and should you be near home, that
+you will often visit them, and afford them all the assistance in your
+power. You know, dear brother, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> mother has had many hardships for
+our sakes. Well do I remember how she used to go out in cold, stormy
+weather, to assist us about our work, in order to afford us the
+opportunity of attending school. May we live to enjoy the pleasure of
+having it in our power to return in some small degree the debt we owe
+her, by contributing to her comfort in the decline of life."</p>
+
+<p>Then again he wrote to his sister, referring to his brother's absence:
+"I scarcely know how you will get along without him, as mother wrote me
+he was going to learn a trade this fall. You must try to do all you can
+to help along. Think how much trouble and hardship mother has undergone
+for our sakes. Surely we are old enough to take some of the burden off
+her hands. I hope you will not neglect these hints. Never suffer mother
+to undergo any hardship of which you can relieve her. Strive to do all
+you can to lessen the cares and anxieties which must of necessity come
+upon her. Be kind, obedient, and cheerful in the performance of every
+duty. Consider it a pleasure to do anything by which you can render
+assistance to her."</p>
+
+<p>To another sister he wrote, "I hope you will do all you can to
+contribute to the assistance and comfort of grandmother and mother. You
+have it in your power to do much for them. Take care that you never
+grieve them by folly or misconduct. If my influence will have any effect
+on your mind, think how much your brother wishes you to behave well, and
+to render yourself useful and beloved; but remember above all, that God
+always sees you, and that you never can be guilty of a fault that is not
+known to him. Strive then to be dutiful and obedient to our only
+remaining parent, and to be kind and affectionate to all around you."</p>
+
+<p>These are beautiful exhibitions of his filial love. A remembrance of his
+mother's wants and sorrows was a constantly growing principle of his
+youthful heart. It was a spirit, too, which never forsook him through
+his whole subsequent life. Even while on his bed of death in Africa, his
+heart still yearned over the sorrows and cares of his widowed mother.
+Then he gave directions for the sale of his little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> earthly property,
+that the avails of it might be sent back to America to his mother.
+Though the sum was small it was enough to contribute much to her comfort
+for her remaining years. How precious is such a recollection of a boy
+who never forgot, and never ceased to love his mother. What a beauty
+does this fact add to the character and conduct of a youth! How valuable
+is such a tribute to the memory of a youth, "He never forgot his
+mother!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+them."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Matthew</span> 6:6.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>In an obscure country village lived two little girls of nearly the same
+age, named Annie Grey and Charlotte Murray; their homes were not very
+distant from each other, and they were constant companions and
+playmates.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte Murray was the eldest of five children, and her parents,
+though poor, were kept removed from want by constant frugality and
+industry. Her father labored for the neighboring farmers, and her mother
+was a thrifty, notable housewife, somewhat addicted to loud talking and
+scolding, but considered a very good sort of woman.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte was ten years old, and assisted her mother very much in
+attending to the children, and performing many light duties about the
+house. She was healthy, robust and good-natured, but unfortunately had
+never received any religious instruction, more than an occasional
+attendance at church with her mother, and thus was entirely ignorant of
+any higher motives of action than to please her parents, which, though
+in itself commendable, often led her to commit serious faults. She did
+not scruple to tell a falsehood to screen herself or brothers from
+punishment, and would often misrepresent the truth for the sake of
+obtaining praise. Charlotte was also very fond of dress, and as her
+parents' means forbade the indulgence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> of this feeling, she loved to
+decorate herself with every piece of faded ribbon or soiled lace that
+came in her way.</p>
+
+<p>Annie Grey was the only child of a poor widow, who supported herself and
+daughter by spinning and carding wool for the farmers' wives. Mrs. Grey
+was considered much poorer than any of her neighbors, but her humble
+cottage was always neat and in perfect order, and the small garden patch
+which supplied the few vegetables which she needed was never choked with
+weeds. The honeysuckle was carefully trained about the door, and little
+Annie delighted in tying up the pinks, and fastening strings for the
+morning glories that she loved so much.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey, though poor in this world's goods, had laid up for herself
+"those treasures in Heaven, which no moth nor rust can corrupt." She had
+once been in better circumstances, and surrounded by all that makes life
+happy, but her mercies had been taken from her one by one, until none
+was left save little Annie; then she learned that "whom God loveth, he
+chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth;" and thus were
+her afflictions sanctified unto her.</p>
+
+<p>Annie was a delicate little girl, and had never associated much with the
+village children in their rude sports. Once, when her mother spent a
+week at Mrs. Murray's, assisting her to spin, she had taken Annie, and
+thus a friendship commenced between herself and Charlotte.</p>
+
+<p>Annie had been early taught by her mother to abhor deceit and falsehood
+as hateful to God, and Charlotte often startled her by equivocating, but
+she had never known her to tell a direct untruth, and she loved her
+because she was affectionate and kind. Some kind and pious ladies had
+succeeded in establishing a Sunday-school in the village, and Annie was
+among the first who attended; she told Charlotte, who prevailed upon her
+mother to let her go, and they were both regular scholars.</p>
+
+<p>One pleasant Sunday morning, the two little girls went together to
+school, and after all the children had recited their lessons, the
+superintendent rose and said that a good missionary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> was about to leave
+his home, and go to preach the Gospel to the heathens far over the sea,
+and that they wanted to raise a subscription and purchase Bibles to send
+out with him, that he might distribute them among those poor people who
+had never heard God's holy word.</p>
+
+<p>He told them how the poor little children were taught to lie and steal
+by their parents, and how they worshiped images of carved wood, and
+stone, and sometimes killed themselves and drowned the infants, thinking
+thus to please the senseless things they called their gods. He said that
+children who could read and write, and go to church, ought to be
+grateful to God for placing them in a Christian country, and they should
+pray for the poor little heathen children, and do all they could to
+provide instruction for them.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not expect you to do much, my dear children," he said, "but all I
+ask is, to do what you can; some of you have money given you to buy toys
+or cakes; would you not rather know that it had helped a little heathen
+child to come to God, than to spend it in anything so soon destroyed and
+forgotten? And to those who have no money, let me ask, can you not earn
+it? There are very many ways in which children may be useful, and God
+will most graciously accept a gift which has cost you labor or
+self-denial. You remember Jesus himself said that the poor widow's two
+mites were of more value than all that the rich cast into the treasury,
+because they gave of their abundance, but she cast in all that she had;
+will you not, therefore, endeavor to win the Savior's blessing by
+following the widow's example, and 'Go and do likewise?'"</p>
+
+<p>The children listened very attentively to all the superintendent said,
+and after school there was much talking among the scholars as to the
+amount to be given, and how to obtain it. The following Sunday was
+appointed to receive the collection, and all seemed animated with a
+generous feeling, and anxious to do what they could.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a bright new penny," cried little Patty Green, who was scarcely
+six years old. "I didn't like to spend it, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> it was so pretty,
+but I will send it to the little heathen children to buy Bibles with!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I," added James Blair, "have a tenpence that Mr. Jones gave me for
+holding his horse; I was saving it to buy a knife, but I can wait a
+while for that; uncle has promised me one next Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>"You may add my sixpence to it, brother," said his sister Lucy. "I did
+want a pair of woolen gloves, but it is long until winter, and I do not
+need them now."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" exclaimed merry, good-natured Simon Bounce. "Ten and six are
+sixteen, and Patty's bright penny makes seventeen; and let me see, I've
+got fivepence, and John Blake offered me three cents for my ball, that
+will make two shillings exactly, quite a good beginning. Why what a
+treasure there will be if we all put in our savings at this rate!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus talking, the children strolled away in groups, and Charlotte and
+Annie walked slowly toward their homes. Annie looked thoughtful, and
+Charlotte spoke first.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," said she, "that father would give me sixpence; but I know he
+wont, for he never goes to church, and cares nothing about the heathen,
+and as for mother, she would call me a simpleton if I was to ask her. I
+am determined I wont go to school next Sunday if I can't take something,
+it looks so mean; I will say I am sick and cannot go."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Charlotte!" said Annie, "that would be a great deal worse than not
+giving anything, for it would not only be a falsehood, but you would
+tempt God to make you sick. I know you do not mean what you say."</p>
+
+<p>"You always take everything so seriously," replied the other, laughing
+and looking a little ashamed. "But what are you going to do, Annie? Your
+mother cannot give you anything; but I am sure she would if she had it,
+she is so kind, and never scolds. I wish mother was so always."</p>
+
+<p>"I have been thinking," returned Annie, "that if I take the two hours
+mother gives me to play in the garden, and card wool for her, as she has
+more than she can do this week, perhaps she will give me two or three
+pennies. I wish I could earn more, but I will do what I can."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Maybe your mother will let me help her too," said Charlotte, eagerly;
+"but I have so little time to play that I could not earn much, and I
+would be ashamed to give so little. I would rather put in more than any
+one, it would please the teacher and make the girls envy me."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure," answered Annie, gently, "the teacher would not like us to
+do anything that would make another envy us, because that is a very
+wicked and unhappy feeling, and though she might be pleased to see us
+put in so much, yet it is God whom we are seeking to serve, and he looks
+at the heart, and knows our feelings. He tells us not to give alms to be
+seen of men, and you remember, Charlotte, what the superintendent said
+about the widow's mite, which pleased Jesus, though the gift was so
+small."</p>
+
+<p>"You speak like a superintendent yourself," cried Charlotte, gaily, "but
+ask your mother, Annie, and I will come over to-night and hear what she
+says."</p>
+
+<p>They had now reached Mrs. Grey's house, and bidding each other good-by
+they parted. Charlotte hurried home to tell her mother about the
+contributions, and was laughed at, as she expected; however, Mrs. Murray
+said she would give, if she had it to spare, but charity began at home,
+and it was not for poor folks to trouble their heads about such matters.
+Let those who had means, and nothing else to do, attend to it.</p>
+
+<p>When Annie told her mother what had been said in school, Mrs. Grey told
+her that it had also been given out in church, and a collection was to
+be taken up on the following Sunday, when the missionary himself would
+preach for them.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall give what little I can," she added, with a slight sigh. "I wish
+it was more, but my earnest prayers shall accompany this humble offering
+to the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Annie now unfolded her plan to her mother, and asked her consent, which
+was readily given, and then Annie told her of Charlotte's request. And
+her mother said that although she did not require Charlotte's help,
+still she would not refuse her, as she liked to encourage every good
+inclination. And when Charlotte came in the evening, Annie had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+pleasure of telling her that her mother had consented, and would give
+them a little pile of wool to card every day, for which each should
+receive a penny.</p>
+
+<p>"And that will be sixpence a-piece, you know," continued Annie, "and we
+can change it to a silver piece, for fear we might drop a penny by the
+way."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how nice that will be," cried Charlotte. "Do you think many of the
+girls will put in as much? I hope, at any rate, that none will put in
+any more."</p>
+
+<p>Then, thanking Annie, she ran home, leaving her friend not a little
+puzzled to know why Charlotte should wish to make a show.</p>
+
+<p>The difference between the little girls was this; Charlotte only sought
+to please others from a selfish feeling to obtain praise, while Annie
+had been taught that God is the searcher of all hearts, and to please
+him should be our first and only aim.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Annie was up bright and early, and it seemed to her
+that the wool was never so free from knots before. After she had said
+her prayers in the morning, and read a chapter with her mother, the
+little girl ate her frugal breakfast, and seated herself at her work,
+and so nimbly did she ply the cards, that her task was accomplished full
+half an hour before the usual time. She was just beginning her own pile
+when Charlotte came in; they sat down together, and worked away
+diligently. Charlotte said that her mother laughed at her, but told her
+she might do as she pleased, for it was something new for her to prefer
+work to play, and availing herself of this permission she came.</p>
+
+<p>Annie, who was accustomed to the work, finished her pile first; she then
+assisted Charlotte, and they each received a penny; there was plenty of
+time beside for Annie to walk home with her friend.</p>
+
+<p>The two following days passed in the same manner, but on Thursday
+Charlotte went out with a party of girls, blackberrying, thinking she
+could make it up on Friday; but it was as much as she could do to earn
+the penny with Annie's assistance, and Saturday was a busy day, so her
+mother could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> not spare her, and Charlotte had but fourpence at the end
+of the week. Annie had worked steadily, and on Saturday afternoon
+received the last penny from her mother. She had now six cents, and
+after supper went with a light heart to get them changed for a sixpenny
+piece, at the village store.</p>
+
+<p>On the way she met Charlotte. "I could not come to-day," said the
+latter. "Mother could not spare me, and I cried enough about it. I might
+have earned another penny, and then I would have changed it for a silver
+fivepence. Is it not too bad? How much have you got?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have six pennies," answered Annie, "And I am going to change them
+now; but if you feel so bad about it, I will give you one of them, and
+then we will each have alike; it makes no difference, you know, who puts
+it in the box, so that it all goes for the one good purpose."</p>
+
+<p>"How kind you are! How much I love you!" exclaimed Charlotte,
+gratefully, as she took the money, and kissed her friend. "I will run
+home and get my fourpence directly."</p>
+
+<p>Annie went on with a contented heart; she had obliged her companion and
+done no injustice to the good cause, since Charlotte would put the money
+to the same use. The store-keeper changed the pennies for a bright, new
+fivepence, and she went on her way rejoicing.</p>
+
+<p>(<a href="#Page_234">To be Continued</a>.)</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE RIDDLE SOLVED.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some years since, the pastor of a country congregation in a neighboring
+State was riding through his parish in company with a ministerial
+friend. As they passed a certain house, the pastor said to his friend,
+"Here is a riddle which I wish you would solve for me. In yonder house
+lives one of my elders, a man of sterling piety and great consistency of
+character, who prays in his closet, in his family, and in public. He has
+seven or eight children, several of whom are grown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> up, and yet not one
+is hopefully converted, or even at all serious. Just beyond him, on the
+adjoining farm, lives a man of the same age, who married the elder's
+sister. This man, if a Christian at all, is one of those who will 'be
+saved so as by fire;' he is very loose and careless in his talk, is in
+bad repute for honesty, and, although not guilty of any offense which
+church authorities can take hold of, does many things which grieve the
+people of God, and are a stumbling-block to others. Yet, of his eleven
+or twelve children, seven are valued and useful Christians, and there is
+every reason to anticipate that the rest, as they grow up, will follow
+in the same course. Now, solve me this difficulty, that the careless
+professor should be so blessed in his family, while the godly man mourns
+an entire absence of converting grace, especially as both households are
+as nearly equal as may be in their social position, their educational
+facilities, and their means of grace?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me know all the facts," said the pastor's friend, "before I give my
+opinion. Have you ever considered the character of the <i>mothers</i>,
+respectively?"</p>
+
+<p>At once the pastor clasped his hands and said, "I have it; the secret is
+out. It is strange I never thought of it before. The elder's wife,
+although, as I trust, a good woman, is far from being an active
+Christian. She never seems to take any pleasure in religious
+conversation, but whenever it is introduced, either is silent or
+speedily diverts it to some worldly subject. She is one of those persons
+with whom you might live in the same house for weeks and months, and yet
+never discover that she was a disciple of Christ. The other lady, on the
+contrary, is as eminent for godliness as her husband is for
+inconsistency. Her heart is in the cause; she prays with and for her
+children, and whatever example they have in their father, in her they
+have a fine model of active, fervent, humble piety, seated in the heart
+and flowing out into the life."</p>
+
+<p>The friends prosecuted the inquiry no further; they felt that the riddle
+was solved, and they rode on in silence, each meditating on the wide
+extent, the far-spreading results of that marvellous agency&mdash;<i>a mother's
+influence</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>PRAYER FOR CHILDREN SOMETIMES UNAVAILING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Matthew, in his Gospel (chap. 20th), has recorded a highly instructive
+incident in relation to the disciples, James and John, whose parents
+were Zebedee and Salome. The latter, it would seem, being of an
+ambitious turn, was desirous that her two sons should occupy prominent
+stations in the temporal kingdom, which, according to the popular
+belief, Jesus Christ was about to establish in the world. That she had
+inspired <i>them</i> also with these ambitious aspirations, is apparent from
+the narrative; she even induces them to accompany her in her visit to
+Christ, and so far they concurred with her designs. On entering his
+presence she prefers her request, which is, that these sons may sit, the
+one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom. The
+request was made with due respect, and, doubtless, in all sincerity.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it cannot be denied that there may be a just and reasonable desire
+on the part of parents, that their children should be advanced to posts
+of honor and distinction in the world. But that desire should ever be
+accompanied with a wish that those honors and distinctions should be
+attained by honest and honorable means, and be employed as
+instrumentalities of good. If such wish be wanting, the desire is only
+selfish. And selfishness seems to have characterized the desires of
+Salome, and probably of James and John. We trust that they all, at
+length, had more correct views of the character and kingdom of Jesus,
+and sought and obtained spiritual honor in it, infinitely to be
+preferred to the honor which cometh from men.</p>
+
+<p>But at the time we speak of, the desires of the mother were narrow and
+selfish. Yet, it is remarkable with what courtesy Christ treated her and
+her sons, while at the same time he gave them to understand that they
+did not know the nature of their request, nor the great matters involved
+in it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Passing from the contemplation of the prayer of Salome for the temporal
+advancement of her sons to the prayers of many parents, at the present
+day, for the salvation of their children, have we not reason to
+apprehend the prevalence in them, if not of a similar ambition, of a
+similar selfishness? I would wish to speak with just caution on a
+subject of so much interest to parents, and one on which I may easily be
+misunderstood. And yet a subject in reference to which the most sad and
+fatal mistakes may be made.</p>
+
+<p>God in his providence has intimately connected parents and children. In
+a sense, parents are the authors of their being; they are their
+guardians; they are bound to provide for them, educate them, teach them
+the knowledge of God, and use all proper means for their present and
+eternal welfare. In all these respects, they are required to do more for
+their children than for the children of others, unless the latter are
+adopted by them, or come under their guardianship. It is doubtless my
+duty and my privilege to seek more directly and more assiduously the
+salvation of my children than the salvation of the children of others.
+This seems to be according to the will of God, and according to the
+family constitution. And, moreover, it is most reasonable and right.</p>
+
+<p>And if parents have a just apprehension of their responsibilities, they
+cannot rest satisfied without laboring for the salvation of their
+offspring, and laboring assiduously and perseveringly for its
+attainment. And among other things which they will do&mdash;they will <i>pray</i>.
+The Christian parent who does not pray for his children, is not entitled
+to the name of Christian. There is no such Christian parent, and we
+doubt if there can be.</p>
+
+<p>But it is obvious that the spirit of Salome, at least in the selfishness
+of that spirit, may sometimes be even the governing principle of the
+parent in his prayers for the salvation of his child. Knowing, as he
+must know, something of the value of his child's soul, and the eternal
+misery of it if finally lost, how natural to desire his conversion as
+the only means of escape from a doom so awful! And we admit that the
+parent is justified, and his parental affinities require him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> to make
+all possible efforts to bring that soul to repentance. And he should
+pray and wrestle with God, as fervently, as importunately, as
+perseveringly as the object sought is important and desirable.</p>
+
+<p>But, then, here is a point never to be overlooked, and yet is it not
+often overlooked? viz., that the grand governing motive of the parent in
+seeking the salvation of his child should be the glory of God&mdash;not
+simply the honor of that soul, as an heir of a rich inheritance&mdash;not
+simply the exemption of his child from misery&mdash;nor yet his joy, as a
+participator in joys and glories which mortal eye has not yet seen, nor
+human heart yet conceived. The glory of God! the glory of Jesus! that is
+the all in all&mdash;the paramount motive, which is to guide, govern parents,
+and all others in their desires and labors for the salvation of children
+and friends!</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean to intimate that parents <i>can</i> ever, or <i>ought</i> ever to
+take pleasure in the contemplated ruin of their children. God takes no
+pleasure in the death of him that dieth. But it is not enough for the
+parent simply to wish his child <i>saved</i>. That desire may be selfish, and
+only selfish. And that prayer which terminates there, may be as selfish
+as was the desire of Salome that her sons might occupy the chief places
+of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The parent may, indeed, wish, and ought
+to wish, that his child may be <i>saved,</i> and for that he should labor and
+toil&mdash;but in a way which will illustrate the marvels of redeeming mercy,
+and which shall be in consonance with the established principles of the
+Gospel.</p>
+
+<p>The parent, then, who prays for the salvation of his child, irrespective
+of all other considerations, excepting his exemption from misery, prays
+in vain, for he prays with a heart which is supremely selfish. Where is
+the parent who could not thus pray? Pray, do I say; such is not prayer.
+Such pleas, however ardent, however long, however importunate, can never
+be consistently answered. Prayer, to be acceptable and effectual, must
+always have the glory of God in view, and be offered in submission to
+the divine will. It must have reference not merely to what is good, but
+to a good which shall consist with those eternal principles of justice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+and mercy, according to which God has decided to conduct the affairs of
+his spiritual kingdom. We may never wish our children to sit with Christ
+in his kingdom to the exclusion of others. We may not wish them
+introduced into that kingdom on other principles, or by other
+instrumentalities, than those which God has recognized and appointed.
+The great law which governs in relation to other matters is to govern
+here. Whatsoever ye do or seek, do and seek, even the salvation of your
+children, for the glory of God.'</p>
+
+<p>And, now, in conclusion, allow me to inquire whether it be not owing to
+this selfish feeling that so many parents, who nevertheless abound in
+prayer for their children, fail in seeing those prayers answered? They
+fail, not because they do not pray often and earnestly, but because they
+desire the salvation of their children rather than a humble, holy,
+self-denying walk with God on earth. They forget that the chief end of
+man is to glorify God, and that the enjoyment of Him is an effect or
+result of such a course.</p>
+
+<p>The object of the writer is not to discourage parents in praying for
+their children, not for a moment, only, dear friend, I show you "a more
+excellent way." I would urge you to abound in prayer still more than you
+do. Pray on&mdash;"pray always"&mdash;pray, and "never faint." But, at the same
+time, pray so that you may obtain. <span class="smcap">Amicus</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Superior Reverence for the Sabbath in Scotland</span>, as aptly
+represented by the anecdote of the American geologist, who was walking
+out for meditation one Sabbath day in Glasgow. As he passed near the
+cottage of a peasant, he was attracted by the sight of a peculiar
+species of stone, and thoughtlessly broke a piece of it. Suddenly a
+window was raised, and a man's coarse voice reprovingly asked, "Ha! man,
+what are ye doing?" "Why, only breaking a piece of stone." "An', sure,"
+was the quaint reply, "ye are doing more than breaking the stone; ye are
+breaking the Lord's day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE.&mdash;No. 1.</h2>
+
+<h3>LOVE AND FEAR.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Do with thy might whatsoever thy hand findeth to do."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>I rose one morning, before six, to write letters, and hastened to put
+them into the post-office before breakfast. It was a dark, lowery
+morning, not very inviting abroad, for an April shower was then falling.</p>
+
+<p>I had the privilege of depositing my letters in a box kept by Mr. D., a
+thriving merchant, not very remote from my dwelling. As I entered the
+store, Mr. D. expressed surprise to see me out from home at so early an
+hour, remarking that he was sure but few ladies were even up at that
+time, and much less abroad.</p>
+
+<p>I told him in reply, that I had been accustomed from my childhood to
+strive to "do with my might whatsoever my hand found to do." That
+persons often expressed surprise that one so far advanced in life could
+do so much, and endure so much fatigue and labor, and still preserve
+health. I told Mr. D. that I had myself often reflected upon the fact
+that I could do more in one day, with ease and comfort to myself, and
+could endure more hardships, than most others. And when I came to
+analyze the subject, and go back to first principles, I could readily
+perceive all this had grown out of an irrepressible desire to please and
+honor my parents.</p>
+
+<p>My love towards them, coupled with fear, was perfectly unbounded, and
+became the guiding and governing principles of my whole life. I could
+not bear, when a very young child, to have either of my parents even
+raise a finger, accompanied by a look of disapprobation, and whenever
+they did, I would, as soon as I could, unperceived, seek out some
+retired place where I could give vent to my sorrowful feelings and
+troubled conscience.</p>
+
+<p>That I might not often incur their censure, I strove by all possible
+means to do everything to please them. My parents had a large family of
+children; there was a great deal to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> done, and our mother was always
+in feeble health. I felt that I could not do enough, each day, in
+sweeping, dusting, mending, &amp;c., besides the ordinary occupation of each
+day, that I might gratify my father, for he was very careful and tender
+of our mother. I was not conscious of a disposition to outvie my
+brothers and sisters, but when anything of consequence was to be done I
+would exert myself to the utmost in my efforts to accomplish the largest
+share. When we went into the garden or the fields to gather fruits or
+vegetables, I was constantly influenced to be diligent, and to make
+haste and gather all I could, so that on our return home I might receive
+the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful child." So it was in knitting
+and sewing. That I might be able to accomplish more and more each day, I
+would often induce one or more of my sisters to strive with me, to see
+which could do the most in a given period.</p>
+
+<p>So profitable did I find this excitement, that I often carried the
+practice into my hours of study, as when my busy fingers plied the
+needle. And often when I had no one to strive with me, I would strive
+with myself, by watching the clock,&mdash;that is, I would see if I could not
+knit or sew this hour more than I did the previous hour, if I could not
+commit to memory more verses, or texts, or lessons, than I had the last
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>In this way I not only cultivated habits of vigorous efforts, but I
+acquired that cheerful, happy disposition which useful occupation is
+always sure to impart. In this way, too, I obtained that kind of
+enthusiasm when anything of importance was to be done, that a boy has
+when he is indulged in going out on a fishing or hunting excursion. A
+boy thus situated, needs no morning summons. On the contrary, he is
+usually on his way to the field of action before it is quite light; and
+it concerns him but little whether he eats or fasts till his toils are
+at an end.</p>
+
+<p>Children, who thus early acquire habits of industry, and a love of
+occupation, instead of living to eat in after life, will eat to live.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how do early right habits and principles help to form the character,
+and mould the affections, and shape the destiny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> in all the future plans
+and modes of living. How do they lead their possessor to strive after
+high attainments, not only in this life, but thus lay the foundation for
+activity in the pursuit of high and holy efforts throughout the endless
+ages of eternity.</p>
+
+<p>It will be perceived that the ruling motives of my conduct, in my early
+childhood, towards my parents, were those of love and fear. Indeed these
+are the two great principles that actuate the holy inhabitants of heaven
+towards their Maker, whether they be saints or angels.</p>
+
+<p>It was not the fear of the rod that led me to obey my best of parents.
+It was not all the gifts or personal gratifications that could be
+offered to a child that won my love.</p>
+
+<p>I saw in both of my parents heavenly dispositions, heavenly tendencies,
+drawing them, day by day, towards the great source of all perfection and
+blessedness. I saw the noble and sublime principles of the Gospel acted
+out in the nursery as sedulously as in the sanctuary, in fact far more
+when at home than when abroad, for here there were more ample
+opportunities afforded for their full development than perhaps anywhere
+else. They loved each other with a pure heart, fervently, and they
+sought not only the temporal good of their children, but their eternal
+felicity and happiness. There was no constraint in their daily and
+hourly watchings and teachings, but it was of a ready mind.</p>
+
+<p>They aspired, themselves, after a perfect conformity to the image of the
+blessed Savior&mdash;whose name is love&mdash;and they taught their children by
+precept, and by their own lovely examples, to walk in his footsteps, who
+said, "Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy."</p>
+
+<p>What powerful motives then have all parents so to demean themselves
+towards each other, and towards their children, as to deserve and to
+secure their filial regard! Parents and children, thus influenced, will
+forever respond to the following beautiful sentiment:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Happy the heart where graces reign,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where love inspires the breast;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Love is the brightest of the train,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And strengthens all the rest."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GOD'S BIBLE, A BOOK FOR ALL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At a meeting of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the American Bible
+Society, May 13, 1852, many thoughts were suggested worthy the special
+attention of all Christian mothers. A few are here registered, in the
+hope that they may continue to call forth the prayers and efforts of all
+Christian parents, and lead them to feel that whatever else they neglect
+in the daily instructions of their children, they cannot safely overlook
+their sacred obligations to see to it that the minds and hearts of their
+children be early imbued with a love and reverence for this Book of
+books.</p>
+
+<p>As was justly remarked, the Bible is the teacher of true philosophy, in
+fact the only fountain of truth, and suggests the best and only plan
+adequate to the conversion of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Let the prayers, then, of all Christian mothers be daily concentrated in
+asking God's blessing upon this noble institution, keeping in mind the
+Savior's last prayer for his beloved disciples, "Sanctify them through
+thy truth: thy word is truth."</p>
+
+<p>We particularly invite attention to a resolution offered on that
+occasion by Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler of Trenton, N.J.:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Resolved</i>, That the adaptedness of the Bible to all conditions of
+society, and all grades of intellect, as shown by past history, brings
+us evidence of its divine origin, and inspires us with hope of its
+future success in enlightening and purifying the world."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. C. remarked&mdash;"A wide field swells out before me in this resolution,
+for it is nothing less than the universality of God's Word in its
+complete adaptedness to the possible conditions of humanity. The truth
+which I hold up for you all to gaze upon is, that 'God's Bible is the
+book for all.' Like the air which visits alike the palace and the
+cottage; like the water which meanders its way, or gushes from deep
+fountains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> for the use of all men; so this book is adapted to the wants
+of all immortal men. It is adapted to every grade of mind and heart,
+rising higher than human intellect ever reached, and descending lower
+than human degradation ever sank.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to that closet in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, and see one of the
+mightiest intellects the world has ever produced, upon whose
+transcendent eloquence a Brougham, a Canning, and the greatest names of
+the age, have hung entranced, bending over the pages of the Book of
+Life. He reads, and writes his thoughts as he reads, until his writings
+become volumes, and the world is blessed with his meditations on the
+whole Bible. So thoroughly does his spirit become imbued with the
+thoughts of this book, that Chalmers was said to have held the whole
+Bible in solution.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon Alpine peaks it spreads a moral verdure which makes their rugged
+valleys smile, and adorns them with flowers of heavenly origin. Upon the
+Virginia plantation, it made Honest John, the happy negro. It was
+adapted to all climates and all conditions of life. It was the only book
+which comforts in the last hour.</p>
+
+<p>"This was vividly illustrated by the closing scene in the life of Sir
+Walter Scott. The window of his chamber was open, through which entered
+the breeze, bearing upon its wings the music of the silvery Tweed, which
+had so often lulled his mighty spirit. His son-in-law was present, to
+whom he said, 'Lockhart, read to me.' Lockhart replied, 'What shall I
+read?' The dying bard turned to him his pale countenance and said,
+'Lockhart, there is but one book!'</p>
+
+<p>"What a tribute from the world's mightiest master of enchantment, who
+had himself penned so many works which were the admiration of his
+fellows, were those brief words uttered, when the spirit hung between
+two worlds, 'There is but one book.' Would you learn true sublimity?
+Throw away Virgil, the Greek and Roman classics, and even Milton and
+Shakspeare, and go to the Bible.</p>
+
+<p>"Amid all turbulence, agitation and danger, there is no other foundation
+upon which we can rest the welfare and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> peace of society. This is the
+only resort of every scheme of human elevation. This contains the primal
+lessons of all duty. Let reformers recollect this, and let us all gather
+around and protect this pillar of truth. Diffuse this 'blessed book,' as
+one of England's poets, when pressing it to his lips in his dying hour,
+called it. Wheel up this sun of light to the mid-heavens, and cause its
+rays to gleam in every land."</p>
+
+<p>Rev. Mr. Goodell, missionary to Constantinople, remarked, that during
+thirty years residence in Mahomedan countries, he had learned something
+of the importance of that book. The nations of the East are all wrong in
+their conceptions of God. He had often stood upon the goodly mountain,
+Lebanon, and upon the heights around Constantinople, and raised his
+thoughts to God, asking, How long shall this darkness prevail? Without
+this book we could have effected little in our missionary work; but by
+it God hath done great things, whereof we are glad. The Bible was once
+found only in dead languages; now it is translated into the language of
+almost every people with whom we come in contact. Every friend of the
+Bible will rejoice to know that it is becoming the great book of the
+East. Before its translation into the Greco-Armenian, it was a mere
+outside book, kept and admired for its handsome binding, and from a
+superstitious reverence. Now it is an inside book; it has taken hold of
+the heart of the Armenian nation. Once it was looked at; now it is read.
+It has come to assume a great importance in the eyes of that people.
+They have a great anxiety to read. More than one hundred aged women are
+now engaged in learning to read, that they may read the New Testament
+for themselves.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Let religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit and breathe
+its life into her heart; refine her affections, sanctify her intellect,
+elevate her aims and hallow her physical beauty, and she is, indeed, to
+our race, of all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our
+glory, the perfection of our life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>PROMISES.</h2>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"And though to his own hurt he swears,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still he performs his word."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>I was yet a boy, when one day a gentleman came into the lot where my
+father was superintending the in-gathering of his hay crop, and
+addressing himself to a mower in my father's employment, inquired
+whether he would assist him the following day. He replied, "Yes." "How
+is this," said my father; "are you not engaged to mow for me?" "O yes,"
+said the man. "Why, then," continued my father, "do you promise to mow
+for Gen. K&mdash;&mdash;?" "Why," said the man, "I wish to oblige him; I love to
+oblige everybody." "And so," said my father, "you are willing to incur
+the guilt of falsehood, for you cannot perform your promise to him and
+myself, and in the end you must disappoint one of us; and, maybe,
+seriously injure our interests and your reputation."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing, surely, is more common, it is believed, than this heedless
+manner of making promises which cannot be fulfilled. The modes in which
+such promises are made are multitudinous, but it is not within the
+compass of this article to specify them. That they are utterly wrong,
+and indicate, on the part of those who make them, a light regard for
+truth, is obvious. Besides, they often lay the foundation for grievous
+disappointments, they thwart important plans, derange business
+calculations, give birth to vexatious feelings, cause distrust between
+man and man, and sap the foundations of morality and religion. Promises
+should always be made with due caution and due reservation: "If the Lord
+will," "if life is spared," "if unforeseen circumstances do not
+interpose to prevent." It is always easy to state some conditions, or
+make some such reservations. Or, rather, it would be easy, were it not
+that one is often urged beyond all propriety, to make the promise, as if
+the making of it, of course insured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> its fulfillment, although a
+thousand circumstances may interfere to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>This is a subject of vast importance to the community. There are evils
+also connected with it of alarming magnitude, and which all needful
+efforts should be made to remove. Especially should this subject attract
+the attention of parents. The mischief often begins with them and around
+their own hearths. How common it is for parents to make promises to
+their children, while the latter are yet tottering from chair to chair,
+which are never designed to be fulfilled. And, at length, the deception
+is discovered by the little prattlers, and often much earlier than
+parents imagine. Often, too, is the parent reminded of his promise and
+of its non-fulfillment. And, sometimes, this is done days and weeks
+after the promise has been made and neglected. The consequence is, that
+the child comes to feel that his parent has little or no regard to truth
+himself, and that truth is a matter of minor importance. So that child
+grows up. So he goes forth into society, and enters upon business. Will
+he be likely to forget the lessons thus early taught him, and the
+example thus early set him?</p>
+
+<p>I am able to illustrate this subject by an incident which occurred in my
+own experience within the last two months. I must tell the story in my
+own simple way, and as it is entirely truthful, I hope salutary
+impressions may be made in every quarter where they are needed, and
+where this article shall be read.</p>
+
+<p>Having occasion for the services of a mechanic in relation to a certain
+piece of work, I called upon one in my neighborhood, then in the
+employment of a gentleman, and was informed, on stating my object, that
+as he should be through with his present engagement on the evening of a
+certain day, he would commence my work on the following morning. The
+specified time arrived, but the man did not appear. I waited two or
+three days, in hourly expectation of his appearance, but was doomed to
+disappointment. At length, I again called upon him and found him still
+in the employment of the gentleman aforenamed. On inquiring the reason
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> his delay, I was informed that on completing his former engagement
+the gentleman had concluded to have more done than he originally
+intended, and insisted upon the continuance of the mechanic in his
+service until his work was entirely finished.</p>
+
+<p>I said to him, "But did you not agree with me for a specified day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did not your engagement with Mr. &mdash;&mdash; terminate on the evening previous
+to that day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you under obligation to that gentleman beyond that time?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Did not your continuance with him involve a violation of your promise
+to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Was not this wrong? and how are you able to justify your conduct?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," said he, "you do not understand the matter. I am to blame, but my
+employer is still more to blame. Look at it. I am a mechanic and a poor
+man. I am dependent on my labor for the support of myself and family.
+This gentleman is rich, and gives me a great deal of employment; I do
+not like to disoblige him, and, sir, when I told him, on the termination
+of my engagement to him, that I had promised to enter upon a piece of
+work for you, he would not release me. He claimed that I was in good
+faith bound to work for him till his various jobs were done."</p>
+
+<p>"And did you think so, my friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," he replied, "I did not; but he told me that if I did not stay he
+would give me no further employment."</p>
+
+<p>"And so," said I, "you violated your conscience, wronged your own soul,
+disappointed me, and all for the sake of obliging a man who was willing
+that you should suffer in point of conscience and reputation, if his
+selfish purposes might be answered."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sensible," said he, "that I did wrong, but what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> course shall we
+pursue, who are dependent upon our daily labor, for our support?"</p>
+
+<p>"I admit," said I, "that you and others similarly situated, are under a
+grievous temptation. But honesty, in the long run, is the best policy.
+Acting upon the same principles with the gentleman who has detained you,
+<i>I</i> might hereafter refuse to employ you. And others might refuse, whose
+work you are probably engaged to perform, but are postponing to gratify
+<i>him</i>. The consequence of all this is, that your promises will soon pass
+for nothing. You will be considered as a man not of your word, and when
+once your good name is lost, you will become poorer than you now are,
+and remain without employment and without friends."</p>
+
+<p>No one, it is believed, can read the foregoing incident without being
+impressed with the great impropriety chargeable upon the gentleman
+referred to. The temptation he spread before the poor mechanic was
+utterly wrong and unbecoming. It was nothing short of oppression. It was
+bringing his wealth to bear upon a point with which it had no legitimate
+connection. It was placing self before right; it was a reckless
+sacrifice of the interests of others for his own gratification.</p>
+
+<p>That such cases are common, is well known; but their frequency is only a
+proof of the slight regard in which the sacredness of promises is held,
+and to the violation of which employers frequently contribute by the
+temptations which they spread, and the coercion which they practice. We
+do not justify for a single moment the mechanics and laborers who
+violate their pledges. We insist upon it that it is their solemn duty to
+encounter any and every temporal evil rather than sacrifice truth and
+conscience; but it is believed they would seldom be guilty of this
+violation were they not pressed beyond measure by employers.</p>
+
+<p>We must for a moment again advert to parents. You see, friends, what an
+evil exists throughout the community. It is everywhere, and is helping
+to work the ruin of immortal souls. It often begins, it is believed, in
+the family. Parents are guilty, in the first place, and they early
+inoculate their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> children with the evil. And the infection, once taken,
+is likely to spread and to pervade the whole moral system. It enters
+into other relations of life. It reaches to other departments of duty,
+and tends to destroy our sense of obligation to God. It weakens our
+regard for promises made to the Author of our being. In short, this
+disregard for the fulfillment of sacred promises helps to sap the
+foundations of moral virtue, and to prepare the soul for a world where
+falsehood reigns supreme, and where there is no confidence between man
+and man.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 16em;"><span class="smcap">Veritas.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>TRIALS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Rev. Wm. Jay has sweetly said of the trials of the people of God:
+"Have they days of affliction? God knows them; knows their source, their
+pressure, how long they have continued, the support they require, and
+the proper time to remove them. Have they days of danger? He knows them,
+and will be a refuge and defense in them. Have they days of duty? He
+knows them, and will furnish the strength and the help they require.
+Have they days of inaction when they are laid aside from their work, by
+accident or disease? He knows them, and says to his servants under every
+privation, 'It is well that it was in thy heart.' Have they days of
+privation when they are denied the ordinances of religion, after seeing
+his power and glory in the temple, and going with the voice of gladness
+to keep holy day? He knows them, and will follow his people when they
+cannot follow him, and be a little sanctuary to them in their losses.
+Have they days of declension and of age in which their strength is fled,
+and their senses fail, and so many of their connection have gone down to
+the dust, evil days, wherein they have no pleasure? He knows them, and
+says, 'I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth. Even down to old age
+I am He, and to hoary hairs will I bear and carry you.'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Our friend, Mrs. Sigourney, has, at our request, kindly sent us the
+subjoined hymn and remarks: "The Young Men's Christian Association I
+consider one of the very best designs of this age of philanthropy. I
+send you a hymn, elicited by the Boston branch of this same Society, a
+circumstance which will not, I hope, diminish its adaptation to your
+pages."</p>
+
+<p>We cannot omit to ask mothers and daughters to give this Association
+their countenance and prayers. We trust it will be the means of
+accomplishing great good.</p>
+
+<h3>HYMN FOR THE "YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION."</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">God</span> of our children! hear our prayer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When from their homes they part,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those idols of our fondest care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Those jewels of the heart.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss their smile in hall and bower;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We miss their voice of cheer;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We speak their names at midnight hour</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When none but Thou dost hear.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">God of their spirits! be their stay,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When from their parents' side,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their boat is launched to find its way</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O'er life's tempestuous tide.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tho' toss'd 'mid breakers wild and strong,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its veering helm should stray</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where syrens wake the mermaid song,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Guide thou their course alway.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, God of goodness, bless the band</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Who, moved by Christian love,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Take the young stranger's friendless hand</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And lead his thoughts above.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">May their own souls the sunbeam feel,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">They thus have freely given,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And be the plaudit of their zeal</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sweet "<i>well-done</i>" of heaven.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>L.H.S.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>NAOMI AND RUTH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It would be only presumption in us to attempt giving in any other than
+the beautifully simple words of Scripture the story of Ruth and her
+mother-in-law. The narration is inimitable, and needs nothing to make it
+stand out like a picture before the mind. Suffice it then that we now
+attend only to the lessons which may be gathered from it, and endeavor
+to profit by them through all our coming lives. Nor let any think the
+lessons afforded by these four short chapters few or easily acted upon,
+though they may be soon comprehended. They will amply reward earnest
+study and persevering practice.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing which wins our admiration is Ruth's faith. She had been
+educated in the degrading worship of Chemosh, the supreme deity of Moab.
+Probably no conception of the one living God had been formed in her mind
+until her acquaintance with the Jewish youth, the son of Elimelech and
+Naomi. How long she had the happiness of a wife we are not informed. We
+know it was only a few years. But during that period she had learned to
+put such confidence in Jehovah, that she was willing to forsake country
+and friends, even the home of her childhood and beloved parents, and go
+forth with her mother-in-law to strange scenes, and willing to brave
+penury and vicissitude that she might be numbered among His people.
+Firmly she adhered to her resolution. The entreaties of Naomi&mdash;the
+thought of her mother&mdash;the prospects which might await her in her own
+land&mdash;even the retreating form of Orpah&mdash;nothing had power to prevail
+over her desire to see Canaan and unite in the worship of her husband's
+God. "The Lord recompense thy work," said Boaz to her, "and a full
+reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou
+art come to trust." He is not unfaithful, and that reward was made
+sure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> "Of the life that now is," the promise speaks, and it was
+fulfilled to her. Of an undying honorable name it says nothing, but that
+is also awarded her. "Upon a monument which has already outlasted
+thrones and empires, and which shall endure until there be a new heaven
+and a new earth&mdash;upon the front page of the New Testament is inscribed
+the name of <span class="smcap">Ruth</span>. Of her came David&mdash;of her came a long line of
+illustrious and good men&mdash;of her came Christ."</p>
+
+<p>Why will we not learn&mdash;why will we not daily and constantly act upon the
+truth that implicit faith is pleasing to God? "None of them that trust
+in Him shall be desolate."</p>
+
+<p>There is a fund of instruction also in the few glimpses which we gain of
+the intercourse of Naomi and Ruth as they journey on and after their
+arrival in Canaan. How does the law of love dictate and pervade every
+word and action! Naomi had once been an honored wife and mother in
+Judah, and far above the reach of want. But in "the days when the judges
+ruled," those days during which "every man did what was right in his own
+eyes," her husband had deserted his people; and now on her return she
+was probably penniless, her inheritance sold until the year of jubilee,
+and she in her old age, unable by her own efforts to gain a subsistence.
+The poor in Israel were not forlorn, but it required genuine humility on
+Ruth's part, and a sincere love for her mother-in-law, to induce her to
+avail herself of the means provided. She hesitated not. It was "in the
+beginning of the barley harvest" that they came to Bethlehem, and as
+soon as they were settled, apparently in a small and humble tenement,
+she went forth to glean in some field after the reapers, not knowing how
+it would fare with her, but evidently feeling that all depended on her
+labors. The meeting of the mother and daughter at the close of that
+important day is touching indeed. The joy with which the aged Naomi
+greets her only solace, and the kind and motherly care with which she
+brings the remains of her own scanty meal, which she had laid aside, her
+eager questions, and Ruth's cheerful replies as she lays down her burden
+and relates the pleasant events of the day&mdash;what gratitude to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> God&mdash;what
+dawning hopes&mdash;what a delightful spirit of love appear through all! And
+as days pass, how tenderly does Naomi watch over the interests of her
+child, and how remarkable is the deference to her wishes which ever
+animates Ruth. Even in the matter of her marriage,&mdash;a subject on which
+young people generally feel competent to judge for themselves,&mdash;she is
+governed entirely by her mother's directions. "All that thou sayest unto
+me I will do." Said a young lady in our hearing, not long since, "When I
+am married I shall desire that my husband may have no father or mother."
+This is not an unusual wish, nor is it uttered in all cases lightly and
+without reason. We know of a mother who would never consent that her
+only son should bring his wife to dwell under her roof, although she was
+entirely satisfied with his choice, and was constantly doing all in her
+power to promote their happiness. What were her reasons? She was a
+conscientious Christian and fond mother, but she would not risk their
+mutual happiness. She felt herself unable to bear the test, and she was
+unwilling to subject her children to it. Often do we hear expressions of
+pity bestowed on the young wife who is so "unfortunate" as to be
+compelled to live with her mother-in-law, and many are the sighs and
+nods and winks of gossip over the trials which some of their number
+endure from their sons' wives. Why is all this? The supreme selfishness
+of our human nature must answer. Having a common love for one object,
+the mother for her son, the wife for her husband, they should be bound
+by strong ties, and their mutual interests should produce mutual
+kindness and sympathy, and this would always be the case if each were
+governed by the spirit of the Gospel. But alas! love of self rather than
+the pure love inculcated by Jesus Christ most often rules. Brought
+together from different paths, unlike, it may be, in natural
+temperament, perhaps differing in opinion, the mother wishing to retain
+her wonted control over her son, the wife feeling hers the superior
+claim, there springs up a contest which is the fruitful source of
+unhappiness, and which mars many an otherwise fine character. Before us
+in memory's glass as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> we write, sits one of a most fair and beautiful
+countenance, but over which hang dark clouds of care, and from the eyes
+drop slowly bitter tears. She is what all around her would call a happy
+wife and mother. Fortune smiles upon her, and the blessing of God abides
+by the hearth-stone. Her husband is a professing Christian, as is also
+his yet youthful-looking mother and the wife herself. Beautiful children
+gambol around her, and look wonderingly in her face as they see those
+tears. What is the secret of her unhappiness? She deems hers a very hard
+lot, and yet if we rightly judge, could her sorrow be resolved to its
+elements, it would be found that the turmoil of her spirit is occasioned
+solely by the fact that she finds it hard to maintain her fancied
+rights, her desired superiority over her husband and servants, because
+of the presence of her calm, firm, dignified mother-in-law, whose very
+lips seem chiseled to indicate that they speak only to be obeyed. What
+would be the result if the tender, considerate love of Naomi and the
+yielding spirit of Ruth were introduced to the bosom of each?</p>
+
+<p>We cannot leave this record of Holy Writ without commenting also on the
+remarkable state of society which existed in Bethlehem in those far
+distant days. When Naomi returned after an absence of ten years&mdash;an
+absence which to many might have seemed very culpable&mdash;with what
+enthusiastic greetings was she received. "The whole city was moved." It
+made no difference that she "went out full but had returned empty;" nor
+did they stop to consider that "the Lord had testified against her." The
+truest sympathy was manifested for her and for the stranger who had
+loved her and clung to her. In her sorrow they clustered around to
+comfort her, and when the bright reverse gave her again an honored name
+and "a restorer of her life" in her young grandson, they were eager to
+testify their joy. The apostolic injunction, "Rejoice with them that do
+rejoice, and weep with them that weep," seems to have been strictly
+obeyed in Bethlehem. The distinctions of society, although as marked
+apparently as in our own time, seem not to have caused either
+unhappiness nor the slightest approach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> to unkind or unchristian
+feeling. Witness the greeting between Boaz and the reapers on his
+harvest field. "And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the
+reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless
+thee." Boaz was "a mighty man of wealth;" he had his hired workmen
+around him, and in the same field was found the poor "Moabitish damsel,"
+gleaning here and there the scattered ears, her only dependence. Yet we
+find them all sitting together in the hut which was erected for shelter,
+and eating together the parched grain which was provided for the noon's
+refreshment, while Boaz enters into a conversation with Ruth which
+indicates his truly noble and generous character, and speaks words which
+are like balm to the sorrowing spirit. "Thou hast comforted me and
+spoken to the heart of thy handmaid," she said as she rose to leave the
+tent and felt herself no longer a stranger, since one so excellent and
+so exalted in station appreciated and sympathized with her. We see
+little in these Gospel days and in this favored land which will compare
+with the genuine kindliness which breathes in every word and act
+recorded in the book of Ruth.</p>
+
+<p>But the most surprising revelation is made in the account which follows
+the scene in the tent. What exalted principle&mdash;what respect for
+woman&mdash;what noble virtue must have characterized those among whom a
+mother could send her daughter at night to perform the part assigned to
+Ruth, apparently without a fear of evil, and receive her again, not only
+unharmed, but understood, honored, and wedded by the man to whom she was
+sent, and that notwithstanding her foreign birth and dependent
+situation, and fettered with the condition that her first-born son must
+bear the name and be considered the child of a dead man!</p>
+
+<p>We have friends who will fasten their faith on the New Testament only,
+and can see nothing in the Old akin to it in precept or spirit. We
+commend to them the Book of Ruth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+them."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Matthew</span> 6:6.</p></div>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(Concluded from page <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.)</span><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>In the mean time Charlotte ran home for her pennies, and on her return
+met an acquaintance who did not belong to the Sunday-school.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going so fast, Charlotte?" said she; "stop, I want to
+show you what a lovely blue ribbon I have just bought at Drake's, only
+four cents a yard, and half a yard makes a neck ribbon; isn't it sweet?
+just look;" and she displayed a bright blue ribbon to the admiring gaze
+of Charlotte.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very pretty," said Charlotte longingly, "and I wish I could
+afford to buy one like it, but I've got no money."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that in your hand?" asked the other, as she espied the pennies
+in Charlotte's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"That is mission money," she replied; "I am going to give it to the
+missionary to buy Bibles for the heathen."</p>
+
+<p>"Buy fiddlesticks!" said the other, with a loud laugh. "Why, you <i>are</i> a
+little simpleton to send your money the dear knows where, when you might
+buy a whole yard of this beautiful ribbon and have a penny left!"</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte looked wishfully at the ribbon, and sighed as she answered,
+"But I earned this money on purpose to give."</p>
+
+<p>"More goose you to work for money to give away; but if you are so very
+generous, buy half a yard, and then you will have three cents left to
+give, that is enough I am sure; but do as you like, I must go. They have
+got some splendid pink, that would become you exceedingly. Good bye;"
+and so saying she left her.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte walked thoughtfully on; her love of dress and finery was a
+ruling passion, and had been aroused at a most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> unfortunate moment; she
+had never possessed a piece of new ribbon, and she longed to see how it
+would look with her white cape. Thus thinking she arrived at Mr. Drake's
+store, and the first thing she saw temptingly displayed in a glass case
+upon the counter was the identical ribbon she coveted. There were
+customers in the store, and Charlotte had to wait her turn; during those
+few moments various thoughts passed through her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"If I buy the ribbon what will Annie say?" suggested conscience. "Why
+need you care for Annie?" whispered temptation, "the ribbon will look
+pretty and becoming; you earned the money, and beside, Annie need not
+know anything about it; tell her you had not time to change the money,
+and throw the pennies quickly in the box; there will be more there, and
+no one will know how much you put in."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Charlotte! she did not know that the best way to avoid sin is to
+flee from temptation. The shopman was at leisure, and waited to know
+what she wished. She had not decided what to do; but the ribbon was
+uppermost in her thoughts, and she asked, "What is the price of that
+ribbon?" "Four cents," said the shopman as he quickly unrolled it; "here
+are pink, white, blue and yellow; pink I should think the most becoming
+to you, Miss. How much shall I cut you? enough to trim a bonnet?"</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte was agitated; the man's volubility confused her, and she
+stammered forth, "Half a yard, if you please, sir."</p>
+
+<p>It was cut off, rolled up, and in her hand, and she had paid the two
+cents before she collected her thoughts; and then as she slowly returned
+home, she unfolded her purchase, and tried in her admiration of its gay
+color to forget she had done wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps if Charlotte had read her Bible she would have remembered how
+Ananias and his wife Sapphira were struck dead for mocking the Lord, by
+pretending they had given all when they had reserved a part of their
+goods. Their sin consisted not so much in keeping back a part as in
+lying unto God; and this sin Charlotte was about to commit by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+pretending to put in the mission box more than she really did.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday morning dawned bright and lovely. Annie was up and tidily dressed
+long before the hour for school. She had time to sing a sweet morning
+hymn, and to feed the tame robins with the crumbs she had carefully
+swept up, and then with her little Bible sat down to study her lesson
+again, and assure herself that she had it perfect. As she read the
+sacred volume, and dwelt upon its precious promises, which her mother
+had explained to her, she felt doubly sorry for those poor people who
+were deprived of so great a blessing; and then she thought of her little
+offering, and wished with all her heart it had been more.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte, on the contrary, awoke late, after an uneasy slumber, and
+hurriedly eating her breakfast, for which she had but little appetite,
+dressed herself, and opening the box where she kept her little
+treasures, took out the gay pink ribbon, and after a long admiring gaze,
+pinned it carefully about her neck. As she closed the box cover she saw
+the three cents lying in one corner, and hastily put them in her pocket
+with a feeling of self-abasement that made her cheeks glow with shame.
+She ran quickly down stairs, lest her mother should see her and question
+her about the ribbon, for although Mrs. Murray would not have
+disapproved of her daughter's purchase, Charlotte dreaded her mother's
+ridicule for so soon abandoning her new-fangled notions, as she called
+them.</p>
+
+<p>She had promised to call for Annie, and she walked quietly along, hoping
+her friend would not notice the ribbon nor ask to see the money. As she
+slowly approached Mrs. Grey's cottage, she saw Annie's favorite kitten
+jump up in the low window seat to bask in the warm sunshine. Charlotte
+saw the little cat put out her paw to play with something, and just as
+she was opposite the window a small bright piece rolled down into the
+road. She hastened forward and picked it up; it was a bright new
+five-pence.</p>
+
+<p>"This must be Annie's," she thought; and looking in the window she saw
+the room was empty, and Annie's Bible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> and handkerchief laid on the
+window seat. Puss was busy playing with the leaves of the book, and
+Charlotte walked slowly on with the piece yet in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"How pretty and bright it looks," she thought. "I wish that I had one to
+give. I know the girls will stare to see Annie put in so much. How lucky
+it was that I passed; if I had not it would have been lost, or some one
+else would have picked it up. I will give it to her in school; I shall
+not keep it, of course." Thus quieting her conscience she walked quickly
+to school, and took her seat among the rest.</p>
+
+<p>How gradual is the descent to sin. Charlotte would have spurned the idea
+of stealing, and yet from desiring to give with a wrong motive she had
+been led on step by step, and when the girl who sat next her asked what
+she had brought, she opened her hand and showed the piece of money.</p>
+
+<p>School had commenced when Annie came in; she looked disheartened, and
+her eyes were red with crying. Charlotte's heart smote her, and could
+she have spoken to Annie, she would doubtless have returned the piece of
+money, but she dared not leave her seat, and after a few moments it was
+whispered around the class that Annie Grey had lost her mission money.
+Then the girls about Charlotte told each other how much she had brought,
+and she began to think,</p>
+
+<p>"What difference will it make if I put it in the box? it is all the
+same, Annie says, who gives the money, so that it is given;" and so when
+the box was handed round she dropped the five cent piece in. Her
+conscience reproved her severely as she glanced at poor Annie, whose
+tears were flowing afresh, and who, when the teacher handed her the box,
+said in low, broken tones, that she had lost her offering and had
+nothing to give.</p>
+
+<p>After dismissal the children crowded around Annie, pitying and
+questioning her. Charlotte moved away, she could not speak to her
+injured friend; but as she passed she heard Annie say, "I laid it on my
+Bible. I was just about tying it in the corner of my pocket handkerchief
+when mother called me away; when I came back it was gone. Kitty was
+sitting in the window, and I suppose must have knocked it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> down in the
+road. I searched all over the room, and out in the road, but could not
+find it."</p>
+
+<p>"I am really sorry," said one.</p>
+
+<p>"And I, and I," added three or four more.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go and help her look for it again," said they all, "perhaps we
+may find it yet," for Annie's gentleness had made her beloved by all.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte's feelings were far from enviable as she went towards home;
+she hated herself and felt perfectly miserable. As soon as she arrived
+at the house she went hastily up stairs, and took off the hateful
+ribbon, as it now appeared, with a feeling of disgust, and throwing
+herself on the bed cried long and bitterly. Charlotte did not know how
+to pray to God to give her a clean heart and forgive her sin; she never
+thought of asking His forgiveness, or confessing her fault; she felt
+sick at heart, restless and unhappy. Such are ever the consequences of
+sin. She ate no dinner, and her mother told her to go and lie down, as
+she did not look well. Charlotte gladly went up stairs again, and after
+another hearty crying spell fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>When she awoke it was evening, and going down stairs she found that her
+mother had gone to visit a neighbor. Charlotte stood out by the door,
+and although it was a lovely summer night, a gloom seemed to her to
+overhang everything. Her little brothers spoke to her, and she answered
+them harshly and sent them away. While she stood idly musing a miserable
+old beggar woman, who bore but an indifferent character in the
+neighborhood, came hobbling along; she came up to the little girl and
+asked an alms. Almost instinctively she put her hand in her pocket, and
+taking thence the three cents placed them with a feeling of relief in
+the beggar's hand. She thought she was doing a good act, and would atone
+for her wicked conduct. The old woman was profuse of thanks, and taking
+from her dirty apron a double handful of sour and unripe fruit, placed
+it in Charlotte's lap and went away.</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte's parents had forbidden her eating unripe fruit; but a day
+begun in sin was not unlikely to end in disobedience.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> She felt feverish
+and thirsty, and so biting one of the apples went on eating until all
+were gone. She then went up to bed, and feeling afraid to be alone, for
+a bad conscience is always fearful, she closed her eyes and fell almost
+immediately asleep.</p>
+
+<p>She was awakened in the night by sharp and violent pain; she dreaded to
+call her mother, as she would have to tell her what she had been eating,
+and so she bore the suffering as long as she could; but her restless
+tossings and moans aroused her mother, who slept in an adjoining room,
+and hastening in to her daughter, she found her in a high state of
+fever. She did all she could for her, but the next morning Charlotte was
+so much worse that a physician was sent for. She was quite delirious
+when he came, and he pronounced her situation dangerous.</p>
+
+<p>The poor girl raved incessantly about ribbons and Annie's tearful face,
+and seemed to be in great distress of mind. Annie heard that Charlotte
+was very ill, and came to see her. She was shocked to hear her talk so
+wildly, and to see her face flushed with fever. She stayed some time,
+but Charlotte did not know her, although she often mentioned her name.
+When Annie returned home she asked her mother's permission to stay with
+Charlotte as much as possible, which Mrs. Grey cheerfully gave, and went
+to visit her herself.</p>
+
+<p>For a whole week poor Charlotte's fever raged violently, and as Annie or
+her mother were with her constantly, they could not fail to discover
+from the sick girl's ravings that she had taken the lost fivepence.
+Annie, however, who heartily forgave her playmate, never mentioned what
+she heard to her mother, and Mrs. Grey also wisely refrained from
+telling her suspicions. She was better acquainted with the treatment of
+the sick than Mrs. Murray, and she watched over Charlotte with the
+tenderness of a mother. One day Annie sat reading her Bible by the
+bedside when Charlotte awoke from a long sleep, the first she had
+enjoyed, and looking towards Annie said in a feeble voice,</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear Annie, is that you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little girl rose, and bending over her sick playmate, begged her in
+a gentle voice to lie still and be quiet.</p>
+
+<p>"I will, I will," answered Charlotte, clasping her hands feebly about
+her friend's neck as she leaned towards her, "if you will only say you
+forgive me. Oh, you know not what a wicked girl I am, and yet it seems
+as if I had been telling everybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind now, dear," whispered Annie, "only keep still or you will
+bring on your fever again."</p>
+
+<p>"I believe I have been very ill, and have said many strange things,"
+murmured Charlotte, "but I know you now and understand what I say. Do
+you think you can forgive me, Annie?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear Charlotte, and I love you better than ever now, so do not
+talk any more." Annie kissed her tenderly as she spoke, and the sick
+girl laid her head upon the pillow still holding Annie's hand in her
+own.</p>
+
+<p>From this time Charlotte rapidly improved, and one afternoon, when her
+mother and Mrs. Grey and Annie were sitting with her, she told them the
+whole truth about the lost money, and begged them to forgive her. Little
+Annie, whose tears were flowing fast, kissing her again and again,
+assured her of her entire forgiveness, and told her never to mention it
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Grey then said, "I think that we all forgive your fault, my dear
+child, but there is One whose forgiveness you must first seek before
+your repentance can be sincere. The sin you have committed against God
+is far greater than any injury you have done us. In the first place, my
+dear Charlotte, you wished to give with a wrong motive; you did not seek
+to please God and serve Him, by giving your trifle with a sincere heart
+and earnest prayers. You sought rather the praise of your teachers; and
+worse even than this, you wished to awaken the envy of your companions.
+Such a gift, however large, could never be acceptable to the just God,
+who knows all hearts, and bids us to do good in secret and He will
+reward us openly. You see, my little girl, how one misstep makes the way
+for another,&mdash;how this pride<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> begat envy, and envy covetousness, and
+then how quickly did deceit and dishonesty and disobedience come after.
+Do not think me harsh, my dear child, from my heart I forgive you; your
+punishment has been severe, but I trust it will be to you a well-spring
+of grace; and now let us humbly ask the forgiveness and blessing of that
+just and yet merciful God who for Jesus' sake will hear our prayers."</p>
+
+<p>They knelt, and Mrs. Grey made a touching and earnest prayer; even Mrs.
+Murray was affected to tears; she felt ashamed of her daughter's
+conduct; she knew she herself was to blame, and this event had a good
+effect upon her future conduct.</p>
+
+<p>After a little while Charlotte asked for her box, and taking out the
+pink ribbon placed it in Mrs. Grey's hand and begged her to burn it, as
+she could not bear to see it.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs. Grey, "keep it, Charlotte; it will remind you of your
+fatal error, and perhaps, through God's blessing, may sometimes lead you
+from the path of sin into that of holiness."</p>
+
+<p>Charlotte took her friend's advice, and after her recovery never gave
+utterance to a falsehood. She and Annie became Sunday-school teachers,
+and through the grace of God Charlotte was the means of bringing her
+whole family into the fold of the Good Shepherd; and while she lived she
+always carefully treasured the pink ribbon, which was a memento alike of
+her fault and her sincere repentance.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>LETTER FROM A FATHER TO A SON.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Son</span>:&mdash;Seldom, if ever, have I perused a letter of
+deeper interest to myself as a father, than the one you lately addressed
+to your sister. Long had it been my daily prayer that the Spirit of God
+would impress you with the importance of becoming a Christian; from your
+letter I infer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> that you are anxiously inquiring after the "great
+salvation." It is all-important that you be guided aright. <i>What must
+you do?</i></p>
+
+<p>The Bible should be our guide in matters involving our spiritual
+interests, and we need not fear to follow its directions. The Bible
+declares that in order to be saved the sinner must "<i>repent</i>." This is
+the first step.</p>
+
+<p>But what is it to repent? Let me tell you. Suppose, then, that a person
+spreads a false and injurious report about another, by which his
+character is wounded, his influence lessened, and his business
+destroyed. This is wrong. Of this wrong, the injurer at length becoming
+sensible, and deeply regretting it, repairs to the one whom he has
+injured, confesses the wrong, seeks forgiveness, does all in his power
+to make amends, and offends no more. This is repentance.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when such sorrow is exercised toward God for wrong done to Him,
+when that wrong is deeply deplored, is honestly confessed, and is
+followed by a permanent reformation, that is repentance toward God. Such
+repentance God requires; nor can one become a Christian who does not
+exercise it. This is one unalterable condition of salvation. I do not
+mean that the penitent sinner will never afterwards, in no instance, sin
+again. He may sometimes, again, do wrong, for so long as he is in the
+world imperfection will pertain to him; but the ruling power of sin will
+be broken in his heart. He may sometimes sin; but whenever he does he
+will lament it. He will retire to his closet, and while there alone with
+God his tears will flow. Oh! how will he pray and wrestle that he may be
+forgiven; and what solemn resolutions will he make to sin no more! This
+he will continue to do month after month, and year after year, as long
+as he lives, as long as he ever does any wrong. To forsake sin becomes a
+principle of his life; to confess and forsake it, a habit of his soul.
+Repentance, then, is the first step.</p>
+
+<p>But the Bible adds, "Repent and <i>believe</i> on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
+thou shalt be saved." Belief, or faith, as it is called, is another
+exercise required in order to be saved. What now is <i>faith</i>? Let me
+illustrate this.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Suppose a person is standing on the branch of a tree. It appears to be
+sufficiently firm to bear him, and he feels secure. But presently he
+perceives that it is beginning to break, and if it break he may be
+dashed on the rocks below. What shall he do? He looks abroad for help.
+At this critical moment a person presents himself at the foot of the
+tree, and says, "Let go, let go, and I will catch you." But he is
+afraid. He fears that the person may not be able, or may be unwilling to
+save him. But the branch continues to break, and destruction is before
+him. Meanwhile the kind-hearted person below renews his assurance, "Let
+go, let go, confide in me and I'll catch you." At last the person on the
+branch becomes satisfied that no other hope remains for him, so he says,
+"I'll do as this friend bids me; I'll trust him." He lets go, falls, and
+the other catches him. This is <i>faith</i>, or in other words it is
+<i>confidence</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Now the sinner is liable to fall under the wrath of God for the wrong he
+has done, and there to perish. He may repent of that wrong, and
+repentance is most reasonable, and is, we have seen, required; but
+repentance of itself never repairs a wrong. One may repent that he has
+killed another, but that does not restore life. One may be sorry that he
+has broken God's commands, but that does not repair the dishonor done to
+the Divine government. That government must be upheld. How can it be
+done? I will tell you how it has been done. Christ consented to take the
+sinner's place. On the cross he suffered for and instead of the sinner;
+and God has decided that whosoever, being penitent for sin, will confide
+in his Son, or trust him, shall be saved.</p>
+
+<p>Sinners are wont to put a high value upon some goodness which they fancy
+they possess, or upon good actions which they imagine they have done.
+These, they conceive, are sufficient to save them; and sinners generally
+feel quite secure. How little concerned, my son, have you been. But
+sinners mistake as to their goodness. They are all "dead in trespasses
+and sins." They are under condemnation. They are in imminent danger. Any
+day they may fall into the hands of an angry God. Sinners under
+conviction see this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> and feel this. The branch of self-righteousness on
+which they stand is insufficient to bear them. By-and-by it begins to
+give way. When the sinner feels this he cries, "What shall I do? Who
+will save me?"</p>
+
+<p>Now Christ is commissioned to save, and when the poor sinner sees that
+he is about to perish, and in that state cries for help, Christ comes to
+him and says, "Let go all hope in yourself; let go dependence upon every
+other thing; trust to me and I will save you." "Come, for all things are
+ready." But may be the sinner is afraid. Will Christ do as he promises?
+Is he able to save? Well, the sinner looks round&mdash;he hesitates&mdash;perhaps
+prays&mdash;weeps&mdash;promises; but while all these are well enough in their
+places, they never of themselves bring peace and safety to the anxious
+heart. At length he sees and feels that there is no one but Christ, who
+stands as it were at the bottom of the tree, that can save him. And now
+he lifts up his voice and cries, "Lord, save me, or I perish." Into the
+hands of Christ he falls, and from that moment he is safe. This is
+Gospel faith or confidence.</p>
+
+<p>And this repentance and faith which I have described are necessary in
+order to salvation. So the Bible decides; and whenever a soul exercises
+them that soul is a Christian soul, and that man is a Christian man.</p>
+
+<p>There is yet one question further of great moment. You hope, perhaps,
+that you are a Christian&mdash;that you have truly repented, and do exercise
+true faith. You ask, <i>How shall one decide?</i></p>
+
+<p>I will tell you this also. Suppose you agree with a nurseryman to
+furnish you with a tree of a particular kind. He brings you one. You
+inquire, "Is this the kind of tree I engaged?" He replies, "Yes." But
+you say, "How do I know? It looks indeed like the tree in question, and
+you say it is; but there are other trees which strongly resemble it." He
+rejoins, "I myself grafted it, and I almost know." "Ah! yes, <i>almost</i>;
+but are you certain?" "No," he replies, "I am not absolutely certain,
+and no one can be sure at this moment." "But what shall I do?" you ask.
+"I want that particular tree." "Well," says he, "I will suggest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> one
+infallible test. Set it out on your grounds. It will soon bear <i>fruit</i>,
+and that will be a sure and satisfactory test." "Is there no other way?"
+you ask&mdash;"no shorter, better way?" "None," he replies. "This is the only
+sure evidence which man can have."</p>
+
+<p>Let us apply these remarks. As there is but one infallible test as to a
+tree, so there is but one in respect to a man claiming to be a
+Christian. "What <i>fruit</i> does he bear?" "By their fruits," says our
+Savior, "ye shall know them." Only a good tree brings forth good fruit.
+Here, then, we have a plain, simple, and, I may add, infallible rule for
+testing ourselves. What kind of fruit are we bearing? What fruit must we
+bear? "The fruits of the Spirit," says the Bible, "are love, joy, peace,
+long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," &amp;c. If, then, we have been
+born of the Spirit, <i>i.e.</i>, born again, or in other words, if we are
+Christians, we shall bear the fruits of the Spirit.</p>
+
+<p>I have known persons suggest various marks or tests by which to try
+themselves; but I have never found any which could certainly be depended
+upon besides the one which I have named&mdash;<i>the fruit which one brings
+forth</i>. The application of this test requires time. For evidence of
+Christian character, a person must examine himself month after month and
+year after year. His great aim must be to glorify God. He will,
+therefore, strive to keep his commandments. He will shun all known evil,
+and let others see that he sets a high value upon all that is "lovely
+and of good report." He will pray, not one day or one month, but
+habitually. His life will be a life of prayer, and in all the duties of
+the Christian profession he will endeavor to persevere. He will find
+himself imperfect, and will sometimes fail; but when he fails he will
+not sink down in despair and give up, but he will repent and say, "I'll
+do better next time;" and thus he will go forward gathering strength.
+Many trials and difficulties he will find, but the way will grow
+smoother and easier. His evidence will increase. The path of the
+righteous is as the light which shines brighter and brighter unto the
+perfect day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And now, my dear son, are you willing to set out in all sober
+earnestness so to live, not one day, but always? If you are, God will
+bless and aid you. You will be a happy boy, and as you grow older you
+will be happier still; and in the end you will go to God and to your
+pious friends now in heaven, or who may hereafter reach that blissful
+abode, and spend an eternity in loving, praising and serving God. This
+is the constant prayer of your affectionate father.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>CHILDREN OF THE PARSONAGE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Little Charlie, the youngest child of our pastor, was the delight of all
+the household, but especially of the infirm grand-mother, to whose aid
+and solace he devoted his little efforts. He was a beautiful and active
+child, of nearly three years, and was to the parsonage what the father
+emphatically called him,&mdash;its "<i>fountain of joy</i>." But little Charlie
+was suddenly taken from it, after an illness of a few hours. A week
+afterward, <span class="smcap">Fanny</span>, a beautiful and highly intelligent child of
+five years, died of the same fearful disease, scarlet fever. The
+following little poems were intended as sketches of the characteristics
+of the two lovely children.</p>
+
+<p>Some three years after, death bore away also little <span class="smcap">Emma</span>, a
+child two years old, who had in some measure replaced the lost children
+of the parsonage. To express the sparkling and exuberant vivacity of
+this last darling of friends very dear to the writer, has been the
+object of another simple lay. There are smitten hearts enough in the
+homes to which this magazine finds its way to respond to notes that
+would commemorate the infant dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>LITTLE CHARLIE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beside our pilgrim path there sprang</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A pleasant little rill,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose murmur, ever in our ear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was cheerful music still.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The earliest rays of brightening morn,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Back to our eyes it flashed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And onward through the livelong day,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In tireless sport it dashed.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We loved the little sparkling rill,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We sunned us in its glance;&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The turf looked green where, near our feet,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It kept its joyous dance.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And welcome to our weariness</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was the clear draught it gave;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E'en way-worn age took heart and bowed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its aching brow to lave.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But where is now our pleasant rill,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We miss it from our side;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We looked, and it was at its full&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We turned, and it was dried.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh Father.&mdash;thou whose gracious hand</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bestowed the boon at first,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A parched and desert land is this&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Let not thy servants thirst!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fountains of joy at thy right hand</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are gushing evermore&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bid them for us, thy fainting ones,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Their rich abundance pour.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h3>FANNY.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thee on the threshold wide.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Smiling little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thine offered hand was wont to guide</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our footsteps to thy mother's side,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Ready little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss the welcome of thy face,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Winning little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thy bright cheek's rounded grace</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy clear blue eyes' confiding gaze,</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">Lovely little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thy glowing earnestness,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Guileless little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thy clasping arms' caress,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The solace of thy tenderness,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Loving little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thy haste at school-time bell,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Docile little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Learning with eager face to spell,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy Sabbath verses conning well,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Studious little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We miss thee at the hour of prayer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Gentle little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy sweet low voice and thoughtful air,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reading God's word with earnest care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Serious little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hour of play brings woeful dearth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Merry little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>With thee the voice of childhood's mirth,</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Died from about our twilight hearth</i>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Joyous little Fanny!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But angels' gain doth our loss prove,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Precious little Fanny!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now dwelleth with our God above<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That little one whose life was love,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">Blessed little Fanny!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h3>EMMA.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A floweret on the grassy mound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of buried hopes sprang up;&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tears fell upon its bursting leaves</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And gemmed its opening cup.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But such a rosy sun-light fell</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Upon those tear-drops there,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That no bright crystals of the morn</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Such diamond-hues might wear.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No glancing wing of summer-bird</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Was ever half so gay</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As that fair flower&mdash;no insect's hues</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Shone with such changeful play.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It nodded gaily to the touch</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of every wandering bee,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its petals tossed in every breeze,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And scattered odors free.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And they who watched the pleasant plant</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In its bright bursting bloom,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hailed in its growth their bower of rest,&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Solace for years to come.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But He who better knew their need</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Laid its fair blossoms low;&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Between their souls and heaven's clear light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tendril nor leaf might grow.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then oh! how sad the grassy mounds</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its graceful growth had veiled!&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How sere and faded was their life,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its fragrance all exhaled;&mdash;</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till from the blue o'erarching sky,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A clearer beam was given,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A light that showed them <i>labor</i> here,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And promised <i>joy</i> in heaven.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 2.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I shall attempt to show by an every-day sort of logic, rather than by
+any set argument, that young children, when religiously educated, do at
+a very early age comprehend the being of a God,&mdash;that the mind is so
+constituted that to such prayer is usually an agreeable service,&mdash;that
+in times of sickness or difficulty, or when they have done wrong, they
+do usually find relief in looking to God for relief and for forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p>I have known quite young children, in a dying state, when their parents
+have hesitated as to the expediency of referring, in the presence of the
+child, to the period of dissolution as near, in some paroxysm of
+distress at once soothed and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> quieted by the strains of agonizing prayer
+of the father, that relief might be afforded to the little sufferer,
+commending it to Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>From my own early experience I cannot but infer that young children do
+as readily comprehend the sublime doctrine of a superintending
+providence as the man of gray hairs. We know from reason and revelation
+that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that the earth showeth
+forth his handiwork&mdash;day unto day utterreth speech, and night unto night
+showeth forth knowledge of him.</p>
+
+<p>As soon therefore as a child begins to reason and to ask questions, "Who
+made this?" and "who made that?" it can understand that "the great and
+good God made heaven and earth." Indeed this truth is so self-evident
+that the heathen who have not the Bible are said to be without excuse if
+they do not love and worship the only living and true God, as God.</p>
+
+<p>The man, therefore, of fourscore years, though he may understand all
+things else,&mdash;how to chain the lightning, to analyze all earthly
+substances, to solve every problem in Euclid, yet in matters of Gospel
+faith, before he can enter the kingdom of God, must come down to the
+capacity of a little child, and take all upon trust, and believe, and
+obey, and acquiesce, simply on the ground, "My Father told me so."</p>
+
+<p>One of the first things I remember with distinctness as having occurred
+in the nursery, related to the matter of prayer. One night when a sister
+a year and a half older than myself had, as usual, repeated all our
+prayers suited to the evening, which had been taught to us, from a
+sudden impulse I made up a prayer which I thought better expressed my
+feelings and wants than any which I had repeated. My sister, who was
+more timid, was quite excited on the occasion. She said that as I did
+not know how to make up prayers, God would be very angry with me. We
+agreed to refer the case in the morning to our mother. When we came to
+repeat our morning prayers, the preceding transaction came to mind, and
+we hurried as fast as possible to dress, each one eager first to obtain
+the desired verdict.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Almost breathless with excitement, we stated the affair to mother. Her
+quick reply was, "The Bible says that Hezekiah, king of Israel, had been
+sick, and he went upon the house-top, and his noise was as the
+chattering of a swallow, but the Lord heard him." Without asking any
+further questions, ever after we both framed prayers for ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this occurrence a sudden death occurred in our neighborhood,
+and my mind was deeply affected. I went stealthily into our spare
+chamber to offer up prayer, feeling the need of pardon. Just as I knelt
+by the bedside, my eldest sister opened the door. Seeing her surprise at
+seeing me there and thus engaged, I was about to rise, when she came up
+to me, put her arms about my neck, kissed me, and without saying
+anything, left the room. This tacit approval of my conduct, so
+delicately manifested, won for her my love and my confidence in her
+superior wisdom; and though nearly sixty years with all their important
+changes have intervened, yet that trifling act is still held in grateful
+remembrance.</p>
+
+<p>One such incident is sufficient to show the immense influence which an
+elder brother or sister may have, for weal or for woe, over the younger
+children. The smothered falsehood, the petty theft, the robbing of a
+bird's-nest, the incipient oath, the first intoxicating draught, the
+making light of serious things, with the repeated injunction&mdash;"Don't
+tell mother!" may foster in a younger brother the germ of evil
+propensities, and lead on till some fatal crime is the result.</p>
+
+<p>When I was nine years old a letter was received by my father, the
+contents of which set us children in an uproar of joy. It was from our
+father's elder brother, who resided in a city seventy miles distant from
+our country residence. This letter stated if all was favorable we might
+expect all his family to become our guests on the following week, our
+aunt and cousins to remain in our family some length of time, and be
+subjected to the trial of inoculation from that dreaded
+disease&mdash;small-pox. We were all on tip-toe to welcome our friends, and
+especially our uncle, who from time to time had supplied us with many
+rare books, so that we had now quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> a valuable library of our own. All
+our own family of children were at the same time put into the hospital.
+I shall never forget "O dear," "O dear, I have got the symptoms, I have
+got the symptoms!" that went around among us children.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot but take occasion to offer a grateful tribute of thankfulness
+that we are not now required by law, as then, to subject our children to
+such an ordeal and to such strict regimen. Who ever after entirely
+recovered from a dread of "hasty pudding and molasses" without salt?</p>
+
+<p>When all was safely over, and my uncle came to take his family home,
+there seemed to have been added a new tie of affection by this recent
+intimacy, and it was agreed that my uncle's eldest son, a year or two
+older than myself, should remain, and for one year recite to my father,
+and that I should spend that time in my uncle's family, and become the
+companion of a cousin three years younger, who never had a sister.</p>
+
+<p>I have often wished that such exchanges might be more frequently made by
+brothers and sisters and intimate friends. It is certainly a cheap and
+admirable method of securing to each child those kind and faithful
+attentions which money will not always command. I needed the polish of
+city life&mdash;the freedom and the restraints imposed in well-disciplined
+schools, where personal graces and accomplishments were considered
+matters of importance as well as furniture for the mind; while my cousin
+would be benefited in body and mind by such country rambles, such
+fishing and hunting excursions, such feats of ball-playing, as "city
+folks" know but little about. Some fears were expressed lest this boy
+should lose something by forsaking his well-organized school, and fall
+behind his classmates. But I have heard that cousin say, as to literary
+attainments, this year was but the beginning of any high intellectual
+attainments; for till now he had never learned how to study so that
+intellectual culture became agreeable to him. And what was gratifying,
+it was found on his return home that he was far in advance of his
+classmates. So needful is it often to have the body invigorated, and
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> mind should receive a right bias, and that such kind of stimulants
+be applied as my father was able to give to the wakeful, active mind, of
+his aspiring nephew.</p>
+
+<p>Many times after my return home did my mother bless "sister N&mdash;&mdash;" for
+the many useful things she had taught me. My highest ambition had been
+to iron my uncle's large fine white cravats, which, being cut bias, was
+no easy attainment for a child.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot well describe my astonishment and grief of heart, on being
+installed in my new and otherwise happy, delightful home, to find
+wanting a <i>family altar</i>. I had indeed the comfort of knowing that in my
+own distant home the "absent child" was never for once forgotten, when
+the dear circle gathered for family worship.</p>
+
+<p>So certain was the belief which my parents entertained that an
+indispensable portion was to be obtained for each child in going in unto
+the King of kings, that in case of a mere temporary sickness, if at all
+consistent, family prayer was had in the room of the invalid. Not even a
+blessing was invoked at the morning meal till every child was found in
+the right seat. In case of a delinquency, perhaps not a word of rebuke
+was uttered, but that silent, <i>patient waiting</i>, was rebuke enough for
+even the most tardy.</p>
+
+<p>It was felt, I believe, by each member of the family, that there was
+meaning in the every-day, earnest petition, "May we all be found
+<i>actually</i> and <i>habitually</i> ready for death, our great and last change."
+My father did not pray as an old lady is said to have done each day,
+"that God would bless her descendants as long as grass should grow or
+water should run." But there was something in his prayers equivalent to
+this. He did seldom omit to pray that God would bless his children and
+his children's children to the latest generation.</p>
+
+<p>Oh how often, while absent, did my mind revert to that assembled group
+at home! Nothing, I believe, serves to bind the hearts of children so
+closely to their parents and to each other as this taking messages for
+each other to the court of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> heaven. Never before did I realize that each
+brother and sister were to me a second self.</p>
+
+<p>I was a most firm believer in the truth of the Bible, and I have often
+thought more inclined to take the greater part as literal than most
+others. I had often read with fear and trembling the passage, "I will
+pour out my fury upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not
+upon my name." To dwell in a Christian land and be considered no better
+than heathen&mdash;what a dreadful threatening; a condemnation, however, not
+above the comprehension of a child. Here I was in such a family, and
+here I was expected to remain for a full year. I do not recollect to
+have entertained any fears for my personal safety, yet every time a
+thunder-storm seemed to rack the earth, and as peal after peal with
+reverberated shocks were re-echoed from one part of the firmament to the
+other, I was in dread lest some bolt might be sent in fury upon our
+dwelling on account of such neglect. Little did these friends know what
+thoughts were often passing through my mind as I ruminated upon their
+privileges and their disregard of so plain and positive a duty. I did
+often long to confide to my aunt, whom I so much venerated, my thoughts
+and feelings on religious subjects, with the same freedom I had been
+encouraged to do to my own dear mother. I can never forget the struggle
+I had on one occasion. A lady came to pass a day in the family. The
+conversation happened to turn upon the importance and efficacy of
+prayer. Here now, I thought, is an opportunity I may never have again to
+express an opinion on a subject I had thought so much about; and
+summoning to my aid all the resolution I could, I ventured to remark,
+"the Bible says, 'the effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous
+<i>prevaileth</i> much.'" I saw a smile pass over the radiant and beautiful
+countenance of my aunt, and I instantly conjectured that I had misquoted
+the passage. For a long time, as I had opportunity, I turned over the
+pages of my Bible, before I could detect my mistake. I cannot say how
+long a period elapsed, after I left this pleasant family, before the
+family-altar was erected, but I believe not a very long period. One
+thing I am grateful to record,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> that when my aunt died at middle age,
+all with her was "peace," "peace," "sweet peace." And my venerated uncle
+recently fell asleep in Jesus, at the advanced age of more than
+fourscore years, like a shock of corn fully ripe.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>INTELLECTUAL POWER OF WOMAN.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. S.W. FISHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>There has been a long-standing dispute respecting the intellectual
+powers of the two sexes, and the consequent style of education suitable
+to each. Happily, the truth on this subject may be fully spoken, without
+obliging me to exalt the father at the expense of the mother, or ennoble
+man by denying the essential equality of woman. It is among the things
+settled by experience, that, equal or not equal in talents, woman, the
+moment she escapes from the despotism of brute force, and is suffered to
+unfold and exercise her powers in her own legitimate sphere, shares with
+man the sceptre of influence; and without presuming to wrest from him a
+visible authority, by the mere force of her gentle nature silently
+directs that authority, and so rules the world. She may not debate in
+the senate or preside at the bar&mdash;she may not read philosophy in the
+university or preach in the sanctuary&mdash;she may not direct the national
+councils or lead armies to battle; but there is a style of influence
+resulting from her peculiar nature which constitutes her power and gives
+it greatness. As the sexes were designed to fill different positions in
+the economy of life, it would not be in harmony with the manifestations
+of divine wisdom in all things else to suppose that the powers of each
+were not peculiarly fitted for their own appropriate sphere. Woman gains
+nothing&mdash;she always loses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> when she leaves her own sphere for that of
+man. When she forsakes the household and the gentler duties of domestic
+life for the labors of the field, the pulpit, the rostrum, the
+court-room, she always descends from her own bright station, and
+invariably fails to ascend that of man. She falls between the two; and
+the world gazes at her as not exactly a woman, not quite a man,
+perplexed in what category of natural history to classify her. This
+remark holds specially true as you ascend from savage to refined
+society, where the rights and duties of women have been most fully
+recognized and most accurately defined. Mind is not to be weighed in
+scales. It must be judged by its <i>uses</i> and its <i>influence</i>. And who
+that compasses the peculiar purpose of woman's life; who that
+understands the meaning of those good old Saxon words, mother, sister,
+wife, daughter; who that estimates aright the duties they involve, the
+influences they embody in giving character to all of human kind, will
+hesitate to place her intellect, with its quickness, delicacy and
+persuasiveness, as high in the scale of power as that of the father,
+husband and son? If we estimate her mind by its actual power of
+influence when she is permitted to fill to the best advantage her circle
+of action, we shall find a capacity for education equal to that of him
+who, merely in reference to the temporary relations of society, has been
+constituted her lord. If you look up into yonder firmament with your
+naked eye, the astronomer will point you to a star which shines down
+upon you single in rays of pure liquid light. But if you will ascend yon
+eminence and direct towards it that magnificent instrument which modern
+science has brought to such perfection of power, the same star will
+suddenly resolve itself into two beautiful luminaries, equal in
+brilliancy, equal in all stellar excellence, emitting rays of different
+and intensely vivid hues, yet so exactly correspondent to each other,
+and so embracing each other, and so mingling their various colors as to
+pour upon the unaided vision the pure, sparkling light of a single orb.
+So is it with man and woman. Created twofold, equal in all human
+attributes, excellence and influence, different but correspondent, to
+the eye of Jehovah the harmony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> of their union in life is perfect, and
+as one complete being that life streams forth in rays of light and
+influence upon society.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>A LESSON FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following letter, addressed to a mutual friend, we rescue from
+oblivion, containing as it does a lesson for husbands and wives, and
+most gracefully conveyed.</p>
+
+<p><i>We</i> shall certainly be pardoned if we take a more than ordinary
+interest to preserve a memento of that "<i>hanging garden</i>," as for months
+it was as fully seen from our own window as from that of the writer,
+though a little more remote, yet near enough to feast our eyes, and by
+its morning fragrance to cause our hearts to render more grateful
+incense to Him who clothes the lily with such beauty, and gives to the
+rose its sweet perfume. It is a sad pity that there are not more young
+wives, who, like the writer of the following letter, are ready to strive
+by their overflowing love, their gentleness and forbearance, to win
+their husbands to love and good works.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps some good divine who may perchance read this article will tell
+us whether the Apostle Peter, when he said, "For what knowest thou, O
+wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?" did not by this language
+mean to convey the idea of a promise that if the wife did conduct
+herself towards her husband on strictly Gospel principles, she would be
+the honored instrument of saving his soul?</p>
+
+<p>"I would like to tell you how my husband and I amuse ourselves, and
+contrive to have all we want. You will see that we illustrate the old
+saying, that 'where there is a <i>will</i>, there is a <i>way</i>,' and that some
+people can do things as well as others. We both love flowers extremely,
+but we neither own nor control a foot of ground; still, we have this
+summer cultivated and enjoyed the perpetual bloom of more than a
+hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> varieties. You will wonder how this is done when you know that
+we are at board, and our entire apartments consist of a parlor and
+dormitory&mdash;both upon the second floor. Very fortunately our windows open
+upon a roof which shelters a lower piazza, and this roof we make our
+balcony. Last May we placed here eight very large pots of rich earth,
+which we filled with such seeds and plants as suited our fancy. Now,
+while I sit writing, my windows are shaded with the scarlet runner,
+morning glory, Madeira and cypress vines, so that I need no other
+curtains. Then, on a level with my eye, is one mass of pink and
+green&mdash;brilliant verbenas, petimas, roses and oleanders seem really to
+<i>glow</i> in the morning light. Flowers in the city are more than
+beautiful, for the language they speak is so different from everything
+about them. Their lives are so lovely, returning to the culturer such
+wealth of beauty&mdash;and then their <i>odors</i> seem to me instead of voices.
+Often, when I am reading, and forget for a time my sweet companions, the
+fragrance of a heliotrope or a jessamine greets me, causing a sense of
+delight, as if a beautiful voice had whispered to me, or some sweet
+spirit kissed me. With this <i>presence</i> of beauty and purity around me, I
+cannot feel loneliness or discontent.</p>
+
+<p>"Our flowers are so near to us we have become really <i>intimate</i> with
+them. We know all their habits, and every insect that harms them. I love
+to see the tender tendril of a vine stretch for the string that is
+fastened at a little distance for its support, and then wind about it so
+gladly. Every morning it is a new excitement to see long festoons of our
+green curtains, variegated with trumpet-shaped morning-glories, looking
+towards the sun, and mingled with them the scarlet star of the cypress
+vine. When my husband comes home wearied and disgusted with Wall-street,
+it refreshes his body and soul to look into our "<i>hanging garden</i>," and
+note new beauties the day has developed. I trust the time and affection
+we thus spend are not wasted, for I believe the sentiment of Coleridge's
+lines<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'He prayeth best who loveth best</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">All things, both great and small</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the dear God who loveth us,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">He made and loveth all.'</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But there is one circumstance that makes this garden precious, which I
+have yet to tell you, and you will agree with me that it is the best
+part of it. When we were married, my husband was in the habit of
+drinking a glass of beer daily. I did not approve of it, and used to
+fancy he was apathetic and less agreeable afterwards; but as he was so
+fond of it, I made up my mind not to disagree upon the subject. Last
+spring, when we wished some flowers, we hesitated on account of the
+expense, for we endeavor to be economical, as all young married people
+should. Then my husband very nobly said that though one glass of beer
+cost but little, a week's beer amounted to considerable, and he would
+discontinue the habit, and appropriate the old beer expenditure upon
+flowers. He has faithfully kept his proposal, and often as we sit by our
+window, he points to the blooming balcony, saying, 'There is my summer's
+beer.' The consequence of this sacrifice is that I am a grateful and
+contented wife; and I do assure you (I being judge) that since beer is
+turned into flowers, my husband is the most agreeable of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 17em;">Yours very truly."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>NEVER FAINT IN PRAYER.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Men ought always to pray and not to faint."</p></div>
+
+
+<p>So important is a spirit of prayer to mothers who are bearing the heat
+and burden of the day, that we give for their encouragement a few devout
+meditations by Rev. W. Mason, on the above passage. And though penned
+towards the close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> of the last century, they have lost none of their
+freshness or fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>Christ opposes praying to fainting, for fainting prevents praying. Have
+you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your
+spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought this
+is not a time for prayer; yea, but it is: pray <i>always</i>. Now is the time
+to sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit.
+Now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your
+Father's ear, whose love and care over you is that of a tender and
+affectionate father.</p>
+
+<p>What makes you faint? Do troubles and afflictions? Here is a reviving
+cordial. "Call upon me in the day of trouble, <i>I will deliver thee</i>, and
+thou shalt glorify me." Ps. 50:15. Does a body of sin and death? Here is
+a supporting promise. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
+Jesus shall be saved." Rom. 10:13. Do we faint because we have called
+and prayed again and again to the Lord against any besetting sin,
+prevailing temptation, rebellious lust, or evil temper, and yet the Lord
+has not given us victory over it? Still, says the Lord, pray
+<i>always</i>&mdash;persevere, be importunate, faint not; remember that blessed
+word, "my time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." John
+7:6. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Matt. 26:41. Note
+the difference between being tempted and entering into temptation.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you think your prayers are irksome to God, and therefore you are
+ready to faint and to give over praying? Look at David; he begins to
+pray in a very heartless, hopeless way, "How long wilt thou forget me, O
+Lord, forever?" but see how he concludes; he breaks out in full vigor of
+soul, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with
+me." Ps. 13:6. Above all, look to Jesus, who ever lives to pray for you;
+look for his spirit to help your infirmities. Rom. 8:26.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>HANNAH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Imagination can picture no more animating scenes than those which were
+presented to the beholder at the seasons of the year when Judea poured
+forth her inhabitants in crowds to attend the solemn festivals appointed
+by Jehovah, and observed with punctilious exactness by the people. Our
+present study leads us to contemplate one of these scenes.</p>
+
+<p>From some remote town on the borders of Gentile territory the onward
+movement commences. A few families having finished all their
+preparations, close the door of their simple home, and with glowing
+faces and hopeful steps begin their march. They are soon joined by
+others, and again by new reinforcements. Every town, as they pass,
+replenishes their ranks, until, as they approach Shiloh, they are
+increased to a mighty multitude. It is a time of joy. Songs and shouts
+rend the air, and unwonted gladness reigns. All ages and conditions are
+here, and every variety of human form and face. Let us draw near to one
+family group. There is something more than ordinarily interesting in
+their appearance. The father has a noble mien as he walks on, conversing
+gaily with his children, answering their eager questions, and pointing
+out the objects of deepest import to a Jew as they draw near the
+Tabernacle. The children are light-hearted and gay, but the mother's
+countenance does not please us. We feel instinctively that she is not
+worthy of her husband; and especially is there an expression wholly
+incongruous with this hour of harmony and rejoicing. While we look, she
+lingers behind her family, and speaks to one, who, with slow step and
+downcast looks, walks meekly on, and seems as if she pondered some deep
+grief. Will she whisper a word of comfort in the ear of the sorrowful?
+Ah, no. A mocking smile is on her lips, which utter taunting words, and
+she glances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> maliciously round, winking to her neighbors to notice how
+she can humble the spirit of one who is less favored than herself. "What
+would you give now to see a son of yours holding the father's hand, or a
+daughter tripping gladly along by his side? Where are your children,
+Hannah? You surely could not have left them behind to miss all this
+pleasure? Perhaps they have strayed among the company? Would it not be
+well to summon them, that they may hear the father's instructions, and
+join in the song which we shall all sing as we draw near to Shiloh?"
+Cruel words! and they do their work. Like barbed arrows, they stick fast
+in the sore heart of this injured one. Her head sinks, but she utters no
+reply. She only draws nearer to her husband, and walks more closely in
+his footsteps.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The night has passed, and a cloudless sun looks down on the assembled
+thousands of Israel. Elkanah has presented his offering at the
+Tabernacle, and has now gathered his family to the feast in the tent. As
+is his wont, he gives to each a portion, and hilarity presides at the
+board. The animated scene around them&mdash;the white tents stretching as far
+as the eye can reach&mdash;the sound of innumerable voices&mdash;the meeting with
+friends&mdash;all conspire to make every heart overflow, and the well-spread
+table invites to new expressions of satisfaction and delight. But here,
+also, as on the journey, one heart is sad. At Elkanah's right hand sits
+Hannah, her plate filled by the hand of love with "a worthy portion;"
+but it stands untasted before her. Her husband is troubled. He has
+watched her struggles for self-control, and seen her vain endeavors to
+eat and be happy like those around her; and, divining in part the cause
+of her sorrow, he tenderly strives to comfort her. "Hannah, why weepest
+thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am I not
+better to thee than ten sons?" That voice of sympathy and compassion is
+too much. She rises and leaves the tent to calm in solitude, as best she
+may, her bosom's strife. Why must she be thus afflicted? Severe, indeed,
+and bitter are the elements which are mingled in her cup. Jehovah<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> has
+judged her. She has been taught to believe that those who are childless
+are so because of His just displeasure. Her fellow-creatures also
+despise her; her neighbors look suspiciously upon her. Wherefore should
+it be thus? She wanders slowly, and with breaking heart, towards the
+Tabernacle. The aged Eli sits by one of the posts of the door as she
+enters the sacred inclosure, but she heeds him not. She withdraws to a
+quiet spot, and finds at last a refuge. She kneels, and the long pent-up
+sorrow has now its way; she "pours out her soul before the Lord." Happy,
+though sorrowful, Hannah! She has learned one lesson of which the
+prosperous know nothing; she has learned to confide in her Maker, as she
+could in no other friend. It were useless to go to her husband with the
+oft-told trouble. He is ever fond and kind; but though she is childless,
+he is not, and he cannot appreciate the extent of her grief. All that
+human sympathy can do, he will do, but human sympathy cannot be perfect.
+It were worse than useless to tell him of Peninnah's taunts and
+reproaches. It would be wicked, and bring upon her Heaven's just wrath,
+if she did aught to mar the peace of a happy family. No; there is no
+earthly ear into which she can "pour out her soul." But here her tears
+may flow unrestrained, and she need leave nothing unsaid.</p>
+
+<p>"O Thou who hidest the sorrowing soul under the shadow of thy wings&mdash;who
+art witness to the tears which must be hidden from all other eyes&mdash;who
+dost listen patiently to the sighs and groans which can be breathed in
+no other presence&mdash;to whom are freely told the griefs which the dearest
+earthly friend cannot comprehend,&mdash;Thou who upbraidest not&mdash;who
+understandest and dost appreciate perfectly the woes under which the
+stricken soul sways like a reed in the tempest, and whose infinite love
+and sympathy reaches to the deepest recesses of the heart&mdash;unto whom
+none ever appealed in vain&mdash;God of all grace and consolation, blessed
+are they who put their trust in thee."</p>
+
+<p>Long and earnest is Hannah's communion with her God; and as she pleads
+her cause with humility, and penitence, and love, she feels her burdened
+heart grow lighter. Hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> springs up where was only despair, and a new
+life spreads itself before her; even the hard thoughts which she had
+harbored towards Peninnah had melted as she knelt in that holy presence.
+The love of the Eternal has bathed her spirit in its blessed flood, and
+grief, and selfishness, and envy have alike been washed away.
+Strengthened with might by the spirit of the Lord, she puts forth a
+vigorous faith; and taking hold on the covenant faithfulness of Jehovah,
+she makes a solemn vow. The turmoil within is hushed. She rises and goes
+forth like one who is prepared for any trial&mdash;who is endued with
+strength by a mighty though unseen power, and sustained by a love which
+has none of the imperfect and unsatisfying elements that must always
+mingle with the purest earthly affection. Meek, confiding, and gentle as
+ever, she is yet not the same. She meets reproach even from the High
+Priest himself with calmness. She returns to her husband and his family
+no longer shrinking and bowed down: "she eats, and her countenance is no
+more sad."</p>
+
+<p>Another morning dawns. Hannah, has obtained her husband's sanction to
+the vow which she made in her anguish. Elkanah and his household rise
+early and worship before the Lord, and return to their house in Ramah.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A year passes, another and another, but Hannah is not found among the
+multitude going up to Shiloh. Has she, the pious and devoted one, become
+indifferent to the service of Jehovah, or have the reproaches and taunts
+of Peninnah become too intolerable in the presence of her neighbors, so
+that she remains at home for peace? No. Reproach will harm her no
+longer. As the company departs, she stands with smiling countenance
+looking upon their preparations, and in her arms a fair son; and her
+parting words to her husband are&mdash;"I will not go up until the child be
+weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord,
+and there abide forever."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Will she really leave him? Will she consent to part from her treasure
+and joy&mdash;her only one? What a blessing he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> has been to her! Seven years
+of peace and overflowing happiness has that little one purchased for her
+burdened and distracted spirit. Can she return to Ramah without him, to
+solitude and loneliness, uncheered by his winning ways and childish
+prattle? Surely this is a sorrow which will wring her heart, as never
+before. Not so. There she stands again on the spot where she once knelt
+and wept and vowed, but no tears fall now from her eyes&mdash;no grief is in
+her tones. She has come to fulfill her vow, "to lend her son to the Lord
+as long as he liveth." Again she prays as she is about parting from him.
+What a prayer!&mdash;a song of exultation rather. Listen to its sublime
+import. "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the
+Lord." How did we wrong thee, Hannah! We said thy son had purchased
+peace and joy for thee. Our low, selfish, doting hearts had not soared
+to the heights of thy lofty devotion. We deemed thee such an one as
+ourselves. In the gift, truly thou hast found comfort; but the Giver is
+He in whom thou hast delighted, and therefore thou canst so readily
+restore what he lent thee, on the conditions of thy vow. The Lord thy
+God has been, and is still to be, thy portion, and thou fearest not to
+leave thy precious one in His house. We thought to hear a wail from
+thee, but we were among the foolish. Thy soul is filled with the beauty
+and glory of the Lord, and thou hast not a word of sadness now. Thou
+leavest thy lamb among wolves&mdash;thy consecrated one with the "sons of
+Belial"&mdash;yet thou tremblest not. Who shall guide his childish feet in
+wisdom's ways when thou art far away? What hinders that he shall look on
+vice till it become familiar, and he be even like those around him? The
+old man is no fit protector for him. Does not thy heart fear? "Oh,
+woman, great is thy faith!"</p>
+
+<p>Come hither, ye who would learn a lesson of wisdom; ponder this record
+of the sacred word. Hannah returned to Ramah. She became the mother of
+sons and daughters; and yearly as she went with her husband to Shiloh,
+she carried to her first-born a coat wrought by maternal love, and
+rejoiced to see him growing before the Lord. How long she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> did this, we
+are not told. We have searched in vain for a word or hint that she lived
+to see the excellence and greatness of the son whom she "asked of God."
+The only clew which we can find is, that Samuel's house was in Ramah,
+the house of his parents; and we wish to think he lived there to be with
+them; and we hope his mother's eyes looked on the altar which he built
+there unto the Lord, and that her heart was gladdened by witnessing the
+proofs of his wisdom and grace, and the favor with which the Almighty
+regarded him.</p>
+
+<p>But though we know little of Hannah&mdash;she being many thousand years
+"dead, yet speaketh."&mdash;Come hither, ye who are tempest-tossed on a sea
+of vexations. Learn from her how to gain the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit. Come ye who feel that God hath judged you, and that you
+suffer affliction from his displeasure. Learn that you should draw
+nearer to him, instead of departing from him. Come with Hannah to his
+very courts. "Pour out your soul" before Him; keep back none of your
+griefs; confess your sins; offer your vows; multiply your prayers; rise
+not till you also can go forth with a countenance no more sad. He is
+"the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Come hither, ye who long to
+know how your children may assuredly be the Lord's. Strive to enter into
+the spirit of Hannah's vow, remembering, meantime, all it implied as she
+afterwards fulfilled it. Appreciate, if you can, her love and devotion
+to her God; and when you can so entirely consecrate your all to Him, be
+assured he will care for what is His own, and none shall be able to
+pluck it out of his hand. Come hither, ye who are called to part with
+your treasures; listen to Hannah's song as she gives up her only son, to
+call him hers no more&mdash;listen till you feel your heart joining also in
+the lofty anthem, and you forget all selfish grief, as she did, in the
+contemplation of His glories who is the portion of the soul. "<i>My heart
+rejoiceth in the Lord.</i>" Alas! alas! how does even the Christian heart,
+which has professed to be satisfied with God, and content with his holy
+will, often depart from him, and "provoke him to jealousy" with many
+idols! Inordinate affection for some earthly object absorbs the soul
+which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> vowed to love him supremely. In its undisguised excess, it says
+to the beloved object, "Give me your heart; Jehovah must be your
+salvation, but let me be your happiness. A portion of your time, your
+attention, your service, He must have; but your daily, hourly thoughts,
+your dreams, your feelings, let them all be of me&mdash;of mine." Oh for such
+a love as she possessed! We should not then love our children less, but
+more, far more than now, and with a better, happier love&mdash;a love from
+which all needless anxiety would flee&mdash;a perfect love, casting out fear.</p>
+
+<p>Ye who feel that death to your loved ones would not so distress you as
+the fear of leaving them among baleful influences&mdash;who tremble in view
+of the evil that is in the world, remember where Hannah left, apparently
+without a misgiving, her gentle child. With Eli,&mdash;who could not even
+train his own sons in the fear of the Lord&mdash;with those sons who made
+themselves vile, and caused Israel to transgress,&mdash;she left him <i>with
+the Lord</i>. "Go ye and do likewise," and remember, also, He is the God of
+the whole earth.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>"OPENING THE GATE."</h2>
+
+
+<p>I lately met with an account of a youth, under the above title, which
+contains a volume of instruction. It is from a southern paper, and while
+particularly designed for a latitude where servants abound, it contains
+hints which may prove highly useful to lads in communities where
+servants are less numerous:</p>
+
+<p>"'I wish that you would send a servant to open the gate for me,' said a
+well-grown boy of ten to his mother, as he paused with his satchel upon
+his back, before the gate, and surveyed its clasped fastening.</p>
+
+<p>"'Why, John, can't you open the gate for yourself?' said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> Mrs. Easy. 'A
+boy of your age and strength ought certainly to be able to do that.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I <i>could</i> do it, I suppose,' said the child, 'but it's heavy, and I
+don't like the <i>trouble</i>. The servant can open it for me just as well.
+Pray, what is the use of having servants if they are not to wait upon
+us?'</p>
+
+<p>"The servant was sent to open the gate. The boy passed out, and went
+whistling on his way to school. When he reached his seat in the academy,
+he drew from his satchel his arithmetic and began to inspect his sums.</p>
+
+<p>"'I cannot do these,' he whispered to his seat-mate; they are too hard.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But you <i>can try</i>,' replied his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"'I know that I can,' said John, 'but it's too much trouble. Pray, what
+are teachers for if not to help us out of difficulties? I shall carry my
+slate to Prof. Helpwell."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas! poor John. He had come to another closed gate&mdash;a gate leading
+into a beautiful and boundless science, 'the laws of which are the modes
+in which God acts in sustaining all the works of His hands'&mdash;the science
+of mathematics. He could have opened the gate and entered in alone and
+explored the riches of the realm, but his mother had injudiciously let
+him rest with the idea, that it is as well to have gates opened for us,
+as to exert our own strength. The result was, that her son, like the
+young hopeful sent to Mr. Wiseman, soon concluded that he had no
+'genius' for mathematics, and threw up the study.</p>
+
+<p>"The same was true of Latin. He could have learned the declensions of
+the nouns and the conjugation of the verbs as well as other boys of his
+age; but his seat-mate very kindly volunteered to 'tell him in class,'
+and what was the use in <i>opening the gate</i> into the Latin language, when
+another would do it for him? Oh, no! John Easy had no idea of tasking
+mental or physical strength when he could avoid it, and the consequence
+was, that numerous gates remained closed to him all the days of his
+life&mdash;<i>gates of honor</i>&mdash;<i>gates to riches</i>&mdash;<i>gates to happiness</i>.
+Children ought to be early taught that it is always best to help
+themselves."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This is the true secret of making a man. What would Columbus, or
+Washington and Franklin, or Webster and Clay, have accomplished had they
+proceeded on the principle of John Easy? No youth can rationally hope to
+attain to eminence in any thing who is not ready to "open the gate" for
+<i>himself</i>. And then, poor Mrs. Easy, how <i>she</i> did misjudge! Better for
+her son, had she dismissed her servants&mdash;or rather had she directed them
+to some more appropriate service, and let Master John have remained at
+the gate day and night for a month, unless willing, before the
+expiration of that time, to have opened it for himself, and by his own
+strength. Parents in their well-meant kindness, or, perhaps, it were
+better named, thoughtless indulgence, often repress energies which, if
+their children were compelled to put forth, would result in benefits of
+the most important character.</p>
+
+<p>It is, indeed, painful to see boys, as we sometimes see them, struggling
+against "wind and tide;" but watch such boys&mdash;follow them&mdash;see how they
+put forth strength as it accumulates&mdash;apply energies as they
+increase&mdash;make use of new expedients as they need them, and by-and-by
+where are they? Indeed, now and then they are obliged to lift at the
+gate pretty lustily to get it open; now and then they are obliged to
+turn a pretty sharp corner, and, perhaps, lose a little skin from a
+shin-bone or a knuckle-joint, but, <i>at length</i>, where are they? Why, you
+see them sitting <i>in</i> "the gate"&mdash;a scriptural phrase for the post of
+honor. Who is that judge who so adorns the bench? My Lord Mansfield, or
+Sir Matthew Hale, or Chief Justice Marshall? Why, and from what
+condition, has he reached his eminence? That was a boy who some years
+since was an active, persevering little fellow round the streets, the
+son of the poor widow, who lives under the hill. She was poor, but she
+had the faculty of infusing her own energy into her boy, Matthew or
+Tommy; and now he has grown to be one of the eminent men of the country.
+Yes; and I recollect there was now and then to be seen with Tommy, when
+he had occasionally a half hour of leisure&mdash;but that was not
+often&mdash;there was one John<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> Easy, whose mother always kept a servant to
+wait upon him, to open and shut the gate for him, and almost to help him
+breathe. Well, and where is John Easy? Why there he is, this moment, a
+poor, shiftless, penniless being, who never loved to open the gate for
+himself, and now nobody ever desires to open a gate to him.</p>
+
+<p>And the reason for all this difference is the different manner in which
+these boys were trained in their early days. "Train up a child," says
+the good book, "in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
+depart from it." Analyze the direction, and see how it reads. Train up a
+child&mdash;what? Why <i>train</i> him&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, educate him, discipline him. Whom
+did you say? A <i>child</i>. Take him early, in the morning of life, before
+bad habits, indolent habits, vicious habits are formed. It is easy to
+bend the sapling, but difficult to bend the grown tree. You said <i>train
+a child</i>, did you? Yes. But how? Why, <i>in the way</i> in which he <i>ought to
+go</i>&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, in some useful employment&mdash;in the exercise of good moral
+affections&mdash;pious duties towards God, and benevolent actions towards his
+parents, brothers, companions. Thus train him&mdash;a child&mdash;and what
+then&mdash;what result may you anticipate? Why, the royal preacher says that
+when he is old&mdash;of course, then, during youth, manhood, into old age,
+<i>through life</i> he means, as long as he lives he will not&mdash;what? He will
+<i>not depart</i> from it, he will neither go back, nor go zig-zag, but
+<i>forward</i>, in that way in which he ought to walk, as a moral and
+accountable being of God, and a member of society, bound to do all the
+good he can. And thus he will come under the conditions of a just or
+honest man, of whom another Scripture says, "His path is as the shining
+light, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." The
+<i>perfect</i> day! But when is that? Why in it may mean the day when God
+will openly acknowledge all the really good as his sons and daughters.
+But I love to take it in more enlarged sense&mdash;I take the perfect day to
+be when the good will be as perfect as they can be; but as that will not
+be to the end of eternity, those who are trained up in the way they
+<i>should</i> go, will probably continue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> to walk in it till the absolutely
+perfect day comes which will never come, for the good are going to grow
+better and better as long as <i>eternity</i> lasts. So much for setting out
+right with your <i>children</i>, parents!&mdash;bringing them up right&mdash;and this
+involves, among other things, teaching them to "open the gate for
+themselves" and similar sorts of things.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gratis.</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FEMALE EDUCATION.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. SAMUEL W. FISHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The nature of female education, its influence, its field of action,
+comprehending a wide range of the noblest topics, render it utterly
+impossible to do justice to the entire theme in the brief limits here
+assigned to it. Indeed it seems almost a superfluous effort, were it not
+expected, nay, demanded, to discuss the subject of education in a work
+like this.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to our Father in Heaven, who, in the crowning work of his
+creation, gave woman to man, made weakness her strength, modesty her
+citadel, grace and gentleness her attributes, affection her dower, and
+the heart of man her throne. With her, toil rises into pleasure, joy
+fills the breast with a larger benediction, and sorrow, losing half its
+bitterness, is transmitted into an element of power, a discipline of
+goodness. Even in the coarsest life, and the most depressing
+circumstances, woman hath this power of hallowing all things with the
+sunshine of her presence. But never does it unfold itself so finely as
+when education, instinct with religion, has accomplished its most
+successful work. It is only then that she reveals all her varied
+excellence, and develops her high capacities. It only unfolds powers
+that were latent, or develops those in harmony and beauty which
+otherwise would push themselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> forth in shapes grotesque, gnarled and
+distorted. God creates the material, and impresses upon it his own laws.
+Man, in education, simply seeks to give those laws scope for action. The
+uneducated person, by a favorite figure of the old classic writers, has
+often been compared to the rough marble in the quarry; the educated to
+that marble chiselled by the hand of a Phidias into forms of beauty and
+pillars of strength. But the analogy holds good in only a single point.
+As the chisel reveals the form which the marble may be made to assume,
+so education unfolds the innate capacities of men. In all things else
+how poor the comparison! how faint the analogy! In the one case you have
+an aggregation of particles crystallized into shape, without organism,
+life or motion. In the other, you have life, growth, expansion. In the
+first you have a mass of limestone, neither more nor less than insensate
+matter, utterly incapable of any alteration from within itself. In the
+second, you have a living body, a mind, affections instinct with power,
+gifted with vitality, and forming the attributes of a being allied to
+and only a little lower than the angels. These constitute a life which,
+by its inherent force, must grow and unfold itself by a law of its own,
+whether you educate it or not. Some development it will make, some form
+it will assume by its own irrepressible and spontaneous action. The
+question, with us, is rather what that form shall be; whether it shall
+wear the visible robes of an immortal with a countenance glowing with
+the intelligence and pure affection of cherub and seraph, or through the
+rags and sensual impress of an earthly, send forth only occasional
+gleams of its higher nature. The great work of education is to stimulate
+and direct this native power of growth. God and the subject, co-working,
+effect all the rest.</p>
+
+<p>In the wide sense in which it is proposed to consider the subject of
+education, three things are pre-supposed&mdash;personal talents, personal
+application, and the divine blessing. Without capacities to be
+developed, or with very inferior capacities, education is either wholly
+useless, or only partially successful. As it has no absolute creative
+power, and is utterly unable to add a single faculty to the mind, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+the first condition of its success is the capacity for improvement in
+the subject. An idiot may be slightly affected by it, but the feebleness
+of his original powers forbids the noblest result of education. It
+teaches men how most successfully to use their own native force, and by
+exercise to increase it, but in no case can it supply the absence of
+that force. It is not its province to inspire genius, since that is the
+breath of God in the soul, bestowed as seemeth to him good, and at the
+disposal of no finite power. It is enough if it unfold and discipline,
+and guide genius in its mission to the world. We are not to demand that
+it shall make of every man a Newton, a Milton, a Hall, a Chalmers, a
+Mason, a Washington; or of every woman a Sappho, a De Stael, a Roland, a
+Hemans.</p>
+
+<p>The supposition that all intellects are originally equal, however
+flattering to our pride, is no less prejudicial to the cause of
+education than false in fact. It throws upon teachers the responsibility
+of developing talents that have scarcely an existence, and securing
+attainments within the range of only the very finest powers, during the
+period usually assigned to this work. To the ignorant it misrepresents
+and dishonors education, when it presents for their judgment a very
+inferior intellect, which all the training of the schools has not
+inspired with power, as a specimen of the result of liberal pursuits.
+Such an intellect can never stand up beside an active though untutored
+mind&mdash;untutored in the schools, yet disciplined by the necessities
+around it. It is only in the comparison of minds of equal original
+power, but of different and unequal mental discipline, that the result
+of a thorough education reveal themselves most strikingly. The genius
+that, partially educated, makes a fine bar-room politician, a good
+county judge, a respectable member of the lower house in our State
+Legislature, or an expert mechanic and shrewd farmer, when developed by
+study and adorned with learning, rises to the foremost rank of men.
+Great original talents will usually give indication of their presence
+amidst the most depressing circumstances. But when a mind of this stamp
+has been allowed to unfold itself under the genial influence of large
+educational advantages, how will it grow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> in power, outstripping the
+multitude, as some majestic tree, rooted in a soil of peculiar richness
+rises above and spreads itself abroad over the surrounding forest? Our
+inquiry, however, at present, is not exclusively respecting individuals
+thus highly gifted.</p>
+
+<p>Geniuses are rare in our world; sent occasionally to break up the
+monotony of life, impart new impulses to a generation, like comets
+blazing along the sky, startle the dosing mind, no longer on the stretch
+to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge, and rouse men to gaze on
+visions of excellence yet unreached. Happily, the mass of mankind are
+not of this style of mind. Uniting by the process of education the
+powers which God has conferred upon them, with those of a more brilliant
+order which are occasionally given to a few, the advancement of the
+world in all things essential to its refinement, and purity, and
+exaltation, is probably as rapid and sure as it would be under a
+different constitution of things. Were all equally elevated, it might
+still be necessary for some to tower above the rest, and by the sense of
+inequality move the multitude to nobler aspirations. But while it is not
+permitted of God that all men should actually rise to thrones in the
+realm of mind, yet such is the native power of all sane minds, and such
+their great capacity of improvement, that, made subject to a healthful
+discipline they may not only qualify us for all the high duties of life
+on earth, but go on advancing in an ever-perfecting preparation for the
+life above.</p>
+
+<p>The second thing pre-supposed in education is personal application.
+There is no thorough education that is not self-education. Unlike the
+statue which can be wrought only from without, the great work of
+education is to unfold the life within. This life always involves
+self-action. The scholar is not merely a passive recipient. He grows
+into power by an active reception of truth. Even when he listens to
+another's utterances of knowledge, what vigor of attention and memory
+are necessary to enable him to make that knowledge his own? But when he
+attempts himself to master a subject of importance, when he would rise
+into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> higher region of mathematics, philosophy, history, poetry,
+religion, art; or even when he would prepare himself for grappling with
+the great questions of life, what long processes of thought! what
+patient gathering together of materials! what judgment, memory,
+comparison, and protracted meditation are essential to complete success?
+The man who would triumph over obstacles and ascend the heights of
+excellence in the realm of mind, must work with the continuous vigor of
+a steamship on an ocean voyage. Day by day the fire must burn, and the
+revolve in the calm and in the gale&mdash;in the sunshine and the storm. The
+innate excellency of genius or talents can give no exemption to its
+possessor from this law of mental growth. An educated mind is neither an
+aggregation of particles accreted around a center, as the stones grow,
+nor a substance, which, placed in a turner's lathe, comes forth an
+exquisitely wrought instrument. The mere passing through an academy or
+college, is not education. The enjoyment of the largest educational
+advantages by no means infers the possession of a mind and heart
+thoroughly educated; since there is an inner work to be performed by the
+subject of those advantages before he can lay claim to the possession of
+a well-disciplined and richly-stored intellect and affections. The
+phrase, "self-made men" is often so used as to convey the idea that the
+persons who have enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, are
+rather made by their instructors. The supposition is in part unjust.</p>
+
+<p>The outward means of education stimulate the mind, and thus assist the
+process of development; but it is absolutely essential to all growth in
+mental or moral excellence, that the person himself should be enlisted
+vigorously in the work. He must work as earnestly as the man destitute
+of his faculties. The difference between the two consists not in the
+fact that one walks and the other rides, but that the one is obliged to
+take a longer road to reach the same point. Teachers, books, recitations
+and lectures facilitate our course, direct us how most advantageously to
+study, point out the shortest path to the end we seek, and tend to rouse
+the soul to the putting forth of its powers; but neither of these can
+take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> the place of, or forestall intense personal application. The man
+without instructors, like a traveler without guide-boards, must take
+many a useless step, and often retrace his way. He may, after this
+experimental traveling, at length reach the same point with the person
+who has enjoyed superior literary aids, but it will cost the waste of
+many a precious hour, which might have been spent in enlarging the
+sphere of his vision and perfecting the symmetry of his intellectual
+powers. In cases of large attainments and ripe character, in either sex,
+the process of growth is laborious. Thinking is hard work. All things
+most excellent are the fruits of slow, patient working. The trees grow
+slowly, grain by grain; the planets creep round their orbits, inch by
+inch; the river hastens to the ocean by a gentle progress; the clouds
+gather the rain-drop from the invisible air, particle by particle, and
+we are not to ask that this immortal mind, the grandest thing in the
+world, shall reach its perfection by a single stride, or independently
+of the most early, profound and protracted self-labor. It is enough for
+us that, thankfully accepting the assistance of those who have ascended
+above us, we give ourselves to assiduous toil, until our souls grow up
+to the stature of perfect men.</p>
+
+<p>The third thing pre-supposed in education is the divine benediction. In
+all spheres of action, we recognize the over-ruling providence of God
+working without us, and his Spirit commissioned to work within us. Nor
+is there any work of mortal life in which we need to allay unto
+ourselves the wisdom and energy of Jehovah, as an essential element of
+success than is this long process where truth, affection, decision,
+judgment, and perseverance in the teacher, are to win into the paths of
+self-labor minds of every degree of ability, and dispositions of every
+variety. When God smiles upon us, then this grand work of moulding
+hearts and intellects for their high destiny moves forward without
+friction, and the young heart silently and joyously comes forth into the
+light.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 3.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A river never rises higher than the source from whence it springs; so a
+character is never more elevated and consistent, in mature life, than
+the principles which were adopted in childhood were pure, reasonable,
+and consistent with truth: so a tree is either good or bad, and brings
+forth fruit after its own kind, though it be ever so stinted. If you
+find a crab-apple on a tree, you may be sure that the tree is a
+crab-tree. So one can predicate a pretty correct opinion of a person, as
+to character, disposition, and modes of thinking and acting, from a
+single isolated remark, incidentally made, or an act performed on the
+spur of the moment.</p>
+
+<p>This I shall attempt to show by reference to two occurrences which took
+place in the case of a young husband and wife.</p>
+
+<p>Joseph, the father of a young child, one day brought home "Abbott's
+Mother at Home," remarking to his wife, as he presented it, "Louise, I
+have been persuaded to buy this book, in the hope that it may aid us in
+the training of our little daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Her quick and tart reply was&mdash;"I don't think I shall 'bring up' my child
+by a book."</p>
+
+<p>It may be useful to learn under what peculiar circumstances this young
+wife and mother had herself been "brought up."</p>
+
+<p>Certainly not, as a matter of course, in the country, where good books
+are comparatively difficult to be obtained, and (though every one has
+much to do) are usually highly prized, and read with avidity. Certainly
+not, as a matter of course, where there was a large family of children,
+and where all must share every thing in common, and where each must
+perform an allotted part in household duties, perhaps to eke out a
+scanty salary. Not in a farm-house, where the income will yield but a
+bare competency for the support of ten or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> twelve children. If there is
+a good and wise father and mother at the helm, it is under such
+conflicting circumstances that children are usually the most thoroughly
+and practically taught the great principles which should govern human
+society.</p>
+
+<p>Louise was educated under very different circumstances. Her father's
+residence was the great metropolis. He was a very wealthy man, and he
+had the means of choosing any mode of education which he might prefer to
+adopt.</p>
+
+<p>The mother of Louise was said to have been a noble-minded woman, but
+always in delicate health. She early dedicated this infant daughter to
+God, but died while she was quite young. Unfortunately, poor little
+Louise was for a few years left to the care of ignorant and selfish
+relatives, who intermeddled, and often in the child's hearing, with a
+significant nod of the head, would utter the piteous inuendo, "Who knows
+how soon the poor thing may have a step-mother!"</p>
+
+<p>From this and similar ill-timed remarks, poor little Louise very early
+fostered an inveterate dislike to her father's ever marrying a second
+time.</p>
+
+<p>But he did soon marry again. Instead of at once taking this cruel sliver
+out of the flesh, acting on the sublime principle, "Duty belongs to us;
+leave consequences with God," the father of Louise very injudiciously
+and selfishly fell in with this child's foolish and wicked notions, and
+in order, as he thought, to remunerate this darling child for her great
+trial, allowed her to live almost entirely abstracted from the family
+circle.</p>
+
+<p>She was allowed to have a room entirely by herself, which was the
+largest and best in the house, and in all respects to maintain a
+separate interest. No one might interfere with this or that, for it
+belonged to Miss Louise.</p>
+
+<p>Her father said, at any rate, she should not be annoyed by any
+participation in the care of the little ones, as she left no one in
+doubt of the fact, that above every thing she disliked children, and
+especially the care of them. Certainly, he said, they should not
+interfere in any way with her in acquiring a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> "liberal education." And
+thus she lost the sweet privilege of acting the honorable and useful
+part usually assigned to an "elder daughter," and an "elder sister."</p>
+
+<p>To atone for her isolated and unfortunate situation&mdash;made unfortunate by
+the contracted and selfish views of this ill-judging father&mdash;her father
+made another mistake under the circumstances, for, instead of sending
+her to a good select school, where she would come in contact with
+children of her own age, and her intellectual powers might be sharpened
+by coming in contact with other minds, he procured for her <i>private
+teachers</i>, and she had not even the benefit of a good long walk to and
+from school in the open air.</p>
+
+<p>Thus was this mere child, day after day, and hour after hour, confined
+to the piano, to her drawing and painting lessons, and her worsted work.
+She became a proficient in these external accomplishments, and was by
+some considered quite a prodigy&mdash;possessing a rare genius, which often
+means nothing more nor less than a distorted character.</p>
+
+<p>Her health for a time was sadly undermined, and her nervous system was
+shattered by too close attention to pursuits which imposed too great a
+tax upon the visual organs, and too much abstraction from common
+objects.</p>
+
+<p>Who would not rather see a young daughter&mdash;the merry, laughing companion
+of a group of girls&mdash;out after wild flowers, weaving them into garlands
+to crown the head of some favorite of the party, making up bouquets as a
+gift for mamma, or some favorite aunt&mdash;cutting paper into fantastic
+figures, and placing them upon the wall to please children, or dressing
+a doll for little sister? Who would not rather see their young daughter
+a jumping delicate little romp, chasing a bird in mirthful glee, as if
+she verily thought she could catch it?</p>
+
+<p>How could this young wife and mother, so differently trained, be
+expected all at once to judge and act wisely and impartially about the
+grave matter of infant training&mdash;a subject she absolutely knew nothing
+about, having never contemplated it? What do parents think, or expect
+when their young daughters marry and become parents? Do they suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+that some magic spell will come over a girl of eighteen in going through
+the matrimonial ceremony, which shall induct her into all the mysteries
+of housewifery, and initiate her into the more intricate and important
+duty of training the infant, so as to give it a sound mind in a sound
+body, so that it shall possess a symmetrical character?</p>
+
+<p>The father of Louise saw too late his mistake in allowing this daughter
+the great privilege, as he thought at the time, of having her own way in
+every thing.</p>
+
+<p>If this were a proper place to give advice to young men on the grave
+subject of selecting a wife, we should say, "Never marry a young lady
+merely for her showy, outward accomplishments, which, ten chances to
+one, have been attained at the expense of more valuable and useful
+acquirements&mdash;perhaps at the sacrifice of the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Never select
+for a wife a young lady who dishonors her name and sex by the avowal
+that she dislikes children; that she even hates the care of them, and
+that she never could find pleasure in household duties. She could never
+love flowers, or find satisfaction in cultivating them."</p>
+
+<p>A lovely infant is the most beautiful object of all God's handy works.
+"Flowers <i>are</i> more than beautiful;" they give us lessons of practical
+wisdom. So the Savior teaches us. If I did not love little children&mdash;if
+I did not love flowers&mdash;I would studiously hide the fact, even from
+myself, for then I could not respect myself.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to the remark which Louise made to her husband, when he
+presented her with that good and useful book&mdash;a book which has elicited
+praise from many able writers, and called forth the gratitude of many
+wise and good parents.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p>
+
+<p>This remark was anything rather than a grateful acknowledgment to her
+husband for his thinking of her when absent; and it not only evinced a
+spirit of thoughtlessness and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> ingratitude to him, but manifested a
+remarkable share of self-sufficiency and self-complacency.</p>
+
+<p>Just so it is with a head of wheat. When it is empty, it stands
+perfectly erect, and looks self-confident; but as soon as it is filled
+with the precious grain, it modestly bends its head, and waives most
+gracefully, as if to welcome every whispering breeze.</p>
+
+<p>But was Louise wanting in affection and care to her own child? No; not
+in one sense, for she was foolishly fond of this little paragon of
+perfection. She one day said, boastingly, "My child has never been
+washed but with a fine cambric handkerchief, which is none too good for
+her soft flesh. Nothing can be too good for this precious darling, and
+while I live she shall never want for any indulgence I can procure for
+her."</p>
+
+<p>It might be said, too, that Louise evinced a fondness for her husband;
+and she was proud of the attentions of a youth who was admired for his
+remarkable polish of manners; but she certainly had not at this
+time&mdash;whatever she might afterwards acquire&mdash;a warm and generous heart,
+free from selfish interests, to bestow upon any object on earth or in
+heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding Joseph's elegant address and appearance, his character
+was in one respect vulnerable, as will be seen from a trivial act which
+I have yet to mention.</p>
+
+<p>His mother was an occasional assistant in her son's family. He was her
+only son. She was in most respects a highly-educated woman, with no
+ordinary share of self-possession, having pleasing manners, unless it
+might be said that she evinced a kind of <i>hauteur</i>, which made her
+rather feared than loved. But it was apparent to every one that she was
+selfishly attached to this only son. Louise said one day to a friend&mdash;"I
+never had occasion to be jealous of Joseph's attentions to me, or of his
+affection for me, except when his mother was present."</p>
+
+<p>No one could help noticing the greater deference this mother paid to her
+son, even when his father was present; and most fully did this son
+reciprocate his mother's respectful attachment. This love and reverence
+for his mother, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> the part of this son, would have been right and
+beautiful if it had not been so exclusive.</p>
+
+<p>In one of her visits in her son's family, when she was in feeble health,
+this son proposed to his mother, towards night, in the presence of
+Louise, but without conferring with her, that his mother should lodge in
+his broad bed, with Louise, in their well-heated nursery.</p>
+
+<p>To this Louise objected, saying she would quickly have a fire made in
+the spare chamber, and there would be ample time to have it thoroughly
+heated; and if she did not choose to lodge alone, she would offer her a
+charming young lady to sleep in the room with her. The choice was again
+referred by Joseph to his mother. Louise now expostulated with her
+husband. She said, as she was not strong, she needed his assistance a
+part of the night, as usual, in the care of the infant. But still,
+without any regard for her feelings and her wishes to the contrary,
+Joseph <i>insisted</i> that his mother should make a choice; and, strange to
+say, she chose to lodge with Louise.</p>
+
+<p>This unaccountable preference, unless it was because it was proffered by
+her son, it would seem, must have produced unhappiness and discomfort,
+on her part, on witnessing this daughter the livelong night restlessly
+turning from side to side, and her child restless and crying. But not
+one expression of regret was manifested the next day by either mother or
+son.</p>
+
+<p>The day after the incident referred to above occurred, a kind friend
+whispered in Joseph's ear a truth, which, perhaps, till then had been
+entirely overlooked by him. This friend reminded him that when he
+plighted his vows to his young wife at the altar, he did most solemnly
+promise, agreeably to God's ordinance, "that he would forsake father and
+mother, and all others, and he would cleave to his wife, and to her
+alone; that he would take her for better or for worse."</p>
+
+<p>We may laud the conduct of Naomi and Ruth in their beautiful attachment
+to each other, at the point of history where they are first introduced
+to us. But their love to each other was doubtless greatly modified by
+the circumstances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> into which they were now brought. They had a
+remarkable sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other in their
+sufferings. That son and husband, the bond of this tender and happy
+union, and the occasion had there been any strife between them when this
+loved object was living, was now forever removed from them, and not a
+trace of any thing to blame or to regret was still remembered by them.</p>
+
+<p>I can never be sufficiently grateful for the oft-reiterated advice of my
+father to his children. "Never," he would say, "act a selfish part." In
+all your plans and purposes in life, do not have an exclusive regard to
+self-interest. If you do, you will find many competitors. But if you
+strive to render others happy, you will always find a large and open
+field of enterprise; and let me assure you that this is the best way to
+promote your own happiness for time and for eternity.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>ONE-SIDED CHRISTIANS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>How difficult a thing it is in the present day to find a well-balanced
+Christian! In this day of fits and of starts, of impulse and of action,
+a day of revolution both in thought and kingdoms, where is the man who
+is formed in <i>all respects</i> after the image of his Savior?&mdash;where the
+Christian, who, "being <i>fitly framed together</i>, groweth unto an holy
+temple in the Lord?" Many of the followers of Christ seem to have
+forgotten that His alone is the example after which they are to pattern,
+and are looking to some distinguished neighbor or friend, or to their
+own selfish and sensual desires, to inquire how they shall walk in this
+evil world. Many appear to have made an estimate in their hearts how
+little religion will suffice them&mdash;how little humbling of the
+spirit&mdash;how little self-denying labor for Christ and dying men. It may
+be they "do justly," and, in their own eyes, "walk humbly;" but their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+religion is of the negative sort. They are "neither extortioners,
+unjust, nor even as this publican:" they give to every man his due, and
+take good care to obey the precept&mdash;"to look every man on his own
+things, and not on the things of his neighbors." But they forget that
+"Love mercy" was a part of the triad! that the religion of Jesus is not
+a religion of selfishness, and that the Master has said, "Go ye out into
+the streets and lanes, and <i>compel them</i> to come in, that my house may
+be filled!" They forget His <i>example</i> who came down from heaven to
+suffer and die for guilty man; who <i>went about</i> doing good, and whose
+meat and drink was to accomplish the work which the Father had given him
+to do. They forget that one of his last acts was to wash his disciples'
+feet, saying, "As I have done to you, so do ye also to one another;"
+and, as if our selfish and proud hearts would rebel, he adds&mdash;"The
+disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord."</p>
+
+<p>This want of conformity to Christ is also shown in the speech of many of
+his followers. He who was the <i>Searcher of hearts</i> must certainly be
+expected to condemn iniquity, and condemn it severely; but how unwilling
+do we find him to pass sentence upon the guilty&mdash;how comforting and
+consoling to the sinner! To the offending woman he says&mdash;"Neither do I
+condemn thee; go, and sin no more." For his murderers he cries&mdash;"Father,
+forgive them; they <i>know not</i> what they do!" And must vain, erring man
+be more harsh towards his fellow-man than his Maker? "Blessed are the
+merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "I came," says Jesus, "to seek
+and to save <i>the lost</i>!" therefore, who so lost but in Jesus shall find
+a friend? And shall it not be so with his followers, when they remember
+his words, "<i>I have given you an example</i>, that ye should do as I have
+done to you"?</p>
+
+<p>In this day of the multiplicity of good works, and of trusting to them
+for salvation, it may seem strange for us to urge their necessity. But
+in speaking of those who lack the beautiful oneness in character and
+conduct which distinguished Jesus, we would not omit many who, having
+been educated in the full belief of the doctrine of "justification by
+faith,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> carry it to such an extent as to despise good works, and almost
+to look upon them as heretical. They set them down in their religious
+calendar as <i>savoring of ostentation</i>, and thus run into the opposite
+extreme, neglecting entirely the command of our Lord, to "Let your light
+so shine before men, that they <i>may see your good works</i>." They take a
+one-sided view of truth and duty, forgetting that "he who shall break
+one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so" (even by
+practice), shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Could
+they but know, by sweet experience, the luxury of giving "even a cup of
+cold water in His name," they would never again refrain from the blessed
+work. Could they fully understand the words to be pronounced on the
+final day, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
+my brethren, <i>ye have done it unto me</i>," no earthly inducement would be
+able to deter them from obtaining a part in that commendation and
+reward. Did they but read with divine enlightening the parable of the
+good Samaritan, and hear the Master saying, "Go and do thou likewise,"
+what possible excuse would remain for them for not obeying his command?
+They little realize that they may read and meditate and <i>believe</i>, and
+still remain very selfish and un-Christ-like; for if Christ had been
+possessed of their supineness, he would still have remained in heaven,
+and we and ours yet been in the bonds of wickedness. Christian mothers
+have greatly erred in not <i>training</i> their children to a life of
+Christian self-denial and usefulness. In their visits to the poor and
+perishing, they should early accustom their little ones to accompany
+them, thus overcoming that sensitive dread of misery in its various
+forms, so common to the young. They would thus be laying up for them a
+good foundation against the time to come&mdash;training them in the way they
+should go&mdash;guiding their feet into the imitation of that blessed One
+whom they hope soon to see them following. Of how many delightful hours
+have parents deprived their children, who have never taught them, by
+precept and example, the luxury of doing good! How many gracious
+promises in God's blessed word are yet sealed to them&mdash;promises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> for
+time and for eternity! Mothers, awake! to know more of Jesus, of his
+life, his example, and of the high and holy inducements which he holds
+out to you in his word, to be conformed to his image.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>LUX IN TENEBRAS; OR A CHAPTER OF HEART HISTORY.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was a beautiful winter-morning. The new fallen snow lay light and
+fleecy about the porch and on the evergreens before the door, and
+cushioned and covered all the thousand minute branches of the trees till
+they stood forth as if traced in silver on the deep blue of the sky. A
+sparkling, dazzling scene it was, which lay spread out before the
+windows of that comfortable family parlor, where the morning sunshine
+and the blazing wood-fire on the hearth seemed to feel a generous
+rivalry as to which should be most inspiriting.</p>
+
+<p>There were children in the room, a merry group of all sizes, from the
+boy of ten years old to the little one whose first uncertain footsteps
+were coaxed forth by a lure, and cheered onward like a triumphal
+progress by admiring brothers and sisters. It was the morning of
+New-Year's day, which had always been held as a high festival in the
+family, as it is in many families of New England, all the merriment and
+festal observance elsewhere bestowed upon Christmas having been
+transferred by Puritan preferences to this holiday.</p>
+
+<p>It was just the weather for a holiday&mdash;brisk and bracing. Sleigh-bells
+were jingling merrily, as the deep drifts of the road having been
+overcome, one after another of the families of the neighborhood had
+commenced their round, bearing baskets filled with gifts and pleasant
+tokens of remembrance, with the customary wishes and salutations of the
+day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The young mother sat in the group of happy children, but she did not
+smile on them. Her hand rested fondly on one little head and another, as
+they pressed to her side with eager question or exclamation. She drew
+the little one with a quick, earnest clasp to her heaving bosom. Her
+tremulous lips refused to obey the impulse of her will; she left
+Edward's question unanswered, and abruptly placing Willie in the arms of
+his careful nurse, she rushed away from the gladness she could not bear,
+to the solitude of her own chamber. There she fell upon her knees and
+covered her face, while the storm of sorrow she had striven so hard to
+stem, swept over her. Amid groans of agony, came forth the low
+murmur&mdash;"'Write his children <i>fatherless</i>, and his wife a <i>widow</i>!' Oh,
+my God, why must this be? <i>His</i> children fatherless, <i>his</i> wife a
+widow!"</p>
+
+<p>Soon came the quick sobs which told that the overcharged heart which had
+seemed ready to burst, had found temporary relief in tears; then
+followed the low moans of calmer endurance, and the widow's heart sunk
+back into all it had yet found of peace under this great bereavement,
+though it had been months since the blow fell; the peace of
+submission&mdash;"Not my will, but thine, O God, be done!" This time it
+expressed itself in the quaint words of Herbert;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Do thou thy holy will;&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>I will lie still</i>."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Then came the mother's habitual recollection of her children. They must
+not bear the weight of this great sorrow in the days of their tender
+youth, lest the hopefulness and energy they would certainly need in
+after life should be discouraged and disheartened out of them. Edward is
+naturally too reflective; he dwells too much on his loss, and evidently
+begins to ponder already how so many children are to be taken care of
+without a father. Sensitive Mary feels too deeply the shadow of the
+cloud which has come over her home; her face reflects back her mother's
+sadness.</p>
+
+<p>So, rising, the mother rang the bell, and gave directions that the
+children should be prepared for a visit to their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> grandfather's, and
+that the sleigh should be brought to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"They must go," thought she, "I cannot bear them about me. I must spend
+this day alone;" and she bade Mary replenish the fire, and seated
+herself in the arm-chair by the window. What a sickness fell upon the
+sad heart as the eye roved over the cheerful winter landscape! Here were
+the hurryings to and fro of congratulation, the gay garments, such as
+she and hers had laid aside, the merry chiming of the many-toned
+sleigh-bells, all so familiar to her ear that she knew who was passing,
+even if she had not looked up. Here is Thomas with the sleigh for the
+children, and, preceding it, is Ponto in his highest glee&mdash;now he dashes
+forward with a few quick bounds, and turns to bark a challenge at Thomas
+and the horses&mdash;now he plunges into a snow-drift, and mining his way
+through it, emerges on the other side to shake himself vigorously and
+bark again.</p>
+
+<p>Has Ponto forgotten his master? Ponto, who lies so often at his
+mistress's feet, and looks up wistfully into her face, as if he
+understood much, but would like to ask more, and seems, with his low
+whine, to put the question&mdash;Why, when his master went away so many
+months ago, he had never come back again:&mdash;Ponto, who would lie for
+hours, when he could steal an access to them, beside the trunks which
+came home unaccompanied by their owner, and which still stood in a
+closed room, which was to the household like the silent chamber of
+death. There had been for the mourner a soothing power in Ponto's dumb
+sympathy, even when, with the caprice of suffering, she could not bear
+the obtrusiveness of human pity.</p>
+
+<p>Out trooped the merry, noisy children, well equipped with caps and
+comforters. Good Thomas arranged them on the seats, and wrapped the
+buffalo-robes about them, and encircling his special darling, a
+prattling little girl of three years old, with his careful arm, away
+they went, down the hill and out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>With a sigh of relief, the mother drew her chair to the hearth, and
+resolved, for that one day, to give over the struggle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> and let sorrow
+have its way. She dwelt on all the circumstances of the change, which so
+suddenly had darkened her life. She permitted her thoughts to run upon
+themes from which she had sedulously kept them, thus indulging, and as
+it were, nursing her grief. She recalled the thoughtful love which had
+been hers till it seemed as natural and as necessary to her as the air
+she breathed. She had been an indulged wife, constantly cared for, and
+lavishly supplied with everything that heart could wish. The natural
+sensitiveness of her temperament had been heightened by too much
+tenderness; she had been encouraged to cling like a vine, and to expect
+support from without herself. She was still young and beautiful. She was
+accustomed to be loved and admired by many, but that was nothing to her
+in comparison with the calm unvarying estimation in which she had been
+held by one faithful heart. How was she to live without this essential
+element of her life?</p>
+
+<p>Then the darkened future of her life rushed over her like an
+overwhelming flood: the cares and duties which were henceforward to
+devolve on her alone; the children who were never to know any other
+parent but herself; never to know any stronger restraints from evil or
+incentives to good than she in her feebleness could exert over them.
+What would become of her boys as they grew older, and needed a father's
+wise counsels? She saw with grief that she was even less qualified than
+most mothers to exercise the sole government and providence over a
+family. She had been too much indulged&mdash;too entirely screened from
+contact with the world's rough ways.</p>
+
+<p>How were the wants of her large family to be provided for with the
+lessened income she could now command? Pecuniary loss had followed close
+upon her great bereavement, and though this constituted but a small
+element in her sorrow, yet now that it came before her on the morning of
+this new year, it added yet another shade to the "horror of great
+darkness" which encompassed her. She knew that it must have a direct
+bearing upon her welfare, and that of her family.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then she reverted to the New Year's Day of last year; the little
+surprises she had helped to plan; the liberal expenditure by which she
+had sent pleasure, for one day at least, into the dwellings of the poor,
+her generous gifts to her servants, which it had been a pleasant study
+to adapt to their several tastes and wants; the dependencies, near and
+remote, which she had used as channels for conveying a measure of
+happiness to many a heart. Now there must be an end to all this; she
+could be generous no more. Even her children, partly from her
+pre-occupied mind, had no gifts provided for them to-day. Was she not a
+"widow and desolate?"</p>
+
+<p>"Desolate, <i>desolate</i>!" she repeated in bitterness of soul. She paused.
+A voice within her seemed to say&mdash;"Now she that is a widow and desolate
+<i>trusteth in God</i>." A moment after there came into her mind yet another
+verso, "And <i>none of them that trust in Him shall be</i>
+<span class="smcap">DESOLATE</span>."</p>
+
+<p>Could it be that she remembered the passage aright? Her Bible lay open
+on the table before her. She had that morning earnestly sought strength
+from it, and from communion with God before she could nerve herself to
+meet her children, and bear their reiterated salutations, heart-rending
+to her, "Happy New Year, mother"&mdash;"Mother, dear mother, I wish you a
+Happy New Year."</p>
+
+<p>Now as she drew it towards her, and turned over its pages to verify the
+exactness of the words, it soon opened to <i>the blessed thirty-fourth
+psalm</i>, which has proved to many an anchor of hope when they cried to
+God "out of the depths."</p>
+
+<p>"I will bless the Lord at all times;" Oh, surely not!&mdash;How could any one
+bless the Lord at such a time as this? Yet there it stood:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I will bless the Lord <i>at all times</i>; his praise shall continually be
+in my mouth." If others could do this, and had done it, God helping her,
+she would do it too. She, too, would bless the Lord, and speak his
+praises.</p>
+
+<p>"My soul shall <i>make her boast in the Lord</i>." A feeling of exultation
+began to rise within her. Something was yet left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> to her. Her earthly
+"boast" was indeed broken; but why might not she, too, "<i>make her boast
+in the Lord</i>"?</p>
+
+<p>Touched with living light, verse by verse stood out before her, as
+written by the finger of a present God. Humbled to the earth,
+overpowered by deep self-abasement and contrition of soul, she clung as
+with a death-grasp to the words that were bearing her triumphantly
+through these dark waves.</p>
+
+<p>"They looked unto Him <i>and were lightened</i>." Was not her darkness
+already broken as by a beam from His face?</p>
+
+<p>"This poor man cried, and <i>the Lord heard him</i>, and delivered him out of
+all his troubles."</p>
+
+<p>"The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him, and
+delivereth them."</p>
+
+<p>"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto
+their cry."</p>
+
+<p>"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but <i>the Lord delivereth him
+out of them all</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Who was this, that, under these comfortable words, looked peacefully
+upward? It was one who was learning to <i>trust God</i>; taught it, as most
+of us are, by being placed in circumstances where there is <i>nothing
+else</i> to trust.</p>
+
+<p>It is not for us to portray all that passes in the human soul when it is
+brought into vivid communion with its Maker. It is enough for us to know
+that this sorrowful heart was made to exult in God, even in the calm
+consciousness of its irretrievable loss; and that before the sun of a
+day specially consecrated to grief had attained its meridian, the
+mourner came cheerfully forth from her place of retirement, while a
+chant, as of angelic voices, breathed through the temple of her
+sorrowful soul, even over its broken altar.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good</i>; blessed is the man that
+trusteth in Him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints; <i>for there is no want to them that
+fear Him</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The group of banished little ones was recalled, but while the messenger
+was gone for them, the mother in the strength of her new-found peace,
+had brought forth from that closed chamber the gifts which the fond
+father had designed for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> each of his children, and had spread them out
+in fair array on the parlor table. So it was New Year's Day to the
+children after all.</p>
+
+<p>The trust of that mother <i>in the widow's God</i> was never put to shame.
+Her children grew up around her, and hardly realized that they had not
+father and mother both in the one parent who was all in all to them. She
+was efficient and successful in all her undertakings. Her home, with its
+overshadowing trees, its rural abundance and hearty hospitalities, lives
+in the hearts of many as their brightest embodiment of an ideal, a
+cheerful, Christian home. The memory of that mother, dispensing little
+kindnesses to everybody within her reach, is a heritage to her children
+worth thousands of gold and silver. Truly, "they that seek the Lord
+<i>shall not want any good thing</i>."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>FILIAL REVERENCE OF THE TURKS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A beautiful feature in the character of the Turks is, their reverence
+and respect for the author of their being. Their friends' advice and
+reprimands are unheeded; their words are <i>leash</i>&mdash;nothing; but their
+mother is an oracle. She is consulted, confided in, listened to with
+respect and deference, honored to her latest hour, and remembered with
+affection and regret beyond the grave.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife dies, and I replace her; my children perish, and others may be
+born to me; but who shall restore to me the mother who has passed away,
+and who is no more?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>ICHABOD'S MOTHER.</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12.5em;">"Strength is born</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the deep silence of long-suffering hearts,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not amidst joy."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>The noblest characters the world knows are those who have been trained
+in the school of affliction. They only who walk in the fiery furnace are
+counted worthy the companionship of the Son of God. The modes of their
+discipline are various as are their circumstances and peculiar traits,
+but in one form or other stern trials have proved them all. They partake
+of the holiness of the Lord, because they have first endured the
+chastening of his love. They are filled with righteousness, because they
+have known the pangs of spiritual hunger and the extremity of thirst.
+They abound, because they have been empty. They are heavenly-minded,
+because they have first learned in the bitterness of their spirits how
+unsatisfying is earth. They are firmly anchored by faith, because
+frequent tempests and threatened shipwreck have taught them their need.
+The Master himself was made perfect through suffering, and with his
+baptism, must they who would follow him closely, be baptized.</p>
+
+<p>While Hannah was undergoing at Ramah the discipline which wrought in her
+such noble qualities, there dwelt in Shiloh one of kindred spirit, who
+was called to endure even severer tests, inasmuch as that which should
+have constituted her happiness, was evermore the bitterest ingredient in
+her cup; what might have been her purest joys became her greatest
+griefs. She was a wife, but only in name. Of the serenity and bliss
+which attend on true wedded love she was deprived. Her bridal pillow was
+early planted with thorns, which henceforth forbade all peace. She was a
+mother, but her children were to be partakers of their father's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> shame,
+disgraced, and doomed to early death or lives of wickedness and woe. She
+seemingly enjoyed abundant privileges, but her trials as a child of God
+were deeper than all others. She dwelt on sacred ground, but alas!
+herein lay the secret of her sorrow. Had her home been among the
+thousands in the outer camps, it had not been so sadly desecrated. Her
+husband was the High Priest's son, and daily performed the priest's duty
+among holy things. Had he been a humble member of Dan or Naphtali, his
+crimes had not been so heinous. She lived under the shadow of the
+tabernacle; had her abode been farther from the sacred enclosure, she
+had not been daily witness to the heaven-daring deeds which made men
+abhor the offering of the Lord, and called for vengeance on her nearest
+and dearest. Her food was constantly supplied from the sacred offerings;
+had it been procured in ordinary ways, she had not been a partaker with
+those who committed sacrilege.</p>
+
+<p>No trifling vexations, no light sorrows were hers; and as might be
+expected, her virtues bore their proportion to the purifying process to
+which she was subjected. Disappointed in her earthly hopes, she clung to
+her God, and fastened her expectations on Him. Humiliated in her human
+relations, she aspired to nothing henceforth but His honor and glory.
+Wounded in heart, her wealth of love despised, lonely, deserted, she
+sought in Him the portion of her soul, and her lacerated affections
+found repose and satisfaction, without the fear of change in His
+unchanging love.</p>
+
+<p>It is often so ordered in the Providence of God, that those who have
+borne the yoke in their youth, live to see days of comparative quietude
+and exemption from trouble. Hannah, after the birth of Samuel, appears
+to have passed the remainder of her life in peace and prosperity. But
+the nameless woman whose memorial we record had no respite. Her life was
+a life of endurance, and she was cut off in the midst of her days by a
+most fearful and agonizing stroke.</p>
+
+<p>Israel was as usual at war with the Philistines. The army had pitched
+beside Eben-ezer, "And the Philistines put themselves in array against
+Israel: and when they joined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> battle, Israel was smitten before the
+Philistines." Alarmed and distressed by this defeat, the Israelites
+vainly imagining that wherever the ark of God was, there He would be
+also with his favoring presence, sent up to Shiloh to bring from thence
+the sacred symbol. With great pomp and solemnity it was borne by the
+Priests and Levites, and uproarious was the rejoicing as it entered the
+camp, but no account is given of the feelings of those who remained near
+the deserted tabernacle. Did the aged Eli forbode that the awful event
+which should signal the fulfillment of prophetic woe against his family
+was about to befall? Did the abused wife dream that she should behold no
+more her husband's face? We know not what of personal apprehension
+mingled with their trouble, but we do know that with trembling hearts
+these faithful servants of God awaited tidings of the ark of his
+covenant. How portentous soever might be the cloud which hung over their
+own happiness, they deemed it of small importance in comparison with the
+honor of Jehovah. The messenger came, but who shall portray the scene
+when he rendered his tidings!</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In a darkened chamber, whither death, clothed in unwonted horrors, has
+suddenly come for the fourth victim of that doomed family, lies the
+subject of our meditations, panting under his iron grasp. The
+afflictions of her life are now consummated. The husband of her youth,
+his follies and faults against her, now are forgotten in the bitter
+thought that <i>he is dead</i>, has gone unrepentant to the bar of God to
+give account of his priesthood&mdash;her venerable father-in-law alone, with
+no friend to cheer his dying agonies, has also departed from earth&mdash;her
+people are defeated in battle, and worse than all, the ark of God is
+fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines&mdash;who doubtless
+glory as if Dagon had conquered the invincible Jehovah. What to her are
+the pangs and throes under which her tortured body labors? She heeds
+them not. Pitying friends endeavor to rouse her from her dying lethargy,
+by the most glad tidings a Hebrew woman could learn, "Fear not; for thou
+hast borne a son!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> But she answers not. Shorter and shorter grows her
+breath&mdash;nearer and nearer she approaches the eternal shore. But she is a
+mother, and though every other tie is sundered, and she is dying of the
+wounds which the cruel breaking of those heart strings has caused, she
+feels one cord drawing her to her new-born child, and asks that he may
+be brought. It is too much! Why was he born? No cheering thought comes
+with his presence. Nor joy nor honor are in store for him. Call him
+Ichabod, (without glory) she gasps with feeble accents, "for the glory
+is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken." A moment more and
+her freed spirit is in His open presence, who she deemed was forever
+departed from her people.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Christian friend, you who are walking through desert places, and perhaps
+fainting under the heavy hand of God, let not your heart fail you.
+Shrink not back from the path, though it seem beset with thorns. Some
+good is in store for you. Affliction, indeed, is not for the present
+joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
+fruits of righteousness. If, like the mother of Ichabod, you learn to
+forsake the turbid waters of earth for the Fountain of eternal love&mdash;if
+you make the Lord your portion, you will not in the end be the loser,
+though wave on wave roll over you and strip you of every other joy. No,
+not even if at length your sun shall set in clouds impenetrable to
+mortal vision. A glorious cloudless morning lies beyond, and you shall
+be forever satisfied with Him who has chosen you in the furnace of
+affliction.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"Then rouse thee from desponding sleep,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Nor by the wayside lingering weep,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor fear to seek Him farther in the wild,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whose love can turn earth's worst and least</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Into a conqueror's royal feast;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou will not be untrue, thou shall not be beguiled."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FEMALE EDUCATION&mdash;PHYSICAL TRAINING.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. S.W. FISHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>I have presupposed three things in reference to education. The field
+which it covers is also three-fold&mdash;the body, the intellect, and the
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>The body is the living temple of the soul. It is more than a casket for
+the preservation of the jewel; it is more than the setting of the
+diamond; it is more even than an exquisitely-constructed dwelling
+wherein the soul lives, and works and worships. It is a living,
+sensitive agent, into which the spirit pours its own life, through which
+it communes with all external nature, and receives the effluxes of God
+streaming from a material creation. It is the admirable organ through
+which the man sends forth his influence either to bless and vivify, or
+to curse and wither. By it, the immortal mind converts deserts into
+gardens, creates the forms of art, sways senates, and sheds its plastic
+presence over social life. The senses are the finely-wrought gates
+through which knowledge enters the sublime dome of thought; while the
+eye, the tongue, the hand, are the instruments of the Spirit's power
+over the outer world. The soul incarnate in such a body, enjoys a living
+medium of reciprocal communication between itself and all things
+without. Meanwhile the body itself does not arrive here mature in its
+powers; nor does it spring suddenly from the imbecility of the infant to
+the strength of the man. By slow development, by a gradual growth, in
+analogy with that of a tree whose life is protracted, it rises, after
+years of existence, to its appointed stature. Advancing thus slowly, it
+affords ample time for its full and free development.</p>
+
+<p>In this physical training, there are two points of special importance.
+The first is the removal of all unnatural restraints<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> and the pressure
+of unhealthy customs; the second, is the opportunity, the motive and the
+habit of free exercise in the pure air of heaven. These, as causes of
+health and fine physical development, are interwoven as are their
+opposites. In the progress of society from barbarism to refinement, it
+has often been the case that men, in departing from what was savage,
+have lost that which was natural; and in their ascent from the rude have
+left behind that which was essential to the highest civilization. In
+escaping from the nakedness of the barbarian, they have sometimes
+carried dress to an extreme of art which renders it untrue to nature and
+productive of manifold evils. In ascending from the simple and rude
+gastronomy of the savage, they have brought the art of cookery to such
+an excess of luxury as to enervate society by merely factitious
+appetites. In the formation of habits of life, social intercourse and
+amusements adapted to a refined state, they have introduced many things
+at war with the healthful development of both body and mind. The manly
+exercises of swimming, skating, riding, hunting, ball playing; the
+bracing walk in storm and sunshine; the free ramble over hill and dale,
+all adapted to develop an independent, self-relying character; with the
+occasional reunion where wit, science, healthful industry and serene
+piety shed their benedictions; associating that which is free and bold
+with the refined and sacred; all these are, in many cases, displaced by
+frivolous and less healthful excitements. Our girls and boys,
+prematurely exalted into young gentlemen and ladies, are tutored by
+dancing masters; their manners disciplined into an artificial stiffness;
+and the free developments of an open nature formed under the genial
+influence of truly polite parents&mdash;the finest discipline in the
+world&mdash;arrested by the strictures of a purely conventional regimen, in
+which the laws of health and the higher spiritual life seem never to
+have been consulted.</p>
+
+<p>With such a physical training, associated with a corresponding education
+of the mind and heart, they are ripe for the customs and fashions of
+life in harmony therewith; and totally averse to the purer, manlier and
+nobler duties and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> pleasures of a better state of society. To dress and
+exhibit themselves; to crowd the saloon of every foreign trifler, who,
+under the abused name of art, and for the sake of gold, seeks to
+minister to us those meretricious excitements which associate themselves
+with declining states and artificial forms of life; to waste the most
+precious hours of night, set apart by the God of nature for repose, in
+dancing, eating, drinking, and revelry, follow naturally enough upon
+such training. Then in the rear, come disease of body and mind, broken
+constitutions and broken hearts; and last of all, with grim majesty,
+death, prematurely summoned, avenges this violation of the laws of
+nature upon the miserable victims, and quenches the glare of this
+brilliant day in the darkness of the tomb. How utterly different is such
+training and such modes of life consequent upon it, from those which are
+dictated by a thorough understanding of our nature and the great
+purposes of our existence. For in all these things we shall find there
+exists a connection sufficiently obvious between the right education of
+the spirit and the body; and that so strong is their mutual influence as
+to render it of great importance to care for them both in harmony with
+each other. Then shall we regard the perfection of the form and the
+vigor of our bodily powers. Casting away whatever did not consist with
+the health and finer developments of the physical system, we should
+pursue that course of education which best prepared the body for its
+grand work as the living agent of the spirit.</p>
+
+<p>In considering physical training it is allowable for us to look both at
+beauty and intellectual power. A noble form in man; a fine, beautiful,
+healthful form in woman, are desirable for their outward influence.
+Created susceptible of deep impressions from external appearances, it is
+neither religion nor good sense to undervalue them. That men generally
+have over-estimated their worth, is a reason why we should reduce them
+to their true position, and not sink them below it. The palace of the
+soul should befit its possessor. And as God has taken pleasure in
+scattering images of beauty all over the earth, and made us susceptible
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> pleasure therefrom, it is right that in the education of our
+children we should seek for the unfolding of the noblest and most
+beautiful forms. Shall we beautify our dwellings; adorn our grounds with
+plants, flowers, and trees of various excellence; improve the breed of
+our cattle, and yet care not for the constitutions and forms of those
+who are on earth the master-pieces of divine wisdom and the possessors
+of all this goodly heritage? Most of all, however, as the agent of the
+spirit, should we seek to rear our children in all healthful customs and
+invigorating pursuits. It is possible, indeed, that a mind of gigantic
+powers may sometimes dwell in a feeble frame, swayed to and fro by every
+breath of air. But we are sure that such a physical state is the source
+of manifold vexations, pains and loss of power. It is a state which the
+possessor never covets; which oppresses him with the consciousness of an
+energy he is forbidden to put forth, and a force for moving the world
+crippled by the impediment of a frail body. For the full discharge of
+all the duties of life; for the affording to our mental powers a fair
+field for their action; and especially for the education and advancement
+of succeeding generations, it is indispensable the vigor of the body
+should correspond to the vigor of the intellect, so far as to constitute
+the one the most efficient agent of the other. It has rarely been taken
+into view, that, aside from the personal benefits of health in the
+greater power of present action, the intense intellects and feeble
+frames of one generation are a ruinous draft upon both the physical and
+mental powers of that which succeeds. A race of overwrought brains in
+enfeebled bodies must be recruited from a more healthful stock, or their
+posterity will, in time, decline into idiocy or cease from the earth.
+The process of degeneracy, by an infallible law, will pass from the body
+to the intellect; and the descendant of a Luther or a Bacon go down to
+the level of the most stupid boor that drives his oxen over the sands of
+southern Africa.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>INORDINATE GRIEF THE EFFECT OF AN UNSUBDUED WILL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I called on a friend a few months since, who for a full year had been
+watching with maternal solicitude over an invalid daughter still in the
+morning of life, upon whom had been lavished all the fond caresses of
+parental love and tenderness. Every advantage which wealth, and the
+means of education could impart to qualify her for happiness in this
+life had been hers&mdash;nor had her religious culture been entirely
+overlooked.</p>
+
+<p>In her father's family there had been little effort made to instill into
+the minds of their children the principles of holy living, and it was
+felt that there was but little necessity to give them habits of
+self-denial or self-reliance.</p>
+
+<p>This daughter, notwithstanding her happy childhood in having all her
+wants anticipated, and upon whose pathway the sun had shone most
+brightly, was now, like an unsubdued child, under a most painful
+infliction of the rod of God.</p>
+
+<p>Two years previous to this time, during a revival of religion, she
+publicly covenanted to walk in all the statutes and ordinances of God's
+Word and house, blamelessly. Thus was she married to Christ, and she
+then felt, and her friends felt, that she had chosen Christ to be the
+guide of her youth.</p>
+
+<p>But how could she be expected, never having had her will thoroughly
+subdued, or been called to bear any yoke or burden, fully to understand,
+or to realize what was implied, or required in becoming a disciple of
+Christ, so that she could at once fully adopt the language,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Jesus, I my cross have taken,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">All to leave and follow thee,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thou from hence my all shall be."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Just one year from her espousal to Christ the village of &mdash;&mdash; was all
+excitement, on an occasion which had called the young and the
+middle-aged to the house of her father,&mdash;the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> wealthy Mr. G&mdash;&mdash;, when
+this lovely daughter was to be united in marriage to the accomplished,
+the graceful, the pious Mr. L&mdash;&mdash;, a universal favorite with persons of
+all ages and ranks. A short time previous to his union to the young and
+beautiful belle of &mdash;&mdash;, he had, under most favorable auspices,
+commenced a lucrative business in the city of &mdash;&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the nuptial ceremony, Mr. L&mdash;&mdash; accompanied his bride
+to the Falls of Niagara, that favorite place of resort on such memorable
+occasions. They were now all the world to each other. Alas, how utterly,
+for a time, did they overlook the injunction, "Little children, keep
+yourselves from idols." Nor did they for once even dream how insensibly
+the streams of God's bounty and goodness were withdrawing their hearts
+from the fountain of all blessedness and perfection.</p>
+
+<p>On their return from this delightful excursion, this envied young
+husband was soon found at his post of business, surrounded by numerous
+friends all eager to aid and encourage him on in his preparations to
+welcome to his home and his heart, his darling "wife." Oh, how sweet to
+him did that treasured name sound, when greeted by his young friends,
+and the question was asked, "How is your <i>wife</i>?" "When do you expect
+your <i>wife</i>?" Never, he felt, was there another more truly blessed.</p>
+
+<p>How sudden must have been the transition, for the summons came, as it
+were, in a moment, "The Master has come, and calleth for thee." Young
+Mr. L&mdash;&mdash; had been in the city but two days, when retiring to his bed,
+he was suddenly siezed with a bilious attack, and in a few brief hours,
+even before his friends could reach his bed-side, he was wrapped in the
+habiliments of the grave. His last faint farewell was uttered in hurried
+and broken accents, just as he expired, "Tell her that Jesus makes me
+willing"&mdash;"makes me willing."</p>
+
+<p>In his ready, cheerful, and manly willingness to obey the Master's call,
+though so sudden, we see the blessed influence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> of early parental
+discipline&mdash;absolute unconditional submission to parental authority.</p>
+
+<p>Truly this was a most sad and unexpected reverse for that youthful and
+happy bride. Her face at once became as pale and almost marble-like, as
+the icy hand of death had made that of her husband's. No wonder if this
+world should now seem to her as a barren wilderness. No wonder if her
+thoughts, for a time, should brood mournfully over the words, "Lover and
+friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."
+No wonder if to her desolate heart, solitude, and gloom, and the grave,
+should, for a season, be her chosen themes of contemplation. She does
+well to grieve. There is nothing wrong in the mourner's tears. We have
+the example of Jesus in such an expression&mdash;tears are Nature's own sweet
+relief. It is safe&mdash;yes, it is well to bleed when our limbs are taken
+from our side.</p>
+
+<p>But let such as mourn remember, in all cases of bereavement, it is God,
+whose discipline is strictly parental, hath done it, and "He doeth all
+things well." How sad it is when the bereaved, who are not called to
+mourn as those who have no hope, allow their thoughts to find a lodgment
+only in the grave. How widely different had been the condition of this
+youthful mourner, if, instead of shutting herself up in her chamber,
+taking to her bed, chiefly, for a full year refusing to be
+comforted&mdash;had she dwelt more upon that touching "farewell" to her,
+receiving it as a beam of light and love from the spirit land, inviting
+her to the contemplation of heavenly themes. Had she rather considered
+her departed companion as <i>favored</i> in this early call to glory,&mdash;had
+she considered the passage in Isaiah 57:1, "The righteous are taken away
+from the evil."&mdash;why did she not meekly and penitently reflect, that as
+God does not willingly afflict, he must have had some special design in
+this severe chastisement upon her. Had her mind been open to
+conviction&mdash;had she been bowed down under a sense of sin&mdash;would she not
+have inquired whether the blessed Saviour, perceiving the lurking danger
+there was to this young couple, from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> disposition to find their heaven
+upon earth, to seek their chief happiness in each other, had not with
+the voice of love and tender compassion said to her husband, "The Master
+hath need of thee, come up hither." Had her heart been right with God,
+as she contemplated her departed friend in his new-born zeal to honor
+and glorify his Redeemer, flying on swift wings to perform Heaven's
+mandates, would she not resolve, by the grace of God, to emulate him in
+his greater efforts to save lost souls, for whom Christ died? Were not
+the same motives set before her, by his death, to seek a new and holy
+life? Was not the same grace&mdash;the same strength proffered to her, which,
+if accepted and improved aright, would have enabled her to deny
+herself&mdash;to take up her cross and to follow Jesus whithersoever he might
+see fit to lead her?</p>
+
+<p>But, alas, this was in nowise her happy experience. On the contrary, she
+turned away from the consolations proffered to her in God's blessed
+Word, and by his Holy Spirit, and in the teachings of that last touching
+"farewell."</p>
+
+<p>May we not suppose that her husband, on finding himself liberated from
+the trappings of earth, from sin and temptation, as his thoughts would
+naturally revert to the friends he had left behind&mdash;finding his chosen,
+bosom friend, a mere clod of clay, sunk down in a state of hopeless
+misery and sorrow, at his loss, having no sympathy with him in his new
+and blessed abode, and in his more exalted employments and purer
+enjoyments, would he not rather bless God, more ardently, that he was so
+quickly removed from such chilling, blighting earth-born influences as
+she might have exerted over him?</p>
+
+<p>Oh, that this youthful mourner might now hear that voice of God to his
+chosen people, "Ye have compassed this mountain long enough&mdash;turn you
+northward." God grant that the past time of her life may suffice that
+she has "wrought the will of the flesh." We most earnestly commend to
+her prayerful contemplation the last words of our blessed Saviour to his
+disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions." I go to prepare <i>a
+place</i> for you&mdash;just such a mansion&mdash;such a place as each ransomed soul,
+by improving the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> discipline of God&mdash;by holy and self-denying efforts in
+this life, to do his will, is fitted to fill, and enjoy.</p>
+
+<p>And so it will ever be with the heirs of salvation, while they remain in
+a world of sin and temptation. They are daily and hourly working out
+their salvation with fear and with trembling, while God is working in
+them to will and to do of his good pleasure. The improvement which is
+made of afflictions has a great deal to do in this process.</p>
+
+<p>And thus, too, will it be with those who wilfully, or even thoughtlessly
+neglect the great salvation&mdash;those who reject the overtures of pardoning
+mercy and salvation by Christ. They will hereafter know and acknowledge
+that "they knew their duty but they did it not." It is said that "Judas
+went to his <i>own place</i>"&mdash;and that "Dives <i>made his bed</i> in hell." And
+herein will these words of the poet be strikingly fulfilled in every
+human soul&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Tis not the whole of life to live,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor all of death to die."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>CHILDREN'S APPREHENSION OF THE POWER OF PRAYER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>While visiting in the family of Rev. Mr. F&mdash;&mdash;, one morning as we were
+quietly seated at the breakfast table, his two little boys, Willie and
+Georgie were seated between their father and mother. All at once
+Georgie, the youngest, a child of five years, reached his head forward,
+and in a half-whisper said to his brother, "Willie, Willie, if you were
+going a journey, which would you give up, your breakfast or your
+prayers?"</p>
+
+<p>Willie replied, "I should want both."</p>
+
+<p>"But," said the little fellow, still more earnestly, "What if you
+couldn't have both, then which would you give up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would give up my breakfast," said Willie.</p>
+
+<p>The little urchin said in an undertone, "I think mother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> would take
+something along in her bag." There was certainly a good "look out" for
+two worlds.</p>
+
+<p>A mother who resides near me, and has a large family of small children,
+related to me the following circumstance of her eldest boy, when quite
+young. From the time her children began to talk, she accustomed them,
+each in their turn, to kneel by her side, on rising and retiring each
+morning and evening, and repeat to her their little prayers.</p>
+
+<p>One day when her eldest boy, as she thought, was old enough to
+comprehend her, she said to him rather seriously, "My son, there is one
+kind of prayer to God to which I have not directed your attention. It is
+called 'secret prayer.' The direction and encouragement for this kind of
+prayer is found in the passage, 'Enter into thy closet and shut to thy
+door, and pray to thy Father which is in heaven, and thy Father which
+seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' Now do you not desire to
+obtain this open reward. If you would like a closet of your own, there
+is a little retired place near my bed-room&mdash;you can go there each day by
+yourself, and shut your door as directed."</p>
+
+<p>One day, not long after, the child was gone some time; his mother did
+not like to accuse him of having trifled on so serious an occasion, for
+he was a remarkably conscientious and honest boy&mdash;and she said to him,
+"Frank, you have been gone so long I fear you may have been using 'vain
+repetitions.'"</p>
+
+<p>The color mantled at once in the little fellow's cheeks, and almost
+ready to cry, he said, "Mother, when aunt Mary left us yesterday, she
+said that she and the children would be exposed to many dangers during
+the voyage, and she asked me to pray for them, and it took me a good
+while."</p>
+
+<p>I was told by a friend, of a group of little boys when visiting a little
+companion, all seated on the floor near each other, looking at some
+pictures. They came to one representing Daniel in the den of lions. It
+was noticed that the lions were not chained, and yet they were in a
+reposing posture. None seemed to understand how this was. One little boy
+said to another, "Ah, wouldn't you be afraid to be put into a den of
+lions?" "Oh, yes," was the reply. And so the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> question went all round,
+eliciting the same answer. At last the youngest of the party reached
+himself forward and pulled his brother by the sleeve, saying, "Johnny,
+Johnny, if lions are afraid of praying people, they'd be afraid of
+mother&mdash;wouldn't they? And she wouldn't be afraid of them, for she says
+we needn't fear anything but sin."</p>
+
+<p>I was acquainted with a family where the following circumstance
+occurred. The two youngest boys in the family were often trusted to take
+long walks, and sometimes they were permitted to go over, by themselves,
+to N&mdash;&mdash;, a distance of nearly four miles, and make a call on their aunt
+and cousins, who resided there.</p>
+
+<p>One day they came and asked their mother if they might take a long walk.
+She told them not a very long walk, for that day they had not been as
+studious and dutiful as usual. They took hold of hands, and without
+designing to do so at first, it was believed, they ran on very fast till
+they reached the village of N&mdash;&mdash;, where their aunt lived.</p>
+
+<p>On going to the house, their aunt thought, from their heated appearance,
+and hurried and disconcerted manner, that they were two "runaways." She,
+however, welcomed them as usual&mdash;invited them to partake of some fine
+baked apples and new bread and milk&mdash;quite a new treat to city boys&mdash;but
+N&mdash;&mdash;, the eldest, declined the invitation. She then proposed to them to
+go to the school-house, which was near by, and see their cousins. This,
+too, N&mdash;&mdash; declined. He said to his brother, "Charley, we must go home."
+And they took hold of hands and ran all the way as fast as possible, and
+immediately on entering the house, their faces as red as scarlet, N&mdash;&mdash;
+confessed to his mother where they had been, and asked her forgiveness.
+This being granted, N&mdash;&mdash; could not be happy. He said, weeping, "Mother,
+will you go up stairs with us and pray with us?" She did so, with a
+grateful heart, and sought pardon for them. N&mdash;&mdash; did the same. When it
+came Charley's turn to pray, he made an ordinary prayer&mdash;when his
+brother repeatedly touched him, and in a low whisper he said, "Charley,
+why don't you repent&mdash;why don't you repent?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A very little child, not two years old, always seemed delighted to hold
+her little book at prayer time, and when her father said Amen, she
+always repeated it after him aloud. One day she seemed very uneasy
+during prayer time, and though she made great resistance, she was taken
+out of the room. She insisted on going back to the drawing-room, and the
+chairs being still in the order in which the family had been seated
+during prayer time, the little creature went by the side of each, and
+folding her little hands, she repeated "Amen," "Amen," until she had
+been to each one. Thus we see it is not so much for want of knowledge,
+as for a right state of heart, right teachings, right examples, that
+children do not live and act, speak and think and pray aright.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In the letters of John Adams to his wife, Sept. 10, 1774, we have an
+account of the <i>First Prayer</i> in Congress. What an instructive and
+encouraging lesson is here taught to all religious persons, always
+unhesitatingly to obey all holy and good impulses.</p>
+
+<p>Had Mr. Cushing, who moved the resolution, held back,&mdash;or had Mr. Samuel
+Adams refused to second this resolution,&mdash;or had Rev. Mr. Duch&eacute;
+declined, when called upon to lead on that occasion, our nation might
+never have presented the sublime spectacle of uniting, as a body, in
+calling upon God at the opening of their Congressional sessions.</p>
+
+<p>And who would dare to predict the loss which this omission might at that
+time have occasioned to this infant Republic!</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Adams's account is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"When Congress first met, Mr. Cushing moved that it should be opened
+with prayer. This was opposed on the ground that the members, being of
+various denominations,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> were so divided in their religious sentiments
+that they could not join in any one mode of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams
+arose, and after saying that he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer
+from any gentleman of piety and virtue who was a friend to his country,
+moved that Rev. Mr. Duch&eacute;&mdash;an Episcopal clergyman, who, he said, he
+understood deserved that character&mdash;be invited to read prayers before
+Congress the next morning. The motion was passed; and the next morning
+Mr. Duch&eacute; appeared, and after reading several prayers in the Established
+form, then read the Collect for the 7th of September, which was the
+thirty-fifth Psalm. This was the next morning after the startling news
+had come of the cannonade of Boston;" and, says John Adams, "I never saw
+a greater effect upon an audience: it seemed as if Heaven had ordained
+that Psalm to be read on that morning."</p>
+
+<p>"After this," he continues, "Mr. Duch&eacute;, unexpectedly to everybody,
+struck out into an extemporaneous prayer, which filled the bosom of
+every man present. I never heard a better prayer, or one so well
+pronounced. Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, ardor,
+earnestness, and pathos, and in language so eloquent and sublime, for
+America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts, and
+especially for Boston. It had an excellent effect upon everybody here,"
+and many, he tells us, were melted to tears.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MY BABY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within a cradle, still and warm,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There lies a little gentle form,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Just look beneath the coverlid,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And see the tiny sleeper hid!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then peep beneath the cap of lace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Behold his rosy happy face;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The velvet cheek, so pure and white,</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Didst ever see a fairer sight?</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His dimpled arm across his breast,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His chubby limbs composed to rest,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The gentle curls of waving hair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Falling upon the pillow there!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The drooping lashes shroud his eyes,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blue as the tinge of summer skies,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His damask lips like tints of rose</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which garden buds at twilight close.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Art thou a form of human mould,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or stray-lamb of the heavenly fold?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A little herald to the earth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or cherub sent to bless our hearth?</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Must evil spirits intertwine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And lead astray that heart of thine?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And must thou be with sin defiled,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That seemest now an angel child?</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh blessed Lamb of God! to thee</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I come, and with my baby flee</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Within thy fold, and sheltering care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I lay my child, and leave him there.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;"><span class="smcap">Euclid</span>, <i>Ohio</i>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Night was coming on. The tall elms which beautify the little village of
+G&mdash;&mdash; were waving to and fro their pendent branches, heavy with the
+evening damp, and as the boughs swayed against the window panes of one
+of the largest mansions in the town, the glass was moistened by the
+crystal drops. But heavier and colder was the dew that gathered upon the
+forehead of the sufferer within; for extended upon the couch lay a dying
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>The trembling hand of an aged man wiped the forehead, and the tears that
+stood in his eye told that his remaining days on earth must be uncheered
+by the kind voice and radiant smile of her who had been a mother to his
+children.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> Those children, grown to full age, were there, and if need be
+could have borne clear and convincing testimony that sometimes, at
+least, the connection between a step-mother and her husband's family is
+only productive of good. But where were her own offspring? Three noble
+looking men, and as many matrons, owed their existence and education to
+her, and she had hoped, ere she died, to behold once more their faces.</p>
+
+<p>Soft and gentle were the hands that smoothed her pillow; low and sweet
+were the voices that inquired of her wants, but dear to her as were
+these, they were not <i>her own</i>, and the mother's heart yearned once more
+to trace their father's likeness in the tall dark-eyed sons who but a
+few years ago were cradled in her arms. And can these feelings cause the
+pang which seems at once to contract the face? So thinks her
+step-daughter, as she says, "They will be here to-morrow, mother." "It
+is not that, my dear," murmured the sick one, "but when I was just now
+enjoying the blessedness of committing my soul to Him who died for me,
+when feeling my own unworthiness of one of his many mercies, I had cast
+myself on the mercy of the 'Sinner's Friend,' like a wave of agony
+rushed in upon me the thought that my dear sons have denied the divinity
+of the Savior, into whose name they were baptized, and who laid down his
+life to redeem them. Oh! could I be assured that they would be led back
+to their fathers' God, I could die happy." There was stillness in this
+chamber of death. The invalid's pale lips moved as if in prayer, and
+soon the lids were raised, and the brilliant black eye was lighted up as
+of old, and triumphant was the strain that burst forth. "I know in whom
+I have believed, and am persuaded that He will keep that which I have
+committed to Him, my most precious treasures, <i>my children</i>, against
+that day. I know Him&mdash;I rest in His faithfulness." The smile lingered on
+her features, but the spirit had fled.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The Green Mountain range in Massachusetts presents a series of most
+magnificent scenery, and in the villages which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> nestle among its
+summits, dwell some of the noblest hearts and sturdiest frames of New
+England.</p>
+
+<p>Mountains have always been the rugged nurses of independence of thought
+and action, and the grand chains of our own land form no exception to
+the rule. Nor is this all&mdash;none who have not dwelt among our rural
+population know the strong sympathy which pervades the inhabitants of
+the same settlement&mdash;long may it continue! Each takes an interest in the
+welfare of all about him, and though there are some things disagreeable
+in the minute surveillance to which one is thus exposed, yet it is more
+than compensated by the affectionate interest which is manifested in the
+weal or woe of each neighbor. Not there, as in the crowded city, may a
+man be laid in his grave, while the occupant of the next dwelling
+neither knows nor cares concerning his fate.</p>
+
+<p>The intelligence of illness spreads from house to house, and who can
+number the kind offices which are immediately exercised by neighbors far
+and near. The very schoolboys lower their voices as they pass the
+darkened windows, and there needs no muffling of the knocker, for who
+would disturb the invalid? And when the bell solemnly announces the
+departure of a soul, sadness settles in every heart, and the cathedral
+hung in sable is a poor tribute to departed worth, compared to the
+general mourning of the whole village, when the long funeral procession,
+whence old and young unite</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"To pay the last sad tribute, and to hear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon the narrow dwelling's hollow bound,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The first earth thrown."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Oh! who would not exchange the pomp and hollow pageantry of the
+metropolis for such attentions?</p>
+
+<p>In one of these same homes of virtue and happiness dwelt a family, who,
+contented with their lot, sought no wide sphere of enjoyment. With a
+good education, fine talents, with a strong constitution, the father had
+commenced his career about forty years before, and by his own exertions
+had risen to wealth, respectability and honor. Having often<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> represented
+the interests of his fellow-townsmen in the assembly of the State, the
+county in which he resided had deemed that they could commit to no safer
+hands the senatorial dignity.</p>
+
+<p>His gentlemanly bearing, his benevolent smile, his tall and commanding
+appearance won all hearts; while his calm judgment, his energetic course
+of action gained respect and demanded admiration. In public and private
+life he was a pattern of excellence. Surely his mother must have looked
+upon such a son with feelings of gratitude and even pride. As you enter
+the door, from which no poor man was ever turned empty away, and
+crossing the hall, advance into the elegant parlor to greet your host
+and his amiable wife, you can fancy a smile of satisfaction upon the
+lips of that mother's portrait, which hangs in the place of honor on the
+wall, a smile which seems to say, "this is my eldest born." But, alas!
+it was for this son that that mother had put up her last prayer&mdash;for him
+it was, she had poured forth her soul, and now years have passed since
+he stood by her helpless remains, and her petition is still unanswered.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It is a May morning, two years later, and cheerily does the sun shine
+upon the village of &mdash;&mdash;. The pine forest at a little distance, sheds
+forth after the last night's rain that fragrance which is so delicious,
+the fields are gay with dandelions, the brooks yellow with the American
+cowslip, close beside which peeps forth the lovely veronica, while
+yonder slope is enameled with bright blue violets, and the little white
+Mayflower. But no children are seen plucking them. The very herds in the
+field low in a subdued manner, and the birds warble their gladsome
+spring song with a depth which belongs only to sacred music. None are
+moving about the streets. The church doors are open, however, for it is
+the Sabbath. Come with me to yonder mansion&mdash;the tasteful shrubbery, the
+vine-covered window, the well arranged garden bespeak for its possessor
+wealth and luxury. Enter with me, but tread lightly as we ascend the
+staircase. Upon that white curtained bed, raised by pillows, reposes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+one who has numbered more than sixty summers. His brow is scarcely
+furrowed, though his face is thin. His clasped hands are emaciated, but
+he does not look old. The fever spot burns in his cheeks, and his eye is
+lighted up with a heavenly ray, which shows that now at least the soul
+is triumphing over the body.</p>
+
+<p>A small table, covered with damask of snowy whiteness, stands near, on
+which are placed the emblems of the broken body and poured-forth blood
+of our Redeemer. A few Christian brethren and sisters are kneeling
+around, and the pastor is blessing the bread. Methinks "it is good to be
+here." The great Master is present, and "his banner over this little
+company is love." One can almost see the ministry of angels as they bend
+to watch the scene.</p>
+
+<p>The rite is done. The softly murmured hymn which concludes it, has died
+upon the balmy evening air. The partakers of the Lord's Supper have
+departed. The pastor has for the last time pressed the hand which has so
+recently subscribed to the covenant of the church, and he, too, has
+taken his final leave. Relations alone remain in the chamber of death.
+Solemnity broods over the spot. The brothers who through life have
+looked to this now dying brother, as a father, guide, and friend, sit
+gazing on him in mournful silence, the tears slowly chasing each other
+down their manly cheeks, with something of the feeling of the prophet
+when it was told him, "Know thou that your master will be taken from
+your head to-day".</p>
+
+<p>The sisters watch and anticipate his wishes, till first one and then
+another is overcome by her emotion, and steals away to give it vent. The
+wife, like a ministering spirit, silently wipes the clammy brow and
+moistens the parched lips. But now the sick man speaks: "Brother, will
+you bring mother's portrait! I would take my leave of that&mdash;O, how soon
+shall I join her now." It is brought, and the heavy window curtains are
+thrown back, and it is placed at the foot of the bed with reverend care,
+which showed the veneration in which the original was held.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, brother: it smiles upon me!" and observing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> astonished
+expression of his friends, the dying man continued in a less excited
+tone, "Do not suppose that my mind is wandering. I assure you on the
+word of one who must shortly appear before a God of truth, that ever
+since my mother's death the picture has frowned upon me. I knew what it
+meant, for you have not forgotten her last prayer, and every time I have
+looked upon it I felt, while I continued to deny the divinity of our
+Savior, I could not expect my mother's approbation or blessing. For
+years I fought against the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, till I examined
+the subject more thoroughly, and to-day I have sealed my renunciation of
+that error, and have testified my faith in the atonement made for
+sinners. The cross of Christ has drawn me with cords of love. I wanted
+to see that portrait once more, and, lo, the frown is gone&mdash;and my
+mother beams upon me the same sweet smile as when at sixteen years of
+age I left home a fatherless boy, to make my own way in the world. Thank
+God I die in peace."</p>
+
+<p>My sketch is finished. Shall I make the application? Has not every
+mother's heart made it already? asking the question, "Is my influence
+over my children such that when I am gone my portrait shall have such
+power over them for good?"</p>
+
+<p>Cowper has embalmed his mother's miniature in lines which will touch the
+heart while our language is preserved. But this picture is hallowed by
+strains which are poured forth from angelic choirs, as they tune their
+harps anew "over one sinner that repenteth."</p>
+
+<p>The likeness of Cowper's mother led him to mourn for past delights, but
+this picture led the son to look in humble joy to that blessed hope and
+glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 19em;"><span class="smcap">Edith</span>.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>LIGHT READING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>During a recent tour in search of health and pleasure, I was surprised
+and pained at seeing the amount of light reading indulged in while
+traveling, by old and young of both sexes and all classes. I observed,
+while rapidly urged over our railways, many thus engaged&mdash;many
+purchasing eagerly the trash offered at every station, and could but
+regret they had not provided with the same care food for the mind, by
+placing in the satchel that contained sustenance for the body, some
+valuable book, some truthful work.</p>
+
+<p>Lake George, with its clear waters and lovely islands, its majestic,
+untrod mountains and historical associations, had not attractions
+sufficient to win the lovers of fiction from the false pages of life, to
+the open, beautiful book of Nature. It was a bright July morning when I
+stood upon the deck of the "John Jay."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The beautiful sun arose&mdash;and there was not</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A stain upon the sky, the virgin blue</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was delicate as light, and birds went up</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sang invisibly, the heavenly air</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wooed them so temptingly."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Now the mountain-tops were radiant with the golden light, now valley,
+lake, and green islet, rejoiced in the morning sun. Yet, at such an
+hour, amid such scenes, ladies and gentlemen were engrossed with the
+mawkish sentimentalities of fictitious narrations, their eyes closed to
+all the beauty of the time and place, their ears deaf to the delicious
+harmony of awakening nature.</p>
+
+<p>Lake Champlain, with its romantic ruins ever dear to the heart of an
+American, its verdant shores and rural villages, nestling in the valleys
+or crowning the hills, could scarce obtain a passing glance from those
+enraptured with the improbable if not impossible pictures of life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When upon the St. Lawrence, gliding swiftly through the charming scenery
+of the Thousand Isles, that like emerald gems adorn the bosom of that
+noble river, now passing one with cultivated fields and quiet
+farm-house, another low and level bathed in the rays of a setting sun,
+others rocky and precipitous, crowned with cedar and fir; again a little
+quiet spot where one would like long to tarry, or one with shrubbery and
+light-house so peaceful in its rural beauty you almost envied the
+occupants their retirement; even here, as I turned from the scene at the
+whispered exclamation of a friend, "O, how beautiful!" my eye fell upon
+two ladies bending over the pages of newly issued novels, their
+countenances glowing&mdash;not with holy emotions awakened by the enjoyment
+of a summer's sun-set upon the St. Lawrence, but with feverish
+excitement, kindled by the overwrought pictures of the novelist. Fair,
+young girls, how could you linger over the unreal when passing through
+such scenes of God's own work? How could you shut out that gorgeous
+sunset, turn from all the pure and heavenly feelings such scenes must
+awaken, to sympathize with imaginary beings and descriptions?</p>
+
+<p>And now I tarried at Niagara, wonderful, sublime Niagara&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">&mdash;&mdash;"Speaking in voice of thunder</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eternally of God&mdash;bidding the lips of man</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Keep silence, and upon the rocky altar, pour</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Incense of sweet praise."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Rambling along the shore of Iris Island, every step presenting a new
+scene, impressing the mind with the greatness of God and the
+insignificance of man, while "the voice of many waters" proclaimed to
+erring reason "there is a God:" also, here, under the shade of a noble
+oak, in full view of the great Cataract, sat a small group of ladies; in
+their midst, a gentle girl reading aloud from one of the many works that
+"charm the greedy reader on, till done, he tries to recollect his
+thoughts and nothing finds&mdash;but dreamy emptiness." I lingered, and
+learned this was the tale of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> young authoress, whose writings are now
+winning golden opinions from a portion of our religious press. Yet how
+unsuitable the place for delighting in the extravagant and improbable
+blending of truth and fiction, though it may have a <i>moral</i> and
+<i>religious</i> under-current. At the side of that young reader sat her
+<i>mother</i>. The favorable moments for impressing that immortal mind
+committed to her guardianship, with right views of the Infinite Supreme,
+were swiftly passing away, the opportunity of awakening in her young
+heart while beholding His wonderful work emotions of humility and
+reverence was alike forgotten; with the daughter just entering upon
+womanhood she gave all thought and feeling, alone to the ideal. Could I
+have aroused that parent to a sense of her obligations, of her neglected
+opportunities, of the priceless value of her child's soul, stranger
+though I was, I would have earnestly besought her, to take away that
+romance, to step with her to the point but just before them&mdash;open the
+"Book of books," and let her read of Him "who hath measured the waters
+in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span; who hath
+compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end;
+whose way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters. The Lord,
+whose name alone is excellent, his glory above the earth and heaven."</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 20em;"><span class="smcap">Theta</span>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>TO MY FATHER,</h2>
+
+<h3>AFTER A WRECK OF FORTUNE, AND IN A FOREIGN LAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All gone&mdash;yet 'mid this heavy loss</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">A ray of light behold;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If thou art parted with the dross,</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">There's left for thee the gold.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A name unsullied&mdash;conscience clear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">From aught that man can prove;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And, what must be to thee most dear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thy children's changeless love.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The visions of the world so fair</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Are fading from our sight;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet hope sinks not in vain despair,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But points to one more bright.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, may misfortune's chilling blight,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">But bind us closer here,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till we behold the dawning light</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of yonder blessed sphere.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And O, my father, linger not,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In exile, from our hearth;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah, this has been a cherished spot,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To make us cling to earth.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis where the youngest of the seven</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">First drew his fleeting breath,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sweet cherished flower, the gift of heaven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To fill our blooming wreath.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And saddened memories linger not</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Around each faded year;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, let it never be forgot</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Death hath not entered here.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The shrine of many a fervent prayer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">More loved than words can tell,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is passing to another's care,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And we must say, Farewell.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But O, my father, hasten home,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Tis in each loved one's heart;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thy wife, thy children, bid thee come,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And ne'er again depart.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For me, my love shall ever twine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Around thy future years;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And my most fervent prayers be thine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Amid this vale of tears,</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That when life's busy cares shall cease&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Its feeble ties be riven;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thine honored head may rest in peace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thy soul ascend to heaven.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FAMILY GOVERNMENT</h2>
+
+
+<p>It is generally admitted that there has been a lamentable declension in
+family government within a few years. I propose to show some of the
+causes of this growing evil, and to point out the remedy.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Inattention and blindness to the faults of children.</i>&mdash;As a matter
+of course we cannot expect parents will restrain their children without
+observing their faults. They must see an error before they can correct
+it.</p>
+
+<p>It would not be strange if affection or love for our children should
+sometimes hide their faults, or that others should sometimes notice them
+before we do. They are often, too, looked upon as trivial, as of small
+importance. The mother of pirate Gibbs might have thought it very
+trivial that her little son should kill flies, and catch and torture
+domestic animals. But it had its influence in forming the character of
+the pirate. The man who finishes his days in state-prison as a notorious
+thief began his career in the nursery by stealing pins, or in the pantry
+by stealing sugar and cake, and as soon as old enough to look abroad, to
+take a little choice fruit from a neighbor's garden or orchard. The
+finished gambler began his career by the side of his mother, by taking
+pins stealthily from her cushion. Children cannot do great things when
+young. They have not the power. Their powers and views are too limited
+to perform what may be called great deeds of wickedness. Yet the grossly
+immoral usually begin their downward course in youth. The germ of
+wickedness is then planted. Time only matures what is thus begun. Those
+trivial things which you suffer to pass without a rebuke, constitute the
+germ of all their future depravity. The wickedness of youth differs from
+that of mature age rather in degree than in kind. The character of the
+man may often be read in the conduct of the child. Thus bad government
+originates in overlooking the faults of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> children, or in wrong views of
+their conduct. The deeds of childhood are considered of small moment.
+Childhood with them has no connection with manhood. The child may be
+anything, and make a giant in intellect, or a professor in morals. But
+it should be remembered that the very essence of good government lies in
+watching the connection of one act with another, in tracing the relation
+between the conduct of mature age and the little developments of
+childhood and youth. Good government respects not only the present good
+of its subjects but their future. It takes in eternity as well as time.
+A great many parents are totally blind to the faults of their children.
+They see none when they are even gross. Everybody else can see them, and
+is talking about them, and they know not that they exist. Like Eli, of
+ancient days, the first that they know of the wickedness of their
+children they hear it from all the people. It is a sad thing when others
+have to tell us of the depravity of our children. And it is then
+generally too late to correct them. The public do not know the first
+aberrations of childhood and youth. They can only be learnt in the
+nursery. If parents are blind to them, and they are suffered to become
+habits, it is generally too late to correct them. It is in the form of
+habits that neighbors become acquainted with them. Woe to that child
+then, whose faults are rebuked by every one else, but not by his
+parents! His faults are in every one's mouth, but not in theirs.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The interference of one parent while the other is endeavoring to
+enforce rightful discipline.</i>&mdash;Nothing has a more injurious influence
+upon family government than such a course. It presents the two, in whom
+the children should place the most implicit confidence, at variance. As
+a matter of course, the disobedient child will throw himself into the
+hands of the one interfering, as a kind of shield from the rod. In such
+a case it is almost utterly impossible to maintain government and
+support discipline. The child justifies himself, and stoutly persists in
+his rebellion while he receives countenance from one of his parents.
+This, if I mistake not, is often done. Many a family has been ruined in
+this way for time and eternity. Government was entirely disobeyed in the
+outset.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> The father undertook the correction of the child, but the
+mother threw her arms over him&mdash;she pleads that he is a little
+child&mdash;that he knew not what correction means, as for <i>what</i> he is
+corrected&mdash;or the rod is applied too severely. The child cried most
+unmercifully, when perhaps he only cried because he was rebellious and
+stubborn. This repeated a few times, and the one who is determined to
+maintain discipline becomes discouraged, and silently the management, or
+rather the mismanagement of the family passes into the hands of the
+other parent, and for peace sake.</p>
+
+<p>The above is a fruitful cause of bad management. In truth no one is
+prepared to govern others unless he governs himself. A fretful spirit
+and an impatient manner can do but little else than awaken opposition in
+the breast of the child. Such a course can never secure confidence and
+love. Every parent is here exposed to err. We are never prepared to
+administer discipline without possessing the spirit of Christ. It would
+probably be a good rule to adopt never to correct a child until we have
+been upon our knees before God in prayer. It would be a great preventive
+to a spirit of impatience.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>A want of decision.</i>&mdash;One reason why some find so much difficulty in
+the management of their families, is owing to the manner in which they
+address their children. They never speak with any degree of decision.
+The child judges it doubtful whether the parent means what he requires.
+He therefore hesitates and hesitates before he obeys. He foresees this
+habit, and hence he neglects obedience altogether. For the want of
+decision, he is under the necessity of repeating his commands again and
+again. What a wretched practice! No one should think he governs his
+children without they obey him <i>at once</i>. He should never expect to
+repeat his commands, and he should speak in such a manner as to lead the
+child to infer the parent <i>expected him to obey.</i> Manner has great
+influence. <i>Expression</i> is more than half.</p>
+
+<p>Where submission takes place under such circumstances, it is generally
+of the genuine kind. There is no spuriousness about it. And there is not
+often any more trouble about discipline after that. The question is
+decisively settled. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> is not every child that manifests its rebellion
+so much all at once. They manifest it little by little, daily, as
+opportunity offers, and then they will appear more easily to yield. It
+is to be feared, there is but little genuine submission in many such
+instances. At least there is but one course for the parent&mdash;to keep up
+the discipline so long as he manifests the least particle of rebellion.
+If he shows rebellion in any particular way, you should not try to avoid
+it, but meet it, and effect the work of entire submission.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Correcting with an improper spirit and in an improper manner is
+another cause of bad government.</i>&mdash;Some never chastise except in a rage,
+and then no one is prepared to do it. They must get very much excited
+before they undertake to correct the child, and then perhaps when the
+child is not in the least to blame. He lets a pitcher fall, or breaks a
+plate, the parent flies into a passion, and begins to beat the unlucky
+boy or girl. Perhaps no positive correction was deserved. Such a spirit
+can never benefit a child. Some never think of reproving a real fault.
+It is only when an accident occurs, or some unintentional mishap is
+done, that the rod is ever used. To be sure there might be blame, but
+nothing compared with some acts of deliberate and willful transgression,
+when no correction is given.</p>
+
+<p>Parents, your children cannot purchase at any price what you can give
+them; I mean a subdued will. To effect this it is necessary to begin
+when a child is very young. The earlier the better, if you can make
+yourself understood. You need not fix upon any particular age when to
+begin; let this depend on circumstances, and different children will
+show their rebellion upon different points.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Coming short of attaining the object when you make the
+attempt&mdash;leaving discipline half completed.</i>&mdash;When a child is corrected,
+every reasonable object should be attained. No point should be evaded.
+The parent should not stop until perfect and entire submission is
+effected on every point of dispute. And first I would invite your
+attention to instances by no means rare, where the child shows rebellion
+on some particular point. At such a point he stops; you cannot move him.
+He will do anything else but just the thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> required. He may never have
+showed a stubborn will before. You have now found a point where you
+differ; there is a struggle between will and will; the stakes are set,
+and one or the other must yield. There is no avoiding it; you cannot
+turn to the right nor to the left; there is but one course for you. You
+must go forward, or the ruin of your child is sealed. You have come to
+an important crisis in the history of your child, and if you need motive
+to influence you to act, you may delineate as upon a map his temporal
+and eternal destiny&mdash;these mainly depend upon the issue of the present
+struggle. If you succeed, your child is saved; if you fail, he is lost.
+You may think perhaps your child will die before he will yield. We had
+almost said he might as well die as not to yield. I have known several
+parents who found themselves thus situated. Perhaps they possessed a
+feeble hand, their strength began to fail, but it was no time to parley.
+They summoned all their energy to another mighty struggle. Victory was
+theirs&mdash;a lost child was saved. Some are contented with anything that
+looks like obedience in such instances. The occasion passes. It soon,
+however, recurs with no better nor as good prospects. Thus the struggle
+is kept up while the child remains under the parental roof.</p>
+
+<p>A father one day gave his little son some books, his knife, and last of
+all his watch to amuse him. He was right under his eye. At length he
+told him to bring them all to him. He brought the books and knife to him
+cheerfully; the watch he wanted to keep&mdash;that was his idol. The father
+told him to bring that; he refused. The father used the rod. He took up
+the watch and brought it part way, and laid it down. The father told him
+to put it in his hand, but he would not. He corrected him again. He
+brought it a little farther and laid it down. Again he whipped him. At
+length he brought it and held it right over his father's hand, but would
+not put it in. The father, wearied by the struggle, struck the son's
+hand with the stick, and the watch fell into his hand. It was not given
+up. There was no submission. That son has been known to be several times
+under conviction, but he would never submit to God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE</h2>
+
+<h3>RIZPAH.</h3>
+
+
+<p>In order fully to understand the subject of our present study, we must
+return upon the track, to the days of Joshua, before Israel had wholly
+entered upon the possession of the promised land. The tribes were
+encamped at Gilgal to keep the passover, and from there, by the
+direction of Jehovah, they made incursions upon the surrounding
+inhabitants. Jericho and Ai had been taken, and the fear of these
+formidable Hebrews and their mighty God had fallen upon the hearts of
+the nations and stricken them almost to hopelessness. Feeling that a
+last effort to save themselves and their homes must be made, they banded
+together and resolved to defend their rights, and to put to proof the
+combined power of their deities. One clan, however, despairing of
+success by any such means, having heard that the utter extirpation of
+the Canaanites was determined upon, resorted to stratagem, and thus
+secured their safety in the midst of the general ruin. "They did work
+wilily," says the sacred record, "and made as if they had been
+ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles old,
+and rent, and bound up; and old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and
+old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and
+mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto
+him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, now
+therefore make ye a league with us." At first the Israelites seem to
+have suspected trickery, but when the supposed ambassadors produced
+their mouldy bread, and declared that it was taken hot from the oven on
+the morning of their departure from their own country, and that their
+wine bottles were new, now so shrunk and torn, and pointed to their
+shoes and garments quite worn out by the length of the journey; and
+told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> their pitiful story, and in their humility stooped to any terms if
+they might only be permitted to make a covenant, Joshua and his elders
+were completely deceived, and without stopping to ask counsel of the
+Lord, "they made peace with them, and made a league with them to let
+them live."</p>
+
+<p>The Lord abhors treachery, and although his people had greatly erred in
+this act, and although these Hivites were among the nations whom he had
+commanded them to destroy, yet since a covenant had been made with them,
+it must be kept on peril of his stern displeasure and severe judgments.
+Only three days elapsed before the Israelites discovered that the crafty
+ambassadors were their near neighbors, and were called upon to come to
+their defense against the other inhabitants of the land, who having
+heard of the transaction at Gilgal, had gathered together to smite their
+principal city, Gibeon, and destroy them because they had made peace
+with Joshua. Before the walls of that mighty city, and in behalf of
+these idolaters, because Jehovah would have his people keep faith with
+those to whom they had vowed, was fought that memorable battle, the like
+of which was never known before or since, when to aid the cause, the
+laws of Nature were suspended upon human intercession&mdash;when Joshua said,
+"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of
+Ajalon." "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not
+to go down about a whole day."</p>
+
+<p>The tribes gained their inheritance, and their enemies were mostly
+driven out of the land, but in their midst ever dwelt the Gibeonites,
+safe from molestation, though the menial services of the tabernacle were
+performed by them, because of the deceit by which they purchased their
+lives, and they were contented to be thus reduced to perpetual bondage
+so they might escape the doom of their neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>Years passed on, and vicissitudes came to the Israelites of one kind and
+another. Sometimes they were victorious in their battles and peaceful
+among themselves; and again they fled before enemies or were embroiled
+in civil dissensions. Ever, above, caring for them, and bringing them
+safely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> on through all; instructing, guiding and disciplining, sat on
+his throne, their mighty invisible King. They demanded an earthly
+monarch, and in judgment he granted their desire. <i>In judgment</i>, and
+miserable in many ways were the results of his reign. Among his other
+evil acts not recorded, but alluded to in the history, was one of cruel
+treachery to the Gibeonites. "It would seem that Saul viewed their
+possessions with a covetous eye, as affording him the means of rewarding
+his adherents, and of enriching his family, and hence, on some pretense
+or other, or without any pretense, he slew large numbers of them, and
+doubtless seized their possessions." In this wicked deed we gather that
+many of the Israelites, and the members of Saul's family in particular,
+had an active share, and were benefited by the spoils. The Almighty
+beheld and took cognisance, but no immediate retribution followed.
+Towards the close of David's reign, however, for some unknown reason,
+the whole land was visited with a famine. Month after month it stalked
+abroad, and year after year, until three years of want had afflicted the
+chosen people. At the end of that time David, having resorted to all
+possible means of providing food in vain, began to reflect that there
+was meaning in the visitation, and "sought the face of the Lord," to
+inquire why he was displeased with his people. The answer was explicit
+and terrible. "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the
+Gibeonites." Though men forget, the Lord does not. He will plead the
+cause of the oppressed sooner or later, and though his vengeance sleep
+long, yet will he reward to those that deal treachery sevenfold sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Driven by famine and by the expressed will of Jehovah, David sent to ask
+of the injured people what should be done to satisfy their sense of
+justice. "And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor
+gold of Saul nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in
+Israel.</p>
+
+<p>"The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be
+destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,</p>
+
+<p>"Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> will hang them
+up unto the Lord in Gibeon of Saul. And the king said, I will give
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Dreadful days of blood! Fearful fiat! which though needful and just, yet
+invaded the sanctuary of home so gloomily. Sad world! in which the
+innocent so often bear the sins of the guilty,&mdash;when will thy groans,
+ever ascending into the ears of Almighty love, be heard and bring
+release?</p>
+
+<p>The sentence was executed. Two sons of Saul by Rizpah, his inferior
+wife, and five of Merab his eldest daughter, whom Michal had, for some
+reason, educated, were delivered up and hung by the Gibeonites.</p>
+
+<p>Who can imagine, much less portray, the mother's anguish when her noble
+sons were torn from her for such a doom! We do not know whether Merab
+was living to see that day of horror, but Rizpah felt the full force of
+the blow which blasted all her hopes. Her husband, the father of her
+sons, had been suddenly slain in battle; her days of happiness and
+security had departed with his life, and now, all that remained of
+comfort, her precious children, must be put to a cruel death to satisfy
+the vengeance due to crimes not hers nor theirs. Wretched mother! a
+bitter lot indeed was thine! But the Lord had spoken, and there was no
+reprieve. To the very town where they had all dwelt under their father's
+roof, were these hapless ones dragged and their bodies ignominiously
+exposed upon the wall until they should waste away&mdash;a custom utterly
+abhorrent to all humanity, and especially to the Hebrews, whose
+strongest desire might be expressed in the words of the aged Barzillai,
+"Let me die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father
+and mother."</p>
+
+<p>Behold now that lone and heart-broken mother, on the spot where day and
+night, week after week, and month after month, she may be found. Neither
+heat nor cold&mdash;distressing days nor fearful nights&mdash;the entreaties of
+friends, nor the weariness of watching, nor the horrifying exhibition of
+decaying humanity, could drive her from her post. Upon the sackcloth
+which she had spread for herself upon the rock she remained "from the
+beginning of the harvest until the rain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> dropped upon them out of
+heaven," and suffered neither the birds of the air by day, nor the
+beasts of the field by night to molest those precious remains. O
+mother's heart! of what heroism art thou capable! Before a scene like
+this the bravest exploits of earth's proudest heroes fade into dim
+insignificance. At this picture we can only gaze. Words wholly fail when
+we would comment on it. Of the agonies it reveals we cannot speak. There
+are lessons to be learned from it, and upon them we can ponder.</p>
+
+<p>The value which the Lord our God sets upon truth is here displayed. He
+will have no swerving from the straight path of perfect fidelity to all
+engagements and covenants. Severe and awful appears his character as
+thus presented to us, and yet it is upon this very attribute that all
+our hopes rely. "He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man
+that he should repent." If he thus defends those who love him not, how
+safe and happy may his children rest.</p>
+
+<p>The days in which Rizpah lived were dark and gloomy days. The words of
+Samuel to Agag may stand as their memorial, "As thy sword hath made
+women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." Let us
+be thankful that we see no such direful scenes, and let us act worthy of
+our higher lot. Let us remember also that there is a destruction of life
+more terrible even than that which Rizpah witnessed&mdash;the destruction of
+the soul. If the mother's love within us prompts us to half the care of
+the spiritual life of our children, which she bestowed on the decaying
+forms of her loved ones, He who rewards faithfulness will not suffer us
+to labor in vain.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Each day is a new life; regard it therefore, as an epitome of the world.
+Frugality is a fair fortune, and industry a good estate. Small faults
+indulged, are little thieves to let in greater.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FEMALE EDUCATION&mdash;INTELLECTUAL TRAINING.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. S.W. FISHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>Let us now enter upon the second part of the field of education, the
+training of the intellect. It is obvious that we have in this, a much
+higher subject to deal with than that on which we have just dwelt. The
+physical form in a few years develops itself, and soon reaches its
+utmost limits of growth. It is then an instrument whose powers we seek
+to maintain but cannot increase. As time advances, indeed, those powers
+gradually yield to the influence of disease or age, until the senses
+begin to neglect their office, the brain declines in vigor, while the
+tongue, the eye, the hand, forget their accustomed work in the
+imbecility wrought by the approach of death. But no such limitation is
+manifest to us in the growth and future life of the intellect. Dependent
+upon the body for a healthful home in this world, and so far limited by
+the conditions of mortality, it yet seems to have in itself no absolute
+limitation bounding its prospective and possible attainments, save as
+the finite never can fully attain to the infinite. Granting it a
+congenial home, a fitting position, with full opportunity for progress,
+and there is scarcely a height this side infinity which in the ascent of
+ages it seems not capable of reaching. All creatures are finite, and as
+such, limited; but the horizon around the soul is so amazingly
+expansive, and the capacities of the mind for progress so immense, that
+to us, in our present state, it is almost as if there were no
+limitations at all.</p>
+
+<p>The power of the intellect to acquire facts and relations, and from them
+to ascend to the laws which control; its power to advance in a daily
+ascending path into the region of intuition, where masses of things,
+once isolated or chaotic, range themselves into harmony, and move in
+numbers most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> musical; its power thus to rise into an enlarging vision
+of truths now latent, and behold directly laws, relations and facts
+which once evaded the sight, or were only seen dimly and after great
+toil, it is utterly beyond our sphere to limit. We know that what to us
+in childhood was a mystery, is now simple; that some of the grandest
+laws of the material world which a few years back were reached only
+after stupendous labor, are now become intuitive truths; and we can see
+no reason why the human mind is not capacitated for just such advances
+eternally; at every ascent sweeping its vision over a broader range of
+truth, and rising ever nearer that Omniscient Intellect to which all
+things open. The instinct and imperfect reason of the noblest brutes,
+are here in marked contrast to the mind of man. They reach the limit of
+knowledge with the ripening of their physical frame; a limit which no
+training, however protracted and ingenious, can overpass; which never
+varies, except as a cord drawn round a center may vary, by being
+enlarged on the one side and contracted on the other; and which prepares
+them without the acquisition of a particle of superfluous intelligence
+for their brute life as the servitors of man. While his mind, never
+wholly stationary for a long period, has capacities for development that
+seem to spurn a merely sensual life, and lift the spirit to a
+companionship with angels; which, instead of resting satisfied with the
+mere demands of the body, seeks to penetrate the deep springs of life,
+discern the exquisite organism of an insect's wing, measure the stars,
+and analyze the light that reveals them.</p>
+
+<p>Possessing an intellect of so fine a nature, it is not to be questioned
+that, according to our opportunities, it is incumbent on us to carry
+forward its improvement from childhood to hoary age. A power like this,
+of indefinite expansion, in directions surpassingly noble, among
+subjects infinitely grand, has been conferred that it might be expanded,
+and go on expanding in an eternal progression; that it might sweep far
+beyond its present horizon and firmament, where the stars now shining
+above us, shall become the jeweled pavement beneath us, while above
+still roll other spheres of knowledge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> destined in like manner to
+descend below us as the trophies of our victorious progress.</p>
+
+<p>To bury such an intellect as this in the commonplaces of a life of mere
+sense; to confine it to the narrow circle of a brute instinct and
+reason; to live in such a world, with the infinite mind of Jehovah
+looking at us from all natural forms, breathing around us in all tones
+of music, shining upon us from all the host of heaven, and soliciting us
+to launch away into an atmosphere of knowledge and ascend to an
+acquaintance with the great First Cause, even as the bird challenges the
+fledgling to leave its nest, and be at home on the wing; to live amid
+such incitements to thought, yet never lift the eyes from the dull round
+of physical necessities, is treason toward our higher nature, the
+voluntary defacement of the grandest characteristic of our being. The
+education of the intellect is not a question to be debated with men who
+have the slightest appreciation of their noble capacities. The
+obligation to improve it is commensurate with its susceptibility of
+advancement and our opportunities. It is not limited to a few years in
+early life, it presses on us still in manhood and declining age. Such is
+a general statement of the duty of intellectual improvement.</p>
+
+<p>In the actual education of the mind, our course will necessarily be
+modified by the ultimate objects at which we aim. Properly these are
+twofold&mdash;the first general, the second specific. The first embraces the
+general training of our intellectual powers, with direct reference to
+the high spiritual life here and hereafter. We place before us that
+state of immortality to which the present stands in the relation of a
+portico to a vast temple. The intellect is itself destined to survive
+the body, and as the instrument through which the heart is to be
+disciplined and fitted for this condition of exalted humanity, is to be
+informed with all that truth most essential for this purpose. Whatever
+there be in the heavens or the earth&mdash;in books or works of men, to
+discipline, enlarge and exalt the mind, to that we shall be attracted. A
+right heart breathes in an atmosphere of truth; it grows and rejoices in
+communion with all the light that shines upon it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> from the works or word
+of God. All truth, indeed, is not of the same importance. There is that
+which is primary and essential; there is that which adds to the
+completeness, without going to the foundation of character. The truths
+that enter a well cultivated mind, animated by right sentiments, will
+arrange themselves by a natural law in the relative positions they hold
+as the exponents of the character of God, and the means more or less
+adapted to promote the purity and elevation of man. All truth is of God;
+yet it is not all of equal value as an educational influence. There are
+different circles&mdash;some central, some remote. The crystals of the rock,
+the stratification of the globe, and the facts of a like character, will
+fill an outer circle, as beautiful, or skillful, or wonderful, in the
+demonstration of divine powers, but not so in themselves unfolding the
+highest attributes of God. The architecture of animate nature, the
+processes of vegetable life, the composition of the atmosphere, the
+clouds and the water, will range themselves in another circle, within
+the former, and gradually blending with it, as the manifestations of the
+wisdom and benificence of God. Then the unfoldings of his moral
+character in the government of nations, in the facts of history, and in
+the general revelation of himself in the Scriptures, will constitute
+another band of truth concentric with the others, yet brighter and
+nearer the center. While at length in the cross and person of Christ&mdash;in
+the system of redemption, and all the great facts which it embodies, we
+behold the innermost circle that, sweeping round Jehovah as its center,
+reflects the light of his being, most luminously upon the universe. Such
+is obviously the relative order of the truth we seek to know. It is the
+different manifestations of God, ascending from the lowest attributes of
+divinity, to those which constitute a character worthy the homage and
+love of all beings. Now, as it is the great object of life to know God
+and enjoy him, so in education we are to keep this steadily in view, and
+follow the order of procedure for the attainment of it which God has
+himself established. To spend the life or the years of youth on the
+study of rocks and crystals, to the neglect of the higher moral truths
+which lie within their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> circle, is unpardonable folly&mdash;a folly not to be
+redeemed by the fact that such knowledge is a partial unfolding of God
+to man. It is little better than studying the costume to the neglect of
+the person&mdash;than the examination of the frame to the neglect of the
+master-piece of a Raphael inclosed within it&mdash;than the criticism of a
+single window to the neglect of the glorious dome of St. Peter's&mdash;than
+viewing the rapids to the neglect of the mighty fall of Niagara. In
+education, the observance of this natural order of truth will bring us,
+at length, to that which fills the outer circle, and thus <i>all</i> the
+kinds of knowledge will receive a just attention. Indeed, the study of
+the one naturally leads us to the other. We shall pass from the inner to
+the outer lines of truth, and back again, learning all the while this
+important lesson, that the study of the more remote class of truths is
+designed to conduct us to a more perfect appreciation of that which is
+moral, religious, central and saving; while the study of the higher
+parts of revelation will show us that the former come in to finish and
+perfect the latter. We do not despise the frieze&mdash;the architrave&mdash;the
+cornice&mdash;the spires, and the other ornaments of the temple, because we
+regard as most essential the foundation, the corner stone, the walls and
+the roofing; but in due time we seek to impart to our edifice not only
+strength and security, but the beauty of the noblest and richest
+adornment. According to our means, and as the necessities of life will
+permit, we shall seek for knowledge from all its various spheres, and
+despise nothing that God has thought worthy of his creative power or
+supporting energy.</p>
+
+<p>Now this large course of education in obedience to its first great
+object, is not limited by anything in itself or in us, to a particular
+class of individuals. It is the common path along which all intelligent
+beings are to pass. The object to which it conducts is before us all,
+and common to all. It is not divided into departments for separate
+classes. Woman, as well as man, has an interest in it, and an obligation
+to seek for it, just as binding as that which rests on him. All souls
+are equal, and though intellects may vary, yet the pursuit of truth for
+the exaltation of the soul is common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> to all. As this obligation to
+unfold the powers of the intellect, that we may grasp the truth, is
+primary, taking precedence of other objects&mdash;since all duty is based on
+knowledge, and all love and worship, and right action on the
+intelligence and apprehension of God&mdash;so education, which in this
+department is but the development of our capacity, preparing us to
+pursue the truth, and master the difficulties which frown us away from
+its attainment, rises into a duty the most imperative upon all rational
+beings. The same path here stretches onward before both sexes, the same
+motives impel them, the same objects are presented to them, the same
+obligations rest upon them. Neither youth nor age&mdash;neither man nor
+woman, can here make a limitation that shall confine one sex to a narrow
+corner&mdash;an acre of this broad world of intelligence&mdash;and leave the other
+free to roam at large among all sciences. Whatever it is truly healthful
+for the heart of man to know, whatever befits <i>his</i> spiritual nature and
+immortal destiny, that is just as open to the mind of woman, and just as
+consistent with her nature. To deny this abstract truth, we must either
+affirm the sentiment falsely ascribed to Mahomet, although harmonizing
+well enough with his faith in general, that women have no souls; or take
+the ground that truth in this, its widest extent, is not as essential to
+their highest welfare as it is to ours; or assert, that possessing
+inferior intellects, they are incapable of deriving advantage from the
+general pursuit of knowledge, and therefore must be confined to a few
+primary truths, of which man is to be the judge. The first supposition
+we leave with the fanaticism that may have given it birth, and with
+which it so well harmonizes; the second we surrender to those atheistic
+fools and swindling politicians who can see no excellence in knowledge,
+save as it may minister to their sensual natures, or assist them to
+cajole the people; while the man who maintains the third, we would
+recommend to a court of Ladies, with Queen Elizabeth as judge, Madame de
+Stael as prosecuting attorney, and Hannah More, Mrs. Hemans, and other
+bright spirits of the same sex, as jury.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have dwelt thus at length on the first and most general object before
+us in the pursuit of knowledge, because it is really of the highest and
+noblest education, common to both sexes and unlimited by anything in
+their character or different spheres of life.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, DERIVED FROM
+THE GERMAN PRACTICE, AND ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN POPULATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The great difficulty in this country is, that we try to do too much for
+our children. If we would let them alone a little more, we should do
+better; that is, if we would content ourselves with keeping them warm
+and clean, and feeding them on simple, wholesome food, it would be
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>They will take exercise of themselves, if we will let them alone, and
+they will shout and laugh enough to open their lungs. It is really
+curious for a scientific person to look on and observe the numerous and
+sometimes, alas! fatal mistakes that are constantly made. You will see a
+family where the infants are stout and vigorous as a parent's heart
+could desire, and, if only let alone, would grow up athletic and fine
+people; but parents want to be doing, so they shower them every morning
+to make them strong&mdash;they are strong already!</p>
+
+<p>Then, even before they are weaned, they will teach them to suck raw
+beef; for what? Has not their natural food sustained them well? An
+infant will have teeth before it wants animal food.</p>
+
+<p>But all these courses they have heard were strengthening, so they
+administer them to the strongest, till excess of stimulants produces
+inflammation, and the natural strength is wasted by disease. Then the
+child grows pale and feeble; now the stimulants are redoubled, they are
+taken to the sea-shore, kept constantly in the open air, and a great
+amount of exercise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> is insisted on. By this time all the symptoms of
+internal inflammation show themselves: the skin is pale, the hands and
+feet cold, dark under the eyes, reluctance to move, &amp;c., &amp;c. But no one
+suspects what is the matter; even the physician is often deceived at
+this stage of the process, and if he is, the child's case will be a hard
+one.</p>
+
+<p>I mention particularly this course of stimulants, as it is just now the
+prevalent mania. Every one ought to understand, that those practices
+which are commonly called strengthening, are, in other words,
+stimulating, and that to apply stimulants where the system is already in
+a state of health, will produce too much excitement. The young, from the
+natural quickness of their circulation, are particularly liable to this
+excess of action, which is inflammation. This general inflammation, in
+time, settles into some form of acute disease, so that in fact, by
+blindly attempting to strengthen, we inflame, disease, and enfeeble to
+the greatest possible degree.</p>
+
+<p>If we look at nature&mdash;at the animal instincts that are around us, what a
+different course does it advise! The Creator has taught the lower races
+to take care of their young; and if some accident does not happen to
+them they never lose one; just as they manage to-day, just so did they
+do for them a thousand years ago. Man is left to his own reason, I had
+almost said to his caprice; every age has produced different customs,
+and in consequence different diseases. More than half of the human race
+die under five years old; how small a portion live to the full
+"<i>threescore and ten</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Morally and intellectually, man may advance to an almost unlimited
+extent; but he must remember, that physically he is subjected to the
+same laws as other animals. Is it not quite time that we should bow our
+pride of reason, and look to the practice of those animals that raise
+all their young, and live out their own natural lives? How do they
+manage? We need not look far; see, madam, the cat; how does she contrive
+to rear her young family? Who ever saw her give one of them a
+shower-bath? Who ever saw her take a piece of meat to her nest, that her
+little ones might try their gums<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> on it, before their teeth had grown?
+Who ever saw her taking them out of a cold winter's day for exercise in
+the open air, till their little noses were as red as those of the
+unfortunate babies one meets every cold day? Not one of all these
+excellent fashionable plans does she resort to. She keeps them
+clean&mdash;very clean, warm&mdash;very warm indeed. The Creator sends them to
+make their way in the world dressed completely, cap and all, in a
+garment unexceptionable as to warmth; there is no thick sock on the feet
+to protect from chills, and the head left with the bare skin uncovered,
+because reason had discovered that the head was the hottest part of the
+body, and that it was all a mistake that it should be so; therefore it
+was left exposed to correct this natural, universal law of the animal
+economy. Pussy knows nothing of all this, so kittie's cap is left on,
+coming snug over the little ears; and who ever saw a cat deaf (but from
+age) or a kitten with the ear-ache? Yet the first thing that strikes a
+stranger, in coming to our land of naked heads, is the number of persons
+he meets, that are partially deaf, or have inflamed eyes. All this
+sounds like a joke, but is it not a pretty serious one? Is it not
+strange, that men do not look oftener in this direction? It is not the
+cat alone, every animal gives the same lessons. The rabbit is so
+careful, that lest her young should take cold while she is from home,
+she makes a sort of thick pad or comforter of her own hair, and lays it
+for a covering over them. We do not hear that the old rabbits, when they
+go out into life, (in our cold climate too) are any more liable to take
+cold from having been so tenderly brought up. In fact, I doubt whether
+they ever take cold at all, young or old; while with man, to have a cold
+seems to be his natural state, particularly in the winter season. I have
+heard some persons go so far as to say, that a cold does not do a child
+any hurt; but it is not true, let who will say it; every cold a child
+takes, makes him more liable to another; and another, and another
+succeeds, till chronic disease is produced.</p>
+
+<p>(To be Continued.)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>A FAINT PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BOY; THE FATHER OF THE MAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>On my first visit to New York, many years since, I was accompanied by a
+young nephew. He was made up of smiles and cheerfulness. Such a
+traveling companion, of any age, is rare to be found, so gallant&mdash;so
+ready to serve&mdash;so full of bright thoughts&mdash;anticipating all my wishes,
+and yet so unobtrusive and modest&mdash;at the same time disposed to add to
+his own stock of knowledge from every passing incident. Nothing, in
+fact, escaped his observation. The variety and richness of scenery which
+is everywhere to be found in the New England States, seemed to delight
+his young heart. This alone, was enough to inspire my own heart with
+sunny thoughts, though I was in affliction, and was seldom found absent
+from my own happy home.</p>
+
+<p>As I recall to mind that journey and that happy, cheerful child, I often
+think how much comfort even a child can impart to others, when their
+hearts have been sanctified by the Spirit of God. I cannot forbear to
+say that cheerfulness is a cardinal virtue, and ought to be more
+cultivated by the old and by the young. A cheerful disposition not only
+blesses its possessor but imparts happiness to all that come within its
+reach.</p>
+
+<p>As we entered the city at an early hour, everything wore a cheerful
+aspect, every step seemed elastic and every heart buoyant with hope.
+There was a continual hum of busy men and women, as we were passing near
+a market. Such a rolling of carts and carriages&mdash;so many cheerful
+children, some crying "Raddishes"&mdash;"raddishes"&mdash;others
+"Strawberries"&mdash;"strawberries"&mdash;others with baskets of flowers&mdash;all wide
+awake, each eager to sell his various articles of merchandise. This was
+indeed a novel scene to us&mdash;it did seem a charming place. My young
+companion remarked, Aunt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> C&mdash;&mdash;, "I think everybody here must be happy."
+I could not but at first respond to the sentiment. But presently we
+began to meet persons&mdash;some halt&mdash;some blind&mdash;some in rags&mdash;looking
+filthy and degraded.</p>
+
+<p>Every face was new to us&mdash;not one person among the throngs we met that
+we had ever seen before. An unusual sense of loneliness came over me,
+and I thought my young attendant participated in this same feeling of
+solitude, and though I said nothing, I sighed for the quiet and familiar
+faces and scenes of the "Home, sweet home" I had so recently left.</p>
+
+<p>We had not proceeded far before we saw men and boys in great commotion,
+all running hurriedly, in one direction, bending their steps towards the
+opposite shore. Their step was light and quick, but a look of sadness
+was in every face. We could only, now and then, gather up a few
+murmuring words that fell from the lips of the passers-by.</p>
+
+<p>"There were more than thirty persons killed," said one. "Yes, more than
+fifty," said another. We soon learned that a vessel on fire, the
+preceding evening had entered the harbour, but the fire had progressed
+so far that it was impossible to extend relief to the sufferers, and
+most of the crew perished in the flames, or jumped overboard and were
+drowned.</p>
+
+<p>The awful impression of distress made upon the minds of persons
+unaccustomed to such disasters, cannot well be described&mdash;they certainly
+were by no means transient.</p>
+
+<p>It was sad to reflect that many who had thus perished after an absence
+from home, some a few weeks, others for months, instead of greeting
+their friends, were hurried into eternity so near their own homes, under
+such aggravated circumstances. And then what a terrible disappointment
+to survivors! Many families as well as individuals were by this calamity
+not only bereft of friends, but of their property&mdash;some reduced to a
+state of comparative beggary.</p>
+
+<p>This day's experience was but a faint picture of human life.</p>
+
+<p>But to return to that young nephew. Does any one inquire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> with interest,
+Did his cheerful, benevolent disposition, his readiness to impart and to
+receive happiness continue with him through life? It did in a
+pre-eminent degree. It is believed that even then "The joy of the Lord
+was his strength."&mdash;Neh. viii. 10.</p>
+
+<p>He died at the age of 37, having been for nearly six years a successful
+missionary among the spicy breezes which blow soft o'er Ceylon's Isle. A
+friend who had known him most intimately for many years while a student
+at Yale, and then tutor, and then a student of Theology, after his
+death, in writing to his bereaved mother, says, "We had hope that your
+son, from his rare qualifications to fill the station he occupied, his
+remarkable facilities in acquiring that difficult language, his
+cheerfulness in imparting knowledge, his indomitable perseverance, his
+superior knowledge, and love of the Bible, which it was his business to
+teach&mdash;that in all this God had raised him up for a long life of service
+to the Church; but instead of this, God had been fitting him, all this
+time, for some more important sphere of service in the upper sanctuary."</p>
+
+<p>Here, as in thousands of other cases, we see that "The boy was the
+father of the man."</p>
+
+<p>Would any mother like to know the early history of that cheerful young
+traveler, we reply, as in the case of the prophet Samuel, he was "asked
+of the Lord," and was, therefore, rightly named Samuel. The Lord called
+him by his Spirit, when a mere child, "Samuel," "Samuel," and he replied
+"Here am I;" and his subsequent life and character were what might be
+expected from his obedient disposition and his lowly conduct in early
+childhood.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>A young prince having asked his tutor to instruct him in religion and to
+teach him to say his prayers, was answered, that "he was yet too young."
+"That cannot be," said the little boy, "for I have been in the burying
+ground and measured the graves; I found many of them shorter than
+myself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MUSIC IN CHRISTIAN FAMILIES.&mdash;NO. 1.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It gives me much pleasure, in accordance with your suggestions, Mrs. W.,
+to lay before the readers of the Magazine, a few thoughts on the subject
+of music in Christian families. The subject is a very interesting one;
+and I regret that time and space will not allow me to do it more ample
+justice.</p>
+
+<p>Music is one of those precious gifts of Providence which are liable to
+be misused and misinterpreted. It has been applied, like oratory, to
+pernicious, as well as to useful purposes. It has been made to minister
+to vice, to indolence and to luxury&mdash;as well as to virtue, to industry,
+and to true refinement. But we must not on this account question the
+preciousness of the gift itself. The single circumstance that the Master
+of Assemblies requires it to be employed through all time, in the solemn
+assemblies of his worshipers, should suffice to prevent us from holding
+it in light estimation.</p>
+
+<p>Other good things besides music have been abused. Poetry, and prose, and
+eloquence, for example; but shall we therefore undervalue them?
+Painting, too, has its errings&mdash;some of them very grievous; but shall it
+therefore be neglected, as unworthy of cultivation? Things the most
+precious all have this liability, and should on this account be guarded
+with more vigilance.</p>
+
+<p>Music, merely as one of the fine arts, has many claims to our attention.
+We could not well say, in this respect, too much in its favor. Wrong
+things, indeed, have been said; and many pretensions have been raised to
+which we could never subscribe. It does not possess, as some seem to
+think, any <i>inherent</i> moral or religious efficacy. It is not <i>always
+safe</i>, as a <i>mere</i> amusement. An unrestrained passion for it, has often
+proved injurious, and those who would become artists or distinguished
+amateurs, have need of much caution on this head. Music is in this
+respect, like poetry, painting, and sculpture. The Christian may cherish
+any of these arts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> as a means to some useful end; but the moment he
+loses sight of real utility he is in danger, for everything that he does
+or enjoys should be in accordance with the glory of God.</p>
+
+<p>The most interesting point of view in which music is to be regarded is
+that which relates to the worship of God. This gives it an importance
+which is unspeakable. There is no precept which requires us to employ
+oratory, or painting, or sculpture in the worship of the Most High. Nor
+is there any direct precept for the consecrated use of poetry; for
+"psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," may be written in elevated
+prose. But the Bible is filled with directions for the employment of
+music in the sacred service. Both the Old Testament and the New require
+us to sing with devout affections, to the praise and glory of God. The
+command, too, seems to be general, like those in relation to prayer. If
+all are to pray, so "in everything" are all to "give thanks." If we are
+to "pray without ceasing," so we are told, "let every thing that hath
+breath praise the Lord." Again, "is <i>any</i> man afflicted, let him pray:
+is he merry (joyful), let him <i>sing</i> psalms." The direction is not, "if
+any man is joyful, let him attend a concert or listen to exercises in
+praise," but "let him <i>sing</i>." There is something to be done in his own
+proper person.</p>
+
+<p>Our necessities compel us to pray. A mere permission to do so, might
+seem to suffice. For we must pray earnestly and perseveringly, or perish
+forever. But will it do meanwhile to be sparing in our thanks? True, one
+may say, I am under infinite obligations to give thanks, and I generally
+endeavor to do so when engaged in the exercise of prayer. But, remember
+there is another divinely constituted exercise called praise. Why not
+engage in this also, and mingle petitions with your praises? This is the
+scriptural method of expressing gratitude and adoration, and for
+ourselves, we see not how individuals are to be excused in neglecting
+it. Every one, it is true, would not succeed as an artist, if he had
+never so many advantages. But every one who has the ordinary powers of
+speech, might be so far instructed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> in song, as to mingle his voice with
+others in the solemn assembly, or at least to use it in private to his
+own edification. This position has been established in these later times
+beyond the possibility of a rational doubt. Proofs of it have been as
+clear as demonstration. These, perhaps, may be exhibited in another
+number.</p>
+
+<p>But in reply to this statement it will be said, that cultivation is
+exceedingly difficult if deferred to adult years. Well, be it so. It
+follows, that since it is not difficult in years of childhood and youth,
+all our children should have early and adequate instruction. There
+should be singing universally in Christian families. And this is the
+precise point I have endeavored to establish in the present article. How
+far the neglects and miscarriages of youth may excuse the delinquences
+of adult years, I dare not presume to decide or conjecture. It may
+suffice my present purpose to show that according to the Bible all
+<i>should</i> sing; and that all <i>might</i> sing if instruction had not been
+neglected. Is it not high time for such neglect to be done away? And how
+shall it ever be done away, except by the introduction of music into
+Christian families?</p>
+
+<p>Let Christian parents once become awake to the important results
+connected with this subject, and they can ordinarily overcome what had
+seemed to them mountains of difficulty; nay, more, what seemed
+impossibilities, by considerable effort and a good share of
+perseverance.</p>
+
+<p>Even one instance of successful experiment in this way should be quite
+sufficient to induce others to make similar efforts.</p>
+
+<p>A father who for many years, during his collegiate and professional
+studies, was for a long period abstracted from all domestic endearments,
+much regretted this, as he was sensible of the prejudicial influence it
+had in deadening the affections. Not many years after he became settled
+in business, he found himself surrounded by quite a little group of
+children. He became exceedingly interested in their spiritual welfare,
+and in the success of Sabbath-school instruction. His heart was often
+made to rejoice as he contemplated the delightful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> influence upon
+himself of these home-scenes, and which he longed to express in sacred
+song. But as he had never cultivated either his ear or his voice, he
+felt at his time of life it would be quite useless for him to try to
+learn. Neither did the mother of his children know anything about the
+rules of music.</p>
+
+<p>They had at one time a very musical young relative for a visitor in
+their family. The children were so delighted with his lofty strains that
+they kept him singing the greater part of the time. The mother expressed
+great regret that neither she nor her husband could gratify the children
+in their eager desire to enjoy music.</p>
+
+<p>This young friend said he was sure, if she would but try, he would soon
+convince her of the practicability of learning. She promised to try&mdash;and
+in the attempt she was greatly encouraged by the assurances of her
+husband that he also would try.</p>
+
+<p>It was soon found that all the children had a good ear and a good voice,
+and particularly the eldest, a girl of seven, who was at length able to
+take the lead in singing a few tunes at family worship.</p>
+
+<p>After a few months' trial, no money could have tempted these parents to
+relinquish the pleasure and the far-reaching benefits which they felt
+must result from this social and exalted pleasure of uniting on earth in
+singing the sacred songs of Zion, as a preparation for loftier strains
+in Heaven.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>It has been beautifully said that Reason is the compass by which we
+direct our course; and Revelation the pole star by which we correct its
+variations.</p>
+
+<p>Experience, like the stern-light of a ship, only shows us the path which
+has been passed over.</p>
+
+<p>Happiness, like the violet, is only a way-side flower.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>"WHY ARE WE NOT CHRISTIANS?"</h2>
+
+<h3>A SKETCH FOR DAUGHTERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was the day for the meeting of the Monthly Missionary Society, in the
+village of C.; a day of pure unclouded loveliness in early summer, when
+the sweetest flowers were blossoming, and the soft delicious air was
+laden with their perfume, and that of the newly-mown hay. All nature
+seemed rejoicing in the manifestations of the goodness and love of its
+Creator, while the low mingled murmurings of insects, breezes and
+rivulets, with the songs of birds, formed a sweet chorus of praise to
+God. The society was to meet at deacon Mills's, who lived about four
+miles out of the village, and whose house was the place where, of all
+others, all loved to go. Very early in the afternoon all the spare
+wagons, carriages, carryalls, chaises and other vehicles were in demand.
+A hay-rack was filled with young people, as a farmer kindly offered to
+carry them nearly to the place, and toward evening, they considered, it
+would be pleasant to walk home. So deacon Mills's house was filled with
+old, middle-aged and young, who were all soon occupied with the
+different kinds of work, requisite for filling a box to be sent to a
+missionary family among the distant heathen. Seaming, stitching,
+piecing, quilting and knitting, kept every hand busy, while their
+owners' tongues were equally so, yet the conversation was not the
+common, idle talk of the day, but useful and elevating, for religion was
+loved, and lived, by most of those dear and pleasant people, and it
+could not but be spoken of. Still there was interest in each other's
+welfare, as their social and domestic pursuits and plans were related
+and discussed.</p>
+
+<p>There was a piazza in front of the house, the pillars of which were
+covered with vines, running from one to another, gracefully interlacing,
+and forming a pleasant screen from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> sun's rays. At one end of this
+piazza, a group of five young girls were seated at their work. They were
+chosen and intimate friends, who shared with each other all that was
+interesting to themselves. They had been talking pleasantly together for
+some time, and had arrived at a moment's pause, when Clara Glenfield
+said, "Girls, I think this is a good opportunity to say to you something
+that I have for a long time wished to say. You know we are in the habit
+of speaking to each other upon every subject that interests us,
+excepting that of religion. None of us profess to be Christians,
+although we know it is our duty to be. We have all pious mothers, and,
+if yours are like mine, they are constantly urging, as well as our other
+friends, to give our hearts to God, and we cannot but think of the
+subject; now, why should we not speak of it together? and why are we not
+Christians?"</p>
+
+<p>Emily Upton. "I should really be very glad, Clara, if we could. It seems
+to me we might talk much more freely with each other, than with older
+persons; for some things trouble me on this subject, and if I should
+speak of them to mother, or any one else, I am afraid they would think
+less of me, or blame me."</p>
+
+<p>Clara. "Then let us each answer the question, why are we not Christians?
+You tell us first, Emily."</p>
+
+<p>Emily. "Well, then, it seems to me, I am just as good as many in the
+church. I do not mean to say that I am good, but only if they are
+Christians, I think I am. There is Leonora D., for instance, she dresses
+as richly with feathers and jewels, attends parties instead of the
+prayer-meetings, and acts as haughtily as any lady of fashion I ever
+knew. Now, I go to the Bible class, evening meetings, always attend
+church, and read the Bible, and pray every day. Notwithstanding all,
+mother says, so tenderly, 'Emily, my child, I wish you were a
+Christian,' and I get almost angry that she will not admit that I am
+one."</p>
+
+<p>Alice Grey. "Well, I do not blame Leonora much. To tell the truth, I do
+not believe in so much church-going and psalm-singing. I think God has
+given us these pleasant things to enjoy them, and it is perfectly
+natural for a young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> girl to sing and dance, visit, dress, and enjoy
+herself. It seems to me there is time enough for religion when we grow
+older, but give me youthful pleasures and I can be happy enough."</p>
+
+<p>Sophia. "But you think religion is important, do you not?"</p>
+
+<p>Alice. "Yes, I suppose it is necessary to have religion to die by, and I
+own I sometimes feel troubled for fear that I may die before possessing
+it, but I am healthy and happy, and do not think much about it. I want
+to enjoy life while I can, like these little birds in the garden who are
+singing and skipping so merrily."</p>
+
+<p>Clara. "Annie, you are the reverse of Alice, quiet, gentle, and sedate;
+why are not you a Christian?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie. "Since we are talking so candidly, I will tell you. I really do
+not know how to be. I cannot feel that I have ever done anything that
+was so very sinful, although I know, for the Bible says so, that I am a
+sinner. To be sure, I have done a great many wrong things, but it does
+not seem as though God would notice such little things, and besides it
+did not seem as though I could have done differently in the
+circumstances. Mother has always commended me, and held me up for a
+pattern to the younger children, and I suppose I have become, at least,
+you will think I have, a real Pharisee. Yet when I have been urged to
+repent and believe in Christ, I have not known what to do. I have spent
+hours in the still, lonely night, thinking upon the subject, and saying,
+if I could only feel that I am a sinner I would repent. I have always
+believed in Jesus, that He is the Son of God, that He assumed our
+nature, and bore the punishment we deserve, and will save all who
+believe in Him. Now what more can I do? I know that I must do
+everything, for I feel that I am far from being a Christian, and yet I
+know not what. I suppose your experience does not correspond with mine,
+Clara?"</p>
+
+<p>Clara. "Not exactly. I not only know, but deeply feel, that I am a great
+sinner; sometimes my sinfulness appears too great to be forgiven. The
+trouble with me is <i>procrastination</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> I cannot look back to the time
+when I did not feel that I ought to be a Christian, but I have always
+put off the subject, thinking I would attend to it another time, and it
+has been just so for year after year. Only last week I was sitting alone
+in my room at twilight, enjoying the quiet loveliness and beauty of the
+view from my window. I could not help thinking of Him who had made all
+things, and had given me the power of enjoying them, besides so many
+other blessings, and I longed to participate in the feeling which Cowper
+ascribes to the Christian, and say, '<i>My Father</i> made them all.' Then
+something seemed to whisper, 'wilt thou not from <i>this time</i> cry unto
+me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?' 'Now is the accepted
+time.' 'To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.' But I
+did harden my heart. I did not feel willing, like Alice, to give up the
+pleasures which are inviting me all around, and become a devoted,
+consistent Christian, for I do not mean to be a half-way Christian,
+neither one thing or the other."</p>
+
+<p>Sophia. "Nearly all these reasons have been my excuse for not becoming a
+Christian, but another has been, that I do not like to be noticed, and
+made an object of remark. My father and mother and friends would be so
+much pleased, they would be talking of it, and watching me, to see if my
+piety was real, and I would feel as if I were too conspicuous a person.
+Now if we would all at the same time resolve to consecrate ourselves to
+the Lord, I think each particular case might not be so much noticed."</p>
+
+<p>"But why should you dread it so much Sophy?" asked Emily.</p>
+
+<p>"I hardly know <i>why</i>" she replied, "but I have always felt so since I
+was quite a child, but since I have for the first time spoken of it, it
+seems a much more foolish reason than I had before considered it."</p>
+
+<p>Alice. "And I must confess that I am not always so careless and
+thoughtless on this subject. When I am really possessing and enjoying
+the pleasures I have longed for, there seems to be always something more
+that I need to make me happy. Fanny Bedford, pious and good as she is,
+seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> always happier than I, and I have often wished that I was such a
+Christian as she is."</p>
+
+<p>"Who has not," exclaimed the other girls; and their praise of her was
+warm and sincere.</p>
+
+<p>"She is so consistent and religious, and yet so humble, and so full of
+love to every one, that it is impossible not to love her and the
+religion she loves so much. Annie, I have never wished so much that I
+was a Christian, as when I have thought of her; how much I wish I was
+like her." "There is Fanny in the hall, let us speak to her of what we
+have been saying," said Sophia.</p>
+
+<p>They agreed that they were willing she should know it all, and called to
+her. She came and sat with them, and they related to her the
+conversation which they had had together, to which she listened with
+much interest, and a warm heart, and replied, "It is a great wonder to
+me now, dear girls, that any should need to be <i>persuaded</i> to accept of
+Christ, and devote themselves to His service; yet it was once just the
+same with me. I had all of your excuses and many more, and considered
+them good reasons for not becoming a Christian. How true it is, that
+'the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,
+lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them.' Could you
+but once experience the blessedness of being children of God, you would
+be surprised and ashamed that you have so long refused so precious a
+privilege, to possess instead, the unsatisfying pleasures of earth.
+Consider, to be a Christian, is to have God for your father, to have all
+that is glorious and excellent in his perfections engaged for your good.
+It is to have Jesus for an ever-present, almighty friend, ready to
+forgive your sins, to save you from sin, to bear your sorrows, to
+heighten your joys, to lead and bless you in all the scenes of life, to
+guide and assist you while you engage in his blessed service, to be with
+you in the hour of death, and to admit you to the realms of eternal joy.
+I can scarcely commence telling you of all the benefits he bestows on
+His people."</p>
+
+<p>"What must we do, Fanny?" inquired Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing of all, dear Annie," she replied, "is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> go to the
+Savior, at His feet ask for repentance and true faith in Him. Consecrate
+yourself to Him, and resolve that you will from this time serve the
+Lord. Then, Annie, you will have done what you could, and 'He giveth the
+Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.' That Spirit will convince you of
+sin, and you will be surprised and grieved that you could ever have
+thought of yourself as other than the chief of sinners, and while you
+shed tears of sorrow and repentance, He will lead you to Christ, the
+Lamb of God, whose precious blood will prevail with God for the pardon
+of your sins; in it you can wash away your sins, and be made pure and
+holy in his sight. Do what you know how to do, and then shall you know
+if you follow on to know the Lord; will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>Annie. "I will try."</p>
+
+<p>Fanny. "I think the sin of procrastination must be very displeasing to
+God, as it is to our earthly parents, when we defer obeying their
+commands. It is solemn to think that He against whom we thus sin, is He
+in whose hands our breath is, and who can at any time take it away. If
+He were not so slow to anger, what would become of us? Dear Clara, and
+each of you, you are only making cause for sorrow and shame in thus
+neglecting to do what you know you ought to do. 'Enter in at the strait
+gate and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life,' and you will
+find that every step in that way is pleasure. Not such pleasure as the
+world gives, Alice, but more like the happiness of angels. Religion
+takes away no real pleasures, nor the buoyancy and happiness of the
+youthful spirit. It only sanctifies and leads its possessor to do
+nothing but what a kind heavenly Father will approve, Alice."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Fanny, all Christians are not happy ones."</p>
+
+<p>Fanny. "Yet those who are the most devoted and consistent, are the most
+happy. Some have troubles and sorrows which they could scarcely bear if
+it were not for religion. They are sanctified by means of these
+afflictions and so made happier; holiness and happiness are inseparable.
+''Tis religion that must give, sweetest pleasure while we live,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> you
+know the hymn says, and it is true. Do you think Emily, that because you
+are as good as you think Leonora is, you are good enough?"</p>
+
+<p>Emily. "No, Fanny, it was a poor excuse; I see that I must not look at
+others, but at what God requires of <i>me</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Fanny. "How common is the excuse, so many people profess to think they
+can do without religion, because so many who call themselves Christian
+are inconsistent. Dear girls, I pray that if you are ever Christians,
+you may be consistent, sincere ones. Who can estimate the good, or the
+evil, you may do by your example. If you love the Savior more than all
+else beside, you will find his yoke easy and his burden light, and for
+his sake it will be pleasant to do what would naturally be unpleasant.
+Remember this, Sophy, and I hope you will soon all know the blessedness
+of being Christians. It is our highest duty and our highest happiness.
+Do, dear girls, resolve, each of you, to seek the Lord now."</p>
+
+<p>Just then, their pastor came; he spoke kindly to each of the little
+group, before entering the house.</p>
+
+<p>"It is nearly tea-time," said Clara, "let us go and offer our assistance
+to Mrs. Mills; as we are the youngest here, perhaps she would like to
+have us carry around the plates and tea. We will try to not forget what
+you have told us, Fanny."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray for me, Fanny," said Sophia softly, as she passed her, and kissed
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"And for me," said Annie.</p>
+
+<p>"And for us, too," continued Clara, Emily and Alice, as they stepped
+back for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>Tea was soon over, the missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy
+mountains," was sung, and prayer offered by the pastor, and then the
+pleasant interview was ended.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after, Fanny and Annie met each other in the street. "Have
+you tried to do, Annie, what seemed your duty to do?" Fanny asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," she replied, as she looked up with a happy smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You have done what you could," said Fanny; "it is all that God requires
+of you, continue to do so." Annie's heart thrilled with joy, at the
+first faint hope that she was indeed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> a Christian, and from that time
+her course, like that of the shining light, was onward and brighter.</p>
+
+<p>C.L.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>MOTHERS NEED THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST.</h2>
+
+
+<p>At one period of my life, during a revival of religion, God led me by
+his Spirit to see and feel that the many years I had been a professed
+follower of Christ&mdash;which had been years of alternate revivings and
+backslidings, had only resulted in dishonor to Him and condemnation to
+my own soul. True, I had many times thought I had great enjoyment in the
+service of God, and was ever strict in all the outward observances of
+religion. But my heart was not fixed, and my affections were easily
+turned aside and fastened upon minor objects. In connection with this
+humiliating view of my past life, a deep sense of my responsibilities as
+a mother, having children old enough to give themselves to God, and
+still unreconciled to him, weighed me to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>I plainly saw that God could not consistently convert them while I lived
+so inconsistent a life. I felt that if they were lost I was responsible.
+I gave myself to seek the Lord with all my heart, by fasting and prayer.
+One day, in conversation with my dear pastor, I told him my trials, and
+he said to me, "What you want is a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Give
+yourself up to seek this richest of all blessings." I did so&mdash;and rested
+not until this glorious grace was mine. Then, oh how precious was Jesus
+to my soul! How perfectly easy was it now to deny myself and follow
+Christ!</p>
+
+<p>I now knew what it was to be led by the constraining love of Jesus, and
+to do those things that please him. Then it was that he verified to me
+his precious promise, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall ask what ye
+will, and it shall be done unto you." Very shortly, one of my dear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span>
+loved ones was brought to make an entire surrender of herself to Christ.</p>
+
+<p>I trust I was also made the instrument of good to others, who professed
+to submit their hearts to my precious Savior. Will not many more be
+induced to take God at his word and believe him when he says, "Then
+shall ye find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts"?</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>EXTRAVAGANCE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The following paragraphs, which we have met in the course of our
+reading, contain a great deal of truth worthy the consideration of our
+readers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Extravagance in living.</i>&mdash;"One cannot wonder that the times
+occasionally get hard," said a venerable citizen the other day, "when
+one sees the way in which people live and ladies dress." We thought
+there was a great deal of truth in what the old gentleman said. Houses
+at from five hundred to a thousand dollars rent, brocades at three
+dollars a yard, bonnets at twenty, and shawls, and cloaks, &amp;c., from
+fifty dollars up, are enough to embarrass any community that indulges in
+such extravagances as Americans do. For it is not only the families of
+realized wealth, who could afford it, that spend money in this way, but
+those who are yet laboring to make a fortune, and who, by the chances of
+trade, may fail of this desirable result. Everybody wishes to live,
+now-a-days, as if already rich. The wives and daughters of men, not
+worth two thousand a-year, dress as rich nearly as those of men worth
+ten or twenty thousand. The young, too, begin where their parents left
+off. Extravagance, in a word, is piled on extravagance, till</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Alps o'er Alps arise."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The folly of this is apparent. The sums thus lavished go for mere show,
+and neither refine the mind nor improve the heart. They gratify vanity,
+that is all. By the practice of a wise economy, most families might, in
+time, entitle themselves to such luxuries; and then indulgence in them
+would not be so reprehensible. If there are two men, each making a clear
+two thousand a-year, and one lays by a thousand at interest, while the
+other spends his entire income, the first will have acquired a fortune
+in sixteen years, sufficient to yield him an income equal to his
+accustomed expenses, while the other will be as poor as when he started
+in life. And so of larger sums. In fine, any man, by living on half of
+what he annually makes, be it more or less, can, before he is forty,
+acquire enough, and have it invested in good securities, to live for the
+rest of his life in the style in which he has been living all along. Yet
+how few do it! But what prevents? Extravagance! extravagance! and again
+extravagance!</p>
+
+<p><i>Wives and carpets.</i>&mdash;In the selection of a carpet, you should always
+prefer one with small figures, for the two webs, of which the fabric
+consists, are always more closely interwoven than in carpeting where
+large figures are wrought. "There is a good deal of true philosophy in
+this," says one, "that will apply to matters widely different from the
+selection of carpets. A man commits a sad mistake when he selects a wife
+that cuts too large a figure on the green carpet of life&mdash;in other
+words, makes much display. The attractions fade out&mdash;the web of life
+becomes weak&mdash;and all the gay figures, that seemed so charming at first,
+disappear like summer flowers in autumn. <i>This</i> is what makes the
+bachelors, or some of them. The wives of the present day wish to cut too
+large a figure in the carpet of life."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>Selected.</h3>
+
+<h2>EVERY PRAYER SHOULD BE OFFERED UP IN THE NAME OF JESUS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Through Him alone have we access with boldness to the throne of grace.
+He is our advocate with the Father. When the believer appears before God
+in secret, the Savior appears also: for he "ever liveth to make
+intercession for us." He hath not only directed us to call upon his
+Father as "Our Father," and to ask him to supply our daily need, and to
+forgive our trespasses; but hath graciously assured us, that
+"<i>whatsoever</i> (we) shall ask <i>in his name</i>, he will do it, that the
+Father may be glorified in the Son."&mdash;(John 14:13.) And saith (verse
+14), "If ye shall ask <i>anything in my name</i>, I will do it." And again
+(John 15:23, 24), "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall
+ask the Father <i>in my name</i> he will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked
+nothing <i>in my name</i>; ask, and <i>ye shall receive</i>, that your joy may be
+full."</p>
+
+<p>All needful blessings suited to our various situations and circumstances
+in this mortal life, all that will be necessary for us in the hour of
+death, and all that can minister to our felicity in a world of glory,
+hath he graciously promised, and given us a command to ask for, <i>in his
+name</i>. And what is this but to plead, when praying to our heavenly
+Father, that Jesus hath sent us; and to ask and expect the blessings for
+his sake alone?</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">H. More</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.</h2>
+
+<h3>BATHSHEBA.</h3>
+
+
+<p>A summons from the king! What can it mean? What can he know of her? She
+is, indeed, the wife of one of his "mighty men," but though he highly
+esteems her husband, he can have no interest in her. She meditates. Her
+cheek pales. Can he have heard evil tidings from the distant city of the
+Ammonites, and would he break kindly to her news of her husband's death?
+It cannot be. Why should he do this for her more than for hundreds of
+others in like trouble? Again, she ponders, and now a crimson hue mounts
+to her temples&mdash;her fatal beauty! Away with the thought&mdash;it is shame to
+dwell upon it&mdash;would she wrong by so foul a suspicion the Lord's
+anointed? She wearies herself with surmises, and all in vain. But there
+is the command, and she must be gone. The king's will is absolute.
+Whatever that summons imports, "dumb acquiescence" is her only part. She
+goes forth in her youth, beauty and happiness&mdash;she returns&mdash;</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Weeks pass, and behold another message, but this time it is the king who
+receives, and Bathsheba who sends. What is signified in those few words
+from a woman's hand, that can so unnerve him who "has his ten thousands
+slain"? It is now his turn to tremble and look pale. Yet a little while,
+and he, the man after God's own heart, the chosen ruler of his
+people&mdash;the idol of the nation, shall be proclaimed guilty of a heinous
+and abominable crime, and shall, according to the laws of the land, be
+subjected to an ignominious death. <i>He</i> ponders now. Would he had
+thought of all this before, but it is too late. The consequences of his
+ungoverned passion stare him in the face and well nigh overwhelm him.
+Something must be done, and that speedily. He cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> have it thus. He
+has begun to fall, and the enemy of souls, is, as ever, at hand to
+suggest the second false and ruinous step.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Another summons. A messenger from the king to Joab. "Send me Uriah the
+Hittite." It is peremptory; no reasons are given, and Joab does as he is
+bidden. Unsuspecting as loyal, Uriah hastens on his way, mindful only of
+duty, and is soon in the presence of his royal master, who, always kind,
+is now remarkably attentive to his wants and thoughtful of his
+interests. He inquires for the commander of his forces and of the war
+and how the people fare, and it would almost seem had recalled him only
+to speak kindly to him and manifest his regard for the army, though he
+had not himself led them to battle.</p>
+
+<p>But though unsuspecting and deceived, the high-minded and faithful
+soldier cannot even unwittingly be made to answer the end for which he
+has been summoned, and after two days he returns to Joab, bearing a
+letter, of whose terrible contents he little dreams and is happy in his
+ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>Meantime Bathsheba has heard of his arrival in Jerusalem, and is
+momentarily expecting his appearance. Alas! that she should dread his
+coming. Alas! that she should shudder at every sound of approaching
+footsteps. How fearful is the change which has come over her since last
+she looked on his loved face! He is her husband still, and she, she is
+his lawful loving wife. Never was he so dear to her as now. Never did
+his noble character so win her admiration, as she contemplates all the
+scenes of her wedded life and reviews the evidences of it in the past.
+How happy they have been! What bliss has been hers in the enjoyment of
+his esteem and affection! She is even now to him, in his absence, the
+one object of tender regard and constant thought. She knows how fondly
+he dwells on her love, and how precious to him is the beauty which first
+won him to her side. She is the "ewe lamb which he has nourished, which
+has drank from his own cup and lain in his bosom"&mdash;she is his all. He
+has been long away; the dangers of the battle field have surrounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>
+him, and now he is returned, alive, well; her heart bounds, she cannot
+wait till she shall see him; yet how can she meet him? Ah! fatal
+remembrance, how bitterly it has recalled her from her vision of
+delight. It is not true! it cannot be true! it is but a horrible dream!
+Her heart is true? She would at any moment have died for him. The entire
+devotion of her warm nature is his. She had no willing part in that
+revolting crime. Oh! must she suffer as if she had been an unfaithful
+wife? Must she endure the anguish of seeing him turn coldly from her in
+some future day? Must she now meet him and have all her joy marred by
+that hateful secret? Must she take part in deceiving him, in imposing
+upon him&mdash;him, the noble, magnanimous, pure-minded husband? Oh, wretched
+one! was ever sorrow like hers?</p>
+
+<p>The day passes, and the night, and he comes not. Can he have suspected
+the truth? Slowly the tedious hours go by, while she endures the racking
+tortures of suspense. The third day dawns, and with it come tidings that
+he has returned to Rabbah, and his words of whole-souled devotion to his
+duty and his God are repeated in her ears.&mdash;Faint not yet, strong heart;
+a far more bitter cup is in store for thee.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Bathsheba is again a wife, the wife of a king, and in her arms lies her
+first-born son. Terrible was the tempest which burst over her head, and
+her heart will never again know aught of the serene, untroubled
+happiness which once she knew. The storm has indeed lulled, but she sees
+the clouds gathering new blackness, and her stricken spirit shrinks and
+faints with foreboding fears. The little innocent being which she holds
+fondly to her bosom, which seemed sent from heaven to heal her wounds,
+lies panting in the grasp of fierce disease. She has sent for the king,
+and together they look upon the suffering one. Full well he knows, that
+miserable man, what mean those moans and piteous signs of distress, and
+what they betoken. He gazes on the wan, anguished features of his wife
+as she bends over her child; his thoughts revert hurriedly to her
+surpassing beauty when first he saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> her&mdash;a vision of the murdered Uriah
+flits before him&mdash;the three victims of his guilt and the message of
+Nathan, which he has just received&mdash;the stern words, "Thou art the man,"
+bring a full and realizing sense of the depth to which he has fallen,
+and overwhelmed with remorse and wretchedness, he leaves the chamber to
+give vent to his grief, to fast and weep and pray, in the vain hope of
+averting the threatened judgment.</p>
+
+<p>Seven days of alternate hope and fear, of watching and care have fled,
+and Bathsheba is childless. Another wave has rolled over her. God grant
+it be the last. Surely she has drained the cup of sorrow. She sits
+solitary and sad, bowed down with her weight of woes; her thoughts
+following ever the same weary track; direful images present to her
+imagination; her frame racked and trembling; the heavens clothed in
+sackcloth, and life for ever divested of happiness and delight. The king
+enters and seats himself beside her. And if Bathsheba is changed, David
+is also from henceforth an altered man. "Broken in spirit by the
+consciousness of his deep sinfulness, humbled in the eyes of his
+subjects and his influence with them weakened by their knowledge of his
+crimes; even his authority in his own household, and his claim to the
+reverence of his sons, relaxed by his loss of character;" filled also
+with fearful anticipations of the future, which is shadowed by the dark
+prophecy of Nathan&mdash;he is from this time wholly unlike what he has been
+in former days. "The balance of his character is broken. Still he is
+pious&mdash;but even his piety takes an altered aspect. Alas for him! The
+bird which once rose to heights unattained before by mortal pinion,
+filling the air with its joyful songs, now lies with maimed wing upon
+the ground, pouring forth its doleful cries to God." He has scarcely
+begun to descend the declivity of life, yet he appears infirm and old.
+He is as one who goes down to the grave mourning. Thus does he seem to
+Bathsheba as he sits before her. But there is more in David thus humble,
+contrite and smitten, to win her sympathy and even love, than there was
+in David the absolute, and so far as she was concerned, tyrannical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>
+monarch, though surrounded with splendors, the favorite of God and man.
+A few days since had he assayed the part of comforter, she would have
+felt her heart revolt; but now repentant and forgiven, though not
+unpunished by Jehovah, she can listen without bitterness while he speaks
+of the mercy of the Lord which has suffered them both to live, though
+the law could have required their death, and which sustains even while
+it chastises.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Another message&mdash;by the hand of the prophet to David and Bathsheba&mdash;a
+message of peace and tender consideration&mdash;a name for their new-born
+child, the gift to them from his own hand. "Call him Jedediah&mdash;beloved
+of the Lord."</p>
+
+<p>"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
+unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out."' In his
+dealings with his sinful children how far are his ways above the ways of
+men! "As the heaven is high above the earth, <i>so great</i> is his mercy
+toward them that fear him." He dealeth not with them after their
+sins&mdash;he rewardeth them not according to their iniquities, but knowing
+their frame&mdash;remembering that they are dust&mdash;that a breath of temptation
+will carry them away&mdash;pitying them with a most tender compassion, he
+deals with them according to the everlasting and abounding and
+long-suffering love of his own mighty heart. Whenever those who have
+known him best, to whom he has manifested his grace most richly, whom he
+has blessed with most abundant privileges, fall, in some evil hour, and
+without reason, upon the slightest cause, bring dishonor on his name and
+give occasion to his enemies to blaspheme, and incur his just judgment,
+behold how he treats them. Upon the first sign of contrition, the first
+acknowledgment "I have sinned," how prompt, how free, how full is the
+response, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die." No
+lingering resentment&mdash;no selfish reminding of his wounded honor&mdash;no
+thoughts but of love, warm and tender, self-forgetting love and pity for
+his sorrowing child. Even when he must resort to chastisement, "his
+strange work"&mdash;when he must for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> his great name's sake, raise up for
+David evil out of his own house&mdash;when he must, before the sun and before
+all Israel, show his displeasure at sin; with one hand he applies the
+rod, and with the other pours into the bleeding heart the balm of
+consolation, so pure, so free, that his children almost feel that they
+could never have understood his goodness but for the need of his
+severity. When, notwithstanding the earnest prayer of the father, he
+smites the child of his shame, how soon does he return with a better
+gift&mdash;a son of peace, who shall remind him only of days of contrition
+and the favor of God&mdash;a Jedediah, who shall ever be a daily witness to
+his forgiving love.</p>
+
+<p>And to those who suffer innocently from the crimes of others, how tender
+are the compassions of our heavenly Father. To the injured, afflicted
+Bathsheba is given the honor of being the mother of Israel's wisest,
+most mighty and renowned king; and she is, by father and son, by the
+prophet of the Lord, by the aspirant to the throne, and by all around
+her, ever approached with that deference and confidence which her truly
+dignified character and gentle virtues, not less than her high station,
+demand. And while not a word of reproach is permitted to be left on
+record against her, on that monument of which we have before spoken,
+among mighty and worthy names, destined to stand where many of earth's
+wisest and greatest are forgotten, with the progenitors of our Lord and
+Savior, is inscribed hers "who was the wife of Urias."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>FEMALE EDUCATION.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY REV. S.W. FISHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The second and special object of education, is the preparation of youth
+for the particular sphere of action to which he designs to devote his
+life. It may seem at first, that this general education of which I have
+already spoken, as it is most comprehensive and reaches to the highest
+range of subjects, so it should be the only style of training for an
+immortal mind. If we regarded man simply as spiritual and immortal, this
+might be true; but when we descend to the practical realities of life;
+when we behold him in a mixed nature, on one side touching the earth, on
+the other surveying the heavens, his bodily nature having its
+necessities as well as his spiritual, we find ourselves limited in the
+manner of education and the pursuit of knowledge. The division of labor
+and of objects of pursuit is the natural result of these physical
+necessities in connection with the imperfection of the human mind and
+the constitution of civilized society.</p>
+
+<p>This division of labor constitutes the starting point for the diverse
+training of men, and modifies, in part, all systems of instruction that
+cover childhood and youth. This is, at first, an education common to
+all. The general invigoration of the intellect, and the preparation of
+the mind for the grand, the highest object of life on which I first
+dwelt, embrace all the earliest years of youth. There are elements of
+power common to all men, and instruments of knowledge effective for both
+the general pursuits of a liberal education, and the limited pursuits of
+physical toil. The education of the nursery and school are equally
+useful to all. But when you advance much beyond this, far enough to
+enable the youth to fix upon his probable line of life, then the
+necessity of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> early application to that pursuit at once modifies his
+course of education.</p>
+
+<p>When we pass from the diverse professions into which the growth of
+civilized society has divided men, to the distinctions which exist
+between man and woman, we enter upon a still clearer department of our
+subject. The differences which are here to give character to education,
+are not incidental and temporary, but inherent and commensurate with
+life itself. The physical constitution of woman gives rise to her
+peculiar life. It determines alike her position in society and her
+sphere of labor.</p>
+
+<p>In all ages and climes, celebrated by travelers, historians, poets, she
+stands forth as a being of better impulses and nobler affections than
+him, of whom she is the complement. That which is rugged in him, is
+tempered by softness in her; that which is strong in him, is weak in
+her; that which is fierce in him is mild in her. Designed of God to
+complete the cycle of human life, and through a twofold being present a
+perfect <i>Adam</i>, she is thus no less different from man than essential to
+his perfection. Her nature at once introduces her into a peculiar sphere
+of action. Soon, maternal cares rest upon her; her throne is above the
+family circle; her scepter of love and authority holds together the
+earliest and happiest elements of social life. To her come young minds
+for sympathy, for care, for instruction. Over that most wonderful
+process of development, when a young immortal is growing every day into
+new thoughts, emotions and habits, which are to abide with it for ever,
+she presides. By night she watches, by day she instructs. Her smile and
+her frown are the two strongest powers on earth, influencing human minds
+in the hour when influence stamps itself upon the heart in eternal
+characters. It is from this point of view, you behold the glorious
+purpose of that attractive form embosoming a heart enriched with so
+copious a treasure of all the sweetest elements of life. She is destined
+to fill a sphere of the noblest kind. In the course of her life, in the
+training of a household, her nature reveals an excellence in its
+adaptation to the purpose for which she is set apart, that signally
+illustrates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> the wisdom of God, while it attracts the homage of man.
+Scarcely a nobler position exists in the world than that of a truly
+Christian mother; surrounded by children grown up to maturity; moulded
+by her long discipline of instruction and affectionate authority into
+true-hearted, intelligent men and women; the ornament of society, the
+pillars of religion; looking up to her with a reverent affection that
+grows deeper with the passage of time; while she quietly waits the
+advent of death, in the assurance that, in these living representatives,
+her work will shine on for ages on earth, and her influence spread
+itself beyond the broadest calculation of human reason, when she has
+been gathered to the just.</p>
+
+<p>How then are we to educate this being a little lower than the angels;
+this being thus separated from the rest of the world, and divided off,
+by the finger of God writing it upon her nature, to a peculiar and most
+noble office-work in society? It is not as a lawyer, to wrangle in
+courts; it is not as a clergyman, to preach in our pulpits; it is not as
+a physician, to live day and night in the saddle and sick room; it is
+not as a soldier, to go forth to battle; it is not as the mechanic, to
+lift the ponderous sledge, and sweat at the burning furnace; it is not
+as a farmer, to drive the team afield and up-turn the rich bosom of the
+earth. These arts and toils of manhood are foreign to her gentle nature,
+alien to her feeble constitution, and inconsistent with her own high
+office as the mother and primary educator of the race. If their pursuits
+are permitted to modify their education, so as to prepare them for a
+particular field of labor, proceeding upon the same supposition, it is
+equally just and appropriate, that her training should take its
+complexion from the sphere of life she is destined to fill. So far as it
+is best, education should be specific, it should have reference to her
+perfect qualification for her appropriate work. This work has two
+departments. The first, which is most limited, embraces the routine of
+housewifery and the management of the ordinary concerns of domestic
+life.</p>
+
+<p>The second department of her duties, as it is the most important,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> so it
+must be regarded and exalted in an enlightened system of female
+education. It is as the centre of social influence; the genial power of
+domestic life; the soul of refinement; the clear, shining orb, beneath
+whose beams the germs of thought, feeling, and habit in the young
+immortal are to vegetate and grow to maturity; the ennobling companion
+of man, his light in darkness, his joy in sorrow, uniting her practical
+judgment with his speculative wisdom, her enthusiastic affection with
+his colder nature, her delicacy of taste and sentiment with his
+boldness, and so producing a happy mean, a whole character; natural,
+beautiful and strong; it is as filling these high offices that woman is
+to be regarded and treated in the attempt to educate her. The
+description of her sphere of life at once suggests the character of her
+training. Whatever in science, literature and art is best adapted to
+prepare her to fill this high position with greatest credit, and spread
+farthest around it her appropriate influence, belongs of right to her
+education. Her intellect is to be thoroughly disciplined, her judgment
+matured, her taste refined, her power of connected and just thought
+developed, and a love for knowledge imparted, so that she may possess
+the ability and the desire for future progress.</p>
+
+<p>Who will say that this refiner of the world, this minister of the
+holiest and happiest influences to man, shall be condemned to the
+scantiest store of intellectual preparation for an entertainment so
+large and noble? Is it true that a happy ignorance is the best
+qualification for a woman's life; that in seeking to exalt the fathers
+and sons, we are to begin by the degradation of mothers and daughters?
+Is there anything in that life incompatible with the noblest education,
+or which such an education will not ennoble and adorn? We are not
+seeking in all this to make our daughters profound historians, poets,
+philosophers, linguists, authors. Success of this high character in
+these pursuits, is usually the result of an ardent devotion for years to
+some one of them, for which it is rarely a female has the requisite
+opportunities. But should they choose occasionally some particular walk
+of literature, and by the power of genius vivify and adorn it; should
+there be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> found here and there one with an intense enthusiasm for some
+high pursuit, combined with that patient toil which, associated with a
+vigorous intellect, is the well-spring of so many glorious streams of
+science, should not such a result of this enlarged education be hailed
+as the sign of its excellence, and rejoiced in as the proof of its
+power? The Mores, the Hemanses, the De Staels, and others among the
+immortal dead and the living, who compose that bright galaxy of female
+wit shining ever refulgent&mdash;have they added nothing to human life, and
+given no quick, upward impulse of the world? Besides, that system of
+education which, in occasional instances, uniting with a material of
+peculiar excellence, is sufficient to enkindle an orb whose light,
+passing far beyond the circle of home, shall shine upon a great assembly
+of minds, will only be powerful, in the multitude of cases, to impart
+that intellectual discipline, that refinement of thought, that power of
+expression, that sympathy with taste for knowledge, which will best
+prepare her for her position, and enable her in after life to carry
+forward her own improvement and that of her associated household.</p>
+
+<p>The finest influence of such an education is the development of a
+character at once symmetrical, refined, vigorous, confident in its own
+resources, yet penetrated with a consciousness of its distance from the
+loftiest heights of power; a character which will be an ennobling life
+in a household, gently influencing others into quiet paths of
+excellence; to be felt rather than seen, to be understood rather in its
+results than admired for any manifest attainments in science; an
+intellect informed and active, in sympathy with what is known and read
+among men; able to bear its part in healthful discussions, yet not
+presuming to dictate its opinions; in the presence of which ignorance
+becomes enlightened and weakness strong; creating around its home an
+atmosphere of taste and intelligence, in which the rudest life loses
+some of its asperity, and the roughest toils much of their severity.
+Such is the form of female character we seek to create by so enlarged an
+education.</p>
+
+<p>The education of the <i>heart</i> reaches deeper, and spreads its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> influence
+further than all things else. The intellect is only a beautiful piece of
+mechanism, until the affections pour into it their tremendous vitality,
+and send it forth in all directions instinct with power. When the
+"dry-light" of the understanding is penetrated by the liquid light of
+the emotions, it becomes both light and heat, powerful to vivify,
+quicken, and move all things. In woman, the scepter of her chief power
+springs from the affections. Endowed most richly with sensibility, with
+all the life of varied and vigorous impulse and deep affection, she
+needs to have early inwrought, through a powerful self-discipline, an
+entire command of her noble nature. There are few more incongruous and
+sadly affecting things than a woman of fine intellect and strong
+passions, without self-control or truly religious feeling. She is like a
+ship whose rudder is unhung; she is like a horse, rapid, high-spirited,
+untamed to the bridle; or, higher still, she is like a cherub fallen
+from its sphere of glory, with no attending seraph; without law, without
+the control of love, whose course no intelligence can anticipate and no
+wisdom guide. Religion seems to have in woman its most appropriate home.
+To her are appointed many hours of pain, of trial, of silent communion
+with her own thoughts. Separated, if she act the true woman, from many
+of the stirring scenes in which man mingles, she is admirably situated
+to nourish a life of love and faith within the circle of her own home.
+Debarred from the pursuits which furnish so quickening an excitement to
+the other sex, she either is confined to the routine of domestic life
+and the quiet society of a social circle, or devotes herself to those
+frivolous pleasures which enervate while they excite; which, like the
+inspiration of the wine-cup, are transient in their joy, but deep and
+lasting in their evil. But when religion enters her heart it opens a new
+and that the grandest array of objects. It imparts a new element of
+thought, a wonderful depth and earnestness of character. It elevates
+before her an ennobling object, and enlists her fine sensibilities,
+emotions and affections in its pursuit. Coming thus through religion
+into harmony with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> God, she ascends to the highest position a woman can
+occupy in this world.</p>
+
+<p>To woman should Christianity be especially dear. It has led her out of
+the house of bondage; it has lifted her from the stool of the servant to
+an equality with the master; it has exalted her from the position of a
+mere minister of sensual pleasure, the toy of a civilized paganism, to a
+full companionship with man; it has given her soul&mdash;once spurned,
+degraded, its immortality doubted, its glory eclipsed&mdash;a priceless
+value; and shed around her whole character the radiance of heaven. Let
+pure religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit, and breathe
+its life into her heart; let it refine her affections, sanctify her
+intellect, elevate her aims, and hallow her physical beauty; let it
+mould her early character by its rich influences, and cause the love of
+Jehovah to consecrate all earthly love, and she is indeed to our race of
+all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our glory, the
+perfection of our life.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>A CHILD'S PRAYER.</h2>
+
+<p>By one of our little friends, seven years of age, for a little sister of
+five, who had committed an offense.</p>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh great and glorious God!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thy mercy sweet bestow</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon a little sister,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So very full of woe.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh Lord, pray let her live,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For lo! at thy right hand,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To intercede for sinners,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The blessed Savior stands.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then pardon her, Most High!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Pray cast her not away,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But blot out all her sins,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And cleanse her heart to-day.</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>WOMAN.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY M.S. HUTTON, D.D.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be
+alone, I will make him a help meet for him."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Gen</span>.
+2:18.</p>
+
+<p>"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
+created he him; male and female created he
+them."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Gen</span>. 1:27.</p></div>
+
+
+<p>These two passages settle beyond controversy the oft-disputed question
+as to the equality of the sexes. In the image of God created he man;
+male and female created he them. Had God created him male and female, in
+<i>one person</i>, the question of equality could never have arisen. Nor
+should it arise because in his wisdom he has been pleased to create man
+in two persons&mdash;both man and woman are made in the image of God. It is
+not good for man to be alone, I will make a help meet for him. The exact
+rendering of the original translated help meet, is an help as before
+him, <i>i.e.</i> one corresponding to him, a counterpart of himself, in a
+word, a second self, contrived to meet what is still wanting to his
+perfection, and to furnish mutually a social and superior happiness, of
+which solitude is incapable. A more delicate and beautiful form was
+united <i>in the woman</i> to a mind possessing gentler and lovelier
+affections, a more refined taste, and more elegant sentiments. In the
+man, a firmer and stronger frame was joined to a mind more robust. In
+each, the other was intended to find that which was wanting in itself,
+and to approve, love, and admire both qualities and actions, of which
+itself was imperfectly capable; while in their reciprocations of
+tenderness, and good will, each beheld every blessing greatly enhanced,
+and intensely endeared. The only instance in which these mental and
+moral qualities were ever united in one person, is in the Lord Jesus
+Christ. And I would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> here note the fact, that in Christ we have as
+perfect an example of the woman's nature as we have of man's nature. All
+the kindness, gentleness, softness, endurance, and unselfishness of
+woman were in him combined, with all the majesty, firmness and strength
+of the manly nature. All dispute, therefore, about the superiority or
+equality of man and woman is absurd and inconclusive. They stand on the
+same platform, were both made in the image of God, and the platform upon
+which they stand is wide enough for them both, and not completely filled
+until both are upon it.</p>
+
+<p>My object, however, in selecting these passages is to present some
+thoughts on the mission of woman in our world, which have not perhaps
+been as prominently presented as they deserve. Men have their distinct
+objects in life before them, their various professions. One aims to be a
+lawyer, another a merchant, another a physician, another a mechanic, and
+thus through all the vocations of life. But what is woman's aim? what
+her object in life? These questions are more or less frequently asked in
+our day, and asked in reference to that general spirit of reform and
+progress of society which seems to characterize our age, and in relation
+to which, just in proportion as men forget to listen to the Word of God,
+they grope about in the darkness of their own feeble light.</p>
+
+<p>Our theme then is Woman's Mission.</p>
+
+<p>What is it?</p>
+
+<p>The general answer to this inquiry is very plain and easy. God created
+<i>man</i> in his own image; <i>male and female</i> created he them. The general
+design, therefore, of the creation of woman is precisely the same as
+that of the man. He created but one race when he made them male and
+female, and had in view but one object. In relation then to that object,
+no distinction is to be drawn between man and woman, and the perfect
+equality of the two sexes again becomes apparent. Indeed, it is a matter
+of wonder that this question of superiority has ever risen, or at least
+has ever been agitated by reflecting men, who for one moment considered
+the manner in which our race is propagated in the world. Nothing ever
+rises above its own nature. A spark, however high it may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> rise, however
+brilliantly it may shine in the blue ethereal, can never become a star.
+It ever remains but a spark, and so the offspring of a woman cannot, in
+its nature, rise above its origin. A man can never become superior in
+nature to his mother, and can certainly never, with right or justice,
+exercise authority over her. He may be stronger, wiser, and better, but
+he cannot be a superior being. Such a claim is alike foolish and
+despicable. The two sexes, therefore, being one in nature, their chief
+end is one, and reason and revelation unite in the assertion that man
+was created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God made all things
+for himself. He is presented to us as the sole and supreme object of our
+love and worship. His laws are our only rule of conduct, and he himself
+the sole Lord of our souls. This he claims from us as creatures. This,
+at the same time, he has required with the promise of eternal life to
+obedience, and the threatening of eternal death to disobedience; thus
+showing us that he regards this end as of infinite importance&mdash;for this
+end, his own glory, happiness in himself. When we had sinned he sent his
+Son into the world, and formed the plan to save our immortal souls from
+woe, while from the nature of the case it is evident that this is the
+highest and noblest end which man can accomplish. What can be a higher
+aim than to be like God? What can God confer superior to himself as a
+source of happiness? As he is the source and sum of all good, both moral
+and natural, to know and to love <i>him</i> is to know and love all that is
+excellent, great, and lovely, and to serve him is to do all that is
+amiable or desirable, all that is pleasing to God or profitable to his
+rational creatures. True happiness and true worth are thus attained, and
+thus alone. There is, there can be no other design in the creation of
+man than this, to glorify God by loving, serving, and enjoying him; by
+obeying his laws, living for him, living to him. This, then, is of
+course the general answer to the inquiry, What is woman's mission? To
+glorify God and to enjoy him forever. She, as well as man, has come
+short of this. She, as well as man, therefore, needs atoning blood and a
+renewed heart. She is a fallen, depraved being, influenced,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> until she
+comes under divine grace, by unholy and unworthy motives. Her first and
+imperative duty, therefore, if she would fulfill her mission, is to
+return to God by the way of his appointment, to come to Jesus, repenting
+of sin and believing on him, to receive pardon and eternal life. This,
+indeed, is the imperative duty of all, but it will be seen in the
+prosecution of our subject, that, as far as the welfare of society is
+concerned, it is most imperative upon woman. She needs it most for her
+own happiness here; she needs it most on account of her greater
+influence upon the happiness of others.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus seen the general and ultimate design of woman's creation is
+to glorify God, our next inquiry is, Is there any particular mode by
+which she is to fulfill this duty? How can she most glorify God and
+enjoy him in this life? In order to answer these inquiries it becomes
+necessary for us to examine her peculiar nature. That woman differs from
+man in her very nature is obvious, and the peculiarities of her
+organization clearly intimate that her Maker has assigned to her
+peculiar duties&mdash;that she has her allotted sphere for which infinite
+wisdom has fitted her. To enter upon all these peculiarities would
+require a volume. I must therefore be content with a brief notice of
+some of the more prominent and acknowledged ones.</p>
+
+<p>Her physical organization is more delicate than that of man. She
+possesses not the muscular power which belongs to him, and is therefore
+not designed to undergo the outward toil and hard labor of life. The
+same toil and physical exertion which will strengthen and increase the
+power of the man, will often weaken and destroy her more delicate
+organism. And when, in addition to this, you consider that to her alone
+is committed the entire maternal care, you have not only the difference
+between the two sexes distinctly marked, but you have also an intimation
+of where her peculiar sphere is to be found, and in accordance with this
+physical difference you will find a corresponding difference in her true
+spiritual and moral nature. No one who has had around him a youthful
+family circle has failed to notice that even from the cradle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> there is a
+difference in the very nature of sons and daughters. Every little girl
+knows that she is different from boys of her own age, though she may not
+be able just now to point out that difference; she knows that there are
+many things which boys like, and which they do, which she does not like
+and will not do, and this difference only widens as we advance in life.</p>
+
+<p>There is generally a delicacy of feeling, of thought, and of action,
+corresponding with the delicacy of her physical organism. God hath made
+her gentle by nature, and kind. She likes and longs to be loved and to
+love, must have some object on which she can center her affections. She
+admires flowers, and everything which is beautiful and delicate like
+herself. She has a finer imagination and more curiosity than men. She is
+more conscientious and truthful, and though a fallen, sinful creature,
+and by nature like us all, a hater of God, yet there is not so decided
+an opposition to religious things in her heart, in her loving nature;
+there is not, indeed, a predisposition towards a God of love, but a
+peculiar adaptation which assimilates more easily to religious things
+when her heart is touched by the Holy Spirit. The beauty, the harmony,
+the adaptation of the Gospel to the wants of our fallen nature, are more
+apparent to her, more quickly perceived. This may also, perhaps, be
+traced to another peculiarity which I must not forget to mention&mdash;her
+disposition to lean on others. Unlike man, she loves to be
+dependent&mdash;place her in danger and she naturally flies to her brother,
+her father, or her husband. I am aware that to all these things there
+are exceptions&mdash;there are unwomanly women as there are effeminate men,
+but the fewness of the exceptions only proves the general truth. England
+had her masculine Elizabeth, but she had only one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>CHILDREN AND THEIR TRAINING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>What wonderful provision has God made for the happiness, safety, and
+well-being of infants. He has implanted in the human breast a natural
+love of offspring, and has provided for each child parents, who should
+be of mature age, and who should have been so trained by their parents,
+that by combined wisdom, sagacity and experience, it may be duly watched
+over and cared for, and so trained as to answer life's great end, viz.,
+"To glorify God and enjoy him forever."</p>
+
+<p>Then how wisely is the body framed, and most wonderfully adapted to
+answer all the purposes of life, and especially during the period of
+infancy and childhood, when the body must be more or less exposed to
+accidents; while therefore it is destitute of experience, and cannot
+take care of itself, its bones are all soft and yielding, and more
+particularly of the skull which incloses and protects the brain, and
+those of the limbs are made flexible, so that if it falls they may bend
+and not break.</p>
+
+<p>We see daily some new development of wonderful powers and faculties in
+every new-born infant. An infant has a natural and instinctive desire to
+exercise its limbs, its voice, and indeed all its bodily functions. How
+soon it begins to laugh and coo like a little dove, to show you that it
+is social in its disposition, asking for your sympathy in return.</p>
+
+<p>It is curious and interesting to watch a young child when it first opens
+its eyes upon the light of day or the light of a candle. With what
+evident satisfaction does it slowly open and close its eyelids, so
+adapted&mdash;to say nothing of the wonderful mechanism of the eye itself&mdash;to
+let in sufficient light to gratify desire, or to shut out every ray that
+would prove injurious to the untried organs.</p>
+
+<p>What incipient efforts are first made to feel and examine different
+objects, and how very soon even infants become possessed of some of the
+elementary principles of the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> abstruse sciences, and that without a
+teacher. How many thousands of times will you see it endeavor to put up
+its little hands before its face, before it is able to control its
+movements so as to be able to examine them critically.</p>
+
+<p>We propose to dwell, hereafter, somewhat minutely upon the all-important
+subject of infant training, and in a way to show the care and attention
+which both parents should bestow upon each child, so as to provide
+proper food, clothing, and the means of self-culture and amusement, and
+absolute control over it at the earliest possible period&mdash;the earlier
+the better, so as to secure "a sound mind in a sound body."</p>
+
+<p>It is really pitiable to find so large a proportion of young parents who
+seem to think that but little instruction can be imparted, and in fact
+that but little is needed in the care and management of <i>infants</i>,
+whereas their education commences, in very many respects, and in a very
+important sense, as soon as they are born.</p>
+
+<p>Man is a complex being, composed of mind, soul and body, mysteriously
+united as to their functions, in beautiful harmony with each other, yet
+so distinct as absolutely to require widely different methods of
+training, that each shall do its office without encroaching upon the
+others, and in a way to secure a symmetrical character.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder the proper training of children should become painfully
+interesting to Christian parents, when they consider the pains-taking,
+the watchfulness, the restraints, the self-denial, and the encouragement
+which may be requisite for this. The faith and prayers which may be
+necessary to bring their children into the fold of the Good Shepherd,
+who in his last commission to his disciples did not forget to remind
+them, saying, "Feed my lambs," and whose promise and prediction, before
+his coming into the world, was, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
+I have <i>ordained</i> praise." The Scriptures inform us that it was the
+purpose of God when he "set the solitary in families," to "seek a goodly
+seed."</p>
+
+<p>How delightful and consoling then is the thought, in this world of sin
+and temptation, where there are three mighty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> obstacles to the final
+salvation of our children&mdash;the world, the flesh and the devil, that
+angels, ministering spirits, are appointed to "keep their watchful
+stations" around the families of the just. "Are they not all ministering
+spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of
+salvation?"</p>
+
+<p>When parents cheerfully fall in with the great designs of God, and in
+dependence upon him in the use of the divinely appointed means, in his
+preparing a people to himself, what a glorious combination there is in
+all this to fulfill his gracious purposes. Not only God the Father, God
+the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, but the angelic hosts, and all good
+people by their prayers and labors, help forward this grand and glorious
+design.</p>
+
+<p>When beyond this sublunary sphere, and the vail is removed which now
+hides from our view the realities of the unseen world, with what
+different emotions may we suppose parents will look upon their mission
+on earth. It will indeed seem wonderful that they should have been thus
+intrusted with the care and guardianship of children, which in a
+peculiar sense is their own, and in this respect widely differing from
+the angelic band, whose happiness, though they are permitted to minister
+to the saints, in such efforts and experience, must be inferior to that
+which parents will feel in training their own offspring&mdash;even emulating
+the all-wise Creator in his preparing a people for himself. It is
+certainly but natural to suppose that the happiest souls in Heaven will
+be those parents who are the spiritual parents of their own children.</p>
+
+<p>The benefits which must result to parents in the careful training of
+infants&mdash;children who are, by means of parental faith and fidelity,
+converted in early life, can scarcely be apprehended, certainly not
+fully, in this world, even by the most judicious Christian parents.</p>
+
+<p>Considering the instinctive love of offspring which God has implanted in
+the parental bosom, it is most painful to see the utter dislike which so
+many persons at the present day, who have entered the marriage relation,
+evince to the care and responsibility which the guardianship of children
+must ever involve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is something in all this manifestly wrong. It is unnatural. It is
+even monstrous&mdash;even below the brute creation. It interferes with the
+whole economy of nature, and frustrates the wise and benevolent designs
+of the Creator, when he set the solitary in families. No person who
+takes into view eternal realities and prospects, can, while so doing,
+indulge in such selfish, carnal and sordid views. Those who are without
+natural affection are classed by Paul with the enemies of all
+righteousness. We cannot therefore but look suspiciously upon all such
+as deny the marriage relation, cause of abuses (this is not the way to
+cure them), or, for any pretext, profess to plead the superior
+advantages of those who, for reasons best known to themselves, may
+choose a state of "single blessedness," however plausible or cogent
+their arguments may appear in favor of such a choice. We may not do evil
+that good may come, or in other words, "root up the tares, lest we also
+root up the wheat."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h3>Original.</h3>
+
+<h2>THE ORPHAN SON AND PRAYING MOTHER.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Some years since a small volume was sent to me by a friend, containing
+an account of the labors of a pious missionary along the line of the
+Erie canal. I read it with great interest, and I trust, with profit. God
+honors his word; he honors his faithful servants; and when the Great Day
+shall reveal the secrets of this world, it will be seen to the glory of
+divine grace, that many a humble missionary was made the instrument of
+eternal consolation to the poor neglected orphan&mdash;in answer to a pious
+mother's prayers.</p>
+
+<p>I beg leave to ask the insertion in the Magazine of a touching scene,
+which occurred during a missionary tour of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> the above friend of the
+outcast and neglected. I shall give the narrative chiefly in his own
+words.</p>
+
+<p>"I called at a horse station one morning very early. The station keeper
+had just got up, and stood in the door. I told him my business, and that
+I desired to see his boys a few moments. He said his boys were in bed,
+and as I was an old man, he did not wish to have me abused. 'You had
+better go on and let my boys alone,' said he; 'they will most assuredly
+abuse you if they get up, for I have got a very wicked set of boys.' I
+told him the very reasons that he assigned why I should not see his
+boys, were the reasons why I wished to see them, for if they were very
+wicked boys, there was the greater necessity for their reformation; and
+as to the abuse, that was the least of my troubles, for my Master had
+been abused before me.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, sir,' said he, 'don't blame me, if you are abused.' He then
+awoke his boys, and as they came out, I talked to them. Instead of
+abusing, they listened attentively to me, and some of them were much
+affected. They took my tracts, and I presume, read them.</p>
+
+<p>"On leaving them, I remarked, that I supposed the most of them were
+orphans, that I was the orphan's friend, and though I might never see
+them again, they might be assured they had my prayers daily, that they
+might be converted. There was one little fellow who, as I had observed,
+looked very sober, and who at the last remark cried right out. As I
+wished to take the same boat again, I stepped out of the station house,
+but found it had left, and I was walking along, looking for another
+boat, when I heard some one crying behind me, and turning round, saw
+that it was the little fellow who wept so much in the station house.</p>
+
+<p>"He said, 'Sir, you told me you was the orphan's friend; will you stop?
+I want to ask you a question.'</p>
+
+<p>"I asked him if it was because he had now discovered that he was a
+sinner, that he cried, and wished me to talk with him.</p>
+
+<p>"'No, sir,' said he, 'I knew that three years ago.'</p>
+
+<p>"I perceived, from his answer, he was an interesting boy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> and said to
+him, 'Sit down here, my son. How old are you?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Thirteen,' he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"'Where did you come from?'</p>
+
+<p>"He said, three years ago his father moved from Massachusetts to Wayne
+county; he was a very poor man, and when they got to their journey's end
+they had nothing left. His father obtained the privilege of building a
+small log house to live in, on another man's land, but just as he had
+got the house finished, he was taken sick and died. I asked him if his
+father was a Christian, but afterwards regretted that I asked him the
+question, for it was a long time before he could answer it.</p>
+
+<p>"At length he said, 'No, sir, if he had been a Christian, we could have
+given him up willingly. We had no hope for <i>him</i>; but my mother was a
+Christian. My mother, a sister seven years old, and myself, were all the
+family after my father died. I had no hope that <i>I</i> was a Christian when
+my father died; but my mother used to come up the ladder every night and
+kneel down, and put her hand upon my head, and pray that I might be
+converted. Often, when I was asleep, she would come, and her tears
+running into my face, would wake me. I knew that I was a sinner, but I
+hope God forgave my sins one night, while my dear mother was praying for
+me, and I still hope I was converted then.</p>
+
+<p>"'About a year after my father died, my sister was taken sick and died
+in about two months. My mother was naturally feeble, and her sorrow for
+the loss of my father and sister wore upon her until she was confined to
+her bed. She lay there seven months, and last fall she died.'</p>
+
+<p>"By this time the little fellow was so choked with grief that he could
+hardly speak. 'Then,' said he, '<i>I</i> was taken sick, and lay all winter,
+not expecting to get well.' I shall never forget the appearance of that
+boy, and the expression of his countenance, when he said, 'I am a poor
+orphan, sir; I have nothing in this world except the clothes I have on.'</p>
+
+<p>"All the clothes he had on would not have sold for twenty-five cents.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What an example is here to induce mothers to be faithful to their
+children. I wish to ask mothers if they have ever gone at the midnight
+hour and awoke their children by a mother's tears while pleading with
+God for the salvation of their souls?"</p>
+
+<p>Many mothers&mdash;thousands of mothers&mdash;have done no such thing. They have
+neglected their own souls, and the souls of their dear children&mdash;and
+both have gone to the bar of God, unprepared for the solemn interview.</p>
+
+<p>But some mothers have been more faithful, and what a rich and divine
+reward have they received! Many a son, now in glory, or on his way
+thither, owes his religious impressions to the prayers of a tender,
+faithful mother.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should mothers be soon or easily discouraged! True, they may not
+live to see their prayers answered&mdash;but a covenant-keeping God will
+remember them, and in his own good time and chosen way give them an
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Though seed lie buried long in dust,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">It shan't deceive our hope;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The precious grain can ne'er be lost,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">For grace insures the crop.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The writer, perhaps, cannot better conclude this article than by another
+extract from the work alluded to, much to the same purpose as the one
+already cited.</p>
+
+<p>"In conversing with the captain of a certain boat, I found him a very
+amiable and companionable man, although he acknowledged, that he had no
+reason to hope that he was a Christian. Said he, 'I ought to have been a
+Christian, long ago,' without giving his reasons for such an assertion.
+When the hour for prayer arrived, (I staid on his boat all night,) I
+asked him for a Bible. He seemed to be affected, and I did not know but
+he was destitute of a Bible. I told him I had one in my trunk, on the
+deck, and that if he had none, I would go up and get it. 'I have one,'
+said he, and unlocking his trunk, he took out a very nice Bible, and as
+he reached it out to me, the tears dropped on its cover. 'There, sir,'
+said he, 'is the last gift of a dying mother. My dear mother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> gave me
+that Bible about two hours before she died; and her dying admonition I
+shall never forget. O, sir, I had one of the best of mothers. She would
+never go to bed without coming to my bed-side, and if I was asleep, she
+would awaken me, and pray for me before she retired. Twelve years have
+elapsed since she died, and five years of that time I have been on the
+ocean, five years on this canal; and the other two years traveling. I do
+not know that I have laid my head on my pillow and gone to sleep, during
+that time, without thinking of the prayers of my mother: yet I am not a
+Christian; but the prayers of my mother are ended. I have put off the
+subject too long, but from this time I will attend to it. I will begin
+now and do all that I can to be a Christian.'</p>
+
+<p>"I hope those dear mothers, who may have an opportunity of reading these
+sketches, will inquire of their own hearts, 'Will my own dear children,
+those little pledges of God's love, remember my prayers twelve years
+after my head is laid in the narrow house appointed for all the living?'
+Oh, could we place that estimate on the soul which we should do, in the
+light of eternity, how much anxiety would be manifested on the part of
+parents for their children, and for the whole families of the earth. The
+midnight slumber would more often be disturbed by cries to God, and
+tears for this fallen, apostate, rebellious world."</p>
+
+<p>Mothers! what do you think of such facts? And what are they designed to
+teach you? Every one of them, as you meet them in the pilgrimage of
+life, is a voice of encouragement from above. Has God been kind towards
+other mothers? he can be kind towards you. Has he blessed their efforts?
+he can bless yours. Has he heard their prayers? he can hear and answer
+yours.</p>
+
+<p>Say not that you have prayed, labored, watched, and all in vain! How
+long have you thus toiled? thus wrestled? Years? Well, and may be you
+will have to toil and strive years to come. What then! Your Heavenly
+Father knows precisely when it is best to answer you, and how! Suppose
+you pray and labor ten, twenty, thirty years&mdash;and then you
+succeed&mdash;won't the salvation of your children be a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> sufficient reward?
+How do worldly parents do? Take an example from them. <i>They</i> spend
+<i>life</i> in laying up this world's goods for their children&mdash;treasures
+which perish in the using. Surely, then, you may, with great propriety,
+devote a few years to secure an imperishable crown of glory for your
+sons and daughters. For what is the present world&mdash;its gold of
+California or its gems of Golconda&mdash;what are its honors&mdash;its stars,
+coronets, crowns&mdash;to an inheritance in the kingdom of God!</p>
+
+<p>The time has not yet come when parents appreciate this subject as they
+will do. Oh, no! and until they realize their duty, their privileges,
+the purchase which they have on the throne of God by means of faith, and
+their covenant interest in the blood of Jesus, there is reason to fear
+that many children will perish, but who need not perish&mdash;who would not
+perish were their parents as faithful and energetic as parents will be
+in some more distant age of the world.</p>
+
+<p>But why postpone what may be realized now? Why relinquish blessings of
+vast and incomparable magnitude to others which you may enjoy, and which
+it is no benevolence to forego for others, because when they come upon
+the stage, there will be blessings for them in abundance and to spare?
+Let the sentiment fall upon your hearts, and make its appropriate
+impression there&mdash;"While God invites, how blest the day!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>If the candle of your earthly comfort be blown out, remember it is but a
+little while to the break of day, when there will be no more need of
+<i>candles</i>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Christian</span>, wouldst thou have an easy death? then get a
+mortified heart; the surgeon's knife is scarcely felt when it cuts off a
+mortified member.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h2>FROST.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY MRS. JULIA NORTON.</h3>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The beams of morn were glittering in the east,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The hoary frost had gathered like a mist</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On every blade of grass, on plant and flower,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sparkling with a clear, reflected light&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shot forth its radiant beams that, dazzling bright,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Proclaimed the ruling charm in beauty's power.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The god of day came forth with conquering glow,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When shrinking from his gaze the glittering show</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In vapor fled, with steady, noiseless flight&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But left its blasting mark where'er it pressed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tender plant that on earth's peaceful breast,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still slept, unmindful of the fatal blight.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus sin oft gilds the onward path of youth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till straying far from virtue and from truth,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heaven's bright, pure rays, in fearful distance gleam;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While on the mind the blasting, clinging shade,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With deathless power, refuses still to fade&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till life's dark close unfolds the fearful dream.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The Fireside, is a seminary of infinite importance. It is important
+because it is universal, and because the education it bestows, being
+woven in with the woof of childhood, gives form and color to the whole
+texture of life. There are few who can receive the honors of a college,
+but all are graduates of the hearth. The learning of the university may
+fade from the recollection; its classic lore may moulder in the halls of
+memory. But the simple lessons of home, enameled upon the heart of
+childhood, defy the rust of years, and outlive the more mature but less
+vivid pictures of after days.</p>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> 2 Cor. 5:21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> The construction put upon this passage is taken from Bush's
+Commentary on Exodus, which see.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> 1 John iv:16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> We are glad to see that Mr. Abbott has recently revised and
+enlarged this useful book. We recommend it to the careful perusal of all
+<i>young people</i>, as well as parents.</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers
+and Daughters, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17775-h.htm or 17775-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/7/17775/
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/17775-h/images/image0001.jpg b/17775-h/images/image0001.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e6d9a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775-h/images/image0001.jpg
diff --git a/17775.txt b/17775.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0d061f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14546 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and
+Daughters, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters
+       Volume 3
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Mrs. A. G. Whittelsey
+
+Release Date: February 16, 2006 [EBook #17775]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Engraved by C. Burt, from a Miniature by H.C. Shionway.
+
+Yours truly
+
+A. G. Whittelsey]
+
+
+
+
+MRS. WHITTELSEY'S
+
+MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS
+
+AND DAUGHTERS.
+
+EDITED BY
+
+MRS. A. G. WHITTELSEY.
+
+     That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that
+     our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the
+     similitude of a palace.--BIBLE.
+
+
+VOL. III.
+
+NEW YORK:
+PUBLISHED BY HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,
+128 NASSAU STREET.
+
+1852.
+
+Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
+
+HENRY M. WHITTELSEY,
+
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for
+the Southern District of New York.
+
+Transcriber's note: Minor typos corrected and footnotes moved to
+end of text.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+                                                                 PAGE
+
+A Child's Prayer.                                                 369
+
+A Child's Reading.                                                129
+
+A Lesson for Husbands and Wives.                                  257
+
+An Appeal to Baptized Children.--By Rev. William. Bannard.        141
+
+A Temptation and its Consequences.                                 21
+
+A Word of Exhortation.                                              5
+
+Brotherly Love.--By Rev. M. S. Hutton, D.D.              89, 105, 137
+
+Children and their Training.                                      375
+
+Children of the Parsonage.--By Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                  246
+
+Children's Apprehension of the Power of Prayer.                   305
+
+Chinese Daughter.--Letter of Mrs. Bridgeman.                       18
+
+Cousin Mary Rose, or a Child's First Visit.                        69
+
+Despondency and Hope; an Allegory.--By Mrs. J. Norton.            187
+
+Every Prayer should be offered in the Name of Jesus.              356
+
+Excerpta.                                                         100
+
+Excessive Legislation.                                            167
+
+Extravagance.                                                     354
+
+Family Government.                                                320
+
+Fault Finding; its Effects.--By Ellen Ellison.                     13
+
+  "      "     The Antidote.--By Ellen Ellison.              156, 180
+
+Filial Reverence of the Turks.                                    292
+
+First Prayer in Congress.                                         308
+
+Female Education.--By Rev. S. W. Fisher.                          271
+
+  "       "        Physical Training.                             297
+
+  "       "        Intellectual Training.                         330
+
+  "       "                                                       363
+
+Frost.                                                            384
+
+General Instructions for the Physical Education of Children.      336
+
+Gleanings by the Wayside.                               217, 249, 277
+
+God's Bible a Book for all.                                       220
+
+Habit.                                                            140
+
+Infants taught to Pray.                                           192
+
+Inordinate Grief the effect of an Unsubdued Will.                 301
+
+Instruction of the Young in the Doctrines and Precepts of
+  the Gospel.                                                      31
+
+Intellectual Power of Woman.--By Rev. S.W. Fisher.                255
+
+Know Thyself.                                                      93
+
+Letter from a Father to his Son.                                  241
+
+Light Reading.                                                    316
+
+Lux in Tenebras; or a Chapter of Heart History.--By
+  Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                                               286
+
+Magnetism.                                                        170
+
+Memoir of Mrs. Van Lennep.                                         24
+
+Ministering Spirits.                                               20
+
+Mothers need the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.                       353
+
+My Baby.                                                          309
+
+My Little Niece Mary Jane.                                     55, 76
+
+Music in Christian Families.                                      342
+
+Never Faint in Prayer.                                            259
+
+Never tempt another.                                              184
+
+Notices of Books.                                        36, 131, 164
+
+Old Juda.                                                          96
+
+One-Sided Christians.                                             283
+
+Opening the Gate.                                                 267
+
+Parental Solicitude.                                              165
+
+Prayer for Children sometimes unavailing.                         213
+
+Promises.                                                         223
+
+Recollections Illustrative of Maternal Influence.                  37
+
+Reminiscences of the late Rev. T.H. Gallaudet.--By
+  Mrs. G. M. Sykes.                                                42
+
+Report of Maternal Associations.--Putnam, O.                       64
+
+   "         "         "          2d Presb. Church,
+  Detroit, Mich.                                                   84
+
+   "         "         "          Salem, Mich.                     86
+
+Sabbath Meditations.                                               81
+
+The Benefits of Baptism.--By Rev. W. Bannard.                     120
+
+The Bonnie Bairns.                                                 53
+
+The Boy the Father of the Man.                                    339
+
+The Boy who never forgot his Mother.                              202
+
+The Death-bed Scene.                                               34
+
+The Editor's Table.                                                67
+
+The Family Promise.--By Rev. J. McCarroll, D.D.                   109
+
+The Importance of Family Religion.--By Rev. H. T. Cheever.         48
+
+The Mission Money, or the Pride of Charity.                  205, 234
+
+The Mothers of the Bible.--Zipporah.                              101
+
+     "       "       "     The Mothers of Israel
+  at Horeb.                                                  133, 188
+
+     "       "       "     The Mother of Samson.                  197
+
+     "       "       "     Naomi and Ruth.                        229
+
+     "       "       "     Hannah.                                261
+
+     "       "       "     Ichabod's Mother.                      203
+
+     "       "       "     Rizpah.                                325
+
+     "       "       "     Bathsheba.                             357
+
+The Mother's Portrait.                                            310
+
+The Orphan Son and Praying Mother.                                378
+
+The Promise Fulfilled.                                       112, 145
+
+The Riddle Solved.                                                211
+
+The Stupid, Dull Child.                                           175
+
+The Treasury of Thoughts.                                         162
+
+The Wasted Gift, or Just a Minute.                           125, 150
+
+The Youngling of the Flock.                                       196
+
+The Young Men's Christian Association.--By Mrs.
+  L. H. Sigourney.                                                228
+
+To Fathers.--By Amicus.                                             7
+
+To my Father.                                                     318
+
+Trials.                                                           227
+
+Why are we not Christians?                                        346
+
+Woman.--By Rev. M. S. Hutton, D.D.                                370
+
+
+
+
+MRS. WHITTELSEY'S
+
+MAGAZINE FOR MOTHERS
+
+AND DAUGHTERS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Editorial.
+
+A WORD OF EXHORTATION.
+
+
+Sensible of our accountability to God, of our entire dependence upon his
+blessing for success in all our undertakings, knowing that of ourselves
+we can do nothing, but believing that through Christ strengthening us we
+may accomplish something in his service, we enter upon the duties of
+another year--the twentieth year of our editorial labors.
+
+With language similar to that which the mother of Moses is supposed to
+have employed when she laid her tender offspring by the margin of the
+Nile:--
+
+            "Know this ark is charmed
+  With incantations Pharaoh ne'er employed,
+  With spells that impious Egypt never knew;
+  With invocations to the living God,
+  I twisted every slender reed together,
+  And with a prayer did every ozier weave"--
+
+we launched our frail bark upon the tide of public opinion. Since then,
+with varied success, have we pursued our course--often amid darkness,
+through difficulties and dangers, and to the present time have we been
+wafted in safety on our voyage, because, as he did Moses in the ark,
+"the Lord hath shut us in."
+
+Referring whatever of success has attended our efforts to His blessing,
+and believing that He has given us length of days, and strengthened our
+weakness, and poured consolation into our hearts when ready to sink in
+despair, in answer to persevering and importunate prayer, we come to
+direct our readers to this source of wisdom and aid,--to urge upon them
+to engage often in this first duty and highest privilege. Let us go
+forth, dear friends, to the work we have to do in the education of our
+families, having invoked the Divine blessing upon our efforts, holding
+on to the promises of the covenant, and pleading for their fulfillment
+in reference to ourselves and our households.
+
+As Mrs. H. More has beautifully said: "Prayer draws all the Christian
+graces into her focus. It draws Charity, followed by her lovely
+train--her forbearance with faults--her forgiveness of injuries--her
+pity for errors--her compassion for want. It draws Repentance, with her
+holy sorrows--her pious resolutions--her self-distrust. It attracts
+Truth, with her elevated eyes; Hope, with her gospel anchor;
+Beneficence, with her open hand; Zeal, looking far and wide; Humility,
+with introverted eye, looking at home."
+
+And who need these graces more than parents, in the government and
+training of those committed to their charge? Could our Savior rise a
+great while before day,--forego the pleasures of social intercourse with
+his beloved disciples, and retiring to the mountains, offer up prayers
+with strong crying and tears, unto Him who was able to save from death
+in that he feared, and shall we, intrusted with the immortal destinies
+of our beloved offspring, refuse to follow his example, and pleading
+want of time and opportunity for this service, be guilty of unbelief, of
+indolence, and worldly-mindedness?
+
+You labor in vain, dear readers, unless the arm of the Almighty shall be
+extended in your behalf, and you cannot receive the blessing except you
+ask it. Let then your supplications be addressed to your Father in
+heaven;--pray humbly, believingly, perseveringly, for wisdom and aid,
+then may you expect to be blessed. So important is this duty, and so
+much is it neglected, that we could not forbear to urge your attention
+thereto, ere we entered upon another year.
+
+And will not our Christian friends remember us in their prayers, asking
+that we may be directed in what we shall say and do this present year,
+in the work in which we are engaged? And if God shall answer our united
+petitions, we shall not labor in vain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TO FATHERS.
+
+BY AMICUS.
+
+
+How gladly would the writer gain (were it possible) the ear of every
+father in the land, if it were but for the short space of one quarter of
+an hour,--nay, some ten minutes, at a _propitious time_,--such a time
+as, perhaps, occasionally occurs, when business cases are not pressing,
+when the mind is at ease, and the heart has ceased its worldly
+throbbings. He wants such a quarter of an hour, if it ever exists.
+
+"And for what?" That he may have an opportunity to propose some worldly
+scheme,--some plan which has reference to the probable accumulation of
+hundreds of thousands? Nothing of the kind. Fathers at the present day
+generally need no suggestions of this sort--no impulses from me in that
+direction. They are already so absorbed, that it is difficult to gain
+their attention to any matters which do not concern the line of business
+in which they are engaged.
+
+Look for a moment at that busy, bustling man; you see him walking down
+Broadway this morning; it is early, quite early. May be he is calling a
+physician, or is on some visit to a sick friend. He walks so fast; and
+though early, there is something on his brow which indicates care and
+anxiety. And yet I think no one of his family is sick, nor do I know of
+any of his friends who are sick. I have seen that man out thus early so
+often, and hurrying at just that pace, that I suspect, after all, he is
+on his way to his place of business. That, doubtless, is the whole
+secret. He is engaged in a large mercantile concern. It seems to
+require--at least it takes--all his attention. He is absorbed in it.
+And, if you repair to his store or office at any hour of the day, you
+can scarcely see him,--not at all,--unless it be on some errand
+connected with his business, or with the business of some office he
+holds, and which _must_ be attended to; and even in these matters you
+will find him restless. He attends to you so far as to hear your errand;
+and what then? Why, if it will require any length of time, he says: "I
+am very busy at this moment, I can't _possibly_ attend to it to-day;
+will you call to-morrow? I may then have more leisure." Well, you agree
+for to-morrow. "Please name the hour," you say. He replies--"I can't
+_name any hour_; but call, say after twelve o'clock, and I will catch a
+moment, _if I can_, to talk over the business."
+
+Now, that merchant is not to blame for putting you off. His business
+calls are so many and so complex, that he scarcely knows which way to
+turn, nor what calculations to make. The real difficulty is, he has
+undertaken too much; his plans are too vast; his "irons," as they say,
+are too many.
+
+This is the _morning_ aspect of affairs. Watch that merchant during the
+day,--will you find things essentially different? The morning, which is
+dark and cloudy and foggy, is sometimes followed by a clear, bright,
+beautiful day. The mists at length clear off, the clouds roll away, and
+a glorious sun shines out broadly to gladden the face of all nature. Not
+so with the modern man of business. It is labor, whirl, toil, all the
+day, from the hour of breakfast till night puts an end to the active,
+hurrying concerns of all men. There is no bright, cheerful, peaceful
+day to him. Scarcely has he time to eat--never to _enjoy_ his
+dinner,--that must be finished in the shortest possible time: often at
+some restaurant, rather than with his family. Not one member of that
+does he see from the time he leaves the breakfast table till night, dark
+night has stretched out her curtain over all things.
+
+Let us go home with him, and see how the evening passes.
+
+His residence, from his place of business, perchance, is a mile or two
+distant--may be some fifteen or twenty, in which latter case he takes
+the evening train of cars. In either case he arrives home only at the
+setting in of the evening shades. How pleasant the release from the
+noise and confusion of the city! or, if he resides within the city, how
+pleasant in shutting his door, as he enters his dwelling, to shut out
+the thoughts and cares of business! His tea is soon ready, and for a
+little time he gives himself up to the comforts of home. His wife
+welcomes him, his children may be hanging upon him, and he realizes
+something of the joys of domestic life!
+
+Scarcely, however, is supper ended, before it occurs to him that there
+is a meeting of such a committee, or such an insurance company, to which
+he belongs, and the hour is at hand, and he _must_ go. And he hies away,
+and in some business on hand he becomes absorbed till the hours of nine,
+ten, or eleven, possibly twelve o'clock. He returns again to his home,
+wearied with the toils of the day,--his wife possibly, but certainly his
+children, have retired,--and he lays his aching head upon his pillow to
+catch some few hours of rest, and with the morning light to go through
+essentially the same busy routine, the same absorbing care, the same
+wearing, weary process.
+
+This is an outline of the life which thousands of fathers are leading in
+this country at this present time. We do not pretend that it is true of
+all,--but is it not substantially true, as we have said, of thousands?
+And not only of thousands in our crowded marts of commerce, but in our
+principal towns--nay, even in our rural districts. It is an age of
+impulse. Every thing is proceeding with railroad speed. Every branch of
+business is urged forward with all practical earnestness. Every sail is
+set--main-sail, top-sails, star-gazers, heaven-disturbers--all expanded
+to catch the breeze, and urge the vessel to her destined port.
+
+This thirst for gain! this panting after fortune! this competition in
+the race for worldly wealth, or honor, where is it leading the present
+generation--where?
+
+To men who have families--to fathers, who see around them children just
+emerging from childhood into youth, or verging toward manhood,--this is
+and should be a subject of the deepest interest.
+
+Fathers! am I wrong when I say you are neglecting your offspring?
+Neglecting them? do I hear you respond with surprise;--"Am I not daily,
+hourly stretching every nerve and tasking every power to provide for
+them, to insure them the means of an honorable appearance in that rank
+of society in which they were born, and in which they must move? In
+these days of competition, who sees not that any relaxation involves and
+necessarily secures bankruptcy and ruin?"
+
+I hear you, and you urge strongly, powerfully your cause. You must,
+indeed, provide for your household. You must be diligent in business.
+You may--you ought in some good measure, to keep up with the spirit, the
+progress of the age. But has it occurred to you that there is danger in
+doing as you do; that you will neglect some other interests of your
+children as important, to say the least, as those you have named? Are
+not your children immortal? Have they not souls of priceless value? Have
+they not tendencies to evil from the early dawn of their being? And must
+not these souls be instructed--watched over? Do they not need
+counsel--warning--restraint? "O yes!" I hear you say, "they must be
+instructed--restrained--guided--all that, but this is the appropriate
+business and duty of their _mother_. I leave all these to her. I have no
+leisure for such cares myself; my business compels me to leave in charge
+all these matters to her."
+
+And where, my friend--if I may speak plainly--do you find any warrant in
+the Word of God for such assumptions as these? Leave all the care of
+your children's moral and religious instruction, guidance, restraint,
+to their mother! It is indeed her duty, and in most cases she finds it
+her pleasure, to watch over her beloved ones. And in the morning of
+their being, and in the first years of their childhood, it is _hers_ to
+watch over them, to cherish them, and to bring out and direct the first
+dawnings of their moral and intellectual being.
+
+But beyond this the duties of father and mother are coincident. At a
+certain point your responsibilities touching the training of your
+children blend. I find nothing in the Word of God which separates
+fathers and mothers in relation to bringing up their children in the
+ways of virtue and obedience to God.
+
+I know what fathers plead. I see the difficulties which often lie in
+their path. I am aware of the competition which marks every industrial
+pursuit in the land. And many men who wish it were different, who would
+love to be more with their families, who would delight to aid in
+instructing their little ones, find it, they think, quite impossible so
+to alter their business--so to cast off pressure and care, as to give
+due attention to the moral and religious training of their children.
+
+But, fathers, might you not do better than you do? Suppose you should
+make the effort to have _an hour_ each day to aid your wife in giving a
+right moral direction to your little ones? How you would encourage her!
+What an impulse would you give to her efforts! Now, how often has she a
+burden imposed upon her, which she is unable to bear! What uneasiness
+and worry--what care and trouble are caused her, by having, in this
+matter of training the children, to go on single-handed! whereas, were
+your parental authority added to her maternal tenderness, your children
+would prove the joy of your hearts and the comfort of your declining
+years. But as you manage--or rather as you neglect to manage them, a
+hundred chances to one if they do not prove your sorrow, when in years
+you are not able well to sustain it. Gather a lesson, my friend, from
+the conduct of David in respect to Absolom. He neglected him--he
+indulged him, and what was the consequence? The bright, beautiful,
+gifted Absolom planted thorns in his father's crown,--he attempted to
+dethrone him,--he was a fratricide,--he would have been a parricide: and
+what an end! Oh, what an end! Listen to the sorrowful outpourings of a
+fond, too fond, unfaithful parent: "My son, oh, my son Absolom,--would
+to God I had died for thee, oh, Absolom, my son, my son!"
+
+Take another example, and may it prove a warning to such indulgence and
+such neglect! Eli had sons, and they grew up, and they walked in
+forbidden ways, and he restrained them not; yet he was a good man: but
+good men are sometimes most unfaithful fathers, and what can they
+expect? Shall we sin because grace abounds? Shall we neglect our
+children in expectation that the grace of God will intervene to rescue
+them in times of peril? That expectation were vain while we neglect our
+duty. That expectation is nearly or quite sure to be realized if duty be
+performed.
+
+But I must insist no longer; I will only add, then, in a word,--that it
+were far, far better that your children should occupy a more humble
+station in life--that they should be dressed in fewer of the "silks of
+Ormus," and have less gold from the "mines of Ind," than to be neglected
+by a father in regard to their moral and religious training. Better
+leave them an interest in the Covenant than thousands of the treasures
+of the world. Your example, fathers,--your counsel--your prayers, are a
+better bequest than any you can leave them. Think of leaving them in a
+cold, rude, selfish world, without the grace of God to secure them,
+without his divine consolation to comfort. Think of the "voyage of awful
+length," you and they must "sail so soon." Think of the meeting in
+another world which lies before you and them, and say, Does the wide
+world afford that which could make amends for a separation--an eternal
+separation from these objects of your love?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAULT-FINDING: ITS EFFECTS.
+
+
+"What in creation have you done! Careless boy, how could you be so
+heedless? You are forever cutting some such caper, on purpose to ruin me
+I believe. Now go to work, and earn the money to pay for it, will you?
+lazy fellow!"
+
+Coarse and passionate exclamations these, and I am sorry to say they
+were uttered by Mr. Colman, who would be exceedingly indignant if any
+body should hint a suspicion that he was, or could be, other than a
+gentleman, and a _Christian_. His son, a bright and well-meaning lad of
+fourteen, had accidentally hit the end of a pretty new walking cane,
+which his favorite cousin had given him a few hours before, against a
+delicate china vase which stood upon the mantle-piece, and in a moment
+it lay in fragments at his feet. He was sadly frightened, and would have
+been very sorry too, but for the harsh and ill-timed reproof of his
+father, which checked the humble plea for forgiveness just rising to his
+lips, and as Mr. Colman left the room, put on his hat and coat in the
+hall, and closed the street door with more than usual force, to go to
+his store, the young lad's feelings were anything but dutiful. Just then
+his mother entered.
+
+"Why James Colman! Did you do that? I declare you are the most careless
+boy I ever beheld! That beautiful pair of vases your father placed there
+New Year's morning, to give me a pleasant surprise. I would not have had
+it broken for twenty dollars."
+
+"Mother, I just hit it accidentally with this little cane, and I'm sure
+I'm as sorry as I can be."
+
+"And what business has your cane in the parlor, I beg to know? I'll take
+it, and you'll not see it again for the present, if this is the way you
+expect to use it. You deserve punishment for such carelessness, and I
+wish your father had chastised you severely." And taking the offending
+cane from his hand, she, too, left him to meditations, somewhat like
+the following:--
+
+"'Tis too bad, I declare! If I had tried to do the very wickedest thing
+I possibly could, father and mother would not have scolded me worse.
+That dear little cane! I told Henry I would show it to him on my way to
+school, and now what shall I say about it? It's abominable--it's right
+down cruel to treat me so. When I had not intended to do the least thing
+wrong, only just as I was looking at the bottom of my cane, by the
+merest accident the head of it touched that little useless piece of
+crockery. I hate the sight of you," he added, touching the many colored
+and gilded fragments with the toe of his boot, as they lay before him,
+"and I hate father and mother, and every body else--and I'm tired of
+being scolded for nothing at all. Big boy as I am, they scold me for
+every little thing, just as they did when I was a little shaver like
+Eddy. What's the use? I won't bear it. I declare I won't much longer."
+And then followed reveries like others often indulged before, of being
+his own master, and doing as he pleased without father and mother always
+at hand to dictate, and find fault, and scold him so bitterly if he
+happened to make a little mistake. Other boys of his age had left home,
+and taken care of themselves, and he would too. "I am as good a scholar
+as any one in school, except Charles Harvey, and I am as strong as any
+boy I play with, and pity if I can't take care of myself. Home! Yes, to
+be sure it might be a dear good home, but father is so full of business,
+and anxious, and thinking all the time, he never speaks to one of us,
+unless it is to tell us to do something, or to find fault with what is
+done. And mother--fret, fret, fret, tired to death with the care of the
+children, and company, and servants, and societies, and every thing--it
+really seems as if she had lost all affection for us--_me_, at any rate,
+and I am sure I don't care for any body that scolds at me so, and the
+sooner I am out of the way the better. I am sure if father is trying to
+make money to leave me some of it, I'd a thousand times rather he'd give
+me pleasant words as we go along, than all the dollars I shall ever
+get--yes, indeed I had."
+
+The above scene, I am sorry to say, is but a sample of what occurred
+weekly, and I fear I might say daily, or even hourly, to some member of
+the family of Mr. Colman, and yet Mr. and Mrs. Colman were very good
+sort of people--made a very respectable appearance in the world, regular
+at church with their children--ate symbolically of the body, and drank
+of the blood, of that loving Savior, who ever spake gently to the
+youthful and the erring--and meant to be, and really thought they were,
+the very best of parents. Their children were well cared for, mentally
+and physically. They were well fed, well clothed, attended the best
+schools--but as they advanced beyond the years of infancy, there was in
+each of them the sullen look, or the discouraged tone, the tart reply,
+or the vexing remark, which made them any thing but beloved by their
+companions, any thing but happy themselves. At home there was ever some
+scene of dispute, or unkindness, to call forth the stern look, or the
+harsh command of their parents--abroad, the mingled remains of vexation
+and self-reproach, caused by their own conduct or that of others, made
+them hard to be pleased--and so the cloud thickened about them, and with
+all outward means for being happy, loving and beloved, they were a
+wretched family. James, the eldest, was impetuous and self-willed, but
+affectionate, generous, and very fond of reading and study, and with
+gentle and judicious management, would have been the joy and pride of
+his family, with the domestic and literary tastes so invaluable to every
+youth, in our day, when temptations of every kind are so rife in our
+cities and larger towns, that scarcely is the most moral of our young
+men safe, except in the sanctuary of God, or the equally divinely
+appointed sanctuary of home. But under the influences we have sketched,
+he had already begun to spend all his leisure time at the stores, the
+railroad depots, wharves, engine-houses, and other places of resort for
+loiterers, where he saw much to encourage the reckless and disobedient
+spirit, which characterized his soliloquy above quoted. Little did his
+parents realize the effects of their own doings. Full of the busy cares
+of this hurrying life, they fancied all was going on well, nor were
+they aroused to his danger, until some time after the scene of the
+broken vase, above alluded to, when his more frequent and prolonged
+absence from home, at meal times, and until a late hour in the evening,
+caused a severe reprimand from his father. With a heart swelling with
+rage and vexation, James went to his room--but not to bed. The purpose
+so long cherished in his mind, of leaving parental rule and restraint,
+was at its height. He opened his closet and bureau, and deliberately
+selected changes of clothing which would be most useful to him, took the
+few dollars he had carefully gathered for some time past for this
+purpose, and made all the preparation he could for a long absence from
+the home, parents, and friends, where, but for ungoverned tempers and
+tongues, he might have been so useful, respected and happy. When he
+could think of no more to be done, he looked about him. How many proofs
+of his mother's careful attention to his wishes and his comfort, did his
+chamber afford! And his little brother, five years younger, so quietly
+sleeping in his comfortable bed! Dearly he loved that brother, and yet
+hardly a day passed, in which they did not vex, and irritate, and abuse
+each other. He was half tempted to lie down by his side, and give up all
+thoughts of leaving home. But no. How severe his father would look at
+breakfast, and his mother would say something harsh. "No. I'll quit, I
+declare I will--and then if their hearts ache, I shall be glad of it.
+Mine has ached, till it's as hard as a stone. No, I've often tried, and
+now I'll go. I won't be called to account, and scolded for staying out
+of the house, when there is no comfort to be found in it." And again
+rose before his mind many scenes of cold indifference or harshness from
+his parents, which had, as he said, hardened his heart to stone. "I'll
+bid good bye to the whole of it. Little Em,--darling little sister! I
+wish I could kiss her soft sweet cheek once more. But she grows fretful
+every day, and by the time she is three years old, she will snap and
+snarl like the rest of us. I'll be out of hearing of it any way." And he
+softly raised the window sash, and slipped upon the roof of a piazza,
+from which he had often jumped in sport with his brothers, and in a few
+moments was at the depot. Soon the night train arrived, and soon was
+James in one of our large cities--and inquiring for the wharf of a
+steamer about to sail for California; and when the next Sabbath sun rose
+upon the home of his youth, he was tossing rapidly over the waves of the
+wide, deep, trackless ocean, one moment longing to be again amid scenes
+so long dear and familiar, and the next writhing, as he thought of the
+anger of his father, the reproaches of his mother. On he went, often
+vexed at the services he was called to perform, in working his passage
+out, for which his previous habits had poorly prepared him. On went the
+stanch vessel, and in due time landed safely her precious freight of
+immortal beings at the desired haven--but some of them were to see
+little of that distant land, where they had fondly hoped to find
+treasure of precious gold, and with it happiness. The next arrival at
+New York brought a list of recent deaths. Seven of that ship's company,
+so full of health and buoyancy and earthly hopes, but a few short months
+before, were hurried by fevers to an untimely, a little expected grave.
+And on that fatal list, was read with agonized hearts in the home of his
+childhood, the name of their first-born--James Colman, aged sixteen.
+
+Boys! If your father and mother, in the midst of a thousand cares and
+perplexities, of which you know nothing--cares, often increased
+seven-fold, by their anxieties for you, are less tender and forgiving
+than you think they should be, will you throw off all regard for them,
+all gratitude for their constant proofs of real affection, and make
+shipwreck of your own character and hopes, and break their hearts?
+No--rather with noble disregard of your own feelings, strive still more
+to please them, to soothe the weary spirit you have disturbed, and so in
+due time you shall reap the reward of well-doing, and the blessing of
+Him, who hath given you the fifth commandment, and with it a promise.
+
+Fathers! Provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged,
+for the tempter is ever at hand to lead them astray. The harsh
+reproof--the undeserved blame--cold silence, where should be the kind
+inquiry, or the affectionate welcome--oh, how do these things chill the
+young heart, and plant reserve where should be the fullest confidence,
+if you would save your child.
+
+Mothers! Where shall the youthful spirit look for the saving influence
+of love, if not to you? The young heart craves sympathy. It must have
+it--it will have it. If not found at home, it will be found in the
+streets, and oh, what danger lurks there! Fathers and mothers--see to
+it, that if your child's heart cease to beat, your own break not with
+the remembrance of words and looks, that bite like a serpent and sting
+like an adder!
+
+                      ELLEN ELLISON.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHINESE DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+                              _Changhai, Aug. 15th, 1851._
+
+MY DEAR MRS. WHITTELSEY:
+
+In order to keep before my own mind a deep interest for this people, and
+to awaken corresponding sympathies in my native land, I make short
+monthly memorandums of my observations among the Chinese. They are
+indeed a singular people, with manners and customs peculiar to
+themselves; and it would seem that, in domestic life, every practice was
+the opposite of our own; but in the kindly feelings of our nature, those
+whom I have seen brought under the influence of Christian cultivation,
+are as susceptible as those of any nation on earth. At first they are
+exceedingly suspicious of you,--they do not, they _cannot_ understand
+your motives in your efforts to do them good; and it is not until by
+making one's actions consistent with our words, and by close observation
+on their part, that you enjoy their confidence.
+
+Since I last wrote I have been quite indisposed. During my husband's
+absence in committee my nurses were Chinese girls, one eleven, the other
+thirteen years of age. No mother who had bestowed the greatest care and
+cultivation upon her daughters, could have had more affectionate
+attention than I had from these late heathen girls,--they were indeed
+unto me as daughters,--every want was anticipated, and every thing that
+young, affectionate hearts could suggest, was done to alleviate my pain.
+One has been four years, the other a year and a-half, under instruction.
+Christianity softens, subdues, and renders docile the human mind, before
+the dark folds of heathenism have deepened and thickened with increasing
+years.
+
+One of these pupils, after reading in the New Testament the narrative of
+Christ's sufferings, one day asks--"Why did Jesus come and suffer and be
+crucified?" I then explained to her as well as I could in her own
+tongue. She always seems thoughtful when she reads the Scriptures. Will
+some maternal association remember in prayer these Chinese girls?
+
+During the current month a vile placard has been published against
+foreigners, and some of the pupils have been railed at by their
+acquaintances for being under our instruction. One, on returning from a
+visit to her friends, told me the bitter and wicked things that were
+said and written; I asked her if she had found them true? she said "No."
+I asked her if foreigners, such as she had seen, spoke true or false?
+She said "always true." Did they wish to kill and destroy the Chinese as
+the placard stated? She replied, "No; but they helped the poor Chinese
+when their own people would not." The mothers were somewhat alarmed lest
+we were all to be destroyed. We told them there was nothing to fear, and
+their confidence remained unshaken.
+
+The school has enjoyed a recess of a week from study, but they do not go
+to their own homes, except to return the same day. Our house is just
+like a bee-hive, with their activity at their several employments; and
+usually some _deprivation_ is a sufficient punishment for a dereliction
+from any duty.
+
+Who will pray for these daughters? Who will sympathize with the
+low-estate of the female sex in China? I appeal to the happy mothers and
+daughters of America, our dear native land. Though severed from thee
+voluntarily, willingly, cheerfully, yet do we love thee still; thy
+Sabbaths hallowed by the voice of prayer and praise; thy Christian
+ordinances blessed with the Spirit's power. Oh, when will China, the
+home of our adoption, be thus enlightened, and her idol temples turned
+into sanctuaries for the living God?
+
+                         Affectionately,
+                           ELIZA J. BRIDGMAN.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MINISTERING SPIRITS.
+
+
+LINES WRITTEN FOR A LITTLE GIRL BY AN EPISCOPAL CLERGYMAN.
+
+  Do ANGELS minister to me--
+  Can such a wonder ever be?
+    Oh, sure they are too great;
+  Too glorious with their raiment white,
+  And wings so beautiful and bright,
+    Upon a child to wait.
+
+  Yet so it is in truth, I know,
+  For Jesus Christ has told us so,
+    And that to them is given
+  The loving task to guard with care
+  And keep from every evil snare
+    The chosen ones of heaven.
+
+  And so if I am good and mild,
+  And try to be a holy child,
+    My angel will rejoice;
+  And sound his golden harp to Him
+  Who dwells among the cherubim,
+    And praise Him with his voice.
+
+  But if I sin against the Lord,
+  By evil thought or evil word,
+    Or do a wicked thing;
+  Ah! then what will my angel say?
+  Oh, he will turn his face away,
+    And vail it with his wing.
+
+  Then let us pray to Him who sends
+  His angels down to be our friends,
+    That, strengthened by his grace,
+  I may not prove a wandering sheep,
+  Nor ever make my angel weep,
+    Nor hide his glorious face.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A TEMPTATION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
+
+
+Not long since, in one of the cities on the Atlantic seaboard, there was
+a lad employed in a large jewelry establishment. A part of his duty was
+to carry letters to the post-office, or to the mail-bag on the boat,
+when too late to be mailed in the regular way. On one occasion, after
+depositing his letters, he observed a part of a letter, put in by some
+other person, projecting above the opening in the bag. Seizing the
+opportunity he extracted this letter without being seen, and took it
+home. On examination he found it contained a draft for one thousand
+dollars. Forging the name of the person on whom it was drawn, he
+presented the draft at a bank and drew the money, and very soon
+afterwards proceeded to a distant western city.
+
+After a little while, the draft was missed and inquiries made. It was
+found that this lad had been near the mailbag on the day when the
+missing letter had been put in it, that he was unusually well provided
+with money, and that he had suddenly disappeared. Officers of justice
+were commissioned to find him. They soon traced him to his new
+residence, charged him with his crime, which he at once confessed, and
+brought him back to meet the consequences of a judicial investigation.
+After a short imprisonment he was released on bail, but still held to
+answer, and thus the case stands at present. He must of course be
+convicted, but whether the penalty of the law will be inflicted in whole
+or in part, it will be for the Executive to say.
+
+Meanwhile the circumstances suggest some thoughts which may be worth the
+reader's attention. This lad was a member of a Sunday school, but
+irregular in his attendance, and this latter fact may in some degree
+explain his wandering from the right path. He might, indeed, have been a
+punctual attendant on his class, and still have fallen into this gross
+sin, but it is not at all probable. And it is curious and instructive,
+that wherever any inmates of prisons, houses of refuge, or other places
+of the kind, are found to have been connected with Sunday-schools, it is
+nearly always stated in accompaniment that they attended only
+occasionally and rarely.
+
+Again, how much weight is there in Job's remarkable expression (ch.
+31:5), _I have made a covenant with my eyes_! The eye, the most active
+of our senses, is the chiefest inlet of temptation, and hence the
+apostle John specifies "the lust of the eyes" as a leading form or type
+of ordinary sins. The lad in the case before us allowed his eye to dwell
+on the letter, until the covetous desire to appropriate it had grown
+into a fixed purpose. Had he made the same covenant as Job, and turned
+his eye resolutely away as soon as he felt the first wrongful emotion in
+his heart, the result had been widely different. But he rather imitated
+the unhappy Achan, who, in recounting his sin, says, "_When I saw_ among
+the spoils a Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver, and a
+wedge of gold, _then_ I coveted them." A fool's eyes soon lead his hands
+astray.
+
+Here also we see the deceitfulness of the heart. A mere boy of fifteen
+years, of good ordinary training, at least in part connected with a
+Sunday-school, and not prompted by any urgent bodily necessity, commits
+a crime punishable by fine and imprisonment. Had any one foretold to him
+a week before even the possibility of this occurrence, how indignantly
+would he have spurned the very thought! That he should become, and
+deservedly so, the inmate of a felon's cell--how monstrous the
+supposition! Yet so it came to pass. The heart is deceitful above all
+things, and he who trusts in it is "cursed." Multitudes find their own
+case the renewal of Hazael's experience. When Elijah told him the
+enormities he, when on the throne of Syria, would practice, he
+exclaimed--"Is thy servant a dog that he should do these things?" He was
+not then, but he afterwards became just such a dog.
+
+But if the heart be deceitful, sin is scarcely less so. When the poor
+boy first clutched his prize, as he esteemed it, he promised himself
+nothing but pleasure and profit, but how miserably was he deceived!
+After he had converted the draft into money, and thus rendered its
+return impossible without detection, he saw his guilt in its true
+character, and for many nights tossed in torment on a sleepless bed,
+while at last he was made to take his place along with hardened convicts
+in a city prison. Thus it always is with sin. Like the book the apostle
+ate in vision, it is sweet as honey in the mouth, but bitter in the
+belly. Like the wine Solomon describes, it may sparkle in the cup and
+shoot up its bright beads on the surface, but at the last it biteth like
+a serpent and stingeth like an adder. The experiment has been tried
+times without number, from the beginning in Eden down to our own day, by
+communities and by individuals, but invariably with the same result. The
+way of transgressors is hard, however it may seem to them who are
+entering upon it a path of primrose dalliance. And surely "whosoever is
+deceived thereby is not wise."
+
+Finally, how needful is it to pray--"Lead us not into temptation."
+Snares lie all around us, whether old or young, and it is vain to seek
+an entire escape from their intrusion. The lad we are considering, had
+not gone out of his way to meet the temptation by which he fell. On the
+contrary, he was doing his duty, he was just where he ought to have
+been. Yet there the adversary found him, and there he finds every man.
+The very fact that one is in a lawful place and condition is apt to
+throw him off his guard. There is but one safeguard under grace, and
+that is habitual watchfulness. Without this the strongest may fall--with
+it, the feeblest may stand firm. O for such a deep and abiding
+conviction of the keenness of temptation and the dreadful evil of sin as
+to lead all to cry mightily unto God, and at the same time be strenuous
+in effort themselves--to pray and also to watch.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MEMOIR OF MRS. VAN LENNEP.
+
+
+The following review, written by Mrs. D.E. Sykes, of the Memoir of Mrs.
+M.E. Van Lennep, we deem among the finest specimens of that class of
+writings. The remarks it contains on the religious education of
+daughters are so much in point, and fall in so aptly with the design of
+our work, that we have obtained permission to publish it. We presume it
+will be new to most of our readers, as it originally appeared in the
+_New Englander_, a periodical which is seldom seen, except in a
+Theological Library.
+
+An additional reason for our publishing it is, our personal interest
+both in the reviewer, who we are happy to say has become a contributor
+to our pages, and the reviewed--having been associated with the mothers
+of each, for a number of years, in that most interesting of all
+associations, "The Mother's Meeting."
+
+For eleven years, Mary E. Hawes, afterwards Mrs. Van Lennep, was an
+attentive and interested listener to the instructions given to the
+children at our quarterly meetings--and it is interesting to know that
+her mother regards the influence of those meetings as powerfully aiding
+in the formation of her symmetrical Christian character.
+
+An eminent painter once said to us, that he always disliked to attempt
+the portrait of a woman; it was so difficult to give to such a picture
+the requisite boldness of feature and distinctness of individual
+expression, without impairing its feminine character. If this be true in
+the delineation of the outer and material form, how much more true is it
+of all attempts to portray the female mind and heart! If the words and
+ways, the style of thinking and the modes of acting, all that goes to
+make up a biography, have a character sufficiently marked to
+individualize the subject, there is a danger that, in the relating, she
+may seem to have overstepped the decorum of her sex, and so forfeit the
+interest with which only true delicacy can invest the woman.
+
+It is strange that biography should ever succeed. To reproduce any thing
+that was transient and is gone, not by repetition as in a strain of
+music, but by delineating the emotions it caused, is an achievement of
+high art. An added shade of coloring shows you an enthusiast, and loses
+you the confidence and sympathy of your cooler listener. A shade
+subtracted leaves so faint a hue that you have lost your interest in
+your own faded picture, and of course, cannot command that of another.
+Even an exact delineation, while it may convey accurately a part of the
+idea of a character, is not capable of transmitting the more volatile
+and subtle shades. You may mix your colors never so cunningly, and copy
+never so minutely every fold of every petal of the rose, and hang it so
+gracefully on its stem, as to present its very port and bearing, but
+where is its fragrance, its exquisite texture, and the dewy freshness
+which was its crowning grace?
+
+So in biography, you may make an accurate and ample statement of
+facts,--you may even join together in a brightly colored mosaic the
+fairest impressions that can be given of the mind of another--his own
+recorded thoughts and feelings--and yet they may fail to present the
+individual. They are stiff and glaring, wanting the softening transition
+of the intermediate parts and of attending circumstances.
+
+And yet biography does sometimes succeed, not merely in raising a
+monumental pile of historical statistics, and maintaining for the
+friends of the departed the outlines of a character bright in their
+remembrance; but in shaping forth to others a life-like semblance of
+something good and fair, and distinct enough to live with us
+thenceforward and be loved like a friend, though it be but a shadow.
+
+Such has been the feeling with which we have read and re-read the volume
+before us. We knew but slightly her who is the subject of it, and are
+indebted to the memoir for any thing like a conception of the character;
+consequently we can better judge of its probable effect upon other
+minds. We pronounce it a portrait successfully taken--a piece of
+uncommonly skillful biography. There is no gaudy exaggeration in it,--no
+stiffness, no incompleteness. We see the individual character we are
+invited to see, and in contemplating it, we have all along a feeling of
+personal acquisition. We have found rare treasure; a true woman to be
+admired, a daughter whose worth surpasses estimation, a friend to be
+clasped with fervor to the heart, a lovely young Christian to be admired
+and rejoiced over, and a self-sacrificing missionary to be held in
+reverential remembrance. Unlike most that is written to commemorate the
+dead, or that unvails the recesses of the human heart, this is a
+cheerful book. It breathes throughout the air of a spring morning. As we
+read it we inhale something as pure and fragrant as the wafted odor of
+
+  "----old cherry-trees,
+  Scented with blossoms."
+
+We stand beneath a serene unclouded sky, and all around us is floating
+music as enlivening as the song of birds, yet solemn as the strains of
+the sanctuary. It is that of a life in unison from its childhood to its
+close; rising indeed like "an unbroken hymn of praise to God." There is
+no austerity in its piety, no levity in its gladness. It shows that
+"virtue in herself is lovely," but if "goodness" is ever "awful," it is
+not here in the company of this young happy Christian heart.
+
+We have heard, sometimes, that a strictly religious education has a
+tendency to restrict the intellectual growth of the young, and to mar
+its grace and freedom. We have been told that it was not well that our
+sons and daughters should commit to memory texts and catechisms, lest
+the free play of the fancy should be checked and they be rendered
+mechanical and constrained in their demeanor, and dwarfish in their
+intellectual stature. We see nothing of this exemplified in this memoir.
+One may look long to find an instance of more lady-like and graceful
+accomplishments, of more true refinement, of more liberal and varied
+cultivation, of more thorough mental discipline, of more pliable and
+available information, of a more winning and wise adaptation to persons
+and times and places, than the one presented in these pages. And yet
+this fair flower grew in a cleft of rugged Calvinism; the gales which
+fanned it were of that "wind of doctrine" called rigid orthodoxy. We
+know the soil in which it had its root. We know the spirit of the
+teachings which distilled upon it like the dew. The tones of that pulpit
+still linger in our ears, familiar as those of "_that good old bell_,"
+and we are sure that there is no pulpit in all New England more
+uncompromising in its demands, more strictly and severely searching in
+its doctrines.
+
+But let us look more closely at the events of this history of a life,
+and note their effect in passing upon the character of its subject.
+
+MARY, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, Conn., was
+born in 1821. Following her course through her youth, we are no where
+surprised at the development of any remarkable power of mind. She was
+prayerful and conscientious, diligent in acquiring knowledge,
+enthusiastic in her love of nature, evincing in every thing a refined
+and feminine taste, and a quick perception of the beautiful in art, in
+literature, and in morals. But the charm of her character lay in the
+warmth of her heart. Love was the element in which she lived. She loved
+God--she loved her parents--she loved her companions--she loved
+everybody. It was the exuberant, gushing love of childhood, exalted by
+the influences of true piety. She seems never to have known what it was
+to be repelled by a sense of weakness or unworthiness in another, or to
+have had any of those dislikes and distastes and unchristian aversions
+which keep so many of us apart. She had no need to "unlearn contempt."
+This was partly the result of natural temperament, but not all. Such
+love is a Christian grace. He that "hath" it, has it because he
+"dwelleth in God and God in him." It is the charity which Paul
+inculcated; that which "thinketh no evil," which "hopeth" and "believeth
+all things." It has its root in humility; it grows only by the uprooting
+of self. He who would cultivate it, must follow the injunction to let
+nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of heart
+esteem others better than himself. As Jesus took a little child and set
+him in the midst to teach his disciples, so would we place this young
+Christian woman in the assemblies of some who are "called of men Rabbi,
+Rabbi," that they may learn from her "which be the first principles" of
+the Christian life.
+
+But let no one suppose that there was any weakness or want of just
+discrimination in the subject of this memoir. It is true that the
+gentler elements predominated in her character, and her father knew what
+she needed, when he gave her the playful advice to "_have more of
+Cato_." Without Christian principle she might have been a victim of
+morbid sensitiveness, or even at the mercy of fluctuating impulses; but
+religion supplied the tonic she needed, and by the grace of God aiding
+her own efforts, we see her possessed of firmness of purpose and moral
+courage enough to rebuke many of us who are made of sterner stuff.
+
+For want of room we pass over many beautiful extracts from the memoir
+made to exhibit the traits of her character, and to illustrate what is
+said by the reviewer.
+
+In September, 1843, Miss H. was married to the Rev. J. Van Lennep, and
+in the following October sailed with him for his home in Smyrna. Our
+readers have learned from the letter of Rev. Mr. Goodell, which we
+lately published, through what vicissitudes Mrs. Van Lennep passed after
+her arrival at Constantinople, which had been designated as her field of
+labor.
+
+It was there she died, September 27, 1844, in the twenty-third year of
+her age, only one year and twenty-three days from her marriage-day, and
+before she had fully entered upon the life to which she had consecrated
+herself. Of her it has been as truly as beautifully said:
+
+  "Thy labor in the vineyard closed,
+  Long e'er the noon-tide sun,
+  The dew still glistened on the leaves,
+  When thy short task was done."
+
+And yet this life, "so little in itself," may be found to have an
+importance in its consequences, hardly anticipated at first by those
+who, overwhelmed by this sudden and impetuous providence, were ready to
+exclaim, "To what purpose is this waste?" Her day of influence will
+extend beyond the noon or the even-tide of an ordinary life of labor.
+"_Sweet Mary Hawes_" (as she is named by one who never saw her, and
+whose knowledge of her is all derived from the volume we have been
+reviewing), shall long live in these pages, embalmed in unfading youth,
+to win and to guide many to Him, at whose feet she sat and learned to
+"choose the better part." Her pleasant voice will be heard in our homes,
+assuring our daughters that "there is no sphere of usefulness more
+pleasant than this;" bidding them believe that "it is a comfort to take
+the weight of family duties from a mother, to soothe and cheer a wearied
+father, and a delight to aid a young brother in his evening lesson, and
+to watch his unfolding mind." They shall catch her alacrity and cheerful
+industry, and her "facility in saving the fragments of time, and making
+them tell in something tangible" accomplished in them. They shall be
+admonished not to waste feeling in discontented and romantic dreaming,
+or in sighing for opportunities to do good on a great scale, till they
+have filled up as thoroughly and faithfully as she did the smaller
+openings for usefulness near at hand.
+
+She shall lead them by the hand to the Sabbath-school teacher's humble
+seat, on the tract distributor's patient circuit, or on errands of mercy
+into the homes of sickness and destitution,--into the busy
+sewing-circle, or the little group gathered for social prayer. It is
+well too that they should have such a guide, for the offense of the
+Cross has not yet ceased, and the example of an accomplished and highly
+educated young female will not fail of its influence upon others of the
+same class, who wish to be Christians, and yet are so much afraid of
+every thing that may seem to border on _religious cant_, as to shrink
+back from the prayer-meeting, and from active personal efforts for the
+salvation of others. Her cheerful piety shall persuade us that "_it is
+indeed_ the _simplest_, the _easiest_, the _most blessed thing in the
+world, to give up the heart to the control of God_, and by daily looking
+to him for strength to conquer our corrupt inclinations, _to grow in
+every thing that will make us like him_." Her bright smile is worth
+volumes to prove that "_Jesus can indeed satisfy the heart_," and that
+if the experience of most of us has taught us to believe, that there is
+far more of conflict than of victory in the Christian warfare,--more
+shadow than sunshine resting upon the path of our pilgrimage, most of
+the fault lies in our own wayward choice. The child-like simplicity and
+serene faith of this young disciple, shall often use to rebuke our
+anxious fears, and charm away our disquietudes with the whisper--"_that
+sweet word_, TRUST, _tells all_." Her early consecration of her
+all to the great work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom, shall rouse
+us who have less left of life to surrender, to redouble our efforts in
+spreading like "love and joy and peace," over the earth, lest when it
+shall be said of her, "She hath done what she could," it shall also be
+added, "She hath done more than they all."
+
+There has been no waste here,--no sacrifice but that by which, in
+oriental alchemy, the bloom and the beauty of the flower of a day is
+transmitted into the imperishable odor, and its fragrance concentrated,
+in order that it may be again diffused abroad to rejoice a thousand
+hearts. If any ask again, "To what purpose was this waste?"--we answer,
+"The Lord had need of it."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We are indebted to God for the gift of Washington: but we are no less
+indebted to him for the gift of his inestimable mother. Had she been a
+weak and indulgent and unfaithful parent, the unchecked energies of
+Washington might have elevated him to the throne of a tyrant, or
+youthful disobedience might have prepared the way for a life of crime
+and a dishonored grave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG IN THE DOCTRINES AND PRECEPTS OF THE GOSPEL.
+
+MRS. A. G. WHITTELSEY:
+
+DEAR MADAM--It is among the recollections of my early youth,
+that your departed husband was pastor of one of the churches in the
+southern section of Litchfield County, Conn. Among the distinguishing
+religious characteristics of that portion of country, at that period,
+was the soundness of the Congregational churches in the faith of the
+gospel: the means for which, in diligent use, were, the faithful
+preaching of the gospel in its great and fundamental doctrines and
+precepts; and catechetical instruction, in the family and in the school.
+I am not informed as to the present habits there, on the latter means.
+But knowing what was the practice, extensively, in regard to the
+instruction of children and youth, and what its effects on the interests
+of sound piety and morals in those days, I feel myself standing on firm
+ground for urging upon the readers of your Magazine, the importance of
+the instruction of the young in the doctrines and duties of the gospel.
+The position taken in your Magazine, on that great and important
+subject, Infant Baptism, is one which you will find approved and
+sustained by all who fully appreciate the means for bringing the sons
+and daughters of the Church to Christ. I hope that in its pages will
+also be inculcated all those great and distinguishing doctrines and
+commands of our holy religion, which, in the Bible, and in the minds of
+all sound and faithful men, and all sound confessions of Christian
+faith, stand inseparably associated with Infant Baptism.
+
+Such instruction should be imparted by parents themselves; not left to
+teachers in the Sabbath-school alone; as soon as the minds of children
+begin to be capable of receiving instruction, of any kind, and of being
+impressed, permanently, by such instruction. It should be imparted
+frequently--or, rather, constantly,--as God directed his anointed
+people: "And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine
+heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou
+shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
+walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up."
+It should be done with clearness and simplicity, adapted to the minds of
+children and youth; with particularity; and with a fullness, as regards
+"the whole word of God," which shall not leave them uninstructed in any
+doctrine or command in the sacred word. These points in the manner of
+instructing the young are suggested, with an eye to the fact, that since
+the establishment of Sunday-schools, there is a temptation for parents
+to leave to others this important work; that it is therefore delayed
+till the age at which children have learned to read,--by which time,
+some of the best opportunities for impressing truth have become
+lost--because also there is infrequency and omission of duty; and
+because there is not always the requisite pains taken to have children
+understand what is taught; and indefinite ideas on the doctrines and
+precepts of the gospel are the consequences; and because there is an
+inclination, too often indicated, to pass over some doctrines and
+precepts, under the notion that they are distasteful, and will repel the
+young mind from religion. We set down as a principle of sound common
+sense, as well as religion, that every truth of the Bible which is
+concerned in making men wise unto salvation, is to be taught to every
+soul whose salvation is to be sought, and that at every period of life.
+
+Let a few words be said, relative to the advantages of thorough and
+faithful instruction of the young, in the doctrines and duties of the
+gospel. It pre-occupies and guards their minds against religious error.
+It prepares them early and discriminately to perceive and understand the
+difference between Bible truth, and the words taught by men, however
+ingenious and plausible. It exerts a salutary moral influence, even
+before conversion takes place,--which is of high importance to a life of
+correct morality. It prepares the way for intelligent and sound
+conversion to God, whenever that desirable event takes place; and for
+subsequent solidity and strength of Christian character, to the end of
+life. Added to these, it may in strict propriety be asserted, that the
+influence of thorough instruction in the sound and sacred truths of
+God's word is inestimable upon the intellect as well as on the heart.
+Divine truth is the grand educator of the immortal mind. It is therefore
+an instrumentality to be used in childhood and youth, as well as in
+adult years.
+
+The objection often made, to omit instruction as advocated in this
+article,--that children and youth cannot understand it,--is founded in a
+mistake. Thousands and thousands of biographies of children and youth
+present facts which obviate the objection and go to correct the mistake.
+It is the beauty of what our Savior called "the kingdom of God,"--the
+religion of the gospel,--that while it is to be "received" by every one
+"_as_ a little child," it is received _by_ many "a little child," who is
+early taught it. But on the other hand, it is an affecting and most
+instructive fact, that of multitudes who are left uninstructed in early
+life, in the truths of the gospel; that Scripture is proved but too
+true, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
+truth."
+
+May your Magazine, dear Madam, be instrumental in advancing the best
+interests of the rising generation, by its advocacy of bringing up
+children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;" into which enters,
+fundamentally, teaching to the young,--by parents themselves,--and that
+"right early," constantly, clearly, particularly and fully, the truths
+of the gospel; the sure and unerring doctrine and commands of the Word
+of God. With Christian salutations, yours truly,
+
+                          E. W. HOOKER.
+  _South Windsor, Conn., August, 1851._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE DEATH-BED SCENE.
+
+
+The following death-bed conversation of a beloved daughter, detailed to
+us by her mother, exhibits such sweet resignation and trust in God, that
+we give it a place in our Magazine. Would that we all might be prepared
+to resign this life with cheerfulness, and with like hopes enter upon
+that which is to come!
+
+"Mother," said she, "I once thought I could be a Christian without
+making a profession of religion, but when God took my little Burnet from
+me, I knew he did it to subdue the pride of my heart and bring me to the
+foot of the Cross. Satan has been permitted to tempt me, but the Savior
+has always delivered me from his snares."
+
+I was absent from her one day for a short time; when I returned she
+looked at me with such a heavenly expression, and said:
+
+"Mother, I thought just now I was dying; I went to the foot of the Cross
+with my burden of sins and sorrows, and left them there. Now all is
+peace; I am not afraid to die."
+
+Her father coming, she took his hand in hers and said:
+
+"My dear father, if I have prayed for one thing more than another, it
+has been for your salvation, but God, doubtless, saw that my death
+(which will, I know, be one of the greatest trials you have ever met
+with) is necessary to save you; and although I love my parents, husband
+and children dearly as any one ever did, and have every thing in this
+world that I could wish for, yet I am willing to die--Here, Lord, take
+me."
+
+Her sister coming in, she said to her:--"My dear Caroline, you see what
+a solemn thing it is to die. What an awful thing it must be for those
+who have no God. Dear sister, learn to love the Savior, learn to pray,
+do not be too much taken up with the world, it will disappoint you."
+
+After saying something to each one present, turning to me, she said:
+
+"My dear mother, I thank you for your kind care of me, for keeping me
+from places of dissipation. I thought once you were too strict, but now
+I bless you for it. I shall not be permitted to smooth your dying
+pillow, but I shall be ready to meet you when you land on the shores of
+Canaan. Dear mother, come soon."
+
+To Mr. H. she said:--"Dear husband, you were the loadstone that held me
+longest to the earth, but I have been enabled to give you up at last. I
+trust you are a Christian, and we shall meet in heaven. Take care of our
+children, train them up for Christ, keep them from the world." She then
+prayed for them. After lying still for some time, she said:
+
+"Mother, I thought I was going just, now, and I tried to put up one more
+prayer for my husband, children, and friends, but (looking up with a
+smile), would you believe I could not remember their names, and I just
+said, Here they are, Lord, take them, and make them what thou wouldst
+have them, and bring them to thy kingdom at last."
+
+When she was almost cold, and her tongue stiffened, she motioned me to
+put my head near her.
+
+"My dear child," said I, "it seems to distress you to talk, don't try."
+
+"Oh, mother, let me leave you all the comfort I can, it is you who must
+still suffer; my sufferings are just over; I am passing over Jordan, but
+the waves do not touch me; my Savior is with me, and keeps them off.
+Never be afraid to go to him. Farewell! And now, Lord Jesus, come, O
+come quickly. My eyes are fixed on the Savior, and all is peace. Let me
+rejoice! let me rejoice!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+"ROGER MILLER," OR "HEROISM IN HUMBLE LIFE,"--Is the title of a
+small "Narrative"--a reprint from a London Edition, by Carter and
+Brothers, 235 Broadway, New York.
+
+The field of benevolent action of this holy man, was that great
+metropolis--London. His life and character were in fact a counterpart of
+our own Harlan Page. The somewhat extended "Introduction" to this
+reprint was prepared by Dr. James Alexander. We feel justified in
+saying, with his extensive experience, and his keen perceptions of truth
+and of duty in such matters, this Introduction is worth all the book may
+cost.
+
+The main thought of the work suggests "_The condition of our
+metropolitan population_"--points out the "_true remedy_" for existing
+evils--shows us the value of "_lay agency_," and "how much may be done
+by individuals of humble rank and least favored circumstances."
+
+Every parent has a personal interest to aid and encourage such
+benevolent action. Vice is contagious. Let our seaboard towns become
+flagrantly wicked--with "railroad speed" the infection will travel far
+and wide. Mothers are invited to peruse this little volume--as an
+encouragement to labor and pray, and hope for the conversion of wayward
+wandering sons--for wicked and profligate youth.
+
+Roger Miller, whose death caused such universal lamentation in the city
+of London, was for many years a wanderer from God, and was at length
+converted by means of a tract, given him by the "_way-side_," by an old
+and decrepit woman.
+
+"NEWCOMB'S MANUAL"--Is a carefully prepared little volume,
+containing Scripture questions, designed for the use of Maternal
+Associations at their Quarterly Meetings.
+
+"MARY ASHTON"--Is the title of a little work recently issued
+from the press, delineating the difference between the character of the
+London boarding-school Miss, and one of nearly the same age, educated
+and trained by the devoted, affectionate care of a pious mother. The
+influence which the latter exerts upon the former is also set forth
+during the progress of the story. Those readers who are fond of
+delineations of English scenery and of the time-hallowed influences of
+the old English Church, will be pleased with the style of the volume,
+while some few mothers may possess the delightful consciousness of
+viewing in _Mary Ashton_ the image of their loved ones now laboring in
+the vineyard of the Lord, or transferred to his more blessed service in
+the skies. But few such, alas! are to be found among even the baptized
+children of the Church; those on whom the dew and rain gently distilled
+in the privacy of home and from the public sanctuary bring forth the
+delightsome plant. God grant that such fruits may be more abundant!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+RECOLLECTIONS ILLUSTRATIVE OF MATERNAL INFLUENCE.
+
+
+In thinking over the scenes of my childhood the other day, I was led to
+trace the path of some of my youthful companions into life; and I could
+not but be struck with the fact, that in almost every instance, both the
+character and the condition were referable, in a great measure, to the
+influence of the mother. Some of them were blessed with good mothers,
+and some were cursed with bad ones; and though the conviction is not in
+all the cases marked with equal distinctness, yet in several of them,
+the very image and superscription of the mother remains upon the child
+to this day. I sometimes visit the place which was the scene of my early
+training, and inquire for those who were the playmates of my childhood,
+and I receive answers to some of my inquiries that well nigh make me
+shudder; but when I think of the early domestic influence, especially
+the maternal influence, to which some of them were subjected, there is
+nothing in the account that I hear concerning them, but what is easily
+explained. For the cause of their present degradation and ruin, I have
+no occasion to go outside of the dwelling in which they were reared. I
+am glad to put on record, for the benefit of both mothers and their
+children, two of the cases which now occur to me, as illustrative of
+different kinds of maternal influence.
+
+One of the boys who attended the same school with me, and whose father's
+residence was very near my father's, was, even at that early period,
+both vulgar and profane in his talk. He seemed destitute of all sense
+and propriety, caring nothing for what was due from him to others, and
+equally regardless of the good-will of his teacher and of his
+companions. When I returned to the place, after a few years' absence,
+and inquired for him, I was told that he was growing up, or rather had
+grown up, in habits of vice, which seemed likely to render him an outlaw
+from all decent society: that even then he had no associates except from
+the very dregs of the community. In my visits to my native place ever
+since, I have kept my eye upon him, as a sad illustration of the
+progress of sin. He has been for many years--I cannot say an absolute
+sot--but yet an intemperate drinker. He has always been shockingly
+profane; not only using the profane expressions that are commonly heard
+in the haunts of wickedness, but actually putting his invention to the
+rack to originate expressions more revolting, if possible, than anything
+to be found in the acknowledged vocabulary of blasphemy. He has been
+through life an avowed infidel--not merely a deist, but a professed
+atheist,--laughing at the idea both of a God and a hereafter; though his
+skepticism, instead of being the result of inquiry or reflection, or
+being in any way connected with it, is evidently the product of
+unrestrained vicious indulgence. His domestic relations have been a
+channel of grief and mortification to those who have been so unfortunate
+as to be associated with him. His wife, if she is still living, lives
+with a broken heart, and the time has been when she has dreaded the
+sound of his footsteps. His children, notwithstanding the brutalizing
+influence to which they have been subjected, have, by no means, sunk
+down to _his_ standard of corruption; and some of them at least would
+seem ready to hang their heads when they call him "father." I cannot at
+this moment think of a more loathsome example of moral debasement than
+this person presents. I sometimes meet him, and from early associations,
+even take his hand; but I never do it without feeling myself in contact
+with the very personification of depravity.
+
+Now, I am not surprised at all this, when I go back to the time when he
+had a mother, and remember what sort of a mother she was. She was coarse
+and vulgar in her habits; and I well recollect that the interior of her
+dwelling was so neglected, that it scarcely rose above a decent stable.
+The secret of this, and most of her other delinquencies was, that she
+was a lover of intoxicating drinks. I believe she sometimes actually
+made a beast of herself; but oftener drank only so much as to make her
+silly and ridiculous. It happened in her case, as in many similar ones,
+that her fits of being intoxicated were fits of being religious; and
+though, when she was herself, she never, to my knowledge, made any
+demonstrations of piety or devotion; yet the moment her tongue became
+too large for her mouth, she was sure to use it in the most earnest and
+glowing religious professions. A stranger might have taken her at such a
+time for a devoted Christian; but alas! her religion was only that of a
+wretched inebriate.
+
+Now who can think it strange that such a mother should have had such a
+son? Not only may the general corrupt character of the son be accounted
+for by the general corrupt influence of the mother, but the particular
+traits of the son's character may also be traced to particular
+characteristics of the mother, as an effect to its legitimate cause. The
+single fact that she was intemperate, and that her religion was confined
+to her fits of drunkenness, would explain it all. Of course, the
+education of her son was utterly neglected. No pains were taken to
+impress his mind with the maxims of truth and piety. He was never warned
+against the power of temptation, but was suffered to mingle with the
+profane and the profligate, without any guard against the unhallowed
+influences to which he was exposed. This, of itself, would be enough to
+account for his forming a habit of vice--even for his growing up a
+profligate;--for such are the tendencies of human nature, that the mere
+absence of counsel and guidance and restraint, is generally sufficient
+to insure a vicious character. But in the case to which I refer, there
+was more than the absence of a good example--there was the presence of a
+positively bad one--and that in the form of one of the most degrading of
+all vices. The boy saw his mother a drunkard, and why should he not
+become a drunkard too? The boy saw that his mother's religious
+professions were all identified with her fits of intoxication, and why
+should he not grow up as he did, without any counteracting influence?
+why should he not settle down with the conviction that religion is a
+matter of no moment? nay, why should he not become what he actually did
+become,--a scoffer and an atheist? Whenever I meet him, I see in his
+face, not only a reproduction of his mother's features, but that which
+tells of the reproduction of his mother's character. I pity him that he
+should have had such a mother, while I loathe the qualities which he has
+inherited from her, or which have been formed through the influence of
+her example.
+
+The other case forms a delightful contrast to the one already stated,
+and is as full of encouragement as _that_ is full of warning. Another of
+my playmates was a boy who was always noticed for being
+perfectly-correct and unexceptionable in all his conduct. I never heard
+him utter a profane or indecent word. I never knew him do a thing even
+of questionable propriety. He was bright and playful, but never
+mischievous. He was a good scholar, not because he had very remarkable
+talents, but because he made good use of his time--because he was taught
+to regard it as his duty to get his lessons well, and he could not be
+happy in any other course. His teachers loved him because he was
+diligent and respectful; his playmates loved him, because he was kind
+and obliging; all loved him, because he was an amiable, moral,
+well-disposed boy. He evinced so much promise, that his parents, though
+not in affluent circumstances, resolved on giving him a collegiate
+education, and in due time he became a member of one of our highest
+literary institutions. There he maintained a high rank for both
+scholarship and morality, and graduated with distinguished honor. Not
+long after this, his mind took a decidedly serious direction, and he not
+only gave himself to the service of God, but resolved to give himself
+also to the ministry of reconciliation. After passing through the usual
+course and preparation for the sacred office, he entered it; and he is
+now the able and successful minister of a large and respectable
+congregation. He has already evidently been instrumental of winning many
+souls. I hear of him from time to time, as among the most useful
+ministers of the day. I occasionally meet him, and see for myself the
+workings of his well-trained mind, and his generous and sanctified
+spirit. I say to myself, I remember you, when you were only the germ of
+what you are; but surely the man was bound up in the boy. I witness
+nothing in your maturity which was not shadowed forth in your earliest
+development.
+
+Here again, let me trace the stream to its fountain--the effect to its
+cause. This individual was the child of a discreet and faithful
+Christian mother. She dedicated him to God in holy baptism, while he was
+yet unconscious of the solemn act. She watched the first openings of his
+intellect, that no time might be lost in introducing the beams of
+immortal truth. She guarded him during his childhood, from the influence
+of evil example, especially of evil companions, with the most scrupulous
+care. She labored diligently to suppress the rising of unhallowed
+tempers and perverse feelings, with a view to prevent, if possible, the
+formation of any vicious habit, while she steadily inculcated the
+necessity of that great radical change, which alone forms the basis of a
+truly spiritual character. And though no human eye followed her to her
+closet, I doubt not that her good instructions were seconded by her
+fervent prayers; and that as often as she approached the throne of
+mercy, she left there a petition for the well-doing and the well-being,
+the sanctification and salvation of her son. And her work of faith and
+labor of love were not in vain. The son became all that she could have
+asked, and she lived to witness what he became. She lived to listen to
+his earnest prayers and his eloquent and powerful discourses. She lived
+to hear his name pronounced with respect and gratitude in the high
+places of the Church. He was one of the main comforters of her old age;
+and if I mistake not, he was at her death-bed, to commend her departing
+spirit into her Redeemer's hands. Richly was that mother's fidelity
+rewarded by the virtues and graces which she had assisted to form.
+Though she recognized them all as the fruits of the Spirit, she could
+not but know that in a humble, and yet very important sense, they were
+connected with her own instrumentality.
+
+Such has been the career of two of the playmates of my childhood. They
+are both living, but they have been traveling in opposite directions,--I
+may say ever since they left the cradle. And so far as we can judge, the
+main reason is, that the one had a mother whose influence was only for
+evil, the other, a mother who was intent upon doing good. Both their
+mothers now dwell in the unseen world; while the one is represented on
+earth by a most loathsome specimen of humanity, the other by a pure and
+elevated spirit, that needs only to pass the gate of death to become a
+seraph.
+
+Mothers, I need not say a word to impress the lessons suggested by this
+contrast. They lie upon the surface, and your own hearts will readily
+take them up. May God save you from looking upon ruined children, and
+being obliged to feel that you have been their destroyers! May God
+permit you to look upon children, whom your faithfulness has, through
+grace, nurtured not only into useful members of human society, but into
+heirs of an endless glorious life!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE REV. THOMAS H. GALLAUDET.
+
+BY MRS. G. M. SYKES.
+
+
+There is a little legend of the Queen of Sheba and wise King Solomon,
+which is fragrant with pleasant meaning. She had heard his wonderful
+fame in her distant country, and had come "with a very great company,
+and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious
+stones;" this imposing caravan had wound its way over the deserts, and
+the royal pilgrim had endured the heat and weariness of the way, that
+she "might prove the king with hard questions, at Jerusalem." This we
+have upon the highest authority, though for this particular test we must
+be content with something less. Entering his audience-chamber one day,
+she is said to have produced two crowns of flowers, of rare beauty, and
+apparently exactly alike. "Both are for thee, O wise king," said she,
+"but discern between them, which is the workmanship of the Most High,
+and which hath man fashioned in its likeness?"
+
+We read of costly oriental imitations of flowers in gold and silver, in
+pearls, and amethysts, and rubies. How shall Solomon the King detect the
+cunning mimicry? Solomon the Wise has determined. He causes the windows
+looking upon the gardens of his ivory palace to be thrown open, and
+immediately the crown of true flowers is covered with bees.
+
+Like King Solomon's bees are the instincts of childhood, sure to detect
+the fragrance of the genuine blossom in human nature, and settle where
+the honey may be found. It was a rare distinction of the good man whose
+name stands at the head of this chapter, that children everywhere loved
+him, and recognized in him their true friend. An enduring monument of
+his love for children, and his untiring efforts to do them good is found
+in the books he has written for them. His _Child's Book on the Soul_,
+has, if I am not mistaken, been translated into French, German, and
+Modern Greek, and has issued from the Mission-press at Ceylon, in one or
+more of the dialects of India. It has also been partially rendered into
+the vernacular at the missionary stations, in opposite parts of the
+world. His _Child's Book on Repentance_, and his _Histories of the
+Patriarchs_, published by the American Tract Society, are the result of
+diligent study. The _Life of Moses_ may be specified, as having cost him
+most laborious investigation; and it is true of them all that there is
+in them an amount of illustrative Biblical research, and a depth of
+mental philosophy, which more ambitious writers would have reserved for
+their theological folios. But even his books, widely as they are known
+and appreciated, convey but an imperfect idea of the writer's power to
+interest and benefit children. They cannot present his affectionate,
+playful manner, nor the genial and irresistible humor of his intercourse
+with them. Mothers were glad to meet Mr. Gallaudet, but they were more
+glad to have their children meet him, even in the street; for a kind
+word, or a smile of pleasant greeting, told every young friend, even
+there, that he was remembered and cared for,--and these things encourage
+children to try to deserve favor.
+
+In person, Mr. G. was rather short and slender, but with an erectness of
+carriage, and a somewhat precise observance of the usages of refined
+society, which gave him an unfailing dignity of appearance. A certain
+quaintness of manner and expression was an irresistible charm about him.
+Sure I am, that one little girl will always remember the kind hand
+stretched out to seize her own,--and the question after the manner of
+Mrs. Barbauld: "Child of mortality, whither goest thou?"
+
+His most remarkable personal characteristic was the power of expression
+in his face. The quiet humor of the mouth, and the bright, quick glance
+of the eye, were his by nature; but the extraordinary mobility of the
+muscles was owing, probably, to his long intercourse with deaf mutes. It
+was a high intellectual gratification to see him in communication with
+this class of unfortunates, to whom so large a proportion of the labors
+of his life was devoted. It is said that Garrick often amused his
+friends by assuming some other person's countenance. We are sure Mr.
+Gallaudet could have done this. We remember that he did astonish a body
+of legislators, before whom there was an exhibition, by proving to them
+that he could relate a narrative to his pupils by his face alone,
+without gesture. This power of expression has a great attraction for
+children. Like animals, they often understand the language of the face
+better than that of the lips; it always furnishes them with a valuable
+commentary on the words addressed to them, and the person who talks to
+them with a perfectly immovable, expressionless countenance, awes and
+repulses them. In addition to this, our friend was never without a
+pocketful of intellectual _bon-bons_ for them. A child whom he met with
+grammar and dictionary, puzzled for months over the sentence he gave
+her, assuring her that it was genuine Latin:--
+
+"Forte dux fel flat in guttur."
+
+To another he would give this problem, from ancient Dilworth:--
+
+"If a herring and a half cost three-halfpence, how many will eleven
+pence buy?"
+
+Persons who are too stately to stoop to this way of pleasing childhood,
+have very little idea of the magic influence it exerts, and how it opens
+the heart to receive "the good seed" of serious admonition from one who
+has shown himself capable of sympathy in its pleasures.
+
+Those whose privilege it has been to know Mr. Gallaudet in his own home,
+surrounded by his own intelligent children, have had a new revelation of
+the gentleness, the tenderness and benignity of the paternal relation.
+Many years since I was a "watcher by the bed," where lay his little
+daughter, recovering from a dangerous illness. He evidently felt that a
+great responsibility was resting upon a young nurse, with whom, though
+he knew her well, he was not familiar in that character. I felt the
+earnest look of inquiry which he gave me, as I was taking directions for
+the medicines of the night. He was sounding me to know whether I might
+be trusted. At early dawn, before the last stars had set, he was again
+by the bed, intent upon the condition of the little patient. When he was
+satisfied that she was doing well, and had been well cared for, he took
+my hand in his, and thanked me with a look which told me that I had now
+been tried, and found faithful and competent.
+
+Not only was he a man made of tender charities, but he was an observant,
+thoughtful man, considerate of the little as well as the great wants of
+others. I can never forget his gentle ministrations in the sick room of
+my most precious mother, who was for many years his neighbor and friend.
+She had been brought to a condition of great feebleness by a slow
+nervous fever, and was painfully sensitive to anything discordant,
+abrupt, or harsh in the voices and movements of those about her. Every
+day, at a fixed hour, this good neighbor would glide in, noiselessly as
+a spirit, and, either reading or repeating a few soothing verses from
+the Bible, would kneel beside her bed, and quietly, in a few calm and
+simple petitions, help her to fix her weak and wavering thoughts on that
+merciful kindness which was for her help. Day after day, through her
+slow recovery, his unwearied kindness brought him thither, and
+gratefully was the service felt and acknowledged. I never knew him in
+the relation he afterwards sustained to the diseased in mind, but I am
+sure that his refined perceptions and delicate tact must have fitted him
+admirably for his chaplaincy in the Retreat.
+
+I retain a distinct impression of him as I saw him one day in a
+character his benevolence often led him to assume, that of a city
+missionary; though it was only the duties of one whom he saw to be
+needed, without an appointment, that he undertook. How he found time, or
+strength, with his feeble constitution, for preaching to prisoners and
+paupers, and visits to the destitute and dying, is a mystery to one less
+diligent in filling up little interstices of time.
+
+I was present at a funeral, where, in the sickness or absence of the
+pastor, Mr. Gallaudet had been requested to officiate. It was on a bleak
+and wintry day in spring: the wind blew, and the late and unwelcome snow
+was falling. There was much to make the occasion melancholy. It was the
+funeral of a young girl, the only daughter of a widow, who had expended
+far more than the proper proportion of her scanty means in giving the
+girl showy and useless accomplishments. A cold taken at a dance had
+resulted in quick consumption, and in a few weeks had hurried her to the
+grave. Without proper training and early religious instruction, it was
+difficult to know how much reliance might safely be placed on the
+eagerness with which she embraced the hopes and consolations of the
+Gospel set before her on her dying bed. Her weak-minded and injudicious
+mother felt that she should be lauded as a youthful saint, and her death
+spoken of as a triumphant entrance into heaven.
+
+There was much to offend the taste in the accompaniments of this
+funeral. It was an inconsistent attempt at show, a tawdry imitation of
+more expensive funeral observances. About the wasted face of the once
+beautiful girl were arranged, not the delicate white blossoms with
+which affection sometimes loves to surround what was lovely in life, but
+gaudy flowers of every hue. The dress, too, was fantastic and
+inappropriate. The mother and little brothers sat in one of the two
+small rooms; the mother in transports of grief, which was real, but not
+so absorbing as to be forgetful of self and scenic effect. The little
+boys sat by, in awkward consciousness of new black gloves, and crape
+bands on their hats. Everything was artificial and painfully forlorn;
+and the want of genuineness, which surrounded the pale sleeper, seemed
+to cast suspicion on the honesty and validity of her late-formed hope
+for eternity.
+
+But the first words of prayer, breathed forth, rather than uttered, in
+the low tones the speaker was most accustomed to use, changed the aspect
+of the poor place. _He_ was genuine and in earnest.
+
+The mother's exaggerated sobs became less frequent, and real tears
+glistened in eyes that, like mine, had been wandering to detect
+absurdities and incongruities. We were gently lifted upwards towards God
+and Heaven. We were taught a lesson in that mild charity which "thinketh
+no evil,"--which "hopeth all things, and endureth all things;" and when
+the scanty funeral train left the house, I could not but feel that the
+ministration of this good man there had been--
+
+  "As if some angel shook his wings."
+
+We preserve even trifling memorials of friends whom we have loved and
+lost; and even these recollections, deeply traced, though slight in
+importance, may bear a value for those who knew and estimated the finely
+organized and nicely-balanced character of the man who loved to "do good
+by stealth," and who has signalized his life by bringing, in his own
+peculiar and quiet way, many great enterprises from small beginnings.
+
+                            Norwich, Ct.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY RELIGION.
+
+BY REV. HENRY T. CHEEVER.
+
+
+It is a very general remark, at the present time, throughout our
+country, and the complaint comes back, especially from the great West,
+through those who are familiarly acquainted with society there, that
+there is a growing spirit of insubordination in the family, and, of
+course, in the State; and it is ascribed to laxity and neglect in the
+_Mothers_ as much as in the Fathers. Its existence is even made the
+matter of public comment on such occasions as the celebration of the
+landing of our Pilgrim Fathers, those bright exemplars of family
+religion. And grave divines and theological professors, in their
+addresses to the people, deprecate it as a growing evil of the times.
+
+Now, without entering into other specifications here, may it not be that
+a chief reason for the _increase_ of family insubordination is to be
+found in the DECREASE OF FAMILY RELIGION? By this we mean
+Religion in the household; in other words, the inculcation and
+observance of the duties of religion in American families, in their
+organized capacity as separate religious communities. Family religion,
+in this sense, implies the acknowledgment of God in the family circle,
+by the assembling of all its members around the domestic altar, morning
+and evening, and by united prayer and praise to the God of the families
+of all flesh; by the invocation of God's blessing and the giving of
+thanks at every social repast; by the strict observance of the Sabbath;
+and by the religious instruction and training of children and servants,
+and the constant recognition of God's providence and care. This
+constitutes, and these are the duties of family religion--duties which
+no Christian head of a family, whether father or mother, can be excused
+from performing. They are duties which all who take upon themselves the
+responsibilities of the family should feel it a privilege to observe.
+
+The duty of family prayer, especially by the one or the other head of
+the household, as the leading exercise of the family religion, should be
+performed with seriousness, order and punctuality. John Angell James
+very properly asks if the dwellings of the righteous ought not to be
+filled with the very element of piety, the atmosphere of true religion.
+"Yet, how few are the habitations, even of professors, upon entering
+which the stranger would be compelled to say, Surely this _is_ the house
+of God, this _is_ the gate of heaven! It may be that family prayer is
+gone through with, such as it is, though with little seriousness and no
+unction. But even this, in many cases, is wholly omitted, and scarcely
+anything remains to indicate that God has found a dwelling in that
+house. There may be no actual dissipation, no drunkenness, no
+card-playing, but, oh! how little of true devotion is there! How few
+families are there so conducted as to make it a matter of surprise that
+any of the children of such households should turn out otherwise than
+pious! How many that lead us greatly to wonder that any of the children
+should turn out otherwise than irreligious! On the other hand, how
+subduing and how melting are the fervent supplications of a godly and
+consistent father, when his voice, tremulous with emotion, is giving
+utterance to the desires of his heart to the God of heaven for the
+children bending around him! Is there, out of heaven, a sight more
+deeply interesting than a family, gathered at morning or evening prayer,
+where the worship is what it ought to be?"
+
+It is hardly to be supposed that any pious heads, or pious members, of
+American households, are in doubt whether family worship be a duty. We
+are rather to take it for granted, as a duty universally acknowledged
+among Christians, nature itself serving to suggest and teach it, and the
+word of God abundantly confirming and enforcing it, both by precept and
+example. God himself being the author and constitutor of the family
+relation, it is but a dictate of reason that He should be owned and
+acknowledged as such, "who setteth the children of men in families like
+a flock, who hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, and hath blessed
+thy children within thee." Of whom it is said, "Lo, children are an
+heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward."
+
+It is this great Family-God, whose solemn charges, by his servant Moses,
+are as binding upon Christian families now as of old upon the children
+of Israel--Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
+all thy soul, and with all thy might: and these words which I command
+thee this day shall be in thy heart: and thou shalt teach them
+diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou
+sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
+liest down and when thou risest up.
+
+This is God's command, and He will hold every parent responsible for the
+religious instruction of his or her children. In such an education for
+God, which is the duty of the parent and the right of the child, the
+habit of family worship constitutes an essential part. Nothing can make
+up for the want of this. Neither the best of preaching and instruction
+in the sanctuary or Sabbath-school, nor the finest education abroad, in
+the boarding-schools or seminaries, will at all answer for the daily
+discipline of family religion. This is something which no artificial
+accomplishment can supply. A religious home education, under the daily
+influence of family worship, and the devout acknowledgment of God at the
+frugal board, and the godly example and instruction of a pious
+parentage, are more influential upon the future character and destiny of
+the child than all the other agencies put together.
+
+The true divine origin of the domestic economy is to train children, by
+habits of virtue, obedience, and piety in the family, to become useful
+members of society at large and good subjects of the State, and above
+all to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of faith.
+In order to this the strict maintenance of family religion is absolutely
+essential. It is therefore laid down as an axiom that no State can be
+prosperous where family order and religion are generally neglected. The
+present condition of France, and the so far successful villainy of her
+perjured usurper, are in proof of this position, which was understood by
+one of her statesmen a few years ago, when he said with emphasis on his
+dying bed, "What France wants is family religion; what France wants is
+family religion."
+
+On the contrary, every State _will be prosperous_, whatever its
+political institutions, where family religion and healthy domestic
+discipline are strictly maintained. Disorderly and irreligious families
+are the hot-beds of disorderly and irreligious citizens; on the other
+hand, families in which God is honored, and the children educated under
+the hallowed influences of family religion, are heaven's own nurseries
+for the State and the Church. The considerations which should urge every
+Christian householder to be strict in the maintenance of family religion
+are therefore both patriotic and religious. The good results of such
+fidelity and strictness on the part of parents are by no means limited
+to their own children, as the experience of a pious tradesman, related
+to his minister in a conversation on family worship, most instructively
+proves.
+
+When he first began business for himself, he was determined, through
+grace, to be particularly conscientious with respect to family prayer.
+Morning and evening every individual of his household was required to be
+present at the domestic altar; nor would he allow his apprentices to be
+absent on any account. In a few years the benefits of such fidelity in
+daily family religion manifestly appeared; the blessings of the upper
+and nether springs followed him; health and happiness crowned his
+family, and prosperity attended his business.
+
+At length, however, such was the rapid increase of trade, and the
+importance of devoting every possible moment to his customers, that he
+began to think whether family prayer did not occupy too much time in the
+morning. Pious scruples indeed there were against relinquishing this
+part of his duty; but soon wordly interests prevailed so far as to
+induce him to excuse the attendance of his apprentices; and it was not
+long before it was deemed advisable for the more eager prosecution of
+business, to make praying in the morning when he first arose, suffice
+for the day.
+
+Notwithstanding the repeated checks of conscience that followed this
+sinful omission, the calls of a flourishing business concern and the
+prospect of an increasing family appeared so pressing, that he found an
+easy excuse to himself for this unjustifiable neglect of an obvious
+family duty. But when his conscience was almost seared as with a hot
+iron, it pleased God to awaken him by a peculiar though natural
+providence. One day he received a letter from a young man who had
+formerly been an apprentice, previous to his omitting family prayer. Not
+doubting but that domestic worship was still continued in the family of
+his old master, his letter was chiefly on the benefits which he had
+himself received through its agency.
+
+"Never," said he, "shall I be able to thank you sufficiently for the
+precious privilege with which you indulged me in your family devotions!
+O, sir, eternity will be too short to praise my God for what I have
+learned. It was there I first beheld my lost and wretched estate as a
+sinner; it was there that I first found the way of salvation, and there
+that I first experienced the preciousness of Christ in me the hope of
+glory. O, sir, permit me to say, Never, never neglect those precious
+engagements. You have yet a family and more apprentices. May your house
+be the birth-place of their souls!"
+
+The conscience-stricken tradesman could proceed no further, for every
+line flashed condemnation in his face. He trembled, and was alarmed lest
+the blood of his children and apprentices should be demanded at his
+hands. "Filled with confusion, and bathed in tears, I fled," said he,
+"for refuge in secret. I spread the letter before God. I agonized in
+prayer, till light broke in upon my disconsolate soul, and a sense of
+blood-bought pardon was obtained. I immediately flew to my family,
+presented them before the Lord, and from that day to the present, I have
+been faithful, and am determined, through grace, that whenever my
+business becomes so large as to interrupt family prayer, I will give up
+the superfluous part of it and retain my devotion. Better lose a few
+dollars than become the deliberate moral murderer of my family and the
+instrument of ruin to my own soul."
+
+Now this experience is highly instructive and admonitory. It proves how
+much good may be doing by family worship faithfully observed when we
+little know it, and the importance, therefore, of always maintaining it.
+It proves the goodness of God in reproving and checking his children
+when they neglect duty and go astray. And it shows the insidious way in
+which backsliding begins and grievous sin on the part of God's people.
+May the engagements of business never tempt any parent that reads this
+article to repeat the tradesman's dangerous experiment! But if there be
+any that have fallen into the same condemnation, as it is to be feared
+some may have done, may God of his mercy admonish them of it, and bring
+them back before such a declension, begun in the neglect of family
+religion, shall be consummated in the decay and loss of personal
+religion, and the growing irreligion both of your family and your own
+soul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE BONNIE BAIRNS.
+
+
+This exquisitely touching ballad we take from the "Songs of Scotland,
+Ancient and Modern," edited by Allan Cunningham. He says, "It is seldom
+indeed, that song has chosen so singular a theme; but the _superstition_
+it involves is current in Scotland."
+
+  The ladie walk'd in yon wild wood,
+    Aneath the hollow tree,
+  And she was aware of twa bonnie bairns
+    Were running at her knee.
+
+  The tane it pulled a red, red rose,
+    Wi' a hand as soft as silk;
+  The other, it pull'd a lily pale,
+    With a hand mair white than milk.
+
+  "Now, why pull ye the red rose, fair bairns?
+    And why the white lily?"
+  "Oh, we sue wi' them at the seat of grace,
+    For soul of thee, ladie!"
+
+  "Oh, bide wi' me, my twa bonnie bairns!
+    I'll cleid ye rich and fine;
+  And a' for the blaeberries of the wood,
+    Yese hae white bread and wine."
+
+  She sought to take a lily hand,
+    And kiss a rosie chin--
+  "O, naught sae pure can bide the touch
+    Of a hand red--wet wi' sin"!
+
+  The stars were shooting to and fro,
+    And wild-fire filled the air,
+  As that ladie follow'd thae bonnie bairns
+    For three lang hours and mair.
+
+  "Oh, where dwell ye, my ain sweet bairns?
+    I'm woe and weary grown!"
+  "Oh, ladie, we live where woe never is,
+    In a land to flesh unknown."
+
+  There came a shape which seem'd to her
+    As a rainbow 'mang the rain;
+  And sair these sweet babes plead for her,
+    And they pled and pled in vain.
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,
+    "My mither maun come in;"
+  "And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,
+    "Wash her twa hands frae sin."
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the youngest babe,
+    "She nursed me on her knee."
+  "And O! and O!" said the eldest babe,
+    "She's a mither yet to me."
+
+  "And O! and O!" said the babes baith,
+    "Take her where waters rin,
+  And white as the milk of her white breast,
+    Wash her twa hands frae sin."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.
+
+
+This little girl was doubtless one of those whom the Savior early
+prepares for their removal to his pure and holy family above. The sweet,
+lovely, and attractive graces of a sanctified childhood, shone with a
+mild luster throughout her character and manners, as she passed from one
+period of intelligence to another, until she had reached the termination
+of her short journey through earth to heaven.
+
+Peace to thy ashes, gentle one! "Light lie the turf" upon thy bosom,
+until thou comest forth to a morning, that shall know no night!
+
+After the birth of this their first child, the parents were continually
+reminded of the shortness and uncertainty of life, by repeated
+sicknesses in the social circle, and by the sudden death of one of their
+number, a beloved sister.
+
+Whether it was that this had its influence in the shaping of the
+another's instructions, or not, yet such was the fact, that the subject
+of a preparation for early death, was not unfrequently the theme, when
+religious instruction was imparted. The mind of the mother was also
+impressed with the idea of her own responsibility. She felt that the
+soul of the child would be required at her hands, and that she must do
+all in her power to fit it for heaven. Hence she was importunate and
+persevering in prayer, for a blessing upon her efforts; that God would
+graciously grant his Spirit, not only to open the mind of her child to
+receive instruction, but also to set it home and seal it there.
+
+Her solicitude for the spiritual welfare, of the child was such, as
+often to attract the notice of the writer; while the results forced upon
+her mind the conviction, that the tender bud, nurtured with so much care
+and fidelity, and watered with so many prayers and tears, would never be
+permitted to burst into full flower, in the ungenial soil of earth.
+
+Mary Jane had hardly numbered three winters, when a little sister of
+whom she was very fond, was taken dangerously sick. Her mother and the
+nurse were necessarily confined with the sick child; and she was left
+very much alone. I would fain have taken the little girl home with me;
+but it was feared that a change of temperature might prove unfavorable
+to her health, so I often spent long hours with her, in her own home.
+Precious seasons! How they now come up to me, through the long vista of
+the dim and distant past, stirring the soul, like the faint echoes of
+melting music, and wakening within it, remembrances of all pleasant
+things.
+
+I had been spending an afternoon with her in the usual manner, sometimes
+telling her stories, and again drawing forth her little thoughts in
+conversation, and was about taking leave, when I said to her, "Mary
+Jane, you must be sure and ask God to make your little sister well
+again." Sliding down from her chair, and placing her little hand in
+mine, she said with great simplicity, "Who will lead me up there?"
+Having explained to her as well as I could, that it was not necessary
+for her to go up to heaven; that God could hear her, although she could
+neither see him nor hear his answers, I reluctantly tore myself away.
+Yet it was well for the child that I did so; for being left alone, the
+train of her thoughts was not diverted to other objects; and she
+continued to revolve in her mind, as was afterwards found, the idea of
+asking God to make her sister well.
+
+That night, having said her usual evening prayer, "Our Father," "Now I
+lay me down to sleep," &c., the nurse left her quietly composed to
+sleep, as she thought, but having occasion soon to pass her door, she
+found that Mary Jane was awake and "talking loud." On listening, she
+found that the little girl was praying. Her language was, "My dear
+Father up in heaven, do please to make my little sister well again."
+
+Before her sister recovered, she was taken sick herself. A kind relative
+who was watching by her bedside one night, offered her some medicine
+which she refused to take. The watcher said, "I want to have you take
+it; it will make you well." The sick child replied: "The medicine can't
+cure me--the doctors can't cure me--only God can cure me; but Jesus, he
+can make me well." On being told that it would please God, if she should
+take the medicine, she immediately swallowed it. After this she lay for
+some time apparently in thought; then addressing the watcher she said,
+"Aunty B----, do you know which is the way to heaven?" Then answering
+the question herself she said, "Because if you don't, you go and ask my
+uncle H----, and he will tell you which is the way. He preaches in the
+pulpit every Sabbath to the people to be good,--and that is the way to
+go to heaven."
+
+Were the dear child to come back now, she could hardly give a plainer or
+more scriptural direction--for, "without holiness, no man shall see the
+Lord."
+
+Before Mary Jane had recovered from this sickness, a little brother was
+added to the number; thus making a group of infants, the eldest of whom
+could number but three years and one month.
+
+As the little ones became capable of receiving impressions from
+religious truth, Mary Jane, though apparently but an infant herself,
+would watch over them with the most untiring vigilance. One thing she
+was very scrupulous about; it was their evening prayer. If at any time
+this had been omitted, she would appear to be evidently distressed. One
+evening while her mother was engaged with company in the parlor, she
+felt something gently pulling her gown. On looking behind her chair, she
+found little Mary Jane, who had crept in unobserved, and was whispering
+to her that the nurse had put her little brother and sister to bed
+without having said their prayers.
+
+It was often instructive to me to see what a value this dear child set
+upon prayer. I have since thought that the recovery of her infant
+sister, and her own prayer for the same, were so associated in her mind,
+as to produce a conviction of the efficacy of prayer, such as few
+possess.
+
+Being confined so much to the nursery, the mother improved the favored
+season, in teaching her little girl to read, to sew and spell; keeping
+up at the same time her regular routine of instruction in catechism,
+hymns, &c. She had an exercise for the Sabbath which was admirably
+adapted to make the day pass, not only pleasantly but profitably. In the
+morning, unless prevented by illness, she was invariably found in her
+seat in the sanctuary, with such of her children as were old enough to
+be taken to church. In the afternoon she gave her nurse the same
+privilege, but retained her children at home with herself. The moment
+the house was clear, Mary Jane might be seen collecting the little group
+for the nursery; alluring them along with the assurance that "now mother
+was going to make them happy." This meeting was strictly in keeping with
+the sacredness of the day. It was also a social meeting, each little one
+as soon as it could speak, being required to take some part in it, the
+little Mary Jane setting the example, encouraging the younger ones in
+the most winning manner; and always making one of the prayers. The Bible
+was not only the text book, but the guide. It furnished the thoughts,
+and from it the mother selected some portion which for the time, she
+deemed most appropriate to the state of her infant audience. Singing
+formed a delightful part of the exercises. The mother had a fine voice,
+and the little ones tried to fall in with it, in the use of some hymn
+adapted to their tender minds.
+
+These meetings were also very serious, and calculated to make a lasting
+impression on the tender minds of the children. At the close of one, the
+mother who had been telling the children of heaven, turned to Mary Jane,
+and said, "My dear child, if you should die now, do you think you should
+go to heaven?" "I don't know, mother," was her thoughtful reply;
+"sometimes I think I am a good girl, and that God loves me, and that I
+shall certainly go to heaven. But sometimes I am naughty. J---- teazes
+me, and makes me unthread my needle, and then I feel angry; and I _know_
+God does not love me _then_. I don't know, mother. I am afraid I should
+not go to heaven." Then encouraging herself, she added in a sweet
+confiding manner, "I hope I shall go there; don't you hope so too,
+mother?"
+
+Oh, who of our fallen race would ever see heaven, if sinless perfection
+only, were to be the ground of our admittance there? True, we must be
+free from sin, before we can enter that holy place; but this will be,
+because God "hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we
+might be made the righteousness of God in Him."[A]
+
+How much of the great doctrine of Justification by Faith in Christ this
+little girl could comprehend, would be very difficult to tell. But, that
+she regarded him as the medium through which she must receive every
+blessing, there could be no doubt. He died that she might live; live in
+the favor and friendship of God here, and live forever in his presence
+hereafter.
+
+Since commencing this simple narrative, I have regretted that more of
+her sweet thoughts respecting Jesus and heaven could not be recalled.
+Every thing relating to the soul, to its preparation for another and
+better state of existence; to the enjoyments and employments of the
+blessed, had an almost absorbing power over her mind; so that she
+greatly preferred to read of them, and reflect upon them, to joining in
+the ordinary sports of childhood. Yet she was a gentle and loving child,
+to her little companions, and would always leave her book, cheerfully
+and sweetly, when requested to join their little circle for play. But it
+was evident that she could not as easily draw back her thoughts from
+their deep and heavenly communings.
+
+Whenever she witnessed a funeral procession, instead of lingering over
+the pageant before her, her thoughts would follow the individual into
+the invisible world. Was the person prepared for death? Had the soul
+gone to God? were questions which she pondered with the deepest
+interest.
+
+A short time previous to her death, she was permitted at her urgent and
+oft repeated request, to witness the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Her
+mother was much affected to see the interest which the dear child
+manifested on the occasion, and also the readiness with which she
+entered into the meaning and design of the sacred ordinance.
+
+The entire sixth year of Mary Jane was a period of unusual confinement.
+Several members of the family were sick during that time; her mother
+more than once; and she was often confined for whole days to the nursery
+amusing the younger children and attending to their wants. Hence, when a
+visit to the 'water-side' was talked of, the proposal was hailed with
+joy. The prospect of escaping from her confinement, of being permitted
+to go freely into the fresh air, to see the ocean, and gather shells and
+pebbles upon its beach, was hailed with joyous emotion. Yet all these
+delightful anticipations were destined to disappointment. The family did
+indeed go to the 'water-side'; but they had scarcely reached the place
+when their second daughter was taken alarmingly ill. When the dear child
+was told that she must return home with her little brother, not a murmur
+escaped her lips. Not that she cared nothing for the ocean, or the
+treasures upon its beach; but she had learned the great lesson of
+self-denial, although so young. A moment before, and she was exulting in
+prospect of the joyous rambles in which she should participate, amidst
+the groups of sportive children collected at the watering place. But
+when the carriage was brought to the door, and her little bonnet was
+being tied on, not even, 'I am sorry' was uttered by her, although her
+whole frame trembled with emotion. With a hurried, though cheerful,
+'good bye, mother,' she leaped into the coach and was gone.
+
+The two children were brought home to me; and as day after day passed
+and no favorable intimation reached us respecting the sick child, I had
+ample opportunity to see how she resorted to her old refuge, prayer.
+Often would the dear child return to me with the clear light shining in
+her countenance, after a short season of retirement for prayer. I feel
+my heart grow warm, now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century
+nearly, as I recall _that look_, and that winning request, 'Aunty, may I
+stay with you? the children plague me.' Her two little playmates were
+boys; and they could not understand why she refused to unite in their
+boisterous sports. She could buckle on their belts, fix on their riding
+caps, and aid them in mounting their wooden horses; but why she would
+not race up and down with them upon a cane, they could not comprehend.
+She was patient and gentle, towards her little brother. It was a great
+treat to her, to be permitted to take him out to walk. I have seldom
+seen more gratitude expressed by a child, than she manifested, when she
+found that 'aunty' reposed confidence enough in her, to permit her to
+take him out alone. And how careful she was not to abuse that
+confidence, by going beyond the appointed limits. Often since then I
+have found myself adverting to this scene, as furnishing evidence that a
+child who fears God can be trusted. I can see the dear little girl now,
+as she arrived at a particular corner of the street, from which the
+house could be seen, before turning to go back again, stopping and
+gazing earnestly at the window, if perchance she might catch a bow and
+smile from "aunty," expressing by her countenance more forcibly than
+words could, "you see I am here."
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+HOW EARLY MAY A CHILD BE CONVERTED TO GOD.
+
+
+In conversation with some Christian friends, a few days since, one young
+lady remarked that she should never forget a sermon preached by her
+father several years before, in which he remarked that Christian
+biographers of the present day differed very much from those _inspired_
+of God to write for succeeding generations, for _they_ did not fear to
+tell the faults and expose the sins of primitive Christians who were to
+be held up as examples, while those who now wrote took every possible
+pains to hide the faults and make the subjects of their memoirs
+perfection itself, not admitting they had a fault or flaw in their
+characters. "Since hearing these remarks from my pastor," said she, "I
+have never tried to cultivate a taste for memoirs and have seldom looked
+into one."
+
+"Depend upon it, my dear friend," I replied, "you have denied yourself
+one of the richest means of growth in grace, and one of the most
+delightful pleasures afforded the Christian; and while your pastor's
+remarks may have been true of _some_, I cannot agree with him in
+condemning all, for I have read most that have come within my reach for
+ten years past, and have seen but two that I thought merited censure."
+
+"But you will admit," continued my friend, "that those published of
+children are extravagant, and quite beyond any thing seen in common
+life."
+
+"No; I can admit nothing of the kind, for let me tell you what I
+witnessed when on a visit to a friend missionary's family at Pairie du
+Chien: The mother of little George was one of the most spotless
+characters I ever saw, and as you witnessed her daily walk you could not
+but realize that she enjoyed intercourse with One who could purify and
+exalt the character, and 'keep staid on Him in perfect peace the soul
+who trusted in Him.' And should it have fallen to my lot to have written
+her memoirs, I am quite sure it would have been cast aside by those who
+think with you that memoirs are extravagant. I cannot think because
+David committed adultery, and the wisest man then living had three
+hundred wives, and Peter denied his Savior, that all other Christians
+living in the present enlightened age have done or would do these or
+like grievous sins. It has been my lot at some periods of my life to be
+cast among Christians whose confidence in Christ enabled them to rise
+far above the attainments made by the generality of Christians, indeed
+so far as to be almost lost sight of, who would shine as brightly on the
+pages of written Christian life.
+
+"But, as I was going to say, little George was not yet four years old
+when his now sainted mother and myself stood beside his sick bed, and
+beheld the sweet child with his hands clasped over his eyes, evidently
+engaged in prayer, with a look of anguish on his face. We stood there by
+his side, watching him constantly for over an hour, not wishing to
+interrupt his devotions, and at last we saw that look of distress
+gradually disappear, and as silently we watched him we felt that the
+influence of God's Spirit was indeed at work in that young heart.
+
+"At last he looked up at his mother, and a sweet smile lighted up his
+little face as he said, 'Mother, I am going to die; but don't cry, for I
+am going straight to Jesus; my sins are all forgiven, mother.'"
+
+"How do you know that, my sweet child?"
+
+"Why, Jesus said so, ma."
+
+"Said so; did you, indeed, hear any voice, my son?"
+
+"O no, mother; but you know how it is. He speaks it in me, right here,
+here, mother," laying his little hand on his throbbing breast. "I don't
+want to live; I want to go where Jesus is, and be His own little boy,
+and not be naughty any more; and I hope I shan't get well, I am afraid
+if I do I shall be naughty again. O, mother, I have been a great sinner,
+and done many naughty things; but Jesus has forgiven me all my sins, and
+I do wish sister would go to Him and be forgiven for showing that bad
+temper, and all her other sins; don't you, ma?"
+
+"Contrary to expectation this lovely boy recovered, and a few days after
+he got well I saw him take his sister's hand and plead with her to come
+and pray. 'O, sister,' he said, 'you will lose your soul if you don't
+pray. Do, do ask Jesus to forgive your sins, He will hear you, He will
+make you happy; do, do come right to Him, won't you, sissy?' But his
+sister (who was six years old) turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and
+it grieved him so, that he would go away and cry and pray for her with
+exceeding great earnestness.
+
+"Months after, he had the happiness of seeing his sister converted to
+Jesus, and knowing that his infant prayer was answered, and great indeed
+was the joy of this young saint, as well as that of the rest of the
+household as they saw these two of their precious flock going off to
+pray together, not only for themselves, but for an older brother, who
+seemed to have no sympathy with them."
+
+"Well," said my friend, "this is indeed as remarkable as any thing I
+ever read, and I must say, hearing it from your own lips, has a
+tendency to remove that prejudice I have felt toward reading children's
+conversion. Did this child live?"
+
+"O, yes, and remains a consistent follower of Jesus; he is now twelve
+years old."
+
+"This is a very remarkable case," continued my friend; "very rare
+precocity. I have never met with any thing of the kind in my life."
+
+"Yet, I have known several such instances in my short life, one more of
+which I must detain you to relate."
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REPORT OF THE MATERNAL ASSOCIATION, PUTNAM, OHIO.
+
+
+Time, in its rapid flight, my dear sisters, has again brought us to
+another anniversary of our Association. It seems but yesterday since we
+held our last annual meeting, but while we have been busy here and
+there, the fugitive moments have hurried us along almost with the
+celerity of thought through another year. Were it not an established
+usage of our society, that something like a report be rendered of the
+past, the pen of your secretary would have remained silent. The thought
+has often arisen, what foundation have I for giving that which will be
+of any interest to those who may come together? It is true that each
+month has witnessed the quiet assembling of a little band in this
+consecrated place, but how small the number! Have we _all_ been here,
+with united hearts, glowing with love for the souls of our children, and
+feeling that we had power with God, that we had in our possession that
+key which is said to unlock heaven, and bring down precious blessings
+upon those committed to our charge? Have not family cares been suffered,
+too often, to detain some from the place of meeting? and their absence
+has thrown the chill air of despondency over those who _were_ here. The
+average attendance during the year has been but five, while fourteen
+names are upon the record as members. Are we manifesting that interest
+in this important cause which those did who were the original founders
+of this society? Almost all of those are now absent, several have
+removed to other places; two, we trust, have long since been joining in
+the praises, and participating in the enjoyments, of heaven; and others,
+by reason of illness or the infirmities of age, are usually detained
+from the place of prayer. But we trust their hearts are with us; and
+shall we not endeavor to be faithful representatives of those whose
+places we now occupy? Have we not motives sufficient to stimulate us to
+a more diligent discharge of duty? God has given to us jewels of rare
+beauty, no gem from mountain or mine, no coral from the ocean's flow,
+can compare with them. And they are of priceless value too; Christ's
+blood alone could purchase them, and this He gave, gave freely too, that
+they might be fitted to deck His diadem of glory. He has encased these
+gems in caskets of exquisite workmanship, and given them to us, that we
+may keep them safely, and return them to Him when He shall ask them of
+us. Shall we be negligent of this trust? Shall we be busy, here and
+there, and suffer the adversary of souls to secure them to himself? We
+know that God is pleased to accept the efforts of the faithful mother;
+his language to us is, "Take this child and nurse it for _me_, and I
+will give thee thy wages." But on this condition alone, are we to
+receive the reward promised that they be trained for His service. And
+have we not the evidence, even now, before us of the fulfillment of His
+precious promise? Those of us who were privileged on the last Sabbath to
+witness the consecration of that band of youthful disciples to the
+Savior, felt that the efforts of faithful mothers _had_ been blessed,
+their prayers _had_ been answered, and when we remembered that six of
+those loved ones were the children of our little circle, and others were
+intimately connected with some of our number, we felt our confidence in
+God strengthened, and I trust all gained new encouragement to labor for
+those who were yet out of the ark of safety. There are others of our
+number with whom God's Spirit has been striving, and even now His
+influences are being felt. Shall they be resisted, and those thus
+influenced go farther from Him who has died that they might live?
+
+Not many years since I was permitted to stand by the death-bed of a
+mother in Israel. Her sons were there, and as she looked at them with
+eyes in which we might almost see reflected the bright glories of the
+New Jerusalem, she exclaimed, "Dear sons, I shall meet you all in
+heaven." Why, we were led to ask, does she say this? Two of them had
+already reached the age of manhood, and had as yet refused to yield
+obedience to their Heavenly Father. But she trusted in her
+covenant-keeping God, she had given them to Him; for them she had
+labored and prayed, and she _knew_ that God delighted to answer prayer.
+We realized the ground of her confidence, when tidings came to us, ere
+that year had expired, that one of those sons, far away upon the ocean,
+with no Sabbath or sanctuary privileges within his reach, had found the
+Savior precious to his soul. The other, ere long, became an active
+member of the church on earth. Is not our God the same in whom she so
+implicitly trusted, and will He not as readily bless our efforts as
+hers, if we are truly faithful?
+
+We are all, I trust, prepared to-day to render a tribute of praise to
+our Heavenly Father, who has so kindly preserved us during the year now
+passed. As we look around our little circle we find no place made vacant
+by death, I mean of those who have been the attendants upon our meeting.
+We do not forget that the messenger has been sent to the family of our
+eldest sister, and removed that son upon whom she so confidently leaned
+for support. He who so assiduously improved every opportunity to
+minister to her comfort and happiness, has been taken, and not only
+mother and sisters have been bereaved, but children, too, of this
+association have, by this providence, been made orphans. We trust _they_
+have already realized that precious promise, "When my father and mother
+forsake me, then the Lord will take me up;" and may He whose judgments
+are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out, enable that sorely
+afflicted mother to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
+
+What the events of the coming year are to be, as it regards ourselves,
+we know not. We would not lift the curtain to gaze into futurity; but
+may we each have strength and wisdom given us to discharge faithfully
+every duty, that whether living or dying we may be accepted of God!
+
+                    SARAH A. GUTHRIE, _Secretary._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE EDITOR'S TABLE.
+
+
+The steamer _Humboldt_, after a long passage, having encountered heavy
+seas, and been obliged to put into port for repairs, has just arrived.
+She has proved herself a stanch vessel, thoroughly tested her sea-going
+qualities, and escaped dangers which would have wrecked an ordinary
+steamer. Her passengers express the utmost confidence in the vessel and
+her officers, and advise travelers to take passage in her.
+
+_Our_ bark has now accomplished a voyage, during which it met many
+dangers and delays which as thoroughly tested its power and capacity;
+and we too meet with expressions of kindness and confidence, some of
+which we venture to extract from letters which the postman has just laid
+on our table.
+
+A lady, residing near Boston, writes thus: "Permit me to assure you, my
+dear Madam, of my warmest interest in you and your work, and of my
+earnest desire that your enterprise may prove a successful one. Your
+work certainly deserves a wide circulation, and has in my opinion a
+stronger claim upon the patronage of the Christian public than any other
+with which I am acquainted. You must have met with embarrassments in
+commencing a new work, and hence, I suppose, the occasional delays in
+the issuing of your numbers."
+
+A lady from Michigan writes: "My dear Mrs. W., we rejoice in the success
+which has thus far attended your efforts in the great work of your
+life. May their results, as manifested in the lives and characters of
+the children of the land, for many many years, prove that your labors
+were not in vain, in the Lord. We were beginning to have some anxiety as
+to the success of your Magazine from not receiving it as early as we
+expected; no other periodical could fill its place. May you, dear Madam,
+long be spared to edit it, and may you have all the co-operation and
+patronage you need."
+
+A friend says: "Our pleasant interview, after a lapse of years, and
+those years marked by many vicissitudes, has caused the tide of feelings
+to ebb and flow till the current of my thoughts is swollen into such a
+stream of intensity as to lead me, through this channel of
+communication, to assure you of my warmest sympathy and my deep interest
+in the important work in which you have been so long engaged. It was
+gratifying to learn from your lips that amid the varied trials which
+have been scattered in your pathway God has been your refuge and
+strength--a very present help in trouble, and cheering to hear your
+widowed heart sing of mercy and exult in the happiness of that precious
+group who have gone before you into the eternal world." * * *
+
+"My dear friend, may the sentiments and doctrines inculcated in your
+work drop as the rain, and distill as the dew, fertilizing and
+enlivening the sluggish soul, and encouraging the weary and heavy-laden.
+I know you need encouragement in your labor of love, and as I expect
+soon to visit M----, when I shall greet that precious Maternal
+Association to which I belonged for so many years, and which has so
+often been addressed by you, through the pages of your Magazine, as well
+as personally, I shall hope to do something in increasing the
+circulation of the work there. * *
+
+                                 "Your friend,
+
+                                   "E. M. R."
+
+We have many other letters from which we might make similar extracts,
+but our purpose in making the above was to give us an opportunity to say
+to our friends, that our bark is again ready for sea, with the
+flattering prospect of making a pleasant voyage, and that our sails are
+trimmed and need but the favoring breeze to speed it on its way.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+COUSIN MARY ROSE; OR, A CHILD'S FIRST VISIT.
+
+BY GEORGIANA MAY SYKES.
+
+
+How capricious is memory, often retaining through life trivial and
+transient incidents, in all the freshness of minute details, while of
+far more important events, where laborious effort has been expended to
+leave a fair and lasting record, but faint and illegible traces
+frequently remain!
+
+Far back in my childhood, so far that I am at a loss where to place it,
+is a little episode, standing so far apart from the main purport of its
+history, that I do not know how it happened, or whether the original
+impression was deepened by its subsequent recurrence. This was a visit
+to the village of W----, the home of my Cousin Mary Rose.
+
+I remember distinctly the ride; short it must have been, since it was
+but four or five miles from home, but it seemed long to me then. There
+was great elation of spirits on my part, and no particular excitement;
+but a very sedate pace on the part of our old horse, to whose swinging
+gait a monotonous creaking of the old-fashioned chaise kept up a steady
+response, not unharmonious, as it was connected in my mind with the idea
+of progress. I remember the wonders of the way, particularly my awe of a
+place called Folly Bridge, where a wide chasm, filled with many
+scattered rocks, and the noisy gurgle of shallow water, had resulted
+from an attempt to improve upon the original ford. Green fields, and
+houses with neat door-yards, thickened at last into a pretty village,
+with a church and school-house, stores and workshops. Then, turning from
+the main street, near the church, we took a quiet lane, which soon
+brought us to a pause, where our wheels indented the turf of a green
+slope, before the gate of a long, low dwelling, half buried in ancient
+lilac trees. This was the home of Aunt Rose, who, though no veritable
+aunt of mine, was one of those choice spirits, "to all the world akin,"
+around whose memory lingers the fragrance of deeds of kindness. Here, by
+special invitation, I had come on a visit--my _first_ visit from home. I
+had passed through no small excitement in the prospect of that event. I
+had anxiously watched every little preparation made for it, and my own
+small packing had seemed momentous. I felt to the full the dignity of
+the occasion. The father and mother, the brothers and sisters, the
+inseparable and often tedious nursery-maid, Harriet, were all left
+behind.
+
+I stood for the first time on my individual responsibility among persons
+of whom I had known but little. The monotony of home-life was broken in
+upon, and my eyes and ears were both open to receive new impressions.
+Doubtless, the careful mother, who permitted me to be placed in this new
+situation, was well satisfied that I should be subjected only to good
+influences, but had they been evil, I should certainly have been
+lastingly affected by them, since every thing connected with the house
+and its inmates, the garden, the fields, the walks in the village, lives
+still a picture of vivid hues.
+
+What induced the family to desire my company, I do not know; I have an
+idea that I was invited because, like many other good people, they liked
+the company of children, and in the hope that I might contribute to the
+element of home-cheerfulness, with which they liked to surround their
+only daughter, my Cousin Mary Rose, whose tall shadowy figure occupies
+in my recollections, as it did in reality, the very center of this
+household group. That she was an invalid, I gather from many remembered
+trifles, such as the constant consideration shown for her strength in
+walks and rides, the hooks in the ceiling from which her swing-chair had
+formerly hung (at which I used to gaze, thinking it _such_ a pity that
+it had ever been removed); her quiet pursuits, and her gentle, and
+rather languid manner. She must have been simple and natural, as well as
+refined in her tastes, and of a delicate neatness and purity in her
+dress. If she was a rose, as her name would indicate, it must have been
+a white rose; but I think she was more like a spotted lily. There was
+her father, of whom I remember little, except that he slept in his large
+arm-chair at noontide, when I was fain to be quiet, and that he looked
+kindly and chatted pleasantly with me, as I sat on his knee at twilight.
+I found my place at once in the household. If I had any first feelings
+of strangeness to be overcome, which is probable, as I was but a timid
+child, or if I wept any tears under deserved reproof, or was in any
+trouble from childish indiscretions, the traces of these things have all
+vanished; nothing remains but the record of long summer-days of delight.
+Up and down, in and out, I wandered, at will, within certain limits.
+
+An old cider mill (for such things _were_ in New England) in the orchard
+was the remotest verge in one direction; to sit near it, and watch the
+horse go slowly round and round, and chat with Chauncey, the youngest
+son of the house, who was superintending it, was a great pleasure; but
+most of my out-of-doors enjoyments were solitary. I think this must have
+given a zest to them, for at home I was seldom alone. I was one of a
+little troop of brothers' and sisters, whose pleasures were all _plays_,
+gregarious and noisy. It was a new thing to be so quiet, and to give my
+still fancies such a range. I was never weary of watching the long
+processions of snow-white geese, moving along the turfy sides of the
+road, solemn and stately, each garnished with that awkward appendage the
+"_poke_," which seemed to me very cruel, since, in my simplicity, I
+believed that the perpendicular rod in the center passed, like a spit,
+directly through the bird's neck. Then, how inexhaustible were the
+resources of the flower garden, on the southern side of the house, into
+which a door opened from the parlor, the broad semicircular stone
+doorsteps affording me a favorite seat.
+
+What a variety of treasures were spread out before me: larkspurs, from
+whose pointed nectaries I might weave "circles without end," varying the
+pattern of each by alternate proportions of blue, and pink, and white.
+There were foxgloves to be examined, whose depths were so mysteriously
+freckled; there were clusters of cowslips, and moss-pinks to be
+counted. There were tufts of ribbon-grass to be searched as diligently
+as ever merchandise in later days, for perfect matches; there were
+morning-glories, and moon-sleeps, and four o'clocks, and evening
+primroses to be watched lest they might fail to be true to their
+respective hours in opening and shutting. There were poppies, from whose
+"diminished heads" the loose leaves were to be gathered in a basket,
+(for they might stain the apron,) and lightly spread in the garret for
+drying. There were ripe poppy-seeds to be shaken out through the curious
+lid of their seed-vessel, in which a child's fancy found a curious
+resemblance to a _pepper-box_; I often forced it to serve as one in the
+imaginary feasts spread out on the door-step, though there were no
+guests to be invited, except plenty of wandering butterflies, or an
+occasional humming-bird, whizzing about the crimson blossoms of the
+balm. Oh, the delights of Aunt Rose's flower-garden!
+
+Then, there were the chickens to be fed, and the milking of the cows to
+be "assisted at," and a chat enjoyed, meanwhile, with good-natured
+Nancy, the maid, to stand beside whose spinning-wheel when, in an
+afternoon, she found time to set it in motion, herself arrayed in a
+clean gown and apron, was another great delight.
+
+But my greatest enjoyments were found in Cousin Mary Rose's pleasant
+chamber, which always seemed bright with the sunshine. From its windows
+I looked out over fields of grain, and fruitful orchards, and green
+meadows, sloping all the way to the banks of the blue Connecticut. I
+doubt if I had ever known before that there was any beauty in a
+prospect. There was plenty of pleasant occupation for me in that
+chamber. I had my little bench, on which I sat at her feet, and read
+aloud to her as she sewed, something which she had selected for me.
+Though I never had an opportunity of knowing her in years when I was
+more capable of judging of character (for we were separated, first by
+distance, and now, alas, by death), I am sure that she must at that time
+have been of more than the average taste and cultivation among young
+ladies. Sure I am that she opened to me many a sealed fountain. My range
+of reading had been limited to infant story-books and easy
+school-lessons. She took from her book-shelves Cowper, and made me
+acquainted with his hares, _Tiny_ and _Bess_, and enlisted my sympathies
+for his imprisoned bullfinch. She turned over many leaves of the
+_Spectator_ and _Rambler_, till she found for me allegories and tales of
+Bagdad and Balsora, and showed me the Vision of Mirza, the Valley of
+Human Miseries, and the Bridge of Human Life; I caught something of
+their meaning, though I could not grasp the whole, and became so
+enamored of them that when I returned home nothing would satisfy me but
+the loan of my favorites, that I might share the great pleasure of these
+wonderful stories with my friends there. How great was my surprise to
+find that the same books held a conspicuous place in the library at
+home!
+
+The little pieces of needlework, too, which filled a part of every day,
+unlike the tedious, never-ending patchwork of school, were pleasant.
+Cousin Mary Rose well understood how to make them so, when she coupled
+the setting of the delicate little stitches with the idea of doing a
+service or giving a pleasure to somebody. This was a bag for Nancy.
+To-morrow, it was a cravat for Chauncey. Now, this same Chauncey was my
+special delight, he being a lively youth of eighteen, the only son at
+home, with whom, after tea, I had always a merry race, or some
+inspiriting game of romps. And then, feat of all, came the hemming of a
+handkerchief for Mr. Williams.
+
+But who was Mr. Williams? I had no manner of idea who he was, or what
+relation he held to the family, which entitled him to come in
+unceremoniously at breakfast, dinner or tea-time, and gave him the
+privilege of driving my Cousin Mary Rose over hill and valley for the
+benefit of her health. In these rides I often had my share, for my
+little bench fitted nicely into the old-fashioned chaise, where I sat
+quietly between the two, looking out for wonders with which to interrupt
+the talk going on above my head. Not that the talk was altogether
+unintelligible to me. It often turned on themes of which I had heard
+much. It spoke of God, of heaven, of the goodness and love of the
+blessed Savior, of the hopes and privileges of the Christian. I liked
+to hear it; there was no constraint in it. They might have talked of any
+thing else; but I knew they chose the topic because they liked it,--I
+felt that they were true Christians, and that it was safe and good to be
+near them. Sometimes the conversation turned on earthly hopes and plans,
+and then it became less intelligible to me.
+
+One ride, I remember, which occupied a long summer afternoon. We left
+home after an early dinner, and wound our way over hills rocky and
+steep, from which we would catch views of the river, keeping always near
+its bank, till we came to Mr. Williams's own home, or rather that of his
+mother. What a pleasant visit was that! How Mr. Williams's mother and
+sisters rejoiced over our coming! What a pet they made of me! and how
+much they seemed inclined to pet my Cousin Mary Rose. I have an
+indistinct idea of a faint flush passing now and then over the White
+Rose. What a joyous, bountiful time it was! Such pears, and peaches, and
+apples as were heaped up on the occasion! How social and cheerful was
+the gathering around the teatable, lavishly spread with dainties!
+
+How golden and glorious looked the hills, the trees, and the river in
+the last rays of the setting sun, as we started from the door on our
+return! How the sunset faded to twilight, and the dimness gave place to
+the light of the rising moon, long before we reached the door, where
+anxious Aunt Rose was watching for us! How much talk there was with the
+old people about it all; for I suspect that, in their life of rare
+incidents, it was the custom to make much of every thing that occurred.
+What an unlading there was of the chaise-box, and bringing to light of
+peaches and pears, which kept the journey in remembrance for many days
+after!
+
+That night, as on every other night of my stay, my kind cousin saw me
+safely placed in my bed, after I had knelt beside her to repeat my
+evening prayer. Then, as she bent to kiss me, and gently whispered,
+"_God bless thee, child_," she seemed to leave her serene spirit as a
+mantle of repose.
+
+When the Sabbath came, I walked hand in hand with her to the village
+church. There was much there to distract my attention, particularly in
+that rare sight, the ample white wig (the _last of the wigs_ of
+Connecticut!) on the head of the venerable minister, who, though too
+infirm for much active service, still held his place in the pulpit; but
+I listened with all my might, intent on hearing something which I might
+remember, and repeat to please Cousin Mary Rose; for I knew that she
+would expect me to turn to the text, and would question me whether I had
+understood it. I have pleasant hymns too, in recollection, which date
+back to this very time. They have outlived the beautiful little purse
+which was Mr. Williams's parting gift to me, and the tortoise-shell
+kitten, with which Aunt Rose sought to console me, in my grief at seeing
+myself sent for to return home. The summons was sudden but peremptory,
+and I obeyed it with a sad heart.
+
+I cannot tell how long afterwards it was, for months and years are not
+very different in the calendar of childhood, when I was surprised with
+the announcement that a change had come over Cousin Mary Rose. She was
+changed to Mrs. Williams, and had gone with him, I think, to the South.
+
+I doubt if any trace of the family is still to be found in the pleasant
+village which was their home. The parents have gone to their rest. The
+younger members removed long ago to the distant West.
+
+My Cousin Mary Rose, for many years a happy and useful wife, has at last
+found, in some part of the great western valley, a peaceful grave. I do
+not know the spot where she lies, but I would fain twine around it these
+little blossoms of grateful remembrance.
+
+There is a moral in this slight sketch which I wish to impress on the
+_daughters_ who read this Magazine. It is that their influence is
+greater than they may suppose. Children read the purpose, the motive of
+conduct, and understand the tenor of character; they are attracted by
+feminine grace and refinement; they are keen admirers of personal
+beauty, and they can be won by goodness and gentleness. Never, dear
+young friends, overlook or treat with indifference a child thrown in
+your way. You may lose by it a choice opportunity of conferring
+happiness and lasting benefit.
+
+_Norwich, Conn._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY LITTLE NIECE, MARY JANE.
+
+CONCLUDED.
+
+
+When the sick child had recovered, and the family were again collected,
+Mary Jane was sent to school. This was a delightful change to her--she
+loved her teacher, she loved the little girls, she loved her book, but
+more than all, her needle. The neatly folded patchwork made by her
+little fingers, is kept as a choice relic to this day.
+
+She had been in school just one month when she was taken sick. Whether
+this was owing to the confined air of the school-room, or to a too close
+application to her studies and work, is not known.
+
+She returned from school one evening, and having sat with the family at
+the table as usual, she went to her mother, and with rather unusual
+earnestness requested her to take her in her lap and tell her a story.
+To be told a story in mother's lap was regarded as a great indulgence by
+the children. The little ones on hearing her request, ran to mother and
+insisted on being attended to first. "Take me up, mother, and do take me
+up." At length Mary Jane with her usual self-denial restored quiet by
+requesting her mother to begin with the youngest first. When a short
+story had been told her little brother, and she was about occupying the
+desired position, she again yielded her right to the importunities of
+her younger sister. A longer story was now told, in which she became
+quite interested herself, so that when her turn came, she appeared
+somewhat exhausted. As her mother took her in her arms, she laid her
+head upon her shoulder, saying it ached very hard. It was thought that
+sleep would restore her, so she was placed in bed.
+
+At midnight the mother was aroused by the ineffectual efforts of Mary
+Jane to awaken her nurse. On entering the chamber, she found that the
+dear child had not slept at all. Her head was throbbing with pain, and
+she was saying in a piteous manner, "I can't wake up Nancy." Her mother
+immediately carried her to her own bed, and having placed her there,
+perceived that from an almost icy coldness, she had suddenly changed to
+an intense and burning heat.
+
+Her father was standing by the bed uncertain whether or not to call a
+physician, when in a pleased but excited manner she called out to him
+"to see all those little girls." She imagined that little girls were all
+around her, and although somewhat puzzled in accounting for their
+presence, yet she appeared greatly delighted to see them.
+
+After this she lay for some time in a dozing state, then she became
+convulsed. During her short but distressing sickness, she had but few
+lucid intervals. When not lying in a stupor her mind was usually busied
+amidst past scenes.
+
+At one time as I was standing by her pillow, bathing her head, she said
+in a piteous tone, "I can't thread my needle." Then in a clear sweet
+musical voice she called "Nancy" to come and help her thread it.
+
+At another time her father supposing her unconscious said "I fear she
+will never get well." She immediately opened her eyes, clasped her
+little hands and laying them upon her bosom, looked upward and with
+great earnestness commended herself to God: "My dear Father up in
+heaven," she said, "please to make me well, if you think it is best; but
+if you do not think best, then please to take me up to heaven where
+Jesus is." After this, she continued for some time in prayer, but her
+articulation was indistinct. One expression only was audible. It was
+this, "suffer little children to come."
+
+What gratitude is due to the tender and compassionate Savior for this
+rich legacy of love, to the infant mind! How often has it comforted the
+dying, or drawn to the bosom of everlasting love, the living among
+little children. "Suffer little children to come unto me." The
+preciousness and efficiency of this touching appeal seem to be but
+little realized even among believing parents. Were it otherwise, should
+we not see more of infant piety, in the families of professing
+Christians?
+
+Once as the gray dawn approached, she appeared to wake as from a quiet
+sleep, and asked if it was morning. On being told that it was, she
+folded her hands and commenced her morning prayer. Soon, however, her
+mind wandered, and her mother finished it for her.
+
+From this time she lay and moaned her little life away. But whenever
+prayer was offered, the moaning would cease for a short interval,
+indicating that she was conscious, and also interested.
+
+During the last night of her life, her mind appeared perfectly clear.
+She spoke often of "heaven" and of "Jesus"; but little is recollected,
+as her mother was not by. Not apprehending death to be so near, she had
+been persuaded to try to get some rest. Suddenly there was a change. The
+mother was called. Approaching the bed she saw that the last struggle
+had come on. Summoning strength, she said, "Are you willing to die and
+go to heaven where Jesus is?" The dear dying child answered audibly,
+"Yes." The mother then said, "Now you may lay yourself in the arms of
+Jesus. He will carry you safely home to heaven." Again there was an
+attempt to speak, but the little spirit escaped in the effort, and was
+forever free from suffering, and sorrow, and sin.
+
+In the morning I went over to look upon my little niece, as she lay
+sleeping in death. "Aunty B----" was there standing by the sofa.
+Uncovering the little form she said, "She has _found the way to heaven_
+now;" alluding to the conversation she had with Mary Jane, more than
+three years before.
+
+Soon, the person whose office it was to prepare the last narrow
+receptacle for the little body, entered the room and prepared to take
+the measurement. Having finished his work, he seated himself at a
+respectful distance, and gazed on the marvelous beauty of the child. At
+length turning to the father he asked, "How old was she?" "Six years and
+eight months," was the reply. "So young!" he responded; then added that
+he had often performed the same office for young persons, but had never
+seen a more intelligent countenance, at the age of fifteen. Yet
+notwithstanding the indications of intellect, and of maturity of
+character, so much in advance of her tender age; her perfectly infantile
+features, and the extreme delicacy of their texture and complexion, bore
+witness to the truthfulness of the age, beneath her name on the little
+coffin: "six years and eight months."
+
+And now as my thoughts glance backwards and linger over the little
+sleeper upon that sofa, so calm and beautiful in death, a voice seems
+sounding from the pages of Revelation that she shall not always remain
+thus, a prey to the spoiler. That having accomplished his work, "ashes
+to ashes," "dust to dust," Death shall have no more power, even over the
+little body which he now claims as his own.
+
+But it shall come forth, not as then, destined to see corruption, but
+resplendent in beauty, and shining in more than mortal loveliness; a fit
+receptacle for its glorified inmate, in the day of the final
+resurrection of the dead.
+
+Let all Christian parents who mourn the loss of pious children, comfort
+themselves with the words of the apostle, "Them also that sleep in
+Jesus, will God bring with him," "when he shall come to be glorified in
+his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe."
+
+It was in the month of November that Mary Jane died, and was buried;
+reminding one of those lines of Bryant:
+
+  "In the cold moist earth we laid her,
+    When the forest cast his leaf;
+  And we mourn'd that one so lovely,
+    Should have a life so brief.
+  Yet not unmeet it was, that one,
+    Like that young child of ours,
+  So lovely and so beautiful,
+    Should perish with the flowers."
+
+On the return of her birth-day, February 22, when if she had lived, she
+would have been seven years old, the following lines were sent to the
+bereaved mother by Mrs. Sigourney.
+
+THE BIRTH-DAY OF THE FIRST BORN.
+
+  Thy first born's birth-day,--mother!--
+    That cold and wintry time,
+  When deep and unimagined joy
+    Swell'd to its highest prime.--
+
+  Thy little daughter smileth,--
+    Thy son is fair to see,--
+  And from its cradle shouts the babe,
+    In health and jollity:
+
+  But still thy brow is shaded,
+    The fresh tear trickleth free,
+  Where is thy first born darling?
+    Oh, mother,--where is she?
+
+  And if she be in heaven,
+    She, who with goodness fraught,
+  So early on her Father--God
+    Repos'd her bursting thought:--
+
+  And if she be in heaven,
+    The honor how divine,
+  To give an angel to His arms,
+    Who gave a babe to thine!
+
+L. H. S.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Human improvement must begin through mothers. It is through them
+principally, as far as human agency is concerned, that those evils can
+be _prevented_, which, age after age, we have been vainly endeavoring to
+_cure_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+He that is good will infallibly become better, and he that is bad will
+as certainly become worse; vice, virtue, and time, are three things that
+never stand still.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+SABBATH MEDITATIONS.
+
+John 5:1.
+
+
+It is a time of solemnities in Jerusalem--"a feast of the Jews"--and
+crowds throng the sacred city, gathered from all parts of Judea,
+mingling sympathies and uniting in the delightful services which the
+chosen people so justly prize. The old and young, the joyful and the
+sad, all classes and all conditions are there, not even are "the
+impotent, the blind, the halt, the withered," absent. Through the aid
+and kindness of friends they have come also, cheered and animated by the
+unwonted excitement of the scene, and doubtless hoping for some relief
+in known or unknown ways, from their various afflictions. Among these, a
+numerous company of whom are lying near the sheep-gate, let us spend an
+hour. By God's help it shall not be wasted time. How many are here who
+for long years have not beheld the sun, nor looked on any loved face,
+nor perused the sacred oracles. A lesson of resignation we may learn
+from them, in their proverbial peacefulness under one of the severest of
+earth's trials, for "who ever looked on aught but content in the face of
+the born-blind?" Here also are those who have felt the fearful grasp of
+pain, whose nerves have been shocked, and the whole frame tortured by
+untold sufferings; and those who cannot walk forth on God's earth with
+free elastic step, nor pursue any manly toil--the infirm, the crippled,
+the helpless. How it saddens the heart to look upon them, and hear their
+moans! Yet they all have a look of hope on their faces. The kind angel
+who descends to ruffle the hitherto calm waters of the lake may be near
+at hand. Soon sorrow to some of these will give place to proportioned
+gladness. He who can _first_ bathe his limbs in the blessed wave, says
+the sacred oracle, shall find relief from every infirmity. First: It is
+a short and simple word, yet how much of meaning it contains, and in
+its connection here how much instruction it affords! It is ever thus
+under the moral and providential government of God. The first to ask his
+blessing are those who gain it. "Those who seek Him early are the ones
+to find Him." The prompt and active are the successful competitors. To
+those who with the dawning day are found offering their daily sacrifice,
+He vouchsafes most of his blessed presence. "Give Him thy first thoughts
+then; so shalt thou keep Him company all day, and in Him sleep."
+
+It is those who dedicate to Him the freshness of youth, that thrive most
+under His culture, and still bring forth fruit in old age. Their whole
+lives are spent beneath the shadow of his wings, and they know not the
+doubts and fears of those who long wandered before they sought that
+sheltering spot. They who are on the watch, who see the cloud as big as
+a man's hand, are the largest recipients of the blessing when the Spirit
+is poured out from on high. The lingerers, who think they need not
+bestir themselves, for the blessing is sure, may nevertheless fail, for
+though there was a sound of rain, the clouds may scatter, when but a few
+drops have fallen, and the _first_ be the only ones who are refreshed.
+
+But we are wandering. In this porch lies one who scarce bears any
+resemblance to living humanity, and from his woe-worn countenance has
+departed the last glimmering of hope. "Thirty and eight years" a
+helpless being! a burden to himself and all around him! Alas, of what
+untold miseries has sin made human flesh the inheritor! He came long
+since to this healing pool, with cheerful anticipations, perhaps
+undoubting faith, that he should soon walk forth a man among men. But he
+has been grievously disappointed. He seems friendless as well as
+impotent. Listen while he answers the inquiry of one who speaks kindly
+to him: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into
+the pool; but while I am coming another steppeth down before me." This
+is indeed hopeless wretchedness. But who is it thus asking, "Wilt thou
+be made whole?" Little didst thou dream, unfortunate, yet most
+fortunate, of sufferers, who it was thus bending tenderly over thy
+painful couch! Said we that thou wert friendless; that none knew thy
+woes? Blessed be God, there is ever One eye to see, One ear to hear, One
+heart to pity.
+
+"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path."
+"He is not far from every one of us." But, though He is ever near, yet
+God often waits long before he relieves. Why is it thus? We do not
+always see the reason, but we may be sure it is infinite wisdom that
+defers. He would have us feel our dependence on Him, and when we do feel
+this, when we hope no more from any earthly source, and turn a
+despairing eye to Him, then he is ever ready to rescue. Even toward
+those who have long withstood his grace, and rebelled against his love,
+is he moved to kindness "when He seeth that their power is gone." "We
+must sometimes have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
+not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead."
+
+Even where we would accomplish most, when we would fain secure the
+salvation of those dearest to us, when we would win eternal life for our
+children, we must be made to rely on Him who, as he can raise the dead,
+even call life from nothing, can also revive the spiritually dead, and
+break the sleep which threatens to be eternal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He is gone--while we looked, suddenly he rose in the full vigor of
+manliness, and now, exulting in his new-found faculties, he is walking
+yonder among the multitude, carrying upon his shoulders the couch which
+has so long borne his weary, helpless frame. See, one with frowning
+countenance and harsh words arrests his steps, and wholly unmindful of
+the joy which lights his pale face, reproves him with severe and bitter
+words: "It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for thee to carry thy
+bed." The command indeed is, "Thus saith the Lord, take heed to
+yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the
+gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on
+the Sabbath day; neither do ye any work; but hallow ye the Sabbath day,
+as I commanded your fathers." He stands dismayed and troubled. In his
+new-found happiness he has forgotten the solemn mandate. Timidly he
+answers, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed
+and walk." Thou hast answered well. Only the Lord of the Sabbath could
+have done on thee this work of healing. Go on thy way rejoicing. Return
+not to seek Him, He was here, he spoke to thee; but he is gone. None saw
+him depart. Everywhere present, He is, yet, when He will, invisible to
+mortal eyes.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+REPORTS OF MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.
+
+SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF DETROIT.
+
+
+Another year has passed over us, and we, a little band, have met to
+recount, and gratefully to acknowledge, God's goodness and
+loving-kindness to us and our families. Our Association, commencing as a
+small stream, has not yet grown to be a mighty river; yet it has flowed
+steadily in its course, and we confidently believe, has sent forth sweet
+and hallowed influences, refreshing some thirsty souls with pure and
+living waters.
+
+During the year now past, our meetings have been continually sustained,
+although sickness and absence from the city, especially during most of
+the summer, have deprived us of the attendance of a large proportion of
+our members. Notwithstanding our meetings have been much smaller than we
+could desire, and sometimes tempted us to be "_faint_ and _weary_ in
+well-doing," still we believe that our prayers and consultations have
+been a source of blessing to ourselves and to our offspring. We are told
+that "the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much." We
+feel assured that we can testify to the faithfulness of the promise, for
+not only can we gratefully acknowledge the love of God in shedding more
+grace upon our hearts; but the gracious call of the gospel of salvation
+has been accepted by some of our precious children, and we trust that
+they are now in the "narrow way that leadeth unto life." Oh, may the
+Spirit of all truth guide their youthful steps through all the thorny
+mazes of life, preserve them from the alluring and deceitful charms that
+surround them, and bring them at last to those blissful mansions
+prepared for those who love and serve God. We do indeed rejoice with
+those dear mothers who have been made the recipients of so large a
+blessing--that of seeing the precious lambs of the flock gathered into
+the fold of the Good Shepherd. Oh, may the prayer of faith ever encircle
+them in this only safe retreat from the ravening wolves and the hungry
+monsters of sin!
+
+But whilst we rejoice with those of our number who have been so greatly
+blessed, we turn with heartfelt sympathy toward those whose hearts have
+been wrung by the loss, _to them_, of the objects of their hopes and
+affections. Three of the children of members of this Association have
+died during the past year. Thus we believe so many sweet angels of God
+have gone from our midst and escaped the sorrows of this evil world. Let
+the dear parents think of them as already far surpassing their own best
+attainments, and praising the blessed Savior, in the heavenly paradise,
+and turn their more anxious and diligent thoughts to the living. Two
+children have been added by birth to the number of those connected with
+the Association.
+
+Our membership has not greatly changed within the past year. Three
+mothers have united with the Association since the last Annual Report,
+and three have left us, making the number the same that it was one year
+since.
+
+While we regret the loss of each and all of those who have departed from
+our midst, we think it would not be deemed invidious to express our deep
+sense of the loss we have sustained by the removal from the city of Mrs.
+Parker, the former secretary. Her devotion and faithfulness in every
+sphere of duty, afforded us all an example well adapted to stimulate us
+in the discharge of our obligations, as well as to guide us in the paths
+of usefulness. We hope and pray that she may long be spared to shed a
+hallowed influence around her wherever her lot may be cast.
+
+Our quarterly meetings have been sustained with interest and profit.
+Portions of Scripture have been committed by the children, and the
+instructions and truths contained in them have been enforced by
+appropriate remarks from the Pastor. We consider this an invaluable
+means of instilling saving truth into the tender minds of our children,
+and would urgently request that it be accompanied by the constant and
+believing prayers of all parents. Upon a full review of the past year,
+we see abundant cause for gratitude and encouragement. We have especial
+occasion for thankfulness that none of our number have been removed by
+death. Since we know that the Lord has thus prolonged our stewardship,
+that we may work in his vineyard, let us be the more diligent, that we
+may be prepared to render our account with joy at the last day. Amongst
+the means for preparing ourselves for the faithful discharge of our
+duties to our own families, and as members of this Association, we take
+pleasure in acknowledging the _pre-eminent merits of Mrs. Whittelsey's
+Magazine_, and would urgently recommend its more general perusal and
+circulation. During the past summer some of us enjoyed the inestimable
+privilege of hearing her experienced counsel, and fervent exhortations.
+We believe that her visit to this city resulted in much good, and we
+wish her abundant success in her noble calling.
+
+Dear Mothers, let us persevere, looking unto the covenant-keeping God
+for the salvation of our children, as well as for the triumph of the
+Gospel throughout the community and this sin-ruined world.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SALEM, MICHIGAN.
+
+
+We have been brought, through the kindness of our Heavenly Father, to
+this the first anniversary of our Maternal Association. We meet to-day
+that we may together look back upon the year just closing, and recall
+the mercies and judgments of our God, in which I think we cannot fail
+to recognize the guiding hand of our Heavenly Father, who we believe
+has presided over and defended the dearest interests of this our little
+society. We bless his name that a few individuals, sustaining the sacred
+name of mother, and upon whom consequently devolve important duties,
+were led to roll their burden, in all its magnitude, upon an Almighty
+arm, and in a united capacity to plead for promised grace. We rejoice
+that this feeling has been perpetuated, and that there have been those
+who have not "forsaken the assembling of themselves together," but who
+have been drawn to the place of prayer by an irresistible influence,
+esteeming it a privilege thus to resign their numerous anxieties into
+the hands of an all-wise God. And may we not rejoice, dear sisters, that
+as each returning fortnight has brought its precious opportunity for
+prayer and instruction, our hearts have cheerfully responded to its
+call, and that we have hailed these seasons as acknowledged and
+well-tested sources of profit. If they have not proved so to us, have we
+not reason to fear that our guilt will be greatly increased, and that we
+shall share the condemnation of those who have been frequently and
+faithfully reminded of duty, but who have failed in its performance?
+During the past year we have had twenty-two meetings, the most of which
+have been attended by from six to ten mothers. A small number, indeed;
+yet God, we remembered, promised that where two or three are met
+together in His name, He would be in their midst to bless them. On the
+7th of May the Rev. Mr. Harris preached to the children, from the text,
+"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." Sixteen
+ladies were present, and twenty-three children. On the 28th of
+September, Professor Agnew addressed mothers on their various important
+duties. At the commencement of the year we numbered twelve mothers and
+twenty-three children, under the age of fifteen. We now number sixteen
+mothers and thirty-three children; one little one has been added to our
+number. God, in wise providence, and for some wise purpose, has seen fit
+to lay his afflicting hand upon us. Early in the year it pleased Him to
+call an aged and beloved father of one of our sisters from time to
+eternity. With our sister we do most sincerely sympathize; may it truly
+be said of us, as an Association:
+
+  "We share each other's joys,
+    Each other's burdens bear,
+  And often for each other flows
+    The sympathizing tear."
+
+But God has come nearer still unto us as an Association, and has taken
+one of our little number, dear sister Elizabeth C. Hamilton, who was one
+of the four mothers who met together to converse and to ask counsel of
+our pastor on the subject of forming this Association. On the 11th of
+October, her spirit took its flight from this frail tenement of clay, as
+we humbly trust to the mansions of the blest. With her bereaved and
+afflicted companion and infant daughters, we do most sincerely
+sympathize. May we remember that we have promised to seek the spiritual
+and eternal interests of her children as we do that of our own! Let us
+not cease to pray for her children until we shall hear them lisping
+forth the praises of the dear Redeemer. As we commence a new year, shall
+we not commence anew to live for God? Ere another year has gone, some
+one of this our little number may be called from time to eternity; and
+shall we not prove what prayer can do; what heavenly blessings it will
+bring down upon our offspring? But perhaps some mother will say, I
+should esteem it the dearest of all privileges, if I could lay hold in
+faith on God's blessed promises, but when I would do so a sense of my
+own unworthiness shuts my mouth. But which of God's promises was ever
+made to the worthy recipient? Are they not all to the unworthy and
+undeserving? And if "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon
+his knees," shall we not take courage, and claim God's blessed promises
+for ours, and often in silence and in solitude bend the knee for those
+we love most dear?
+
+While memory lasts I shall never forget my mother's earnest,
+supplicating, trembling voice, as she pleaded with God for Christ's
+sake to have mercy on her children. And shall our children forget ours?
+No, dear sisters, let our entreaties with our God be as they will, I
+think they will not be forgotten. Therefore, let us be more awake to
+this subject, let us sincerely endeavor to train our children up for
+God, that they may be useful in his service while they live, and that we
+may be that happy band of mothers that may be able to say in God's great
+day: Here, Lord, are we, and the children which thou hast given us.
+
+                          A. HAMILTON, _Secretary_.
+  _Salem, Wash. Co., Michigan_, Dec. 31, 1851.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another."
+
+
+In no system of morals or religion, except the Bible, can such a precept
+be found. It at once proclaims its divine author. We feel as we read
+it--here speaks that God and Almighty Father who so loved the world as
+to give his Son to die to save it. We feel that none but a being who
+regards himself as the Father of all, and who would unite his children
+in the bonds of family affection, would think of urging upon a company
+of men and women, gathered from all classes and conditions of life, the
+duly regarding each other with the same sincerity, tenderness, respect
+and kindness as if they were the nearest relatives. Such is the force of
+the expression, "Be kindly affectioned one to another." The word
+expresses properly the strong natural affection between parents and
+children; but the apostle is not satisfied with this, and uses the word
+to qualify that brotherly love which our Lord has made the badge of
+discipleship. It should be with the tenderness and the unselfishness
+which characterize the filial and paternal relation, blending love with
+natural affection, and making it manifest in common intercourse. Oh, how
+different this from the spirit of the world, the spirit which seeks not
+to bless others, but self; not to confer honor but to obtain it; which
+aims not to diffuse respect, but to attract all others to give honor to
+ourselves.
+
+I design at present to use this divine injunction as conveying the Holy
+Spirit's direction and description of proper family intercourse, in
+reference, particularly, to children in the family circle.
+
+I notice very briefly (for the direction must commend itself to the
+heart of every child) its application to parents: "Be kindly affectioned
+toward your father and mother." It is indeed hardly necessary to urge
+this duty, for God has in his wisdom so constituted us, as in a good
+degree to insure the duty of filial love even in those who do not regard
+his own authority over their spirits. No child can for a moment reflect
+upon the love and care which he has received from his parents, without a
+moved heart, although he can never know their full power until he
+himself becomes a parent; but here indeed lies the difficulty, and here
+do I find the necessity of dwelling for a moment upon this point.
+Children do not reflect upon this. Few ever sit down, calmly and
+consecutively, to recall the parental kindness, and therefore, would I
+ask each of you, my young friends, that you may obey this injunction,
+and be kindly affectionate towards father and mother, to consider their
+kindness to you. Why, if you look at it, you will hardly be able to find
+that they have any other care in the world, or any other object, than
+yourselves. What does that kind mother of yours do which is not for her
+children? does she not seem always to be thinking of you? have you never
+noticed how her eye brightens with delight when you or any of your
+brothers or sisters do right, or even when she looks around on the
+health and happiness of her children? and, when you or any of her dear
+ones are ill, how sad she looks, how her cheek will become pale, and how
+she will watch and wait at the bed-side of her child, how her own hand
+gives the medicine, how nothing can call her away from home, no friends,
+no amusements, often not even the church and Sabbath-day, and if she did
+go to church while you were ill, she went there to pray that God would
+make you well. And I would have you also think of the large surrenders
+of ease, time and fortune which your father is daily making for the
+benefit and comfort of his children. How many fathers will compass land
+and sea in quest of provision for them, and in order to give them name
+and station in society? How many adventurously plow the ocean in their
+behalf? How many live for years in exile, and in the estrangement of a
+foreign land, with nothing to soothe them in the midst of their toil and
+fatigue, but the image of their dear and distant home? How many toil and
+plan, day after day, and year after year, from early morn until late at
+night, for no other object than to gather wealth, which in their love
+they expect and intend their children to enjoy, when they themselves
+have gone down to the grave! Oh, my young friends, though ye have not
+perhaps thought of it, yet the devotedness of a parent to his children,
+in the common every-day duties and comforts of life, often equals and
+surpasses that which history has recorded for us of the sublimest
+heroism.
+
+It would often seem utterly impossible to wear out a father's affection
+or a mother's love, and many a child, after the perversities and losses
+of a misdirected manhood, has found himself welcomed back again to the
+paternal home, with all the unquenched and unextinguishable kindness of
+his early and dependent childhood; welcomed even amid the hardships of
+poverty, with which declining years and his own hand, perhaps, have
+united to surround the whitening heads of the authors of his being.
+
+Now, it is in view of the reality and strength of these parental
+regards, thus flowing from a father's or a mother's heart upon their
+children, that we bid you see the force, the reason, and the right of
+the direction, Be kindly affectionate in all your intercourse with them.
+And it is in the same view that we appeal to your own hearts, and ask
+whether it be not most revolting and wrong for a son or daughter to
+utter the word, or dart the look, or feel the feeling which is prompted
+by wickedness; a disdainful son or disrespectful daughter is a sight
+most painful to every right-minded man.
+
+But while I mention this as the rule which should govern the family in
+their treatment of those who stand at its head, I would also beg leave
+to remark, that this same law should govern the heads of the family
+towards each other and all the members. This is the only way by which
+reciprocal affectionate regard and treatment can be inculcated and
+insured. The Holy Spirit has deemed this so important, that He has given
+the express injunction to parents: "Fathers, provoke not your children;"
+and it is an injunction which parents need constantly to remember. The
+natural and necessary subjection of the children to parental authority,
+unless the hearts of the parents be guided by religious principle, will
+often induce an arbitrary and enforced obedience, which, unless guided
+and controlled by affection, will have only the appearance of harshness,
+and will only produce unpleasant feeling. Parents should never forget
+that it is always as unpleasant to a child to have his will and plans
+crossed as it is to themselves, and that, therefore, it is their own
+obedience to the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, which alone can make
+their authority both strong and pleasant. There are again so many cares
+and anxieties connected with the details of family arrangements, and
+there are so much thoughtlessness and perversity in the depraved hearts
+of the most amiable and properly disposed children, that the patience of
+even the all-enduring mother will often be tried in a manner which
+nothing but divine grace can sustain. Ill health and natural
+irritability, so constantly exposed to attack, will often increase the
+difficulty, and thus make the injunction, Be kindly affectioned, one of
+the most arduous duties of life. But the triumph of principle will
+always be accompanied with corresponding valuable results in the
+happiness and comforts of the whole family circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+KNOW THYSELF.
+
+
+Many instructive lessons may be conveyed to the minds of children in
+story and in verse. We do not now remember who is the author of the
+story we are about to relate. It may be familiar to many of our readers.
+We venture, however, to repeat it in our own words, as it has an
+important moral worthy the attention of the old as well as the young:--
+
+A man and his wife were hard at work in a forest, cutting down trees.
+The trees were very hardy and tall, and their axes were dull; the
+weather was cold and dreary, they were but poorly clad, and they had but
+little to eat.
+
+At length, the woman, in her despondency, fell to crying. Her husband
+very kindly inquired, "What is the matter, my dear wife?"
+
+"I have been thinking," said she, "of our hard fate, and it does seem to
+me a hard case that God should curse the ground for Adam's sake, just
+because he and his wife had eaten a green apple; and now all their
+descendants must earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, all their
+days."
+
+The man replied, "Do not, my dear wife, distress yourself thus, seeing
+it will do no good."
+
+She continued, "I do think that Adam and Eve were very foolish to listen
+to any thing that a serpent had to say. If I had been in the place of
+Eve I am sure I should have done otherwise."
+
+To this her husband replied, "True, my dear wife, Eve was a very silly
+woman. I think, if I had been in Adam's place, before I would have
+listened to her foolish advice, and run such a hazard, I would have
+given her a smart box on the ear, and told her to hold her tongue, and
+to mind her own business."
+
+This remark made his wife very angry, and here followed a long dialogue
+on this topic till they began mutually to criminate each other as well
+as the serpent.
+
+Now, a gentleman, who had all this time been concealed behind the trees,
+and had heard their complaints, and listened with grief to their
+fault-finding disposition, came forward and spoke to them very kindly.
+
+He said, "My friends, you seem to be hard at work, and very unhappy.
+Pray tell me the cause of your misery, and whether I can do anything to
+comfort you?"
+
+So they repeated to this gentleman what they had been saying.
+
+He replied to them thus: "Now, my dear friends, I am truly sorry for
+you, and I desire to make you more comfortable. I have a large estate,
+and I wish to make others as happy as I am myself. I have a fine house,
+plenty of servants, and every thing desirable to eat and to drink. I
+have fine grounds, filled with shrubbery and fruit trees. If you will go
+and live with me you have only to obey the regulations of my house, and
+as long as you do this and are contented, you shall be made welcome."
+
+So they went with this gentleman. At once he took off their rough and
+ragged garments, and clad them in a fine suit of clothes, suited to the
+place, and put them into a spacious apartment, where for a time they
+lived very happily.
+
+One day this gentleman came to them, and said business of importance
+would call him from home for some days. In the mean time he hoped they
+would be happy and do every thing in their power to reflect honor upon
+his hospitality till his return. He said he had but one other suggestion
+to make, and that was, that _for his sake_ they would be very careful to
+set a good example before his servants, and do every thing _cheerfully_
+that they should direct, for up to this hour not one of his servants had
+ever questioned the reasonableness of his commands.
+
+They thanked him kindly for his generous supply of all their wants, and
+promised implicit obedience.
+
+They now had, if possible, more sumptuous meals, and in greater variety
+than ever, and for a few days every thing went on well. At length, a
+servant placed a covered dish in the center of the table, remarking that
+he always had orders from his master, when that particular dish was
+placed upon the table, that no one, on pain of his displeasure, should
+touch it, much less lift the cover.
+
+For a few days these guests were so occupied in examining the new dishes
+that this order was obeyed.
+
+But the woman at length began to wonder why that dish should be placed
+on the table if it were not to be touched; she did not for her part see
+any use in it.
+
+Every meal she grew more and more discontented. She appealed to her
+husband if he did not think such a prohibition very unreasonable. If it
+were not to be touched, why was it placed on the table?
+
+Her husband at length grew very angry; she would neither eat herself nor
+allow him to eat in peace. She at length remonstrated, she threatened;
+she used various arguments to induce him to lift the cover; said no one
+need to know it, &c. Still her good-natured husband tried to reason her
+out of this notion. She now burst into tears, and said her life was
+miserable by this gentleman's singular prohibition, which could do no
+one any good; and she was still more wretched by reason of her husband's
+unkindness,--she really believed that he had lost all affection for her.
+
+This remark made her husband feel very badly. He lifted the cover and
+out ran a little harmless mouse. They both ran after it, and tried their
+best to catch it, but in vain.
+
+While they were feeling very unhappy, and were trembling with fear, the
+gentleman entered, and seeing their great embarrassment, inquired if
+they had dared to lift the cover?
+
+The woman replied that she did not see what harm there could be in doing
+so. She did not think it kind to place such a temptation before them; it
+could do no one any good.
+
+The man added that his wife teazed him so that he had no peace, and
+rather than see her unhappy he had lifted the cover.
+
+The gentleman then reminded them of their fault-finding while in the
+forest, their hard thoughts of God, of the serpent, and of Adam and Eve.
+Had it been their case they should have acted more wisely! But, alas!
+they did not know themselves!
+
+He immediately ordered his servants to take off their nice new clothes
+and to put on their old garments, and he sent them back to the forest,
+ever after to eat their bread _by the sweat_ of their brow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+OLD JUDA.
+
+
+Many years since, I took into my service an old colored woman by the
+name of Juda. She was a poor, pitiful object, almost worn out by hard
+and long service. But I needed just such services as she could render,
+and intrusted to her the general supervision of my kitchen department.
+
+Under the care bestowed upon her she fast recruited, and I continued to
+employ her for three years. I gave her good wages, and, as for years I
+had induced all my help to do, I persuaded her to deposit in the
+savings' bank all the money she could spare. Fortunately for poor old
+Juda, she laid up during these three years a considerable sum.
+
+Before this, she had always been improvident, careless of her earnings,
+and from a disposition to change often out of place. But as one extreme
+is apt to follow another, when she found that she had several dollars
+laid aside, entirely a new thing for her, there was quite a revolution
+in her feelings and character. She now inclined to covetousness, and
+could hardly be persuaded to expend a sum sufficient to make herself
+comfortable in extreme cold weather which sensibly affected her in her
+old age and feeble health. At length her disposition to hoard up her
+earnings increased to that degree that she resorted to many unnecessary
+and imprudent means to avoid expense and to evade my requirements with
+regard to her apparel. But for this parsimony she might have held out
+some years longer. She greatly improved in health and strength for the
+first two years, and was more comfortable and useful than I expected she
+would be. Always at her post, patient, faithful, economical and
+obliging, I really felt grateful for the relief she afforded me in the
+management of a large family; but at length I was obliged to dismiss her
+from my service. For a few months she found employment in a small
+family, but soon fell sick, and required the services of a physician.
+She had to find a place of retirement and take to her bed, and soon her
+money began to disappear.
+
+Her miserable sister, who had exercised an injurious influence over
+Juda, and whom I had found it necessary to forbid coming to my house,
+now came constantly to me for this money, for Juda's use, it is true,
+but which I had reason to fear was not wisely spent. Under this
+impression, I broke away from my cares and set out to look after her
+welfare. I was pained to find her in a miserable hovel, surrounded by a
+crew of selfish, ignorant, lazy and degraded women, who were ready to
+filch the last farthing from the poor, helpless invalid.
+
+My first interview with Juda was extremely painful. She hid her head,
+her great wall eyes rolling fearfully, and cried bitterly, "Oh! I am
+forever undone. Why did I not listen to your entreaties, and heed the
+kind advice of my good master, to lay up treasures in heaven as well as
+in the savings' bank!" I remained silent by her bedside, thinking it
+better for her to give full vent to her agonized feelings before I
+should probe her wounded spirit, or try to console her. "Oh," said she,
+"that I could once more have health, that I might attend to what ought
+to have been the business of my life--the care of my soul." "Yes, Juda,"
+I replied, "but I see, I think, plainly, how it would be had you ever so
+much time. You would not be very likely to improve it aright, for even
+now you are wasting this last fragment of time that remains to you in
+fruitless regrets; why not rather inquire earnestly, 'Is there still any
+hope for me? What shall I do to be saved? Lord, save me, or I perish.'"
+For some time her emotions choked her utterance, at length she seized
+both my hands so forcibly that it seemed as if she would sever them from
+my wrists, and exclaimed, "Oh, pray for me!"
+
+Her condition was an awful one. From the nature of her ailment she was a
+loathsome object. Not one of her old companions would approach her, for
+to them she was now peculiarly an object of terror. Her entreaties that
+I would not leave her in the power of such cruel wretches, to perish
+alone, and without hope, prevailed over my own reluctance and the
+remonstrances of my husband, and summoning up all my resolution, I
+remained with her, with but little respite, for three days and nights.
+
+Her bodily sufferings continued to be extreme to the last, but were
+nothing in comparison to her mental agonies. What a condition of mind
+and body was hers! Every moment demanding something to cool her parched
+tongue, or to allay her fears, or to encourage her hopes.
+
+Never shall I forget the last night of painful and protracted suffering.
+The miserable woman who pretended to assist me in watching, had taken
+some stupefying potion, and I watched alone, as David expressed it,
+longing for the first ray of the morning. At length, the day dawned, and
+I was relieved by good old Mr. Moore. As he entered, I said to him,
+"Poor Juda is still living, and is a great sufferer; will you not pray
+for her?" He replied, "I come purpose pray with Juda." Then kneeling,
+prayed, "Oh Lord, Oh Lord God Almighty, we come to thee for this poor
+dying creature. Have mercy on her precious soul--Lord God, it will never
+die. Forgive her sins; oh, Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, TO-DAY, TO-DAY; Lord God, take the lead of her thoughts
+to-day, for Christ's sake. Amen."
+
+This was indeed her dying day, and I could not but hope that this humble
+but pertinent prayer was prevalent with God.
+
+Very many times since then, as I have caught the first glimpse of day,
+have I said, This may prove my dying day, and prayed, Oh Lord, take the
+lead of my thoughts to-day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GOD IS FAITHFUL.
+
+
+"The fruits of maternal influence, well directed," said a good minister,
+"are peace, improvement, and often piety, in the nursery; but if the
+children of faithful mothers are not converted in early life, God is
+true to his promise and will remember his covenant, perhaps after those
+mothers sleep with the generations of their ancestors."
+
+"Several years since," that same minister stated, "he was in the
+Alms-house in Philadelphia, and was attracted to the bedside of a sick
+man, whom he found to be a happy Christian, having embraced the Gospel
+after he was brought, a stranger in a strange land, to that infirmary.
+Though religiously educated by a pious mother, he clandestinely left
+home at the age of ten years, and since that period--he was now forty,
+or more--had been wandering over the earth, regardless of the claims of
+God or the worth of his own soul.
+
+"In Philadelphia he was taken with a dangerous fever, and was brought to
+the place where I met him. There, on that bed of languishing, the scenes
+of his early childhood clustered around him, and among them the image of
+his mother was fairest and brightest, and in memory's vision she seemed
+to stand, as in former days, exhorting him to become the friend and
+disciple of the blessed Savior. The honeyed accents were irresistible.
+
+"Through the long lapse of thirty years--though she was now sleeping in
+the grave--her appeal came with force to break his flinty heart.
+
+"With no living Christian to direct him on that bed of sickness,
+remembering what his mother had told him one-third of a century before,
+he yielded to the claims of Jesus."
+
+Here the power and faithfulness of a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering
+God were exhibited. Here was a mother's influence crowned with a
+glorious conquest.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+EXCERPTA.
+
+
+AN AMERICAN HOME.--The word Home we have obtained from the old
+Saxon tongue. Transport the word to Africa, China, Persia, Turkey or
+Russia, and it loses its meaning. Where is it but in our favored land
+that the father is allowed to pursue his own plan for the good of his
+family, and with his sons to labor in what profession he chooses and
+then enjoy the avails of his labor? The American Home is the abode of
+neatness, thrift and competence, not the wretched hut of the Greenlander
+or Caffrarian, or under-ground place of Kamschatka. The American Home is
+the house of intelligence; its inmates can read; they have the Bible;
+they can transmit thought. The American Home is the resting-place of
+contentment and peace; there is found mutual respect, untiring love and
+kindness; there, virtue claiming respect; there, the neighbor is
+regarded and prized; there, is safety; the daily worship; the principle
+of religion.
+
+Ten thousand good people noiselessly at work every day, making more firm
+all good felt at home or abroad, and fixing happiness and good
+institutions on a basis lasting as heaven.
+
+CHRISTIAN UNION.--In "D'Aubigne's Reformation" we find a short,
+beautiful sentiment on the subject of Christian Union. He says: "Truth
+may be compared to the light of the sun. The light comes from heaven
+colorless and ever the same; and yet it takes different hues on earth,
+varying according to the objects on which it falls. Thus different
+formularies may sometimes express the same Christian truth, viewed under
+different aspects. How dull would be this visible creation if all its
+boundless variety of shape and color were to give place to one unbroken
+uniformity? How melancholy would be its aspects, if all created beings
+did but compose a solitary and vast unity? The unity which comes from
+heaven, doubtless has its place; but the diversity of human nature has
+its proper place also. In religion we must neither leave out God nor
+man. Without _unity_ your religion cannot be of God; without _diversity_
+it cannot be the religion of man, and it ought to be of both."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+ZIPPORAH.
+
+
+In the mountainous and wild region which lies around Horeb and Sinai,
+were found, in the days of that Pharaoh, whose court was the home of
+Israel's law-giver, many descendants of Abraham, children of one of the
+sons which Keturah bore him in his old age. We know little of them, but
+here and there on the sacred page they are mentioned, and we gain brief
+glimpses of their character and of the estimation in which they were
+held by Jehovah. Like all the other nations, they were mostly idolaters,
+against whom He threatened vengeance for their inventions and
+abominations. But among them were found some families who evidently
+retained a knowledge of Abraham's God, and who, although they did not
+offer him a pure worship, "seem, nevertheless, to have been imbued with
+sentiments of piety, and intended to serve Him so far as they were
+acquainted with his character and requirements." For these, from time to
+time, a consecrated priest stood before the altar, offering sacrifices
+which were doubtless accepted in Heaven, since sincerity prompted, and
+the spirit of true obedience animated, the worshipers.
+
+In the family of this priest, who was also a prince among his people, a
+stranger was at one time found, who had suddenly appeared in Midian, and
+for a slight kindness shown to certain members of the household, had
+been invited to sojourn with them and make one of the domestic circle.
+He was an object of daily increasing interest to all around him. Whence
+had he come? Why was he thus apparently friendless and alone? Wherefore
+was his countenance sad and thoughtful; and his heart evidently so far
+away from present scenes? Seven sisters dwell beneath the paternal roof,
+and we can readily imagine the eagerness with which they discussed
+these questions and watched the many interviews between him and their
+father, which seemed of a most important character. The result was not
+long kept from them. Moses was henceforth to perform what had been their
+daily task, and as his reward, was to sustain the relation of son,
+husband, and brother in the little circle. Zipporah, whether willingly
+or reluctantly we are not told, became the wife of the silent man, nor
+has he, in the record which he has left, given us any account of those
+forty years of quiet domestic life, watching his flocks amid the
+mountain solitudes, and in intercourse with the "priest of Midian," and
+taught of that God who chose him before all other men. As a familiar
+friend, he was daily learning lessons of mighty wisdom, and gaining that
+surpassing excellence of character which has made his name immortal. Was
+the wife whom he had chosen the worthy daughter of her father, and a fit
+companion for such a husband? Did they take sweet counsel together, and
+could she share his noble thoughts? Did she listen with tearful eyes to
+his account of the woes of his people, and rejoice with him in view of
+the glorious scenes of deliverance which he anticipated? Did she
+appreciate the sublime beauties which so captivated and enthralled his
+soul as he pored over the pages of that wonderful poem which portrays
+the afflictions of the man of Uz? Did she worship and love the God of
+their common father with the same humility and faith? We cannot answer
+one of the many questions which arise in our minds. All we know is, that
+Zipporah was Moses's wife, and the mother of Moses's sons, and we feel
+that hers was a favorite lot, and involuntarily yield her the respect
+which her station would demand.
+
+Silently the appointed years sped. The great historian found in them no
+event bearing upon the interests of the kingdom of God, worthy of note,
+and our gleanings are small. At their close he was again found in close
+consultation with Jethro, and with his consent, and in obedience to the
+divine mandate, the exile once more turned his steps toward the land of
+his birth. Zipporah and their sons, with asses and attendants,
+accompanied him, and their journey was apparently prosperous until near
+its close, when a strange and startling providence arrested them.[B] An
+alarming disease seized upon Gershom, the eldest son, and at the same
+time intimations not to be mistaken convinced his parents that it was
+sent in token of divine displeasure for long-neglected duty. God's eye
+is ever on his children, and though He is forbearing, He will not
+forever spare the chastening rod, if they live on in disobedience to his
+commands. Both Moses and Zipporah knew what was the appointed seal of
+God's covenant with Abraham, and we cannot understand why they so long
+deferred including their children in that covenant. We do not know how
+many times conscience may have rebuked them, nor what privileges they
+forfeited, but we are sure they were not blessed as faithful servants
+are. Now there was no delaying longer. The proof of God's disapprobation
+was not to be mistaken, and they could not hesitate if they would
+preserve the life of their child. "There is doubtless something
+abhorrent to our ideas of propriety in a mother's performing this rite
+upon an adult son," for Gershom was at this time probably more than
+thirty years of age, but we must ever bear in mind that she was
+complying with "a divine requisition," and among a people, and in a
+state of society whose sentiments and usages were very different from
+ours. Her duty performed, she solemnly admonished Gershom that he was
+now espoused to the Lord by this significant rite, and that this bloody
+seal should ever remind him of the sacred relation. The very moment
+neglected obligations are cheerfully assumed, that moment does God smile
+upon his child. He accepts and upbraids not. The frown which but now
+threatened precious life has fled, and children rejoice in new found
+peace, and in that peculiar outflowing of tenderness, humility, and love
+which ever follows upon repentance, reparation and forgiveness.
+
+For some reason, to us wholly inexplicable, Moses seems to have sent his
+family back to the home which they had just left, before reaching Egypt,
+and they resided with Jethro until the tribes, having passed through
+all the tribulations which had been prophesied for them, made their
+triumphant exodus from the land of bondage and encamped at the foot of
+Sinai. Jethro, who seems to have taken a deep interest in the mission of
+Moses, immediately on hearing of their arrival, took his daughter and
+her sons to rejoin the husband and father from whom they had been long
+separated. Touching and delightful was the re-union, and we love to
+linger over the few days which Zipporah's father spent with her in this
+their last interview on earth. The aged man listened with wonder and joy
+to the recital of all that Jehovah had wrought. He found his faith
+confirmed and his soul strengthened, and doubtless felt it a great
+privilege to leave his child among those who were so evidently under the
+protection of the Almighty, and before whom he constantly walked in the
+pillar of fire and cloud. With a father's care and love, he gave such
+counsel as he saw his son-in-law needed, and after uniting with the
+elders in solemn sacrifice and worship, in which he assumed his priestly
+office, he departed to his own land. We seem to see Zipporah, as with
+tearful eyes she watched his retreating footsteps, and felt that she
+should see her father's face no more on earth. Not without fearful
+struggles are the ties which bind a daughter to her parents sundered,
+though as a wife she cleaves to her husband, and strives for his sake to
+repress her tears and hide the anguish she cannot subdue. One comfort,
+however, remained to Zipporah. Soothingly fell on her ear the invitation
+of her husband to her brother, the companion of her childhood, "We are
+journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you:
+Come thou with us and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken
+good concerning Israel." Deprecatingly she doubtless looked upon him, as
+he answered, "I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to
+my kindred;" and united in the urgent entreaty, "Leave us not, I pray
+thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness,
+and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes." With her husband and brother
+near, on whom to lean, she must have been cheered, and the bitterness
+of her final separation from home alleviated.
+
+Feelings of personal joy or grief were soon, however, banished from her
+mind by the mighty wonders which were displayed in the desert, and by
+the absorbing scenes which transpired while Israel received the law, and
+were prepared to pursue their way to Canaan. Of her after history we
+gather little, and the time of her death is not mentioned. One
+affliction, not uncommon in this evil world, fell to her lot. Her
+husband's family were unfriendly and unkind to her, and she was the
+occasion of their reproach and ridicule. But she was happy in being the
+wife of one meek above all the men upon the earth, and she was
+vindicated by God himself. What were her hopes in prospect of seeing the
+promised land, in common with all the nation, or whether she lived to
+hear the terrible command of God to Moses, "Avenge Israel of the
+Midianites," we do not know. The slaughter of her people may have caused
+her many a pang, and she probably went to her rest long before the weary
+forty years were ended. She has a name and a place on the sacred
+page,--she was a wife and mother,--and though hers is a brief memorial,
+yet, if we have been led to study the word of God more earnestly,
+because we would fain learn more concerning her, that memorial is not
+useless.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another."
+
+     (Continued from page 92.)
+
+
+I remarked that this precept was important in the heads of families, in
+regulating their intercourse with each other, as well as that between
+themselves and their children. I take it for granted that there is in
+truth no want of real affection and regard between husband and wife, and
+yet there may be, in their treatment of each other, frequent violations
+of the duty of kindly affection. The merely outward manner is indeed
+never as important as the real feeling, but it always will be regarded
+more or less as the indication of the real feeling, and parents should
+never forget, that in their children they have most observant and
+reflecting minds; and you may rest assured that the parental cords are
+loosed most sadly when the child is led to remark that his parents do
+not cordially harmonize. Nay, more, if those parents be Christians, such
+conduct throws a shade of doubt over their Christian character. There
+were both force and sincerity in the remark of the man who, when the
+reality of his religion was questioned, replied: "If you doubt whether I
+am a changed man, go and ask my wife." I fear that many a professing
+Christian could not stand this test; he could appeal with confidence to
+the testimony of his church, and receive the most favorable answer, but
+could he appeal with the same confidence to the testimony of his home,
+of one who knows him best? Is his intercourse with them whom he truly
+loves best, always regulated by the law of that kindly affection which
+religion imperatively demands, nay, which good sense and common humanity
+require? Many a man will speak at times to his wife in a most unkind and
+even uncourteous manner, in a manner in which he would not dare to speak
+to any one else; I know he may not mean unkindness, but is it not a
+wrong? I say nothing of its unchristianness; is it not a wrong done to
+her who loves him more than she does all the world, to treat her far
+more uncourteously than the world would do?
+
+Is it not shameful that she who has borne all the pain, and care, and
+anxiety, and burden of his children, should ever have an unkind word or
+look from him? Nay, is it not a meanness, an entirely unchristian
+meanness, that a husband should presume upon the very loveliness of his
+wife, upon the very affections of her pure heart, to treat her thus
+rudely? And is it not as cowardly as it is mean, thus to act towards
+one whose only defense is in himself? I say cowardly, for were many a
+husband to speak, and to act towards another woman as he allows himself
+to do and to speak towards his own wife, he would not always escape the
+punishment due his ungentlemanly conduct. Let us, who are husbands and
+wives, endeavor all of us to be on the watch in this thing; and let it
+be our rule to treat no one in the world more kindly or more politely
+than we do our own wives and our own husbands. Not long since, at the
+bedside of a dying wife, I heard a husband, with quivering lip and
+tearful eye, say, "Beloved wife, forgive me, if I have ever treated you
+unkindly." If you would be saved from the anguish of ever feeling that
+you needed forgiveness from the dying lips of your dearest earthly ones,
+be kindly affectioned, therefore, one to another.
+
+Let us, in the next place, seek to apply this direction to the
+intercourse of brothers and sisters. No association of beings on earth
+can be more interesting than that of the family; there are found the
+tenderest sympathies and the most endearing relations. There the painter
+seeks for the sweetest scenes by which to exhibit his art, and the poet
+finds the inspiration which gives melody to his song. The highest praise
+which we can give to any other association of men, whether in church or
+state, is to say that they dwell together as a family; and cold and hard
+indeed must be that heart which does not sympathize and rejoice in
+family ties. In nothing short of the developments made in the cross of
+Jesus do the wisdom and love of God towards our race shine more
+conspicuously than they do in this grouping us in families. The result
+has been, that society has been preserved, even though the authority of
+God has been condemned; and even the annals of heathenism afford us very
+many displays of those kindly feelings, which adorn and beautify human
+nature. These would not have existed, had not the heart been cultivated
+in the family; and where religious principle is added as the guiding
+influence of the circle, the family becomes the nursery of all that is
+great and good in our nature, it becomes the very type and antepast of
+heaven. Now, the great development of this religious principle would
+chiefly show itself in obedience to the apostolic injunction in the
+precept, "Be kindly affectioned, one to another, with brotherly love; in
+honor preferring one another." I do not, however, so much seek just now
+to urge upon the members of the family the existence of kind feelings,
+for I take it for granted that in obedience to the call of nature, and
+the ties of blood, these feelings are already in existence; but what I
+desire to present is the duty of always making these feelings apparent
+in common intercourse, for just in proportion to the neglect of this, is
+the family influence on the happiness of its members affected. If you
+would combine the greatest possible elements of unhappiness you could
+not imagine any which would surpass that of a family of brothers and
+sisters, hating each other, yet compelled to live together as a family,
+where no word of kindness passes from one to the other, where no act of
+kindness draws out the affections, where the success of one only excites
+the envy of the others; no smile lights up the countenance; no gladness
+found in each other's society, the aim of each to thwart and annoy the
+other. In such dwellings there would be no light, no peace, no joy, no
+pleasant sounds. Indeed such a picture does not belong to even our
+fallen world, it is the description of the misery of the lost. A
+picture, perhaps, of a family in hell. The further, therefore, from
+this, my friends, that you can remove your own family, the greater will
+be your own happiness and comfort, and you must remember that the
+responsibility of this rests upon each one of you individually. Let your
+brother or sister never receive an unkind, unbrotherly or unsisterly
+act, never perceive an unaffectionate look, nor experience an
+uncourteous neglect, and you will do very much towards making your
+family the abode of as perfect peace as can be enjoyed upon earth, and
+cause it to present the loveliest and most attractive scene this side of
+heaven. Now, I will freely acknowledge that in urging this duty upon
+brothers and sisters, I am setting you upon no easy work; I know that it
+will require often much self-denial, much restraint in word and deed,
+but the gain will far more than repay the struggle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE FAMILY PROMISE.
+
+BY JOSEPH McCARRELL, D.D.
+
+
+The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar
+off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. From the beginning of
+the creation God has dealt with man as a social being. He made them a
+male and a female, and the first institution in innocence and in Eden,
+was marriage. In his dealings with Adam, God deals with the race. He
+made with them his covenant when he made it with Him. Hence, by the
+disobedience of one, many were made sinners; in Adam all die. With Noah
+he made a covenant never to drown the world again by the waters of a
+flood. This promise belongs to the children of Noah, the human race.
+
+To Abraham, the father of the faithful, the Almighty God said, "I will
+establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
+their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee
+and to thy seed after thee." (Gen. 17:7.) In token of this covenant,
+Abraham was circumcised, and his family, and his posterity, at eight
+days old. This principle of the ecclesiastical unity of the many, this
+family, is continued under the new dispensation of the covenant, and
+distinctly announced in the memorable sermon of Peter, on the day of
+Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the remission
+of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the
+promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
+even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2:38, 39.)
+Accordingly, when Lydia believed she was baptized, and her household;
+and when the jailor believed he was baptized, he and his, straightway.
+(Acts 16.) And so clearly was this principle established, that it
+extends to the children of parents of whom one only is in the covenant;
+"for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the
+unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children
+unclean, but now are they holy." (1 Cor. 7:14.) The first mother derived
+her personal name from this great principle. Under the covenant of works
+her name is simply the feminine form of the man, [Hebrew: ISHA] the woman,
+from [Hebrew: ISH] the man. But when, in the awful darkness which
+followed the fall, the first light broke upon the ruined race, in the
+grand comprehensive promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the
+woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head and
+thou shalt bruise his heel," it was promised that she should be the
+mother of a Savior who should destroy the grand adversary of man, though
+he himself should suffer in his inferior nature in the eventful
+conflict. In view of this great honor, that she should be the mother,
+according to the flesh, of the living Savior, and all that should live
+by his mediation and grace, Adam called his wife's name Eve, [Hebrew:
+KHAVA], because she was the mother of all living, [Hebrew: HAY]. (Gen.
+3:20.) The family identity, established at the beginning of the
+dispensation of grace, and continued to the end of divine revelation
+without the least shadow of change, gives to Christian parents their
+grand encouragement and constraining motive to seek the salvation of the
+children whom God hath given them. His former respects, first,
+themselves, and then their children, as part of themselves. As it is
+necessary that they should believe the promise to themselves, in order
+that they may enjoy it; so they must believe the promise respecting
+their children, in order that the children may enjoy the blessing. And
+as they must prove the reality of their faith in the promise which
+respects themselves by their works, so they must prove the reality of
+their faith in the promise which respects their children by the faithful
+discharge of the duties which they owe to God in their behalf. Fathers,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
+admonition of the Lord. Train up a child in the way he should go, and
+when he is old he will not depart from it.
+
+A soldier is not trained for the service of his country or the field of
+battle by a few lectures on the art of war. He must be drilled,
+practiced, in the very things which he must do upon the field of blood.
+So the children of believers, who are to take the places of their
+fathers and mothers in the grand warfare against Satan, the world, and
+the flesh, must be practiced in these very truths, and graces, and
+duties which they must labor and do, that they may be saved and be
+instrumental in extending that kingdom which is righteousness and peace
+and joy in the Holy Ghost, to the end of the earth and to the end of
+time. Let Christian parents make full proof of the family promise, use
+it in their prayers at the Throne of grace, cling to it as the anchor of
+their hope for those who are as dear to them as their own lives, and
+prove the sincerity of their prayers by unmeasured diligence in
+instruction and parental authority and influence, and a holy example. It
+was a high commendation of Abraham, in whose seed shall all the families
+of the earth be blessed, that He who is the fountain of honor and
+blessing should say, "I know Abraham, that he will command his children,
+and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to
+do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing
+that he hath spoken of him." If you would not that the blood of souls
+should be found in your skirts at the last day, and that the souls of
+your own children, plead incessantly the family promise, plead it in
+faith, approved by diligence and a holy example, not only point the road
+to heaven, but lead the way. So shall each Christian parent say to the
+Redeemer, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and admired
+in all that believe, Here am I, Lord, and the children which thou hast
+given me. Let children of Christian parents plead the promise made on
+their behalf. It has kept the true religion from becoming extinct; it
+will yet fill the earth with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
+the sea. Plead it for yourselves and show your faith in it by giving
+yourselves up to Emanuel, the great high priest of our profession, as
+free-will offerings in the day of his power, as his progeny, whom he
+will adorn with the beauties of holiness, as the dew from the womb of
+the morning, when reflecting the light of the sun refracts the prismatic
+colors. Say with David, "I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid,
+and therefore belonging to His household, to serve Him, to glorify Him,
+to enjoy Him forever." But beware, on the peril of your souls, how you
+_abuse_ your relation to the family of God. Think not in your hearts we
+have Abraham to our father; make not the holy promise, nor its holy
+author, a minister of sin, an apology for unbelief and all ungodliness.
+Wilt thou not at this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of
+my youth? Hear, believe, plead and obey the gracious word. "I will pour
+water upon him that is thirsty, and upon the dry ground. I will pour my
+Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring, and they
+shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses; one
+shall say, I am the Lord's, and another shall call himself by the name
+of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and
+surname himself by the name of Israel."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE PROMISE FULFILLED.
+
+     "Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+     them alive."
+
+
+How often has this promise been offered in the prayer of faith at the
+mercy-seat, and proved a spring of consolation to the heart of a pious
+widowed mother! In the desolation caused by the death of the husband and
+father, who was the helper, counselor, and guardian in reference to
+spiritual as well as temporal interests, and in the deepened sense of
+parental responsibility in the charge now singly resting upon her, how
+often and readily does the widow cast herself upon the sure and precious
+promise of the covenant, "I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after
+thee." In the faith of this her heart imbibes comfort, her prayers
+become enlarged and constant, and her efforts become wisely directed,
+and steadily exerted, in behalf of the spiritual interests of her
+children. When we carefully observe such cases, we shall find proof that
+the blessing of the God of grace peculiarly rests upon the household of
+the pious and faithful widow. God, in the truth and promises of his
+Word, takes peculiar notice of the widow and the orphan, and his
+providence works in harmony with his word. The importance and efficiency
+of maternal influence in every sphere of its exercise cannot be too
+highly estimated, but nowhere does it possess such touching interest, or
+such high promise, as the scene of widowhood. How would faith, laying
+hold upon the truth of the following promise, and securing its proper
+influence in all appropriate labors, realize the fulfillment of the
+blessing: "This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; my Spirit that
+is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not
+depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
+the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and
+forever." Isaiah 59:21.
+
+These remarks receive a new confirmation in the case of the recent
+deaths of two young sons of MRS. JANE HUNT, widow of the late
+Rev. Christopher Hunt, pastor of the Reformed Dutch church in Franklin
+street, in this city. They died within eight days of each other, the
+elder, _De Witt_, in his twentieth year, on the 19th of January, and the
+younger, _Joseph Scudder_, in his sixteenth year, on the 11th January,
+both of pulmonary disease. Their father, the Rev. Mr. Hunt, was a
+faithful and successful minister of Christ, much beloved by the people
+of his pastoral charge. The writer of this well remembers a sermon
+preached by him at the close of a series of services in the visitation
+of the Reformed Dutch churches of this city, which was solemn and
+impressive, from the text, "There is but a step between me and death."
+This was in January, 1839. At this time the seeds of disease (perhaps
+unconsciously to himself) were springing up within him, and after a few
+more services in his church, he was confined to his house, and lingered
+until the following May. His soul was firm in faith and full of peace,
+on his sick and dying bed. He committed them, again and again, to the
+care and faithfulness of their covenant God, and felt that therein he
+left them the best of legacies, whatever they might want of what the
+world could give. At the time of his decease, they had four children,
+the youngest of whom was three weeks old. The two oldest were the sons
+to whose deaths we are now adverting. The two youngest (daughters) are
+surviving. The elder son was seven years old at his father's death. The
+responsible trust of rearing these children for Christ and heaven was
+thus cast upon the widowed mother. Mrs. Hunt is the daughter of the late
+Joseph Scudder, of Monmouth, N.J., and sister of the venerable,
+long-tried, and devoted missionary, Rev. Dr. John Scudder, now in India.
+Brought up under the influences and associations of piety, she was early
+brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ, and a profession of faith
+in Him within the church. The consistency and ripeness of her piety has
+been evinced in the different spheres and relations of life where
+Providence placed her. With the infant children cast upon her care, at
+the death of her husband, she plied herself with toilful industry to
+provide for them, while her soul was ever intent upon their early
+conversion to Christ. She aimed to give these sons such a course of
+education as would, under God's sanctifying blessing, prepare them to
+engage in the work of the ministry, perhaps the missionary service. She
+had the gratification of seeing them as they grew up evincing
+thoughtfulness of mind, amiableness of spirit, and correctness of
+conduct, and by an affectionate spirit, and ready obedience,
+contributing to her comfort. At the time of his death, De Witt was in
+the Junior class, and Joseph had just entered the Freshman class, and
+there had gained a good distinction for study and scholarship, and drawn
+forth the respect and affection of their instructors and
+fellow-students. While pursuing his own studies, the elder brother led
+on the younger brother at home, and it is believed that by his close
+application he hastened the bringing on of his disease. In addition to
+this, the mother's heart was yearning for the proofs of their having
+given their hearts to God. Attentive as they were to divine truth in
+the sanctuary and Sabbath-school, in the reading of it at home, and
+careful in forming associations favorable to piety, she yet looked
+beyond these to their full embrace of, and dedication to, the Savior.
+How mysterious is that dispensation which, at this interesting period,
+when these only two sons were moulding their characters for life opening
+before them; and when they seemed to be preparing to realize a mother's
+hope, and reward a mother's prayers, and toils, and anxieties, they
+should, both together, within a few days of each other be removed from
+time to eternity. But in the circumstances and issues of their sickness
+and death we find an explanation of this apparent mystery by the
+satisfactory evidence they afforded of their being prepared by an early
+death to be translated to the blissful worship and service of heaven.
+
+Previous to a brief sketch of the sick-bed and dying scene of these dear
+youths, a circumstance may be adverted to, beautifully and strongly
+illustrative of the value and efficacy of the prayer of faith. Rev. Dr.
+Scudder, in his appeals, has frequently and ardently pressed upon
+parents the importance of the duty of seeking the early conversion of
+their children, and their consecration to the service of the Savior.
+With his heart intent upon this duty in the spirit of continued
+believing intercession, God has signally blessed him in his own large
+family of children in their early conversion to Christ, and in the
+training of his sons for the foreign missionary service in which he is
+himself engaged. Two of his sons are now engaged in that service; one
+training for it some time since entered into the heavenly rest, and
+others are now in preparation for it. On the 12th of November last,
+1851, Dr. S. addressed a letter from Madura, in India, to his nephew, De
+Witt Hunt. So remarkable is this letter, not only in the matter it
+contains, and spirit it breathes, but also in the fulfillment of the
+prayers it refers to, as the end of the two months stipulated found De
+Witt brought into the hope and liberty of the Gospel, on the very verge
+of his removal to heaven, that we make the following copious extracts
+from it:
+
+"My dear Nephew,--My daughter Harriet received your letter by the last
+steamer. I have not the least evidence from the letter that you love the
+Savior, for you do not even refer to him. On this account I may perhaps
+be warranted in coming to the conclusion that he is not much in your
+thoughts. Be this, however, as it may, I have become so much alarmed
+about your spiritual condition as to make it a special subject of
+prayer, or to set you apart for this purpose; and I design, God willing,
+to pray for you in a special manner until about the time when this shall
+reach you, that is, about two months. After that I can make no promise
+that I shall pray for you any further than I may pray for my friends in
+general. I have now set apart a little season to pray for you and to
+write to you. Do you wonder at this? Has it never occurred to you as _a
+very strange thing_ that others should be so much concerned in you,
+while you are unconcerned for yourself? I can explain the mystery. Your
+friends have seen you, and your uncle, among the rest, has seen you
+walking on the pit of destruction, on a rotten covering, as it were,
+liable at every moment to fall through it, and drop into everlasting
+burnings. _This_ you have not seen, and therefore you have remained
+careless and indifferent. Whether this carelessness and indifference
+will continue I know not. All that I can say is, that I am greatly
+alarmed for you. It is no small thing for you to trample under foot the
+blood of Christ for eighteen years. Justly might the Savior say of you,
+as he said of his people of old, 'Ephraim is joined to idols, let him
+alone.' Your treatment of the blessed Savior is what grieves me to the
+heart. What has He not done to serve you? Were you to fall into a well,
+and a stranger should run to your help and take you out, that stranger
+should forever afterwards be esteemed as your chief friend. Nothing
+could be too much for you to do for him. Of nothing would you be more
+cautious than of grieving him. And has Christ come down from heaven to
+save you? Has He died for you? Has He shed his very blood for you that
+you might be delivered from the worm that dieth not, and the fire which
+is never quenched? And can you be so wicked as not to love Him? My dear
+nephew, this will not do; it _must_ not do. You must alter your course.
+But I will stop writing for a moment and kneel down and entreat God's
+mercy for _you_. I will endeavor to present the sacrifice of the
+Redeemer at the Throne of grace, and see if I cannot, for this
+sacrifice' sake, call down the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon you."
+
+As a remarkable coincidence evidencing an answer to earnest believing
+prayer, this letter found both the nephews drawing near to their eternal
+state. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, the end of the two
+stipulated months for special daily prayer in his behalf, found De Witt
+brought into the light and liberty of the Gospel, rejoicing in his
+Savior.
+
+A few incidents occurring in the progress of the sickness, and during
+the death-bed scene, will now be adverted to; and as the death of
+JOSEPH took place first, I shall first allude to his case. He
+was in his fifteenth year, and last fall, in September, entered the
+Freshman class in the New York University. He had been characterized
+from childhood for an amiable and docile spirit, filial kindness and
+obedience, and correctness of deportment. His mind opened to religious
+instruction in the family and Sabbath-school. He loved the Bible, and it
+is believed was observant of the habit of prayer. It was the anxious
+prayer, and assiduous labor of his pious mother that all this might be
+crowned with the saving knowledge of Christ as his Redeemer. He took a
+cold soon after entering the University which at first excited no alarm,
+but it was soon accompanied with hectic fever, which made rapid
+progress, and gave indications that his death was not remote. In the
+early part of November, their mother, realizing these indications, and
+also the precarious state of De Witt's health, who had been afflicted
+with a cough during the whole of the preceding year, which had been
+slowly taking root, and now furnished sad forebodings of the issue,
+plied her labors with greater earnestness for their spiritual welfare.
+The visits and conversations of Rev. Mr. Carpenter were most acceptable
+and blessed after this period. I shall here make extracts from some
+notes and reminiscences furnished me by the mother: "The evening of
+Sabbath, November 16, was a solemn one to myself and sons. We spent the
+time alone; I entreating them to yield their hearts unto God, _they_ in
+listening to the words of their mother as though they felt and
+understood their import. I begged them not to be wearied with my
+importunity, and wearied they had been had they not cared for the things
+belonging to their everlasting peace. I knew not how to part with them
+that night until they should yield themselves, body, soul and spirit, to
+Whom they had been invited often to go." After this, Joseph's disease
+rapidly advanced, and the physicians pronounced his case hopeless. He
+was throughout meek, quiet, patient. Mrs. Hunt again writes: "Sabbath
+morning, November 30, I endeavored to entreat God to make this the
+spiritual birthday of my children. I was with Joseph in the morning,
+reading and conversing with him. In the afternoon I urged him to go to
+Christ just as he was, feeling his own nothingness, and casting himself
+upon His mercy. He replied, in a low, solemn voice, 'I have tried to go
+many times, but I want faith to believe I shall be accepted.' After a
+few minutes he said, 'Sometimes I think I shall be, and sometimes that I
+shall not be.' Again, there was a pause and waiting, and then his gentle
+voice was heard saying, 'I can give my heart to the Savior.' Truly did I
+bless God for his loving kindness and tender mercy." It is worthy of
+observation, that the evening before, Saturday, a small number of pious
+young men of their acquaintance met for special prayer on behalf of
+Joseph, De Witt, and another young man very ill. I continue to quote
+Mrs. H.: "On Friday night, the 2d of January, I asked him in regard to
+his feelings. He replied, 'I pray that I may give myself away to Christ,
+and He may be with me when I pass through the valley of the shadow of
+death.' I remarked, then, Joseph, you want to enter the heavenly Canaan,
+to praise Him, and cast your crown at his feet. He said, 'Yes, to put on
+the robe of righteousness.' On Wednesday night, January 7, he was
+restless. After he awoke on Thursday morning, I said to him, Joseph,
+try now to compose yourself to prayer; to which he assented and closed
+his eyes. During the day he remarked to me, 'I prayed for the teachings
+of God's Holy Spirit that I might be made wise unto salvation; that he
+would lift upon me the light of his countenance, and uphold me with his
+free Spirit; give me more light that I may tell around what a precious
+Savior I have found. I say, Precious Savior, wash me in thine own blood,
+and make me one of thine own children. I come to thee just as I am, a
+poor sinner.'" On Wednesday, the day before De Witt received the letter
+from his uncle, Dr. Scudder, before referred to and quoted. "Joseph
+wished me to read it to him, which I did. After I had finished, he
+remarked, 'Before Uncle Scudder prays for me all his prayers will be
+fulfilled,' but afterwards added, 'he thought his uncle would now be
+praying for him, and sending a letter to him.'" After this he grew
+weaker and weaker, and continued peacefully and patiently to wait his
+coming death, giving expressions of fond attachment to his mother, in
+acknowledgment of her pious care. On Saturday he was visited, as he lay
+very low, by Rev. Mr. C., who held a plain and satisfactory conversation
+with him. Passages of Scripture and hymns were read to him, which gave
+him pleasure, and to the import of which he responded. He expressed to
+him the blessed hope of soon reaching heaven. He sank during the night,
+and died at half-past one o'clock, of the morning of the blessed day of
+the Lord, January 11, 1852, surrounded by weeping but comforted
+Christian friends. T.D.W.
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+John Newton one day called upon a family whose house and goods had been
+destroyed by fire. He found its pious mistress in tears. Said he,
+"Madam, I give you joy." Surprised and almost offended, she exclaimed,
+"What! joy that all my property is consumed?" "I give you joy," he
+replied, "that you have so much property that no fire can touch."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE BENEFITS OF BAPTISM.
+
+BY REV. WM. BANNARD.
+
+
+_Son._--Father, how do you reconcile the distinction which the apostle
+Paul makes in 1 Cor. 7:14, between children as "holy" and "unclean,"
+with the fact that all the descendants of Adam inherit a corrupt nature?
+
+_Father._--The distinction is not moral, but federal or ecclesiastical.
+The apostle is speaking, you perceive, of the children of believers and
+unbelievers. The one, he says, are "holy," the other "unclean." But he
+does not mean by this that the children of pious parents are by nature
+different from others, or that, unlike them, they are not tainted with
+evil. He means that they stand in a different relation to God and his
+church. "_Holy_," in Scripture, means primarily "set apart or
+consecrated to a sacred use." Thus, the temple at Jerusalem, its altar,
+vessels and priests, were holy. The Jews themselves, as a people, were
+in covenant with God. They belonged to him, were set apart to his
+service, and in this sense "_holy_." Now, the apostle is to be
+understood as teaching that children of believing parents, under the
+Gospel, are allowed to participate in this heritage of God's ancient
+people, and hence are holy.
+
+_Son._--But how can this be?
+
+_Father._--I will tell you, briefly, though I cannot now go into detail.
+In virtue, then, of their parents' faith in God's covenant, into which
+he entered with Abraham, and through him with all believing parents,
+their children, also, are brought into covenant with him and entitled to
+its privileges and blessings. They are set apart and given to him by
+their parents when they are sealed with the seal of his covenant in
+baptism. In this manner, and in this sense, they become "_holy_."
+
+_Son._--In what sense are all others "_unclean_?"
+
+_Father_.--The children of unbelievers are "unclean" because they
+sustain no such relation to God. They have not been consecrated to him
+by their parents' faith in offering them to him in the ordinance of
+baptism, and are not interested, therefore, in the provisions or
+benefits of the Abrahamic covenant. They have, moreover, no special
+relation to the church; no more title to its immunities, deeper interest
+in its regards, than the children of the heathen. They may, indeed, when
+they reach a suitable age, hear the Gospel, and upon repentance and
+faith, be admitted to its ordinances, but they have no _special_ claim
+upon its care, or right to its prayers and nurture.
+
+_Son._--But, after all, is not this relation one of mere name or form?
+Has it any positive or practical benefits?
+
+_Father._--It is, indeed, too often disregarded, yet it is positive in
+its character and fraught with striking benefits. If you will give me
+your attention I will state a few of the benefits which accrue to
+children from this relation. You, then, my son, and all children of
+believing parents who have been consecrated to God in baptism, are
+considered as thereby belonging to Him. You are set apart to his
+service, in a sense that others are not, and consequently are "_holy_."
+In this solemn dedication, your parents professed their faith in the
+triune God, and their desire that you should be his servants. They took
+him to be your God according to the terms of his covenant; they desired
+that you might be engrafted into Christ, and claimed for you the promise
+of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and sanctify you. Now this, in itself,
+is an unspeakable blessing. On their part it was an act of faith and
+obedience. In compliance with the divine direction, they claimed for
+themselves and for you a privilege which has been the birthright of the
+church in all ages. They commended you in the most solemn manner to
+God--the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, a covenant-keeping God,
+who is rich in mercy, infinite in resources, and who has promised "to be
+a God _to thee and to thy seed after thee_." It _is_ an unspeakable
+blessing to be thus placed under his protection, to be brought within
+the bonds of his covenant, and to be entitled to that pledge of mercy
+which he has made "unto thousands of them that love him and keep his
+commandments." If it were a privilege for children to be brought to
+Christ to receive his blessing while he was on earth, equally is it a
+privilege to be brought to him now that he is exalted to the majesty on
+high, and "able," as then, "to save unto the uttermost." Though God has
+a regard for all his creatures, both his word and providence assure us
+he has a special interest in his people. His language is, "Jacob have I
+loved, and Israel have I chosen." His elect are those in whom he
+delights. Their names are in his book of life. "All things" are
+overruled for their good. They are regarded with more than maternal
+tenderness, for though a mother forget her infant child, God will not
+forget his people. _And in this affection their children share._
+Repeated instances are given in which the offspring of believers, though
+wicked, were spared for the _sake of their parents_. The descendants of
+David were not utterly banished from the throne for generations, _for
+their father's sake_. Of Israel it was said, when oppressed for their
+sins by Hazael, King of Syria, "the Lord had compassion and respect unto
+them, because of _his covenant_ with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
+would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet."
+Even since they have rejected and crucified their Messiah, there is a
+remnant of them left, according to the election of grace, who are
+"_beloved for their father's sake_." The children of the covenant do
+unquestionably receive manifold temporal and spiritual mercies, and to
+this more than anything else on earth, it may be, they are indebted for
+their present and eternal well-being. They are not forgotten when those
+who bore them to God's altar, and dedicated them to him in faith, have
+passed away. When father or mother forsake, or are called from them, the
+Lord shall take them up. Though they stray from the fold of the good
+Shepherd, and seem to wander beyond the reach of mercy, often, very
+often, does His grace reclaim and make them the monuments of his
+forgiving love. This covenant-relation is indeed one whose benefits we
+cannot here fully estimate, for they can be known only when the secret
+dealings of God are revealed, and we are permitted to trace their
+bearing upon an eternal destiny. They do not secure salvation in every
+instance, but who shall say they would not obtain even that blessing
+were they never perverted, and were parent and children alike faithful
+to the responsibilities they involve?
+
+_Son._--These are, indeed, great benefits, but are there any other?
+
+_Father._--Yes; besides sustaining this marked and honored relation to
+God, the baptized sustain a different relation to his church from that
+of others. They are members of the visible church. Their names are
+enrolled among God's preferred people. They have a place in the
+sanctuary of which David sung, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord
+of hosts." Nor is _this relation_ without its benefits. They are brought
+thereby within the supervision and nurture of the church. They become
+the subjects of her care, instruction and discipline. In addition to
+household privileges, to the prayers, examples and labors of pious
+parents, they have a special claim to the prayers and efforts of the
+church. They are remembered as "the sons and daughters of Zion." "For
+them the public prayer is made." They can be interceded for not only as
+needing the grace of God, but as authorized to expect it in virtue of
+their covenant with him. With all faith and hope may they be brought to
+the throne of mercy as those of whom God has said, "_I will be their
+God._" They may claim, too, as they ought to receive, a special
+solicitude on the part of ministers, officers and members of the church,
+in their instruction, and in the tender interest which those of the same
+body should feel in each other. They are to be watched over, sought out
+and cared for in private and in public; to be borne with in their
+weakness and reclaimed in their wanderings. They are "Lambs" of the
+flock, dear to the good Shepherd, and to be loved and labored for,
+therefore, for his sake. Though they become openly wicked it is not
+beyond the province of the church to rebuke them for their sins, warn
+them of their danger, and by all the moral means in her power to seek
+for their reformation. And these considerations are fraught with
+benefit. It was the lament of one of old, a lament that may be taken up
+by numbers in our day--"No man careth for my soul." But the church does
+care for the souls of her baptized children. She recognizes them as
+within her pale, provides in her standards for their nurture, and though
+not faultless in her treatment of them, she does seek their improvement,
+through the influence of her ministers, and by urging upon parents their
+responsibility.--There is in these facts, moreover, a tendency to draw
+them to the church, to bring them within hearing of the Gospel and
+within the scope of its ordinances. They will be attracted to the
+sanctuary of their fathers and attached to the faith and worship of
+those among whom they have been solemnly dedicated to God. How often in
+after years do we in fact see them coming themselves and esteeming it a
+privilege to bring their own children to receive, as they have received,
+the seal of the covenant!--The baptized are, further, candidates for all
+the immunities of Christ's house. They may come to the Lord's table as
+soon as they have attained to the requisite knowledge and piety. It is a
+distinguished honor, and exalted privilege, to be a guest at Christ's
+table, to partake of that feast which is a type of the marriage supper
+of the Lamb, and to this they are invited whenever they are ready
+publicly to avow their faith and love as his professed disciples. They
+are for the present excluded, as children in their minority are
+forbidden to exercise the rights of citizens; or rather in virtue of
+their power to discipline, as well as instruct, the officers of the
+church may exclude them, like other unworthy members, from the
+communion. But it is the aim and desire of the church that they may
+speedily acquire the knowledge, faith and godliness that shall qualify
+them for this delightful service.--Now, all this is happy in its
+tendency and beneficial in its effects. It is a high honor to sustain a
+covenant relation to God, and to be favored with the peculiar regard of
+his people. It is a privilege to stand in a different relation to the
+church of Christ from that of a mere heathen, and to share in the kind
+offices and be objects of the prayers of those who are "the excellent of
+the earth," and whose intercession availeth much. It is a blessing to be
+under influences adapted to counteract the power of an evil heart and an
+evil world, and thus be made meet for the glories of Christ's kingdom.
+And though the baptized may be, in fact often are, insensible to these
+benefits, they do in themselves constitute their choicest mercies. If
+valued and improved, they will become effectual for their salvation. And
+should they be brought ultimately to share in the blessings of this
+covenant, they will praise God for the agency it exerted, and adore the
+wisdom and beneficence of its arrangements.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."
+
+     "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+     might."--ECCLESIASTES 9:10.
+
+
+"Dear mother," said little Emily Manvers, as she turned over the leaves
+of an elegant annual which she had just received, "Is not uncle Albert
+very kind to send me this beautiful book? I wonder sometimes that he
+gives me such costly presents, but I suppose it is because he sees me so
+careful of my gifts."
+
+Mrs. Manvers smiled. "That speech sounds rather egotistic, my dear. Do
+you really think you are such a _very_ careful little girl?"
+
+"I am sure, mother," replied Emily, coloring slightly, "that I take more
+care of my things than many other girls I know. There is my wax doll, I
+have had three years, and she is not even soiled; and that handsome
+paint-box uncle gave me a year ago this Christmas, is in as good order
+as ever, though I have used it a great deal; there is not one paint lost
+or broken, and the brushes and crayons are all safe and perfect."
+
+"That is as it should be, my daughter," returned Mrs. Manvers, "for
+even in small things, we should use our gifts as not abusing them; but
+what will you say when I tell you that you possess a treasure of
+inestimable value, which you often misuse sadly, and neglect most
+heedlessly,--a gift that properly employed will procure wonderful
+privileges, but which I sometimes fear you will never learn to value
+until you are about to lose it forever."
+
+"Why, mother, what _can_ you mean!" exclaimed Emily, in astonishment.
+"It can't be that costly fan cousin Henry sent me from India, that was
+broken when I laid it down just a minute, instead of putting it
+immediately away, or do you mean my pet dove that I sometimes have not a
+minute's time to feed in the morning; you cannot surely think that I
+will let it starve."
+
+"No, Emily," answered the mother, "it is something far more precious
+than either, although by your own admission you have two gifts of which
+you are not at all careful. But I fear that if I tell you what the
+treasure is, I shall fail in making you see clearly how much you misuse
+it; I will therefore keep a little memorandum of your neglect and
+ill-usage of it for one week, and that I hope will make you more careful
+in future. I will begin on Monday, as to-morrow, being the Sabbath, I
+have this gift of yours more under my immediate care."
+
+Emily wondered very much what this wonderful treasure could be that she
+used so badly, and puzzled her brain the whole evening in guessing, but
+her mother told her to have patience, and in a week she would find out.
+
+Emily Manvers was a kind, amiable little girl, between ten and eleven
+years old; she was dutiful and obedient, but had an evil habit of
+procrastination, which her mother had tried in vain to overcome. It was
+always "time enough" with Emily to do everything, and consequently her
+lessons were frequently imperfect, and her wardrobe in a sad state, as
+Mrs. Manvers insisted upon her daughter sewing on strings, and hooks and
+eyes, when they were wanting, thus endeavoring to instill early habits
+of neatness. "Put not off till to-morrow what should be done to-day,"
+was a copy the little girl frequently wrote, but she never allowed its
+meaning to sink into her heart. It was this truth which her mother hoped
+now to teach her.
+
+On Monday morning, Emily jumped up as soon as her mother called her, and
+seated herself on a low stool to put on her shoes and stockings; there
+was a story book lying upon the table, and as her eyes fell on it, she
+began to think over all the stories it contained, (some of them quite
+silly ones, I am sorry to say,) and pulling her night-dress over her
+feet, sat thinking about worse than nothing, until her mother opened the
+bed-room door, and exclaimed in surprise,
+
+"What! not dressed yet, Emily! It is full fifteen minutes since I called
+you."
+
+"I will be dressed directly, mother," said she, jumping up quite
+ashamed, and she hurriedly put on her clothes, brushed her hair and
+prepared for breakfast.
+
+After breakfast she had to look over her lessons, but remembering her
+mother's remarks, she stole a few minutes to feed her doves, and then
+hurried to school afraid of being late. On her return home in the
+afternoon, her mother told her to mend her gloves, which she had torn.
+Emily went to her work-basket, but could not find her thimble.
+
+"Where can my thimble be?" she cried, after looking two or three minutes
+for it. "Oh, I remember now; I left it on the window sill," and off she
+ran to get it.
+
+She was gone some time, and on her return her mother asked, "Couldn't
+you find your thimble, Emily?"
+
+"Yes, mamma, but James and George were flying their kites, so I stopped
+just a minute to look at them. I will sit down now."
+
+She opened her work-box and took out a needle, then looking about said,
+
+"Why, where is my cotton spool? I left it on the chair a minute ago."
+
+She moved the chairs, turned up the hearth-rug, and tumbled over her
+work-box in vain; the cotton could not be found. Presently she espied
+puss, under the sofa, busily employed tossing something about with her
+paw.
+
+"Oh, you naughty kitty, _you_ have got my spool," cried Emily, as she
+stooped down and caught hold of the thread which puss had entangled
+about the sofa legs; but kitty was in a playful mood and would not give
+up the cotton-spool at once, so Emily amused herself playing with the
+cat and thread for some time longer. At last, she remembered her gloves,
+and sitting down mended them in a few moments.
+
+Had Emily's mother told her that she looked at her watch when the little
+girl first went for the thimble, and that she had passed exactly
+three-quarters of an hour in idleness, she would not have credited it.
+
+After a while Mrs. Manvers sent Emily up stairs to get something for
+her. She stayed so long that her mother called, "Emily, what keeps you
+so?"
+
+"Nothing, mamma; I stopped just a minute to look at my new sash, it is
+so pretty."
+
+Ten minutes more were added to the wasted time. The next day Emily came
+home from school without any ticket for punctuality.
+
+"How is this?" asked the mother; "you started from home in good time?"
+
+"Yes, mother," returned the little girl, "but I stopped just a minute to
+speak to Sarah Randall, and I know our school-clock must be wrong, for
+it was half-past nine by it when I went in."
+
+Mrs. Manvers took the trouble to walk around to the school and compare
+her watch with the clock; they agreed exactly, and thus she found her
+daughter had wasted half an hour that morning.
+
+"Do you know your lessons, Emily?" she asked, after her return, as the
+little girl had been sitting for more than an hour with her books upon
+her lap.
+
+"Not quite, mother."
+
+"Have you been studying all the time, my dear?"
+
+"Pretty near; there was a man beating his horse dreadfully, and I just
+looked out of the window a minute."
+
+Mrs. Manvers smiled, and yet sighed, for she knew that Emily had spent
+half an hour humming a tune and gazing idly from the window upon the
+passers by.
+
+TO BE CONTINUED.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A CHILD'S READING.
+
+
+In this day of books, when so many pens are at work writing for
+children, and when so many combine instruction with entertainment, every
+family should be, to some extent, a reading family. Books have become
+indispensable; they are a kind of daily food; and we take for granted
+that no parent who reads this Magazine neglects to provide aliment of
+this nature for his family. How many leisure hours may thus be turned to
+profitable account! How many useful ideas and salutary impressions may
+thus be gained which will never be lost! If any family does not know the
+pleasure and the benefit of such employment of a leisure hour, we advise
+them to make the experiment forthwith. The district library, the
+Sabbath-school or village library in almost every town afford the
+facilities necessary for the experiment. But my object is not so much to
+induce any to form the _taste_ for reading, for who, now a-days, does
+not read? nor is it to write a dissertation on the pleasures and
+advantages of reading; but simply to suggest a few plain hints upon the
+_subject matter_ and the _manner_ of reading.
+
+And, in the first place, the parent should know _what_ his child reads.
+The book is the companion or teacher. Parent, would you receive into
+your family a playmate or a teacher of whose tastes and habits and moral
+character you were ignorant? Would you admit them for one day in such a
+capacity without having previously ascertained as far as possible their
+qualifications for such an intimate relationship to your child? But
+remember that the book has great influence. It puts a great many
+thoughts into the mind of the young reader, to form its tastes and make
+lasting impressions; and how can you be indifferent to this matter, when
+our land is flooded with so many vicious and contaminating books; when
+they come, like the frogs of Egypt, into every house and bed-chamber,
+and even into the houses of the servants! A single book may ruin your
+child! You yourself may not be proof against evil thoughts and corrupt
+principles. Look well, then, to the thoughts that come into your child's
+mind from such a companion or teacher of your child as a printed book,
+having perhaps all the fascination of a story or a romance. And,
+besides, there are so many volumes that are tried and proved, and
+acceptable to all, that there can be no excuse for admitting into your
+family any which are even of a doubtful character. And do not merely
+exercise supervision over the books which come to you and _ask_
+admission. Avail yourself of the best means of information, and _choose_
+the _best books_; I mean those best adapted to your purpose. Do not get
+too many, but make a _choice selection_. Judge whether your child can
+comprehend what you put into its hand; whether it is fitted to convey
+instruction, or wholesome entertainment, or right moral impressions. If
+it can do neither of these, it will be either an idle or a vicious
+companion for your child, and you should exclude it at once.
+
+But, furthermore, see in _what manner_ the book is read. Draw out the
+thoughts of your child upon it; ascertain whether it has been read
+understandingly and is remembered. In this way you will strengthen the
+power of attention and of memory and judgment, and exercise also the
+power of language, by drawing out an expression of thought. In this way
+reading will be doubly interesting, and will be an invigorating exercise
+without overloading and clogging all the powers of thought.
+
+But, one thing more: Is your child inclined to pore over its books _too
+much_? Be careful, lest its mind be over-stimulated at the expense of
+the body. Many a child is at this hour undermining its physical
+constitution by reading in the house, when it should be playing out of
+doors, or using its muscular system in some kind of domestic employment.
+Beware of any cause which shall induce a sickly precocity or a hotbed
+mental growth. Let no partiality for mental prodigies induce you to make
+_physical invalids_. The sacrifice is too great; seek rather a healthy
+and complete development of the whole child, watching each power as it
+unfolds, and training all for the most efficient fulfillment of the
+practical duties of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+We venture to devote more space than usual to "Notices of Books," as we
+have a large number on our table deserving a word of commendation. We
+shall confine ourselves to the class of works of which the topics of
+consideration come within the scope of this magazine.
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND TRIALS OF A YOUTHFUL CHRISTIAN, in Pursuit of
+Health, as developed in the Biography of NATHANIEL CHEEVER, M.D. By Rev.
+HENRY T. CHEEVER. With an Introduction by Rev. GEORGE B. CHEEVER, D.D.
+New York: Charles Scribner.
+
+We have laid down this book, after attentive perusal, with the feeling
+that among the many things to be learned from it, one stands prominently
+forth,--_the beauty of family affection in a Christian household_. "To
+our _Beloved_ and _Honored_ MOTHER, these Memorials of her
+Youngest Son are affectionately Dedicated." Here we stand at the
+foundation stone, and are not surprised afterward to see taking their
+place in the fair edifice of family love, "stones polished after the
+similitude of a palace."
+
+The history presented in this memoir has no startling incidents. The
+subject of it, a beautiful and promising boy, full of life and
+happiness, is suddenly smitten with a disease which hangs like an
+incubus upon his progress through life, and terminates his course just
+after he has entered successfully on the practice of the medical
+profession, in the island of Cuba, led, as he had previously been, on
+repeated voyages across the ocean, by the hope of permanent benefit from
+change of climate. Scattered through the book are descriptions of
+scenery, observations on men and manners, and pleasant narratives, which
+give variety to its pages, but its charm rises in the character of
+uncommon loveliness which it presents; in the unvarying cheerfulness and
+patience with which the young sufferer met pain, disappointment of
+cherished plans of life, defeat and delay in his efforts for
+intellectual improvement, separation from the friends to whom his
+sensitive spirit clung with a tenacity of affection which is often
+developed by suffering, but which seems to have been an original element
+in his nature; years of banishment from the home circle, and at last,
+_death_, away from every friend, on the ocean, which he was struggling
+to cross once more that he might breathe his last sigh on his mother's
+bosom. The conscientiousness, the integrity, the simplicity of this
+young Christian are as beautiful to contemplate as his elasticity of
+spirit, his cheerful submission, and his resolute determination to be
+all that, with the shattered materials, he was capable of making
+himself. His patient efforts, retarded by his severe sufferings, to
+educate himself, and acquire a profession, are touching and instructive,
+though few, who have not experienced the slow martyrdom of chronic
+disease, can fully appreciate his energy, or sympathize with his
+difficulties. Better than all this is his unwavering trust in God, from
+his boyhood to the day of his early death. Here was the secret of his
+joyfulness. His biographer well remarks, "Beyond all doubt the
+inalienable treasure and guarantee of cheerfulness, being
+reconciliation to God, was in that heart, whose pulsations are still
+beating in the leaves of this book. In his sky the star of hope was
+always in the ascendant. The aspect which life had to him,
+notwithstanding all his suffering, was green and cheerful. He was wont
+to view things on the sunny side, or if a cloud intervened to look
+beyond it."
+
+Such a cheerfulness, so based, is worth more than "silver and gold." We
+commend the book to the attention of our readers, as a beautiful
+illustration of early and consistent piety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+POETRY FOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+_Mrs. Whittelsey_:--"The influence of poetry," says another, "in forming
+the moral character, and guiding the thoughts of children, is immense.
+How often has a simple couplet made an indelible impression on their
+memories, and been the means of shaping their conduct for life! It
+cannot be a matter of indifference, then, whether the poetry they read
+and hear be good or bad, healthful or poisonous. And every parent should
+see that it be of the former kind; such as not only to cultivate the
+taste, but such as will form the character and mould the heart to all
+that is holy and excellent."
+
+These thoughts have come up to my mind with strong interest, since I
+have lately examined a little work published by Mr. M.W. Dodd of your
+city, entitled, "Select Poetry for Children and Youth," a book worthy to
+be in every family, and possessed by every mother in the land. It is
+full of just the kind of poetry to interest children deeply, and profit
+them truly; and is such a work as every parent may safely and wisely
+introduce to his household. As a parent, I have taken it home, and read
+it to my own family circle, and have found all, from oldest to youngest,
+absorbed in attention to its choice selections, which are from such
+writers as Mary Howitt, Jane Taylor, Mrs. Hemans, Cowper, &c., &c., &c.
+And I am persuaded that if other parents will make the same experiment,
+they will find it attended with the same result.
+
+And now, in conclusion, as a parent who has always taken your excellent
+Magazine, and who through it would speak to parents, let me ask, Ought
+we not to be more careful as to the reading of our children--more
+careful that the couplets they learn, and the little ballads they hear,
+and the verses they commit to memory, are such as they ought to be?
+Lessons from such sources will leave a deep and lasting impression long
+after we are silent in the grave! The verses which the writer was taught
+by a pious mother, in early days, are all vividly remembered, and
+probably will be while life shall last. And if every parent would seek
+to make _verses_ the vehicle of instruction to the young (for children
+delight in _poetry_ earlier than in prose), they might easily implant
+the seeds of virtue and piety that would never be lost, but that in due
+season would spring up and bear fruit an hundred-fold to eternal life.
+
+                                              A PARENT.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.
+
+
+We beg those readers of this Magazine who have had the patience to
+follow us thus far in our study, now to open their Bibles with an
+earnest invocation of the aid of that Spirit who indited the sacred
+pages, and so far from being satisfied with the meager thoughts which we
+are able to furnish, we entreat that they will bend diligently to the
+work of ascertaining the real interest which we and all the mothers of
+earth have in the scenes which transpired at the foot of Horeb's holy
+mount. To the instructions there uttered, the mighty ones of every
+age,--the founders of empires, statesmen, law-givers, philanthropists,
+patriots, and wise men, have sought for their noblest conceptions, and
+their most beneficent regulations, and it would be impossible to
+estimate the influence of those instructions upon all the after history
+of the world. But if the Almighty there revealed himself as the God of
+kingdoms, the all-wise and infinitely good Ruler of men in a national
+capacity, not less did He make himself known as the God of the family,
+and his will there made known regulating the mutual relations of parents
+and children, has been at once the foundation and bulwark of all that
+has been excellent or trustworthy in family government from that day to
+this.
+
+It is impossible, in the brief space allotted to us, that we should
+begin to give any adequate view of the subject which here opens before
+us, or follow out fully a single one of the many trains of thought to
+which it gives rise.
+
+At Horeb, Jehovah, amid fire and smoke, and in that voice which so
+filled with terror all that heard, first inculcated the duty of filial
+piety on all the future generations of men. Filial piety! how much it
+implies. It stands at the head of the duties enjoined from man to man.
+It comes next in order to those which man owes to his Maker. It
+inculcates on the part of children toward their parents feelings akin to
+those which he has required toward Himself, and far surpassing any which
+he demands toward any other human being. It speaks of reverence, of a
+love superior to ordinary affection, of unqualified submission and
+obedience. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is the solemn command, and
+the comments which infinite wisdom has made on it, scattered up and down
+on the pages of inspiration, throw light on its length and breadth, and
+on the heinous nature of the sin which is committed in its infringement.
+"Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, and keep my
+Sabbaths; I am the Lord." In the Jewish law, a man who smote his
+neighbor must be smitten in return; but "he that smiteth father or
+mother shall be surely put to death." "He that curseth," or as it more
+exactly reads, "he that disparages or speaks lightly of his parents, or
+uses contemptuous language to them, shall surely be put to death." "If a
+man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of
+his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastised
+him will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay
+hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and unto the gate
+of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This, our
+son, is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice. And all the
+men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die; so shall thou
+put away evil from among you, that all Israel shall hear and fear."
+
+Still more fearful is the practical commentary upon this solemn command,
+given in Ezekiel 22:7, when Jehovah, in enumerating the crying sins
+which demanded his vengeance on the people, and brought upon them the
+terrible calamities of long captivity says, "In thee have they set light
+by father and mother."
+
+But some one will say, You profess to be speaking to parents, and this
+command is given to children. True, friend, but the duty required of
+children implies a corresponding duty on the part of parents. Who shall
+teach children to reverence that father and mother in whose character
+there is nothing to call forth such a sentiment? "Though children are
+not absolved from the obligation of this commandment by the misconduct
+of their parents, yet in the nature of things, it is impossible that
+they should yield the same hearty respect and veneration to the unworthy
+as to the worthy, nor does God require a child to pay an irrational
+honor to his parents. If his parents are atheists, he cannot honor them
+as Christians. If they are prayerless and profane, he cannot honor them
+as religious. If they are worldly, avaricious, over-reaching,
+unscrupulous as to veracity and honest dealing, he cannot honor them as
+exemplary, upright, conscientious and spiritually-minded."
+
+If parents only say, like Eli, in feeble accents, "Nay, my sons; for it
+is no good report that I hear. Why do ye such things?" they will not
+only have disobedient and irreverent children, but often, if not always,
+they will be made to understand that their sin is grievous in the sight
+of God, and he will say of them also, "I will judge his house forever
+for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile
+and _he restrained them not_." "And therefore have I sworn unto the
+house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with
+sacrifice nor offering forever."
+
+Unto parents God has committed the child, in utter helplessness, and
+weakness, and ignorance, an unformed being. The power and the knowledge
+are theirs, and on their side is He, the Almighty and infinitely wise,
+with his spirit and his laws, and his promises. If they are
+faithful,--if from the first they realize their responsibility, and the
+advantages of their position, can the result be doubtful? But they will
+not be faithful; imperfection is stamped on all earthly character, and
+they will fail in this as in all other duties. What then? Blessed be
+God, the Gospel has a provision for erring parents. If Sinai thunders,
+Calvary whispers peace. For men, as sinners, the righteousness of Christ
+prevails, and for sinners, as parents, not less shall it be found
+sufficient. Line and plummet can soon measure the extent of human
+perfection, but they cannot fathom the merit of that righteousness, and
+when laid side by side with the most holy law, there is no deficiency.
+If, then, we find ourselves daily coming short of the terms of that
+covenant which God has made with us as parents, we need not despair of
+his fulfilling his part, for we can plead our surety's work, and that is
+ever acceptable in his eyes, and answers all his demands.
+
+Let not, however, the negligent and willfully-ignorant parent conclude
+that the spotless robe of the perfect Savior will be thrown as a shield
+over his deficiencies and deformity. Let not those who have blindly and
+carelessly entered on parental duties, without endeavoring to ascertain
+the will of God and the requirements of his law, expect that the
+blessing of obedient and sanctified children will crown their days. Let
+not those who suffer their children to grow up around them like weeds,
+without religious culture or pruning, who demand no obedience, who
+command no reverence, who offer no earnest, ceaseless prayer, let them
+not suppose that the blessing of the God who spoke from Horeb will come
+upon their families. "He is in one mind and who can turn him." Not an
+iota has he abated from his law since that fearful day. Not less sinful
+in his eyes is disobedience to parents now, than when he commanded the
+rebellious son to be "stoned with stones until he died." Yet, how far
+below His standard are the ideas even of many Christian parents? "How
+different," says Wilberforce, "nay, in many respects, how contradictory,
+would be the two systems of mere morals, of which the one should be
+formed from the commonly-received maxims of the Christian world, and the
+other from the study of the Holy Scriptures;" and we are never more
+forcibly impressed with this difference than when we see it exemplified
+in this solemn subject.
+
+The parents who stood at Horeb learned that God required them to train
+their children to implicit and uncompromising obedience, and he who
+closely studies the Word of God can find no other or lighter
+requisition. How will the received opinions and customs of this age
+compare with the demand?
+
+We ask our young friends, who may perchance glance over these pages, to
+pause a moment and consider: If capital punishment should now be
+inflicted on every disobedient child, how many roods of earth would be
+planted with the instruments of death? If every city were doomed to
+destruction in which the majority of sons and daughters "set light by
+father and mother," how many would remain? To every child living comes a
+voice, "Know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
+judgment."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+BROTHERLY LOVE.
+
+BY REV. MANCIUS S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in
+     honor preferring one another.
+
+     (Concluded from page 108.)
+
+
+To aid you in making the effort to comply with the injunction we have
+been considering, I add the following considerations:
+
+1st. It is right, this you will all acknowledge, no matter how unkindly
+a brother or sister may treat you, you will acknowledge that it is never
+right for you, never pleasing to God, that you should treat them
+unkindly in return. Yes, you will all (except when you are angry)
+acknowledge that the injunction Be kindly affectioned one to another in
+brotherly love, is right, proper, beautiful; could there be a better
+reason for trying to obey the injunction?
+
+2d. You have already often disobeyed this injunction. You cannot
+remember many of the instances, but you can some where you acted
+unbrotherly or unsisterly. Alas, such are the pride and selfishness of
+our hearts that we begin very early to sin against our dearest friends.
+Little boy, did you not get angry the other day, when your little
+brother or sister took one of your playthings which you wanted
+yourself, and if you did not speak unkindly or snatch it away roughly,
+did you not go and complain to mother, and was that very kind and
+loving? Would it not have been kinder and more brotherly to try to make
+little brother and sister happy, and not to have troubled mother? Little
+children, I say this especially for you, I want you all to make it a
+rule to love everybody, and to try and make everybody around you happy.
+That is the way to be happy yourselves. But, my young friends, you, who
+are older, are in equal danger of sinning, and I am afraid that your
+consciences can also condemn you. Indeed I know not but the danger of
+violating this law is greater with those more advanced in life. There is
+a transition period when the childhood is about losing itself in the
+youth, which is often very trying to brotherly and sisterly affection.
+The sister is not quite a woman, the brother not quite a young man, and
+each is sometimes disposed to demand an attention which the other is not
+quite willing to yield on demand--each would yield, perhaps, if it were
+asked as a favor--but the spirit of an independent existence is
+beginning to rise, and that spirit spurns any claim. This spirit is
+generally the stronger in the brother than in the sister, and he
+therefore sins most frequently against the law of love, and he will
+treat his sister as he will allow no other young man to do, and will
+treat every other young lady with more politeness and courtesy than he
+does his own noble-hearted and loving sister. Oh, there is many a
+brother, who, if any young man were to say and do what he says and does
+to his sister, he would consider him to be no gentleman and a scoundrel.
+Now, I would ask, does the fact of your being a brother alter the nature
+of your conduct? You are her brother, and therefore may act
+ungentlemanly and like a scoundrel! Why, oh, shame, cowardly shame!
+because there is no one to resent your ill-treatment--there is no one to
+defend a sister from the unkindness of a brother, or to defend the
+brother, I may add, from the sister's unkindness; for though I speak to
+the brother, let each sister who reads this, ask her conscience whether
+her own sister's heart condemn her not.
+
+Time will not allow me to enter into any great detail, in illustrating
+the frequency of these violations of the law of family affection, nor
+indeed is it needed. I can give you a general rule, which your own minds
+will approve, and which will meet all cases. Let the sister treat no man
+with more courtesy and politeness than she treats her father and her
+brothers--treat no woman more kindly and politely than she does her
+mother and her sisters. Let her not confine all her graces and
+fascinations to strangers, and make her family to endure all her
+petulance and unamiability. So let the brother treat his mother and
+sisters. So let the father and mother treat each other and their
+children, and you will, my readers, obtain a noble reward in the
+increasing happiness and comfort of your family circles--in the
+manliness which will belong to the sons--in the mental and moral graces
+which will adorn the daughters. The family will thus become the school
+of virtue and the bulwark of society--the reciprocal influence of
+brothers and sisters thus trained will be of untold power on each
+other's character.
+
+One word further, and I close. I have been describing the legitimate
+influence of religion in a family. True religion will make just such
+fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. It is in this way that religion
+develops itself; that religion which is beautiful abroad and has no
+beauty at home, is of little worth. If, then, you would make your
+families what I have described, you must yourself come under the power
+of religion, must give your heart to God, and then you will find the
+duties of the family becoming comparatively easy. Unless you do so, you
+will find yourselves constantly failing in your most strenuous efforts,
+and will be far from reaching the point which I have sought to describe.
+Natural affection may indeed be much cultivated by this course, and
+drawn forth in its native simplicity or regulated by the forms of
+refined education, it will throw an inestimable beauty and charm around
+the fireside. But it will be, after all, but merely natural affection.
+It cannot rise so high nor exert such heavenly influence over the family
+circle as will the power of religion. It sanctifies and exalts natural
+affections. It not only restrains but actually softens the natural
+asperities of the temper, harmonizes discordant feelings and interests,
+and secures that happy co-operation which makes a Christian circle an
+emblem of heaven. In one word, religion will make you a happy family
+forever, happy here and happy in yonder world of bliss. Without religion
+also, allow me to add, the very beauty and enjoyment, arising from the
+exercise of these domestic virtues, will prove injurious to your eternal
+interests. They will serve to strew with comforts your path leading away
+from God to heaven. The powerful influence of a much loved brother is
+exerted to keep the sister in the path of worldliness; while, in return,
+the sister's boundless influence, for in such a family the sister's
+influence may be said to be boundless, will all be added to the snares
+of an ungodly world, to drive the brother onward in his neglect of God
+and his own soul. My young friends, seek not only to make those around
+you happy in this world, but happy forever. Give thine own heart to
+Jesus, and thou mayest save thy brother and thy sister, and thou shalt
+meet them on high. Refuse to do so, and thou mayest drag these loved
+ones down with thee to that cold dark region, where affection is unknown
+and nothing is heard but blasphemies and curses. Oh, thou kind and
+loving brother and sister, can ye endure the thought of spending an
+eternity in cursing each other as the instruments of each other's
+destruction? Christ alone can deliver you from such a woe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+HABIT.--"I trust everything, under God," said Lord Brougham,
+"to habit, upon which, in all ages, the lawgiver, as well as the
+schoolmaster, has mainly placed his reliance; habit, which makes
+everything easy, and casts all difficulties upon the deviation from a
+wonted course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperance will be hateful;
+make prudence a habit, and reckless profligacy will be as contrary to
+the nature of the child, grown or adult, as the most atrocious crimes
+are to any of your lordships."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+AN APPEAL TO BAPTIZED CHILDREN.
+
+BY REV. WM. BANNARD.
+
+
+It is presumed, young friends, that you have reached an age when you are
+capable of appreciating your obligations, but have hitherto neglected
+them. It is proposed, therefore, in what follows, briefly to call your
+attention to your position and responsibilities. If you have considered
+your privileges as the children of pious parents who have dedicated you
+to God in baptism, you are now prepared to examine your duties. You have
+then a name and a place in Christ's visible church; you sustain covenant
+relations to God, and these, fraught as they are with manifold benefits,
+cannot be without corresponding responsibilities.
+
+You are not the children of the world but the children of the covenant.
+Solemn vows have been assumed for you, and these vows are binding _upon
+your consciences_. They were taken with the hope and intention that you
+should assume them for yourselves when you arrived at years of
+discretion. You were given to God with the expectation that you would
+grow up to serve him. And this it is your duty to do. You are his
+property. You are his by sacred engagement, and you cannot violate this
+engagement; you cannot renounce His service, and devote yourselves to
+the service of Satan or of the world, without dishonoring your parents,
+doing injustice to God, and periling your own salvation. You may say
+this contract was formed without my consent, and when too young to
+understand its requirements. No matter; this does not release you from
+obligation to perform it. Ability and responsibility are not always
+co-extensive. We are bound perfectly to keep God's holy law, and yet no
+man of himself is able to do it. His inability, however, does not
+diminish it's binding force. God cannot abate one jot or tittle of the
+law's demands, for that would be a confession of its imperfection or of
+his variableness. Or, should he diminish his demands because our
+wickedness has made us incapable of keeping them, then the more wicked
+we become, the less binding would be his authority, and if we only grew
+depraved enough we might escape from all obligation to obedience. Such
+an idea, cannot, of course, be tolerated. The truth is, that under the
+government of God, as well as under human government, children are held
+responsible for the conduct of their parents. Parents have a right to
+act for them, and children must abide by their decisions, and endure the
+consequences of their acts. They cannot escape from it, for this is a
+natural as well as moral law which is continually operating. The
+character and destiny of the child are determined mainly by the parent.
+He may educate him to be refined, intelligent and useful, or to be
+vicious, debased and dangerous. This process is going on continually.
+The parent may make positive engagements in behalf of his children,
+which they are bound to perform, and which the law recognizes as valid.
+A father dying, for example, while his children are in infancy or in
+their minority, may require them to appropriate a portion of his estate
+for certain ends, as a condition on which they shall receive it. Another
+may require of his children a given service, on condition of receiving
+his blessing; and if the requirement be not morally wrong, who would not
+feel themselves bound to observe it? But there are examples, perhaps
+more in point, in Scripture, in which parents have entered into formal
+covenants that have had direct reference to their children. Adam
+covenanted for himself and posterity. They had no personal agency in it,
+in any sense, and yet all are held accountable for its transgression;
+all suffer a portion of its penalty, as they might, if he had kept it,
+been made possessors of its blessings. So Abraham covenanted with God
+for himself and his seed; and his descendants felt themselves bound to
+fulfill its requirements. They knew, in fact, that unless they did, its
+benefits could not be enjoyed. The same principle holds good in
+reference to the baptized. You are bound by the covenant engagements of
+your parents. You cannot be released from them on the ground that you
+had no agency in assuming them. They were assumed for you by those who
+had the right to do it--a right recognized by both God and man--and you
+cannot therefore throw them off; you cannot willfully disregard or live
+contrary to them, without guilt and dishonor. The apostle urges this
+principle when he testifies "to every man that is circumcised that he is
+a debtor to do the whole law." His consecration to God in this rite
+bound him to keep his whole law; and yet this obligation was imposed on
+him when an infant only eight days old; but after arriving at maturity,
+he could not shake it off. He was a debtor still, for he was placed in
+that position in accordance with the divine command and by those who had
+the authority over him. With equal propriety may we now testify unto you
+who are baptized, that you are debtors unto Christ. You are bound to
+keep the laws of his kingdom, bound to serve him to whose service you
+have been set apart. You are not your own; you are not, therefore, to
+live unto yourselves. The vows of God are upon _you_. You have been
+sealed with his seal. And since you have attained an age at which you
+can understand your position, you are bound to perform those vows; to
+seek to be sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption. There
+is no escape from this obligation; and when, therefore, you live utterly
+regardless of it, as many do, your conduct is doubly criminal. You may
+have flattered yourselves that you enjoyed superior advantages, and that
+you were more highly favored than others; and this is true. But you must
+take into the account your corresponding responsibilities. There is a
+broad distinction between your position, and that of mere worldlings,
+and there ought to be a like difference in your practice. You cannot
+give yourselves to the sins of youth, or the gayeties of life. You
+cannot set your hearts on fashion, dress, amusements, business or any
+mere worldly ends, with as much consistency, or with as little guilt, as
+your unbaptized associates. _You_ cannot harden yourselves against the
+truth, grieve the Holy Spirit, turn away in coldness or disdain from
+the claims of Christ, without exposing yourselves to an aggravated
+condemnation. Shall you who are pledged servants of Christ, who are
+bound to him by solemn covenant, be regardless of these vows, or be
+recreant to Him as his avowed enemies? Ah, this is approaching fearfully
+near the appalling sin of "treading under foot the Son of God, of
+counting the blood of his covenant an unholy thing, and doing despite
+unto the Spirit of grace." You cannot, surely, have considered your
+relations to Christ and to his church. You cannot have pondered the
+nature of your baptismal vows which were taken for you, but which are
+now binding upon your own souls. You cannot realize against what
+gracious promises, what high, privileges you sin, in living contrary to
+your obligations, and in remaining at heart, and by your conduct,
+"strangers to God and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel." Review
+your position, and remember you are placed where you cannot recede.
+Duties press upon you which you cannot disregard; vows are upon you
+which you cannot break with safety or with honor. It is not enough that
+you lead a moral life, or that you continue in your present position.
+You are required to advance. You have been pledged to God; and to
+fulfill this pledge you must be His in heart. You _must choose_ His
+service. You must take Christ's yoke upon you and dedicate yourselves to
+Him. Nothing short of this will fulfill your covenant vows or insure
+your enjoyment of its blessings. As to receding, that is utterly
+inadmissible. You have been put in this relation by those who loved you
+and had the right, nay, were commanded of God, to dispose of you in this
+manner. You cannot then evade it. You may say you never gave it your
+consent, and that it is hard to be thus bound to act contrary to your
+natural inclinations; but it is right, and you cannot help it. You are
+in this position, and you cannot break away but at the peril of your
+salvation; nay, without the certainty of perdition. But it is not hard,
+or cruel, to require you to love and obey God. You were created for
+this, and your nature will never attain to its perfection until you
+fulfill this its noblest destiny. A hard thing to do right! A grievous
+thing to be saved from the pollution of sin and the very gulf of
+perdition! A hard thing to be taken under divine protection; to be
+enriched with God's blessing; to be numbered among his people on earth
+and ultimately admitted to his kingdom in heaven! Impossible! You did
+not think it; you did not mean to urge this as an objection to your most
+obvious duty. You would not object to your parents' securing for you a
+costly estate while in your minority, and why then discard the heavenly
+inheritance they would provide for you? Fulfill your vows. Choose His
+service, and be blessed now and forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE PROMISE FULFILLED.
+
+     "Leave thy fatherless children with me, and I will preserve
+     them alive."
+
+     (Concluded from page 119.)
+
+
+The elder brother, DE WITT, from childhood, was of a thoughtful
+cast of mind, regular in his habits, careful in forming his
+associations, kind and dutiful as a son and brother. He ever proved a
+help and solace to his mother in the family circle, where he was the
+oldest child. In pursuing his course of studies he evinced industry of
+application, and sustained an excellent standing in his classes. His
+regular and interested attendance on the exercises of the
+Sabbath-school, as well as the services of the sanctuary; his conduct in
+the family circle, and the developments of the closing scenes of his
+life, all tend to form the conviction that divine truth had obtained a
+lodgment in his mind by the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. At
+the interesting period of nineteen years, full of hope and promise, the
+seeds of pulmonary disease sprang forth within him. In the fall of 1850,
+he began to cough, and since then, with variations as to its severity,
+it continued with him, and his friends marked that it became deeply
+seated, and apprehended its probable termination. He, however, retained
+his active habits and course of study till last fall. His earnest
+attention to sermons, his occasional remarks on their evangelical and
+practical character as profitable, and his prayerful reading of the
+Bible, showed the influence divine truth was exerting upon him. The
+sickness and rapid decline of his brother Joseph was to him most
+affecting, as they had grown up from childhood together in uninterrupted
+intercourse and love. In his feeble state of health, he saw his beloved
+brother hastening to death and the grave, while their dear mother was
+yearning over both in view of their spiritual welfare. While everything
+indicated a deep interest in the matter of the soul's salvation, doubts
+and difficulties prevented him from finding joy and peace in believing.
+About ten days before his death, and just before the death of Joseph, he
+received the remarkable letter from his Uncle Scudder which wrought
+powerfully on his mind, and followed by Joseph's death, was doubtless
+instrumental, under the divine blessing, in leading him to the decision
+of giving himself to the Savior by the profession of his faith. The
+Sabbath, January 11, on the morning of which Joseph died, was indeed a
+memorable and impressive one in many of its associations. De Witt had
+just made profession of his faith, and was admitted into the communion
+of the Presbyterian Church in Canal street, of which the Rev. Mr.
+Carpenter is pastor, and was carried into the church to unite with God's
+people in celebrating the Lord's supper, and it was just at the
+expiration of the two months of special prayer by his uncle in India.
+When his mother, this morning, announced to him the death of his
+brother, he just exclaimed, with much emotion, "Is Joseph dead? Then I
+have no brother." He left the room for a moment and returned, saying,
+"Mother, we have no cause to mourn. Joseph is only gone to the new
+Jerusalem, where dear father was waiting to receive him," and then
+calmly prepared himself for the sacramental service in the church before
+him. The writer of this had an interview with him the following morning
+(Monday). Everything conspired to render the scene impressive. As I saw
+the remains of Joseph, I observed in the appearance of De Witt the
+indications of approaching death, and heard the account of his
+attendance at the Lord's table on the preceding day. After conversation,
+he asked me to pray that it would please God to spare his life that he
+might be a support and comfort to his mother, and be permitted to labor
+for Christ. I replied that such desires were in themselves worthy, but
+that I strongly felt it would be with him as with David in whose heart
+was the desire to build the house of God. God accepted the desire, but
+denied him the work, and assigned it to another. I told him that I must
+affectionately tell him that every indication denoted that the Savior
+was preparing him shortly to enter upon his service in heaven, and that
+he would soon join his brother, whose mortal remains were then waiting
+for the tomb. He received this without agitation, and calmly replied
+that he then wished me to pray that it would please God to impart and
+preserve to him the light of his countenance, and his divine peace, and
+enable him to glorify Him during the little portion of time which might
+still be allotted to him on earth. His mother states she does not
+remember after this to have heard him say much about living, and that
+only as connected with the service of his Savior. His mind, which had
+been opening to the light and peace of the Gospel, became more and more
+established in the faith of Christ, and enriched with the comforts of
+the Spirit. While his body was fast wasting, his soul as rapidly grew
+strong. There has rarely been a more striking growth in grace, calm and
+substantial, free from all vain excitements and feverish heats. Many
+interesting incidents connected with the spirit he displayed, and the
+words he uttered during the week following my interview with him just
+alluded to, are treasured up in the heart's memory. But there is no room
+for details until we reach the closing scene, from Friday to Monday,
+January 19. I shall copy from some memoranda furnished by the mother.
+She had before urged that he should pray in view of continued life only
+for strength to speak of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
+living, and thus live a long life in the little time spared to him. This
+seemed to be verified. Mrs. Hunt writes: "On Friday morning he arose as
+usual, and reclined on the sofa. He was weak, and his throat sore, so
+that he could only swallow liquids. When the physician visiting him
+left, I told him that he thought him very low, but I requested him to
+remember what his beloved minister had told him, to look away from death
+to Jesus and Heaven; he exclaimed, 'O death, where is thy sting? O
+grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength
+of sin is the law; but thanks to God, who giveth me the victory, through
+my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.' He expressed the delightful thought
+that he would be where 'the Lamb would feed him, lead him to living
+waters, and wipe away all tears from his eyes.' Sometimes he would say,
+'Precious Savior. Mother, what would I do without such a Savior?
+Precious hope, what would I do without such a hope?' And then he would
+speak of the mansions in Heaven. The 27th and 40th Psalms, which his
+dear father had selected for us a short time before his death, that we
+might read them for our comfort after he was gone, were given. When the
+27th was commenced he took it up and repeated the whole. On Saturday he
+had severe pain in the lungs, and thought his end near. Several of his
+friends called, and he noticed them all distinctly. He addressed two of
+his fellow-students in the University in an affectionate appeal to what
+he supposed their spiritual condition. In a conversation with Rev. Mr.
+C., he said that if God had been pleased to spare his life, he should
+have felt himself consecrated to the ministry and missionary service;
+and expressed the calm assurance of his faith. Prayer was offered that
+he might spend one more precious Sabbath on earth. The night passed, and
+the Sabbath came. My child exclaimed, soon after waking, '_Precious
+Sabbath_,' and his eyes beamed with hallowed feeling. I said, 'Dear son,
+can you truly say this morning that you feel the peace of God which
+passeth understanding?' He raised his eyes and replied, most
+impressively, '_Oh, yes_.' He said with delight, 'Mother, O think that
+Joseph is now by the river of the water of life.' He said also to me,
+'Mother, you will not weep for me?' I replied, 'If I do joy will mingle
+with my tears.' He continued, 'I shall be nearer to you in Heaven than
+in India' (alluding to his purpose, if his life should be spared, to be
+a missionary in India). I asked him what message I should send to his
+Uncle Scudder. He said, 'Tell him I think my heart was in the right
+place when his letter reached me, or I know not what I should have
+done.' Two friends came in. De Witt said, 'I thought I should have spent
+part of this day around the throne in heaven.' And one (a pious young
+college companion) said to the other, 'If this be dying, I envy him.'
+After service in the afternoon, Rev. Mr. Carpenter came in with two of
+his elders, and three other Christian friends were present. Singing was
+proposed; De Witt was delighted with the thought of it, and selected the
+hymns. '_Come, thou fount of every blessing_,' was sung first. My child
+could not join with his voice, but stretched out his arm, and with his
+arm, having the forefinger extended, beat the time. It was a touching,
+solemn scene; the singing filled the room, and seemed to go up to
+Heaven. After we had ended the second hymn, '_Rise, my soul, and stretch
+thy wings_,' he exclaimed, 'I thought I was almost in heaven.' On
+Sabbath night, about ten o'clock, he inquired of a friend, 'whether she
+did not think he would soon die?' I went to him and asked him if he felt
+any change that induced him to ask the question. He replied, 'Everything
+seems to fail.' I then talked to him about the Savior being with him
+when he passed through the dark valley, and added, 'Dear son, I will
+give you up to the Lord.' Directly he said, 'I am now ready any moment
+to say, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' He afterward repeated 'Lord
+Jesus, receive my spirit. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom
+shall I be afraid? It is better to die than live.' A little before six
+o'clock he looked intensely upon me. I asked what he wished to give
+me?--his farewell kiss, which he repeated several times. He then again
+gave me an intense look. I said, 'My son, God will take care.' He
+replied, 'I know he will.' He shook hands with two of his youthful
+companions, and sent a message to the brother of one of them, expressive
+of his solicitude for his spiritual welfare. I said to him, 'I have
+taken care of you these nineteen years, for the Lord.' He said, 'Yes,
+these nineteen years,' but did not proceed. He asked one of his friends
+to pray, which he did. After this he ceased to speak, and sank,
+continuing to breathe hard, without a struggle, until the precious
+spirit took its everlasting flight a little before eight o'clock,
+January 19."
+
+I have thus given, from the notes furnished by the bereaved and
+mourning, but grateful and comforted mother, a sketch of the closing
+hours and dying scene of this youth, which, in connection with the
+similar scene in the younger brother, beautifully and strongly
+illustrates the precious trust committed to mothers, the importance and
+value of maternal influence, and the encouragement to its faithful and
+wisely-directed exercise.
+
+T. D. W.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE WASTED GIFT; OR, "JUST A MINUTE."
+
+     "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy
+     might."--ECCLESIASTES 9:10.
+
+     (Continued from page 128.)
+
+
+That evening a little schoolmate came to visit her; they played several
+amusing games, and Emily staid up much past her usual hour. The next
+morning when her mother called her, she felt very sleepy, and unwilling
+to rise, so instead of jumping up at once, she turned her head on the
+pillow thinking "I will get up in a minute." But in less than that
+minute she was fast asleep again, and did not awake until aroused by
+Mary the nurse, whose voice sounded close in her ear, exclaiming,
+
+"Why, Miss Emily, are you in bed yet! Here have I been looking all
+through the house and garden for you. Jump up quick, breakfast is just
+over."
+
+You may be sure Emily did not wait a second bidding, but hurrying on her
+clothes, hastened down stairs without even thinking about saying her
+prayers, which no little child should ever forget to do, because it is
+the kind and merciful God who keeps us safely through the night, and our
+first thoughts when we awaken should be gratitude to him for protecting
+us, and we should pray to Him to keep us all day out of sin and danger,
+and teach us how to improve the time which He has intrusted to our care.
+
+Emily thought of none of these things, but ran down to the
+breakfast-room, feeling rather ashamed of being so late. Her papa had
+finished his breakfast, and gone out, and when her mother looked up to
+the clock as she entered, she saw that it wanted twenty minutes to nine.
+
+"How very late it is!" thought the little girl, as she hurried off to
+school, "mamma always calls me at seven. I did not think I had slept so
+long."
+
+Despite all Emily's haste she was too late; school had commenced when
+she entered, and worse than all, she did not know her lessons, and was
+kept in an hour after the rest were dismissed. She could not study the
+evening before, and had depended upon an hour's study before breakfast,
+but her unlucky morning nap left her no time to think about lessons
+before school, and her consequent disgrace was the punishment. The
+little girl returned home that day very unhappy.
+
+Emily had not forgotten the conversation about the wasted gift, and had
+determined to give no opportunity for her mother to complain. She
+thought she was very careful that week, but never imagined how much of
+the precious gift she wasted each day in idleness.
+
+The day after her unfortunate disgrace in school, she brought down
+several articles of dress that needed repairing, and seated herself at
+the window to work. Her mother had promised to take her out with her,
+and Emily had to finish her mending first. She plied the needle very
+steadily for a while, but presently her attention was attracted by the
+opposite neighbors.
+
+"Look, mamma," she exclaimed, "there is Mrs. Dodson and Lucy; they are
+just going out, and Lucy has on a new hat."
+
+"Well, my dear," returned her mother quietly, "it is not unusual for
+people to get new bonnets at this season."
+
+Emily felt a little abashed at this reply, but could not refrain from
+casting furtive glances across the way. The afternoon was fine, and the
+street filled with well-dressed people. The little girl watched the
+passers-by, holding her needle listlessly in her fingers, and presently
+cried out,
+
+"Did you see that lady, mamma? How oddly she was dressed."
+
+"No," answered Mrs. Manvers, "I am attending to my work now, but I hope
+soon to join the promenaders myself."
+
+Emily stole a glance at her mother to see whether her countenance
+implied reproof, but Mrs. Manvers's eyes were fixed upon her work and
+the little girl again endeavored to fix her attention upon her sewing.
+At length Mrs. Manvers rose and put aside her work-basket. "I am going
+to dress, Emily," she said.
+
+"Very well, mother, I will be ready in a minute," replied her daughter,
+and she followed her mother up stairs.
+
+Emily tossed over her bureau in vain to find a clean pair of pantalets,
+and then she remembered of having taken several pairs down stairs to
+mend. She ran hastily down and selected the best pair. Some of the
+button-holes were torn out, but she could not wait to mend them now, so
+hastily pinning on the pantalets, she dressed and joined her mother.
+
+As they pursued their walk, Emily felt something about her feet, and
+looking down discovered her pantalets; she hastily stooped to pull them
+off and the pin scratched her foot severely. Mrs. Manvers saw all this,
+but said nothing; she knew that her daughter had wasted time enough to
+have mended all her pantalets, and she added another hour to the already
+long account of wasted minutes in her memorandum.
+
+The following day was Friday, and it was part of Emily's duties on this
+day to arrange her bureau-drawers and put her closet in order. She went
+up stairs after dinner with this intention, but there were so many
+little gifts and keep-sakes in her drawers, to be successively admired
+and thought over, so many sashes to unfold, and odd gloves to be paired,
+that the whole afternoon was consumed, and the tea-bell rang before she
+had quite finished the second drawer, and consequently the duty of that
+day remained to be finished on the next.
+
+"Well, my little girl," said her father the next morning, "I hope you
+will have my handkerchief nicely hemmed by this afternoon; you have had
+it several days now, and I suppose it is nearly finished. I shall want
+it, as I am going away after dinner."
+
+"You shall have it, papa," replied Emily. She did not like to tell him
+the handkerchief was not yet commenced, as she felt quite sure she could
+finish it in time, and determined to begin immediately after breakfast.
+
+When she went up stairs to get the handkerchief out of her drawer she
+saw her bureau was yet in disorder. "Mamma will be displeased to see
+this," she thought, "and I shall have time enough to put it in order and
+hem papa's handkerchief beside." She went eagerly to work, but the
+bureau took her longer than she anticipated, and when her father came
+home to dinner she had not finished his handkerchief.
+
+Now she made her needle fly, but her industry came too late; her father
+could not wait, and Emily had the mortification of hearing him say:
+
+"I hope my handkerchief will not be like my gloves, that you kept so
+long to mend, and mamma had to finish after all."
+
+She cried bitterly after he was gone, but managed through her tears to
+finish the handkerchief at last, and carried it to her mother, asking
+her to beg her papa's forgiveness.
+
+After tea was over, Mrs. Manvers called Emily to her, and folding her
+arm fondly around the little girl's waist, pointed to a small book lying
+open upon the table, saying as she did so:
+
+"Do you remember, my love, our conversation last Saturday night upon the
+subject of your gifts?"
+
+"Oh, yes, mamma, and you told me you would keep an account of my
+ill-usage of one of them."
+
+"I have done so, my dear, and now tell me can you not imagine what this
+gift is which you so much abuse?"
+
+"Indeed, I cannot, mamma," replied the little girl with a sigh. Mrs.
+Manvers placed the memorandum book in her daughter's hand without saying
+a word.
+
+There, written at the head of the page, were these words:
+
+  "_Emily's Waste of Time._"
+
+and beneath was quite a long column of figures, and a list of duties
+unfulfilled.
+
+"Oh, mamma," cried Emily, throwing herself upon her mother's breast, "it
+is time, precious time, that is the gift I waste; but surely I have not
+spent so many idle minutes in just one week."
+
+"I am sorry to say that you have, my dear daughter, all these and even
+more. I have promised to keep an account, and I have done so; add them
+up and see how many there are."
+
+Emily added up the figures with tearful eyes, and said, "there are four
+hundred and twenty, mamma."
+
+"And how many hours does that make, Emily?"
+
+The little girl thought a moment, and then answered,
+
+"Seven hours."
+
+"Very well; then you see you waste seven hours in a week, which would
+make three hundred and sixty-four in a year, and if you should live the
+allotted period of life, which would be sixty years from the present
+time, you will willfully waste twenty one thousand eight hundred and
+forty hours of the precious time God has given you in which to work out
+His will."
+
+"Oh, dear mamma, it does not seem possible; I am sure I don't know how
+the time slips away," said Emily, sadly.
+
+"I will tell you, my love," replied Mrs. Manvers. "It slips away in just
+a minute; as uncounted drops of water form the sea, so do millions of
+minutes make up the sum of life; but so small are they that they pass
+without our heeding them, yet once gone they come back to us no more.
+Time is the one talent, the precious gift which God has bestowed upon
+all his creatures, and which we are bound to improve. Every hour brings
+its duty, and do you think it is right, Emily, to leave that duty
+unfulfilled?"
+
+Emily hung her head, while tears slowly coursed down her cheek.
+
+"Do you not see, my dear, that by idling away the precious moments you
+crowd the duty of one hour into the next, so your task can never be
+finished, or at best very imperfectly? If you reflect, the experience of
+the past week will tell you this. I have kept this memorandum on purpose
+to convince you of your sinful waste of that most precious of all
+gifts,--the time which our Master allows us here to work out our
+happiness hereafter. Remember, my love, that you are accountable to Him
+for your use of His gifts, and a proper improvement of time will not
+only save you many mortifications and produce much pleasure and comfort
+to yourself and all about you, but it is a duty you owe to the God who
+bestowed it. Do not think me unnecessarily earnest, my dear little girl;
+the subject is of fearful importance, and this habit of putting off till
+to-morrow what should be done to-day, is your greatest fault. Remember
+hereafter that 'Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it now with all
+thy might,' and then I shall have no more occasion to remind you of the
+wasted gift."
+
+Emily never forgot the lesson of that week, but gradually overcame the
+evil habits of idleness and procrastination which were becoming fixed
+before she was made fully aware of their danger, and a long life of
+usefulness attested the good impression left upon her mind by her
+mother's memorandum of "The Wasted Gift."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAULT FINDING--THE ANTIDOTE.
+
+
+"Will you excuse me, mother," said a bright looking boy of twelve or
+thirteen to his mother, as soon as he had finished his meat and potato.
+"Yes, if you wish." "And may I be excused too, mother?" cried his little
+brother of some six or seven years. "Yes, dear, if there is any occasion
+for such haste, but why do you not wish for your pudding or fruit?" "Oh,
+Charley is going to show me something," replied the happy little boy, as
+he eagerly hastened from his seat, and followed his brother to the
+window, where they were both speedily intent upon a new bow and arrow,
+which had just been presented to Charley by a poor wandering Indian, to
+whom he had been in the habit of giving such little matters as his means
+would allow. Sometimes a little tobacco for his pipe, a pair of his
+father's cast-off boots or a half-worn pair of stockings, and sometimes
+he would beg of his mother a fourpence, which instead of purchasing
+candy for himself was slid into the hand of his aboriginal friend, and
+whenever he came, a good warm dinner was set before him, under Charley's
+special direction. He loved the poor Indian, and often told his mother
+he would always help an Indian while he had the power, for "Oh, how
+sorry I am that they are driven away from all these pleasant lands," he
+often used to say, "and are melting away, like the snows in April.
+Mother, I should think they would hate the sight of a white man." But
+the poor Indian is grateful for kindness from a white man, and this day
+as Charley came from school, poor Squantum was sitting at the corner of
+the house waiting for him, with a fine long smooth bow, and several
+arrows. "I give you this," he said, "for you always good to Squantum;"
+and without waiting for Charley's thanks, or accepting his earnest
+invitation to come in and get some dinner, he strode away. Charley was
+wild with delight. He flew to the house with his treasure, but the
+dinner-bell rang at that moment. He could not find in his heart to put
+it out of his hand, so he took it with him, and seated himself at the
+table, and as soon as his hunger was appeased, he nodded to his brother
+and hurried to show him his precious gift. The family were quietly
+conversing and finishing their dinner, when crash! and smash! went
+something! Poor Charley! In the eagerness of his delight, while showing
+the beautiful bow to his brother, he had brought the end of it within
+the handle of a large water-pitcher, which stood on the side table near
+him, and alas, the twirl was too sudden--the poor pitcher came to the
+floor with a mighty emphasis. "Boy! what are you about? What have you
+done? What do you mean by such carelessness? Will you break everything
+in the house, you heedless fellow? I'd rather you had broken all on the
+table than that pitcher, you young scapegrace. Take that, and learn to
+mind what you are about, or I'll take measures to make you." And with a
+thorough shaking, and a sound box on the ear, the father quitted the
+room, took his hat, and marched to his office, there to explain the law,
+and obtain _justice_ for all offenders. But alas for Charley! How great
+was the change of feeling in his boyish heart. His mother looked for a
+moment with an expression of fear and sorrow upon her countenance, and
+telling a servant to wipe up the water he had spilled--she took his hand
+gently to lead him away. For a moment he repulsed her, and stood as if
+transfixed with astonishment and rage. But he could not withstand her
+pleading look, and she led him to her own room. As soon as the door
+closed upon them, his passion burst forth in words. "Father treats me
+like a dog. I never will bear it--never, never, another day. Mother, you
+know I did not not mean to do a wrong thing, and what right has my
+father to shake and cuff me as if I were a vile slave? Mother, I'll
+break the house down itself if he treats me so--to box my ears right
+before all the family! And last night he sent me out of the room, so
+stern, just because I slammed the door a little. I was glad he had to go
+to the office, and I wish he would stay there--"
+
+"Hush, hush, my son, what are you saying? Stop, for a moment, and think
+what you are saying of your own kind father! Charles, my son, you are
+adding sin to sin. Sit down, my dear child, and crush that wicked spirit
+in the bud." And she gently seated him in a chair, and laying her cool
+hand upon his burning brow, she smoothed his hair, and pressing her lips
+to his forehead, he felt her tears. "Mother, mother, you blessed good
+mother." His heart melted within him, and he wept as if it would burst.
+For a few moments, both wept without restraint, but feeling that the
+opportunity for making a lasting impression must not be lost, Mrs.
+Arnold struggled to command herself. "Charles, my son, you have
+displeased your father exceedingly, and you cannot wonder that he was
+greatly disturbed. That pitcher, you often heard him say, was used for
+many years in his father's family. It is an old relic which he valued
+highly. It was very strong, and has been used by us so long, that it
+seemed like a familiar friend. It is not strange that for a moment he
+was exceedingly angry to see it so carelessly broken, and oh, my son,
+what wicked feelings have been in your heart, what undutiful words upon
+your tongue!"
+
+"I cannot help it, mother--I cannot help it," replied the excited boy,
+"he ought not to treat me so, and I will not--" "Charles, Charles, you
+are wrong, you are very wrong, and I pray you may be sorry for it,"
+interrupted his mother, in a tone of the deepest sorrow. "Do not speak
+again till you can conquer such a spirit," and they were both silent for
+a few moments. The mother's heart went up in fervent prayer that this
+might be a salutary trial, and that she might be enabled to guide his
+young and hasty spirit aright.
+
+At length he spoke slowly, and his voice trembled with the strong
+feelings which had shaken him. "Mother, you are the dearest and best
+mother that ever lived. I wish I could be a good boy, for your sake; but
+when father speaks so harsh, I am angry all the time, and I cannot help
+being cross and ugly too. I know I am more and more so; I feel it, and
+the boys tell me so sometimes. John Gray said, yesterday, I was not half
+as pleasant in school as I used to be. I feel unhappy, and I am sure if
+I grow wicked, I grow wretched too." And again he burst into a passion
+of tears.
+
+"Does not sin always bring misery, my dear boy?" asked his mother, after
+a little pause, "and will you not daily meet with circumstances to make
+you angry and unhappy, if you give way to your first impulse of
+impatience,--and is it not our first duty to resist every temptation to
+feel or act wrong? God has not promised us happiness here, but He _has_
+promised that if we resist evil it will flee from us. He has promised
+that if we strive to conquer our wicked feelings and do right when we
+are tempted to do wrong He will aid us, and give us sweet peace in so
+doing. To-day you have given way to anger, and you are wretched. You are
+blaming your father and think he is the cause of your trouble; but think
+a moment. If you had borne the punishment he gave you meekly and
+patiently, would not a feeling of peace be in your bosom, to which you
+are now a stranger? You know that when we suffer patiently for doing
+well, God is well pleased; and would not the consciousness that you had
+struggled against and overcome a wicked feeling, and that God looked
+upon you with approbation, make you more really happy than anything else
+can? My dear, dear boy, your happiness does not consist in what others
+say or do to you, but in the feelings you cherish in your own heart.
+There you must look for happiness, and there, if you do right, you will
+find it."
+
+"I know you always say right, mother, and I will try, I will try, if I
+can, to bear patiently; but oh, if father only was like you"--and again
+tears stopped his utterance.
+
+"My dear child," said his mother, "your father has many troubles. It is
+a great care to provide for his family, and you know he suffers us to
+want for nothing. He often has most perplexing cases, and his poor
+brains are almost distracted. You are a happy boy, with no care but to
+get your lessons, and obey your parents, and try to help them. You know
+nothing yet of the anxieties which will crowd upon you when you are a
+man. Try now to learn to bear manfully and patiently all
+vexations--looking for help to that blessed One, who, when he was
+reviled, reviled not again. How much happier and better man you will
+be, how you will comfort your mother, and still more, you will please
+that blessed Savior, who has left such an example of meekness--suffering
+for sinners, and even dying for his cruel enemies. Oh, my son, my son,
+ask that blessed Savior to make you like himself, and you will be happy,
+and His own Spirit will make you holy. Let us ask Him to do it," and she
+knelt by her bedside, and her son placed himself beside her. It was no
+new thing for him to pray with this devoted mother. Often had she been
+with him to the throne of grace, when his youthful troubles or faults
+had made him feel the need of an Almighty helper and friend, but never
+had he come before with such an earnest desire to obtain the gift of
+that blessed Spirit, to subdue and change his heart and make him like
+his Savior. When they rose from prayer he sought his own room. He felt
+unable to go to school, and his mother hoped the impression would be
+more lasting, if he thought it over in the solitude of his own chamber,
+and she had much reason afterward to hope that this solemn afternoon was
+the beginning of good days to the soul of her child. As she looked
+anxiously at the expression of his countenance when the family assembled
+at the tea-table, she was pleased to notice, though an air of sadness
+hung around him, he was subdued, gentle, and affectionate, and she hoped
+much from this severe contest with his besetting sin. His father said
+little, and soon hurried away to a business engagement for the evening.
+Mr. Arnold was a lawyer, a gentleman and a professing Christian, and
+though never very strongly beloved, yet few of his neighbors could tell
+why, or say aught against his respectability and general excellence of
+character. He was immersed in the cares of an extensive business, and
+spent little time at home, and when there he seemed to have no room in
+his busy heart for the prattle of his children, no time to delight and
+improve them, with the stores of knowledge he might have brought forth
+from his treasury. If company were present, he was polite and agreeable.
+If only his wife and children, he said little, and that little was
+chiefly confined to matters of domestic interest--what they should have
+for dinner--what schools the children should attend--or the casual
+mention of the most common news of the day. He provided liberally for
+his family, what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should
+be clothed and instructed--but he took no pains to gain their affections
+or their confidence, to enlarge their ideas and awaken within them the
+thirst for knowledge, and plant within them the deathless principles of
+right and wrong--or even to inspire their young minds with love and
+reverence for their Divine Creator and Preserver. All this most
+important duty of a father was left to his wife, and blessed is the man
+who has _such_ a wife and mother, to whom to intrust the precious charge
+he neglects. Most amiable and affectionate, intelligent and judicious,
+and of ardent and cheerful piety, this excellent woman devoted herself
+with untiring zeal to the training of her cherished flock, and as she
+saw and felt with poignant grief that she would have no help in this
+greatest and first earthly duty, from him who had solemnly promised to
+sustain and comfort, and assist, and cherish her, to bear and share with
+her the trials and cares of life (and what care is greater than the
+right training of our offspring), she again and again strove with
+earnest faith and humble prayer, to cast all her care upon Him, who she
+was assured cared for her, and go forward in every duty with the
+determination to fulfill it to the utmost of her power. Many times did
+the cold and stern manner of her husband, his anger at trifles, and his
+thoughtless punishment for accidental offenses, cause her heart to bleed
+for the effects of such government, or want of government, upon her
+children's hearts and minds. But she uttered no word of blame in their
+presence, she ever showed them that any want of love or respect for
+their father grieved her, and was, moreover, a heinous sin, and by
+patient continuance in well doing, she yet hoped to reap the full
+reward. Her eldest, Charles, felt most keenly his father's utter want of
+sympathy, and to him she gave her most constant tender care.
+Affectionate, but hasty, he was illy constituted to bear the harsh
+command, or the frequent fault finding of his father, and often she
+trembled lest he should throw off all parental control, and goaded by
+his irritated feelings, rush into sin without restraint. And so,
+probably, he would have done but for the unbounded love and reverence
+with which he regarded his "blessed mother." Her gentle influence he
+could not withstand, and it grew more and more powerful with him for
+good, till the glance of her loving eye would check his wayward spirit,
+and calm him often, when passion struggled for the mastery. Often did
+she venture to hope he had indeed given himself to his Savior, and her
+conversations with him from time to time, showed so much desire to
+conquer every evil passion, and to shun every false way with so much
+affectionate reverence for his God and Redeemer, that the mother's heart
+was sweetly comforted in her first-born.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE TREASURY OF THOUGHTS.
+
+
+The days of primer, and catechism, and tasks for the memory are gone.
+The schoolmaster is no longer to us as he was to our mothers, associated
+with all that is puzzling and disagreeable in hard unmeaning rules, with
+all that is dull and uninteresting in grave thoughts beyond the reach of
+the young idea. He is to us now rather the interpreter of mysteries, the
+pleasant companion who shows us the way to science, and beguiles its
+tediousness. If there is now no "royal road," certainly its opening
+defiles are made easier for the ascent of the little feet of the
+youthful scholar. The memory is not the chief faculty which receives a
+discipline in the present system of things. The "how," the "why," are
+the subjects of interest and attention. This is well; but it may be that
+in our anxiety to reach the height of the hill, and to keep up with the
+progress of the age, we are neglecting too much the training of the
+memory, which should be to us a treasury of beautiful thoughts, to cheer
+us in the prose of every-day life, to refine and elevate taste and
+feeling. We do not think it was a waste of time to learn, as our
+mothers did, long extracts from Milton, the sweet lyrics of Watts, the
+Psalms of David. Have we not often been soothed by their recitation of
+them in the time of sickness, at the hour of twilight, when even the
+mind of the child seems to reach out after the spiritual, and to need
+the aliment of high and holy thought? The low, sweet voice, the harmony
+of the verse, were conveyancers of ideas which entered the soul to
+become a part of it forever.
+
+If we would be rich in thought, we must gather up the treasures of the
+past, and make them our own. It is not enough, certainly, for ordinary
+minds, simply to read the English classics; they must be studied,
+learned, to get from them their worth. And the mother who would
+cultivate the taste, the imagination of the child, must give him, with
+the exercise of his own inventive powers, the rich food of the past.
+
+It need not be feared that there will not be originality in the mind of
+one thus stored with the wealth which others have left. Where there is a
+native vigor, and invention, it will remould truth into new forms, and
+add a value of its own, having received an inspiration from the great
+masters of thought.
+
+If, then, you would bless your child, persuade him to make Milton and
+Cowper, and other authors of immortal verse, his familiar friends. They
+shall be companions in solitude, ministers of joy in hours of sadness.
+And let the "songs of Zion" mould the young affections, and be
+associated with a mother's love, and the dear delights of home. Perhaps
+in a strange land, and in a dying hour, when far from counselor and
+friend, they may lead even the prodigal to think upon his ways, and be
+his guide to Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+NOTICES OF BOOKS.
+
+
+"THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD."--This is a charming book, written by
+one of our own countrywomen, which we think may be safely and
+appropriately given to a pure-minded and simple-hearted daughter. If it
+is fictitious, it is only so as the ideal landscape of an artist, which,
+though unreal, compels us to exclaim, How true to nature! If the
+delineation of true religious character is not its main object, that of
+piety and benevolence is as truly a part of it, as is its fragrance a
+part of the rose. We should love to give it to some of our friends whose
+Christianity may be vital, but which does not make them lovely--who may
+show some of its fruits, but who hardly cultivate what may be called the
+leaves and flowers of a holy character. If the sternness and want of
+sympathy of Aunt Fortune does not rebuke them, perhaps the loveliness
+and patience of Ellen, and her friends, may win them to an imitation.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"LIFE IN THE WEST; OR, THE MORETON FAMILY."--This tasteful
+little work, coming out under the sanction of the American Sunday-School
+Union, hardly needs from us an item of praise; but we cannot consent to
+pass it by unnoticed. A more faithful and interesting picture of the
+trials of a Christian family in removing westward, and of their
+surmounting such trials, we have never seen. Religion, the religion of
+home, they take with them; and by the wayside, and in the log cottage,
+they worship their father's God. We needed such a delineation, in the
+form of an attractive narrative, to show us that in passing through the
+trials of a strange country, we are yet to be _on the Lord's side_. But
+beside this, there is in the work the loveliness of a well-ordered home;
+the picture of a faithful, thoughtful _mother_, and of children and
+husband appreciating such a mother. To give one little extract--"The
+_mother's room_! What family knows not that sociable spot--that _heart_
+of the house? To it go the weary, the sick, the sad and the happy, all
+sure of sympathy and of aid; all secure in their expectation of meeting
+there the cheering word, the comforting smile, and the loving friend."
+In thorough ignorance of what a _new home_ should mean, little Willie
+inquires, "_Home_ is not a _house_, is it?" Most sensible question _for
+a child_. To such as desire an answer to the inquiry, we recommend the
+work, as one which will be of value to them and their children.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PARENTAL SOLICITUDE.
+
+
+In my intercourse with Christian parents, and it has not been limited, I
+have often found a deep anxiety pervading their hearts in relation to
+the spiritual state of their children. And why should not such anxiety
+exist? If a parent has evidence that his child is in an impenitent
+state--especially if that child is growing up in habits of vicious
+indulgence--he ought to feel, and deeply feel. That child is in danger,
+and the danger is the greater by how much the more his heart has become
+callous, under the hardening influence of a wicked life; and every day
+that danger increases. God's patience may be exhausted. The brittle
+thread of life may be sundered at any moment, and the impenitent and
+unprepared soul be summoned to the bar of God. With great propriety,
+therefore, may the parent feel anxious in regard to his unconverted
+children.
+
+But to some parents it seems mysterious that such deep, constant,
+corroding anxiety should be their allotment. They sometimes attempt to
+cast it off. They would feel justified in doing so, were they able. But
+that is impossible. Now, to such parents allow me to address a few
+thoughts which, may the Divine Spirit, by his gracious influence, bless
+to their comfort and direction.
+
+And the first thing I have to say is, that the solicitude they feel for
+their children may be excessive. That it should be deep must be
+admitted, and it should continue as long as the danger lasts. It should
+even increase as that danger increases up to a given point; but there is
+a point beyond which even parental solicitude should never be suffered
+to proceed. It should not become excessive. It should never be suffered
+to weaken our confidence in the divine goodness, nor in the wisdom of
+the divine dispensations. It should never prompt the parent to desire
+that God should alter the established order of his providence, or change
+or modify the principles of his moral government. It would not be right
+for me to wish my children saved at all adventures. That anxiety which
+prompts to such a desire is both excessive and selfish. It can never be
+justified, nor can God ever favorably regard it.
+
+My second remark is, that a deep solicitude of the parent for the
+spiritual good of his children is most desirable. I am aware that it is
+more or less painful, and in itself is neither pleasant nor desirable.
+But may it not, notwithstanding, be beneficial in its results, and even
+of incalculable importance? Where no danger is apprehended, no care will
+be exercised. Who knows not that the unsolicitous mariner is far more
+likely to suffer shipwreck than he who, apprehensive of rocks and reefs,
+exercises a wise precaution? The parent who never suffers himself to be
+disturbed--whose sleep is never interrupted while his children are
+abroad, exposed to temptation--may for that very reason neglect them at
+the critical juncture, and the head-waters may become too impulsive; the
+tendencies to vice and crime too powerful to be resisted. Oh! had the
+parent been a little more anxious--had he looked after his children with
+a higher sense of his obligations, how immeasurably different, probably,
+had been the result! The truth is, that where one parent feels too much
+in relation to his children, hundreds of parents are criminally
+indifferent. In regard to such parents, it is our duty to awaken their
+anxieties by every means in our power. But what shall we say to those
+who may be thought already over-solicitous? Such parents are seldom to
+be found. If any such there be, let them moderate what may possibly be
+excessive; but be sure to bless God, who has given you a deep anxiety
+for the salvation of your loved ones. Remember that it prompts you to
+greater watchfulness and care than you would otherwise exercise. You
+pray more, you instruct them more, you guard them more. And your
+children, therefore, are more likely to become the children of God. And
+remember, further, that your Heavenly Father knows just what solicitudes
+you feel, their weight, their painfulness; and just so long as you feel
+them, and in consequence of them, _act_ in the use of those legitimate
+means which God has instituted for the restraint and conversion of your
+children, you have reason to hope. The very end and object of those
+Christian anxieties are just what you desire, and for which you are
+daily praying--the conversion of your children; and if you pursue a
+proper course under them, you are probably more likely to see your hopes
+accomplished than if they did not exist.
+
+I had contemplated adding other suggestions, but time and space will not
+allow. But I cannot dismiss this subject without saying, that instead of
+ever complaining that God has imparted to you such a deep anxiety for
+the spiritual good of your children, let that time thus spent be
+employed in fervent, importunate and agonizing prayer for them. That is
+the best way of washing off these accumulated and accumulating loads of
+anxiety. Plead in view of your deep solicitude--plead in Christ's
+name--plead by the worth of your children's souls--plead by every
+consideration you can think of, and then plead by every consideration
+which the All Omniscient mind of God can think of--especially plead the
+divine honor and glory, as involved in such a desired result, and when
+you have done all these, then act wisely, and efficiently as you can.
+Never give up--never falter--not even for a moment. But be steady to
+your purpose--yet in every step of your progress say, "O God, thy will
+be done."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+EXCESSIVE LEGISLATION.
+
+
+A family is a community or government, of which the parents are the
+legislators, and the children are the subjects. The parents are required
+by the family constitution to superintend and direct the conduct of
+their children, and others under their care. And children, by the same
+authority, are required to obey their parents. "Children, obey your
+parents in all things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." But
+parents are more than legislators; they possess the executive power.
+They are to see their rules carried out. And, still further, they are to
+judge of the penalty due to infraction and disobedience, and of the time
+and manner in which punishment is to be inflicted. The authority vested
+in parents is great, and most judiciously should it be exercised. God
+has given general directions in his word touching the exercise of their
+authority. To Him they are amenable. And by all the love they bear to
+their offspring, their desire for their welfare, and the hope of the
+future approbation of God, they should endeavor to bring up their
+children in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord."
+
+But are not parents apt to legislate too much? This is often an error in
+all legislative assemblies. Perhaps there is not a State in the Union in
+which the laws are not too many, and too minute. Every legislator feels
+desirous of leaving his impress on the statute book. And so there is
+yearly an accumulation of laws and resolves, one-half of which might
+probably be dispensed with, with advantage to the people.
+
+The same over legislation often obtains in the school-room, springing
+doubtless from a desire on the part of the teacher to preserve a more
+perfect order among his pupils. Hence the number and minuteness of his
+rules; and in his endeavor to reduce them to practice, and make
+clock-work of the internal machinery, he quite likely defeats the very
+object he has in view. A school-teacher who pretends to notice every
+aberration from order and propriety is quite likely to have his hands
+full, and just so with parents. Some children cannot keep still. Their
+nervous temperament does not admit of it. I once heard an elderly
+gentleman say, that when riding in a coach, he was so confined that he
+felt as if he should die because he could not change his position. Oh!
+if he could have stirred but an inch! Children often feel just so. And
+it is bad policy to require them to sit as so many little immoveable
+statues. "There, sit in just that spot, and don't you move an inch till
+I bid you." Who has not heard a parent give forth such a mandate? And a
+school-master, too, to some little urchin, who tries to obey, but from
+that moment begins to squirm, and turn, and hitch, and chiefly because
+his nervous system is all deranged by the very duty imposed upon him.
+And, besides, what if Tommy, in the exuberance of his feelings, while
+sitting on the bench, does stick out his toe a little beyond the
+prescribed line. Or suppose Jimmy crowds up to him a little too closely,
+and feeling that he can't breathe as freely as he wishes, gives him a
+hunch; or suppose Betty, during a temporary fit of fretfulness, induced
+by long setting in one posture, or overcome with the heat of a midsummer
+afternoon, or the sweltering temperature of a room where an
+old-fashioned box stove has been converted into a furnace; suppose Betty
+gives her seat-mate a sly pinch to make her move to a more tolerable
+distance, shall the teacher utter his rebuke in tones which might
+possibly be appropriate if a murder was about being committed? I have
+known a schoolmaster "fire up" like a steam-engine, and puff and whiz at
+the occurrence of some such peccadilloes, and the consequence was that
+the whole school was soon at a stand-still as to study, and the askance
+looks and suppressed titter of the little flock told you that the
+teacher had made no capital that time. I have seen essentially the same
+thing in parents.
+
+Now, I am not exactly justifying such conduct in children. But such
+offences will exist, despite of all the wisdom, authority, and sternness
+in the wide world. My position is, that these minor matters must
+sometimes be left. They had better not always be seen, or if seen, not
+be noticed. I think those who have the care of children may take a
+lesson from a slut and her pups, or a cat and her kittens. Who has not
+seen the puppy or the kitten taking some license with their
+dams?--biting as puppies and kittens bite at play? Well, and what sort
+of treatment do they sometimes get from the older folks? Now and then
+you hear a growl, or see a spat. But, generally, the "old ones" know
+better. The little frolicsome creatures are indulged. Nature seems to
+teach these canine and feline parents that their progeny must and will
+have sport. I have, indeed, as I have said, heard the ominous growl and
+the warning spat or spit, but what good has it done? Why, the growl
+seems only to inspirit the young dog. He plays so much the more; or, at
+least, if he plays shy for a brief space, the next you'll see, he jumps
+on to the old dog and plays the harder, and the kitten acts in like
+manner.
+
+But I have said enough. The sum is, that it is wise not to take
+cognizance of all that might be considered amiss in children. Correct
+the faults which are the most prominent. Let the statute-book not be
+overburdened with small enactments. Nothing is small which is morally
+wrong; but little physical twitchings, and nervous peccadilloes are not
+worthy of grave legislation. The apostle's account of himself has some
+pertinence here. "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a
+child"--Paul, doubtless acted as a child; "but when I became a man, I
+put away childish things." The experience and observation of years often
+make salutary corrections, which you would in vain attempt to effect in
+early childhood, by all the laws of a ponderous octavo, or by all the
+birch saplings to be found in a western forest.
+
+A GRANDFATHER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MAGNETISM.
+
+
+Kind reader, whoever thou art, I come to thee with an earnest plea, and
+that I may the more surely prevail in my suit, let me for a time exert
+over thee the mesmeric power; thy bodily eyes being closed, and thy
+spirit set free from its encumbering clay, let me introduce thee to
+distant scenes.
+
+The hour is midnight,--the place an humble home in far off Michigan. Let
+us enter; nothing hinders, for bolts and bars are here unknown. Step
+quietly, that we may not disturb the sleeping. Come with me to this
+bed-chamber; it is indeed dark, but the spirit does not need material
+light. On this rude bed reposes an aged man with whitened locks and
+furrowed face, and yonder lies a little child whose tiny feet have yet
+taken but few steps on life's rude journey. Listen!--she moves--she is
+not asleep. What has wakened thee, gentle one?--the slumbers of
+childhood should be undisturbed. She sings--in the silent, lonely night,
+with sweet low voice she is singing--
+
+  "Jesus, Saviour, Son of God,
+  Who for me life's pathway trod;
+  Who for me became a child,
+  Make me humble, meek, and mild.
+
+  I thy little lamb would be,
+  Jesus, I would follow thee;
+  Samuel was thy child of old,
+  Take me now within thy fold."
+
+The old man wakens--she has disturbed him. Shall he stop her?--no; he
+loves that little one, and he has not the heart to bid her be silent.
+One after another she pours forth her sweet melodies, till at last her
+voice grows fainter and fainter, and soon she and her grandfather are
+both lying again in unbroken repose. The morning comes. The old man
+calls to him the petted one, and says: "Lucy, why did you sing last
+night when you should have been asleep? What were you singing?" Stopping
+her play she looks up and says brightly--"I was singing to Jesus,
+grandpa, and you ought to sing to him, too."
+
+Why does he start and tremble, that stern, gray-headed man? He has lived
+more than sixty years an unbeliever--a despiser of the lowly Savior. No
+thought of repentance or remorse has afflicted him--no desire has he
+ever had to hear the words of eternal life. He has trained up his family
+in ignorance of God, and only in _his memory_ has the blessed Sabbath
+had a name since he went to his distant western home.
+
+Not long ago a benevolent man passing through the town, gathered some of
+the ragged and forsaken little ones into a Sabbath-school, and bestowed
+on them the inestimable gift of a few small books. The little Lucy
+heard from her young companions the wonderful story, and begged to go.
+But she was sternly refused. He wanted nothing with the Sabbath-school.
+She could not be pacified, however, and at length with prayers and tears
+she was permitted to prevail. She went, and returned with her Testament
+and little hymn-book, and with such joy and glee, that even her
+grandfather came to think the Sabbath-school an excellent thing. Of that
+blessed school he is now a member, and is weekly found studying the word
+of God, as humbly and diligently as a little child. The infidel of sixty
+years is a penitent follower of that Jesus to whom little Lucy sung her
+midnight song, and who out of the mouths of babes often perfects his
+praise.
+
+But we cannot tarry here; let us journey on. Our way lies through these
+woods. Do you hear the sound of an axe? Yonder is a woodman, and by his
+side a little boy. We will approach. Never fear. Spirits cannot be
+discerned by mortal eyes, and though we come very near, they will be
+unconscious of our presence. How attractive is childhood. The little
+fellow is as merry as a lark, and chatters away to his father, who, with
+silent absorption pursues his work. Suddenly his axe slips, and a large
+limb, which should have fallen in the other direction, descends with
+violence upon his foot. Can spirits be deaf at pleasure? If so we will
+quickly close our ears, for fearful is the torrent of oaths proceeding
+from the mouth of the infuriated man. But where is the child? Look at
+him where he stands; his innocent prattle hushed--his whole appearance
+and attitude showing the utmost fear and distress. Listen--he
+speaks--slowly and solemnly: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
+thy God in vain." Who made thee a preacher of righteousness, a rebuker
+of sin, thou little stray lamb of the Savior's fold? _The
+Sabbath-school_,--lone instrument of good in these western wilds, has
+taught thee, and thou teachest thy father. Nor is the reproof vain.
+Heart-stricken and repentant he is henceforth a new man. "God moves in a
+mysterious way, his wonders to perform." But we will on. The woods are
+passed, and we emerge again into the highway. Who goes yonder with
+painful effort in the road before us? It is a crippled boy. Stop--let us
+speak to him. Can spirits converse in human tones? We will try. "Good
+morning, my poor boy; are you going far on your crutches over this rough
+road?"
+
+"Only to the village, sir, about a mile from this."
+
+"And pray what may be your errand that you make so much effort?"
+
+"Oh, sir, one of the boys, last week, gave me a little book, which told
+about God, and heaven, and hell, and I am frightened about my soul, and
+I am going to ask the good minister who lives in the village what I
+shall do that I may go to heaven."
+
+"God speed and teach thee, and give us to see thee at last among the
+ransomed ones."
+
+We have left the village where the "good minister" lived, far behind,
+and now we approach a populous town. By our side travels a thoughtful
+man, all unwitting of his company. It is the Sabbath, and he has been
+ten miles to hear the gospel preached. No church-going bell has as yet
+ever gladdened the place which he calls his home. Deep sighs escape from
+his breast, as he rides slowly along. He meditates on the wretched
+condition of his neighbors and friends. As we approach the town the
+sound of voices is heard. The good man listens, and distinguishes the
+tones of children familiar and dear. He approaches the hedge from which
+they proceed. What anguish is depicted on his face as he gazes on the
+boys, sitting under the hedge, on God's holy day, busily engaged _in
+playing cards_! Are you a parent, kind reader? Are you a Christian
+parent? If so, perhaps you can understand his feelings as he turns
+desparingly away, and murmurs to himself--"No preacher of the gospel--no
+Sunday-school--no Sabbath day. Alas! what shall save our children?"
+
+Our journey is ended. Every incident which we have imagined we saw, is
+recorded in God's book of remembrance as a fact.
+
+My plea is in behalf of those who would establish Sabbath-schools among
+the thousands of precious infant souls in the far-off West.
+
+Do you ask what you can do? Perhaps you can increase your donations to
+the Home Missionary and Sunday-school Societies. Every dollar goes far,
+given to either. But perhaps you are doing all you can in that way. Have
+you then no good books lying about your home which have done their work
+for your loved ones, and can be dispensed with? Can you collect among
+your friends a dozen or more? Do not think it a small thing. Gather them
+together, and put them in some box of clothing which is destined to
+Michigan. Every one of those defaced and cast-off books may be a
+messenger of life to some starving soul.
+
+More than this you can do. Train your own precious children to value
+their abundant privileges, and embue them with the earnest desire to
+impart freely what is so freely given. Look upon your son, your pride
+and joy. A few years hence may find him living side by side with one of
+those unfortunate boys who knew no better than to desecrate the holy day
+with gambling. Will he be able to withstand the influences which will
+surround him in such society? That, under God, depends on your prayers
+and efforts. Ask earnestly for grace to prepare him to do the blessed
+work, wherever he goes, of winning souls to Christ, and not be himself
+enticed to evil. Your daughter--your gentle, bright-eyed one--over whom
+your heart yearns with unspeakable tenderness--her home may be yet
+appointed far toward the setting sun. For her sake, lend all your
+influence to the good work of saving those rapidly populating towns from
+the dominion of evil. Labor and pray, and day by day, instil into her
+young mind the principles which governed her Savior's earthly life--who
+went about doing good, and who valued not the riches of heaven's glory
+that he might redeem souls.
+
+SIGMA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE STUPID, DULL CHILD.
+
+
+There is always great danger of wounding the sensibilities of a timid,
+retiring child. It requires great forbearance and discrimination on the
+part of parents and teachers, in their endeavors to develop the latent
+faculties of the minds of such children, (whether this dullness is
+natural, or the effect of untoward circumstances,) without injuring the
+sensibilities of the heart.
+
+This is especially true at the present day, when the world is laying
+such heavy demands upon the time and attention of parents.
+
+We not unfrequently hear a father confessing, with regret, to be sure,
+but without any apparent endeavors to obviate the evil, that his time
+and thoughts are so absorbed in the cares of his business, that his
+little children scarcely recognize him, as he seldom returns to his
+family, till they are in bed, and goes forth to his business before they
+are up in the morning.
+
+This is, indeed, a sad evil, and if possible ought to be remedied. How
+can we expect that such a father will understand the peculiar temper and
+dispositions of his children so as to aid a mother in their proper
+training? Perhaps in some cases such evils cannot be remedied.
+
+But, alas! what heavy responsibilities does such neglect, on the part of
+the father, devolve upon the mother! Methinks the circumstances of such
+a mother may be even more difficult to meet than if she were a widow!
+
+We invite the attention of parents to a consideration of this topic and
+some of the evils growing out of the wrong treatment of timid, dull
+children. We can do no more at present than attempt to show, in a given
+case, how such an existing evil was cured by forbearance and kindness.
+The illustration is taken from "Pictures of Early Life," in the case of
+a little girl by the name of Lilias Tracy.
+
+This poor child, though her father was rich, and held an honorable
+station in society, yet on account of her mother's sorrows, and
+subsequent insanity, her poor child, Lilias, who was allowed to remain
+with her mother, was brought up in an atmosphere of sadness, and it was
+no wonder that she became melancholy and reserved.
+
+After the death of her mother, her father understood too little of the
+character of his only child to be able to afford her much solace, and he
+therefore determined to send her to a boarding-school.
+
+If there be a trial which exceeds a child's powers of endurance, it is a
+first entrance into a boarding-school. Little Lilias felt at once this
+painful situation in all its bitterness.
+
+Shy and sensitive at all times, she had never felt so utterly forlorn,
+as when she first found herself in the play-ground belonging to Mrs.
+Bellamy's school.
+
+Not only was she timid and shy, but the necessity of being always with
+her mother to soothe the paroxysms of distress, had deprived Lilias of
+many opportunities of education, and she was therefore far less advanced
+in knowledge than most of her companions. Numberless were the
+mortifications to which she was obliged to submit on account of her
+ignorance, while her timidity and shyness increased in proportion to the
+reproofs of her teachers, and the ridicule of her schoolfellows. She at
+length came to be regarded as one of those hopelessly dull pupils who
+are to be found cumbering the benches of every large school, and but for
+her father's wealth and honorable station in society, she would,
+probably, have been sent away in disgrace.
+
+Fortunately, Providence raised up for poor Lilias, at this juncture, a
+kind friend and patient teacher in a schoolfellow, by the name of
+Victorine Horton. This amiable young lady, seeing the trials and
+mortifications of this sensitive child, begged Mrs. Bellamy to allow
+Lilias to become her room-mate, and she would assist her in her lessons.
+Some few weeks after this arrangement took place, Victorine was accosted
+thus--
+
+"How can you waste so much time on that _stupid_ child, Miss Horton?"
+said one of the teachers. "She does not seem to improve any, with all
+your pains; she will never repay your trouble."
+
+"I do not despair," said Victorine, smiling. "She is an affectionate
+little creature, and if continual dropping will wear away a stone,
+surely, repeated kindness will melt the icy mantle of reserve which now
+conceals her better qualities."
+
+A happy child was little Lilias, thus to become the companion and
+bedfellow of such a kind-hearted friend as she found in Victorine.
+Stimulated by affection, she applied herself to her studies, and as
+"perfect love casteth out fear," she was enabled to get her lessons, and
+to recite them without that nervous timidity which had usually deprived
+her of all power.
+
+A few months after Victorine had thus undertaken the charge of Lilias, a
+prize was offered, in each class, for the most elegantly written French
+exercise. Lilias observed the eagerness of the pupils to compete for the
+medals, but she never dreamed of becoming a candidate till Victorine
+suggested it.
+
+"I wish you would try to win the prize in your class, dear Lilias," said
+Victorine.
+
+"I, Victorine! It would be impossible."
+
+"Why, impossible, Lilias? You have lately made great progress in the
+study of French, and if I may judge by your last translation, you will
+stand as good a chance as any of the class."
+
+"But, you know, I have your assistance, Victorine, and if I were writing
+for the prize I should be obliged to do it all myself."
+
+"I gave you little aid in your last exercises, Lilias, and there are yet
+two months before the time fixed for awarding the premiums, so you will
+have opportunity enough to try your skill."
+
+"But if I should not succeed, the whole school will laugh at me for
+making the attempt."
+
+"No, Lilias; those who possess proper feelings will never laugh at an
+attempt to do right, and for those who can indulge an ill-natured jest
+at the expense of a schoolfellow's feelings, you need not care. I am
+very anxious you should make the attempt."
+
+"Well, if _you_ wish it, Victorine, I will do my best; but I know I
+shall fail."
+
+"Do you know how I generally succeed in such tasks, Lilias? It is never
+by thinking of the possibility of failure. I have almost forgotten to
+say, _I can't_, and have substituted, upon every occasion, _I'll try_."
+
+"Well, then, to please you, Victorine, '_I'll try_,'" said Lilias,
+smiling.
+
+"Poor child," thought Victorine, "with your affectionate nature, and
+noble principles, it is a pity you should be regarded only as a dull and
+sullen little dunce, whom no one cares to waste a thought upon."
+
+For a long time, Lilias' project in regard to the medal was concealed
+from the school. To tell the truth, Victorine, herself, had many doubts
+as to the success of her little friend, but she knew if she failed to
+obtain the prize, the exertion would be of service to herself.
+
+Long before the day arrived, Lilias had twenty times determined to
+withdraw from all competition; but she never broke a promise, and as she
+had pledged herself to Victorine, she resolved to persevere.
+
+In the sequel, Victorine was surprised at the beauty of the thoughts in
+Lilias' exercise, as well as the correctness of the language. She was
+satisfied that Lilias had done well; her only fear was lest others
+should do better.
+
+At the head of the class to which Lilias belonged was Laura Graham; and
+a mutual dislike had always existed between them. Laura was a selfish,
+as well as an avaricious girl; and she had often looked with a covetous
+eye upon the costly trifles which Lilias' father had bestowed upon his
+daughter. To her narrow mind it seemed impossible that Victorine should
+not have an interested motive in her kindness to Lilias, and she thought
+an opportunity was now offered her of sharing some of her spoils.
+
+About a week before the trial day, Laura G. sought Lilias, and leading
+her to a remote part of the garden, she unfolded to her a scheme for
+insuring the prize she so much coveted. She proposed to destroy her own
+theme, knowing she was one of the best French pupils, thereby securing
+the prize to Lilias, on condition she should receive, in return, a pearl
+brooch and bracelet she had long coveted. Lilias, as might have been
+expected, expressed the greatest contempt and resentment at the
+proposal.
+
+When the day arrived, many a little heart beat high with hope and fear.
+Victorine, as might have been expected, took the first prize in the
+first class. The class to which Lilias belonged was next in order. As
+Mrs. Bellamy arose, Lilias perceived she held in her hand two themes,
+while before her on the table lay a small box. Addressing Laura Graham,
+who sat with an air of conscious superiority at the head of the class,
+Mrs. Bellamy said,
+
+"Of the two themes I hold in my hand, the one written by you, Miss
+Graham, and the other by Miss Lilias Tracy, I am _sorry_ to say that
+_yours_ is best."
+
+Lilias could scarce restrain her tears, as she saw Laura advance,
+proudly, towards Mrs. Bellamy, and bend her head as if to receive the
+riband that suspended the glittering prize; but what was her surprise,
+when Mrs. Bellamy, instead of offering it to Laura, in the usual manner,
+handed her a small box, closely sealed.
+
+"As the best French scholar, Miss Graham," said she, "I am compelled to
+bestow on you the medal which you will find enclosed in a box; but, as
+an act of justice, and a proper punishment for your want of integrity,
+(Mrs. B. having casually overheard what passed in the garden), I forbid
+you to wear, or exhibit it, for twelve months."
+
+"Come hither," said Mrs. B. to Lilias, as Laura, pale and trembling, and
+drowned in tears, hurried in shame and sorrow from the room. Lilias,
+scarcely less overwhelmed than her guilty fellow-pupil, advanced with
+faultering step, and Mrs. Bellamy, suspending from her neck a small and
+highly-finished locket, said:
+
+"I can give but one medal in each class for improvement in French, and
+had not Miss Graham been in your class, yours, Miss Tracy would have
+been the best; I cannot, however, allow this opportunity to pass without
+some lasting memorial of your merit. I therefore present you with a
+locket containing the hair of your beloved friend, Victorine, as a
+testimonial of my esteem for your integrity and honor."
+
+Poor Lilias! She had never been so happy in her life as when she threw
+herself in Victorine's arms, and shed tears of joy upon her bosom.
+
+Whether these few outlines of this truly interesting story be founded on
+fact or not, we cannot forbear to say that God will assuredly, sooner or
+later, fully reward all those who live up to the holy principles and
+precepts of his own blessed truth, and he is no less faithful in
+punishing every proud and wicked doer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FAULT FINDING--THE ANTIDOTE.
+
+(Continued from page 162.)
+
+
+At length it was time to choose his path in life, and being inclined to
+mercantile pursuits, his father placed him in the store of one of their
+friends, where he would have every facility for acquiring a thorough
+knowledge of business. Oh, how carefully did his mother watch the effect
+of a closer contact with the world, and a more prolonged absence from
+her hallowed influence--and how gratefully did she perceive that her
+precious boy still came to her with the confiding love of his childhood,
+in all the temptations of his business life, and that her influence was
+still potent with him for good.
+
+"Mother, I was terribly urged to go to the theater last week," said he
+in one of his frequent visits at home. "Harvey and Brown were going, and
+they are pretty steady fellows, and I really was half inclined to go."
+
+"Well, what saved you?"
+
+"Oh, I knew just how you would look, mother, dear, and I would rather
+never see a theater than face that grieved look of yours. Mother, the
+thought of you has saved me from many, many temptations to do wrong, and
+if I am good for anything, when I am a man, I must thank God for my
+mother."
+
+"Thank God for his preserving grace, my dearest Charley, and ask him to
+give you more and more of it."
+
+Not many days after, Mrs. Arnold was in company with her son's employer.
+"Your son promises well, Mrs. Arnold," said he, "he is very accurate,
+obliging, respectful. I am somewhat hasty at times, and a few days since
+blamed him severely for something which I thought he had done wrong. He
+showed no ill-temper, but received it with so much meekness, my heart
+smote me. The next day he asked me very respectfully if I would inquire
+of one of the clerks about it, which I did, and found he had done
+nothing blameworthy in the least. He is a fine boy, madam, a very fine
+boy, and I hope will make as good a man as his father."
+
+But a good _man_ Charley was not destined to be. Her reward was nearer
+than she had thought, and he who had learned of the lowly Saviour to be
+meek and lowly of heart, was soon to be transplanted to dwell with
+loving and holy ones above. One day he returned home unexpectedly, and
+the first glance told his mother he was in trouble. "Mother, I feel
+really sick. I was sick yesterday, but I kept in the store; but to-day I
+could only go down and see Mr. Barker, and tell him I must come home for
+a day or two. Oh, mother it is a comfort to see your dear kind face
+again," said he, as she felt his pulse, examined his tongue, and
+inquired how he felt, "and perhaps if I can rest quietly an hour or two
+this dreadful pain in my head will be relieved."
+
+He went to his pleasant chamber, to his quiet bed, the physician was
+summoned, and all that skill and the tenderest care could do was done,
+but he rapidly drew near the grave. He was patient, gentle, grateful,
+beautiful upon that bed of death, and while his mother's soul was poured
+forth in earnest prayer, for his continued life, her heart swelled with
+grateful thanksgiving for the sweet evidence he gave of a subdued and
+Christian spirit, and she could say with true and cheerful submission,
+"Not my will but _Thine_ be done, whether for life or death, for it is
+well with the child."
+
+Just at twilight one evening, he awoke from a short slumber, and his eye
+sought his mother at his bedside. She leaned over him and softly pressed
+her lips to his forehead. "Mother," he said, faintly, "the Doctor has
+given up all hope of my life, has he not?" Nerving herself to calmness
+for his sake, she answered, "He thinks you very sick, Charley, but I
+cannot give up all hope. How can I part with you, my beloved?"
+
+"Mother," said he, as he took her hand in both his, and laid it on his
+breast, "I want, while I am able, to tell you how I feel, and I want you
+to know what you have done for me. I was a passionate, bad tempered boy,
+and you know father--" He stopped. "Mother, I should have been a ruined
+boy but for you. I see it all now plainly. You have saved me, mother.
+You have saved my soul. You have been my guide and comfort in life. You
+have taught me to meet even death and fear no evil, for you have shown
+me my sin, and taught me to repent of it, and love and trust the
+precious Saviour, who died that His blood might cleanse even my guilt. I
+feel that I can lie in His arms, sure that He has forgiven my sin and
+washed my sinful soul white in His blood. How often you have told me He
+would do it if I asked Him, and I have asked Him constantly, and He will
+do it, He will not cast me off. Mother, when you think of me, be
+comforted, for you have led me to my Saviour, and I rejoice to go and be
+with Him forever."
+
+The next sun arose on the cold remains of what was so lately the active
+and happy Charles Arnold, and there was bitter grief in that dwelling,
+for very dear had the kind and loving brother been to them. The father
+was stunned--thunderstruck. Little had he expected such a grief as this,
+and he seemed utterly unable to endure it, or to believe it. How much he
+communed with his own heart of his neglected duty to that departed boy,
+we know not, but dreadful was the anguish he endured, and the mother
+had the joy to perceive that his manner afterward was far more tender to
+his remaining children, whom he seemed now for the first time to realize
+he might not always have with him, to be neglected and put aside, as a
+trouble and as a care, rather than as a precious gift, to be most
+carefully trained up for God.
+
+But all wondered at the perfect calmness of that afflicted mother. So
+devoted--so saintlike--it would seem that she was in constant and sweet
+communing with the redeemed spirit of her boy. No regret, no repining
+escaped her lips, and many who knew how fondly she loved her children,
+and had feared that this sudden blow would almost overwhelm her, gazed
+with wonder at her perfect submission, her cheerful touching tenderness
+of voice and speech. And though tears would at times flow, yet she would
+say in the midst of them, "These are not tears of grief but of joy, that
+my darling son is safe, and holy, and blessed forever. Tears of
+gratitude to God for His goodness." And when hours of sadness, and of
+longing for her absent one came, as they _will_ come to the bereaved at
+times, a faint voice seemed to whisper in her ear. "Mother, you have
+saved me, you have saved my soul!" And sweetest comfort came with that
+never to be forgotten whisper from the dying bed of her precious child,
+to sustain her in the darkest hour.
+
+Fathers! Plead as you will, that you are full of care and labor to
+support your families. Say it over and over, till you really believe it
+yourself, if you please, that when you come home tired at night, you
+cannot be crazed with the clatter of children's tongues. You want to
+rest and be quiet. So you do, and so you should--but have you any right
+to be so perfectly worn out with business, that the voice of your own
+child is irksome to you? Try, for once, a little pleasant, quiet,
+instructive chat with him. Enter for a few moments into his feelings,
+and pursuits and thoughts--for that child _has_ feelings, that need
+cherishing tenderly, for your own future comfort. He _has_ pursuits, and
+you are the one to talk with him about them, and kindly tell him which
+are right and useful, and which he would do better to let alone. He
+_has_ thoughts, and who shall direct that mind aright which must think
+forever, if not the author of his being? Ask of his school, and his
+playmates, and see if your own spirit is not rested and refreshed, and
+your heart warmed by this little effort to win the love and confidence,
+and delight the heart of this young immortal, who owes his entrance into
+this weary world to you, and whom you are under the most solemn
+obligations, to strive to prepare to act well his part in it. Do not say
+this is his mother's business. Has the Bible laid any command upon
+mothers? Would it not seem that He who formed her heart, knew that she
+needed not to be told to labor, in season and out of season, for her
+beloved offspring? But to _you_ is the strong command, "_Fathers_,
+provoke not your children to wrath, but _bring them up_ in the nurture
+and admonition of the Lord."
+
+Mothers, do you not reap a rich reward for curbing your own spirits, for
+every self-denial, for untiring devotion to the immortals given to your
+care, with souls to be saved or lost? Oh! neglect them not, lest
+conscience utter the fearful whisper, "Mother, _you might have saved
+that soul_!"
+
+                          ELLEN ELLISON.
+  Feb. 1852.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+NEVER TEMPT ANOTHER.
+
+
+There are thousands of persons in the United States to whom the name of
+Jonathan Trumbull, formerly a governor of Connecticut, is familiar--I
+mean the first governor of that name. He was a friend and supporter of
+General Washington during the Revolutionary War, and greatly contributed
+by his judicious advice and prompt aid to achieve the Independence of
+America.
+
+This Governor Trumbull had a son by the name of John, who became
+distinguished in the use of the pencil, and who left several paintings
+of great merit commemorative of scenes in the history of our
+revolutionary struggle. My story relates to an incident which occurred
+during the boyhood of John.
+
+His father, for the purpose of giving employment to the Mohegan Indians,
+a tribe living within the bounds of the Connecticut colony, though at
+some distance from the governor's residence, hired several of their
+hunters to kill animals of various kinds for their furs. One of the most
+successful of these hunters was a sachem by the name of Zachary.
+
+But Zachary was a drunkard, and persisted in his intemperate habits till
+he reached the age of fifty. By whose means I am unable to say, but at
+that time he was induced utterly to abandon the use of intoxicating
+drinks. His life was extended to eighty years, but he was never known
+after the above reformation, although often under powerful temptation,
+to taste in a single instance of the "accursed thing."
+
+In his history of the Indians of Connecticut, De Forest has given us an
+account of the manful resistance of Zachary on one occasion of an artful
+temptation to violate his temperance principles, spread before him by
+John Trumbull, at his father's house. He says, "In those days the annual
+ceremony of election was a matter of more consequence than it is now;
+and the Indians, especially, used to come in considerable numbers to
+Hartford and New Haven to stare at the governor, and the soldiers, and
+the crowds of citizens, as they entered those cities, Jonathan
+Trumbull's house was about half-way between Mohegan and Hartford, and
+Zachary was in the habit of stopping, on his way to election, to dine
+with his old employer.
+
+"John Trumbull, then about ten years old, had heard of the reformation
+of Zachary, and, partaking of the common contempt for the intemperate
+and worthless character of the Indians, did not entirely credit it. As
+the family were sitting around the dinner-table, he resolved to test the
+sincerity of the visitor's temperance.
+
+"Sipping some home-brewed beer, which stood on the table, he said to the
+old man, 'Zachary, this beer is excellent; won't you taste it?' The
+knife and fork dropped from the Indian's hand; he leaned forward with a
+stern intensity of expression, his dark eyes, sparkling with
+indignation, were fixed on the young tempter: 'John,' said he, 'you
+don't know what you are doing. You are serving the devil, boy. Don't you
+know that I am an Indian? I tell you that I am; and if I should taste
+your beer, I could never stop until I got to rum, and become again the
+drunken, contemptible wretch your father once knew me. _John, while you
+live, never again tempt any man to break a good resolution._'"
+
+This was said in an earnest, solemn tone, and deeply affected Governor
+Trumbull and lady, who were at the table. John was justly awed, and deep
+was the impression made upon him. His parents often recurred to the
+incident, and charged their son never to forget it.
+
+The advice of the sachem was indeed most valuable. "Never again tempt
+any man to break a good resolution." It were well if this precept were
+followed by all. How many who are reformed from evil habits, yet not
+firm and established, but who would persevere in their better
+resolutions were they encouraged, are suddenly, and to themselves
+surprisingly, set back by some tempter! What sorrow is engendered! and
+how difficult to regain what is thus lost! All this is essentially true
+of the young. Their good resolutions are assaulted; the counsels of a
+pious mother--the precepts of a kind father, and the determinations
+which a son may have formed in view of those counsels and those
+precepts, may be easily undermined and destroyed by the flattery or the
+ridicule, the reproach or the banter of some subtle or even of some
+thoughtless companion. To those who may read these pages, and who may at
+any time be tempted to seduce others from paths of virtue, or to break
+over solemn resolutions which they may have formed as to an upright and
+commendable course of life, let the injunction of old Zachary, the
+Mohegan sachem, not come in vain. "Never tempt any one to break a good
+resolution."
+
+                                       G.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+DESPONDENCY AND HOPE.
+
+AN ALLEGORY.
+
+BY MRS. J. NORTON.
+
+
+  In a lone forest, dark and drear,
+  Stood wrapt in grief a maiden fair;
+  Her flowing locks were wet with dew,
+  Her life was sad, her friends were few.
+
+  A sparkling light gleam'd distant far,
+  Like twinkling faint of evening star;
+  Quickly it spread its brilliant ray,
+  Till forest drear looked bright and gay.
+
+  And on the wings of love and light,
+  A radiant figure, pure and white,
+  Approached and spake with accents mild:
+  "Why so despondent, sorrow's child?
+
+  "When thy lone feet the violet press,
+  Its perfume rises still to bless;
+  While groves and lawns, with landscape fair,
+  Are bathed in healthful mountain air."
+
+  "Ah, friend! thy path shines bright and clear;
+  Daily thou breath'st the mountain air;
+  But mine is in the barren wild,
+  Where naught looks bright to sorrow's child."
+
+  "Then take my arm, pale sister, dear,
+  With you I'll tread this forest drear;
+  When guided by this light from Heav'n,
+  Strength and peace will both be given."
+
+  They journeyed on through glade and fen,
+  'Till passing near a rocky glen,
+  Mild Patience came and sweetly smiled
+  Upon the path of sorrow's child.
+
+  The measured way still brighter grew,
+  'Till cares and griefs were faint and few.
+  Thus, Hope and Patience oft beguiled
+  The toil-worn path of sorrow's child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF ISRAEL AT HOREB.
+
+
+There is no path of duty appointed for man to tread, concerning which
+the Almighty has not expressed his will in terms so plain that the
+sincere inquirer may always hear a voice behind him saying, "This is the
+way, walk ye in it;" nor are there any relations of life, nor any human
+affections which he has not constituted, and bestowed, nor any
+disappointment of those affections for which he has not manifested a
+sympathy so sincere, that the desolate and heart-stricken may always
+say, "Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."
+
+Yet, it is something difficult for us to realize in our hours of
+darkness and despondency, that toward us personally and individually,
+the great heart of Infinite Love yearns with tenderness and pity. Even
+if we can say, "Though clouds and darkness are round about him, justice
+and judgment are the habitation of his throne," and can acquiesce meekly
+in all his dispensations, and believe sincerely that they will work for
+our good, yet we often fail of the blessedness which might be ours, if
+we could be equally assured that, "_As a father pitieth his children, so
+doth the Lord pity them that fear him._" This assurance only the
+faithful student of the Bible can feel, as the great truth gleams forth
+upon him from time to time, illuming "dark afflictions midnight gloom"
+with rays celestial, and furnishing balm for every wound, the balm of
+sympathy and love.
+
+We often hear it said, by those who even profess themselves Christians,
+and devout lovers of the sacred oracles, "How can you read the book of
+Leviticus? What can you find in the dry details of the ceremonial law to
+detain you months in its study and call forth such expressions of
+interest?" Such will probably pass by this article when they find
+themselves invited again to Horeb. Turn back, friends. You are not the
+only ones who have excused themselves from a _feast_. And we--we will
+extend our invitation to others. On the by-ways and lanes they can be
+found; in every corner of this wide-spread earth are some for whom our
+table is prepared. We leave the prosperous, the gay, the happy, and
+speak to the desolate--the widowed.
+
+Dearly beloved, you can look back to a day in your history over which no
+cloud lowered, when you wore the bridal wreath, and stood at the sacred
+altar, and laid your hand in a hand faithful and true, and pledged vows
+of love, and when hope smiled on all your future path; but who have
+lived to see all you then deemed most precious, laid beneath the clods
+of the valley, and have exchanged buds of orange for the most intensely
+sable of earthly weeds; you who once walked on your earthly journey in
+sweet companionship which brightened your days; who were wont to lay
+your weary head every night on the faithful "pillowing breast," and
+there forget your woes and cares, but who are now _alone_; you who
+trusted in manly counsel and guidance for your little ones, but who now
+shed bitter, unavailing tears in every emergency which reminds you that
+they are fatherless; and, worse than all, you who had all your wants
+supplied by the loving, toiling husband and father, but have now to
+contend single-handed with poverty,--come, sorrowing, widowed hearts,
+visit with us Horeb's holy mound. It is, indeed, a barren spot;
+nevertheless, it has blossoms of loveliness for you. Come in faith, and
+perchance the prophet's vision shall be yours--peradventure, the "still,
+small voice" which bade to rest the turmoil of his soul, shall soothe
+your griefs also; the words which are heard from its summit as Jehovah
+gives to Moses his directions, have indeed to do with "meats and drinks
+and divers washings," yet, if you listen intently, you will now and then
+hear those which, as the expression of your Heavenly Father's heart,
+will amply repay the toil of the ascent. Draw near and hearken:
+
+"Ye shall not afflict any widow nor fatherless child. If thou afflict
+them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their
+cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword;
+and your wives shall be widows, your children fatherless."
+
+Will you not now be comforted? "The Eternal makes your sorrows his own,"
+and Himself stands forth as your protector against every ill.
+
+"When thou cuttest down thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten the
+sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it, but it shall be
+for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord thy
+God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands."
+
+If God's will is done, you see you will not suffer. He will raise you up
+friends, and those who obey Him, who wish to please Him, will always be
+ready to aid you for His sake. As shown to himself, he regards and will
+reward the kindness shown to you, and He has all hearts in his hands.
+But this is not all. A certain portion of every Israelite's possessions
+is to be given to furnish the table of the Lord, and, as if to assure
+you that He considers you His own, and will perform the part of husband
+and father for you at that table, and in his own house he provides for
+you ever a place. "In the tithes of wine, corn and oil, the firstlings
+of the herds and flocks, in all that is to be devoted to the service of
+the Lord, you have your share.
+
+"At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine
+increase the same year and lay it up within the gates. And the Levite,
+because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and
+the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come
+and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all
+the work of thine hand which thou doest."
+
+Do you sorrowfully say that no such table is now spread? But He who thus
+provided still lives, and is the same as then. The silver and the gold
+are His, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, and he ruleth all things
+by the Word of His power. They that trust in him shall never be
+confounded.
+
+"Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the
+fatherless, nor take the widow's raiment to pledge. Why? Because they
+have no earthly friend to redeem the latter or plead for the former.
+Weak and unguarded, they are exposed to all these evils, but that He,
+the Eternal, takes them under his own especial care; and instead of
+compelling them to depend on the insecure tenure of man's compassion, or
+even justice, institutes laws for their benefit, the disobedience of
+which is sin against Himself."
+
+Scattered through all the sacred volume are words which, equally with
+those we have quoted, speak forth Jehovah's interest in the helpless.
+"Leave thy fatherless children to me," he said, by his prophet Jeremiah,
+at a time when misery, desolation, and destruction were falling on Judea
+and her sons for their awful impiety. "Leave thy fatherless children, I
+will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me." "A father of
+the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy
+habitation."
+
+Oh, do we receive the full import of these soul-cheering words? Lone,
+solitary one! who hidest in thy heart a grief which, untasted, cannot be
+understood, there is a Being sitting on the circle of the heavens, who
+knows every pang thou endurest. He formed thee susceptible of the love
+which thou hast felt and enjoyed; Himself ordained the tie which bound
+thee. He, better than any other, comprehends thy loss. Dost thou
+doubt--study faithfully His word; obey his voice. Yield thy heart to Him
+and trust Him implicitly. He will prove himself able to bless thee in
+thine inmost soul. The avenues to that soul are all open to Him, and He
+can cause such gentle, soothing influences to flow in upon thee as shall
+make thee "Sing even as in the days of thy youth."
+
+Fatherless child! whose heart fails thee when thou dost miss from every
+familiar place the guide of thy youth, faint not nor be discouraged,
+though the way is rough, and the voice that ever spoke tenderly to thee
+is silent. Thou hast a father in heaven; and He who calls himself such
+understands better than thou what is implied in that sacred name. Tell
+Him thy woes and wants.
+
+  "Thou art as much His care, as if beside
+  Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INFANTS TAUGHT TO PRAY.
+
+
+Persons who have never investigated the subject cannot believe that
+young children are capable of being taught to pray, intelligently. As
+infants cannot be supposed to understand the essential nature and design
+of prayer, we may profitably inquire, "Of what use can prayer be to a
+young child?"
+
+Miss H. More defines prayer to be "The application of want to Him who
+alone can relieve it; the confession of sin to Him who alone can pardon
+it; the urgency of poverty, the prostration of humility, the fervency of
+penitence--the confidence of trust. It is the 'Lord save us, we perish,'
+of drowning Peter--the cry of faith to the ear of mercy." Now, are not
+children, for several of their first years, absolutely dependent upon
+others for the supply of all their wants? And yet, though no beings are
+so weak, so helpless, yet none are so eloquent in pleading or praying
+for what they want as young children in distress, though they have not
+yet acquired the language of speech, and simply because this language is
+nature's voice.
+
+How irresistible are the entreaties of an infant in sickness, pain, and
+trouble. It will not be pacified or comforted by any one but its
+mother--her bosom is its sanctuary--her voice its sweetest melody--her
+arms its only refuge. What a preparation is this in the ordering of
+Providence, and in direct reference to what is to succeed, evidently
+with the design that when a child is of a suitable age, it may transfer
+its highest love and confidence from its earthly parents to a heavenly
+Father. At first the mother stands in the place of God to her child, and
+is all the world to him. But if she be a praying mother, the child will
+very early discover that, like himself, she too is a helpless,
+dependent, needy creature, and he will learn to trust in that great
+Being whom his mother adores.
+
+Perhaps she has been in the habit, when her child was drawing its
+nutriment from her breast, to feel more than at any other time her
+responsibility to the little helpless being who is a part of herself,
+and especially to "train it up in the way it should go." And she will
+usually improve this opportunity to commune with her God, saying with
+more solemn importunity, day by day, "How shall I order thee, child?"
+She feels the need of more wisdom, for she now begins to realize that
+her arms will not always encircle her child, and if they could, she
+could not ward off the arrows of disease and death. She thinks too of
+the period as near when it will be more out from under her scrutinizing
+watch, and will be more exposed to temptations from without and from
+within. Perhaps, too, she may die early, and then who will feel for her
+child, who will train it, who will consecrate it to God as sedulously as
+she hopes to do? O, if she could be certain of its eternal well-being.
+She eagerly inquires, "Is there any way by which my child can be so
+instructed, so consecrated, that I may be absolutely certain that I
+shall meet him, a ransomed soul, and dwell with him forever among the
+blessed in heaven?" "Yes, there is." I find in the unerring Scriptures
+many precious examples of children who were thus early dedicated to God,
+and were accepted and blessed of Him. She loves to remember those
+mothers on the plains of Judea who brought their infants to the Savior
+for his blessing. They were not discouraged, though the disciples, like
+many of the present day, forbade them to come, saying, "Of what possible
+use can it be to bring young children to the Savior?" But behold, the
+Savior welcomes and blesses them. Children who have been thus blessed of
+the Savior will not, cannot be lost. His promise is, "None shall pluck
+them out of my father's hand;" and again, "I will keep that what is
+committed to me till the final day."
+
+With such Scripture promises and examples, this praying mother, hour by
+hour, lifts her heart to God, and implores that the Savior would crown
+with success her endeavors to obey his precepts, and, in doing so, to
+accept her consecrated child. How sweet and gentle are her accents!
+With a loud voice she puts up her petitions which, till now, under
+similar circumstances, have not even been whispered aloud.
+
+But her emotions have risen so high, that not only does her voice become
+inarticulate, but her tears fall like April showers upon the face of
+her, till now, unconscious child.
+
+The child looks inquiringly. It now perceives that that countenance,
+which has hitherto been lighted up only by smiles, and been radiant with
+hope, at times is beclouded by fears. No wonder if this scene should
+attract the attention of this infant listener. Perhaps it is overawed.
+It rises up, it looks round to see if any one is present, with whom its
+mother is holding converse. Seeing no one, it hides its little head in
+the folds of its mother's dress, and is still.
+
+What does all this do but to awaken, on the part of the mother, a still
+deeper interest in the welfare of her sympathizing little one. She now
+realizes as she never did before, what an influence she has in swaying
+the mind and affections of her darling child, and her responsibility
+seems to increase at every step. She presses her child more and more
+fondly to her bosom. With daily and increasing faith, love and zeal, she
+resorts to the throne of grace, and pleads for that wisdom she so
+pre-eminently needs.
+
+It cannot be but that her love to her child should be daily strengthened
+by such communings with her own heart and her Savior, in sweet
+fellowship with her little one, though so young as not fully to
+comprehend all it sees and hears, yet it will remember and be
+influenced, eternally, by what has been done and said in its presence.
+This mother fully realizes that she is under the watchful eye of God,
+her Maker and Redeemer--that the Holy Trinity--the mysterious "three in
+one" have been present, more than spectators of what has transpired. For
+she is sure that these aspirations after holiness for herself and for
+her child are not earth-born--but emanations from the triune God.
+
+It is natural to suppose that lasting impressions would be made upon the
+heart of a child thus early taught to pray.
+
+No wonder if this little child, ever after, should find a sacred
+pleasure in visiting the place where prayer is wont to be made, which at
+first was hallowed and sweetened by tender and endearing associations.
+
+And we would here remark, that it is chiefly by the power of association
+that young children can be supposed to be benefited by such teachings
+and examples.
+
+A striking incident occurred in my mother's nursery, not only
+illustrative of the power of association, but showing how very tenacious
+is the memory of young children.
+
+My mother had a fit of sickness when my little brother was but seven
+months old, and she was obliged to wean him at that early age.
+
+He was always a feeble child and clung to our mother with almost a
+death-grasp. The weaning of that child will never fade from my
+recollection. In fact our mother used to say that that boy was never
+weaned.
+
+When he was about a year old, he was found fast asleep one day behind
+the bed-room door, leaning his little head upon a chest. Over the chest
+was a line, and across the line had been thrown a chintz shawl,
+memorable as having always been worn by our mother when nursing her
+children. In one hand he had hold of the end of the shawl, which he
+could just reach, and he was sucking the thumb of the other.
+
+This shawl, which this little child had not previously seen for some
+time, was associated in his mind with its sweetest, but short-lived
+comfort. This fact will serve to explain the propriety of taking all the
+ordinary week day play-things from children on the Sabbath, and
+substituting in their place others more quiet--for instance, relating
+Scripture stories, explaining Scripture pictures, and the like.
+
+Such scenes and experience as have been above alluded to, must be more
+or less familiar to every faithful and praying mother. Children who have
+been dedicated to God, as was Samuel, and David, and Timothy, in all
+ages of the world, will be found in after life to be, to the praise, and
+glory, and riches of God's grace, vouchsafed to parents, in answer to
+their faith and prayers, and pious teachings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+THE YOUNGLING OF THE FLOCK.
+
+
+  Welcome! thrice welcome to my heart, sweet harbinger of bliss!
+  How have I looked, till hope grew sick, for a moment bright as this;
+  Thou hast flashed upon my aching sight when fortune's clouds are dark,
+  The sunny spirit of my dreams--the dove unto mine ark.
+
+  Oh! no, not even when life was new, and life and hope were young,
+  And o'er the firstling of my flock with raptured gaze I hung,
+  Did I feel the glow that thrills me now, the yearnings fond and deep,
+  That stir my bosom's inmost strings as I watch thy placid sleep!
+
+  Though loved and cherished be the flower that springs 'neath summer skies,
+  The bud that blooms 'mid wintry storms more tenderly we prize.
+  One does but make our bliss more bright; the other meets our eye,
+  Like a radiant star, when all besides have vanished from on high.
+
+  Sweet blossom of my stormy hour, star of my troubled heaven,
+  To thee that passing sweet perfume, that soothing light is given;
+  And precious art thou to my soul, but dearer far than thou,
+  A messenger of peace and love art sent to cheer me now.
+
+  What, tho' my heart be crowded close with inmates dear though few,
+  Creep in, my little smiling _babe_, there's still a niche for you;
+  And should another claimant rise, and clamor for a place,
+  Who knows but room may yet be found, if it wears as fair a face.
+
+  I cannot save thee from the griefs to which our flesh is heir,
+  But I can arm thee with a spell, life's keenest ills to bear.
+  I may not fortune's frowns avert, but I can with thee pray
+  For wealth this world can never give nor ever take away.
+
+  But wherefore doubt that He who makes the smallest bird his care,
+  And tempers to the _new shorn lamb_ the blast it ill could bear,
+  Will still his guiding arm extend, his glorious plan pursue,
+  And if he gives thee ills to bear, will give thee courage too.
+
+  Dear youngling of my little flock, the loveliest and the last,
+  'Tis sweet to dream what thou may'st be, when long, long years have past;
+  To think when time hath blanched my hair, and others leave my side,
+  Thou may'st be still my prop and stay, my blessing and my pride.
+
+  And when this world has done its worst, when life's fevered fit is o'er,
+  And the griefs that wring my weary heart can never touch it more,
+  How sweet to think thou may'st be near to catch my latest sigh,
+  To bend beside my dying bed and close my glazing eye.
+
+  Oh! 'tis for offices like these the last sweet child is given;
+  The mother's joy, the father's pride, the fairest boon of heaven:
+  Their fireside plaything first, then of their failing strength the rock,
+  The rainbow to their wavering years, the youngling of their flock.
+
+                                               ALARIC A. WATTS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+THE MOTHER OF SAMSON.
+
+
+In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Judges is recorded the short
+but suggestive story which is our Bible lesson for the present month.
+Horeb is long since left behind. The evil generation, who forty years
+tried the patience of Jehovah, have fallen in the wilderness, and their
+successors are now in possession of the promised land. Moses, and
+Joshua, and Caleb, have gone to their rest, and Israel, bereft of their
+counsel, follow wise or evil advices as a wayward fancy may dictate, and
+receive a corresponding recompense at the hands of their God. The
+children proved in no respect wiser or more obedient than their fathers.
+Again and again "they forsook the Lord and served the idols of the
+Canaanites, and in wrath He gave them up to their enemies." Often in
+pity he raised up for them deliverers who would lead them for a time in
+better paths, "but when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted
+themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve
+them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings
+nor from their stubborn way," and therefore were they often for long
+tedious years in bondage to the various nations which God had left in
+the land "to prove them whether they would walk in his ways." It was
+during one of these seasons of trouble that the subject of our study is
+mentioned. She was the wife of Manoah, a citizen of Zorah, of the tribe
+of Dan. Of her previous history, and the events of her after life, we
+know nothing. He who sitteth on the circle of the heavens, and beholdeth
+all things that are done under the sun, and readeth all hearts, had
+marked her out as the instrument, wherewith he would work to get glory
+to himself, and however little known to others, He deemed her worthy of
+this distinguished honor, and to receive a direct communication from
+himself. Of her character nothing is said, but we gather with unerring
+certainty that she was a self-denying, obedient child of God, for He
+would not have chosen one who would not adhere strictly to his every
+injunction.
+
+It is not necessary that we should detail every incident of those
+interviews with the angel Jehovah, which the mother of Samson was
+permitted to enjoy. Take your Bible, friend, and read for yourself in
+words more befitting than we can use, and as you rise from the perusal,
+if the true spirit of a Christian reigns in your heart, you will perhaps
+exclaim, "Oh, that the Lord would come to me also and tell me how I
+shall order my children that so they may be the subjects of his grace
+and instruments of his will!" If you meditate deeply while you read,
+perhaps you will conclude that in His directions to this mother, our
+Heavenly Father has revealed to us wonderful and important things, which
+may answer us instead of direct communications from Himself, and which,
+if heeded and obeyed, will secure to us great peace and satisfaction.
+Bear in mind, that he who speaks is our Creator--that all the wonders of
+the human frame are perfectly familiar to Him, and that He knows far
+more than earthly skill and science have ever been able to ascertain, or
+even hint at, concerning the relations which Himself ordained. He comes
+to Manoah's wife with these words: "Now, therefore, beware, and drink
+not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, lo! thou
+shall conceive and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for
+the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb." Can you discern
+in this only an allusion to Jewish customs and ceremonies, long since
+obsolete, and in no way interesting to us, except as a matter of
+history? Can you not rather see gleaming out a golden rule which all
+would be blessed in following? To us, in this history, Jehovah says,
+"Mother, whatever you wish your child to be, that must you also in all
+respects be yourself." Samson is to be consecrated to God by the most
+solemn of vows all the days of his life, and the conditions of that vow
+his mother is commanded to fulfill from the moment that she is
+conscious of his existence until he is weaned, a period of four years at
+least, according to the custom of her time.
+
+These thoughts introduce to us a theme on which volumes have been
+written and spoken. Men of deep research and profound judgment have been
+ready to say to all the parents of earth, "Whatever ye are such will
+also your children prove always, and in every particular to be;" and
+there are not wanting multitudes of facts to strengthen and confirm the
+position. In certain aspects of it it is assuredly true, since the
+principal characteristics of the race remain from age to age the same.
+Nor is it disproved by what seem at first adverse facts, for although
+children seem in physical and intellectual constitution often the direct
+opposite of their parents, yet a close study into the history of
+families may only prove, that if unlike those parents in general
+character, they have nevertheless inherited that particular phase which
+governed the period from which they date their existence. No person
+bears through life precisely the same dispositions, or is at all times
+equally under the same influences or governed by the same motives. The
+gentle and amiable by nature may come into circumstances which shall
+induce unwonted irritability and ill-humor; the irascible and
+passionate, surrounded in some favored time, by all that heart can wish,
+may seem as lovely as though no evil tempers had ever deformed them; and
+the children who may be the offspring of these episodes in life, may
+bear indeed a character differing wholly from the usual character of
+their parents, but altogether corresponding to the brief and unusual
+state which ruled their hour of beginning life. So is it also in
+physical constitution. The feeble and sickly have sometimes intervals of
+health, and the robust see months of languor and disease. Hence,
+perhaps, the differences which are observable many times in the children
+of the same family with regard to health and natural vigor.
+
+We cannot enter into the subject. It is wide and extended as human
+nature itself. It is also, apart from the Gospel of God's grace, a very
+discouraging subject to the parent who contemplates it with
+seriousness, and with an earnest desire to ascertain the path of duty.
+"How useless," we may be tempted to exclaim, "any attempt to gain an end
+which is so uncertain as the securing any given constitution, either of
+body or mind, for my children. To-day I am in health, full of
+cheerfulness and hope; a year hence I may be broken and infirm, a prey
+to depressing thoughts and melancholy forbodings. My mind is now
+vigorous and active; who knows how soon the material shall subject the
+intellectual and clog every nobler faculty? What will it suffice that
+to-day I feel myself controlled by good motives, and swayed by just
+principles, and possessed of a well-balanced character, since in some
+evil hour, influences wholly unexpected may gain the ascendancy, and I
+be so unlike my present self that pitying friends can only wonder and
+whisper, How changed! and enemies shall glory in my fall. No. It is vain
+to strive after certainty in this world of change and vicissitude, since
+none of us can tell what himself shall be on the morrow. Do what I will,
+moreover, my child can only inherit a sinful nature." In the midst of
+gloomy thoughts like these, we turn to the story of Samson's mother, and
+hear Jehovah directing her to walk before Him in the spirit of
+consecration, which is to be the life-long spirit of her son. He surely
+intimates that the child's character begins with, and depends upon, that
+of the mother. A ray of light and encouragement dawns upon us. True, we
+are fickle and changeable, and subject to vicissitude; but He, our God,
+is far above all these shifting scenes, and all the varying
+circumstances of this mortal life are under his control, and he can turn
+the hearts of men as He will; His counsel shall stand. True, we are
+transgressors like our first father, partakers of his fallen nature, and
+inheritors of the curse; but "where sin abounds, grace does much more
+abound," and "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
+made a curse for us." For all the evils under which we groan, the Gospel
+has a remedy, and we have faith that in spite of all obstacles and
+difficulties, our Savior will yet present us, as individuals, faultless
+before the throne. Why may not our faith take a still higher flight?
+There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises. The Holy
+Spirit, first of all, shall be given to all who ask. They who hunger and
+thirst for righteousness shall be filled. He has never said to the seed
+of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. There are on almost every page of the
+sacred word, these precious promises. By them you are encouraged daily
+in your onward struggle, Christian friend. What shall hinder you now
+from taking them to your heart as a mother with the same faith? If God
+is able to secure your soul against all evil influences, yes, even
+against the arch enemy himself, and if he has made the character of your
+child to depend upon your own in any degree, why may you not plead the
+promises of His word with double power, when your prayers ascend not
+merely for yourself, but for another immortal being whom he has so
+intimately associated with you. You are accustomed daily to seek from
+Him holy influences; you pray that you may grow in grace and knowledge,
+and be kept from the evil that is in the world, and from dishonoring
+your Savior. Can you not offer these same petitions as a mother, and beg
+all these blessings in behalf of your child, who is to take character
+from you? Can you not consecrate yourself in a peculiarly solemn manner
+to the Lord, and viewing the thousand influences which may affect you,
+pray to be kept from all which would be adverse to the best good of the
+precious soul to be intrusted to you, and believe by all you know of
+your Heavenly Father and of his plan of grace, that you will be accepted
+and your petitions answered? And then can you not _act_ upon that faith?
+Desiring your child to be a man of prayer, will you not, during the
+years in which you are acting directly on him, give yourself much to
+prayer? Hoping that he may not be slothful, but an active and diligent
+servant of his Lord, will you not give your earnest soul and busy hands
+to the work which you find to do? Wishing him to be gentle and lovely,
+will you not strive to clothe yourself with meekness? In short, will you
+not cultivate every characteristic that is desirable for the devoted
+Christian, in order that, at least, your child may enter on life with
+every possible advantage which you can give him? And since a sane mind,
+and rightly-moving heart, are greatly dependent on a sound body, will
+you not study to be yourself, by temperance and moderation, and
+self-denial and activity, in the most perfect health which you can by
+any effort gain?
+
+Who does not believe that if all Christian mothers would thus believe
+and act, most blessed results would be secured? The subject appeals to
+fathers also, and equal responsibility rests upon them.
+
+Some will doubtless be ready to say, "This would require us to live in
+the spirit of a Nazarite's vow all the time. You have drawn for us a
+plan of life which is difficult to follow, and demands all our
+vigilance, constant striving, and unwearied labors." True, friends; but
+the end to be gained is worth the cost, and you have "God
+all-sufficient" for your helper.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+  _June_ 2, 1852.
+
+MY DEAR MADAM,--I send you an extract from an unpublished
+memoir of the Rev. E.J.P. Messinger, who died in Africa, where he was
+sent as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. This biography
+is not finished; but I think the following passage is well adapted to
+your Magazine.
+
+                            Yours, with respect,
+                          STEPHEN H. TYNG.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE BOY WHO NEVER FORGOT HIS MOTHER.
+
+
+When James was ten years old his father was suddenly removed by death.
+His mother was then left to provide for the aged mother of her husband,
+as well as her own little family, of whom the youngest was an infant of
+a few weeks old. This was a weary and toilsome task. Neither of her sons
+were old enough to render her any assistance on the farm, and the
+slender income arising from it would not warrant the expense of hiring
+needful laborers. She was obliged to lease it to others, and the rent of
+her little farm, together with the avails of their own industry, became
+the support of the widow and fatherless. With this she was still able to
+send her children to school, and to give them all the advantages which
+her retired dwelling allowed.
+
+It was during these first years of his mother's lonely widowhood that
+the tenderness and the loveliness of her son's character were brought
+out to view. All that he could do to relieve her under her burden became
+his delight. Though but a child, he was ready to make every sacrifice to
+promote her comfort and happiness, and to gratify and console his aged
+grandmother. Attention to his mother's wants from this time entered into
+all his plans of life. Her interests and welfare were a part of his
+constant thoughts. It seemed to be his highest earthly delight to
+increase her happiness and to relieve her trials. He never forgot his
+mother. He might be called "the boy who always loved his mother."
+Beautiful trait of character! And God blessed him in his own character
+and life, according to his promise. After he had gone from his native
+home to enter upon the business of life, this trait in his character was
+very constant and very remarkable. At a subsequent period, when his
+younger brother was about leaving home to learn a trade, James wrote to
+him, "Mother informs me that you intend learning a trade. I am very glad
+of it, because I know that it will be advantageous to you. But before
+you leave home, I hope you will endeavor to leave our dear mother, and
+grandmother, and the rest of the family, as comfortable as possible. The
+desire of mother that I should come home and in some measure supply your
+place, I should not hesitate to comply with, had I not been strongly
+impressed with the idea that I could render more substantial help by
+remaining here than by coming home. But I hope before you leave home you
+will do everything you can for mother; and should you be near home, that
+you will often visit them, and afford them all the assistance in your
+power. You know, dear brother, that mother has had many hardships for
+our sakes. Well do I remember how she used to go out in cold, stormy
+weather, to assist us about our work, in order to afford us the
+opportunity of attending school. May we live to enjoy the pleasure of
+having it in our power to return in some small degree the debt we owe
+her, by contributing to her comfort in the decline of life."
+
+Then again he wrote to his sister, referring to his brother's absence:
+"I scarcely know how you will get along without him, as mother wrote me
+he was going to learn a trade this fall. You must try to do all you can
+to help along. Think how much trouble and hardship mother has undergone
+for our sakes. Surely we are old enough to take some of the burden off
+her hands. I hope you will not neglect these hints. Never suffer mother
+to undergo any hardship of which you can relieve her. Strive to do all
+you can to lessen the cares and anxieties which must of necessity come
+upon her. Be kind, obedient, and cheerful in the performance of every
+duty. Consider it a pleasure to do anything by which you can render
+assistance to her."
+
+To another sister he wrote, "I hope you will do all you can to
+contribute to the assistance and comfort of grandmother and mother. You
+have it in your power to do much for them. Take care that you never
+grieve them by folly or misconduct. If my influence will have any effect
+on your mind, think how much your brother wishes you to behave well, and
+to render yourself useful and beloved; but remember above all, that God
+always sees you, and that you never can be guilty of a fault that is not
+known to him. Strive then to be dutiful and obedient to our only
+remaining parent, and to be kind and affectionate to all around you."
+
+These are beautiful exhibitions of his filial love. A remembrance of his
+mother's wants and sorrows was a constantly growing principle of his
+youthful heart. It was a spirit, too, which never forsook him through
+his whole subsequent life. Even while on his bed of death in Africa, his
+heart still yearned over the sorrows and cares of his widowed mother.
+Then he gave directions for the sale of his little earthly property,
+that the avails of it might be sent back to America to his mother.
+Though the sum was small it was enough to contribute much to her comfort
+for her remaining years. How precious is such a recollection of a boy
+who never forgot, and never ceased to love his mother. What a beauty
+does this fact add to the character and conduct of a youth! How valuable
+is such a tribute to the memory of a youth, "He never forgot his
+mother!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.
+
+     "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+     them."--MATTHEW 6:6.
+
+
+In an obscure country village lived two little girls of nearly the same
+age, named Annie Grey and Charlotte Murray; their homes were not very
+distant from each other, and they were constant companions and
+playmates.
+
+Charlotte Murray was the eldest of five children, and her parents,
+though poor, were kept removed from want by constant frugality and
+industry. Her father labored for the neighboring farmers, and her mother
+was a thrifty, notable housewife, somewhat addicted to loud talking and
+scolding, but considered a very good sort of woman.
+
+Charlotte was ten years old, and assisted her mother very much in
+attending to the children, and performing many light duties about the
+house. She was healthy, robust and good-natured, but unfortunately had
+never received any religious instruction, more than an occasional
+attendance at church with her mother, and thus was entirely ignorant of
+any higher motives of action than to please her parents, which, though
+in itself commendable, often led her to commit serious faults. She did
+not scruple to tell a falsehood to screen herself or brothers from
+punishment, and would often misrepresent the truth for the sake of
+obtaining praise. Charlotte was also very fond of dress, and as her
+parents' means forbade the indulgence of this feeling, she loved to
+decorate herself with every piece of faded ribbon or soiled lace that
+came in her way.
+
+Annie Grey was the only child of a poor widow, who supported herself and
+daughter by spinning and carding wool for the farmers' wives. Mrs. Grey
+was considered much poorer than any of her neighbors, but her humble
+cottage was always neat and in perfect order, and the small garden patch
+which supplied the few vegetables which she needed was never choked with
+weeds. The honeysuckle was carefully trained about the door, and little
+Annie delighted in tying up the pinks, and fastening strings for the
+morning glories that she loved so much.
+
+Mrs. Grey, though poor in this world's goods, had laid up for herself
+"those treasures in Heaven, which no moth nor rust can corrupt." She had
+once been in better circumstances, and surrounded by all that makes life
+happy, but her mercies had been taken from her one by one, until none
+was left save little Annie; then she learned that "whom God loveth, he
+chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth;" and thus were
+her afflictions sanctified unto her.
+
+Annie was a delicate little girl, and had never associated much with the
+village children in their rude sports. Once, when her mother spent a
+week at Mrs. Murray's, assisting her to spin, she had taken Annie, and
+thus a friendship commenced between herself and Charlotte.
+
+Annie had been early taught by her mother to abhor deceit and falsehood
+as hateful to God, and Charlotte often startled her by equivocating, but
+she had never known her to tell a direct untruth, and she loved her
+because she was affectionate and kind. Some kind and pious ladies had
+succeeded in establishing a Sunday-school in the village, and Annie was
+among the first who attended; she told Charlotte, who prevailed upon her
+mother to let her go, and they were both regular scholars.
+
+One pleasant Sunday morning, the two little girls went together to
+school, and after all the children had recited their lessons, the
+superintendent rose and said that a good missionary was about to leave
+his home, and go to preach the Gospel to the heathens far over the sea,
+and that they wanted to raise a subscription and purchase Bibles to send
+out with him, that he might distribute them among those poor people who
+had never heard God's holy word.
+
+He told them how the poor little children were taught to lie and steal
+by their parents, and how they worshiped images of carved wood, and
+stone, and sometimes killed themselves and drowned the infants, thinking
+thus to please the senseless things they called their gods. He said that
+children who could read and write, and go to church, ought to be
+grateful to God for placing them in a Christian country, and they should
+pray for the poor little heathen children, and do all they could to
+provide instruction for them.
+
+"I do not expect you to do much, my dear children," he said, "but all I
+ask is, to do what you can; some of you have money given you to buy toys
+or cakes; would you not rather know that it had helped a little heathen
+child to come to God, than to spend it in anything so soon destroyed and
+forgotten? And to those who have no money, let me ask, can you not earn
+it? There are very many ways in which children may be useful, and God
+will most graciously accept a gift which has cost you labor or
+self-denial. You remember Jesus himself said that the poor widow's two
+mites were of more value than all that the rich cast into the treasury,
+because they gave of their abundance, but she cast in all that she had;
+will you not, therefore, endeavor to win the Savior's blessing by
+following the widow's example, and 'Go and do likewise?'"
+
+The children listened very attentively to all the superintendent said,
+and after school there was much talking among the scholars as to the
+amount to be given, and how to obtain it. The following Sunday was
+appointed to receive the collection, and all seemed animated with a
+generous feeling, and anxious to do what they could.
+
+"I have a bright new penny," cried little Patty Green, who was scarcely
+six years old. "I didn't like to spend it, because it was so pretty,
+but I will send it to the little heathen children to buy Bibles with!"
+
+"And I," added James Blair, "have a tenpence that Mr. Jones gave me for
+holding his horse; I was saving it to buy a knife, but I can wait a
+while for that; uncle has promised me one next Christmas."
+
+"You may add my sixpence to it, brother," said his sister Lucy. "I did
+want a pair of woolen gloves, but it is long until winter, and I do not
+need them now."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed merry, good-natured Simon Bounce. "Ten and six are
+sixteen, and Patty's bright penny makes seventeen; and let me see, I've
+got fivepence, and John Blake offered me three cents for my ball, that
+will make two shillings exactly, quite a good beginning. Why what a
+treasure there will be if we all put in our savings at this rate!"
+
+Thus talking, the children strolled away in groups, and Charlotte and
+Annie walked slowly toward their homes. Annie looked thoughtful, and
+Charlotte spoke first.
+
+"I wish," said she, "that father would give me sixpence; but I know he
+wont, for he never goes to church, and cares nothing about the heathen,
+and as for mother, she would call me a simpleton if I was to ask her. I
+am determined I wont go to school next Sunday if I can't take something,
+it looks so mean; I will say I am sick and cannot go."
+
+"Oh, Charlotte!" said Annie, "that would be a great deal worse than not
+giving anything, for it would not only be a falsehood, but you would
+tempt God to make you sick. I know you do not mean what you say."
+
+"You always take everything so seriously," replied the other, laughing
+and looking a little ashamed. "But what are you going to do, Annie? Your
+mother cannot give you anything; but I am sure she would if she had it,
+she is so kind, and never scolds. I wish mother was so always."
+
+"I have been thinking," returned Annie, "that if I take the two hours
+mother gives me to play in the garden, and card wool for her, as she has
+more than she can do this week, perhaps she will give me two or three
+pennies. I wish I could earn more, but I will do what I can."
+
+"Maybe your mother will let me help her too," said Charlotte, eagerly;
+"but I have so little time to play that I could not earn much, and I
+would be ashamed to give so little. I would rather put in more than any
+one, it would please the teacher and make the girls envy me."
+
+"I am sure," answered Annie, gently, "the teacher would not like us to
+do anything that would make another envy us, because that is a very
+wicked and unhappy feeling, and though she might be pleased to see us
+put in so much, yet it is God whom we are seeking to serve, and he looks
+at the heart, and knows our feelings. He tells us not to give alms to be
+seen of men, and you remember, Charlotte, what the superintendent said
+about the widow's mite, which pleased Jesus, though the gift was so
+small."
+
+"You speak like a superintendent yourself," cried Charlotte, gaily, "but
+ask your mother, Annie, and I will come over to-night and hear what she
+says."
+
+They had now reached Mrs. Grey's house, and bidding each other good-by
+they parted. Charlotte hurried home to tell her mother about the
+contributions, and was laughed at, as she expected; however, Mrs. Murray
+said she would give, if she had it to spare, but charity began at home,
+and it was not for poor folks to trouble their heads about such matters.
+Let those who had means, and nothing else to do, attend to it.
+
+When Annie told her mother what had been said in school, Mrs. Grey told
+her that it had also been given out in church, and a collection was to
+be taken up on the following Sunday, when the missionary himself would
+preach for them.
+
+"I shall give what little I can," she added, with a slight sigh. "I wish
+it was more, but my earnest prayers shall accompany this humble offering
+to the Lord."
+
+Annie now unfolded her plan to her mother, and asked her consent, which
+was readily given, and then Annie told her of Charlotte's request. And
+her mother said that although she did not require Charlotte's help,
+still she would not refuse her, as she liked to encourage every good
+inclination. And when Charlotte came in the evening, Annie had the
+pleasure of telling her that her mother had consented, and would give
+them a little pile of wool to card every day, for which each should
+receive a penny.
+
+"And that will be sixpence a-piece, you know," continued Annie, "and we
+can change it to a silver piece, for fear we might drop a penny by the
+way."
+
+"Oh, how nice that will be," cried Charlotte. "Do you think many of the
+girls will put in as much? I hope, at any rate, that none will put in
+any more."
+
+Then, thanking Annie, she ran home, leaving her friend not a little
+puzzled to know why Charlotte should wish to make a show.
+
+The difference between the little girls was this; Charlotte only sought
+to please others from a selfish feeling to obtain praise, while Annie
+had been taught that God is the searcher of all hearts, and to please
+him should be our first and only aim.
+
+The next morning Annie was up bright and early, and it seemed to her
+that the wool was never so free from knots before. After she had said
+her prayers in the morning, and read a chapter with her mother, the
+little girl ate her frugal breakfast, and seated herself at her work,
+and so nimbly did she ply the cards, that her task was accomplished full
+half an hour before the usual time. She was just beginning her own pile
+when Charlotte came in; they sat down together, and worked away
+diligently. Charlotte said that her mother laughed at her, but told her
+she might do as she pleased, for it was something new for her to prefer
+work to play, and availing herself of this permission she came.
+
+Annie, who was accustomed to the work, finished her pile first; she then
+assisted Charlotte, and they each received a penny; there was plenty of
+time beside for Annie to walk home with her friend.
+
+The two following days passed in the same manner, but on Thursday
+Charlotte went out with a party of girls, blackberrying, thinking she
+could make it up on Friday; but it was as much as she could do to earn
+the penny with Annie's assistance, and Saturday was a busy day, so her
+mother could not spare her, and Charlotte had but fourpence at the end
+of the week. Annie had worked steadily, and on Saturday afternoon
+received the last penny from her mother. She had now six cents, and
+after supper went with a light heart to get them changed for a sixpenny
+piece, at the village store.
+
+On the way she met Charlotte. "I could not come to-day," said the
+latter. "Mother could not spare me, and I cried enough about it. I might
+have earned another penny, and then I would have changed it for a silver
+fivepence. Is it not too bad? How much have you got?"
+
+"I have six pennies," answered Annie, "And I am going to change them
+now; but if you feel so bad about it, I will give you one of them, and
+then we will each have alike; it makes no difference, you know, who puts
+it in the box, so that it all goes for the one good purpose."
+
+"How kind you are! How much I love you!" exclaimed Charlotte,
+gratefully, as she took the money, and kissed her friend. "I will run
+home and get my fourpence directly."
+
+Annie went on with a contented heart; she had obliged her companion and
+done no injustice to the good cause, since Charlotte would put the money
+to the same use. The store-keeper changed the pennies for a bright, new
+fivepence, and she went on her way rejoicing.
+
+(To be Continued.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE RIDDLE SOLVED.
+
+
+Some years since, the pastor of a country congregation in a neighboring
+State was riding through his parish in company with a ministerial
+friend. As they passed a certain house, the pastor said to his friend,
+"Here is a riddle which I wish you would solve for me. In yonder house
+lives one of my elders, a man of sterling piety and great consistency of
+character, who prays in his closet, in his family, and in public. He has
+seven or eight children, several of whom are grown up, and yet not one
+is hopefully converted, or even at all serious. Just beyond him, on the
+adjoining farm, lives a man of the same age, who married the elder's
+sister. This man, if a Christian at all, is one of those who will 'be
+saved so as by fire;' he is very loose and careless in his talk, is in
+bad repute for honesty, and, although not guilty of any offense which
+church authorities can take hold of, does many things which grieve the
+people of God, and are a stumbling-block to others. Yet, of his eleven
+or twelve children, seven are valued and useful Christians, and there is
+every reason to anticipate that the rest, as they grow up, will follow
+in the same course. Now, solve me this difficulty, that the careless
+professor should be so blessed in his family, while the godly man mourns
+an entire absence of converting grace, especially as both households are
+as nearly equal as may be in their social position, their educational
+facilities, and their means of grace?"
+
+"Let me know all the facts," said the pastor's friend, "before I give my
+opinion. Have you ever considered the character of the _mothers_,
+respectively?"
+
+At once the pastor clasped his hands and said, "I have it; the secret is
+out. It is strange I never thought of it before. The elder's wife,
+although, as I trust, a good woman, is far from being an active
+Christian. She never seems to take any pleasure in religious
+conversation, but whenever it is introduced, either is silent or
+speedily diverts it to some worldly subject. She is one of those persons
+with whom you might live in the same house for weeks and months, and yet
+never discover that she was a disciple of Christ. The other lady, on the
+contrary, is as eminent for godliness as her husband is for
+inconsistency. Her heart is in the cause; she prays with and for her
+children, and whatever example they have in their father, in her they
+have a fine model of active, fervent, humble piety, seated in the heart
+and flowing out into the life."
+
+The friends prosecuted the inquiry no further; they felt that the riddle
+was solved, and they rode on in silence, each meditating on the wide
+extent, the far-spreading results of that marvellous agency--_a mother's
+influence_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PRAYER FOR CHILDREN SOMETIMES UNAVAILING.
+
+
+Matthew, in his Gospel (chap. 20th), has recorded a highly instructive
+incident in relation to the disciples, James and John, whose parents
+were Zebedee and Salome. The latter, it would seem, being of an
+ambitious turn, was desirous that her two sons should occupy prominent
+stations in the temporal kingdom, which, according to the popular
+belief, Jesus Christ was about to establish in the world. That she had
+inspired _them_ also with these ambitious aspirations, is apparent from
+the narrative; she even induces them to accompany her in her visit to
+Christ, and so far they concurred with her designs. On entering his
+presence she prefers her request, which is, that these sons may sit, the
+one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom. The
+request was made with due respect, and, doubtless, in all sincerity.
+
+Now, it cannot be denied that there may be a just and reasonable desire
+on the part of parents, that their children should be advanced to posts
+of honor and distinction in the world. But that desire should ever be
+accompanied with a wish that those honors and distinctions should be
+attained by honest and honorable means, and be employed as
+instrumentalities of good. If such wish be wanting, the desire is only
+selfish. And selfishness seems to have characterized the desires of
+Salome, and probably of James and John. We trust that they all, at
+length, had more correct views of the character and kingdom of Jesus,
+and sought and obtained spiritual honor in it, infinitely to be
+preferred to the honor which cometh from men.
+
+But at the time we speak of, the desires of the mother were narrow and
+selfish. Yet, it is remarkable with what courtesy Christ treated her and
+her sons, while at the same time he gave them to understand that they
+did not know the nature of their request, nor the great matters involved
+in it.
+
+Passing from the contemplation of the prayer of Salome for the temporal
+advancement of her sons to the prayers of many parents, at the present
+day, for the salvation of their children, have we not reason to
+apprehend the prevalence in them, if not of a similar ambition, of a
+similar selfishness? I would wish to speak with just caution on a
+subject of so much interest to parents, and one on which I may easily be
+misunderstood. And yet a subject in reference to which the most sad and
+fatal mistakes may be made.
+
+God in his providence has intimately connected parents and children. In
+a sense, parents are the authors of their being; they are their
+guardians; they are bound to provide for them, educate them, teach them
+the knowledge of God, and use all proper means for their present and
+eternal welfare. In all these respects, they are required to do more for
+their children than for the children of others, unless the latter are
+adopted by them, or come under their guardianship. It is doubtless my
+duty and my privilege to seek more directly and more assiduously the
+salvation of my children than the salvation of the children of others.
+This seems to be according to the will of God, and according to the
+family constitution. And, moreover, it is most reasonable and right.
+
+And if parents have a just apprehension of their responsibilities, they
+cannot rest satisfied without laboring for the salvation of their
+offspring, and laboring assiduously and perseveringly for its
+attainment. And among other things which they will do--they will _pray_.
+The Christian parent who does not pray for his children, is not entitled
+to the name of Christian. There is no such Christian parent, and we
+doubt if there can be.
+
+But it is obvious that the spirit of Salome, at least in the selfishness
+of that spirit, may sometimes be even the governing principle of the
+parent in his prayers for the salvation of his child. Knowing, as he
+must know, something of the value of his child's soul, and the eternal
+misery of it if finally lost, how natural to desire his conversion as
+the only means of escape from a doom so awful! And we admit that the
+parent is justified, and his parental affinities require him to make
+all possible efforts to bring that soul to repentance. And he should
+pray and wrestle with God, as fervently, as importunately, as
+perseveringly as the object sought is important and desirable.
+
+But, then, here is a point never to be overlooked, and yet is it not
+often overlooked? viz., that the grand governing motive of the parent in
+seeking the salvation of his child should be the glory of God--not
+simply the honor of that soul, as an heir of a rich inheritance--not
+simply the exemption of his child from misery--nor yet his joy, as a
+participator in joys and glories which mortal eye has not yet seen, nor
+human heart yet conceived. The glory of God! the glory of Jesus! that is
+the all in all--the paramount motive, which is to guide, govern parents,
+and all others in their desires and labors for the salvation of children
+and friends!
+
+I do not mean to intimate that parents _can_ ever, or _ought_ ever to
+take pleasure in the contemplated ruin of their children. God takes no
+pleasure in the death of him that dieth. But it is not enough for the
+parent simply to wish his child _saved_. That desire may be selfish, and
+only selfish. And that prayer which terminates there, may be as selfish
+as was the desire of Salome that her sons might occupy the chief places
+of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The parent may, indeed, wish, and ought
+to wish, that his child may be _saved,_ and for that he should labor and
+toil--but in a way which will illustrate the marvels of redeeming mercy,
+and which shall be in consonance with the established principles of the
+Gospel.
+
+The parent, then, who prays for the salvation of his child, irrespective
+of all other considerations, excepting his exemption from misery, prays
+in vain, for he prays with a heart which is supremely selfish. Where is
+the parent who could not thus pray? Pray, do I say; such is not prayer.
+Such pleas, however ardent, however long, however importunate, can never
+be consistently answered. Prayer, to be acceptable and effectual, must
+always have the glory of God in view, and be offered in submission to
+the divine will. It must have reference not merely to what is good, but
+to a good which shall consist with those eternal principles of justice
+and mercy, according to which God has decided to conduct the affairs of
+his spiritual kingdom. We may never wish our children to sit with Christ
+in his kingdom to the exclusion of others. We may not wish them
+introduced into that kingdom on other principles, or by other
+instrumentalities, than those which God has recognized and appointed.
+The great law which governs in relation to other matters is to govern
+here. Whatsoever ye do or seek, do and seek, even the salvation of your
+children, for the glory of God.'
+
+And, now, in conclusion, allow me to inquire whether it be not owing to
+this selfish feeling that so many parents, who nevertheless abound in
+prayer for their children, fail in seeing those prayers answered? They
+fail, not because they do not pray often and earnestly, but because they
+desire the salvation of their children rather than a humble, holy,
+self-denying walk with God on earth. They forget that the chief end of
+man is to glorify God, and that the enjoyment of Him is an effect or
+result of such a course.
+
+The object of the writer is not to discourage parents in praying for
+their children, not for a moment, only, dear friend, I show you "a more
+excellent way." I would urge you to abound in prayer still more than you
+do. Pray on--"pray always"--pray, and "never faint." But, at the same
+time, pray so that you may obtain. AMICUS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SUPERIOR REVERENCE FOR THE SABBATH IN SCOTLAND, as aptly
+represented by the anecdote of the American geologist, who was walking
+out for meditation one Sabbath day in Glasgow. As he passed near the
+cottage of a peasant, he was attracted by the sight of a peculiar
+species of stone, and thoughtlessly broke a piece of it. Suddenly a
+window was raised, and a man's coarse voice reprovingly asked, "Ha! man,
+what are ye doing?" "Why, only breaking a piece of stone." "An', sure,"
+was the quaint reply, "ye are doing more than breaking the stone; ye are
+breaking the Lord's day."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE.--No. 1.
+
+LOVE AND FEAR.
+
+  "Do with thy might whatsoever thy hand findeth to do."
+
+
+I rose one morning, before six, to write letters, and hastened to put
+them into the post-office before breakfast. It was a dark, lowery
+morning, not very inviting abroad, for an April shower was then falling.
+
+I had the privilege of depositing my letters in a box kept by Mr. D., a
+thriving merchant, not very remote from my dwelling. As I entered the
+store, Mr. D. expressed surprise to see me out from home at so early an
+hour, remarking that he was sure but few ladies were even up at that
+time, and much less abroad.
+
+I told him in reply, that I had been accustomed from my childhood to
+strive to "do with my might whatsoever my hand found to do." That
+persons often expressed surprise that one so far advanced in life could
+do so much, and endure so much fatigue and labor, and still preserve
+health. I told Mr. D. that I had myself often reflected upon the fact
+that I could do more in one day, with ease and comfort to myself, and
+could endure more hardships, than most others. And when I came to
+analyze the subject, and go back to first principles, I could readily
+perceive all this had grown out of an irrepressible desire to please and
+honor my parents.
+
+My love towards them, coupled with fear, was perfectly unbounded, and
+became the guiding and governing principles of my whole life. I could
+not bear, when a very young child, to have either of my parents even
+raise a finger, accompanied by a look of disapprobation, and whenever
+they did, I would, as soon as I could, unperceived, seek out some
+retired place where I could give vent to my sorrowful feelings and
+troubled conscience.
+
+That I might not often incur their censure, I strove by all possible
+means to do everything to please them. My parents had a large family of
+children; there was a great deal to be done, and our mother was always
+in feeble health. I felt that I could not do enough, each day, in
+sweeping, dusting, mending, &c., besides the ordinary occupation of each
+day, that I might gratify my father, for he was very careful and tender
+of our mother. I was not conscious of a disposition to outvie my
+brothers and sisters, but when anything of consequence was to be done I
+would exert myself to the utmost in my efforts to accomplish the largest
+share. When we went into the garden or the fields to gather fruits or
+vegetables, I was constantly influenced to be diligent, and to make
+haste and gather all I could, so that on our return home I might receive
+the plaudit, "Well done, good and faithful child." So it was in knitting
+and sewing. That I might be able to accomplish more and more each day, I
+would often induce one or more of my sisters to strive with me, to see
+which could do the most in a given period.
+
+So profitable did I find this excitement, that I often carried the
+practice into my hours of study, as when my busy fingers plied the
+needle. And often when I had no one to strive with me, I would strive
+with myself, by watching the clock,--that is, I would see if I could not
+knit or sew this hour more than I did the previous hour, if I could not
+commit to memory more verses, or texts, or lessons, than I had the last
+hour.
+
+In this way I not only cultivated habits of vigorous efforts, but I
+acquired that cheerful, happy disposition which useful occupation is
+always sure to impart. In this way, too, I obtained that kind of
+enthusiasm when anything of importance was to be done, that a boy has
+when he is indulged in going out on a fishing or hunting excursion. A
+boy thus situated, needs no morning summons. On the contrary, he is
+usually on his way to the field of action before it is quite light; and
+it concerns him but little whether he eats or fasts till his toils are
+at an end.
+
+Children, who thus early acquire habits of industry, and a love of
+occupation, instead of living to eat in after life, will eat to live.
+
+Oh, how do early right habits and principles help to form the character,
+and mould the affections, and shape the destiny in all the future plans
+and modes of living. How do they lead their possessor to strive after
+high attainments, not only in this life, but thus lay the foundation for
+activity in the pursuit of high and holy efforts throughout the endless
+ages of eternity.
+
+It will be perceived that the ruling motives of my conduct, in my early
+childhood, towards my parents, were those of love and fear. Indeed these
+are the two great principles that actuate the holy inhabitants of heaven
+towards their Maker, whether they be saints or angels.
+
+It was not the fear of the rod that led me to obey my best of parents.
+It was not all the gifts or personal gratifications that could be
+offered to a child that won my love.
+
+I saw in both of my parents heavenly dispositions, heavenly tendencies,
+drawing them, day by day, towards the great source of all perfection and
+blessedness. I saw the noble and sublime principles of the Gospel acted
+out in the nursery as sedulously as in the sanctuary, in fact far more
+when at home than when abroad, for here there were more ample
+opportunities afforded for their full development than perhaps anywhere
+else. They loved each other with a pure heart, fervently, and they
+sought not only the temporal good of their children, but their eternal
+felicity and happiness. There was no constraint in their daily and
+hourly watchings and teachings, but it was of a ready mind.
+
+They aspired, themselves, after a perfect conformity to the image of the
+blessed Savior--whose name is love--and they taught their children by
+precept, and by their own lovely examples, to walk in his footsteps, who
+said, "Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy."
+
+What powerful motives then have all parents so to demean themselves
+towards each other, and towards their children, as to deserve and to
+secure their filial regard! Parents and children, thus influenced, will
+forever respond to the following beautiful sentiment:
+
+  "Happy the heart where graces reign,
+    Where love inspires the breast;
+  Love is the brightest of the train,
+    And strengthens all the rest."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GOD'S BIBLE, A BOOK FOR ALL.
+
+
+At a meeting of the thirty-sixth anniversary of the American Bible
+Society, May 13, 1852, many thoughts were suggested worthy the special
+attention of all Christian mothers. A few are here registered, in the
+hope that they may continue to call forth the prayers and efforts of all
+Christian parents, and lead them to feel that whatever else they neglect
+in the daily instructions of their children, they cannot safely overlook
+their sacred obligations to see to it that the minds and hearts of their
+children be early imbued with a love and reverence for this Book of
+books.
+
+As was justly remarked, the Bible is the teacher of true philosophy, in
+fact the only fountain of truth, and suggests the best and only plan
+adequate to the conversion of the world.
+
+Let the prayers, then, of all Christian mothers be daily concentrated in
+asking God's blessing upon this noble institution, keeping in mind the
+Savior's last prayer for his beloved disciples, "Sanctify them through
+thy truth: thy word is truth."
+
+We particularly invite attention to a resolution offered on that
+occasion by Rev. Theo. L. Cuyler of Trenton, N.J.:
+
+"_Resolved_, That the adaptedness of the Bible to all conditions of
+society, and all grades of intellect, as shown by past history, brings
+us evidence of its divine origin, and inspires us with hope of its
+future success in enlightening and purifying the world."
+
+Mr. C. remarked--"A wide field swells out before me in this resolution,
+for it is nothing less than the universality of God's Word in its
+complete adaptedness to the possible conditions of humanity. The truth
+which I hold up for you all to gaze upon is, that 'God's Bible is the
+book for all.' Like the air which visits alike the palace and the
+cottage; like the water which meanders its way, or gushes from deep
+fountains for the use of all men; so this book is adapted to the wants
+of all immortal men. It is adapted to every grade of mind and heart,
+rising higher than human intellect ever reached, and descending lower
+than human degradation ever sank.
+
+"Go to that closet in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, and see one of the
+mightiest intellects the world has ever produced, upon whose
+transcendent eloquence a Brougham, a Canning, and the greatest names of
+the age, have hung entranced, bending over the pages of the Book of
+Life. He reads, and writes his thoughts as he reads, until his writings
+become volumes, and the world is blessed with his meditations on the
+whole Bible. So thoroughly does his spirit become imbued with the
+thoughts of this book, that Chalmers was said to have held the whole
+Bible in solution.
+
+"Upon Alpine peaks it spreads a moral verdure which makes their rugged
+valleys smile, and adorns them with flowers of heavenly origin. Upon the
+Virginia plantation, it made Honest John, the happy negro. It was
+adapted to all climates and all conditions of life. It was the only book
+which comforts in the last hour.
+
+"This was vividly illustrated by the closing scene in the life of Sir
+Walter Scott. The window of his chamber was open, through which entered
+the breeze, bearing upon its wings the music of the silvery Tweed, which
+had so often lulled his mighty spirit. His son-in-law was present, to
+whom he said, 'Lockhart, read to me.' Lockhart replied, 'What shall I
+read?' The dying bard turned to him his pale countenance and said,
+'Lockhart, there is but one book!'
+
+"What a tribute from the world's mightiest master of enchantment, who
+had himself penned so many works which were the admiration of his
+fellows, were those brief words uttered, when the spirit hung between
+two worlds, 'There is but one book.' Would you learn true sublimity?
+Throw away Virgil, the Greek and Roman classics, and even Milton and
+Shakspeare, and go to the Bible.
+
+"Amid all turbulence, agitation and danger, there is no other foundation
+upon which we can rest the welfare and peace of society. This is the
+only resort of every scheme of human elevation. This contains the primal
+lessons of all duty. Let reformers recollect this, and let us all gather
+around and protect this pillar of truth. Diffuse this 'blessed book,' as
+one of England's poets, when pressing it to his lips in his dying hour,
+called it. Wheel up this sun of light to the mid-heavens, and cause its
+rays to gleam in every land."
+
+Rev. Mr. Goodell, missionary to Constantinople, remarked, that during
+thirty years residence in Mahomedan countries, he had learned something
+of the importance of that book. The nations of the East are all wrong in
+their conceptions of God. He had often stood upon the goodly mountain,
+Lebanon, and upon the heights around Constantinople, and raised his
+thoughts to God, asking, How long shall this darkness prevail? Without
+this book we could have effected little in our missionary work; but by
+it God hath done great things, whereof we are glad. The Bible was once
+found only in dead languages; now it is translated into the language of
+almost every people with whom we come in contact. Every friend of the
+Bible will rejoice to know that it is becoming the great book of the
+East. Before its translation into the Greco-Armenian, it was a mere
+outside book, kept and admired for its handsome binding, and from a
+superstitious reverence. Now it is an inside book; it has taken hold of
+the heart of the Armenian nation. Once it was looked at; now it is read.
+It has come to assume a great importance in the eyes of that people.
+They have a great anxiety to read. More than one hundred aged women are
+now engaged in learning to read, that they may read the New Testament
+for themselves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Let religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit and breathe
+its life into her heart; refine her affections, sanctify her intellect,
+elevate her aims and hallow her physical beauty, and she is, indeed, to
+our race, of all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our
+glory, the perfection of our life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+PROMISES.
+
+  "And though to his own hurt he swears,
+  Still he performs his word."
+
+
+I was yet a boy, when one day a gentleman came into the lot where my
+father was superintending the in-gathering of his hay crop, and
+addressing himself to a mower in my father's employment, inquired
+whether he would assist him the following day. He replied, "Yes." "How
+is this," said my father; "are you not engaged to mow for me?" "O yes,"
+said the man. "Why, then," continued my father, "do you promise to mow
+for Gen. K----?" "Why," said the man, "I wish to oblige him; I love to
+oblige everybody." "And so," said my father, "you are willing to incur
+the guilt of falsehood, for you cannot perform your promise to him and
+myself, and in the end you must disappoint one of us; and, maybe,
+seriously injure our interests and your reputation."
+
+Nothing, surely, is more common, it is believed, than this heedless
+manner of making promises which cannot be fulfilled. The modes in which
+such promises are made are multitudinous, but it is not within the
+compass of this article to specify them. That they are utterly wrong,
+and indicate, on the part of those who make them, a light regard for
+truth, is obvious. Besides, they often lay the foundation for grievous
+disappointments, they thwart important plans, derange business
+calculations, give birth to vexatious feelings, cause distrust between
+man and man, and sap the foundations of morality and religion. Promises
+should always be made with due caution and due reservation: "If the Lord
+will," "if life is spared," "if unforeseen circumstances do not
+interpose to prevent." It is always easy to state some conditions, or
+make some such reservations. Or, rather, it would be easy, were it not
+that one is often urged beyond all propriety, to make the promise, as if
+the making of it, of course insured its fulfillment, although a
+thousand circumstances may interfere to prevent it.
+
+This is a subject of vast importance to the community. There are evils
+also connected with it of alarming magnitude, and which all needful
+efforts should be made to remove. Especially should this subject attract
+the attention of parents. The mischief often begins with them and around
+their own hearths. How common it is for parents to make promises to
+their children, while the latter are yet tottering from chair to chair,
+which are never designed to be fulfilled. And, at length, the deception
+is discovered by the little prattlers, and often much earlier than
+parents imagine. Often, too, is the parent reminded of his promise and
+of its non-fulfillment. And, sometimes, this is done days and weeks
+after the promise has been made and neglected. The consequence is, that
+the child comes to feel that his parent has little or no regard to truth
+himself, and that truth is a matter of minor importance. So that child
+grows up. So he goes forth into society, and enters upon business. Will
+he be likely to forget the lessons thus early taught him, and the
+example thus early set him?
+
+I am able to illustrate this subject by an incident which occurred in my
+own experience within the last two months. I must tell the story in my
+own simple way, and as it is entirely truthful, I hope salutary
+impressions may be made in every quarter where they are needed, and
+where this article shall be read.
+
+Having occasion for the services of a mechanic in relation to a certain
+piece of work, I called upon one in my neighborhood, then in the
+employment of a gentleman, and was informed, on stating my object, that
+as he should be through with his present engagement on the evening of a
+certain day, he would commence my work on the following morning. The
+specified time arrived, but the man did not appear. I waited two or
+three days, in hourly expectation of his appearance, but was doomed to
+disappointment. At length, I again called upon him and found him still
+in the employment of the gentleman aforenamed. On inquiring the reason
+of his delay, I was informed that on completing his former engagement
+the gentleman had concluded to have more done than he originally
+intended, and insisted upon the continuance of the mechanic in his
+service until his work was entirely finished.
+
+I said to him, "But did you not agree with me for a specified day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did not your engagement with Mr. ---- terminate on the evening previous
+to that day?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Were you under obligation to that gentleman beyond that time?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did not your continuance with him involve a violation of your promise
+to me?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Was not this wrong? and how are you able to justify your conduct?"
+
+"Sir," said he, "you do not understand the matter. I am to blame, but my
+employer is still more to blame. Look at it. I am a mechanic and a poor
+man. I am dependent on my labor for the support of myself and family.
+This gentleman is rich, and gives me a great deal of employment; I do
+not like to disoblige him, and, sir, when I told him, on the termination
+of my engagement to him, that I had promised to enter upon a piece of
+work for you, he would not release me. He claimed that I was in good
+faith bound to work for him till his various jobs were done."
+
+"And did you think so, my friend?"
+
+"No," he replied, "I did not; but he told me that if I did not stay he
+would give me no further employment."
+
+"And so," said I, "you violated your conscience, wronged your own soul,
+disappointed me, and all for the sake of obliging a man who was willing
+that you should suffer in point of conscience and reputation, if his
+selfish purposes might be answered."
+
+"I am sensible," said he, "that I did wrong, but what course shall we
+pursue, who are dependent upon our daily labor, for our support?"
+
+"I admit," said I, "that you and others similarly situated, are under a
+grievous temptation. But honesty, in the long run, is the best policy.
+Acting upon the same principles with the gentleman who has detained you,
+_I_ might hereafter refuse to employ you. And others might refuse, whose
+work you are probably engaged to perform, but are postponing to gratify
+_him_. The consequence of all this is, that your promises will soon pass
+for nothing. You will be considered as a man not of your word, and when
+once your good name is lost, you will become poorer than you now are,
+and remain without employment and without friends."
+
+No one, it is believed, can read the foregoing incident without being
+impressed with the great impropriety chargeable upon the gentleman
+referred to. The temptation he spread before the poor mechanic was
+utterly wrong and unbecoming. It was nothing short of oppression. It was
+bringing his wealth to bear upon a point with which it had no legitimate
+connection. It was placing self before right; it was a reckless
+sacrifice of the interests of others for his own gratification.
+
+That such cases are common, is well known; but their frequency is only a
+proof of the slight regard in which the sacredness of promises is held,
+and to the violation of which employers frequently contribute by the
+temptations which they spread, and the coercion which they practice. We
+do not justify for a single moment the mechanics and laborers who
+violate their pledges. We insist upon it that it is their solemn duty to
+encounter any and every temporal evil rather than sacrifice truth and
+conscience; but it is believed they would seldom be guilty of this
+violation were they not pressed beyond measure by employers.
+
+We must for a moment again advert to parents. You see, friends, what an
+evil exists throughout the community. It is everywhere, and is helping
+to work the ruin of immortal souls. It often begins, it is believed, in
+the family. Parents are guilty, in the first place, and they early
+inoculate their children with the evil. And the infection, once taken,
+is likely to spread and to pervade the whole moral system. It enters
+into other relations of life. It reaches to other departments of duty,
+and tends to destroy our sense of obligation to God. It weakens our
+regard for promises made to the Author of our being. In short, this
+disregard for the fulfillment of sacred promises helps to sap the
+foundations of moral virtue, and to prepare the soul for a world where
+falsehood reigns supreme, and where there is no confidence between man
+and man.
+
+                                VERITAS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TRIALS.
+
+
+The Rev. Wm. Jay has sweetly said of the trials of the people of God:
+"Have they days of affliction? God knows them; knows their source, their
+pressure, how long they have continued, the support they require, and
+the proper time to remove them. Have they days of danger? He knows them,
+and will be a refuge and defense in them. Have they days of duty? He
+knows them, and will furnish the strength and the help they require.
+Have they days of inaction when they are laid aside from their work, by
+accident or disease? He knows them, and says to his servants under every
+privation, 'It is well that it was in thy heart.' Have they days of
+privation when they are denied the ordinances of religion, after seeing
+his power and glory in the temple, and going with the voice of gladness
+to keep holy day? He knows them, and will follow his people when they
+cannot follow him, and be a little sanctuary to them in their losses.
+Have they days of declension and of age in which their strength is fled,
+and their senses fail, and so many of their connection have gone down to
+the dust, evil days, wherein they have no pleasure? He knows them, and
+says, 'I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth. Even down to old age
+I am He, and to hoary hairs will I bear and carry you.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
+
+
+Our friend, Mrs. Sigourney, has, at our request, kindly sent us the
+subjoined hymn and remarks: "The Young Men's Christian Association I
+consider one of the very best designs of this age of philanthropy. I
+send you a hymn, elicited by the Boston branch of this same Society, a
+circumstance which will not, I hope, diminish its adaptation to your
+pages."
+
+We cannot omit to ask mothers and daughters to give this Association
+their countenance and prayers. We trust it will be the means of
+accomplishing great good.
+
+HYMN FOR THE "YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION."
+
+  GOD of our children! hear our prayer,
+    When from their homes they part,
+  Those idols of our fondest care,
+    Those jewels of the heart.
+
+  We miss their smile in hall and bower;
+    We miss their voice of cheer;
+  We speak their names at midnight hour
+    When none but Thou dost hear.
+
+  God of their spirits! be their stay,
+    When from their parents' side,
+  Their boat is launched to find its way
+    O'er life's tempestuous tide.
+
+  Tho' toss'd 'mid breakers wild and strong,
+    Its veering helm should stray
+  Where syrens wake the mermaid song,
+    Guide thou their course alway.
+
+  Oh, God of goodness, bless the band
+    Who, moved by Christian love,
+  Take the young stranger's friendless hand
+    And lead his thoughts above.
+
+  May their own souls the sunbeam feel,
+    They thus have freely given,
+  And be the plaudit of their zeal
+    The sweet "_well-done_" of heaven.
+
+L. H. S.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+NAOMI AND RUTH.
+
+
+It would be only presumption in us to attempt giving in any other than
+the beautifully simple words of Scripture the story of Ruth and her
+mother-in-law. The narration is inimitable, and needs nothing to make it
+stand out like a picture before the mind. Suffice it then that we now
+attend only to the lessons which may be gathered from it, and endeavor
+to profit by them through all our coming lives. Nor let any think the
+lessons afforded by these four short chapters few or easily acted upon,
+though they may be soon comprehended. They will amply reward earnest
+study and persevering practice.
+
+The first thing which wins our admiration is Ruth's faith. She had been
+educated in the degrading worship of Chemosh, the supreme deity of Moab.
+Probably no conception of the one living God had been formed in her mind
+until her acquaintance with the Jewish youth, the son of Elimelech and
+Naomi. How long she had the happiness of a wife we are not informed. We
+know it was only a few years. But during that period she had learned to
+put such confidence in Jehovah, that she was willing to forsake country
+and friends, even the home of her childhood and beloved parents, and go
+forth with her mother-in-law to strange scenes, and willing to brave
+penury and vicissitude that she might be numbered among His people.
+Firmly she adhered to her resolution. The entreaties of Naomi--the
+thought of her mother--the prospects which might await her in her own
+land--even the retreating form of Orpah--nothing had power to prevail
+over her desire to see Canaan and unite in the worship of her husband's
+God. "The Lord recompense thy work," said Boaz to her, "and a full
+reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou
+art come to trust." He is not unfaithful, and that reward was made
+sure. "Of the life that now is," the promise speaks, and it was
+fulfilled to her. Of an undying honorable name it says nothing, but that
+is also awarded her. "Upon a monument which has already outlasted
+thrones and empires, and which shall endure until there be a new heaven
+and a new earth--upon the front page of the New Testament is inscribed
+the name of RUTH. Of her came David--of her came a long line of
+illustrious and good men--of her came Christ."
+
+Why will we not learn--why will we not daily and constantly act upon the
+truth that implicit faith is pleasing to God? "None of them that trust
+in Him shall be desolate."
+
+There is a fund of instruction also in the few glimpses which we gain of
+the intercourse of Naomi and Ruth as they journey on and after their
+arrival in Canaan. How does the law of love dictate and pervade every
+word and action! Naomi had once been an honored wife and mother in
+Judah, and far above the reach of want. But in "the days when the judges
+ruled," those days during which "every man did what was right in his own
+eyes," her husband had deserted his people; and now on her return she
+was probably penniless, her inheritance sold until the year of jubilee,
+and she in her old age, unable by her own efforts to gain a subsistence.
+The poor in Israel were not forlorn, but it required genuine humility on
+Ruth's part, and a sincere love for her mother-in-law, to induce her to
+avail herself of the means provided. She hesitated not. It was "in the
+beginning of the barley harvest" that they came to Bethlehem, and as
+soon as they were settled, apparently in a small and humble tenement,
+she went forth to glean in some field after the reapers, not knowing how
+it would fare with her, but evidently feeling that all depended on her
+labors. The meeting of the mother and daughter at the close of that
+important day is touching indeed. The joy with which the aged Naomi
+greets her only solace, and the kind and motherly care with which she
+brings the remains of her own scanty meal, which she had laid aside, her
+eager questions, and Ruth's cheerful replies as she lays down her burden
+and relates the pleasant events of the day--what gratitude to God--what
+dawning hopes--what a delightful spirit of love appear through all! And
+as days pass, how tenderly does Naomi watch over the interests of her
+child, and how remarkable is the deference to her wishes which ever
+animates Ruth. Even in the matter of her marriage,--a subject on which
+young people generally feel competent to judge for themselves,--she is
+governed entirely by her mother's directions. "All that thou sayest unto
+me I will do." Said a young lady in our hearing, not long since, "When I
+am married I shall desire that my husband may have no father or mother."
+This is not an unusual wish, nor is it uttered in all cases lightly and
+without reason. We know of a mother who would never consent that her
+only son should bring his wife to dwell under her roof, although she was
+entirely satisfied with his choice, and was constantly doing all in her
+power to promote their happiness. What were her reasons? She was a
+conscientious Christian and fond mother, but she would not risk their
+mutual happiness. She felt herself unable to bear the test, and she was
+unwilling to subject her children to it. Often do we hear expressions of
+pity bestowed on the young wife who is so "unfortunate" as to be
+compelled to live with her mother-in-law, and many are the sighs and
+nods and winks of gossip over the trials which some of their number
+endure from their sons' wives. Why is all this? The supreme selfishness
+of our human nature must answer. Having a common love for one object,
+the mother for her son, the wife for her husband, they should be bound
+by strong ties, and their mutual interests should produce mutual
+kindness and sympathy, and this would always be the case if each were
+governed by the spirit of the Gospel. But alas! love of self rather than
+the pure love inculcated by Jesus Christ most often rules. Brought
+together from different paths, unlike, it may be, in natural
+temperament, perhaps differing in opinion, the mother wishing to retain
+her wonted control over her son, the wife feeling hers the superior
+claim, there springs up a contest which is the fruitful source of
+unhappiness, and which mars many an otherwise fine character. Before us
+in memory's glass as we write, sits one of a most fair and beautiful
+countenance, but over which hang dark clouds of care, and from the eyes
+drop slowly bitter tears. She is what all around her would call a happy
+wife and mother. Fortune smiles upon her, and the blessing of God abides
+by the hearth-stone. Her husband is a professing Christian, as is also
+his yet youthful-looking mother and the wife herself. Beautiful children
+gambol around her, and look wonderingly in her face as they see those
+tears. What is the secret of her unhappiness? She deems hers a very hard
+lot, and yet if we rightly judge, could her sorrow be resolved to its
+elements, it would be found that the turmoil of her spirit is occasioned
+solely by the fact that she finds it hard to maintain her fancied
+rights, her desired superiority over her husband and servants, because
+of the presence of her calm, firm, dignified mother-in-law, whose very
+lips seem chiseled to indicate that they speak only to be obeyed. What
+would be the result if the tender, considerate love of Naomi and the
+yielding spirit of Ruth were introduced to the bosom of each?
+
+We cannot leave this record of Holy Writ without commenting also on the
+remarkable state of society which existed in Bethlehem in those far
+distant days. When Naomi returned after an absence of ten years--an
+absence which to many might have seemed very culpable--with what
+enthusiastic greetings was she received. "The whole city was moved." It
+made no difference that she "went out full but had returned empty;" nor
+did they stop to consider that "the Lord had testified against her." The
+truest sympathy was manifested for her and for the stranger who had
+loved her and clung to her. In her sorrow they clustered around to
+comfort her, and when the bright reverse gave her again an honored name
+and "a restorer of her life" in her young grandson, they were eager to
+testify their joy. The apostolic injunction, "Rejoice with them that do
+rejoice, and weep with them that weep," seems to have been strictly
+obeyed in Bethlehem. The distinctions of society, although as marked
+apparently as in our own time, seem not to have caused either
+unhappiness nor the slightest approach to unkind or unchristian
+feeling. Witness the greeting between Boaz and the reapers on his
+harvest field. "And behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the
+reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless
+thee." Boaz was "a mighty man of wealth;" he had his hired workmen
+around him, and in the same field was found the poor "Moabitish damsel,"
+gleaning here and there the scattered ears, her only dependence. Yet we
+find them all sitting together in the hut which was erected for shelter,
+and eating together the parched grain which was provided for the noon's
+refreshment, while Boaz enters into a conversation with Ruth which
+indicates his truly noble and generous character, and speaks words which
+are like balm to the sorrowing spirit. "Thou hast comforted me and
+spoken to the heart of thy handmaid," she said as she rose to leave the
+tent and felt herself no longer a stranger, since one so excellent and
+so exalted in station appreciated and sympathized with her. We see
+little in these Gospel days and in this favored land which will compare
+with the genuine kindliness which breathes in every word and act
+recorded in the book of Ruth.
+
+But the most surprising revelation is made in the account which follows
+the scene in the tent. What exalted principle--what respect for
+woman--what noble virtue must have characterized those among whom a
+mother could send her daughter at night to perform the part assigned to
+Ruth, apparently without a fear of evil, and receive her again, not only
+unharmed, but understood, honored, and wedded by the man to whom she was
+sent, and that notwithstanding her foreign birth and dependent
+situation, and fettered with the condition that her first-born son must
+bear the name and be considered the child of a dead man!
+
+We have friends who will fasten their faith on the New Testament only,
+and can see nothing in the Old akin to it in precept or spirit. We
+commend to them the Book of Ruth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MISSION MONEY: OR, THE PRIDE OF CHARITY.
+
+     "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of
+     them."--MATTHEW 6:6.
+
+     (Concluded from page 211.)
+
+
+In the mean time Charlotte ran home for her pennies, and on her return
+met an acquaintance who did not belong to the Sunday-school.
+
+"Where are you going so fast, Charlotte?" said she; "stop, I want to
+show you what a lovely blue ribbon I have just bought at Drake's, only
+four cents a yard, and half a yard makes a neck ribbon; isn't it sweet?
+just look;" and she displayed a bright blue ribbon to the admiring gaze
+of Charlotte.
+
+"It is very pretty," said Charlotte longingly, "and I wish I could
+afford to buy one like it, but I've got no money."
+
+"What is that in your hand?" asked the other, as she espied the pennies
+in Charlotte's hand.
+
+"That is mission money," she replied; "I am going to give it to the
+missionary to buy Bibles for the heathen."
+
+"Buy fiddlesticks!" said the other, with a loud laugh. "Why, you _are_ a
+little simpleton to send your money the dear knows where, when you might
+buy a whole yard of this beautiful ribbon and have a penny left!"
+
+Charlotte looked wishfully at the ribbon, and sighed as she answered,
+"But I earned this money on purpose to give."
+
+"More goose you to work for money to give away; but if you are so very
+generous, buy half a yard, and then you will have three cents left to
+give, that is enough I am sure; but do as you like, I must go. They have
+got some splendid pink, that would become you exceedingly. Good bye;"
+and so saying she left her.
+
+Charlotte walked thoughtfully on; her love of dress and finery was a
+ruling passion, and had been aroused at a most unfortunate moment; she
+had never possessed a piece of new ribbon, and she longed to see how it
+would look with her white cape. Thus thinking she arrived at Mr. Drake's
+store, and the first thing she saw temptingly displayed in a glass case
+upon the counter was the identical ribbon she coveted. There were
+customers in the store, and Charlotte had to wait her turn; during those
+few moments various thoughts passed through her mind.
+
+"If I buy the ribbon what will Annie say?" suggested conscience. "Why
+need you care for Annie?" whispered temptation, "the ribbon will look
+pretty and becoming; you earned the money, and beside, Annie need not
+know anything about it; tell her you had not time to change the money,
+and throw the pennies quickly in the box; there will be more there, and
+no one will know how much you put in."
+
+Poor Charlotte! she did not know that the best way to avoid sin is to
+flee from temptation. The shopman was at leisure, and waited to know
+what she wished. She had not decided what to do; but the ribbon was
+uppermost in her thoughts, and she asked, "What is the price of that
+ribbon?" "Four cents," said the shopman as he quickly unrolled it; "here
+are pink, white, blue and yellow; pink I should think the most becoming
+to you, Miss. How much shall I cut you? enough to trim a bonnet?"
+
+Charlotte was agitated; the man's volubility confused her, and she
+stammered forth, "Half a yard, if you please, sir."
+
+It was cut off, rolled up, and in her hand, and she had paid the two
+cents before she collected her thoughts; and then as she slowly returned
+home, she unfolded her purchase, and tried in her admiration of its gay
+color to forget she had done wrong.
+
+Perhaps if Charlotte had read her Bible she would have remembered how
+Ananias and his wife Sapphira were struck dead for mocking the Lord, by
+pretending they had given all when they had reserved a part of their
+goods. Their sin consisted not so much in keeping back a part as in
+lying unto God; and this sin Charlotte was about to commit by
+pretending to put in the mission box more than she really did.
+
+Sunday morning dawned bright and lovely. Annie was up and tidily dressed
+long before the hour for school. She had time to sing a sweet morning
+hymn, and to feed the tame robins with the crumbs she had carefully
+swept up, and then with her little Bible sat down to study her lesson
+again, and assure herself that she had it perfect. As she read the
+sacred volume, and dwelt upon its precious promises, which her mother
+had explained to her, she felt doubly sorry for those poor people who
+were deprived of so great a blessing; and then she thought of her little
+offering, and wished with all her heart it had been more.
+
+Charlotte, on the contrary, awoke late, after an uneasy slumber, and
+hurriedly eating her breakfast, for which she had but little appetite,
+dressed herself, and opening the box where she kept her little
+treasures, took out the gay pink ribbon, and after a long admiring gaze,
+pinned it carefully about her neck. As she closed the box cover she saw
+the three cents lying in one corner, and hastily put them in her pocket
+with a feeling of self-abasement that made her cheeks glow with shame.
+She ran quickly down stairs, lest her mother should see her and question
+her about the ribbon, for although Mrs. Murray would not have
+disapproved of her daughter's purchase, Charlotte dreaded her mother's
+ridicule for so soon abandoning her new-fangled notions, as she called
+them.
+
+She had promised to call for Annie, and she walked quietly along, hoping
+her friend would not notice the ribbon nor ask to see the money. As she
+slowly approached Mrs. Grey's cottage, she saw Annie's favorite kitten
+jump up in the low window seat to bask in the warm sunshine. Charlotte
+saw the little cat put out her paw to play with something, and just as
+she was opposite the window a small bright piece rolled down into the
+road. She hastened forward and picked it up; it was a bright new
+five-pence.
+
+"This must be Annie's," she thought; and looking in the window she saw
+the room was empty, and Annie's Bible and handkerchief laid on the
+window seat. Puss was busy playing with the leaves of the book, and
+Charlotte walked slowly on with the piece yet in her hand.
+
+"How pretty and bright it looks," she thought. "I wish that I had one to
+give. I know the girls will stare to see Annie put in so much. How lucky
+it was that I passed; if I had not it would have been lost, or some one
+else would have picked it up. I will give it to her in school; I shall
+not keep it, of course." Thus quieting her conscience she walked quickly
+to school, and took her seat among the rest.
+
+How gradual is the descent to sin. Charlotte would have spurned the idea
+of stealing, and yet from desiring to give with a wrong motive she had
+been led on step by step, and when the girl who sat next her asked what
+she had brought, she opened her hand and showed the piece of money.
+
+School had commenced when Annie came in; she looked disheartened, and
+her eyes were red with crying. Charlotte's heart smote her, and could
+she have spoken to Annie, she would doubtless have returned the piece of
+money, but she dared not leave her seat, and after a few moments it was
+whispered around the class that Annie Grey had lost her mission money.
+Then the girls about Charlotte told each other how much she had brought,
+and she began to think,
+
+"What difference will it make if I put it in the box? it is all the
+same, Annie says, who gives the money, so that it is given;" and so when
+the box was handed round she dropped the five cent piece in. Her
+conscience reproved her severely as she glanced at poor Annie, whose
+tears were flowing afresh, and who, when the teacher handed her the box,
+said in low, broken tones, that she had lost her offering and had
+nothing to give.
+
+After dismissal the children crowded around Annie, pitying and
+questioning her. Charlotte moved away, she could not speak to her
+injured friend; but as she passed she heard Annie say, "I laid it on my
+Bible. I was just about tying it in the corner of my pocket handkerchief
+when mother called me away; when I came back it was gone. Kitty was
+sitting in the window, and I suppose must have knocked it down in the
+road. I searched all over the room, and out in the road, but could not
+find it."
+
+"I am really sorry," said one.
+
+"And I, and I," added three or four more.
+
+"Let us go and help her look for it again," said they all, "perhaps we
+may find it yet," for Annie's gentleness had made her beloved by all.
+
+Charlotte's feelings were far from enviable as she went towards home;
+she hated herself and felt perfectly miserable. As soon as she arrived
+at the house she went hastily up stairs, and took off the hateful
+ribbon, as it now appeared, with a feeling of disgust, and throwing
+herself on the bed cried long and bitterly. Charlotte did not know how
+to pray to God to give her a clean heart and forgive her sin; she never
+thought of asking His forgiveness, or confessing her fault; she felt
+sick at heart, restless and unhappy. Such are ever the consequences of
+sin. She ate no dinner, and her mother told her to go and lie down, as
+she did not look well. Charlotte gladly went up stairs again, and after
+another hearty crying spell fell fast asleep.
+
+When she awoke it was evening, and going down stairs she found that her
+mother had gone to visit a neighbor. Charlotte stood out by the door,
+and although it was a lovely summer night, a gloom seemed to her to
+overhang everything. Her little brothers spoke to her, and she answered
+them harshly and sent them away. While she stood idly musing a miserable
+old beggar woman, who bore but an indifferent character in the
+neighborhood, came hobbling along; she came up to the little girl and
+asked an alms. Almost instinctively she put her hand in her pocket, and
+taking thence the three cents placed them with a feeling of relief in
+the beggar's hand. She thought she was doing a good act, and would atone
+for her wicked conduct. The old woman was profuse of thanks, and taking
+from her dirty apron a double handful of sour and unripe fruit, placed
+it in Charlotte's lap and went away.
+
+Charlotte's parents had forbidden her eating unripe fruit; but a day
+begun in sin was not unlikely to end in disobedience. She felt feverish
+and thirsty, and so biting one of the apples went on eating until all
+were gone. She then went up to bed, and feeling afraid to be alone, for
+a bad conscience is always fearful, she closed her eyes and fell almost
+immediately asleep.
+
+She was awakened in the night by sharp and violent pain; she dreaded to
+call her mother, as she would have to tell her what she had been eating,
+and so she bore the suffering as long as she could; but her restless
+tossings and moans aroused her mother, who slept in an adjoining room,
+and hastening in to her daughter, she found her in a high state of
+fever. She did all she could for her, but the next morning Charlotte was
+so much worse that a physician was sent for. She was quite delirious
+when he came, and he pronounced her situation dangerous.
+
+The poor girl raved incessantly about ribbons and Annie's tearful face,
+and seemed to be in great distress of mind. Annie heard that Charlotte
+was very ill, and came to see her. She was shocked to hear her talk so
+wildly, and to see her face flushed with fever. She stayed some time,
+but Charlotte did not know her, although she often mentioned her name.
+When Annie returned home she asked her mother's permission to stay with
+Charlotte as much as possible, which Mrs. Grey cheerfully gave, and went
+to visit her herself.
+
+For a whole week poor Charlotte's fever raged violently, and as Annie or
+her mother were with her constantly, they could not fail to discover
+from the sick girl's ravings that she had taken the lost fivepence.
+Annie, however, who heartily forgave her playmate, never mentioned what
+she heard to her mother, and Mrs. Grey also wisely refrained from
+telling her suspicions. She was better acquainted with the treatment of
+the sick than Mrs. Murray, and she watched over Charlotte with the
+tenderness of a mother. One day Annie sat reading her Bible by the
+bedside when Charlotte awoke from a long sleep, the first she had
+enjoyed, and looking towards Annie said in a feeble voice,
+
+"Oh, dear Annie, is that you?"
+
+The little girl rose, and bending over her sick playmate, begged her in
+a gentle voice to lie still and be quiet.
+
+"I will, I will," answered Charlotte, clasping her hands feebly about
+her friend's neck as she leaned towards her, "if you will only say you
+forgive me. Oh, you know not what a wicked girl I am, and yet it seems
+as if I had been telling everybody."
+
+"Never mind now, dear," whispered Annie, "only keep still or you will
+bring on your fever again."
+
+"I believe I have been very ill, and have said many strange things,"
+murmured Charlotte, "but I know you now and understand what I say. Do
+you think you can forgive me, Annie?"
+
+"Yes, dear Charlotte, and I love you better than ever now, so do not
+talk any more." Annie kissed her tenderly as she spoke, and the sick
+girl laid her head upon the pillow still holding Annie's hand in her
+own.
+
+From this time Charlotte rapidly improved, and one afternoon, when her
+mother and Mrs. Grey and Annie were sitting with her, she told them the
+whole truth about the lost money, and begged them to forgive her. Little
+Annie, whose tears were flowing fast, kissing her again and again,
+assured her of her entire forgiveness, and told her never to mention it
+again.
+
+Mrs. Grey then said, "I think that we all forgive your fault, my dear
+child, but there is One whose forgiveness you must first seek before
+your repentance can be sincere. The sin you have committed against God
+is far greater than any injury you have done us. In the first place, my
+dear Charlotte, you wished to give with a wrong motive; you did not seek
+to please God and serve Him, by giving your trifle with a sincere heart
+and earnest prayers. You sought rather the praise of your teachers; and
+worse even than this, you wished to awaken the envy of your companions.
+Such a gift, however large, could never be acceptable to the just God,
+who knows all hearts, and bids us to do good in secret and He will
+reward us openly. You see, my little girl, how one misstep makes the way
+for another,--how this pride begat envy, and envy covetousness, and
+then how quickly did deceit and dishonesty and disobedience come after.
+Do not think me harsh, my dear child, from my heart I forgive you; your
+punishment has been severe, but I trust it will be to you a well-spring
+of grace; and now let us humbly ask the forgiveness and blessing of that
+just and yet merciful God who for Jesus' sake will hear our prayers."
+
+They knelt, and Mrs. Grey made a touching and earnest prayer; even Mrs.
+Murray was affected to tears; she felt ashamed of her daughter's
+conduct; she knew she herself was to blame, and this event had a good
+effect upon her future conduct.
+
+After a little while Charlotte asked for her box, and taking out the
+pink ribbon placed it in Mrs. Grey's hand and begged her to burn it, as
+she could not bear to see it.
+
+"No," said Mrs. Grey, "keep it, Charlotte; it will remind you of your
+fatal error, and perhaps, through God's blessing, may sometimes lead you
+from the path of sin into that of holiness."
+
+Charlotte took her friend's advice, and after her recovery never gave
+utterance to a falsehood. She and Annie became Sunday-school teachers,
+and through the grace of God Charlotte was the means of bringing her
+whole family into the fold of the Good Shepherd; and while she lived she
+always carefully treasured the pink ribbon, which was a memento alike of
+her fault and her sincere repentance.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LETTER FROM A FATHER TO A SON.
+
+
+MY DEAR SON:--Seldom, if ever, have I perused a letter of
+deeper interest to myself as a father, than the one you lately addressed
+to your sister. Long had it been my daily prayer that the Spirit of God
+would impress you with the importance of becoming a Christian; from your
+letter I infer that you are anxiously inquiring after the "great
+salvation." It is all-important that you be guided aright. _What must
+you do?_
+
+The Bible should be our guide in matters involving our spiritual
+interests, and we need not fear to follow its directions. The Bible
+declares that in order to be saved the sinner must "_repent_." This is
+the first step.
+
+But what is it to repent? Let me tell you. Suppose, then, that a person
+spreads a false and injurious report about another, by which his
+character is wounded, his influence lessened, and his business
+destroyed. This is wrong. Of this wrong, the injurer at length becoming
+sensible, and deeply regretting it, repairs to the one whom he has
+injured, confesses the wrong, seeks forgiveness, does all in his power
+to make amends, and offends no more. This is repentance.
+
+Now, when such sorrow is exercised toward God for wrong done to Him,
+when that wrong is deeply deplored, is honestly confessed, and is
+followed by a permanent reformation, that is repentance toward God. Such
+repentance God requires; nor can one become a Christian who does not
+exercise it. This is one unalterable condition of salvation. I do not
+mean that the penitent sinner will never afterwards, in no instance, sin
+again. He may sometimes, again, do wrong, for so long as he is in the
+world imperfection will pertain to him; but the ruling power of sin will
+be broken in his heart. He may sometimes sin; but whenever he does he
+will lament it. He will retire to his closet, and while there alone with
+God his tears will flow. Oh! how will he pray and wrestle that he may be
+forgiven; and what solemn resolutions will he make to sin no more! This
+he will continue to do month after month, and year after year, as long
+as he lives, as long as he ever does any wrong. To forsake sin becomes a
+principle of his life; to confess and forsake it, a habit of his soul.
+Repentance, then, is the first step.
+
+But the Bible adds, "Repent and _believe_ on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
+thou shalt be saved." Belief, or faith, as it is called, is another
+exercise required in order to be saved. What now is _faith_? Let me
+illustrate this.
+
+Suppose a person is standing on the branch of a tree. It appears to be
+sufficiently firm to bear him, and he feels secure. But presently he
+perceives that it is beginning to break, and if it break he may be
+dashed on the rocks below. What shall he do? He looks abroad for help.
+At this critical moment a person presents himself at the foot of the
+tree, and says, "Let go, let go, and I will catch you." But he is
+afraid. He fears that the person may not be able, or may be unwilling to
+save him. But the branch continues to break, and destruction is before
+him. Meanwhile the kind-hearted person below renews his assurance, "Let
+go, let go, confide in me and I'll catch you." At last the person on the
+branch becomes satisfied that no other hope remains for him, so he says,
+"I'll do as this friend bids me; I'll trust him." He lets go, falls, and
+the other catches him. This is _faith_, or in other words it is
+_confidence_.
+
+Now the sinner is liable to fall under the wrath of God for the wrong he
+has done, and there to perish. He may repent of that wrong, and
+repentance is most reasonable, and is, we have seen, required; but
+repentance of itself never repairs a wrong. One may repent that he has
+killed another, but that does not restore life. One may be sorry that he
+has broken God's commands, but that does not repair the dishonor done to
+the Divine government. That government must be upheld. How can it be
+done? I will tell you how it has been done. Christ consented to take the
+sinner's place. On the cross he suffered for and instead of the sinner;
+and God has decided that whosoever, being penitent for sin, will confide
+in his Son, or trust him, shall be saved.
+
+Sinners are wont to put a high value upon some goodness which they fancy
+they possess, or upon good actions which they imagine they have done.
+These, they conceive, are sufficient to save them; and sinners generally
+feel quite secure. How little concerned, my son, have you been. But
+sinners mistake as to their goodness. They are all "dead in trespasses
+and sins." They are under condemnation. They are in imminent danger. Any
+day they may fall into the hands of an angry God. Sinners under
+conviction see this and feel this. The branch of self-righteousness on
+which they stand is insufficient to bear them. By-and-by it begins to
+give way. When the sinner feels this he cries, "What shall I do? Who
+will save me?"
+
+Now Christ is commissioned to save, and when the poor sinner sees that
+he is about to perish, and in that state cries for help, Christ comes to
+him and says, "Let go all hope in yourself; let go dependence upon every
+other thing; trust to me and I will save you." "Come, for all things are
+ready." But may be the sinner is afraid. Will Christ do as he promises?
+Is he able to save? Well, the sinner looks round--he hesitates--perhaps
+prays--weeps--promises; but while all these are well enough in their
+places, they never of themselves bring peace and safety to the anxious
+heart. At length he sees and feels that there is no one but Christ, who
+stands as it were at the bottom of the tree, that can save him. And now
+he lifts up his voice and cries, "Lord, save me, or I perish." Into the
+hands of Christ he falls, and from that moment he is safe. This is
+Gospel faith or confidence.
+
+And this repentance and faith which I have described are necessary in
+order to salvation. So the Bible decides; and whenever a soul exercises
+them that soul is a Christian soul, and that man is a Christian man.
+
+There is yet one question further of great moment. You hope, perhaps,
+that you are a Christian--that you have truly repented, and do exercise
+true faith. You ask, _How shall one decide?_
+
+I will tell you this also. Suppose you agree with a nurseryman to
+furnish you with a tree of a particular kind. He brings you one. You
+inquire, "Is this the kind of tree I engaged?" He replies, "Yes." But
+you say, "How do I know? It looks indeed like the tree in question, and
+you say it is; but there are other trees which strongly resemble it." He
+rejoins, "I myself grafted it, and I almost know." "Ah! yes, _almost_;
+but are you certain?" "No," he replies, "I am not absolutely certain,
+and no one can be sure at this moment." "But what shall I do?" you ask.
+"I want that particular tree." "Well," says he, "I will suggest one
+infallible test. Set it out on your grounds. It will soon bear _fruit_,
+and that will be a sure and satisfactory test." "Is there no other way?"
+you ask--"no shorter, better way?" "None," he replies. "This is the only
+sure evidence which man can have."
+
+Let us apply these remarks. As there is but one infallible test as to a
+tree, so there is but one in respect to a man claiming to be a
+Christian. "What _fruit_ does he bear?" "By their fruits," says our
+Savior, "ye shall know them." Only a good tree brings forth good fruit.
+Here, then, we have a plain, simple, and, I may add, infallible rule for
+testing ourselves. What kind of fruit are we bearing? What fruit must we
+bear? "The fruits of the Spirit," says the Bible, "are love, joy, peace,
+long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," &c. If, then, we have been
+born of the Spirit, _i.e._, born again, or in other words, if we are
+Christians, we shall bear the fruits of the Spirit.
+
+I have known persons suggest various marks or tests by which to try
+themselves; but I have never found any which could certainly be depended
+upon besides the one which I have named--_the fruit which one brings
+forth_. The application of this test requires time. For evidence of
+Christian character, a person must examine himself month after month and
+year after year. His great aim must be to glorify God. He will,
+therefore, strive to keep his commandments. He will shun all known evil,
+and let others see that he sets a high value upon all that is "lovely
+and of good report." He will pray, not one day or one month, but
+habitually. His life will be a life of prayer, and in all the duties of
+the Christian profession he will endeavor to persevere. He will find
+himself imperfect, and will sometimes fail; but when he fails he will
+not sink down in despair and give up, but he will repent and say, "I'll
+do better next time;" and thus he will go forward gathering strength.
+Many trials and difficulties he will find, but the way will grow
+smoother and easier. His evidence will increase. The path of the
+righteous is as the light which shines brighter and brighter unto the
+perfect day.
+
+And now, my dear son, are you willing to set out in all sober
+earnestness so to live, not one day, but always? If you are, God will
+bless and aid you. You will be a happy boy, and as you grow older you
+will be happier still; and in the end you will go to God and to your
+pious friends now in heaven, or who may hereafter reach that blissful
+abode, and spend an eternity in loving, praising and serving God. This
+is the constant prayer of your affectionate father.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN OF THE PARSONAGE.
+
+BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.
+
+
+Little Charlie, the youngest child of our pastor, was the delight of all
+the household, but especially of the infirm grand-mother, to whose aid
+and solace he devoted his little efforts. He was a beautiful and active
+child, of nearly three years, and was to the parsonage what the father
+emphatically called him,--its "_fountain of joy_." But little Charlie
+was suddenly taken from it, after an illness of a few hours. A week
+afterward, FANNY, a beautiful and highly intelligent child of
+five years, died of the same fearful disease, scarlet fever. The
+following little poems were intended as sketches of the characteristics
+of the two lovely children.
+
+Some three years after, death bore away also little EMMA, a
+child two years old, who had in some measure replaced the lost children
+of the parsonage. To express the sparkling and exuberant vivacity of
+this last darling of friends very dear to the writer, has been the
+object of another simple lay. There are smitten hearts enough in the
+homes to which this magazine finds its way to respond to notes that
+would commemorate the infant dead.
+
+
+LITTLE CHARLIE.
+
+  Beside our pilgrim path there sprang
+    A pleasant little rill,
+  Whose murmur, ever in our ear,
+    Was cheerful music still.
+
+  The earliest rays of brightening morn,
+    Back to our eyes it flashed,
+  And onward through the livelong day,
+    In tireless sport it dashed.
+
+  We loved the little sparkling rill,
+    We sunned us in its glance;--
+  The turf looked green where, near our feet,
+    It kept its joyous dance.
+
+  And welcome to our weariness
+    Was the clear draught it gave;
+  E'en way-worn age took heart and bowed,
+    Its aching brow to lave.
+
+  But where is now our pleasant rill,
+    We miss it from our side;
+  We looked, and it was at its full--
+    We turned, and it was dried.
+
+  Oh Father.--thou whose gracious hand
+    Bestowed the boon at first,
+  A parched and desert land is this--
+    Let not thy servants thirst!
+
+  Fountains of joy at thy right hand
+    Are gushing evermore--
+  Bid them for us, thy fainting ones,
+    Their rich abundance pour.
+
+
+FANNY.
+
+  We miss thee on the threshold wide.
+                             Smiling little Fanny!
+  Thine offered hand was wont to guide
+  Our footsteps to thy mother's side,
+                             Ready little Fanny!
+
+  We miss the welcome of thy face,
+                             Winning little Fanny!
+  We miss thy bright cheek's rounded grace
+  Thy clear blue eyes' confiding gaze,
+                             Lovely little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thy glowing earnestness,
+                              Guileless little Fanny!
+  We miss thy clasping arms' caress,
+  The solace of thy tenderness,
+                              Loving little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thy haste at school-time bell,
+                              Docile little Fanny!
+  Learning with eager face to spell,
+  Thy Sabbath verses conning well,
+                              Studious little Fanny!
+
+  We miss thee at the hour of prayer,
+                              Gentle little Fanny!
+  Thy sweet low voice and thoughtful air,
+  Reading God's word with earnest care,
+                              Serious little Fanny!
+
+  The hour of play brings woeful dearth,
+                              Merry little Fanny!
+  _With thee the voice of childhood's mirth,_
+  _Died from about our twilight hearth_,
+                              Joyous little Fanny!
+
+  But angels' gain doth our loss prove,
+                              Precious little Fanny!
+  Now dwelleth with our God above[C]
+  That little one whose life was love,
+                              Blessed little Fanny!
+
+
+EMMA.
+
+  A floweret on the grassy mound
+    Of buried hopes sprang up;--
+  Tears fell upon its bursting leaves
+    And gemmed its opening cup.
+
+  But such a rosy sun-light fell
+    Upon those tear-drops there,
+  That no bright crystals of the morn
+    Such diamond-hues might wear.
+
+  No glancing wing of summer-bird
+    Was ever half so gay
+  As that fair flower--no insect's hues
+    Shone with such changeful play.
+
+  It nodded gaily to the touch
+    Of every wandering bee,
+  Its petals tossed in every breeze,
+    And scattered odors free.
+
+  And they who watched the pleasant plant
+    In its bright bursting bloom,
+  Hailed in its growth their bower of rest,--
+    Solace for years to come.
+
+  But He who better knew their need
+    Laid its fair blossoms low;--
+  Between their souls and heaven's clear light
+    Tendril nor leaf might grow.
+
+  Then oh! how sad the grassy mounds
+    Its graceful growth had veiled!--
+  How sere and faded was their life,
+    Its fragrance all exhaled;--
+
+  Till from the blue o'erarching sky,
+    A clearer beam was given,
+  A light that showed them _labor_ here,
+    And promised _joy_ in heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 2.
+
+
+I shall attempt to show by an every-day sort of logic, rather than by
+any set argument, that young children, when religiously educated, do at
+a very early age comprehend the being of a God,--that the mind is so
+constituted that to such prayer is usually an agreeable service,--that
+in times of sickness or difficulty, or when they have done wrong, they
+do usually find relief in looking to God for relief and for forgiveness.
+
+I have known quite young children, in a dying state, when their parents
+have hesitated as to the expediency of referring, in the presence of the
+child, to the period of dissolution as near, in some paroxysm of
+distress at once soothed and quieted by the strains of agonizing prayer
+of the father, that relief might be afforded to the little sufferer,
+commending it to Jesus.
+
+From my own early experience I cannot but infer that young children do
+as readily comprehend the sublime doctrine of a superintending
+providence as the man of gray hairs. We know from reason and revelation
+that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that the earth showeth
+forth his handiwork--day unto day utterreth speech, and night unto night
+showeth forth knowledge of him.
+
+As soon therefore as a child begins to reason and to ask questions, "Who
+made this?" and "who made that?" it can understand that "the great and
+good God made heaven and earth." Indeed this truth is so self-evident
+that the heathen who have not the Bible are said to be without excuse if
+they do not love and worship the only living and true God, as God.
+
+The man, therefore, of fourscore years, though he may understand all
+things else,--how to chain the lightning, to analyze all earthly
+substances, to solve every problem in Euclid, yet in matters of Gospel
+faith, before he can enter the kingdom of God, must come down to the
+capacity of a little child, and take all upon trust, and believe, and
+obey, and acquiesce, simply on the ground, "My Father told me so."
+
+One of the first things I remember with distinctness as having occurred
+in the nursery, related to the matter of prayer. One night when a sister
+a year and a half older than myself had, as usual, repeated all our
+prayers suited to the evening, which had been taught to us, from a
+sudden impulse I made up a prayer which I thought better expressed my
+feelings and wants than any which I had repeated. My sister, who was
+more timid, was quite excited on the occasion. She said that as I did
+not know how to make up prayers, God would be very angry with me. We
+agreed to refer the case in the morning to our mother. When we came to
+repeat our morning prayers, the preceding transaction came to mind, and
+we hurried as fast as possible to dress, each one eager first to obtain
+the desired verdict.
+
+Almost breathless with excitement, we stated the affair to mother. Her
+quick reply was, "The Bible says that Hezekiah, king of Israel, had been
+sick, and he went upon the house-top, and his noise was as the
+chattering of a swallow, but the Lord heard him." Without asking any
+further questions, ever after we both framed prayers for ourselves.
+
+Soon after this occurrence a sudden death occurred in our neighborhood,
+and my mind was deeply affected. I went stealthily into our spare
+chamber to offer up prayer, feeling the need of pardon. Just as I knelt
+by the bedside, my eldest sister opened the door. Seeing her surprise at
+seeing me there and thus engaged, I was about to rise, when she came up
+to me, put her arms about my neck, kissed me, and without saying
+anything, left the room. This tacit approval of my conduct, so
+delicately manifested, won for her my love and my confidence in her
+superior wisdom; and though nearly sixty years with all their important
+changes have intervened, yet that trifling act is still held in grateful
+remembrance.
+
+One such incident is sufficient to show the immense influence which an
+elder brother or sister may have, for weal or for woe, over the younger
+children. The smothered falsehood, the petty theft, the robbing of a
+bird's-nest, the incipient oath, the first intoxicating draught, the
+making light of serious things, with the repeated injunction--"Don't
+tell mother!" may foster in a younger brother the germ of evil
+propensities, and lead on till some fatal crime is the result.
+
+When I was nine years old a letter was received by my father, the
+contents of which set us children in an uproar of joy. It was from our
+father's elder brother, who resided in a city seventy miles distant from
+our country residence. This letter stated if all was favorable we might
+expect all his family to become our guests on the following week, our
+aunt and cousins to remain in our family some length of time, and be
+subjected to the trial of inoculation from that dreaded
+disease--small-pox. We were all on tip-toe to welcome our friends, and
+especially our uncle, who from time to time had supplied us with many
+rare books, so that we had now quite a valuable library of our own. All
+our own family of children were at the same time put into the hospital.
+I shall never forget "O dear," "O dear, I have got the symptoms, I have
+got the symptoms!" that went around among us children.
+
+I cannot but take occasion to offer a grateful tribute of thankfulness
+that we are not now required by law, as then, to subject our children to
+such an ordeal and to such strict regimen. Who ever after entirely
+recovered from a dread of "hasty pudding and molasses" without salt?
+
+When all was safely over, and my uncle came to take his family home,
+there seemed to have been added a new tie of affection by this recent
+intimacy, and it was agreed that my uncle's eldest son, a year or two
+older than myself, should remain, and for one year recite to my father,
+and that I should spend that time in my uncle's family, and become the
+companion of a cousin three years younger, who never had a sister.
+
+I have often wished that such exchanges might be more frequently made by
+brothers and sisters and intimate friends. It is certainly a cheap and
+admirable method of securing to each child those kind and faithful
+attentions which money will not always command. I needed the polish of
+city life--the freedom and the restraints imposed in well-disciplined
+schools, where personal graces and accomplishments were considered
+matters of importance as well as furniture for the mind; while my cousin
+would be benefited in body and mind by such country rambles, such
+fishing and hunting excursions, such feats of ball-playing, as "city
+folks" know but little about. Some fears were expressed lest this boy
+should lose something by forsaking his well-organized school, and fall
+behind his classmates. But I have heard that cousin say, as to literary
+attainments, this year was but the beginning of any high intellectual
+attainments; for till now he had never learned how to study so that
+intellectual culture became agreeable to him. And what was gratifying,
+it was found on his return home that he was far in advance of his
+classmates. So needful is it often to have the body invigorated, and
+the mind should receive a right bias, and that such kind of stimulants
+be applied as my father was able to give to the wakeful, active mind, of
+his aspiring nephew.
+
+Many times after my return home did my mother bless "sister N----" for
+the many useful things she had taught me. My highest ambition had been
+to iron my uncle's large fine white cravats, which, being cut bias, was
+no easy attainment for a child.
+
+I cannot well describe my astonishment and grief of heart, on being
+installed in my new and otherwise happy, delightful home, to find
+wanting a _family altar_. I had indeed the comfort of knowing that in my
+own distant home the "absent child" was never for once forgotten, when
+the dear circle gathered for family worship.
+
+So certain was the belief which my parents entertained that an
+indispensable portion was to be obtained for each child in going in unto
+the King of kings, that in case of a mere temporary sickness, if at all
+consistent, family prayer was had in the room of the invalid. Not even a
+blessing was invoked at the morning meal till every child was found in
+the right seat. In case of a delinquency, perhaps not a word of rebuke
+was uttered, but that silent, _patient waiting_, was rebuke enough for
+even the most tardy.
+
+It was felt, I believe, by each member of the family, that there was
+meaning in the every-day, earnest petition, "May we all be found
+_actually_ and _habitually_ ready for death, our great and last change."
+My father did not pray as an old lady is said to have done each day,
+"that God would bless her descendants as long as grass should grow or
+water should run." But there was something in his prayers equivalent to
+this. He did seldom omit to pray that God would bless his children and
+his children's children to the latest generation.
+
+Oh how often, while absent, did my mind revert to that assembled group
+at home! Nothing, I believe, serves to bind the hearts of children so
+closely to their parents and to each other as this taking messages for
+each other to the court of heaven. Never before did I realize that each
+brother and sister were to me a second self.
+
+I was a most firm believer in the truth of the Bible, and I have often
+thought more inclined to take the greater part as literal than most
+others. I had often read with fear and trembling the passage, "I will
+pour out my fury upon the heathen, and upon the families that call not
+upon my name." To dwell in a Christian land and be considered no better
+than heathen--what a dreadful threatening; a condemnation, however, not
+above the comprehension of a child. Here I was in such a family, and
+here I was expected to remain for a full year. I do not recollect to
+have entertained any fears for my personal safety, yet every time a
+thunder-storm seemed to rack the earth, and as peal after peal with
+reverberated shocks were re-echoed from one part of the firmament to the
+other, I was in dread lest some bolt might be sent in fury upon our
+dwelling on account of such neglect. Little did these friends know what
+thoughts were often passing through my mind as I ruminated upon their
+privileges and their disregard of so plain and positive a duty. I did
+often long to confide to my aunt, whom I so much venerated, my thoughts
+and feelings on religious subjects, with the same freedom I had been
+encouraged to do to my own dear mother. I can never forget the struggle
+I had on one occasion. A lady came to pass a day in the family. The
+conversation happened to turn upon the importance and efficacy of
+prayer. Here now, I thought, is an opportunity I may never have again to
+express an opinion on a subject I had thought so much about; and
+summoning to my aid all the resolution I could, I ventured to remark,
+"the Bible says, 'the effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous
+_prevaileth_ much.'" I saw a smile pass over the radiant and beautiful
+countenance of my aunt, and I instantly conjectured that I had misquoted
+the passage. For a long time, as I had opportunity, I turned over the
+pages of my Bible, before I could detect my mistake. I cannot say how
+long a period elapsed, after I left this pleasant family, before the
+family-altar was erected, but I believe not a very long period. One
+thing I am grateful to record, that when my aunt died at middle age,
+all with her was "peace," "peace," "sweet peace." And my venerated uncle
+recently fell asleep in Jesus, at the advanced age of more than
+fourscore years, like a shock of corn fully ripe.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+INTELLECTUAL POWER OF WOMAN.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+There has been a long-standing dispute respecting the intellectual
+powers of the two sexes, and the consequent style of education suitable
+to each. Happily, the truth on this subject may be fully spoken, without
+obliging me to exalt the father at the expense of the mother, or ennoble
+man by denying the essential equality of woman. It is among the things
+settled by experience, that, equal or not equal in talents, woman, the
+moment she escapes from the despotism of brute force, and is suffered to
+unfold and exercise her powers in her own legitimate sphere, shares with
+man the sceptre of influence; and without presuming to wrest from him a
+visible authority, by the mere force of her gentle nature silently
+directs that authority, and so rules the world. She may not debate in
+the senate or preside at the bar--she may not read philosophy in the
+university or preach in the sanctuary--she may not direct the national
+councils or lead armies to battle; but there is a style of influence
+resulting from her peculiar nature which constitutes her power and gives
+it greatness. As the sexes were designed to fill different positions in
+the economy of life, it would not be in harmony with the manifestations
+of divine wisdom in all things else to suppose that the powers of each
+were not peculiarly fitted for their own appropriate sphere. Woman gains
+nothing--she always loses when she leaves her own sphere for that of
+man. When she forsakes the household and the gentler duties of domestic
+life for the labors of the field, the pulpit, the rostrum, the
+court-room, she always descends from her own bright station, and
+invariably fails to ascend that of man. She falls between the two; and
+the world gazes at her as not exactly a woman, not quite a man,
+perplexed in what category of natural history to classify her. This
+remark holds specially true as you ascend from savage to refined
+society, where the rights and duties of women have been most fully
+recognized and most accurately defined. Mind is not to be weighed in
+scales. It must be judged by its _uses_ and its _influence_. And who
+that compasses the peculiar purpose of woman's life; who that
+understands the meaning of those good old Saxon words, mother, sister,
+wife, daughter; who that estimates aright the duties they involve, the
+influences they embody in giving character to all of human kind, will
+hesitate to place her intellect, with its quickness, delicacy and
+persuasiveness, as high in the scale of power as that of the father,
+husband and son? If we estimate her mind by its actual power of
+influence when she is permitted to fill to the best advantage her circle
+of action, we shall find a capacity for education equal to that of him
+who, merely in reference to the temporary relations of society, has been
+constituted her lord. If you look up into yonder firmament with your
+naked eye, the astronomer will point you to a star which shines down
+upon you single in rays of pure liquid light. But if you will ascend yon
+eminence and direct towards it that magnificent instrument which modern
+science has brought to such perfection of power, the same star will
+suddenly resolve itself into two beautiful luminaries, equal in
+brilliancy, equal in all stellar excellence, emitting rays of different
+and intensely vivid hues, yet so exactly correspondent to each other,
+and so embracing each other, and so mingling their various colors as to
+pour upon the unaided vision the pure, sparkling light of a single orb.
+So is it with man and woman. Created twofold, equal in all human
+attributes, excellence and influence, different but correspondent, to
+the eye of Jehovah the harmony of their union in life is perfect, and
+as one complete being that life streams forth in rays of light and
+influence upon society.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+A LESSON FOR HUSBANDS AND WIVES.
+
+
+The following letter, addressed to a mutual friend, we rescue from
+oblivion, containing as it does a lesson for husbands and wives, and
+most gracefully conveyed.
+
+_We_ shall certainly be pardoned if we take a more than ordinary
+interest to preserve a memento of that "_hanging garden_," as for months
+it was as fully seen from our own window as from that of the writer,
+though a little more remote, yet near enough to feast our eyes, and by
+its morning fragrance to cause our hearts to render more grateful
+incense to Him who clothes the lily with such beauty, and gives to the
+rose its sweet perfume. It is a sad pity that there are not more young
+wives, who, like the writer of the following letter, are ready to strive
+by their overflowing love, their gentleness and forbearance, to win
+their husbands to love and good works.
+
+Perhaps some good divine who may perchance read this article will tell
+us whether the Apostle Peter, when he said, "For what knowest thou, O
+wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?" did not by this language
+mean to convey the idea of a promise that if the wife did conduct
+herself towards her husband on strictly Gospel principles, she would be
+the honored instrument of saving his soul?
+
+"I would like to tell you how my husband and I amuse ourselves, and
+contrive to have all we want. You will see that we illustrate the old
+saying, that 'where there is a _will_, there is a _way_,' and that some
+people can do things as well as others. We both love flowers extremely,
+but we neither own nor control a foot of ground; still, we have this
+summer cultivated and enjoyed the perpetual bloom of more than a
+hundred varieties. You will wonder how this is done when you know that
+we are at board, and our entire apartments consist of a parlor and
+dormitory--both upon the second floor. Very fortunately our windows open
+upon a roof which shelters a lower piazza, and this roof we make our
+balcony. Last May we placed here eight very large pots of rich earth,
+which we filled with such seeds and plants as suited our fancy. Now,
+while I sit writing, my windows are shaded with the scarlet runner,
+morning glory, Madeira and cypress vines, so that I need no other
+curtains. Then, on a level with my eye, is one mass of pink and
+green--brilliant verbenas, petimas, roses and oleanders seem really to
+_glow_ in the morning light. Flowers in the city are more than
+beautiful, for the language they speak is so different from everything
+about them. Their lives are so lovely, returning to the culturer such
+wealth of beauty--and then their _odors_ seem to me instead of voices.
+Often, when I am reading, and forget for a time my sweet companions, the
+fragrance of a heliotrope or a jessamine greets me, causing a sense of
+delight, as if a beautiful voice had whispered to me, or some sweet
+spirit kissed me. With this _presence_ of beauty and purity around me, I
+cannot feel loneliness or discontent.
+
+"Our flowers are so near to us we have become really _intimate_ with
+them. We know all their habits, and every insect that harms them. I love
+to see the tender tendril of a vine stretch for the string that is
+fastened at a little distance for its support, and then wind about it so
+gladly. Every morning it is a new excitement to see long festoons of our
+green curtains, variegated with trumpet-shaped morning-glories, looking
+towards the sun, and mingled with them the scarlet star of the cypress
+vine. When my husband comes home wearied and disgusted with Wall-street,
+it refreshes his body and soul to look into our "_hanging garden_," and
+note new beauties the day has developed. I trust the time and affection
+we thus spend are not wasted, for I believe the sentiment of Coleridge's
+lines--
+
+  'He prayeth best who loveth best
+    All things, both great and small
+  For the dear God who loveth us,
+    He made and loveth all.'
+
+But there is one circumstance that makes this garden precious, which I
+have yet to tell you, and you will agree with me that it is the best
+part of it. When we were married, my husband was in the habit of
+drinking a glass of beer daily. I did not approve of it, and used to
+fancy he was apathetic and less agreeable afterwards; but as he was so
+fond of it, I made up my mind not to disagree upon the subject. Last
+spring, when we wished some flowers, we hesitated on account of the
+expense, for we endeavor to be economical, as all young married people
+should. Then my husband very nobly said that though one glass of beer
+cost but little, a week's beer amounted to considerable, and he would
+discontinue the habit, and appropriate the old beer expenditure upon
+flowers. He has faithfully kept his proposal, and often as we sit by our
+window, he points to the blooming balcony, saying, 'There is my summer's
+beer.' The consequence of this sacrifice is that I am a grateful and
+contented wife; and I do assure you (I being judge) that since beer is
+turned into flowers, my husband is the most agreeable of mankind.
+
+                                  Yours very truly."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+NEVER FAINT IN PRAYER.
+
+     "Men ought always to pray and not to faint."
+
+
+So important is a spirit of prayer to mothers who are bearing the heat
+and burden of the day, that we give for their encouragement a few devout
+meditations by Rev. W. Mason, on the above passage. And though penned
+towards the close of the last century, they have lost none of their
+freshness or fragrance.
+
+Christ opposes praying to fainting, for fainting prevents praying. Have
+you not found it so? When weary and faint in your mind, when your
+spirits are oppressed, your frame low and languid, you have thought this
+is not a time for prayer; yea, but it is: pray _always_. Now is the time
+to sigh out the burden of your heart and the sorrows of your spirit.
+Now, though in broken accents, breathe your complaints into your
+Father's ear, whose love and care over you is that of a tender and
+affectionate father.
+
+What makes you faint? Do troubles and afflictions? Here is a reviving
+cordial. "Call upon me in the day of trouble, _I will deliver thee_, and
+thou shalt glorify me." Ps. 50:15. Does a body of sin and death? Here is
+a supporting promise. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
+Jesus shall be saved." Rom. 10:13. Do we faint because we have called
+and prayed again and again to the Lord against any besetting sin,
+prevailing temptation, rebellious lust, or evil temper, and yet the Lord
+has not given us victory over it? Still, says the Lord, pray
+_always_--persevere, be importunate, faint not; remember that blessed
+word, "my time is not yet come, but your time is always ready." John
+7:6. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Matt. 26:41. Note
+the difference between being tempted and entering into temptation.
+
+Perhaps you think your prayers are irksome to God, and therefore you are
+ready to faint and to give over praying? Look at David; he begins to
+pray in a very heartless, hopeless way, "How long wilt thou forget me, O
+Lord, forever?" but see how he concludes; he breaks out in full vigor of
+soul, "I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with
+me." Ps. 13:6. Above all, look to Jesus, who ever lives to pray for you;
+look for his spirit to help your infirmities. Rom. 8:26.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+HANNAH.
+
+
+Imagination can picture no more animating scenes than those which were
+presented to the beholder at the seasons of the year when Judea poured
+forth her inhabitants in crowds to attend the solemn festivals appointed
+by Jehovah, and observed with punctilious exactness by the people. Our
+present study leads us to contemplate one of these scenes.
+
+From some remote town on the borders of Gentile territory the onward
+movement commences. A few families having finished all their
+preparations, close the door of their simple home, and with glowing
+faces and hopeful steps begin their march. They are soon joined by
+others, and again by new reinforcements. Every town, as they pass,
+replenishes their ranks, until, as they approach Shiloh, they are
+increased to a mighty multitude. It is a time of joy. Songs and shouts
+rend the air, and unwonted gladness reigns. All ages and conditions are
+here, and every variety of human form and face. Let us draw near to one
+family group. There is something more than ordinarily interesting in
+their appearance. The father has a noble mien as he walks on, conversing
+gaily with his children, answering their eager questions, and pointing
+out the objects of deepest import to a Jew as they draw near the
+Tabernacle. The children are light-hearted and gay, but the mother's
+countenance does not please us. We feel instinctively that she is not
+worthy of her husband; and especially is there an expression wholly
+incongruous with this hour of harmony and rejoicing. While we look, she
+lingers behind her family, and speaks to one, who, with slow step and
+downcast looks, walks meekly on, and seems as if she pondered some deep
+grief. Will she whisper a word of comfort in the ear of the sorrowful?
+Ah, no. A mocking smile is on her lips, which utter taunting words, and
+she glances maliciously round, winking to her neighbors to notice how
+she can humble the spirit of one who is less favored than herself. "What
+would you give now to see a son of yours holding the father's hand, or a
+daughter tripping gladly along by his side? Where are your children,
+Hannah? You surely could not have left them behind to miss all this
+pleasure? Perhaps they have strayed among the company? Would it not be
+well to summon them, that they may hear the father's instructions, and
+join in the song which we shall all sing as we draw near to Shiloh?"
+Cruel words! and they do their work. Like barbed arrows, they stick fast
+in the sore heart of this injured one. Her head sinks, but she utters no
+reply. She only draws nearer to her husband, and walks more closely in
+his footsteps.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The night has passed, and a cloudless sun looks down on the assembled
+thousands of Israel. Elkanah has presented his offering at the
+Tabernacle, and has now gathered his family to the feast in the tent. As
+is his wont, he gives to each a portion, and hilarity presides at the
+board. The animated scene around them--the white tents stretching as far
+as the eye can reach--the sound of innumerable voices--the meeting with
+friends--all conspire to make every heart overflow, and the well-spread
+table invites to new expressions of satisfaction and delight. But here,
+also, as on the journey, one heart is sad. At Elkanah's right hand sits
+Hannah, her plate filled by the hand of love with "a worthy portion;"
+but it stands untasted before her. Her husband is troubled. He has
+watched her struggles for self-control, and seen her vain endeavors to
+eat and be happy like those around her; and, divining in part the cause
+of her sorrow, he tenderly strives to comfort her. "Hannah, why weepest
+thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Am I not
+better to thee than ten sons?" That voice of sympathy and compassion is
+too much. She rises and leaves the tent to calm in solitude, as best she
+may, her bosom's strife. Why must she be thus afflicted? Severe, indeed,
+and bitter are the elements which are mingled in her cup. Jehovah has
+judged her. She has been taught to believe that those who are childless
+are so because of His just displeasure. Her fellow-creatures also
+despise her; her neighbors look suspiciously upon her. Wherefore should
+it be thus? She wanders slowly, and with breaking heart, towards the
+Tabernacle. The aged Eli sits by one of the posts of the door as she
+enters the sacred inclosure, but she heeds him not. She withdraws to a
+quiet spot, and finds at last a refuge. She kneels, and the long pent-up
+sorrow has now its way; she "pours out her soul before the Lord." Happy,
+though sorrowful, Hannah! She has learned one lesson of which the
+prosperous know nothing; she has learned to confide in her Maker, as she
+could in no other friend. It were useless to go to her husband with the
+oft-told trouble. He is ever fond and kind; but though she is childless,
+he is not, and he cannot appreciate the extent of her grief. All that
+human sympathy can do, he will do, but human sympathy cannot be perfect.
+It were worse than useless to tell him of Peninnah's taunts and
+reproaches. It would be wicked, and bring upon her Heaven's just wrath,
+if she did aught to mar the peace of a happy family. No; there is no
+earthly ear into which she can "pour out her soul." But here her tears
+may flow unrestrained, and she need leave nothing unsaid.
+
+"O Thou who hidest the sorrowing soul under the shadow of thy wings--who
+art witness to the tears which must be hidden from all other eyes--who
+dost listen patiently to the sighs and groans which can be breathed in
+no other presence--to whom are freely told the griefs which the dearest
+earthly friend cannot comprehend,--Thou who upbraidest not--who
+understandest and dost appreciate perfectly the woes under which the
+stricken soul sways like a reed in the tempest, and whose infinite love
+and sympathy reaches to the deepest recesses of the heart--unto whom
+none ever appealed in vain--God of all grace and consolation, blessed
+are they who put their trust in thee."
+
+Long and earnest is Hannah's communion with her God; and as she pleads
+her cause with humility, and penitence, and love, she feels her burdened
+heart grow lighter. Hope springs up where was only despair, and a new
+life spreads itself before her; even the hard thoughts which she had
+harbored towards Peninnah had melted as she knelt in that holy presence.
+The love of the Eternal has bathed her spirit in its blessed flood, and
+grief, and selfishness, and envy have alike been washed away.
+Strengthened with might by the spirit of the Lord, she puts forth a
+vigorous faith; and taking hold on the covenant faithfulness of Jehovah,
+she makes a solemn vow. The turmoil within is hushed. She rises and goes
+forth like one who is prepared for any trial--who is endued with
+strength by a mighty though unseen power, and sustained by a love which
+has none of the imperfect and unsatisfying elements that must always
+mingle with the purest earthly affection. Meek, confiding, and gentle as
+ever, she is yet not the same. She meets reproach even from the High
+Priest himself with calmness. She returns to her husband and his family
+no longer shrinking and bowed down: "she eats, and her countenance is no
+more sad."
+
+Another morning dawns. Hannah, has obtained her husband's sanction to
+the vow which she made in her anguish. Elkanah and his household rise
+early and worship before the Lord, and return to their house in Ramah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A year passes, another and another, but Hannah is not found among the
+multitude going up to Shiloh. Has she, the pious and devoted one, become
+indifferent to the service of Jehovah, or have the reproaches and taunts
+of Peninnah become too intolerable in the presence of her neighbors, so
+that she remains at home for peace? No. Reproach will harm her no
+longer. As the company departs, she stands with smiling countenance
+looking upon their preparations, and in her arms a fair son; and her
+parting words to her husband are--"I will not go up until the child be
+weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord,
+and there abide forever."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will she really leave him? Will she consent to part from her treasure
+and joy--her only one? What a blessing he has been to her! Seven years
+of peace and overflowing happiness has that little one purchased for her
+burdened and distracted spirit. Can she return to Ramah without him, to
+solitude and loneliness, uncheered by his winning ways and childish
+prattle? Surely this is a sorrow which will wring her heart, as never
+before. Not so. There she stands again on the spot where she once knelt
+and wept and vowed, but no tears fall now from her eyes--no grief is in
+her tones. She has come to fulfill her vow, "to lend her son to the Lord
+as long as he liveth." Again she prays as she is about parting from him.
+What a prayer!--a song of exultation rather. Listen to its sublime
+import. "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the
+Lord." How did we wrong thee, Hannah! We said thy son had purchased
+peace and joy for thee. Our low, selfish, doting hearts had not soared
+to the heights of thy lofty devotion. We deemed thee such an one as
+ourselves. In the gift, truly thou hast found comfort; but the Giver is
+He in whom thou hast delighted, and therefore thou canst so readily
+restore what he lent thee, on the conditions of thy vow. The Lord thy
+God has been, and is still to be, thy portion, and thou fearest not to
+leave thy precious one in His house. We thought to hear a wail from
+thee, but we were among the foolish. Thy soul is filled with the beauty
+and glory of the Lord, and thou hast not a word of sadness now. Thou
+leavest thy lamb among wolves--thy consecrated one with the "sons of
+Belial"--yet thou tremblest not. Who shall guide his childish feet in
+wisdom's ways when thou art far away? What hinders that he shall look on
+vice till it become familiar, and he be even like those around him? The
+old man is no fit protector for him. Does not thy heart fear? "Oh,
+woman, great is thy faith!"
+
+Come hither, ye who would learn a lesson of wisdom; ponder this record
+of the sacred word. Hannah returned to Ramah. She became the mother of
+sons and daughters; and yearly as she went with her husband to Shiloh,
+she carried to her first-born a coat wrought by maternal love, and
+rejoiced to see him growing before the Lord. How long she did this, we
+are not told. We have searched in vain for a word or hint that she lived
+to see the excellence and greatness of the son whom she "asked of God."
+The only clew which we can find is, that Samuel's house was in Ramah,
+the house of his parents; and we wish to think he lived there to be with
+them; and we hope his mother's eyes looked on the altar which he built
+there unto the Lord, and that her heart was gladdened by witnessing the
+proofs of his wisdom and grace, and the favor with which the Almighty
+regarded him.
+
+But though we know little of Hannah--she being many thousand years
+"dead, yet speaketh."--Come hither, ye who are tempest-tossed on a sea
+of vexations. Learn from her how to gain the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit. Come ye who feel that God hath judged you, and that you
+suffer affliction from his displeasure. Learn that you should draw
+nearer to him, instead of departing from him. Come with Hannah to his
+very courts. "Pour out your soul" before Him; keep back none of your
+griefs; confess your sins; offer your vows; multiply your prayers; rise
+not till you also can go forth with a countenance no more sad. He is
+"the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Come hither, ye who long to
+know how your children may assuredly be the Lord's. Strive to enter into
+the spirit of Hannah's vow, remembering, meantime, all it implied as she
+afterwards fulfilled it. Appreciate, if you can, her love and devotion
+to her God; and when you can so entirely consecrate your all to Him, be
+assured he will care for what is His own, and none shall be able to
+pluck it out of his hand. Come hither, ye who are called to part with
+your treasures; listen to Hannah's song as she gives up her only son, to
+call him hers no more--listen till you feel your heart joining also in
+the lofty anthem, and you forget all selfish grief, as she did, in the
+contemplation of His glories who is the portion of the soul. "_My heart
+rejoiceth in the Lord._" Alas! alas! how does even the Christian heart,
+which has professed to be satisfied with God, and content with his holy
+will, often depart from him, and "provoke him to jealousy" with many
+idols! Inordinate affection for some earthly object absorbs the soul
+which vowed to love him supremely. In its undisguised excess, it says
+to the beloved object, "Give me your heart; Jehovah must be your
+salvation, but let me be your happiness. A portion of your time, your
+attention, your service, He must have; but your daily, hourly thoughts,
+your dreams, your feelings, let them all be of me--of mine." Oh for such
+a love as she possessed! We should not then love our children less, but
+more, far more than now, and with a better, happier love--a love from
+which all needless anxiety would flee--a perfect love, casting out fear.
+
+Ye who feel that death to your loved ones would not so distress you as
+the fear of leaving them among baleful influences--who tremble in view
+of the evil that is in the world, remember where Hannah left, apparently
+without a misgiving, her gentle child. With Eli,--who could not even
+train his own sons in the fear of the Lord--with those sons who made
+themselves vile, and caused Israel to transgress,--she left him _with
+the Lord_. "Go ye and do likewise," and remember, also, He is the God of
+the whole earth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+"OPENING THE GATE."
+
+
+I lately met with an account of a youth, under the above title, which
+contains a volume of instruction. It is from a southern paper, and while
+particularly designed for a latitude where servants abound, it contains
+hints which may prove highly useful to lads in communities where
+servants are less numerous:
+
+"'I wish that you would send a servant to open the gate for me,' said a
+well-grown boy of ten to his mother, as he paused with his satchel upon
+his back, before the gate, and surveyed its clasped fastening.
+
+"'Why, John, can't you open the gate for yourself?' said Mrs. Easy. 'A
+boy of your age and strength ought certainly to be able to do that.'
+
+"'I _could_ do it, I suppose,' said the child, 'but it's heavy, and I
+don't like the _trouble_. The servant can open it for me just as well.
+Pray, what is the use of having servants if they are not to wait upon
+us?'
+
+"The servant was sent to open the gate. The boy passed out, and went
+whistling on his way to school. When he reached his seat in the academy,
+he drew from his satchel his arithmetic and began to inspect his sums.
+
+"'I cannot do these,' he whispered to his seat-mate; they are too hard.'
+
+"'But you _can try_,' replied his companion.
+
+"'I know that I can,' said John, 'but it's too much trouble. Pray, what
+are teachers for if not to help us out of difficulties? I shall carry my
+slate to Prof. Helpwell."
+
+"Alas! poor John. He had come to another closed gate--a gate leading
+into a beautiful and boundless science, 'the laws of which are the modes
+in which God acts in sustaining all the works of His hands'--the science
+of mathematics. He could have opened the gate and entered in alone and
+explored the riches of the realm, but his mother had injudiciously let
+him rest with the idea, that it is as well to have gates opened for us,
+as to exert our own strength. The result was, that her son, like the
+young hopeful sent to Mr. Wiseman, soon concluded that he had no
+'genius' for mathematics, and threw up the study.
+
+"The same was true of Latin. He could have learned the declensions of
+the nouns and the conjugation of the verbs as well as other boys of his
+age; but his seat-mate very kindly volunteered to 'tell him in class,'
+and what was the use in _opening the gate_ into the Latin language, when
+another would do it for him? Oh, no! John Easy had no idea of tasking
+mental or physical strength when he could avoid it, and the consequence
+was, that numerous gates remained closed to him all the days of his
+life--_gates of honor_--_gates to riches_--_gates to happiness_.
+Children ought to be early taught that it is always best to help
+themselves."
+
+This is the true secret of making a man. What would Columbus, or
+Washington and Franklin, or Webster and Clay, have accomplished had they
+proceeded on the principle of John Easy? No youth can rationally hope to
+attain to eminence in any thing who is not ready to "open the gate" for
+_himself_. And then, poor Mrs. Easy, how _she_ did misjudge! Better for
+her son, had she dismissed her servants--or rather had she directed them
+to some more appropriate service, and let Master John have remained at
+the gate day and night for a month, unless willing, before the
+expiration of that time, to have opened it for himself, and by his own
+strength. Parents in their well-meant kindness, or, perhaps, it were
+better named, thoughtless indulgence, often repress energies which, if
+their children were compelled to put forth, would result in benefits of
+the most important character.
+
+It is, indeed, painful to see boys, as we sometimes see them, struggling
+against "wind and tide;" but watch such boys--follow them--see how they
+put forth strength as it accumulates--apply energies as they
+increase--make use of new expedients as they need them, and by-and-by
+where are they? Indeed, now and then they are obliged to lift at the
+gate pretty lustily to get it open; now and then they are obliged to
+turn a pretty sharp corner, and, perhaps, lose a little skin from a
+shin-bone or a knuckle-joint, but, _at length_, where are they? Why, you
+see them sitting _in_ "the gate"--a scriptural phrase for the post of
+honor. Who is that judge who so adorns the bench? My Lord Mansfield, or
+Sir Matthew Hale, or Chief Justice Marshall? Why, and from what
+condition, has he reached his eminence? That was a boy who some years
+since was an active, persevering little fellow round the streets, the
+son of the poor widow, who lives under the hill. She was poor, but she
+had the faculty of infusing her own energy into her boy, Matthew or
+Tommy; and now he has grown to be one of the eminent men of the country.
+Yes; and I recollect there was now and then to be seen with Tommy, when
+he had occasionally a half hour of leisure--but that was not
+often--there was one John Easy, whose mother always kept a servant to
+wait upon him, to open and shut the gate for him, and almost to help him
+breathe. Well, and where is John Easy? Why there he is, this moment, a
+poor, shiftless, penniless being, who never loved to open the gate for
+himself, and now nobody ever desires to open a gate to him.
+
+And the reason for all this difference is the different manner in which
+these boys were trained in their early days. "Train up a child," says
+the good book, "in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not
+depart from it." Analyze the direction, and see how it reads. Train up a
+child--what? Why _train_ him--_i.e._, educate him, discipline him. Whom
+did you say? A _child_. Take him early, in the morning of life, before
+bad habits, indolent habits, vicious habits are formed. It is easy to
+bend the sapling, but difficult to bend the grown tree. You said _train
+a child_, did you? Yes. But how? Why, _in the way_ in which he _ought to
+go_--_i.e._, in some useful employment--in the exercise of good moral
+affections--pious duties towards God, and benevolent actions towards his
+parents, brothers, companions. Thus train him--a child--and what
+then--what result may you anticipate? Why, the royal preacher says that
+when he is old--of course, then, during youth, manhood, into old age,
+_through life_ he means, as long as he lives he will not--what? He will
+_not depart_ from it, he will neither go back, nor go zig-zag, but
+_forward_, in that way in which he ought to walk, as a moral and
+accountable being of God, and a member of society, bound to do all the
+good he can. And thus he will come under the conditions of a just or
+honest man, of whom another Scripture says, "His path is as the shining
+light, which shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." The
+_perfect_ day! But when is that? Why in it may mean the day when God
+will openly acknowledge all the really good as his sons and daughters.
+But I love to take it in more enlarged sense--I take the perfect day to
+be when the good will be as perfect as they can be; but as that will not
+be to the end of eternity, those who are trained up in the way they
+_should_ go, will probably continue to walk in it till the absolutely
+perfect day comes which will never come, for the good are going to grow
+better and better as long as _eternity_ lasts. So much for setting out
+right with your _children_, parents!--bringing them up right--and this
+involves, among other things, teaching them to "open the gate for
+themselves" and similar sorts of things.
+
+GRATIS.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION.
+
+BY REV. SAMUEL W. FISHER.
+
+
+The nature of female education, its influence, its field of action,
+comprehending a wide range of the noblest topics, render it utterly
+impossible to do justice to the entire theme in the brief limits here
+assigned to it. Indeed it seems almost a superfluous effort, were it not
+expected, nay, demanded, to discuss the subject of education in a work
+like this.
+
+Thanks to our Father in Heaven, who, in the crowning work of his
+creation, gave woman to man, made weakness her strength, modesty her
+citadel, grace and gentleness her attributes, affection her dower, and
+the heart of man her throne. With her, toil rises into pleasure, joy
+fills the breast with a larger benediction, and sorrow, losing half its
+bitterness, is transmitted into an element of power, a discipline of
+goodness. Even in the coarsest life, and the most depressing
+circumstances, woman hath this power of hallowing all things with the
+sunshine of her presence. But never does it unfold itself so finely as
+when education, instinct with religion, has accomplished its most
+successful work. It is only then that she reveals all her varied
+excellence, and develops her high capacities. It only unfolds powers
+that were latent, or develops those in harmony and beauty which
+otherwise would push themselves forth in shapes grotesque, gnarled and
+distorted. God creates the material, and impresses upon it his own laws.
+Man, in education, simply seeks to give those laws scope for action. The
+uneducated person, by a favorite figure of the old classic writers, has
+often been compared to the rough marble in the quarry; the educated to
+that marble chiselled by the hand of a Phidias into forms of beauty and
+pillars of strength. But the analogy holds good in only a single point.
+As the chisel reveals the form which the marble may be made to assume,
+so education unfolds the innate capacities of men. In all things else
+how poor the comparison! how faint the analogy! In the one case you have
+an aggregation of particles crystallized into shape, without organism,
+life or motion. In the other, you have life, growth, expansion. In the
+first you have a mass of limestone, neither more nor less than insensate
+matter, utterly incapable of any alteration from within itself. In the
+second, you have a living body, a mind, affections instinct with power,
+gifted with vitality, and forming the attributes of a being allied to
+and only a little lower than the angels. These constitute a life which,
+by its inherent force, must grow and unfold itself by a law of its own,
+whether you educate it or not. Some development it will make, some form
+it will assume by its own irrepressible and spontaneous action. The
+question, with us, is rather what that form shall be; whether it shall
+wear the visible robes of an immortal with a countenance glowing with
+the intelligence and pure affection of cherub and seraph, or through the
+rags and sensual impress of an earthly, send forth only occasional
+gleams of its higher nature. The great work of education is to stimulate
+and direct this native power of growth. God and the subject, co-working,
+effect all the rest.
+
+In the wide sense in which it is proposed to consider the subject of
+education, three things are pre-supposed--personal talents, personal
+application, and the divine blessing. Without capacities to be
+developed, or with very inferior capacities, education is either wholly
+useless, or only partially successful. As it has no absolute creative
+power, and is utterly unable to add a single faculty to the mind, so
+the first condition of its success is the capacity for improvement in
+the subject. An idiot may be slightly affected by it, but the feebleness
+of his original powers forbids the noblest result of education. It
+teaches men how most successfully to use their own native force, and by
+exercise to increase it, but in no case can it supply the absence of
+that force. It is not its province to inspire genius, since that is the
+breath of God in the soul, bestowed as seemeth to him good, and at the
+disposal of no finite power. It is enough if it unfold and discipline,
+and guide genius in its mission to the world. We are not to demand that
+it shall make of every man a Newton, a Milton, a Hall, a Chalmers, a
+Mason, a Washington; or of every woman a Sappho, a De Stael, a Roland, a
+Hemans.
+
+The supposition that all intellects are originally equal, however
+flattering to our pride, is no less prejudicial to the cause of
+education than false in fact. It throws upon teachers the responsibility
+of developing talents that have scarcely an existence, and securing
+attainments within the range of only the very finest powers, during the
+period usually assigned to this work. To the ignorant it misrepresents
+and dishonors education, when it presents for their judgment a very
+inferior intellect, which all the training of the schools has not
+inspired with power, as a specimen of the result of liberal pursuits.
+Such an intellect can never stand up beside an active though untutored
+mind--untutored in the schools, yet disciplined by the necessities
+around it. It is only in the comparison of minds of equal original
+power, but of different and unequal mental discipline, that the result
+of a thorough education reveal themselves most strikingly. The genius
+that, partially educated, makes a fine bar-room politician, a good
+county judge, a respectable member of the lower house in our State
+Legislature, or an expert mechanic and shrewd farmer, when developed by
+study and adorned with learning, rises to the foremost rank of men.
+Great original talents will usually give indication of their presence
+amidst the most depressing circumstances. But when a mind of this stamp
+has been allowed to unfold itself under the genial influence of large
+educational advantages, how will it grow in power, outstripping the
+multitude, as some majestic tree, rooted in a soil of peculiar richness
+rises above and spreads itself abroad over the surrounding forest? Our
+inquiry, however, at present, is not exclusively respecting individuals
+thus highly gifted.
+
+Geniuses are rare in our world; sent occasionally to break up the
+monotony of life, impart new impulses to a generation, like comets
+blazing along the sky, startle the dosing mind, no longer on the stretch
+to enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge, and rouse men to gaze on
+visions of excellence yet unreached. Happily, the mass of mankind are
+not of this style of mind. Uniting by the process of education the
+powers which God has conferred upon them, with those of a more brilliant
+order which are occasionally given to a few, the advancement of the
+world in all things essential to its refinement, and purity, and
+exaltation, is probably as rapid and sure as it would be under a
+different constitution of things. Were all equally elevated, it might
+still be necessary for some to tower above the rest, and by the sense of
+inequality move the multitude to nobler aspirations. But while it is not
+permitted of God that all men should actually rise to thrones in the
+realm of mind, yet such is the native power of all sane minds, and such
+their great capacity of improvement, that, made subject to a healthful
+discipline they may not only qualify us for all the high duties of life
+on earth, but go on advancing in an ever-perfecting preparation for the
+life above.
+
+The second thing pre-supposed in education is personal application.
+There is no thorough education that is not self-education. Unlike the
+statue which can be wrought only from without, the great work of
+education is to unfold the life within. This life always involves
+self-action. The scholar is not merely a passive recipient. He grows
+into power by an active reception of truth. Even when he listens to
+another's utterances of knowledge, what vigor of attention and memory
+are necessary to enable him to make that knowledge his own? But when he
+attempts himself to master a subject of importance, when he would rise
+into the higher region of mathematics, philosophy, history, poetry,
+religion, art; or even when he would prepare himself for grappling with
+the great questions of life, what long processes of thought! what
+patient gathering together of materials! what judgment, memory,
+comparison, and protracted meditation are essential to complete success?
+The man who would triumph over obstacles and ascend the heights of
+excellence in the realm of mind, must work with the continuous vigor of
+a steamship on an ocean voyage. Day by day the fire must burn, and the
+revolve in the calm and in the gale--in the sunshine and the storm. The
+innate excellency of genius or talents can give no exemption to its
+possessor from this law of mental growth. An educated mind is neither an
+aggregation of particles accreted around a center, as the stones grow,
+nor a substance, which, placed in a turner's lathe, comes forth an
+exquisitely wrought instrument. The mere passing through an academy or
+college, is not education. The enjoyment of the largest educational
+advantages by no means infers the possession of a mind and heart
+thoroughly educated; since there is an inner work to be performed by the
+subject of those advantages before he can lay claim to the possession of
+a well-disciplined and richly-stored intellect and affections. The
+phrase, "self-made men" is often so used as to convey the idea that the
+persons who have enjoyed the advantages of a liberal education, are
+rather made by their instructors. The supposition is in part unjust.
+
+The outward means of education stimulate the mind, and thus assist the
+process of development; but it is absolutely essential to all growth in
+mental or moral excellence, that the person himself should be enlisted
+vigorously in the work. He must work as earnestly as the man destitute
+of his faculties. The difference between the two consists not in the
+fact that one walks and the other rides, but that the one is obliged to
+take a longer road to reach the same point. Teachers, books, recitations
+and lectures facilitate our course, direct us how most advantageously to
+study, point out the shortest path to the end we seek, and tend to rouse
+the soul to the putting forth of its powers; but neither of these can
+take the place of, or forestall intense personal application. The man
+without instructors, like a traveler without guide-boards, must take
+many a useless step, and often retrace his way. He may, after this
+experimental traveling, at length reach the same point with the person
+who has enjoyed superior literary aids, but it will cost the waste of
+many a precious hour, which might have been spent in enlarging the
+sphere of his vision and perfecting the symmetry of his intellectual
+powers. In cases of large attainments and ripe character, in either sex,
+the process of growth is laborious. Thinking is hard work. All things
+most excellent are the fruits of slow, patient working. The trees grow
+slowly, grain by grain; the planets creep round their orbits, inch by
+inch; the river hastens to the ocean by a gentle progress; the clouds
+gather the rain-drop from the invisible air, particle by particle, and
+we are not to ask that this immortal mind, the grandest thing in the
+world, shall reach its perfection by a single stride, or independently
+of the most early, profound and protracted self-labor. It is enough for
+us that, thankfully accepting the assistance of those who have ascended
+above us, we give ourselves to assiduous toil, until our souls grow up
+to the stature of perfect men.
+
+The third thing pre-supposed in education is the divine benediction. In
+all spheres of action, we recognize the over-ruling providence of God
+working without us, and his Spirit commissioned to work within us. Nor
+is there any work of mortal life in which we need to allay unto
+ourselves the wisdom and energy of Jehovah, as an essential element of
+success than is this long process where truth, affection, decision,
+judgment, and perseverance in the teacher, are to win into the paths of
+self-labor minds of every degree of ability, and dispositions of every
+variety. When God smiles upon us, then this grand work of moulding
+hearts and intellects for their high destiny moves forward without
+friction, and the young heart silently and joyously comes forth into the
+light.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GLEANINGS BY THE WAYSIDE. No. 3.
+
+
+A river never rises higher than the source from whence it springs; so a
+character is never more elevated and consistent, in mature life, than
+the principles which were adopted in childhood were pure, reasonable,
+and consistent with truth: so a tree is either good or bad, and brings
+forth fruit after its own kind, though it be ever so stinted. If you
+find a crab-apple on a tree, you may be sure that the tree is a
+crab-tree. So one can predicate a pretty correct opinion of a person, as
+to character, disposition, and modes of thinking and acting, from a
+single isolated remark, incidentally made, or an act performed on the
+spur of the moment.
+
+This I shall attempt to show by reference to two occurrences which took
+place in the case of a young husband and wife.
+
+Joseph, the father of a young child, one day brought home "Abbott's
+Mother at Home," remarking to his wife, as he presented it, "Louise, I
+have been persuaded to buy this book, in the hope that it may aid us in
+the training of our little daughter."
+
+Her quick and tart reply was--"I don't think I shall 'bring up' my child
+by a book."
+
+It may be useful to learn under what peculiar circumstances this young
+wife and mother had herself been "brought up."
+
+Certainly not, as a matter of course, in the country, where good books
+are comparatively difficult to be obtained, and (though every one has
+much to do) are usually highly prized, and read with avidity. Certainly
+not, as a matter of course, where there was a large family of children,
+and where all must share every thing in common, and where each must
+perform an allotted part in household duties, perhaps to eke out a
+scanty salary. Not in a farm-house, where the income will yield but a
+bare competency for the support of ten or twelve children. If there is
+a good and wise father and mother at the helm, it is under such
+conflicting circumstances that children are usually the most thoroughly
+and practically taught the great principles which should govern human
+society.
+
+Louise was educated under very different circumstances. Her father's
+residence was the great metropolis. He was a very wealthy man, and he
+had the means of choosing any mode of education which he might prefer to
+adopt.
+
+The mother of Louise was said to have been a noble-minded woman, but
+always in delicate health. She early dedicated this infant daughter to
+God, but died while she was quite young. Unfortunately, poor little
+Louise was for a few years left to the care of ignorant and selfish
+relatives, who intermeddled, and often in the child's hearing, with a
+significant nod of the head, would utter the piteous inuendo, "Who knows
+how soon the poor thing may have a step-mother!"
+
+From this and similar ill-timed remarks, poor little Louise very early
+fostered an inveterate dislike to her father's ever marrying a second
+time.
+
+But he did soon marry again. Instead of at once taking this cruel sliver
+out of the flesh, acting on the sublime principle, "Duty belongs to us;
+leave consequences with God," the father of Louise very injudiciously
+and selfishly fell in with this child's foolish and wicked notions, and
+in order, as he thought, to remunerate this darling child for her great
+trial, allowed her to live almost entirely abstracted from the family
+circle.
+
+She was allowed to have a room entirely by herself, which was the
+largest and best in the house, and in all respects to maintain a
+separate interest. No one might interfere with this or that, for it
+belonged to Miss Louise.
+
+Her father said, at any rate, she should not be annoyed by any
+participation in the care of the little ones, as she left no one in
+doubt of the fact, that above every thing she disliked children, and
+especially the care of them. Certainly, he said, they should not
+interfere in any way with her in acquiring a "liberal education." And
+thus she lost the sweet privilege of acting the honorable and useful
+part usually assigned to an "elder daughter," and an "elder sister."
+
+To atone for her isolated and unfortunate situation--made unfortunate by
+the contracted and selfish views of this ill-judging father--her father
+made another mistake under the circumstances, for, instead of sending
+her to a good select school, where she would come in contact with
+children of her own age, and her intellectual powers might be sharpened
+by coming in contact with other minds, he procured for her _private
+teachers_, and she had not even the benefit of a good long walk to and
+from school in the open air.
+
+Thus was this mere child, day after day, and hour after hour, confined
+to the piano, to her drawing and painting lessons, and her worsted work.
+She became a proficient in these external accomplishments, and was by
+some considered quite a prodigy--possessing a rare genius, which often
+means nothing more nor less than a distorted character.
+
+Her health for a time was sadly undermined, and her nervous system was
+shattered by too close attention to pursuits which imposed too great a
+tax upon the visual organs, and too much abstraction from common
+objects.
+
+Who would not rather see a young daughter--the merry, laughing companion
+of a group of girls--out after wild flowers, weaving them into garlands
+to crown the head of some favorite of the party, making up bouquets as a
+gift for mamma, or some favorite aunt--cutting paper into fantastic
+figures, and placing them upon the wall to please children, or dressing
+a doll for little sister? Who would not rather see their young daughter
+a jumping delicate little romp, chasing a bird in mirthful glee, as if
+she verily thought she could catch it?
+
+How could this young wife and mother, so differently trained, be
+expected all at once to judge and act wisely and impartially about the
+grave matter of infant training--a subject she absolutely knew nothing
+about, having never contemplated it? What do parents think, or expect
+when their young daughters marry and become parents? Do they suppose
+that some magic spell will come over a girl of eighteen in going through
+the matrimonial ceremony, which shall induct her into all the mysteries
+of housewifery, and initiate her into the more intricate and important
+duty of training the infant, so as to give it a sound mind in a sound
+body, so that it shall possess a symmetrical character?
+
+The father of Louise saw too late his mistake in allowing this daughter
+the great privilege, as he thought at the time, of having her own way in
+every thing.
+
+If this were a proper place to give advice to young men on the grave
+subject of selecting a wife, we should say, "Never marry a young lady
+merely for her showy, outward accomplishments, which, ten chances to
+one, have been attained at the expense of more valuable and useful
+acquirements--perhaps at the sacrifice of the ornament of a meek and
+quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Never select
+for a wife a young lady who dishonors her name and sex by the avowal
+that she dislikes children; that she even hates the care of them, and
+that she never could find pleasure in household duties. She could never
+love flowers, or find satisfaction in cultivating them."
+
+A lovely infant is the most beautiful object of all God's handy works.
+"Flowers _are_ more than beautiful;" they give us lessons of practical
+wisdom. So the Savior teaches us. If I did not love little children--if
+I did not love flowers--I would studiously hide the fact, even from
+myself, for then I could not respect myself.
+
+But to return to the remark which Louise made to her husband, when he
+presented her with that good and useful book--a book which has elicited
+praise from many able writers, and called forth the gratitude of many
+wise and good parents.[D]
+
+This remark was anything rather than a grateful acknowledgment to her
+husband for his thinking of her when absent; and it not only evinced a
+spirit of thoughtlessness and ingratitude to him, but manifested a
+remarkable share of self-sufficiency and self-complacency.
+
+Just so it is with a head of wheat. When it is empty, it stands
+perfectly erect, and looks self-confident; but as soon as it is filled
+with the precious grain, it modestly bends its head, and waives most
+gracefully, as if to welcome every whispering breeze.
+
+But was Louise wanting in affection and care to her own child? No; not
+in one sense, for she was foolishly fond of this little paragon of
+perfection. She one day said, boastingly, "My child has never been
+washed but with a fine cambric handkerchief, which is none too good for
+her soft flesh. Nothing can be too good for this precious darling, and
+while I live she shall never want for any indulgence I can procure for
+her."
+
+It might be said, too, that Louise evinced a fondness for her husband;
+and she was proud of the attentions of a youth who was admired for his
+remarkable polish of manners; but she certainly had not at this
+time--whatever she might afterwards acquire--a warm and generous heart,
+free from selfish interests, to bestow upon any object on earth or in
+heaven.
+
+Notwithstanding Joseph's elegant address and appearance, his character
+was in one respect vulnerable, as will be seen from a trivial act which
+I have yet to mention.
+
+His mother was an occasional assistant in her son's family. He was her
+only son. She was in most respects a highly-educated woman, with no
+ordinary share of self-possession, having pleasing manners, unless it
+might be said that she evinced a kind of _hauteur_, which made her
+rather feared than loved. But it was apparent to every one that she was
+selfishly attached to this only son. Louise said one day to a friend--"I
+never had occasion to be jealous of Joseph's attentions to me, or of his
+affection for me, except when his mother was present."
+
+No one could help noticing the greater deference this mother paid to her
+son, even when his father was present; and most fully did this son
+reciprocate his mother's respectful attachment. This love and reverence
+for his mother, on the part of this son, would have been right and
+beautiful if it had not been so exclusive.
+
+In one of her visits in her son's family, when she was in feeble health,
+this son proposed to his mother, towards night, in the presence of
+Louise, but without conferring with her, that his mother should lodge in
+his broad bed, with Louise, in their well-heated nursery.
+
+To this Louise objected, saying she would quickly have a fire made in
+the spare chamber, and there would be ample time to have it thoroughly
+heated; and if she did not choose to lodge alone, she would offer her a
+charming young lady to sleep in the room with her. The choice was again
+referred by Joseph to his mother. Louise now expostulated with her
+husband. She said, as she was not strong, she needed his assistance a
+part of the night, as usual, in the care of the infant. But still,
+without any regard for her feelings and her wishes to the contrary,
+Joseph _insisted_ that his mother should make a choice; and, strange to
+say, she chose to lodge with Louise.
+
+This unaccountable preference, unless it was because it was proffered by
+her son, it would seem, must have produced unhappiness and discomfort,
+on her part, on witnessing this daughter the livelong night restlessly
+turning from side to side, and her child restless and crying. But not
+one expression of regret was manifested the next day by either mother or
+son.
+
+The day after the incident referred to above occurred, a kind friend
+whispered in Joseph's ear a truth, which, perhaps, till then had been
+entirely overlooked by him. This friend reminded him that when he
+plighted his vows to his young wife at the altar, he did most solemnly
+promise, agreeably to God's ordinance, "that he would forsake father and
+mother, and all others, and he would cleave to his wife, and to her
+alone; that he would take her for better or for worse."
+
+We may laud the conduct of Naomi and Ruth in their beautiful attachment
+to each other, at the point of history where they are first introduced
+to us. But their love to each other was doubtless greatly modified by
+the circumstances into which they were now brought. They had a
+remarkable sympathy and fellow-feeling for each other in their
+sufferings. That son and husband, the bond of this tender and happy
+union, and the occasion had there been any strife between them when this
+loved object was living, was now forever removed from them, and not a
+trace of any thing to blame or to regret was still remembered by them.
+
+I can never be sufficiently grateful for the oft-reiterated advice of my
+father to his children. "Never," he would say, "act a selfish part." In
+all your plans and purposes in life, do not have an exclusive regard to
+self-interest. If you do, you will find many competitors. But if you
+strive to render others happy, you will always find a large and open
+field of enterprise; and let me assure you that this is the best way to
+promote your own happiness for time and for eternity.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+ONE-SIDED CHRISTIANS.
+
+
+How difficult a thing it is in the present day to find a well-balanced
+Christian! In this day of fits and of starts, of impulse and of action,
+a day of revolution both in thought and kingdoms, where is the man who
+is formed in _all respects_ after the image of his Savior?--where the
+Christian, who, "being _fitly framed together_, groweth unto an holy
+temple in the Lord?" Many of the followers of Christ seem to have
+forgotten that His alone is the example after which they are to pattern,
+and are looking to some distinguished neighbor or friend, or to their
+own selfish and sensual desires, to inquire how they shall walk in this
+evil world. Many appear to have made an estimate in their hearts how
+little religion will suffice them--how little humbling of the
+spirit--how little self-denying labor for Christ and dying men. It may
+be they "do justly," and, in their own eyes, "walk humbly;" but their
+religion is of the negative sort. They are "neither extortioners,
+unjust, nor even as this publican:" they give to every man his due, and
+take good care to obey the precept--"to look every man on his own
+things, and not on the things of his neighbors." But they forget that
+"Love mercy" was a part of the triad! that the religion of Jesus is not
+a religion of selfishness, and that the Master has said, "Go ye out into
+the streets and lanes, and _compel them_ to come in, that my house may
+be filled!" They forget His _example_ who came down from heaven to
+suffer and die for guilty man; who _went about_ doing good, and whose
+meat and drink was to accomplish the work which the Father had given him
+to do. They forget that one of his last acts was to wash his disciples'
+feet, saying, "As I have done to you, so do ye also to one another;"
+and, as if our selfish and proud hearts would rebel, he adds--"The
+disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord."
+
+This want of conformity to Christ is also shown in the speech of many of
+his followers. He who was the _Searcher of hearts_ must certainly be
+expected to condemn iniquity, and condemn it severely; but how unwilling
+do we find him to pass sentence upon the guilty--how comforting and
+consoling to the sinner! To the offending woman he says--"Neither do I
+condemn thee; go, and sin no more." For his murderers he cries--"Father,
+forgive them; they _know not_ what they do!" And must vain, erring man
+be more harsh towards his fellow-man than his Maker? "Blessed are the
+merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "I came," says Jesus, "to seek
+and to save _the lost_!" therefore, who so lost but in Jesus shall find
+a friend? And shall it not be so with his followers, when they remember
+his words, "_I have given you an example_, that ye should do as I have
+done to you"?
+
+In this day of the multiplicity of good works, and of trusting to them
+for salvation, it may seem strange for us to urge their necessity. But
+in speaking of those who lack the beautiful oneness in character and
+conduct which distinguished Jesus, we would not omit many who, having
+been educated in the full belief of the doctrine of "justification by
+faith," carry it to such an extent as to despise good works, and almost
+to look upon them as heretical. They set them down in their religious
+calendar as _savoring of ostentation_, and thus run into the opposite
+extreme, neglecting entirely the command of our Lord, to "Let your light
+so shine before men, that they _may see your good works_." They take a
+one-sided view of truth and duty, forgetting that "he who shall break
+one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so" (even by
+practice), shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Could
+they but know, by sweet experience, the luxury of giving "even a cup of
+cold water in His name," they would never again refrain from the blessed
+work. Could they fully understand the words to be pronounced on the
+final day, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
+my brethren, _ye have done it unto me_," no earthly inducement would be
+able to deter them from obtaining a part in that commendation and
+reward. Did they but read with divine enlightening the parable of the
+good Samaritan, and hear the Master saying, "Go and do thou likewise,"
+what possible excuse would remain for them for not obeying his command?
+They little realize that they may read and meditate and _believe_, and
+still remain very selfish and un-Christ-like; for if Christ had been
+possessed of their supineness, he would still have remained in heaven,
+and we and ours yet been in the bonds of wickedness. Christian mothers
+have greatly erred in not _training_ their children to a life of
+Christian self-denial and usefulness. In their visits to the poor and
+perishing, they should early accustom their little ones to accompany
+them, thus overcoming that sensitive dread of misery in its various
+forms, so common to the young. They would thus be laying up for them a
+good foundation against the time to come--training them in the way they
+should go--guiding their feet into the imitation of that blessed One
+whom they hope soon to see them following. Of how many delightful hours
+have parents deprived their children, who have never taught them, by
+precept and example, the luxury of doing good! How many gracious
+promises in God's blessed word are yet sealed to them--promises for
+time and for eternity! Mothers, awake! to know more of Jesus, of his
+life, his example, and of the high and holy inducements which he holds
+out to you in his word, to be conformed to his image.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LUX IN TENEBRAS; OR A CHAPTER OF HEART HISTORY.
+
+BY GEORGIANA M. SYKES.
+
+
+It was a beautiful winter-morning. The new fallen snow lay light and
+fleecy about the porch and on the evergreens before the door, and
+cushioned and covered all the thousand minute branches of the trees till
+they stood forth as if traced in silver on the deep blue of the sky. A
+sparkling, dazzling scene it was, which lay spread out before the
+windows of that comfortable family parlor, where the morning sunshine
+and the blazing wood-fire on the hearth seemed to feel a generous
+rivalry as to which should be most inspiriting.
+
+There were children in the room, a merry group of all sizes, from the
+boy of ten years old to the little one whose first uncertain footsteps
+were coaxed forth by a lure, and cheered onward like a triumphal
+progress by admiring brothers and sisters. It was the morning of
+New-Year's day, which had always been held as a high festival in the
+family, as it is in many families of New England, all the merriment and
+festal observance elsewhere bestowed upon Christmas having been
+transferred by Puritan preferences to this holiday.
+
+It was just the weather for a holiday--brisk and bracing. Sleigh-bells
+were jingling merrily, as the deep drifts of the road having been
+overcome, one after another of the families of the neighborhood had
+commenced their round, bearing baskets filled with gifts and pleasant
+tokens of remembrance, with the customary wishes and salutations of the
+day.
+
+The young mother sat in the group of happy children, but she did not
+smile on them. Her hand rested fondly on one little head and another, as
+they pressed to her side with eager question or exclamation. She drew
+the little one with a quick, earnest clasp to her heaving bosom. Her
+tremulous lips refused to obey the impulse of her will; she left
+Edward's question unanswered, and abruptly placing Willie in the arms of
+his careful nurse, she rushed away from the gladness she could not bear,
+to the solitude of her own chamber. There she fell upon her knees and
+covered her face, while the storm of sorrow she had striven so hard to
+stem, swept over her. Amid groans of agony, came forth the low
+murmur--"'Write his children _fatherless_, and his wife a _widow_!' Oh,
+my God, why must this be? _His_ children fatherless, _his_ wife a
+widow!"
+
+Soon came the quick sobs which told that the overcharged heart which had
+seemed ready to burst, had found temporary relief in tears; then
+followed the low moans of calmer endurance, and the widow's heart sunk
+back into all it had yet found of peace under this great bereavement,
+though it had been months since the blow fell; the peace of
+submission--"Not my will, but thine, O God, be done!" This time it
+expressed itself in the quaint words of Herbert;
+
+  "Do thou thy holy will;--
+  _I will lie still_."
+
+Then came the mother's habitual recollection of her children. They must
+not bear the weight of this great sorrow in the days of their tender
+youth, lest the hopefulness and energy they would certainly need in
+after life should be discouraged and disheartened out of them. Edward is
+naturally too reflective; he dwells too much on his loss, and evidently
+begins to ponder already how so many children are to be taken care of
+without a father. Sensitive Mary feels too deeply the shadow of the
+cloud which has come over her home; her face reflects back her mother's
+sadness.
+
+So, rising, the mother rang the bell, and gave directions that the
+children should be prepared for a visit to their grandfather's, and
+that the sleigh should be brought to the door.
+
+"They must go," thought she, "I cannot bear them about me. I must spend
+this day alone;" and she bade Mary replenish the fire, and seated
+herself in the arm-chair by the window. What a sickness fell upon the
+sad heart as the eye roved over the cheerful winter landscape! Here were
+the hurryings to and fro of congratulation, the gay garments, such as
+she and hers had laid aside, the merry chiming of the many-toned
+sleigh-bells, all so familiar to her ear that she knew who was passing,
+even if she had not looked up. Here is Thomas with the sleigh for the
+children, and, preceding it, is Ponto in his highest glee--now he dashes
+forward with a few quick bounds, and turns to bark a challenge at Thomas
+and the horses--now he plunges into a snow-drift, and mining his way
+through it, emerges on the other side to shake himself vigorously and
+bark again.
+
+Has Ponto forgotten his master? Ponto, who lies so often at his
+mistress's feet, and looks up wistfully into her face, as if he
+understood much, but would like to ask more, and seems, with his low
+whine, to put the question--Why, when his master went away so many
+months ago, he had never come back again:--Ponto, who would lie for
+hours, when he could steal an access to them, beside the trunks which
+came home unaccompanied by their owner, and which still stood in a
+closed room, which was to the household like the silent chamber of
+death. There had been for the mourner a soothing power in Ponto's dumb
+sympathy, even when, with the caprice of suffering, she could not bear
+the obtrusiveness of human pity.
+
+Out trooped the merry, noisy children, well equipped with caps and
+comforters. Good Thomas arranged them on the seats, and wrapped the
+buffalo-robes about them, and encircling his special darling, a
+prattling little girl of three years old, with his careful arm, away
+they went, down the hill and out of sight.
+
+With a sigh of relief, the mother drew her chair to the hearth, and
+resolved, for that one day, to give over the struggle, and let sorrow
+have its way. She dwelt on all the circumstances of the change, which so
+suddenly had darkened her life. She permitted her thoughts to run upon
+themes from which she had sedulously kept them, thus indulging, and as
+it were, nursing her grief. She recalled the thoughtful love which had
+been hers till it seemed as natural and as necessary to her as the air
+she breathed. She had been an indulged wife, constantly cared for, and
+lavishly supplied with everything that heart could wish. The natural
+sensitiveness of her temperament had been heightened by too much
+tenderness; she had been encouraged to cling like a vine, and to expect
+support from without herself. She was still young and beautiful. She was
+accustomed to be loved and admired by many, but that was nothing to her
+in comparison with the calm unvarying estimation in which she had been
+held by one faithful heart. How was she to live without this essential
+element of her life?
+
+Then the darkened future of her life rushed over her like an
+overwhelming flood: the cares and duties which were henceforward to
+devolve on her alone; the children who were never to know any other
+parent but herself; never to know any stronger restraints from evil or
+incentives to good than she in her feebleness could exert over them.
+What would become of her boys as they grew older, and needed a father's
+wise counsels? She saw with grief that she was even less qualified than
+most mothers to exercise the sole government and providence over a
+family. She had been too much indulged--too entirely screened from
+contact with the world's rough ways.
+
+How were the wants of her large family to be provided for with the
+lessened income she could now command? Pecuniary loss had followed close
+upon her great bereavement, and though this constituted but a small
+element in her sorrow, yet now that it came before her on the morning of
+this new year, it added yet another shade to the "horror of great
+darkness" which encompassed her. She knew that it must have a direct
+bearing upon her welfare, and that of her family.
+
+Then she reverted to the New Year's Day of last year; the little
+surprises she had helped to plan; the liberal expenditure by which she
+had sent pleasure, for one day at least, into the dwellings of the poor,
+her generous gifts to her servants, which it had been a pleasant study
+to adapt to their several tastes and wants; the dependencies, near and
+remote, which she had used as channels for conveying a measure of
+happiness to many a heart. Now there must be an end to all this; she
+could be generous no more. Even her children, partly from her
+pre-occupied mind, had no gifts provided for them to-day. Was she not a
+"widow and desolate?"
+
+"Desolate, _desolate_!" she repeated in bitterness of soul. She paused.
+A voice within her seemed to say--"Now she that is a widow and desolate
+_trusteth in God_." A moment after there came into her mind yet another
+verso, "And _none of them that trust in Him shall be_ DESOLATE."
+
+Could it be that she remembered the passage aright? Her Bible lay open
+on the table before her. She had that morning earnestly sought strength
+from it, and from communion with God before she could nerve herself to
+meet her children, and bear their reiterated salutations, heart-rending
+to her, "Happy New Year, mother"--"Mother, dear mother, I wish you a
+Happy New Year."
+
+Now as she drew it towards her, and turned over its pages to verify the
+exactness of the words, it soon opened to _the blessed thirty-fourth
+psalm_, which has proved to many an anchor of hope when they cried to
+God "out of the depths."
+
+"I will bless the Lord at all times;" Oh, surely not!--How could any one
+bless the Lord at such a time as this? Yet there it stood:--
+
+"I will bless the Lord _at all times_; his praise shall continually be
+in my mouth." If others could do this, and had done it, God helping her,
+she would do it too. She, too, would bless the Lord, and speak his
+praises.
+
+"My soul shall _make her boast in the Lord_." A feeling of exultation
+began to rise within her. Something was yet left to her. Her earthly
+"boast" was indeed broken; but why might not she, too, "_make her boast
+in the Lord_"?
+
+Touched with living light, verse by verse stood out before her, as
+written by the finger of a present God. Humbled to the earth,
+overpowered by deep self-abasement and contrition of soul, she clung as
+with a death-grasp to the words that were bearing her triumphantly
+through these dark waves.
+
+"They looked unto Him _and were lightened_." Was not her darkness
+already broken as by a beam from His face?
+
+"This poor man cried, and _the Lord heard him_, and delivered him out of
+all his troubles."
+
+"The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him, and
+delivereth them."
+
+"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto
+their cry."
+
+"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but _the Lord delivereth him
+out of them all_."
+
+Who was this, that, under these comfortable words, looked peacefully
+upward? It was one who was learning to _trust God_; taught it, as most
+of us are, by being placed in circumstances where there is _nothing
+else_ to trust.
+
+It is not for us to portray all that passes in the human soul when it is
+brought into vivid communion with its Maker. It is enough for us to know
+that this sorrowful heart was made to exult in God, even in the calm
+consciousness of its irretrievable loss; and that before the sun of a
+day specially consecrated to grief had attained its meridian, the
+mourner came cheerfully forth from her place of retirement, while a
+chant, as of angelic voices, breathed through the temple of her
+sorrowful soul, even over its broken altar.
+
+"_Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good_; blessed is the man that
+trusteth in Him."
+
+"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints; _for there is no want to them that
+fear Him_."
+
+The group of banished little ones was recalled, but while the messenger
+was gone for them, the mother in the strength of her new-found peace,
+had brought forth from that closed chamber the gifts which the fond
+father had designed for each of his children, and had spread them out
+in fair array on the parlor table. So it was New Year's Day to the
+children after all.
+
+The trust of that mother _in the widow's God_ was never put to shame.
+Her children grew up around her, and hardly realized that they had not
+father and mother both in the one parent who was all in all to them. She
+was efficient and successful in all her undertakings. Her home, with its
+overshadowing trees, its rural abundance and hearty hospitalities, lives
+in the hearts of many as their brightest embodiment of an ideal, a
+cheerful, Christian home. The memory of that mother, dispensing little
+kindnesses to everybody within her reach, is a heritage to her children
+worth thousands of gold and silver. Truly, "they that seek the Lord
+_shall not want any good thing_."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FILIAL REVERENCE OF THE TURKS.
+
+
+A beautiful feature in the character of the Turks is, their reverence
+and respect for the author of their being. Their friends' advice and
+reprimands are unheeded; their words are _leash_--nothing; but their
+mother is an oracle. She is consulted, confided in, listened to with
+respect and deference, honored to her latest hour, and remembered with
+affection and regret beyond the grave.
+
+"My wife dies, and I replace her; my children perish, and others may be
+born to me; but who shall restore to me the mother who has passed away,
+and who is no more?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+ICHABOD'S MOTHER.
+
+                         "Strength is born
+  In the deep silence of long-suffering hearts,
+  Not amidst joy."
+
+
+The noblest characters the world knows are those who have been trained
+in the school of affliction. They only who walk in the fiery furnace are
+counted worthy the companionship of the Son of God. The modes of their
+discipline are various as are their circumstances and peculiar traits,
+but in one form or other stern trials have proved them all. They partake
+of the holiness of the Lord, because they have first endured the
+chastening of his love. They are filled with righteousness, because they
+have known the pangs of spiritual hunger and the extremity of thirst.
+They abound, because they have been empty. They are heavenly-minded,
+because they have first learned in the bitterness of their spirits how
+unsatisfying is earth. They are firmly anchored by faith, because
+frequent tempests and threatened shipwreck have taught them their need.
+The Master himself was made perfect through suffering, and with his
+baptism, must they who would follow him closely, be baptized.
+
+While Hannah was undergoing at Ramah the discipline which wrought in her
+such noble qualities, there dwelt in Shiloh one of kindred spirit, who
+was called to endure even severer tests, inasmuch as that which should
+have constituted her happiness, was evermore the bitterest ingredient in
+her cup; what might have been her purest joys became her greatest
+griefs. She was a wife, but only in name. Of the serenity and bliss
+which attend on true wedded love she was deprived. Her bridal pillow was
+early planted with thorns, which henceforth forbade all peace. She was a
+mother, but her children were to be partakers of their father's shame,
+disgraced, and doomed to early death or lives of wickedness and woe. She
+seemingly enjoyed abundant privileges, but her trials as a child of God
+were deeper than all others. She dwelt on sacred ground, but alas!
+herein lay the secret of her sorrow. Had her home been among the
+thousands in the outer camps, it had not been so sadly desecrated. Her
+husband was the High Priest's son, and daily performed the priest's duty
+among holy things. Had he been a humble member of Dan or Naphtali, his
+crimes had not been so heinous. She lived under the shadow of the
+tabernacle; had her abode been farther from the sacred enclosure, she
+had not been daily witness to the heaven-daring deeds which made men
+abhor the offering of the Lord, and called for vengeance on her nearest
+and dearest. Her food was constantly supplied from the sacred offerings;
+had it been procured in ordinary ways, she had not been a partaker with
+those who committed sacrilege.
+
+No trifling vexations, no light sorrows were hers; and as might be
+expected, her virtues bore their proportion to the purifying process to
+which she was subjected. Disappointed in her earthly hopes, she clung to
+her God, and fastened her expectations on Him. Humiliated in her human
+relations, she aspired to nothing henceforth but His honor and glory.
+Wounded in heart, her wealth of love despised, lonely, deserted, she
+sought in Him the portion of her soul, and her lacerated affections
+found repose and satisfaction, without the fear of change in His
+unchanging love.
+
+It is often so ordered in the Providence of God, that those who have
+borne the yoke in their youth, live to see days of comparative quietude
+and exemption from trouble. Hannah, after the birth of Samuel, appears
+to have passed the remainder of her life in peace and prosperity. But
+the nameless woman whose memorial we record had no respite. Her life was
+a life of endurance, and she was cut off in the midst of her days by a
+most fearful and agonizing stroke.
+
+Israel was as usual at war with the Philistines. The army had pitched
+beside Eben-ezer, "And the Philistines put themselves in array against
+Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the
+Philistines." Alarmed and distressed by this defeat, the Israelites
+vainly imagining that wherever the ark of God was, there He would be
+also with his favoring presence, sent up to Shiloh to bring from thence
+the sacred symbol. With great pomp and solemnity it was borne by the
+Priests and Levites, and uproarious was the rejoicing as it entered the
+camp, but no account is given of the feelings of those who remained near
+the deserted tabernacle. Did the aged Eli forbode that the awful event
+which should signal the fulfillment of prophetic woe against his family
+was about to befall? Did the abused wife dream that she should behold no
+more her husband's face? We know not what of personal apprehension
+mingled with their trouble, but we do know that with trembling hearts
+these faithful servants of God awaited tidings of the ark of his
+covenant. How portentous soever might be the cloud which hung over their
+own happiness, they deemed it of small importance in comparison with the
+honor of Jehovah. The messenger came, but who shall portray the scene
+when he rendered his tidings!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In a darkened chamber, whither death, clothed in unwonted horrors, has
+suddenly come for the fourth victim of that doomed family, lies the
+subject of our meditations, panting under his iron grasp. The
+afflictions of her life are now consummated. The husband of her youth,
+his follies and faults against her, now are forgotten in the bitter
+thought that _he is dead_, has gone unrepentant to the bar of God to
+give account of his priesthood--her venerable father-in-law alone, with
+no friend to cheer his dying agonies, has also departed from earth--her
+people are defeated in battle, and worse than all, the ark of God is
+fallen into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines--who doubtless
+glory as if Dagon had conquered the invincible Jehovah. What to her are
+the pangs and throes under which her tortured body labors? She heeds
+them not. Pitying friends endeavor to rouse her from her dying lethargy,
+by the most glad tidings a Hebrew woman could learn, "Fear not; for thou
+hast borne a son!" But she answers not. Shorter and shorter grows her
+breath--nearer and nearer she approaches the eternal shore. But she is a
+mother, and though every other tie is sundered, and she is dying of the
+wounds which the cruel breaking of those heart strings has caused, she
+feels one cord drawing her to her new-born child, and asks that he may
+be brought. It is too much! Why was he born? No cheering thought comes
+with his presence. Nor joy nor honor are in store for him. Call him
+Ichabod, (without glory) she gasps with feeble accents, "for the glory
+is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken." A moment more and
+her freed spirit is in His open presence, who she deemed was forever
+departed from her people.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Christian friend, you who are walking through desert places, and perhaps
+fainting under the heavy hand of God, let not your heart fail you.
+Shrink not back from the path, though it seem beset with thorns. Some
+good is in store for you. Affliction, indeed, is not for the present
+joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
+fruits of righteousness. If, like the mother of Ichabod, you learn to
+forsake the turbid waters of earth for the Fountain of eternal love--if
+you make the Lord your portion, you will not in the end be the loser,
+though wave on wave roll over you and strip you of every other joy. No,
+not even if at length your sun shall set in clouds impenetrable to
+mortal vision. A glorious cloudless morning lies beyond, and you shall
+be forever satisfied with Him who has chosen you in the furnace of
+affliction.
+
+      "Then rouse thee from desponding sleep,
+      Nor by the wayside lingering weep,
+  Nor fear to seek Him farther in the wild,
+      Whose love can turn earth's worst and least
+      Into a conqueror's royal feast;
+  Thou will not be untrue, thou shall not be beguiled."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION--PHYSICAL TRAINING.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+I have presupposed three things in reference to education. The field
+which it covers is also three-fold--the body, the intellect, and the
+heart.
+
+The body is the living temple of the soul. It is more than a casket for
+the preservation of the jewel; it is more than the setting of the
+diamond; it is more even than an exquisitely-constructed dwelling
+wherein the soul lives, and works and worships. It is a living,
+sensitive agent, into which the spirit pours its own life, through which
+it communes with all external nature, and receives the effluxes of God
+streaming from a material creation. It is the admirable organ through
+which the man sends forth his influence either to bless and vivify, or
+to curse and wither. By it, the immortal mind converts deserts into
+gardens, creates the forms of art, sways senates, and sheds its plastic
+presence over social life. The senses are the finely-wrought gates
+through which knowledge enters the sublime dome of thought; while the
+eye, the tongue, the hand, are the instruments of the Spirit's power
+over the outer world. The soul incarnate in such a body, enjoys a living
+medium of reciprocal communication between itself and all things
+without. Meanwhile the body itself does not arrive here mature in its
+powers; nor does it spring suddenly from the imbecility of the infant to
+the strength of the man. By slow development, by a gradual growth, in
+analogy with that of a tree whose life is protracted, it rises, after
+years of existence, to its appointed stature. Advancing thus slowly, it
+affords ample time for its full and free development.
+
+In this physical training, there are two points of special importance.
+The first is the removal of all unnatural restraints and the pressure
+of unhealthy customs; the second, is the opportunity, the motive and the
+habit of free exercise in the pure air of heaven. These, as causes of
+health and fine physical development, are interwoven as are their
+opposites. In the progress of society from barbarism to refinement, it
+has often been the case that men, in departing from what was savage,
+have lost that which was natural; and in their ascent from the rude have
+left behind that which was essential to the highest civilization. In
+escaping from the nakedness of the barbarian, they have sometimes
+carried dress to an extreme of art which renders it untrue to nature and
+productive of manifold evils. In ascending from the simple and rude
+gastronomy of the savage, they have brought the art of cookery to such
+an excess of luxury as to enervate society by merely factitious
+appetites. In the formation of habits of life, social intercourse and
+amusements adapted to a refined state, they have introduced many things
+at war with the healthful development of both body and mind. The manly
+exercises of swimming, skating, riding, hunting, ball playing; the
+bracing walk in storm and sunshine; the free ramble over hill and dale,
+all adapted to develop an independent, self-relying character; with the
+occasional reunion where wit, science, healthful industry and serene
+piety shed their benedictions; associating that which is free and bold
+with the refined and sacred; all these are, in many cases, displaced by
+frivolous and less healthful excitements. Our girls and boys,
+prematurely exalted into young gentlemen and ladies, are tutored by
+dancing masters; their manners disciplined into an artificial stiffness;
+and the free developments of an open nature formed under the genial
+influence of truly polite parents--the finest discipline in the
+world--arrested by the strictures of a purely conventional regimen, in
+which the laws of health and the higher spiritual life seem never to
+have been consulted.
+
+With such a physical training, associated with a corresponding education
+of the mind and heart, they are ripe for the customs and fashions of
+life in harmony therewith; and totally averse to the purer, manlier and
+nobler duties and pleasures of a better state of society. To dress and
+exhibit themselves; to crowd the saloon of every foreign trifler, who,
+under the abused name of art, and for the sake of gold, seeks to
+minister to us those meretricious excitements which associate themselves
+with declining states and artificial forms of life; to waste the most
+precious hours of night, set apart by the God of nature for repose, in
+dancing, eating, drinking, and revelry, follow naturally enough upon
+such training. Then in the rear, come disease of body and mind, broken
+constitutions and broken hearts; and last of all, with grim majesty,
+death, prematurely summoned, avenges this violation of the laws of
+nature upon the miserable victims, and quenches the glare of this
+brilliant day in the darkness of the tomb. How utterly different is such
+training and such modes of life consequent upon it, from those which are
+dictated by a thorough understanding of our nature and the great
+purposes of our existence. For in all these things we shall find there
+exists a connection sufficiently obvious between the right education of
+the spirit and the body; and that so strong is their mutual influence as
+to render it of great importance to care for them both in harmony with
+each other. Then shall we regard the perfection of the form and the
+vigor of our bodily powers. Casting away whatever did not consist with
+the health and finer developments of the physical system, we should
+pursue that course of education which best prepared the body for its
+grand work as the living agent of the spirit.
+
+In considering physical training it is allowable for us to look both at
+beauty and intellectual power. A noble form in man; a fine, beautiful,
+healthful form in woman, are desirable for their outward influence.
+Created susceptible of deep impressions from external appearances, it is
+neither religion nor good sense to undervalue them. That men generally
+have over-estimated their worth, is a reason why we should reduce them
+to their true position, and not sink them below it. The palace of the
+soul should befit its possessor. And as God has taken pleasure in
+scattering images of beauty all over the earth, and made us susceptible
+of pleasure therefrom, it is right that in the education of our
+children we should seek for the unfolding of the noblest and most
+beautiful forms. Shall we beautify our dwellings; adorn our grounds with
+plants, flowers, and trees of various excellence; improve the breed of
+our cattle, and yet care not for the constitutions and forms of those
+who are on earth the master-pieces of divine wisdom and the possessors
+of all this goodly heritage? Most of all, however, as the agent of the
+spirit, should we seek to rear our children in all healthful customs and
+invigorating pursuits. It is possible, indeed, that a mind of gigantic
+powers may sometimes dwell in a feeble frame, swayed to and fro by every
+breath of air. But we are sure that such a physical state is the source
+of manifold vexations, pains and loss of power. It is a state which the
+possessor never covets; which oppresses him with the consciousness of an
+energy he is forbidden to put forth, and a force for moving the world
+crippled by the impediment of a frail body. For the full discharge of
+all the duties of life; for the affording to our mental powers a fair
+field for their action; and especially for the education and advancement
+of succeeding generations, it is indispensable the vigor of the body
+should correspond to the vigor of the intellect, so far as to constitute
+the one the most efficient agent of the other. It has rarely been taken
+into view, that, aside from the personal benefits of health in the
+greater power of present action, the intense intellects and feeble
+frames of one generation are a ruinous draft upon both the physical and
+mental powers of that which succeeds. A race of overwrought brains in
+enfeebled bodies must be recruited from a more healthful stock, or their
+posterity will, in time, decline into idiocy or cease from the earth.
+The process of degeneracy, by an infallible law, will pass from the body
+to the intellect; and the descendant of a Luther or a Bacon go down to
+the level of the most stupid boor that drives his oxen over the sands of
+southern Africa.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+INORDINATE GRIEF THE EFFECT OF AN UNSUBDUED WILL.
+
+
+I called on a friend a few months since, who for a full year had been
+watching with maternal solicitude over an invalid daughter still in the
+morning of life, upon whom had been lavished all the fond caresses of
+parental love and tenderness. Every advantage which wealth, and the
+means of education could impart to qualify her for happiness in this
+life had been hers--nor had her religious culture been entirely
+overlooked.
+
+In her father's family there had been little effort made to instill into
+the minds of their children the principles of holy living, and it was
+felt that there was but little necessity to give them habits of
+self-denial or self-reliance.
+
+This daughter, notwithstanding her happy childhood in having all her
+wants anticipated, and upon whose pathway the sun had shone most
+brightly, was now, like an unsubdued child, under a most painful
+infliction of the rod of God.
+
+Two years previous to this time, during a revival of religion, she
+publicly covenanted to walk in all the statutes and ordinances of God's
+Word and house, blamelessly. Thus was she married to Christ, and she
+then felt, and her friends felt, that she had chosen Christ to be the
+guide of her youth.
+
+But how could she be expected, never having had her will thoroughly
+subdued, or been called to bear any yoke or burden, fully to understand,
+or to realize what was implied, or required in becoming a disciple of
+Christ, so that she could at once fully adopt the language,
+
+  "Jesus, I my cross have taken,
+    All to leave and follow thee,
+  Naked, poor, despised, forsaken,
+    Thou from hence my all shall be."
+
+Just one year from her espousal to Christ the village of ---- was all
+excitement, on an occasion which had called the young and the
+middle-aged to the house of her father,--the wealthy Mr. G----, when
+this lovely daughter was to be united in marriage to the accomplished,
+the graceful, the pious Mr. L----, a universal favorite with persons of
+all ages and ranks. A short time previous to his union to the young and
+beautiful belle of ----, he had, under most favorable auspices,
+commenced a lucrative business in the city of ----.
+
+Immediately after the nuptial ceremony, Mr. L---- accompanied his bride
+to the Falls of Niagara, that favorite place of resort on such memorable
+occasions. They were now all the world to each other. Alas, how utterly,
+for a time, did they overlook the injunction, "Little children, keep
+yourselves from idols." Nor did they for once even dream how insensibly
+the streams of God's bounty and goodness were withdrawing their hearts
+from the fountain of all blessedness and perfection.
+
+On their return from this delightful excursion, this envied young
+husband was soon found at his post of business, surrounded by numerous
+friends all eager to aid and encourage him on in his preparations to
+welcome to his home and his heart, his darling "wife." Oh, how sweet to
+him did that treasured name sound, when greeted by his young friends,
+and the question was asked, "How is your _wife_?" "When do you expect
+your _wife_?" Never, he felt, was there another more truly blessed.
+
+How sudden must have been the transition, for the summons came, as it
+were, in a moment, "The Master has come, and calleth for thee." Young
+Mr. L---- had been in the city but two days, when retiring to his bed,
+he was suddenly siezed with a bilious attack, and in a few brief hours,
+even before his friends could reach his bed-side, he was wrapped in the
+habiliments of the grave. His last faint farewell was uttered in hurried
+and broken accents, just as he expired, "Tell her that Jesus makes me
+willing"--"makes me willing."
+
+In his ready, cheerful, and manly willingness to obey the Master's call,
+though so sudden, we see the blessed influence of early parental
+discipline--absolute unconditional submission to parental authority.
+
+Truly this was a most sad and unexpected reverse for that youthful and
+happy bride. Her face at once became as pale and almost marble-like, as
+the icy hand of death had made that of her husband's. No wonder if this
+world should now seem to her as a barren wilderness. No wonder if her
+thoughts, for a time, should brood mournfully over the words, "Lover and
+friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness."
+No wonder if to her desolate heart, solitude, and gloom, and the grave,
+should, for a season, be her chosen themes of contemplation. She does
+well to grieve. There is nothing wrong in the mourner's tears. We have
+the example of Jesus in such an expression--tears are Nature's own sweet
+relief. It is safe--yes, it is well to bleed when our limbs are taken
+from our side.
+
+But let such as mourn remember, in all cases of bereavement, it is God,
+whose discipline is strictly parental, hath done it, and "He doeth all
+things well." How sad it is when the bereaved, who are not called to
+mourn as those who have no hope, allow their thoughts to find a lodgment
+only in the grave. How widely different had been the condition of this
+youthful mourner, if, instead of shutting herself up in her chamber,
+taking to her bed, chiefly, for a full year refusing to be
+comforted--had she dwelt more upon that touching "farewell" to her,
+receiving it as a beam of light and love from the spirit land, inviting
+her to the contemplation of heavenly themes. Had she rather considered
+her departed companion as _favored_ in this early call to glory,--had
+she considered the passage in Isaiah 57:1, "The righteous are taken away
+from the evil."--why did she not meekly and penitently reflect, that as
+God does not willingly afflict, he must have had some special design in
+this severe chastisement upon her. Had her mind been open to
+conviction--had she been bowed down under a sense of sin--would she not
+have inquired whether the blessed Saviour, perceiving the lurking danger
+there was to this young couple, from a disposition to find their heaven
+upon earth, to seek their chief happiness in each other, had not with
+the voice of love and tender compassion said to her husband, "The Master
+hath need of thee, come up hither." Had her heart been right with God,
+as she contemplated her departed friend in his new-born zeal to honor
+and glorify his Redeemer, flying on swift wings to perform Heaven's
+mandates, would she not resolve, by the grace of God, to emulate him in
+his greater efforts to save lost souls, for whom Christ died? Were not
+the same motives set before her, by his death, to seek a new and holy
+life? Was not the same grace--the same strength proffered to her, which,
+if accepted and improved aright, would have enabled her to deny
+herself--to take up her cross and to follow Jesus whithersoever he might
+see fit to lead her?
+
+But, alas, this was in nowise her happy experience. On the contrary, she
+turned away from the consolations proffered to her in God's blessed
+Word, and by his Holy Spirit, and in the teachings of that last touching
+"farewell."
+
+May we not suppose that her husband, on finding himself liberated from
+the trappings of earth, from sin and temptation, as his thoughts would
+naturally revert to the friends he had left behind--finding his chosen,
+bosom friend, a mere clod of clay, sunk down in a state of hopeless
+misery and sorrow, at his loss, having no sympathy with him in his new
+and blessed abode, and in his more exalted employments and purer
+enjoyments, would he not rather bless God, more ardently, that he was so
+quickly removed from such chilling, blighting earth-born influences as
+she might have exerted over him?
+
+Oh, that this youthful mourner might now hear that voice of God to his
+chosen people, "Ye have compassed this mountain long enough--turn you
+northward." God grant that the past time of her life may suffice that
+she has "wrought the will of the flesh." We most earnestly commend to
+her prayerful contemplation the last words of our blessed Saviour to his
+disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions." I go to prepare _a
+place_ for you--just such a mansion--such a place as each ransomed soul,
+by improving the discipline of God--by holy and self-denying efforts in
+this life, to do his will, is fitted to fill, and enjoy.
+
+And so it will ever be with the heirs of salvation, while they remain in
+a world of sin and temptation. They are daily and hourly working out
+their salvation with fear and with trembling, while God is working in
+them to will and to do of his good pleasure. The improvement which is
+made of afflictions has a great deal to do in this process.
+
+And thus, too, will it be with those who wilfully, or even thoughtlessly
+neglect the great salvation--those who reject the overtures of pardoning
+mercy and salvation by Christ. They will hereafter know and acknowledge
+that "they knew their duty but they did it not." It is said that "Judas
+went to his _own place_"--and that "Dives _made his bed_ in hell." And
+herein will these words of the poet be strikingly fulfilled in every
+human soul--
+
+  "'Tis not the whole of life to live,
+  Nor all of death to die."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN'S APPREHENSION OF THE POWER OF PRAYER.
+
+
+While visiting in the family of Rev. Mr. F----, one morning as we were
+quietly seated at the breakfast table, his two little boys, Willie and
+Georgie were seated between their father and mother. All at once
+Georgie, the youngest, a child of five years, reached his head forward,
+and in a half-whisper said to his brother, "Willie, Willie, if you were
+going a journey, which would you give up, your breakfast or your
+prayers?"
+
+Willie replied, "I should want both."
+
+"But," said the little fellow, still more earnestly, "What if you
+couldn't have both, then which would you give up?"
+
+"I would give up my breakfast," said Willie.
+
+The little urchin said in an undertone, "I think mother would take
+something along in her bag." There was certainly a good "look out" for
+two worlds.
+
+A mother who resides near me, and has a large family of small children,
+related to me the following circumstance of her eldest boy, when quite
+young. From the time her children began to talk, she accustomed them,
+each in their turn, to kneel by her side, on rising and retiring each
+morning and evening, and repeat to her their little prayers.
+
+One day when her eldest boy, as she thought, was old enough to
+comprehend her, she said to him rather seriously, "My son, there is one
+kind of prayer to God to which I have not directed your attention. It is
+called 'secret prayer.' The direction and encouragement for this kind of
+prayer is found in the passage, 'Enter into thy closet and shut to thy
+door, and pray to thy Father which is in heaven, and thy Father which
+seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.' Now do you not desire to
+obtain this open reward. If you would like a closet of your own, there
+is a little retired place near my bed-room--you can go there each day by
+yourself, and shut your door as directed."
+
+One day, not long after, the child was gone some time; his mother did
+not like to accuse him of having trifled on so serious an occasion, for
+he was a remarkably conscientious and honest boy--and she said to him,
+"Frank, you have been gone so long I fear you may have been using 'vain
+repetitions.'"
+
+The color mantled at once in the little fellow's cheeks, and almost
+ready to cry, he said, "Mother, when aunt Mary left us yesterday, she
+said that she and the children would be exposed to many dangers during
+the voyage, and she asked me to pray for them, and it took me a good
+while."
+
+I was told by a friend, of a group of little boys when visiting a little
+companion, all seated on the floor near each other, looking at some
+pictures. They came to one representing Daniel in the den of lions. It
+was noticed that the lions were not chained, and yet they were in a
+reposing posture. None seemed to understand how this was. One little boy
+said to another, "Ah, wouldn't you be afraid to be put into a den of
+lions?" "Oh, yes," was the reply. And so the question went all round,
+eliciting the same answer. At last the youngest of the party reached
+himself forward and pulled his brother by the sleeve, saying, "Johnny,
+Johnny, if lions are afraid of praying people, they'd be afraid of
+mother--wouldn't they? And she wouldn't be afraid of them, for she says
+we needn't fear anything but sin."
+
+I was acquainted with a family where the following circumstance
+occurred. The two youngest boys in the family were often trusted to take
+long walks, and sometimes they were permitted to go over, by themselves,
+to N----, a distance of nearly four miles, and make a call on their aunt
+and cousins, who resided there.
+
+One day they came and asked their mother if they might take a long walk.
+She told them not a very long walk, for that day they had not been as
+studious and dutiful as usual. They took hold of hands, and without
+designing to do so at first, it was believed, they ran on very fast till
+they reached the village of N----, where their aunt lived.
+
+On going to the house, their aunt thought, from their heated appearance,
+and hurried and disconcerted manner, that they were two "runaways." She,
+however, welcomed them as usual--invited them to partake of some fine
+baked apples and new bread and milk--quite a new treat to city boys--but
+N----, the eldest, declined the invitation. She then proposed to them to
+go to the school-house, which was near by, and see their cousins. This,
+too, N---- declined. He said to his brother, "Charley, we must go home."
+And they took hold of hands and ran all the way as fast as possible, and
+immediately on entering the house, their faces as red as scarlet, N----
+confessed to his mother where they had been, and asked her forgiveness.
+This being granted, N---- could not be happy. He said, weeping, "Mother,
+will you go up stairs with us and pray with us?" She did so, with a
+grateful heart, and sought pardon for them. N---- did the same. When it
+came Charley's turn to pray, he made an ordinary prayer--when his
+brother repeatedly touched him, and in a low whisper he said, "Charley,
+why don't you repent--why don't you repent?"
+
+A very little child, not two years old, always seemed delighted to hold
+her little book at prayer time, and when her father said Amen, she
+always repeated it after him aloud. One day she seemed very uneasy
+during prayer time, and though she made great resistance, she was taken
+out of the room. She insisted on going back to the drawing-room, and the
+chairs being still in the order in which the family had been seated
+during prayer time, the little creature went by the side of each, and
+folding her little hands, she repeated "Amen," "Amen," until she had
+been to each one. Thus we see it is not so much for want of knowledge,
+as for a right state of heart, right teachings, right examples, that
+children do not live and act, speak and think and pray aright.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS.
+
+
+In the letters of John Adams to his wife, Sept. 10, 1774, we have an
+account of the _First Prayer_ in Congress. What an instructive and
+encouraging lesson is here taught to all religious persons, always
+unhesitatingly to obey all holy and good impulses.
+
+Had Mr. Cushing, who moved the resolution, held back,--or had Mr. Samuel
+Adams refused to second this resolution,--or had Rev. Mr. Duche
+declined, when called upon to lead on that occasion, our nation might
+never have presented the sublime spectacle of uniting, as a body, in
+calling upon God at the opening of their Congressional sessions.
+
+And who would dare to predict the loss which this omission might at that
+time have occasioned to this infant Republic!
+
+Mr. Adams's account is as follows:--
+
+"When Congress first met, Mr. Cushing moved that it should be opened
+with prayer. This was opposed on the ground that the members, being of
+various denominations, were so divided in their religious sentiments
+that they could not join in any one mode of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams
+arose, and after saying that he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer
+from any gentleman of piety and virtue who was a friend to his country,
+moved that Rev. Mr. Duche--an Episcopal clergyman, who, he said, he
+understood deserved that character--be invited to read prayers before
+Congress the next morning. The motion was passed; and the next morning
+Mr. Duche appeared, and after reading several prayers in the Established
+form, then read the Collect for the 7th of September, which was the
+thirty-fifth Psalm. This was the next morning after the startling news
+had come of the cannonade of Boston;" and, says John Adams, "I never saw
+a greater effect upon an audience: it seemed as if Heaven had ordained
+that Psalm to be read on that morning."
+
+"After this," he continues, "Mr. Duche, unexpectedly to everybody,
+struck out into an extemporaneous prayer, which filled the bosom of
+every man present. I never heard a better prayer, or one so well
+pronounced. Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, ardor,
+earnestness, and pathos, and in language so eloquent and sublime, for
+America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts, and
+especially for Boston. It had an excellent effect upon everybody here,"
+and many, he tells us, were melted to tears.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MY BABY.
+
+
+  Within a cradle, still and warm,
+  There lies a little gentle form,
+  Just look beneath the coverlid,
+  And see the tiny sleeper hid!
+
+  Then peep beneath the cap of lace,
+  Behold his rosy happy face;
+  The velvet cheek, so pure and white,
+  Didst ever see a fairer sight?
+
+  His dimpled arm across his breast,
+  His chubby limbs composed to rest,
+  The gentle curls of waving hair,
+  Falling upon the pillow there!
+
+  The drooping lashes shroud his eyes,
+  Blue as the tinge of summer skies,
+  His damask lips like tints of rose
+  Which garden buds at twilight close.
+
+  Art thou a form of human mould,
+  Or stray-lamb of the heavenly fold?
+  A little herald to the earth,
+  Or cherub sent to bless our hearth?
+
+  Must evil spirits intertwine
+  And lead astray that heart of thine?
+  And must thou be with sin defiled,
+  That seemest now an angel child?
+
+  Oh blessed Lamb of God! to thee
+  I come, and with my baby flee
+  Within thy fold, and sheltering care,
+  I lay my child, and leave him there.
+
+                              EUCLID, _Ohio_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHER'S PORTRAIT.
+
+
+Night was coming on. The tall elms which beautify the little village of
+G---- were waving to and fro their pendent branches, heavy with the
+evening damp, and as the boughs swayed against the window panes of one
+of the largest mansions in the town, the glass was moistened by the
+crystal drops. But heavier and colder was the dew that gathered upon the
+forehead of the sufferer within; for extended upon the couch lay a dying
+woman.
+
+The trembling hand of an aged man wiped the forehead, and the tears that
+stood in his eye told that his remaining days on earth must be uncheered
+by the kind voice and radiant smile of her who had been a mother to his
+children. Those children, grown to full age, were there, and if need be
+could have borne clear and convincing testimony that sometimes, at
+least, the connection between a step-mother and her husband's family is
+only productive of good. But where were her own offspring? Three noble
+looking men, and as many matrons, owed their existence and education to
+her, and she had hoped, ere she died, to behold once more their faces.
+
+Soft and gentle were the hands that smoothed her pillow; low and sweet
+were the voices that inquired of her wants, but dear to her as were
+these, they were not _her own_, and the mother's heart yearned once more
+to trace their father's likeness in the tall dark-eyed sons who but a
+few years ago were cradled in her arms. And can these feelings cause the
+pang which seems at once to contract the face? So thinks her
+step-daughter, as she says, "They will be here to-morrow, mother." "It
+is not that, my dear," murmured the sick one, "but when I was just now
+enjoying the blessedness of committing my soul to Him who died for me,
+when feeling my own unworthiness of one of his many mercies, I had cast
+myself on the mercy of the 'Sinner's Friend,' like a wave of agony
+rushed in upon me the thought that my dear sons have denied the divinity
+of the Savior, into whose name they were baptized, and who laid down his
+life to redeem them. Oh! could I be assured that they would be led back
+to their fathers' God, I could die happy." There was stillness in this
+chamber of death. The invalid's pale lips moved as if in prayer, and
+soon the lids were raised, and the brilliant black eye was lighted up as
+of old, and triumphant was the strain that burst forth. "I know in whom
+I have believed, and am persuaded that He will keep that which I have
+committed to Him, my most precious treasures, _my children_, against
+that day. I know Him--I rest in His faithfulness." The smile lingered on
+her features, but the spirit had fled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Green Mountain range in Massachusetts presents a series of most
+magnificent scenery, and in the villages which nestle among its
+summits, dwell some of the noblest hearts and sturdiest frames of New
+England.
+
+Mountains have always been the rugged nurses of independence of thought
+and action, and the grand chains of our own land form no exception to
+the rule. Nor is this all--none who have not dwelt among our rural
+population know the strong sympathy which pervades the inhabitants of
+the same settlement--long may it continue! Each takes an interest in the
+welfare of all about him, and though there are some things disagreeable
+in the minute surveillance to which one is thus exposed, yet it is more
+than compensated by the affectionate interest which is manifested in the
+weal or woe of each neighbor. Not there, as in the crowded city, may a
+man be laid in his grave, while the occupant of the next dwelling
+neither knows nor cares concerning his fate.
+
+The intelligence of illness spreads from house to house, and who can
+number the kind offices which are immediately exercised by neighbors far
+and near. The very schoolboys lower their voices as they pass the
+darkened windows, and there needs no muffling of the knocker, for who
+would disturb the invalid? And when the bell solemnly announces the
+departure of a soul, sadness settles in every heart, and the cathedral
+hung in sable is a poor tribute to departed worth, compared to the
+general mourning of the whole village, when the long funeral procession,
+whence old and young unite
+
+  "To pay the last sad tribute, and to hear
+  Upon the narrow dwelling's hollow bound,
+      The first earth thrown."
+
+Oh! who would not exchange the pomp and hollow pageantry of the
+metropolis for such attentions?
+
+In one of these same homes of virtue and happiness dwelt a family, who,
+contented with their lot, sought no wide sphere of enjoyment. With a
+good education, fine talents, with a strong constitution, the father had
+commenced his career about forty years before, and by his own exertions
+had risen to wealth, respectability and honor. Having often represented
+the interests of his fellow-townsmen in the assembly of the State, the
+county in which he resided had deemed that they could commit to no safer
+hands the senatorial dignity.
+
+His gentlemanly bearing, his benevolent smile, his tall and commanding
+appearance won all hearts; while his calm judgment, his energetic course
+of action gained respect and demanded admiration. In public and private
+life he was a pattern of excellence. Surely his mother must have looked
+upon such a son with feelings of gratitude and even pride. As you enter
+the door, from which no poor man was ever turned empty away, and
+crossing the hall, advance into the elegant parlor to greet your host
+and his amiable wife, you can fancy a smile of satisfaction upon the
+lips of that mother's portrait, which hangs in the place of honor on the
+wall, a smile which seems to say, "this is my eldest born." But, alas!
+it was for this son that that mother had put up her last prayer--for him
+it was, she had poured forth her soul, and now years have passed since
+he stood by her helpless remains, and her petition is still unanswered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is a May morning, two years later, and cheerily does the sun shine
+upon the village of ----. The pine forest at a little distance, sheds
+forth after the last night's rain that fragrance which is so delicious,
+the fields are gay with dandelions, the brooks yellow with the American
+cowslip, close beside which peeps forth the lovely veronica, while
+yonder slope is enameled with bright blue violets, and the little white
+Mayflower. But no children are seen plucking them. The very herds in the
+field low in a subdued manner, and the birds warble their gladsome
+spring song with a depth which belongs only to sacred music. None are
+moving about the streets. The church doors are open, however, for it is
+the Sabbath. Come with me to yonder mansion--the tasteful shrubbery, the
+vine-covered window, the well arranged garden bespeak for its possessor
+wealth and luxury. Enter with me, but tread lightly as we ascend the
+staircase. Upon that white curtained bed, raised by pillows, reposes
+one who has numbered more than sixty summers. His brow is scarcely
+furrowed, though his face is thin. His clasped hands are emaciated, but
+he does not look old. The fever spot burns in his cheeks, and his eye is
+lighted up with a heavenly ray, which shows that now at least the soul
+is triumphing over the body.
+
+A small table, covered with damask of snowy whiteness, stands near, on
+which are placed the emblems of the broken body and poured-forth blood
+of our Redeemer. A few Christian brethren and sisters are kneeling
+around, and the pastor is blessing the bread. Methinks "it is good to be
+here." The great Master is present, and "his banner over this little
+company is love." One can almost see the ministry of angels as they bend
+to watch the scene.
+
+The rite is done. The softly murmured hymn which concludes it, has died
+upon the balmy evening air. The partakers of the Lord's Supper have
+departed. The pastor has for the last time pressed the hand which has so
+recently subscribed to the covenant of the church, and he, too, has
+taken his final leave. Relations alone remain in the chamber of death.
+Solemnity broods over the spot. The brothers who through life have
+looked to this now dying brother, as a father, guide, and friend, sit
+gazing on him in mournful silence, the tears slowly chasing each other
+down their manly cheeks, with something of the feeling of the prophet
+when it was told him, "Know thou that your master will be taken from
+your head to-day".
+
+The sisters watch and anticipate his wishes, till first one and then
+another is overcome by her emotion, and steals away to give it vent. The
+wife, like a ministering spirit, silently wipes the clammy brow and
+moistens the parched lips. But now the sick man speaks: "Brother, will
+you bring mother's portrait! I would take my leave of that--O, how soon
+shall I join her now." It is brought, and the heavy window curtains are
+thrown back, and it is placed at the foot of the bed with reverend care,
+which showed the veneration in which the original was held.
+
+"Look, brother: it smiles upon me!" and observing the astonished
+expression of his friends, the dying man continued in a less excited
+tone, "Do not suppose that my mind is wandering. I assure you on the
+word of one who must shortly appear before a God of truth, that ever
+since my mother's death the picture has frowned upon me. I knew what it
+meant, for you have not forgotten her last prayer, and every time I have
+looked upon it I felt, while I continued to deny the divinity of our
+Savior, I could not expect my mother's approbation or blessing. For
+years I fought against the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, till I examined
+the subject more thoroughly, and to-day I have sealed my renunciation of
+that error, and have testified my faith in the atonement made for
+sinners. The cross of Christ has drawn me with cords of love. I wanted
+to see that portrait once more, and, lo, the frown is gone--and my
+mother beams upon me the same sweet smile as when at sixteen years of
+age I left home a fatherless boy, to make my own way in the world. Thank
+God I die in peace."
+
+My sketch is finished. Shall I make the application? Has not every
+mother's heart made it already? asking the question, "Is my influence
+over my children such that when I am gone my portrait shall have such
+power over them for good?"
+
+Cowper has embalmed his mother's miniature in lines which will touch the
+heart while our language is preserved. But this picture is hallowed by
+strains which are poured forth from angelic choirs, as they tune their
+harps anew "over one sinner that repenteth."
+
+The likeness of Cowper's mother led him to mourn for past delights, but
+this picture led the son to look in humble joy to that blessed hope and
+glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
+
+                                      EDITH.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+LIGHT READING.
+
+
+During a recent tour in search of health and pleasure, I was surprised
+and pained at seeing the amount of light reading indulged in while
+traveling, by old and young of both sexes and all classes. I observed,
+while rapidly urged over our railways, many thus engaged--many
+purchasing eagerly the trash offered at every station, and could but
+regret they had not provided with the same care food for the mind, by
+placing in the satchel that contained sustenance for the body, some
+valuable book, some truthful work.
+
+Lake George, with its clear waters and lovely islands, its majestic,
+untrod mountains and historical associations, had not attractions
+sufficient to win the lovers of fiction from the false pages of life, to
+the open, beautiful book of Nature. It was a bright July morning when I
+stood upon the deck of the "John Jay."
+
+  "The beautiful sun arose--and there was not
+  A stain upon the sky, the virgin blue
+  Was delicate as light, and birds went up
+  And sang invisibly, the heavenly air
+  Wooed them so temptingly."
+
+Now the mountain-tops were radiant with the golden light, now valley,
+lake, and green islet, rejoiced in the morning sun. Yet, at such an
+hour, amid such scenes, ladies and gentlemen were engrossed with the
+mawkish sentimentalities of fictitious narrations, their eyes closed to
+all the beauty of the time and place, their ears deaf to the delicious
+harmony of awakening nature.
+
+Lake Champlain, with its romantic ruins ever dear to the heart of an
+American, its verdant shores and rural villages, nestling in the valleys
+or crowning the hills, could scarce obtain a passing glance from those
+enraptured with the improbable if not impossible pictures of life.
+
+When upon the St. Lawrence, gliding swiftly through the charming scenery
+of the Thousand Isles, that like emerald gems adorn the bosom of that
+noble river, now passing one with cultivated fields and quiet
+farm-house, another low and level bathed in the rays of a setting sun,
+others rocky and precipitous, crowned with cedar and fir; again a little
+quiet spot where one would like long to tarry, or one with shrubbery and
+light-house so peaceful in its rural beauty you almost envied the
+occupants their retirement; even here, as I turned from the scene at the
+whispered exclamation of a friend, "O, how beautiful!" my eye fell upon
+two ladies bending over the pages of newly issued novels, their
+countenances glowing--not with holy emotions awakened by the enjoyment
+of a summer's sun-set upon the St. Lawrence, but with feverish
+excitement, kindled by the overwrought pictures of the novelist. Fair,
+young girls, how could you linger over the unreal when passing through
+such scenes of God's own work? How could you shut out that gorgeous
+sunset, turn from all the pure and heavenly feelings such scenes must
+awaken, to sympathize with imaginary beings and descriptions?
+
+And now I tarried at Niagara, wonderful, sublime Niagara--
+
+  ----"Speaking in voice of thunder
+  Eternally of God--bidding the lips of man
+  Keep silence, and upon the rocky altar, pour
+  Incense of sweet praise."
+
+Rambling along the shore of Iris Island, every step presenting a new
+scene, impressing the mind with the greatness of God and the
+insignificance of man, while "the voice of many waters" proclaimed to
+erring reason "there is a God:" also, here, under the shade of a noble
+oak, in full view of the great Cataract, sat a small group of ladies; in
+their midst, a gentle girl reading aloud from one of the many works that
+"charm the greedy reader on, till done, he tries to recollect his
+thoughts and nothing finds--but dreamy emptiness." I lingered, and
+learned this was the tale of a young authoress, whose writings are now
+winning golden opinions from a portion of our religious press. Yet how
+unsuitable the place for delighting in the extravagant and improbable
+blending of truth and fiction, though it may have a _moral_ and
+_religious_ under-current. At the side of that young reader sat her
+_mother_. The favorable moments for impressing that immortal mind
+committed to her guardianship, with right views of the Infinite Supreme,
+were swiftly passing away, the opportunity of awakening in her young
+heart while beholding His wonderful work emotions of humility and
+reverence was alike forgotten; with the daughter just entering upon
+womanhood she gave all thought and feeling, alone to the ideal. Could I
+have aroused that parent to a sense of her obligations, of her neglected
+opportunities, of the priceless value of her child's soul, stranger
+though I was, I would have earnestly besought her, to take away that
+romance, to step with her to the point but just before them--open the
+"Book of books," and let her read of Him "who hath measured the waters
+in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span; who hath
+compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end;
+whose way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters. The Lord,
+whose name alone is excellent, his glory above the earth and heaven."
+
+                                        THETA.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+TO MY FATHER,
+
+AFTER A WRECK OF FORTUNE, AND IN A FOREIGN LAND.
+
+
+  All gone--yet 'mid this heavy loss
+    A ray of light behold;
+  If thou art parted with the dross,
+    There's left for thee the gold.
+
+  A name unsullied--conscience clear,
+    From aught that man can prove;
+  And, what must be to thee most dear,
+    Thy children's changeless love.
+
+  The visions of the world so fair
+    Are fading from our sight;
+  Yet hope sinks not in vain despair,
+    But points to one more bright.
+
+  Oh, may misfortune's chilling blight,
+    But bind us closer here,
+  Till we behold the dawning light
+    Of yonder blessed sphere.
+
+  And O, my father, linger not,
+    In exile, from our hearth;
+  Ah, this has been a cherished spot,
+    To make us cling to earth.
+
+  'Tis where the youngest of the seven
+    First drew his fleeting breath,
+  Sweet cherished flower, the gift of heaven,
+    To fill our blooming wreath.
+
+  And saddened memories linger not
+    Around each faded year;
+  Oh, let it never be forgot
+    Death hath not entered here.
+
+  The shrine of many a fervent prayer,
+    More loved than words can tell,
+  Is passing to another's care,
+    And we must say, Farewell.
+
+  But O, my father, hasten home,
+    'Tis in each loved one's heart;
+  Thy wife, thy children, bid thee come,
+    And ne'er again depart.
+
+  For me, my love shall ever twine
+    Around thy future years;
+  And my most fervent prayers be thine
+    Amid this vale of tears,
+
+  That when life's busy cares shall cease--
+    Its feeble ties be riven;
+  Thine honored head may rest in peace,
+    Thy soul ascend to heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FAMILY GOVERNMENT
+
+
+It is generally admitted that there has been a lamentable declension in
+family government within a few years. I propose to show some of the
+causes of this growing evil, and to point out the remedy.
+
+1. _Inattention and blindness to the faults of children._--As a matter
+of course we cannot expect parents will restrain their children without
+observing their faults. They must see an error before they can correct
+it.
+
+It would not be strange if affection or love for our children should
+sometimes hide their faults, or that others should sometimes notice them
+before we do. They are often, too, looked upon as trivial, as of small
+importance. The mother of pirate Gibbs might have thought it very
+trivial that her little son should kill flies, and catch and torture
+domestic animals. But it had its influence in forming the character of
+the pirate. The man who finishes his days in state-prison as a notorious
+thief began his career in the nursery by stealing pins, or in the pantry
+by stealing sugar and cake, and as soon as old enough to look abroad, to
+take a little choice fruit from a neighbor's garden or orchard. The
+finished gambler began his career by the side of his mother, by taking
+pins stealthily from her cushion. Children cannot do great things when
+young. They have not the power. Their powers and views are too limited
+to perform what may be called great deeds of wickedness. Yet the grossly
+immoral usually begin their downward course in youth. The germ of
+wickedness is then planted. Time only matures what is thus begun. Those
+trivial things which you suffer to pass without a rebuke, constitute the
+germ of all their future depravity. The wickedness of youth differs from
+that of mature age rather in degree than in kind. The character of the
+man may often be read in the conduct of the child. Thus bad government
+originates in overlooking the faults of children, or in wrong views of
+their conduct. The deeds of childhood are considered of small moment.
+Childhood with them has no connection with manhood. The child may be
+anything, and make a giant in intellect, or a professor in morals. But
+it should be remembered that the very essence of good government lies in
+watching the connection of one act with another, in tracing the relation
+between the conduct of mature age and the little developments of
+childhood and youth. Good government respects not only the present good
+of its subjects but their future. It takes in eternity as well as time.
+A great many parents are totally blind to the faults of their children.
+They see none when they are even gross. Everybody else can see them, and
+is talking about them, and they know not that they exist. Like Eli, of
+ancient days, the first that they know of the wickedness of their
+children they hear it from all the people. It is a sad thing when others
+have to tell us of the depravity of our children. And it is then
+generally too late to correct them. The public do not know the first
+aberrations of childhood and youth. They can only be learnt in the
+nursery. If parents are blind to them, and they are suffered to become
+habits, it is generally too late to correct them. It is in the form of
+habits that neighbors become acquainted with them. Woe to that child
+then, whose faults are rebuked by every one else, but not by his
+parents! His faults are in every one's mouth, but not in theirs.
+
+2. _The interference of one parent while the other is endeavoring to
+enforce rightful discipline._--Nothing has a more injurious influence
+upon family government than such a course. It presents the two, in whom
+the children should place the most implicit confidence, at variance. As
+a matter of course, the disobedient child will throw himself into the
+hands of the one interfering, as a kind of shield from the rod. In such
+a case it is almost utterly impossible to maintain government and
+support discipline. The child justifies himself, and stoutly persists in
+his rebellion while he receives countenance from one of his parents.
+This, if I mistake not, is often done. Many a family has been ruined in
+this way for time and eternity. Government was entirely disobeyed in the
+outset. The father undertook the correction of the child, but the
+mother threw her arms over him--she pleads that he is a little
+child--that he knew not what correction means, as for _what_ he is
+corrected--or the rod is applied too severely. The child cried most
+unmercifully, when perhaps he only cried because he was rebellious and
+stubborn. This repeated a few times, and the one who is determined to
+maintain discipline becomes discouraged, and silently the management, or
+rather the mismanagement of the family passes into the hands of the
+other parent, and for peace sake.
+
+The above is a fruitful cause of bad management. In truth no one is
+prepared to govern others unless he governs himself. A fretful spirit
+and an impatient manner can do but little else than awaken opposition in
+the breast of the child. Such a course can never secure confidence and
+love. Every parent is here exposed to err. We are never prepared to
+administer discipline without possessing the spirit of Christ. It would
+probably be a good rule to adopt never to correct a child until we have
+been upon our knees before God in prayer. It would be a great preventive
+to a spirit of impatience.
+
+3. _A want of decision._--One reason why some find so much difficulty in
+the management of their families, is owing to the manner in which they
+address their children. They never speak with any degree of decision.
+The child judges it doubtful whether the parent means what he requires.
+He therefore hesitates and hesitates before he obeys. He foresees this
+habit, and hence he neglects obedience altogether. For the want of
+decision, he is under the necessity of repeating his commands again and
+again. What a wretched practice! No one should think he governs his
+children without they obey him _at once_. He should never expect to
+repeat his commands, and he should speak in such a manner as to lead the
+child to infer the parent _expected him to obey._ Manner has great
+influence. _Expression_ is more than half.
+
+Where submission takes place under such circumstances, it is generally
+of the genuine kind. There is no spuriousness about it. And there is not
+often any more trouble about discipline after that. The question is
+decisively settled. It is not every child that manifests its rebellion
+so much all at once. They manifest it little by little, daily, as
+opportunity offers, and then they will appear more easily to yield. It
+is to be feared, there is but little genuine submission in many such
+instances. At least there is but one course for the parent--to keep up
+the discipline so long as he manifests the least particle of rebellion.
+If he shows rebellion in any particular way, you should not try to avoid
+it, but meet it, and effect the work of entire submission.
+
+4. _Correcting with an improper spirit and in an improper manner is
+another cause of bad government._--Some never chastise except in a rage,
+and then no one is prepared to do it. They must get very much excited
+before they undertake to correct the child, and then perhaps when the
+child is not in the least to blame. He lets a pitcher fall, or breaks a
+plate, the parent flies into a passion, and begins to beat the unlucky
+boy or girl. Perhaps no positive correction was deserved. Such a spirit
+can never benefit a child. Some never think of reproving a real fault.
+It is only when an accident occurs, or some unintentional mishap is
+done, that the rod is ever used. To be sure there might be blame, but
+nothing compared with some acts of deliberate and willful transgression,
+when no correction is given.
+
+Parents, your children cannot purchase at any price what you can give
+them; I mean a subdued will. To effect this it is necessary to begin
+when a child is very young. The earlier the better, if you can make
+yourself understood. You need not fix upon any particular age when to
+begin; let this depend on circumstances, and different children will
+show their rebellion upon different points.
+
+5. _Coming short of attaining the object when you make the
+attempt--leaving discipline half completed._--When a child is corrected,
+every reasonable object should be attained. No point should be evaded.
+The parent should not stop until perfect and entire submission is
+effected on every point of dispute. And first I would invite your
+attention to instances by no means rare, where the child shows rebellion
+on some particular point. At such a point he stops; you cannot move him.
+He will do anything else but just the thing required. He may never have
+showed a stubborn will before. You have now found a point where you
+differ; there is a struggle between will and will; the stakes are set,
+and one or the other must yield. There is no avoiding it; you cannot
+turn to the right nor to the left; there is but one course for you. You
+must go forward, or the ruin of your child is sealed. You have come to
+an important crisis in the history of your child, and if you need motive
+to influence you to act, you may delineate as upon a map his temporal
+and eternal destiny--these mainly depend upon the issue of the present
+struggle. If you succeed, your child is saved; if you fail, he is lost.
+You may think perhaps your child will die before he will yield. We had
+almost said he might as well die as not to yield. I have known several
+parents who found themselves thus situated. Perhaps they possessed a
+feeble hand, their strength began to fail, but it was no time to parley.
+They summoned all their energy to another mighty struggle. Victory was
+theirs--a lost child was saved. Some are contented with anything that
+looks like obedience in such instances. The occasion passes. It soon,
+however, recurs with no better nor as good prospects. Thus the struggle
+is kept up while the child remains under the parental roof.
+
+A father one day gave his little son some books, his knife, and last of
+all his watch to amuse him. He was right under his eye. At length he
+told him to bring them all to him. He brought the books and knife to him
+cheerfully; the watch he wanted to keep--that was his idol. The father
+told him to bring that; he refused. The father used the rod. He took up
+the watch and brought it part way, and laid it down. The father told him
+to put it in his hand, but he would not. He corrected him again. He
+brought it a little farther and laid it down. Again he whipped him. At
+length he brought it and held it right over his father's hand, but would
+not put it in. The father, wearied by the struggle, struck the son's
+hand with the stick, and the watch fell into his hand. It was not given
+up. There was no submission. That son has been known to be several times
+under conviction, but he would never submit to God.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE
+
+RIZPAH.
+
+
+In order fully to understand the subject of our present study, we must
+return upon the track, to the days of Joshua, before Israel had wholly
+entered upon the possession of the promised land. The tribes were
+encamped at Gilgal to keep the passover, and from there, by the
+direction of Jehovah, they made incursions upon the surrounding
+inhabitants. Jericho and Ai had been taken, and the fear of these
+formidable Hebrews and their mighty God had fallen upon the hearts of
+the nations and stricken them almost to hopelessness. Feeling that a
+last effort to save themselves and their homes must be made, they banded
+together and resolved to defend their rights, and to put to proof the
+combined power of their deities. One clan, however, despairing of
+success by any such means, having heard that the utter extirpation of
+the Canaanites was determined upon, resorted to stratagem, and thus
+secured their safety in the midst of the general ruin. "They did work
+wilily," says the sacred record, "and made as if they had been
+ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles old,
+and rent, and bound up; and old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and
+old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and
+mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto
+him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country, now
+therefore make ye a league with us." At first the Israelites seem to
+have suspected trickery, but when the supposed ambassadors produced
+their mouldy bread, and declared that it was taken hot from the oven on
+the morning of their departure from their own country, and that their
+wine bottles were new, now so shrunk and torn, and pointed to their
+shoes and garments quite worn out by the length of the journey; and
+told their pitiful story, and in their humility stooped to any terms if
+they might only be permitted to make a covenant, Joshua and his elders
+were completely deceived, and without stopping to ask counsel of the
+Lord, "they made peace with them, and made a league with them to let
+them live."
+
+The Lord abhors treachery, and although his people had greatly erred in
+this act, and although these Hivites were among the nations whom he had
+commanded them to destroy, yet since a covenant had been made with them,
+it must be kept on peril of his stern displeasure and severe judgments.
+Only three days elapsed before the Israelites discovered that the crafty
+ambassadors were their near neighbors, and were called upon to come to
+their defense against the other inhabitants of the land, who having
+heard of the transaction at Gilgal, had gathered together to smite their
+principal city, Gibeon, and destroy them because they had made peace
+with Joshua. Before the walls of that mighty city, and in behalf of
+these idolaters, because Jehovah would have his people keep faith with
+those to whom they had vowed, was fought that memorable battle, the like
+of which was never known before or since, when to aid the cause, the
+laws of Nature were suspended upon human intercession--when Joshua said,
+"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of
+Ajalon." "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not
+to go down about a whole day."
+
+The tribes gained their inheritance, and their enemies were mostly
+driven out of the land, but in their midst ever dwelt the Gibeonites,
+safe from molestation, though the menial services of the tabernacle were
+performed by them, because of the deceit by which they purchased their
+lives, and they were contented to be thus reduced to perpetual bondage
+so they might escape the doom of their neighbors.
+
+Years passed on, and vicissitudes came to the Israelites of one kind and
+another. Sometimes they were victorious in their battles and peaceful
+among themselves; and again they fled before enemies or were embroiled
+in civil dissensions. Ever, above, caring for them, and bringing them
+safely on through all; instructing, guiding and disciplining, sat on
+his throne, their mighty invisible King. They demanded an earthly
+monarch, and in judgment he granted their desire. _In judgment_, and
+miserable in many ways were the results of his reign. Among his other
+evil acts not recorded, but alluded to in the history, was one of cruel
+treachery to the Gibeonites. "It would seem that Saul viewed their
+possessions with a covetous eye, as affording him the means of rewarding
+his adherents, and of enriching his family, and hence, on some pretense
+or other, or without any pretense, he slew large numbers of them, and
+doubtless seized their possessions." In this wicked deed we gather that
+many of the Israelites, and the members of Saul's family in particular,
+had an active share, and were benefited by the spoils. The Almighty
+beheld and took cognisance, but no immediate retribution followed.
+Towards the close of David's reign, however, for some unknown reason,
+the whole land was visited with a famine. Month after month it stalked
+abroad, and year after year, until three years of want had afflicted the
+chosen people. At the end of that time David, having resorted to all
+possible means of providing food in vain, began to reflect that there
+was meaning in the visitation, and "sought the face of the Lord," to
+inquire why he was displeased with his people. The answer was explicit
+and terrible. "It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he slew the
+Gibeonites." Though men forget, the Lord does not. He will plead the
+cause of the oppressed sooner or later, and though his vengeance sleep
+long, yet will he reward to those that deal treachery sevenfold sorrow.
+
+Driven by famine and by the expressed will of Jehovah, David sent to ask
+of the injured people what should be done to satisfy their sense of
+justice. "And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor
+gold of Saul nor of his house, neither for us shalt thou kill any man in
+Israel.
+
+"The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be
+destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
+
+"Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them
+up unto the Lord in Gibeon of Saul. And the king said, I will give
+them."
+
+Dreadful days of blood! Fearful fiat! which though needful and just, yet
+invaded the sanctuary of home so gloomily. Sad world! in which the
+innocent so often bear the sins of the guilty,--when will thy groans,
+ever ascending into the ears of Almighty love, be heard and bring
+release?
+
+The sentence was executed. Two sons of Saul by Rizpah, his inferior
+wife, and five of Merab his eldest daughter, whom Michal had, for some
+reason, educated, were delivered up and hung by the Gibeonites.
+
+Who can imagine, much less portray, the mother's anguish when her noble
+sons were torn from her for such a doom! We do not know whether Merab
+was living to see that day of horror, but Rizpah felt the full force of
+the blow which blasted all her hopes. Her husband, the father of her
+sons, had been suddenly slain in battle; her days of happiness and
+security had departed with his life, and now, all that remained of
+comfort, her precious children, must be put to a cruel death to satisfy
+the vengeance due to crimes not hers nor theirs. Wretched mother! a
+bitter lot indeed was thine! But the Lord had spoken, and there was no
+reprieve. To the very town where they had all dwelt under their father's
+roof, were these hapless ones dragged and their bodies ignominiously
+exposed upon the wall until they should waste away--a custom utterly
+abhorrent to all humanity, and especially to the Hebrews, whose
+strongest desire might be expressed in the words of the aged Barzillai,
+"Let me die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father
+and mother."
+
+Behold now that lone and heart-broken mother, on the spot where day and
+night, week after week, and month after month, she may be found. Neither
+heat nor cold--distressing days nor fearful nights--the entreaties of
+friends, nor the weariness of watching, nor the horrifying exhibition of
+decaying humanity, could drive her from her post. Upon the sackcloth
+which she had spread for herself upon the rock she remained "from the
+beginning of the harvest until the rain dropped upon them out of
+heaven," and suffered neither the birds of the air by day, nor the
+beasts of the field by night to molest those precious remains. O
+mother's heart! of what heroism art thou capable! Before a scene like
+this the bravest exploits of earth's proudest heroes fade into dim
+insignificance. At this picture we can only gaze. Words wholly fail when
+we would comment on it. Of the agonies it reveals we cannot speak. There
+are lessons to be learned from it, and upon them we can ponder.
+
+The value which the Lord our God sets upon truth is here displayed. He
+will have no swerving from the straight path of perfect fidelity to all
+engagements and covenants. Severe and awful appears his character as
+thus presented to us, and yet it is upon this very attribute that all
+our hopes rely. "He is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man
+that he should repent." If he thus defends those who love him not, how
+safe and happy may his children rest.
+
+The days in which Rizpah lived were dark and gloomy days. The words of
+Samuel to Agag may stand as their memorial, "As thy sword hath made
+women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." Let us
+be thankful that we see no such direful scenes, and let us act worthy of
+our higher lot. Let us remember also that there is a destruction of life
+more terrible even than that which Rizpah witnessed--the destruction of
+the soul. If the mother's love within us prompts us to half the care of
+the spiritual life of our children, which she bestowed on the decaying
+forms of her loved ones, He who rewards faithfulness will not suffer us
+to labor in vain.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Each day is a new life; regard it therefore, as an epitome of the world.
+Frugality is a fair fortune, and industry a good estate. Small faults
+indulged, are little thieves to let in greater.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION--INTELLECTUAL TRAINING.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+Let us now enter upon the second part of the field of education, the
+training of the intellect. It is obvious that we have in this, a much
+higher subject to deal with than that on which we have just dwelt. The
+physical form in a few years develops itself, and soon reaches its
+utmost limits of growth. It is then an instrument whose powers we seek
+to maintain but cannot increase. As time advances, indeed, those powers
+gradually yield to the influence of disease or age, until the senses
+begin to neglect their office, the brain declines in vigor, while the
+tongue, the eye, the hand, forget their accustomed work in the
+imbecility wrought by the approach of death. But no such limitation is
+manifest to us in the growth and future life of the intellect. Dependent
+upon the body for a healthful home in this world, and so far limited by
+the conditions of mortality, it yet seems to have in itself no absolute
+limitation bounding its prospective and possible attainments, save as
+the finite never can fully attain to the infinite. Granting it a
+congenial home, a fitting position, with full opportunity for progress,
+and there is scarcely a height this side infinity which in the ascent of
+ages it seems not capable of reaching. All creatures are finite, and as
+such, limited; but the horizon around the soul is so amazingly
+expansive, and the capacities of the mind for progress so immense, that
+to us, in our present state, it is almost as if there were no
+limitations at all.
+
+The power of the intellect to acquire facts and relations, and from them
+to ascend to the laws which control; its power to advance in a daily
+ascending path into the region of intuition, where masses of things,
+once isolated or chaotic, range themselves into harmony, and move in
+numbers most musical; its power thus to rise into an enlarging vision
+of truths now latent, and behold directly laws, relations and facts
+which once evaded the sight, or were only seen dimly and after great
+toil, it is utterly beyond our sphere to limit. We know that what to us
+in childhood was a mystery, is now simple; that some of the grandest
+laws of the material world which a few years back were reached only
+after stupendous labor, are now become intuitive truths; and we can see
+no reason why the human mind is not capacitated for just such advances
+eternally; at every ascent sweeping its vision over a broader range of
+truth, and rising ever nearer that Omniscient Intellect to which all
+things open. The instinct and imperfect reason of the noblest brutes,
+are here in marked contrast to the mind of man. They reach the limit of
+knowledge with the ripening of their physical frame; a limit which no
+training, however protracted and ingenious, can overpass; which never
+varies, except as a cord drawn round a center may vary, by being
+enlarged on the one side and contracted on the other; and which prepares
+them without the acquisition of a particle of superfluous intelligence
+for their brute life as the servitors of man. While his mind, never
+wholly stationary for a long period, has capacities for development that
+seem to spurn a merely sensual life, and lift the spirit to a
+companionship with angels; which, instead of resting satisfied with the
+mere demands of the body, seeks to penetrate the deep springs of life,
+discern the exquisite organism of an insect's wing, measure the stars,
+and analyze the light that reveals them.
+
+Possessing an intellect of so fine a nature, it is not to be questioned
+that, according to our opportunities, it is incumbent on us to carry
+forward its improvement from childhood to hoary age. A power like this,
+of indefinite expansion, in directions surpassingly noble, among
+subjects infinitely grand, has been conferred that it might be expanded,
+and go on expanding in an eternal progression; that it might sweep far
+beyond its present horizon and firmament, where the stars now shining
+above us, shall become the jeweled pavement beneath us, while above
+still roll other spheres of knowledge, destined in like manner to
+descend below us as the trophies of our victorious progress.
+
+To bury such an intellect as this in the commonplaces of a life of mere
+sense; to confine it to the narrow circle of a brute instinct and
+reason; to live in such a world, with the infinite mind of Jehovah
+looking at us from all natural forms, breathing around us in all tones
+of music, shining upon us from all the host of heaven, and soliciting us
+to launch away into an atmosphere of knowledge and ascend to an
+acquaintance with the great First Cause, even as the bird challenges the
+fledgling to leave its nest, and be at home on the wing; to live amid
+such incitements to thought, yet never lift the eyes from the dull round
+of physical necessities, is treason toward our higher nature, the
+voluntary defacement of the grandest characteristic of our being. The
+education of the intellect is not a question to be debated with men who
+have the slightest appreciation of their noble capacities. The
+obligation to improve it is commensurate with its susceptibility of
+advancement and our opportunities. It is not limited to a few years in
+early life, it presses on us still in manhood and declining age. Such is
+a general statement of the duty of intellectual improvement.
+
+In the actual education of the mind, our course will necessarily be
+modified by the ultimate objects at which we aim. Properly these are
+twofold--the first general, the second specific. The first embraces the
+general training of our intellectual powers, with direct reference to
+the high spiritual life here and hereafter. We place before us that
+state of immortality to which the present stands in the relation of a
+portico to a vast temple. The intellect is itself destined to survive
+the body, and as the instrument through which the heart is to be
+disciplined and fitted for this condition of exalted humanity, is to be
+informed with all that truth most essential for this purpose. Whatever
+there be in the heavens or the earth--in books or works of men, to
+discipline, enlarge and exalt the mind, to that we shall be attracted. A
+right heart breathes in an atmosphere of truth; it grows and rejoices in
+communion with all the light that shines upon it from the works or word
+of God. All truth, indeed, is not of the same importance. There is that
+which is primary and essential; there is that which adds to the
+completeness, without going to the foundation of character. The truths
+that enter a well cultivated mind, animated by right sentiments, will
+arrange themselves by a natural law in the relative positions they hold
+as the exponents of the character of God, and the means more or less
+adapted to promote the purity and elevation of man. All truth is of God;
+yet it is not all of equal value as an educational influence. There are
+different circles--some central, some remote. The crystals of the rock,
+the stratification of the globe, and the facts of a like character, will
+fill an outer circle, as beautiful, or skillful, or wonderful, in the
+demonstration of divine powers, but not so in themselves unfolding the
+highest attributes of God. The architecture of animate nature, the
+processes of vegetable life, the composition of the atmosphere, the
+clouds and the water, will range themselves in another circle, within
+the former, and gradually blending with it, as the manifestations of the
+wisdom and benificence of God. Then the unfoldings of his moral
+character in the government of nations, in the facts of history, and in
+the general revelation of himself in the Scriptures, will constitute
+another band of truth concentric with the others, yet brighter and
+nearer the center. While at length in the cross and person of Christ--in
+the system of redemption, and all the great facts which it embodies, we
+behold the innermost circle that, sweeping round Jehovah as its center,
+reflects the light of his being, most luminously upon the universe. Such
+is obviously the relative order of the truth we seek to know. It is the
+different manifestations of God, ascending from the lowest attributes of
+divinity, to those which constitute a character worthy the homage and
+love of all beings. Now, as it is the great object of life to know God
+and enjoy him, so in education we are to keep this steadily in view, and
+follow the order of procedure for the attainment of it which God has
+himself established. To spend the life or the years of youth on the
+study of rocks and crystals, to the neglect of the higher moral truths
+which lie within their circle, is unpardonable folly--a folly not to be
+redeemed by the fact that such knowledge is a partial unfolding of God
+to man. It is little better than studying the costume to the neglect of
+the person--than the examination of the frame to the neglect of the
+master-piece of a Raphael inclosed within it--than the criticism of a
+single window to the neglect of the glorious dome of St. Peter's--than
+viewing the rapids to the neglect of the mighty fall of Niagara. In
+education, the observance of this natural order of truth will bring us,
+at length, to that which fills the outer circle, and thus _all_ the
+kinds of knowledge will receive a just attention. Indeed, the study of
+the one naturally leads us to the other. We shall pass from the inner to
+the outer lines of truth, and back again, learning all the while this
+important lesson, that the study of the more remote class of truths is
+designed to conduct us to a more perfect appreciation of that which is
+moral, religious, central and saving; while the study of the higher
+parts of revelation will show us that the former come in to finish and
+perfect the latter. We do not despise the frieze--the architrave--the
+cornice--the spires, and the other ornaments of the temple, because we
+regard as most essential the foundation, the corner stone, the walls and
+the roofing; but in due time we seek to impart to our edifice not only
+strength and security, but the beauty of the noblest and richest
+adornment. According to our means, and as the necessities of life will
+permit, we shall seek for knowledge from all its various spheres, and
+despise nothing that God has thought worthy of his creative power or
+supporting energy.
+
+Now this large course of education in obedience to its first great
+object, is not limited by anything in itself or in us, to a particular
+class of individuals. It is the common path along which all intelligent
+beings are to pass. The object to which it conducts is before us all,
+and common to all. It is not divided into departments for separate
+classes. Woman, as well as man, has an interest in it, and an obligation
+to seek for it, just as binding as that which rests on him. All souls
+are equal, and though intellects may vary, yet the pursuit of truth for
+the exaltation of the soul is common to all. As this obligation to
+unfold the powers of the intellect, that we may grasp the truth, is
+primary, taking precedence of other objects--since all duty is based on
+knowledge, and all love and worship, and right action on the
+intelligence and apprehension of God--so education, which in this
+department is but the development of our capacity, preparing us to
+pursue the truth, and master the difficulties which frown us away from
+its attainment, rises into a duty the most imperative upon all rational
+beings. The same path here stretches onward before both sexes, the same
+motives impel them, the same objects are presented to them, the same
+obligations rest upon them. Neither youth nor age--neither man nor
+woman, can here make a limitation that shall confine one sex to a narrow
+corner--an acre of this broad world of intelligence--and leave the other
+free to roam at large among all sciences. Whatever it is truly healthful
+for the heart of man to know, whatever befits _his_ spiritual nature and
+immortal destiny, that is just as open to the mind of woman, and just as
+consistent with her nature. To deny this abstract truth, we must either
+affirm the sentiment falsely ascribed to Mahomet, although harmonizing
+well enough with his faith in general, that women have no souls; or take
+the ground that truth in this, its widest extent, is not as essential to
+their highest welfare as it is to ours; or assert, that possessing
+inferior intellects, they are incapable of deriving advantage from the
+general pursuit of knowledge, and therefore must be confined to a few
+primary truths, of which man is to be the judge. The first supposition
+we leave with the fanaticism that may have given it birth, and with
+which it so well harmonizes; the second we surrender to those atheistic
+fools and swindling politicians who can see no excellence in knowledge,
+save as it may minister to their sensual natures, or assist them to
+cajole the people; while the man who maintains the third, we would
+recommend to a court of Ladies, with Queen Elizabeth as judge, Madame de
+Stael as prosecuting attorney, and Hannah More, Mrs. Hemans, and other
+bright spirits of the same sex, as jury.
+
+I have dwelt thus at length on the first and most general object before
+us in the pursuit of knowledge, because it is really of the highest and
+noblest education, common to both sexes and unlimited by anything in
+their character or different spheres of life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, DERIVED FROM
+THE GERMAN PRACTICE, AND ADAPTED TO THE AMERICAN POPULATION.
+
+
+The great difficulty in this country is, that we try to do too much for
+our children. If we would let them alone a little more, we should do
+better; that is, if we would content ourselves with keeping them warm
+and clean, and feeding them on simple, wholesome food, it would be
+enough.
+
+They will take exercise of themselves, if we will let them alone, and
+they will shout and laugh enough to open their lungs. It is really
+curious for a scientific person to look on and observe the numerous and
+sometimes, alas! fatal mistakes that are constantly made. You will see a
+family where the infants are stout and vigorous as a parent's heart
+could desire, and, if only let alone, would grow up athletic and fine
+people; but parents want to be doing, so they shower them every morning
+to make them strong--they are strong already!
+
+Then, even before they are weaned, they will teach them to suck raw
+beef; for what? Has not their natural food sustained them well? An
+infant will have teeth before it wants animal food.
+
+But all these courses they have heard were strengthening, so they
+administer them to the strongest, till excess of stimulants produces
+inflammation, and the natural strength is wasted by disease. Then the
+child grows pale and feeble; now the stimulants are redoubled, they are
+taken to the sea-shore, kept constantly in the open air, and a great
+amount of exercise is insisted on. By this time all the symptoms of
+internal inflammation show themselves: the skin is pale, the hands and
+feet cold, dark under the eyes, reluctance to move, &c., &c. But no one
+suspects what is the matter; even the physician is often deceived at
+this stage of the process, and if he is, the child's case will be a hard
+one.
+
+I mention particularly this course of stimulants, as it is just now the
+prevalent mania. Every one ought to understand, that those practices
+which are commonly called strengthening, are, in other words,
+stimulating, and that to apply stimulants where the system is already in
+a state of health, will produce too much excitement. The young, from the
+natural quickness of their circulation, are particularly liable to this
+excess of action, which is inflammation. This general inflammation, in
+time, settles into some form of acute disease, so that in fact, by
+blindly attempting to strengthen, we inflame, disease, and enfeeble to
+the greatest possible degree.
+
+If we look at nature--at the animal instincts that are around us, what a
+different course does it advise! The Creator has taught the lower races
+to take care of their young; and if some accident does not happen to
+them they never lose one; just as they manage to-day, just so did they
+do for them a thousand years ago. Man is left to his own reason, I had
+almost said to his caprice; every age has produced different customs,
+and in consequence different diseases. More than half of the human race
+die under five years old; how small a portion live to the full
+"_threescore and ten_."
+
+Morally and intellectually, man may advance to an almost unlimited
+extent; but he must remember, that physically he is subjected to the
+same laws as other animals. Is it not quite time that we should bow our
+pride of reason, and look to the practice of those animals that raise
+all their young, and live out their own natural lives? How do they
+manage? We need not look far; see, madam, the cat; how does she contrive
+to rear her young family? Who ever saw her give one of them a
+shower-bath? Who ever saw her take a piece of meat to her nest, that her
+little ones might try their gums on it, before their teeth had grown?
+Who ever saw her taking them out of a cold winter's day for exercise in
+the open air, till their little noses were as red as those of the
+unfortunate babies one meets every cold day? Not one of all these
+excellent fashionable plans does she resort to. She keeps them
+clean--very clean, warm--very warm indeed. The Creator sends them to
+make their way in the world dressed completely, cap and all, in a
+garment unexceptionable as to warmth; there is no thick sock on the feet
+to protect from chills, and the head left with the bare skin uncovered,
+because reason had discovered that the head was the hottest part of the
+body, and that it was all a mistake that it should be so; therefore it
+was left exposed to correct this natural, universal law of the animal
+economy. Pussy knows nothing of all this, so kittie's cap is left on,
+coming snug over the little ears; and who ever saw a cat deaf (but from
+age) or a kitten with the ear-ache? Yet the first thing that strikes a
+stranger, in coming to our land of naked heads, is the number of persons
+he meets, that are partially deaf, or have inflamed eyes. All this
+sounds like a joke, but is it not a pretty serious one? Is it not
+strange, that men do not look oftener in this direction? It is not the
+cat alone, every animal gives the same lessons. The rabbit is so
+careful, that lest her young should take cold while she is from home,
+she makes a sort of thick pad or comforter of her own hair, and lays it
+for a covering over them. We do not hear that the old rabbits, when they
+go out into life, (in our cold climate too) are any more liable to take
+cold from having been so tenderly brought up. In fact, I doubt whether
+they ever take cold at all, young or old; while with man, to have a cold
+seems to be his natural state, particularly in the winter season. I have
+heard some persons go so far as to say, that a cold does not do a child
+any hurt; but it is not true, let who will say it; every cold a child
+takes, makes him more liable to another; and another, and another
+succeeds, till chronic disease is produced.
+
+(To be Continued.)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A FAINT PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE.
+
+THE BOY; THE FATHER OF THE MAN
+
+
+On my first visit to New York, many years since, I was accompanied by a
+young nephew. He was made up of smiles and cheerfulness. Such a
+traveling companion, of any age, is rare to be found, so gallant--so
+ready to serve--so full of bright thoughts--anticipating all my wishes,
+and yet so unobtrusive and modest--at the same time disposed to add to
+his own stock of knowledge from every passing incident. Nothing, in
+fact, escaped his observation. The variety and richness of scenery which
+is everywhere to be found in the New England States, seemed to delight
+his young heart. This alone, was enough to inspire my own heart with
+sunny thoughts, though I was in affliction, and was seldom found absent
+from my own happy home.
+
+As I recall to mind that journey and that happy, cheerful child, I often
+think how much comfort even a child can impart to others, when their
+hearts have been sanctified by the Spirit of God. I cannot forbear to
+say that cheerfulness is a cardinal virtue, and ought to be more
+cultivated by the old and by the young. A cheerful disposition not only
+blesses its possessor but imparts happiness to all that come within its
+reach.
+
+As we entered the city at an early hour, everything wore a cheerful
+aspect, every step seemed elastic and every heart buoyant with hope.
+There was a continual hum of busy men and women, as we were passing near
+a market. Such a rolling of carts and carriages--so many
+cheerful children, some crying "Raddishes"--"raddishes"--others
+"Strawberries"--"strawberries"--others with baskets of flowers--all wide
+awake, each eager to sell his various articles of merchandise. This was
+indeed a novel scene to us--it did seem a charming place. My young
+companion remarked, Aunt C----, "I think everybody here must be happy."
+I could not but at first respond to the sentiment. But presently we
+began to meet persons--some halt--some blind--some in rags--looking
+filthy and degraded.
+
+Every face was new to us--not one person among the throngs we met that
+we had ever seen before. An unusual sense of loneliness came over me,
+and I thought my young attendant participated in this same feeling of
+solitude, and though I said nothing, I sighed for the quiet and familiar
+faces and scenes of the "Home, sweet home" I had so recently left.
+
+We had not proceeded far before we saw men and boys in great commotion,
+all running hurriedly, in one direction, bending their steps towards the
+opposite shore. Their step was light and quick, but a look of sadness
+was in every face. We could only, now and then, gather up a few
+murmuring words that fell from the lips of the passers-by.
+
+"There were more than thirty persons killed," said one. "Yes, more than
+fifty," said another. We soon learned that a vessel on fire, the
+preceding evening had entered the harbour, but the fire had progressed
+so far that it was impossible to extend relief to the sufferers, and
+most of the crew perished in the flames, or jumped overboard and were
+drowned.
+
+The awful impression of distress made upon the minds of persons
+unaccustomed to such disasters, cannot well be described--they certainly
+were by no means transient.
+
+It was sad to reflect that many who had thus perished after an absence
+from home, some a few weeks, others for months, instead of greeting
+their friends, were hurried into eternity so near their own homes, under
+such aggravated circumstances. And then what a terrible disappointment
+to survivors! Many families as well as individuals were by this calamity
+not only bereft of friends, but of their property--some reduced to a
+state of comparative beggary.
+
+This day's experience was but a faint picture of human life.
+
+But to return to that young nephew. Does any one inquire with interest,
+Did his cheerful, benevolent disposition, his readiness to impart and to
+receive happiness continue with him through life? It did in a
+pre-eminent degree. It is believed that even then "The joy of the Lord
+was his strength."--Neh. viii. 10.
+
+He died at the age of 37, having been for nearly six years a successful
+missionary among the spicy breezes which blow soft o'er Ceylon's Isle. A
+friend who had known him most intimately for many years while a student
+at Yale, and then tutor, and then a student of Theology, after his
+death, in writing to his bereaved mother, says, "We had hope that your
+son, from his rare qualifications to fill the station he occupied, his
+remarkable facilities in acquiring that difficult language, his
+cheerfulness in imparting knowledge, his indomitable perseverance, his
+superior knowledge, and love of the Bible, which it was his business to
+teach--that in all this God had raised him up for a long life of service
+to the Church; but instead of this, God had been fitting him, all this
+time, for some more important sphere of service in the upper sanctuary."
+
+Here, as in thousands of other cases, we see that "The boy was the
+father of the man."
+
+Would any mother like to know the early history of that cheerful young
+traveler, we reply, as in the case of the prophet Samuel, he was "asked
+of the Lord," and was, therefore, rightly named Samuel. The Lord called
+him by his Spirit, when a mere child, "Samuel," "Samuel," and he replied
+"Here am I;" and his subsequent life and character were what might be
+expected from his obedient disposition and his lowly conduct in early
+childhood.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A young prince having asked his tutor to instruct him in religion and to
+teach him to say his prayers, was answered, that "he was yet too young."
+"That cannot be," said the little boy, "for I have been in the burying
+ground and measured the graves; I found many of them shorter than
+myself."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MUSIC IN CHRISTIAN FAMILIES.--NO. 1.
+
+
+It gives me much pleasure, in accordance with your suggestions, Mrs. W.,
+to lay before the readers of the Magazine, a few thoughts on the subject
+of music in Christian families. The subject is a very interesting one;
+and I regret that time and space will not allow me to do it more ample
+justice.
+
+Music is one of those precious gifts of Providence which are liable to
+be misused and misinterpreted. It has been applied, like oratory, to
+pernicious, as well as to useful purposes. It has been made to minister
+to vice, to indolence and to luxury--as well as to virtue, to industry,
+and to true refinement. But we must not on this account question the
+preciousness of the gift itself. The single circumstance that the Master
+of Assemblies requires it to be employed through all time, in the solemn
+assemblies of his worshipers, should suffice to prevent us from holding
+it in light estimation.
+
+Other good things besides music have been abused. Poetry, and prose, and
+eloquence, for example; but shall we therefore undervalue them?
+Painting, too, has its errings--some of them very grievous; but shall it
+therefore be neglected, as unworthy of cultivation? Things the most
+precious all have this liability, and should on this account be guarded
+with more vigilance.
+
+Music, merely as one of the fine arts, has many claims to our attention.
+We could not well say, in this respect, too much in its favor. Wrong
+things, indeed, have been said; and many pretensions have been raised to
+which we could never subscribe. It does not possess, as some seem to
+think, any _inherent_ moral or religious efficacy. It is not _always
+safe_, as a _mere_ amusement. An unrestrained passion for it, has often
+proved injurious, and those who would become artists or distinguished
+amateurs, have need of much caution on this head. Music is in this
+respect, like poetry, painting, and sculpture. The Christian may cherish
+any of these arts, as a means to some useful end; but the moment he
+loses sight of real utility he is in danger, for everything that he does
+or enjoys should be in accordance with the glory of God.
+
+The most interesting point of view in which music is to be regarded is
+that which relates to the worship of God. This gives it an importance
+which is unspeakable. There is no precept which requires us to employ
+oratory, or painting, or sculpture in the worship of the Most High. Nor
+is there any direct precept for the consecrated use of poetry; for
+"psalms and hymns and spiritual songs," may be written in elevated
+prose. But the Bible is filled with directions for the employment of
+music in the sacred service. Both the Old Testament and the New require
+us to sing with devout affections, to the praise and glory of God. The
+command, too, seems to be general, like those in relation to prayer. If
+all are to pray, so "in everything" are all to "give thanks." If we are
+to "pray without ceasing," so we are told, "let every thing that hath
+breath praise the Lord." Again, "is _any_ man afflicted, let him pray:
+is he merry (joyful), let him _sing_ psalms." The direction is not, "if
+any man is joyful, let him attend a concert or listen to exercises in
+praise," but "let him _sing_." There is something to be done in his own
+proper person.
+
+Our necessities compel us to pray. A mere permission to do so, might
+seem to suffice. For we must pray earnestly and perseveringly, or perish
+forever. But will it do meanwhile to be sparing in our thanks? True, one
+may say, I am under infinite obligations to give thanks, and I generally
+endeavor to do so when engaged in the exercise of prayer. But, remember
+there is another divinely constituted exercise called praise. Why not
+engage in this also, and mingle petitions with your praises? This is the
+scriptural method of expressing gratitude and adoration, and for
+ourselves, we see not how individuals are to be excused in neglecting
+it. Every one, it is true, would not succeed as an artist, if he had
+never so many advantages. But every one who has the ordinary powers of
+speech, might be so far instructed in song, as to mingle his voice with
+others in the solemn assembly, or at least to use it in private to his
+own edification. This position has been established in these later times
+beyond the possibility of a rational doubt. Proofs of it have been as
+clear as demonstration. These, perhaps, may be exhibited in another
+number.
+
+But in reply to this statement it will be said, that cultivation is
+exceedingly difficult if deferred to adult years. Well, be it so. It
+follows, that since it is not difficult in years of childhood and youth,
+all our children should have early and adequate instruction. There
+should be singing universally in Christian families. And this is the
+precise point I have endeavored to establish in the present article. How
+far the neglects and miscarriages of youth may excuse the delinquences
+of adult years, I dare not presume to decide or conjecture. It may
+suffice my present purpose to show that according to the Bible all
+_should_ sing; and that all _might_ sing if instruction had not been
+neglected. Is it not high time for such neglect to be done away? And how
+shall it ever be done away, except by the introduction of music into
+Christian families?
+
+Let Christian parents once become awake to the important results
+connected with this subject, and they can ordinarily overcome what had
+seemed to them mountains of difficulty; nay, more, what seemed
+impossibilities, by considerable effort and a good share of
+perseverance.
+
+Even one instance of successful experiment in this way should be quite
+sufficient to induce others to make similar efforts.
+
+A father who for many years, during his collegiate and professional
+studies, was for a long period abstracted from all domestic endearments,
+much regretted this, as he was sensible of the prejudicial influence it
+had in deadening the affections. Not many years after he became settled
+in business, he found himself surrounded by quite a little group of
+children. He became exceedingly interested in their spiritual welfare,
+and in the success of Sabbath-school instruction. His heart was often
+made to rejoice as he contemplated the delightful influence upon
+himself of these home-scenes, and which he longed to express in sacred
+song. But as he had never cultivated either his ear or his voice, he
+felt at his time of life it would be quite useless for him to try to
+learn. Neither did the mother of his children know anything about the
+rules of music.
+
+They had at one time a very musical young relative for a visitor in
+their family. The children were so delighted with his lofty strains that
+they kept him singing the greater part of the time. The mother expressed
+great regret that neither she nor her husband could gratify the children
+in their eager desire to enjoy music.
+
+This young friend said he was sure, if she would but try, he would soon
+convince her of the practicability of learning. She promised to try--and
+in the attempt she was greatly encouraged by the assurances of her
+husband that he also would try.
+
+It was soon found that all the children had a good ear and a good voice,
+and particularly the eldest, a girl of seven, who was at length able to
+take the lead in singing a few tunes at family worship.
+
+After a few months' trial, no money could have tempted these parents to
+relinquish the pleasure and the far-reaching benefits which they felt
+must result from this social and exalted pleasure of uniting on earth in
+singing the sacred songs of Zion, as a preparation for loftier strains
+in Heaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It has been beautifully said that Reason is the compass by which we
+direct our course; and Revelation the pole star by which we correct its
+variations.
+
+Experience, like the stern-light of a ship, only shows us the path which
+has been passed over.
+
+Happiness, like the violet, is only a way-side flower.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+"WHY ARE WE NOT CHRISTIANS?"
+
+A SKETCH FOR DAUGHTERS.
+
+
+It was the day for the meeting of the Monthly Missionary Society, in the
+village of C.; a day of pure unclouded loveliness in early summer, when
+the sweetest flowers were blossoming, and the soft delicious air was
+laden with their perfume, and that of the newly-mown hay. All nature
+seemed rejoicing in the manifestations of the goodness and love of its
+Creator, while the low mingled murmurings of insects, breezes and
+rivulets, with the songs of birds, formed a sweet chorus of praise to
+God. The society was to meet at deacon Mills's, who lived about four
+miles out of the village, and whose house was the place where, of all
+others, all loved to go. Very early in the afternoon all the spare
+wagons, carriages, carryalls, chaises and other vehicles were in demand.
+A hay-rack was filled with young people, as a farmer kindly offered to
+carry them nearly to the place, and toward evening, they considered, it
+would be pleasant to walk home. So deacon Mills's house was filled with
+old, middle-aged and young, who were all soon occupied with the
+different kinds of work, requisite for filling a box to be sent to a
+missionary family among the distant heathen. Seaming, stitching,
+piecing, quilting and knitting, kept every hand busy, while their
+owners' tongues were equally so, yet the conversation was not the
+common, idle talk of the day, but useful and elevating, for religion was
+loved, and lived, by most of those dear and pleasant people, and it
+could not but be spoken of. Still there was interest in each other's
+welfare, as their social and domestic pursuits and plans were related
+and discussed.
+
+There was a piazza in front of the house, the pillars of which were
+covered with vines, running from one to another, gracefully interlacing,
+and forming a pleasant screen from the sun's rays. At one end of this
+piazza, a group of five young girls were seated at their work. They were
+chosen and intimate friends, who shared with each other all that was
+interesting to themselves. They had been talking pleasantly together for
+some time, and had arrived at a moment's pause, when Clara Glenfield
+said, "Girls, I think this is a good opportunity to say to you something
+that I have for a long time wished to say. You know we are in the habit
+of speaking to each other upon every subject that interests us,
+excepting that of religion. None of us profess to be Christians,
+although we know it is our duty to be. We have all pious mothers, and,
+if yours are like mine, they are constantly urging, as well as our other
+friends, to give our hearts to God, and we cannot but think of the
+subject; now, why should we not speak of it together? and why are we not
+Christians?"
+
+Emily Upton. "I should really be very glad, Clara, if we could. It seems
+to me we might talk much more freely with each other, than with older
+persons; for some things trouble me on this subject, and if I should
+speak of them to mother, or any one else, I am afraid they would think
+less of me, or blame me."
+
+Clara. "Then let us each answer the question, why are we not Christians?
+You tell us first, Emily."
+
+Emily. "Well, then, it seems to me, I am just as good as many in the
+church. I do not mean to say that I am good, but only if they are
+Christians, I think I am. There is Leonora D., for instance, she dresses
+as richly with feathers and jewels, attends parties instead of the
+prayer-meetings, and acts as haughtily as any lady of fashion I ever
+knew. Now, I go to the Bible class, evening meetings, always attend
+church, and read the Bible, and pray every day. Notwithstanding all,
+mother says, so tenderly, 'Emily, my child, I wish you were a
+Christian,' and I get almost angry that she will not admit that I am
+one."
+
+Alice Grey. "Well, I do not blame Leonora much. To tell the truth, I do
+not believe in so much church-going and psalm-singing. I think God has
+given us these pleasant things to enjoy them, and it is perfectly
+natural for a young girl to sing and dance, visit, dress, and enjoy
+herself. It seems to me there is time enough for religion when we grow
+older, but give me youthful pleasures and I can be happy enough."
+
+Sophia. "But you think religion is important, do you not?"
+
+Alice. "Yes, I suppose it is necessary to have religion to die by, and I
+own I sometimes feel troubled for fear that I may die before possessing
+it, but I am healthy and happy, and do not think much about it. I want
+to enjoy life while I can, like these little birds in the garden who are
+singing and skipping so merrily."
+
+Clara. "Annie, you are the reverse of Alice, quiet, gentle, and sedate;
+why are not you a Christian?"
+
+Annie. "Since we are talking so candidly, I will tell you. I really do
+not know how to be. I cannot feel that I have ever done anything that
+was so very sinful, although I know, for the Bible says so, that I am a
+sinner. To be sure, I have done a great many wrong things, but it does
+not seem as though God would notice such little things, and besides it
+did not seem as though I could have done differently in the
+circumstances. Mother has always commended me, and held me up for a
+pattern to the younger children, and I suppose I have become, at least,
+you will think I have, a real Pharisee. Yet when I have been urged to
+repent and believe in Christ, I have not known what to do. I have spent
+hours in the still, lonely night, thinking upon the subject, and saying,
+if I could only feel that I am a sinner I would repent. I have always
+believed in Jesus, that He is the Son of God, that He assumed our
+nature, and bore the punishment we deserve, and will save all who
+believe in Him. Now what more can I do? I know that I must do
+everything, for I feel that I am far from being a Christian, and yet I
+know not what. I suppose your experience does not correspond with mine,
+Clara?"
+
+Clara. "Not exactly. I not only know, but deeply feel, that I am a great
+sinner; sometimes my sinfulness appears too great to be forgiven. The
+trouble with me is _procrastination_. I cannot look back to the time
+when I did not feel that I ought to be a Christian, but I have always
+put off the subject, thinking I would attend to it another time, and it
+has been just so for year after year. Only last week I was sitting alone
+in my room at twilight, enjoying the quiet loveliness and beauty of the
+view from my window. I could not help thinking of Him who had made all
+things, and had given me the power of enjoying them, besides so many
+other blessings, and I longed to participate in the feeling which Cowper
+ascribes to the Christian, and say, '_My Father_ made them all.' Then
+something seemed to whisper, 'wilt thou not from _this time_ cry unto
+me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?' 'Now is the accepted
+time.' 'To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.' But I
+did harden my heart. I did not feel willing, like Alice, to give up the
+pleasures which are inviting me all around, and become a devoted,
+consistent Christian, for I do not mean to be a half-way Christian,
+neither one thing or the other."
+
+Sophia. "Nearly all these reasons have been my excuse for not becoming a
+Christian, but another has been, that I do not like to be noticed, and
+made an object of remark. My father and mother and friends would be so
+much pleased, they would be talking of it, and watching me, to see if my
+piety was real, and I would feel as if I were too conspicuous a person.
+Now if we would all at the same time resolve to consecrate ourselves to
+the Lord, I think each particular case might not be so much noticed."
+
+"But why should you dread it so much Sophy?" asked Emily.
+
+"I hardly know _why_" she replied, "but I have always felt so since I
+was quite a child, but since I have for the first time spoken of it, it
+seems a much more foolish reason than I had before considered it."
+
+Alice. "And I must confess that I am not always so careless and
+thoughtless on this subject. When I am really possessing and enjoying
+the pleasures I have longed for, there seems to be always something more
+that I need to make me happy. Fanny Bedford, pious and good as she is,
+seems always happier than I, and I have often wished that I was such a
+Christian as she is."
+
+"Who has not," exclaimed the other girls; and their praise of her was
+warm and sincere.
+
+"She is so consistent and religious, and yet so humble, and so full of
+love to every one, that it is impossible not to love her and the
+religion she loves so much. Annie, I have never wished so much that I
+was a Christian, as when I have thought of her; how much I wish I was
+like her." "There is Fanny in the hall, let us speak to her of what we
+have been saying," said Sophia.
+
+They agreed that they were willing she should know it all, and called to
+her. She came and sat with them, and they related to her the
+conversation which they had had together, to which she listened with
+much interest, and a warm heart, and replied, "It is a great wonder to
+me now, dear girls, that any should need to be _persuaded_ to accept of
+Christ, and devote themselves to His service; yet it was once just the
+same with me. I had all of your excuses and many more, and considered
+them good reasons for not becoming a Christian. How true it is, that
+'the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,
+lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them.' Could you
+but once experience the blessedness of being children of God, you would
+be surprised and ashamed that you have so long refused so precious a
+privilege, to possess instead, the unsatisfying pleasures of earth.
+Consider, to be a Christian, is to have God for your father, to have all
+that is glorious and excellent in his perfections engaged for your good.
+It is to have Jesus for an ever-present, almighty friend, ready to
+forgive your sins, to save you from sin, to bear your sorrows, to
+heighten your joys, to lead and bless you in all the scenes of life, to
+guide and assist you while you engage in his blessed service, to be with
+you in the hour of death, and to admit you to the realms of eternal joy.
+I can scarcely commence telling you of all the benefits he bestows on
+His people."
+
+"What must we do, Fanny?" inquired Annie.
+
+"The first thing of all, dear Annie," she replied, "is to go to the
+Savior, at His feet ask for repentance and true faith in Him. Consecrate
+yourself to Him, and resolve that you will from this time serve the
+Lord. Then, Annie, you will have done what you could, and 'He giveth the
+Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.' That Spirit will convince you of
+sin, and you will be surprised and grieved that you could ever have
+thought of yourself as other than the chief of sinners, and while you
+shed tears of sorrow and repentance, He will lead you to Christ, the
+Lamb of God, whose precious blood will prevail with God for the pardon
+of your sins; in it you can wash away your sins, and be made pure and
+holy in his sight. Do what you know how to do, and then shall you know
+if you follow on to know the Lord; will you not?"
+
+Annie. "I will try."
+
+Fanny. "I think the sin of procrastination must be very displeasing to
+God, as it is to our earthly parents, when we defer obeying their
+commands. It is solemn to think that He against whom we thus sin, is He
+in whose hands our breath is, and who can at any time take it away. If
+He were not so slow to anger, what would become of us? Dear Clara, and
+each of you, you are only making cause for sorrow and shame in thus
+neglecting to do what you know you ought to do. 'Enter in at the strait
+gate and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life,' and you will
+find that every step in that way is pleasure. Not such pleasure as the
+world gives, Alice, but more like the happiness of angels. Religion
+takes away no real pleasures, nor the buoyancy and happiness of the
+youthful spirit. It only sanctifies and leads its possessor to do
+nothing but what a kind heavenly Father will approve, Alice."
+
+"But, Fanny, all Christians are not happy ones."
+
+Fanny. "Yet those who are the most devoted and consistent, are the most
+happy. Some have troubles and sorrows which they could scarcely bear if
+it were not for religion. They are sanctified by means of these
+afflictions and so made happier; holiness and happiness are inseparable.
+''Tis religion that must give, sweetest pleasure while we live,' you
+know the hymn says, and it is true. Do you think Emily, that because you
+are as good as you think Leonora is, you are good enough?"
+
+Emily. "No, Fanny, it was a poor excuse; I see that I must not look at
+others, but at what God requires of _me_."
+
+Fanny. "How common is the excuse, so many people profess to think they
+can do without religion, because so many who call themselves Christian
+are inconsistent. Dear girls, I pray that if you are ever Christians,
+you may be consistent, sincere ones. Who can estimate the good, or the
+evil, you may do by your example. If you love the Savior more than all
+else beside, you will find his yoke easy and his burden light, and for
+his sake it will be pleasant to do what would naturally be unpleasant.
+Remember this, Sophy, and I hope you will soon all know the blessedness
+of being Christians. It is our highest duty and our highest happiness.
+Do, dear girls, resolve, each of you, to seek the Lord now."
+
+Just then, their pastor came; he spoke kindly to each of the little
+group, before entering the house.
+
+"It is nearly tea-time," said Clara, "let us go and offer our assistance
+to Mrs. Mills; as we are the youngest here, perhaps she would like to
+have us carry around the plates and tea. We will try to not forget what
+you have told us, Fanny."
+
+"Pray for me, Fanny," said Sophia softly, as she passed her, and kissed
+her.
+
+"And for me," said Annie.
+
+"And for us, too," continued Clara, Emily and Alice, as they stepped
+back for a moment.
+
+Tea was soon over, the missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy
+mountains," was sung, and prayer offered by the pastor, and then the
+pleasant interview was ended.
+
+A few days after, Fanny and Annie met each other in the street. "Have
+you tried to do, Annie, what seemed your duty to do?" Fanny asked.
+
+"I have," she replied, as she looked up with a happy smile.
+
+"You have done what you could," said Fanny; "it is all that God requires
+of you, continue to do so." Annie's heart thrilled with joy, at the
+first faint hope that she was indeed a Christian, and from that time
+her course, like that of the shining light, was onward and brighter.
+
+C. L.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+MOTHERS NEED THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST.
+
+
+At one period of my life, during a revival of religion, God led me by
+his Spirit to see and feel that the many years I had been a professed
+follower of Christ--which had been years of alternate revivings and
+backslidings, had only resulted in dishonor to Him and condemnation to
+my own soul. True, I had many times thought I had great enjoyment in the
+service of God, and was ever strict in all the outward observances of
+religion. But my heart was not fixed, and my affections were easily
+turned aside and fastened upon minor objects. In connection with this
+humiliating view of my past life, a deep sense of my responsibilities as
+a mother, having children old enough to give themselves to God, and
+still unreconciled to him, weighed me to the earth.
+
+I plainly saw that God could not consistently convert them while I lived
+so inconsistent a life. I felt that if they were lost I was responsible.
+I gave myself to seek the Lord with all my heart, by fasting and prayer.
+One day, in conversation with my dear pastor, I told him my trials, and
+he said to me, "What you want is a baptism of the Holy Ghost. Give
+yourself up to seek this richest of all blessings." I did so--and rested
+not until this glorious grace was mine. Then, oh how precious was Jesus
+to my soul! How perfectly easy was it now to deny myself and follow
+Christ!
+
+I now knew what it was to be led by the constraining love of Jesus, and
+to do those things that please him. Then it was that he verified to me
+his precious promise, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall ask what ye
+will, and it shall be done unto you." Very shortly, one of my dear
+loved ones was brought to make an entire surrender of herself to Christ.
+
+I trust I was also made the instrument of good to others, who professed
+to submit their hearts to my precious Savior. Will not many more be
+induced to take God at his word and believe him when he says, "Then
+shall ye find me, when ye shall search for me with all your hearts"?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+EXTRAVAGANCE.
+
+
+The following paragraphs, which we have met in the course of our
+reading, contain a great deal of truth worthy the consideration of our
+readers.
+
+_Extravagance in living._--"One cannot wonder that the times
+occasionally get hard," said a venerable citizen the other day, "when
+one sees the way in which people live and ladies dress." We thought
+there was a great deal of truth in what the old gentleman said. Houses
+at from five hundred to a thousand dollars rent, brocades at three
+dollars a yard, bonnets at twenty, and shawls, and cloaks, &c., from
+fifty dollars up, are enough to embarrass any community that indulges in
+such extravagances as Americans do. For it is not only the families of
+realized wealth, who could afford it, that spend money in this way, but
+those who are yet laboring to make a fortune, and who, by the chances of
+trade, may fail of this desirable result. Everybody wishes to live,
+now-a-days, as if already rich. The wives and daughters of men, not
+worth two thousand a-year, dress as rich nearly as those of men worth
+ten or twenty thousand. The young, too, begin where their parents left
+off. Extravagance, in a word, is piled on extravagance, till
+
+  "Alps o'er Alps arise."
+
+The folly of this is apparent. The sums thus lavished go for mere show,
+and neither refine the mind nor improve the heart. They gratify vanity,
+that is all. By the practice of a wise economy, most families might, in
+time, entitle themselves to such luxuries; and then indulgence in them
+would not be so reprehensible. If there are two men, each making a clear
+two thousand a-year, and one lays by a thousand at interest, while the
+other spends his entire income, the first will have acquired a fortune
+in sixteen years, sufficient to yield him an income equal to his
+accustomed expenses, while the other will be as poor as when he started
+in life. And so of larger sums. In fine, any man, by living on half of
+what he annually makes, be it more or less, can, before he is forty,
+acquire enough, and have it invested in good securities, to live for the
+rest of his life in the style in which he has been living all along. Yet
+how few do it! But what prevents? Extravagance! extravagance! and again
+extravagance!
+
+_Wives and carpets._--In the selection of a carpet, you should always
+prefer one with small figures, for the two webs, of which the fabric
+consists, are always more closely interwoven than in carpeting where
+large figures are wrought. "There is a good deal of true philosophy in
+this," says one, "that will apply to matters widely different from the
+selection of carpets. A man commits a sad mistake when he selects a wife
+that cuts too large a figure on the green carpet of life--in other
+words, makes much display. The attractions fade out--the web of life
+becomes weak--and all the gay figures, that seemed so charming at first,
+disappear like summer flowers in autumn. _This_ is what makes the
+bachelors, or some of them. The wives of the present day wish to cut too
+large a figure in the carpet of life."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Selected.
+
+EVERY PRAYER SHOULD BE OFFERED UP IN THE NAME OF JESUS.
+
+
+Through Him alone have we access with boldness to the throne of grace.
+He is our advocate with the Father. When the believer appears before God
+in secret, the Savior appears also: for he "ever liveth to make
+intercession for us." He hath not only directed us to call upon his
+Father as "Our Father," and to ask him to supply our daily need, and to
+forgive our trespasses; but hath graciously assured us, that
+"_whatsoever_ (we) shall ask _in his name_, he will do it, that the
+Father may be glorified in the Son."--(John 14:13.) And saith (verse
+14), "If ye shall ask _anything in my name_, I will do it." And again
+(John 15:23, 24), "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall
+ask the Father _in my name_ he will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked
+nothing _in my name_; ask, and _ye shall receive_, that your joy may be
+full."
+
+All needful blessings suited to our various situations and circumstances
+in this mortal life, all that will be necessary for us in the hour of
+death, and all that can minister to our felicity in a world of glory,
+hath he graciously promised, and given us a command to ask for, _in his
+name_. And what is this but to plead, when praying to our heavenly
+Father, that Jesus hath sent us; and to ask and expect the blessings for
+his sake alone?
+
+H. MORE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.
+
+BATHSHEBA.
+
+
+A summons from the king! What can it mean? What can he know of her? She
+is, indeed, the wife of one of his "mighty men," but though he highly
+esteems her husband, he can have no interest in her. She meditates. Her
+cheek pales. Can he have heard evil tidings from the distant city of the
+Ammonites, and would he break kindly to her news of her husband's death?
+It cannot be. Why should he do this for her more than for hundreds of
+others in like trouble? Again, she ponders, and now a crimson hue mounts
+to her temples--her fatal beauty! Away with the thought--it is shame to
+dwell upon it--would she wrong by so foul a suspicion the Lord's
+anointed? She wearies herself with surmises, and all in vain. But there
+is the command, and she must be gone. The king's will is absolute.
+Whatever that summons imports, "dumb acquiescence" is her only part. She
+goes forth in her youth, beauty and happiness--she returns--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Weeks pass, and behold another message, but this time it is the king who
+receives, and Bathsheba who sends. What is signified in those few words
+from a woman's hand, that can so unnerve him who "has his ten thousands
+slain"? It is now his turn to tremble and look pale. Yet a little while,
+and he, the man after God's own heart, the chosen ruler of his
+people--the idol of the nation, shall be proclaimed guilty of a heinous
+and abominable crime, and shall, according to the laws of the land, be
+subjected to an ignominious death. _He_ ponders now. Would he had
+thought of all this before, but it is too late. The consequences of his
+ungoverned passion stare him in the face and well nigh overwhelm him.
+Something must be done, and that speedily. He cannot have it thus. He
+has begun to fall, and the enemy of souls, is, as ever, at hand to
+suggest the second false and ruinous step.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another summons. A messenger from the king to Joab. "Send me Uriah the
+Hittite." It is peremptory; no reasons are given, and Joab does as he is
+bidden. Unsuspecting as loyal, Uriah hastens on his way, mindful only of
+duty, and is soon in the presence of his royal master, who, always kind,
+is now remarkably attentive to his wants and thoughtful of his
+interests. He inquires for the commander of his forces and of the war
+and how the people fare, and it would almost seem had recalled him only
+to speak kindly to him and manifest his regard for the army, though he
+had not himself led them to battle.
+
+But though unsuspecting and deceived, the high-minded and faithful
+soldier cannot even unwittingly be made to answer the end for which he
+has been summoned, and after two days he returns to Joab, bearing a
+letter, of whose terrible contents he little dreams and is happy in his
+ignorance.
+
+Meantime Bathsheba has heard of his arrival in Jerusalem, and is
+momentarily expecting his appearance. Alas! that she should dread his
+coming. Alas! that she should shudder at every sound of approaching
+footsteps. How fearful is the change which has come over her since last
+she looked on his loved face! He is her husband still, and she, she is
+his lawful loving wife. Never was he so dear to her as now. Never did
+his noble character so win her admiration, as she contemplates all the
+scenes of her wedded life and reviews the evidences of it in the past.
+How happy they have been! What bliss has been hers in the enjoyment of
+his esteem and affection! She is even now to him, in his absence, the
+one object of tender regard and constant thought. She knows how fondly
+he dwells on her love, and how precious to him is the beauty which first
+won him to her side. She is the "ewe lamb which he has nourished, which
+has drank from his own cup and lain in his bosom"--she is his all. He
+has been long away; the dangers of the battle field have surrounded
+him, and now he is returned, alive, well; her heart bounds, she cannot
+wait till she shall see him; yet how can she meet him? Ah! fatal
+remembrance, how bitterly it has recalled her from her vision of
+delight. It is not true! it cannot be true! it is but a horrible dream!
+Her heart is true? She would at any moment have died for him. The entire
+devotion of her warm nature is his. She had no willing part in that
+revolting crime. Oh! must she suffer as if she had been an unfaithful
+wife? Must she endure the anguish of seeing him turn coldly from her in
+some future day? Must she now meet him and have all her joy marred by
+that hateful secret? Must she take part in deceiving him, in imposing
+upon him--him, the noble, magnanimous, pure-minded husband? Oh, wretched
+one! was ever sorrow like hers?
+
+The day passes, and the night, and he comes not. Can he have suspected
+the truth? Slowly the tedious hours go by, while she endures the racking
+tortures of suspense. The third day dawns, and with it come tidings that
+he has returned to Rabbah, and his words of whole-souled devotion to his
+duty and his God are repeated in her ears.--Faint not yet, strong heart;
+a far more bitter cup is in store for thee.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bathsheba is again a wife, the wife of a king, and in her arms lies her
+first-born son. Terrible was the tempest which burst over her head, and
+her heart will never again know aught of the serene, untroubled
+happiness which once she knew. The storm has indeed lulled, but she sees
+the clouds gathering new blackness, and her stricken spirit shrinks and
+faints with foreboding fears. The little innocent being which she holds
+fondly to her bosom, which seemed sent from heaven to heal her wounds,
+lies panting in the grasp of fierce disease. She has sent for the king,
+and together they look upon the suffering one. Full well he knows, that
+miserable man, what mean those moans and piteous signs of distress, and
+what they betoken. He gazes on the wan, anguished features of his wife
+as she bends over her child; his thoughts revert hurriedly to her
+surpassing beauty when first he saw her--a vision of the murdered Uriah
+flits before him--the three victims of his guilt and the message of
+Nathan, which he has just received--the stern words, "Thou art the man,"
+bring a full and realizing sense of the depth to which he has fallen,
+and overwhelmed with remorse and wretchedness, he leaves the chamber to
+give vent to his grief, to fast and weep and pray, in the vain hope of
+averting the threatened judgment.
+
+Seven days of alternate hope and fear, of watching and care have fled,
+and Bathsheba is childless. Another wave has rolled over her. God grant
+it be the last. Surely she has drained the cup of sorrow. She sits
+solitary and sad, bowed down with her weight of woes; her thoughts
+following ever the same weary track; direful images present to her
+imagination; her frame racked and trembling; the heavens clothed in
+sackcloth, and life for ever divested of happiness and delight. The king
+enters and seats himself beside her. And if Bathsheba is changed, David
+is also from henceforth an altered man. "Broken in spirit by the
+consciousness of his deep sinfulness, humbled in the eyes of his
+subjects and his influence with them weakened by their knowledge of his
+crimes; even his authority in his own household, and his claim to the
+reverence of his sons, relaxed by his loss of character;" filled also
+with fearful anticipations of the future, which is shadowed by the dark
+prophecy of Nathan--he is from this time wholly unlike what he has been
+in former days. "The balance of his character is broken. Still he is
+pious--but even his piety takes an altered aspect. Alas for him! The
+bird which once rose to heights unattained before by mortal pinion,
+filling the air with its joyful songs, now lies with maimed wing upon
+the ground, pouring forth its doleful cries to God." He has scarcely
+begun to descend the declivity of life, yet he appears infirm and old.
+He is as one who goes down to the grave mourning. Thus does he seem to
+Bathsheba as he sits before her. But there is more in David thus humble,
+contrite and smitten, to win her sympathy and even love, than there was
+in David the absolute, and so far as she was concerned, tyrannical
+monarch, though surrounded with splendors, the favorite of God and man.
+A few days since had he assayed the part of comforter, she would have
+felt her heart revolt; but now repentant and forgiven, though not
+unpunished by Jehovah, she can listen without bitterness while he speaks
+of the mercy of the Lord which has suffered them both to live, though
+the law could have required their death, and which sustains even while
+it chastises.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Another message--by the hand of the prophet to David and Bathsheba--a
+message of peace and tender consideration--a name for their new-born
+child, the gift to them from his own hand. "Call him Jedediah--beloved
+of the Lord."
+
+"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how
+unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out."' In his
+dealings with his sinful children how far are his ways above the ways of
+men! "As the heaven is high above the earth, _so great_ is his mercy
+toward them that fear him." He dealeth not with them after their
+sins--he rewardeth them not according to their iniquities, but knowing
+their frame--remembering that they are dust--that a breath of temptation
+will carry them away--pitying them with a most tender compassion, he
+deals with them according to the everlasting and abounding and
+long-suffering love of his own mighty heart. Whenever those who have
+known him best, to whom he has manifested his grace most richly, whom he
+has blessed with most abundant privileges, fall, in some evil hour, and
+without reason, upon the slightest cause, bring dishonor on his name and
+give occasion to his enemies to blaspheme, and incur his just judgment,
+behold how he treats them. Upon the first sign of contrition, the first
+acknowledgment "I have sinned," how prompt, how free, how full is the
+response, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die." No
+lingering resentment--no selfish reminding of his wounded honor--no
+thoughts but of love, warm and tender, self-forgetting love and pity for
+his sorrowing child. Even when he must resort to chastisement, "his
+strange work"--when he must for his great name's sake, raise up for
+David evil out of his own house--when he must, before the sun and before
+all Israel, show his displeasure at sin; with one hand he applies the
+rod, and with the other pours into the bleeding heart the balm of
+consolation, so pure, so free, that his children almost feel that they
+could never have understood his goodness but for the need of his
+severity. When, notwithstanding the earnest prayer of the father, he
+smites the child of his shame, how soon does he return with a better
+gift--a son of peace, who shall remind him only of days of contrition
+and the favor of God--a Jedediah, who shall ever be a daily witness to
+his forgiving love.
+
+And to those who suffer innocently from the crimes of others, how tender
+are the compassions of our heavenly Father. To the injured, afflicted
+Bathsheba is given the honor of being the mother of Israel's wisest,
+most mighty and renowned king; and she is, by father and son, by the
+prophet of the Lord, by the aspirant to the throne, and by all around
+her, ever approached with that deference and confidence which her truly
+dignified character and gentle virtues, not less than her high station,
+demand. And while not a word of reproach is permitted to be left on
+record against her, on that monument of which we have before spoken,
+among mighty and worthy names, destined to stand where many of earth's
+wisest and greatest are forgotten, with the progenitors of our Lord and
+Savior, is inscribed hers "who was the wife of Urias."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+FEMALE EDUCATION.
+
+BY REV. S. W. FISHER.
+
+
+The second and special object of education, is the preparation of youth
+for the particular sphere of action to which he designs to devote his
+life. It may seem at first, that this general education of which I have
+already spoken, as it is most comprehensive and reaches to the highest
+range of subjects, so it should be the only style of training for an
+immortal mind. If we regarded man simply as spiritual and immortal, this
+might be true; but when we descend to the practical realities of life;
+when we behold him in a mixed nature, on one side touching the earth, on
+the other surveying the heavens, his bodily nature having its
+necessities as well as his spiritual, we find ourselves limited in the
+manner of education and the pursuit of knowledge. The division of labor
+and of objects of pursuit is the natural result of these physical
+necessities in connection with the imperfection of the human mind and
+the constitution of civilized society.
+
+This division of labor constitutes the starting point for the diverse
+training of men, and modifies, in part, all systems of instruction that
+cover childhood and youth. This is, at first, an education common to
+all. The general invigoration of the intellect, and the preparation of
+the mind for the grand, the highest object of life on which I first
+dwelt, embrace all the earliest years of youth. There are elements of
+power common to all men, and instruments of knowledge effective for both
+the general pursuits of a liberal education, and the limited pursuits of
+physical toil. The education of the nursery and school are equally
+useful to all. But when you advance much beyond this, far enough to
+enable the youth to fix upon his probable line of life, then the
+necessity of an early application to that pursuit at once modifies his
+course of education.
+
+When we pass from the diverse professions into which the growth of
+civilized society has divided men, to the distinctions which exist
+between man and woman, we enter upon a still clearer department of our
+subject. The differences which are here to give character to education,
+are not incidental and temporary, but inherent and commensurate with
+life itself. The physical constitution of woman gives rise to her
+peculiar life. It determines alike her position in society and her
+sphere of labor.
+
+In all ages and climes, celebrated by travelers, historians, poets, she
+stands forth as a being of better impulses and nobler affections than
+him, of whom she is the complement. That which is rugged in him, is
+tempered by softness in her; that which is strong in him, is weak in
+her; that which is fierce in him is mild in her. Designed of God to
+complete the cycle of human life, and through a twofold being present a
+perfect _Adam_, she is thus no less different from man than essential to
+his perfection. Her nature at once introduces her into a peculiar sphere
+of action. Soon, maternal cares rest upon her; her throne is above the
+family circle; her scepter of love and authority holds together the
+earliest and happiest elements of social life. To her come young minds
+for sympathy, for care, for instruction. Over that most wonderful
+process of development, when a young immortal is growing every day into
+new thoughts, emotions and habits, which are to abide with it for ever,
+she presides. By night she watches, by day she instructs. Her smile and
+her frown are the two strongest powers on earth, influencing human minds
+in the hour when influence stamps itself upon the heart in eternal
+characters. It is from this point of view, you behold the glorious
+purpose of that attractive form embosoming a heart enriched with so
+copious a treasure of all the sweetest elements of life. She is destined
+to fill a sphere of the noblest kind. In the course of her life, in the
+training of a household, her nature reveals an excellence in its
+adaptation to the purpose for which she is set apart, that signally
+illustrates the wisdom of God, while it attracts the homage of man.
+Scarcely a nobler position exists in the world than that of a truly
+Christian mother; surrounded by children grown up to maturity; moulded
+by her long discipline of instruction and affectionate authority into
+true-hearted, intelligent men and women; the ornament of society, the
+pillars of religion; looking up to her with a reverent affection that
+grows deeper with the passage of time; while she quietly waits the
+advent of death, in the assurance that, in these living representatives,
+her work will shine on for ages on earth, and her influence spread
+itself beyond the broadest calculation of human reason, when she has
+been gathered to the just.
+
+How then are we to educate this being a little lower than the angels;
+this being thus separated from the rest of the world, and divided off,
+by the finger of God writing it upon her nature, to a peculiar and most
+noble office-work in society? It is not as a lawyer, to wrangle in
+courts; it is not as a clergyman, to preach in our pulpits; it is not as
+a physician, to live day and night in the saddle and sick room; it is
+not as a soldier, to go forth to battle; it is not as the mechanic, to
+lift the ponderous sledge, and sweat at the burning furnace; it is not
+as a farmer, to drive the team afield and up-turn the rich bosom of the
+earth. These arts and toils of manhood are foreign to her gentle nature,
+alien to her feeble constitution, and inconsistent with her own high
+office as the mother and primary educator of the race. If their pursuits
+are permitted to modify their education, so as to prepare them for a
+particular field of labor, proceeding upon the same supposition, it is
+equally just and appropriate, that her training should take its
+complexion from the sphere of life she is destined to fill. So far as it
+is best, education should be specific, it should have reference to her
+perfect qualification for her appropriate work. This work has two
+departments. The first, which is most limited, embraces the routine of
+housewifery and the management of the ordinary concerns of domestic
+life.
+
+The second department of her duties, as it is the most important, so it
+must be regarded and exalted in an enlightened system of female
+education. It is as the centre of social influence; the genial power of
+domestic life; the soul of refinement; the clear, shining orb, beneath
+whose beams the germs of thought, feeling, and habit in the young
+immortal are to vegetate and grow to maturity; the ennobling companion
+of man, his light in darkness, his joy in sorrow, uniting her practical
+judgment with his speculative wisdom, her enthusiastic affection with
+his colder nature, her delicacy of taste and sentiment with his
+boldness, and so producing a happy mean, a whole character; natural,
+beautiful and strong; it is as filling these high offices that woman is
+to be regarded and treated in the attempt to educate her. The
+description of her sphere of life at once suggests the character of her
+training. Whatever in science, literature and art is best adapted to
+prepare her to fill this high position with greatest credit, and spread
+farthest around it her appropriate influence, belongs of right to her
+education. Her intellect is to be thoroughly disciplined, her judgment
+matured, her taste refined, her power of connected and just thought
+developed, and a love for knowledge imparted, so that she may possess
+the ability and the desire for future progress.
+
+Who will say that this refiner of the world, this minister of the
+holiest and happiest influences to man, shall be condemned to the
+scantiest store of intellectual preparation for an entertainment so
+large and noble? Is it true that a happy ignorance is the best
+qualification for a woman's life; that in seeking to exalt the fathers
+and sons, we are to begin by the degradation of mothers and daughters?
+Is there anything in that life incompatible with the noblest education,
+or which such an education will not ennoble and adorn? We are not
+seeking in all this to make our daughters profound historians, poets,
+philosophers, linguists, authors. Success of this high character in
+these pursuits, is usually the result of an ardent devotion for years to
+some one of them, for which it is rarely a female has the requisite
+opportunities. But should they choose occasionally some particular walk
+of literature, and by the power of genius vivify and adorn it; should
+there be found here and there one with an intense enthusiasm for some
+high pursuit, combined with that patient toil which, associated with a
+vigorous intellect, is the well-spring of so many glorious streams of
+science, should not such a result of this enlarged education be hailed
+as the sign of its excellence, and rejoiced in as the proof of its
+power? The Mores, the Hemanses, the De Staels, and others among the
+immortal dead and the living, who compose that bright galaxy of female
+wit shining ever refulgent--have they added nothing to human life, and
+given no quick, upward impulse of the world? Besides, that system of
+education which, in occasional instances, uniting with a material of
+peculiar excellence, is sufficient to enkindle an orb whose light,
+passing far beyond the circle of home, shall shine upon a great assembly
+of minds, will only be powerful, in the multitude of cases, to impart
+that intellectual discipline, that refinement of thought, that power of
+expression, that sympathy with taste for knowledge, which will best
+prepare her for her position, and enable her in after life to carry
+forward her own improvement and that of her associated household.
+
+The finest influence of such an education is the development of a
+character at once symmetrical, refined, vigorous, confident in its own
+resources, yet penetrated with a consciousness of its distance from the
+loftiest heights of power; a character which will be an ennobling life
+in a household, gently influencing others into quiet paths of
+excellence; to be felt rather than seen, to be understood rather in its
+results than admired for any manifest attainments in science; an
+intellect informed and active, in sympathy with what is known and read
+among men; able to bear its part in healthful discussions, yet not
+presuming to dictate its opinions; in the presence of which ignorance
+becomes enlightened and weakness strong; creating around its home an
+atmosphere of taste and intelligence, in which the rudest life loses
+some of its asperity, and the roughest toils much of their severity.
+Such is the form of female character we seek to create by so enlarged an
+education.
+
+The education of the _heart_ reaches deeper, and spreads its influence
+further than all things else. The intellect is only a beautiful piece of
+mechanism, until the affections pour into it their tremendous vitality,
+and send it forth in all directions instinct with power. When the
+"dry-light" of the understanding is penetrated by the liquid light of
+the emotions, it becomes both light and heat, powerful to vivify,
+quicken, and move all things. In woman, the scepter of her chief power
+springs from the affections. Endowed most richly with sensibility, with
+all the life of varied and vigorous impulse and deep affection, she
+needs to have early inwrought, through a powerful self-discipline, an
+entire command of her noble nature. There are few more incongruous and
+sadly affecting things than a woman of fine intellect and strong
+passions, without self-control or truly religious feeling. She is like a
+ship whose rudder is unhung; she is like a horse, rapid, high-spirited,
+untamed to the bridle; or, higher still, she is like a cherub fallen
+from its sphere of glory, with no attending seraph; without law, without
+the control of love, whose course no intelligence can anticipate and no
+wisdom guide. Religion seems to have in woman its most appropriate home.
+To her are appointed many hours of pain, of trial, of silent communion
+with her own thoughts. Separated, if she act the true woman, from many
+of the stirring scenes in which man mingles, she is admirably situated
+to nourish a life of love and faith within the circle of her own home.
+Debarred from the pursuits which furnish so quickening an excitement to
+the other sex, she either is confined to the routine of domestic life
+and the quiet society of a social circle, or devotes herself to those
+frivolous pleasures which enervate while they excite; which, like the
+inspiration of the wine-cup, are transient in their joy, but deep and
+lasting in their evil. But when religion enters her heart it opens a new
+and that the grandest array of objects. It imparts a new element of
+thought, a wonderful depth and earnestness of character. It elevates
+before her an ennobling object, and enlists her fine sensibilities,
+emotions and affections in its pursuit. Coming thus through religion
+into harmony with God, she ascends to the highest position a woman can
+occupy in this world.
+
+To woman should Christianity be especially dear. It has led her out of
+the house of bondage; it has lifted her from the stool of the servant to
+an equality with the master; it has exalted her from the position of a
+mere minister of sensual pleasure, the toy of a civilized paganism, to a
+full companionship with man; it has given her soul--once spurned,
+degraded, its immortality doubted, its glory eclipsed--a priceless
+value; and shed around her whole character the radiance of heaven. Let
+pure religion create the atmosphere around a woman's spirit, and breathe
+its life into her heart; let it refine her affections, sanctify her
+intellect, elevate her aims, and hallow her physical beauty; let it
+mould her early character by its rich influences, and cause the love of
+Jehovah to consecrate all earthly love, and she is indeed to our race of
+all the gifts of time, the last and best, the crown of our glory, the
+perfection of our life.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+A CHILD'S PRAYER.
+
+By one of our little friends, seven years of age, for a little sister of
+five, who had committed an offense.
+
+
+  Oh great and glorious God!
+    Thy mercy sweet bestow
+  Upon a little sister,
+    So very full of woe.
+
+  Oh Lord, pray let her live,
+    For lo! at thy right hand,
+  To intercede for sinners,
+    The blessed Savior stands.
+
+  Then pardon her, Most High!
+    Pray cast her not away,
+  But blot out all her sins,
+    And cleanse her heart to-day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+WOMAN.
+
+BY M. S. HUTTON, D.D.
+
+     "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be
+     alone, I will make him a help meet for him."--GEN.
+     2:18.
+
+     "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
+     created he him; male and female created he
+     them."--GEN. 1:27.
+
+
+These two passages settle beyond controversy the oft-disputed question
+as to the equality of the sexes. In the image of God created he man;
+male and female created he them. Had God created him male and female, in
+_one person_, the question of equality could never have arisen. Nor
+should it arise because in his wisdom he has been pleased to create man
+in two persons--both man and woman are made in the image of God. It is
+not good for man to be alone, I will make a help meet for him. The exact
+rendering of the original translated help meet, is an help as before
+him, _i.e._ one corresponding to him, a counterpart of himself, in a
+word, a second self, contrived to meet what is still wanting to his
+perfection, and to furnish mutually a social and superior happiness, of
+which solitude is incapable. A more delicate and beautiful form was
+united _in the woman_ to a mind possessing gentler and lovelier
+affections, a more refined taste, and more elegant sentiments. In the
+man, a firmer and stronger frame was joined to a mind more robust. In
+each, the other was intended to find that which was wanting in itself,
+and to approve, love, and admire both qualities and actions, of which
+itself was imperfectly capable; while in their reciprocations of
+tenderness, and good will, each beheld every blessing greatly enhanced,
+and intensely endeared. The only instance in which these mental and
+moral qualities were ever united in one person, is in the Lord Jesus
+Christ. And I would here note the fact, that in Christ we have as
+perfect an example of the woman's nature as we have of man's nature. All
+the kindness, gentleness, softness, endurance, and unselfishness of
+woman were in him combined, with all the majesty, firmness and strength
+of the manly nature. All dispute, therefore, about the superiority or
+equality of man and woman is absurd and inconclusive. They stand on the
+same platform, were both made in the image of God, and the platform upon
+which they stand is wide enough for them both, and not completely filled
+until both are upon it.
+
+My object, however, in selecting these passages is to present some
+thoughts on the mission of woman in our world, which have not perhaps
+been as prominently presented as they deserve. Men have their distinct
+objects in life before them, their various professions. One aims to be a
+lawyer, another a merchant, another a physician, another a mechanic, and
+thus through all the vocations of life. But what is woman's aim? what
+her object in life? These questions are more or less frequently asked in
+our day, and asked in reference to that general spirit of reform and
+progress of society which seems to characterize our age, and in relation
+to which, just in proportion as men forget to listen to the Word of God,
+they grope about in the darkness of their own feeble light.
+
+Our theme then is Woman's Mission.
+
+What is it?
+
+The general answer to this inquiry is very plain and easy. God created
+_man_ in his own image; _male and female_ created he them. The general
+design, therefore, of the creation of woman is precisely the same as
+that of the man. He created but one race when he made them male and
+female, and had in view but one object. In relation then to that object,
+no distinction is to be drawn between man and woman, and the perfect
+equality of the two sexes again becomes apparent. Indeed, it is a matter
+of wonder that this question of superiority has ever risen, or at least
+has ever been agitated by reflecting men, who for one moment considered
+the manner in which our race is propagated in the world. Nothing ever
+rises above its own nature. A spark, however high it may rise, however
+brilliantly it may shine in the blue ethereal, can never become a star.
+It ever remains but a spark, and so the offspring of a woman cannot, in
+its nature, rise above its origin. A man can never become superior in
+nature to his mother, and can certainly never, with right or justice,
+exercise authority over her. He may be stronger, wiser, and better, but
+he cannot be a superior being. Such a claim is alike foolish and
+despicable. The two sexes, therefore, being one in nature, their chief
+end is one, and reason and revelation unite in the assertion that man
+was created to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God made all things
+for himself. He is presented to us as the sole and supreme object of our
+love and worship. His laws are our only rule of conduct, and he himself
+the sole Lord of our souls. This he claims from us as creatures. This,
+at the same time, he has required with the promise of eternal life to
+obedience, and the threatening of eternal death to disobedience; thus
+showing us that he regards this end as of infinite importance--for this
+end, his own glory, happiness in himself. When we had sinned he sent his
+Son into the world, and formed the plan to save our immortal souls from
+woe, while from the nature of the case it is evident that this is the
+highest and noblest end which man can accomplish. What can be a higher
+aim than to be like God? What can God confer superior to himself as a
+source of happiness? As he is the source and sum of all good, both moral
+and natural, to know and to love _him_ is to know and love all that is
+excellent, great, and lovely, and to serve him is to do all that is
+amiable or desirable, all that is pleasing to God or profitable to his
+rational creatures. True happiness and true worth are thus attained, and
+thus alone. There is, there can be no other design in the creation of
+man than this, to glorify God by loving, serving, and enjoying him; by
+obeying his laws, living for him, living to him. This, then, is of
+course the general answer to the inquiry, What is woman's mission? To
+glorify God and to enjoy him forever. She, as well as man, has come
+short of this. She, as well as man, therefore, needs atoning blood and a
+renewed heart. She is a fallen, depraved being, influenced, until she
+comes under divine grace, by unholy and unworthy motives. Her first and
+imperative duty, therefore, if she would fulfill her mission, is to
+return to God by the way of his appointment, to come to Jesus, repenting
+of sin and believing on him, to receive pardon and eternal life. This,
+indeed, is the imperative duty of all, but it will be seen in the
+prosecution of our subject, that, as far as the welfare of society is
+concerned, it is most imperative upon woman. She needs it most for her
+own happiness here; she needs it most on account of her greater
+influence upon the happiness of others.
+
+Having thus seen the general and ultimate design of woman's creation is
+to glorify God, our next inquiry is, Is there any particular mode by
+which she is to fulfill this duty? How can she most glorify God and
+enjoy him in this life? In order to answer these inquiries it becomes
+necessary for us to examine her peculiar nature. That woman differs from
+man in her very nature is obvious, and the peculiarities of her
+organization clearly intimate that her Maker has assigned to her
+peculiar duties--that she has her allotted sphere for which infinite
+wisdom has fitted her. To enter upon all these peculiarities would
+require a volume. I must therefore be content with a brief notice of
+some of the more prominent and acknowledged ones.
+
+Her physical organization is more delicate than that of man. She
+possesses not the muscular power which belongs to him, and is therefore
+not designed to undergo the outward toil and hard labor of life. The
+same toil and physical exertion which will strengthen and increase the
+power of the man, will often weaken and destroy her more delicate
+organism. And when, in addition to this, you consider that to her alone
+is committed the entire maternal care, you have not only the difference
+between the two sexes distinctly marked, but you have also an intimation
+of where her peculiar sphere is to be found, and in accordance with this
+physical difference you will find a corresponding difference in her true
+spiritual and moral nature. No one who has had around him a youthful
+family circle has failed to notice that even from the cradle there is a
+difference in the very nature of sons and daughters. Every little girl
+knows that she is different from boys of her own age, though she may not
+be able just now to point out that difference; she knows that there are
+many things which boys like, and which they do, which she does not like
+and will not do, and this difference only widens as we advance in life.
+
+There is generally a delicacy of feeling, of thought, and of action,
+corresponding with the delicacy of her physical organism. God hath made
+her gentle by nature, and kind. She likes and longs to be loved and to
+love, must have some object on which she can center her affections. She
+admires flowers, and everything which is beautiful and delicate like
+herself. She has a finer imagination and more curiosity than men. She is
+more conscientious and truthful, and though a fallen, sinful creature,
+and by nature like us all, a hater of God, yet there is not so decided
+an opposition to religious things in her heart, in her loving nature;
+there is not, indeed, a predisposition towards a God of love, but a
+peculiar adaptation which assimilates more easily to religious things
+when her heart is touched by the Holy Spirit. The beauty, the harmony,
+the adaptation of the Gospel to the wants of our fallen nature, are more
+apparent to her, more quickly perceived. This may also, perhaps, be
+traced to another peculiarity which I must not forget to mention--her
+disposition to lean on others. Unlike man, she loves to be
+dependent--place her in danger and she naturally flies to her brother,
+her father, or her husband. I am aware that to all these things there
+are exceptions--there are unwomanly women as there are effeminate men,
+but the fewness of the exceptions only proves the general truth. England
+had her masculine Elizabeth, but she had only one.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+CHILDREN AND THEIR TRAINING.
+
+
+What wonderful provision has God made for the happiness, safety, and
+well-being of infants. He has implanted in the human breast a natural
+love of offspring, and has provided for each child parents, who should
+be of mature age, and who should have been so trained by their parents,
+that by combined wisdom, sagacity and experience, it may be duly watched
+over and cared for, and so trained as to answer life's great end, viz.,
+"To glorify God and enjoy him forever."
+
+Then how wisely is the body framed, and most wonderfully adapted to
+answer all the purposes of life, and especially during the period of
+infancy and childhood, when the body must be more or less exposed to
+accidents; while therefore it is destitute of experience, and cannot
+take care of itself, its bones are all soft and yielding, and more
+particularly of the skull which incloses and protects the brain, and
+those of the limbs are made flexible, so that if it falls they may bend
+and not break.
+
+We see daily some new development of wonderful powers and faculties in
+every new-born infant. An infant has a natural and instinctive desire to
+exercise its limbs, its voice, and indeed all its bodily functions. How
+soon it begins to laugh and coo like a little dove, to show you that it
+is social in its disposition, asking for your sympathy in return.
+
+It is curious and interesting to watch a young child when it first opens
+its eyes upon the light of day or the light of a candle. With what
+evident satisfaction does it slowly open and close its eyelids, so
+adapted--to say nothing of the wonderful mechanism of the eye itself--to
+let in sufficient light to gratify desire, or to shut out every ray that
+would prove injurious to the untried organs.
+
+What incipient efforts are first made to feel and examine different
+objects, and how very soon even infants become possessed of some of the
+elementary principles of the most abstruse sciences, and that without a
+teacher. How many thousands of times will you see it endeavor to put up
+its little hands before its face, before it is able to control its
+movements so as to be able to examine them critically.
+
+We propose to dwell, hereafter, somewhat minutely upon the all-important
+subject of infant training, and in a way to show the care and attention
+which both parents should bestow upon each child, so as to provide
+proper food, clothing, and the means of self-culture and amusement, and
+absolute control over it at the earliest possible period--the earlier
+the better, so as to secure "a sound mind in a sound body."
+
+It is really pitiable to find so large a proportion of young parents who
+seem to think that but little instruction can be imparted, and in fact
+that but little is needed in the care and management of _infants_,
+whereas their education commences, in very many respects, and in a very
+important sense, as soon as they are born.
+
+Man is a complex being, composed of mind, soul and body, mysteriously
+united as to their functions, in beautiful harmony with each other, yet
+so distinct as absolutely to require widely different methods of
+training, that each shall do its office without encroaching upon the
+others, and in a way to secure a symmetrical character.
+
+No wonder the proper training of children should become painfully
+interesting to Christian parents, when they consider the pains-taking,
+the watchfulness, the restraints, the self-denial, and the encouragement
+which may be requisite for this. The faith and prayers which may be
+necessary to bring their children into the fold of the Good Shepherd,
+who in his last commission to his disciples did not forget to remind
+them, saying, "Feed my lambs," and whose promise and prediction, before
+his coming into the world, was, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
+I have _ordained_ praise." The Scriptures inform us that it was the
+purpose of God when he "set the solitary in families," to "seek a goodly
+seed."
+
+How delightful and consoling then is the thought, in this world of sin
+and temptation, where there are three mighty obstacles to the final
+salvation of our children--the world, the flesh and the devil, that
+angels, ministering spirits, are appointed to "keep their watchful
+stations" around the families of the just. "Are they not all ministering
+spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of
+salvation?"
+
+When parents cheerfully fall in with the great designs of God, and in
+dependence upon him in the use of the divinely appointed means, in his
+preparing a people to himself, what a glorious combination there is in
+all this to fulfill his gracious purposes. Not only God the Father, God
+the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, but the angelic hosts, and all good
+people by their prayers and labors, help forward this grand and glorious
+design.
+
+When beyond this sublunary sphere, and the vail is removed which now
+hides from our view the realities of the unseen world, with what
+different emotions may we suppose parents will look upon their mission
+on earth. It will indeed seem wonderful that they should have been thus
+intrusted with the care and guardianship of children, which in a
+peculiar sense is their own, and in this respect widely differing from
+the angelic band, whose happiness, though they are permitted to minister
+to the saints, in such efforts and experience, must be inferior to that
+which parents will feel in training their own offspring--even emulating
+the all-wise Creator in his preparing a people for himself. It is
+certainly but natural to suppose that the happiest souls in Heaven will
+be those parents who are the spiritual parents of their own children.
+
+The benefits which must result to parents in the careful training of
+infants--children who are, by means of parental faith and fidelity,
+converted in early life, can scarcely be apprehended, certainly not
+fully, in this world, even by the most judicious Christian parents.
+
+Considering the instinctive love of offspring which God has implanted in
+the parental bosom, it is most painful to see the utter dislike which so
+many persons at the present day, who have entered the marriage relation,
+evince to the care and responsibility which the guardianship of children
+must ever involve.
+
+There is something in all this manifestly wrong. It is unnatural. It is
+even monstrous--even below the brute creation. It interferes with the
+whole economy of nature, and frustrates the wise and benevolent designs
+of the Creator, when he set the solitary in families. No person who
+takes into view eternal realities and prospects, can, while so doing,
+indulge in such selfish, carnal and sordid views. Those who are without
+natural affection are classed by Paul with the enemies of all
+righteousness. We cannot therefore but look suspiciously upon all such
+as deny the marriage relation, cause of abuses (this is not the way to
+cure them), or, for any pretext, profess to plead the superior
+advantages of those who, for reasons best known to themselves, may
+choose a state of "single blessedness," however plausible or cogent
+their arguments may appear in favor of such a choice. We may not do evil
+that good may come, or in other words, "root up the tares, lest we also
+root up the wheat."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Original.
+
+THE ORPHAN SON AND PRAYING MOTHER.
+
+
+Some years since a small volume was sent to me by a friend, containing
+an account of the labors of a pious missionary along the line of the
+Erie canal. I read it with great interest, and I trust, with profit. God
+honors his word; he honors his faithful servants; and when the Great Day
+shall reveal the secrets of this world, it will be seen to the glory of
+divine grace, that many a humble missionary was made the instrument of
+eternal consolation to the poor neglected orphan--in answer to a pious
+mother's prayers.
+
+I beg leave to ask the insertion in the Magazine of a touching scene,
+which occurred during a missionary tour of the above friend of the
+outcast and neglected. I shall give the narrative chiefly in his own
+words.
+
+"I called at a horse station one morning very early. The station keeper
+had just got up, and stood in the door. I told him my business, and that
+I desired to see his boys a few moments. He said his boys were in bed,
+and as I was an old man, he did not wish to have me abused. 'You had
+better go on and let my boys alone,' said he; 'they will most assuredly
+abuse you if they get up, for I have got a very wicked set of boys.' I
+told him the very reasons that he assigned why I should not see his
+boys, were the reasons why I wished to see them, for if they were very
+wicked boys, there was the greater necessity for their reformation; and
+as to the abuse, that was the least of my troubles, for my Master had
+been abused before me.
+
+"'Well, sir,' said he, 'don't blame me, if you are abused.' He then
+awoke his boys, and as they came out, I talked to them. Instead of
+abusing, they listened attentively to me, and some of them were much
+affected. They took my tracts, and I presume, read them.
+
+"On leaving them, I remarked, that I supposed the most of them were
+orphans, that I was the orphan's friend, and though I might never see
+them again, they might be assured they had my prayers daily, that they
+might be converted. There was one little fellow who, as I had observed,
+looked very sober, and who at the last remark cried right out. As I
+wished to take the same boat again, I stepped out of the station house,
+but found it had left, and I was walking along, looking for another
+boat, when I heard some one crying behind me, and turning round, saw
+that it was the little fellow who wept so much in the station house.
+
+"He said, 'Sir, you told me you was the orphan's friend; will you stop?
+I want to ask you a question.'
+
+"I asked him if it was because he had now discovered that he was a
+sinner, that he cried, and wished me to talk with him.
+
+"'No, sir,' said he, 'I knew that three years ago.'
+
+"I perceived, from his answer, he was an interesting boy, and said to
+him, 'Sit down here, my son. How old are you?'
+
+"'Thirteen,' he replied.
+
+"'Where did you come from?'
+
+"He said, three years ago his father moved from Massachusetts to Wayne
+county; he was a very poor man, and when they got to their journey's end
+they had nothing left. His father obtained the privilege of building a
+small log house to live in, on another man's land, but just as he had
+got the house finished, he was taken sick and died. I asked him if his
+father was a Christian, but afterwards regretted that I asked him the
+question, for it was a long time before he could answer it.
+
+"At length he said, 'No, sir, if he had been a Christian, we could have
+given him up willingly. We had no hope for _him_; but my mother was a
+Christian. My mother, a sister seven years old, and myself, were all the
+family after my father died. I had no hope that _I_ was a Christian when
+my father died; but my mother used to come up the ladder every night and
+kneel down, and put her hand upon my head, and pray that I might be
+converted. Often, when I was asleep, she would come, and her tears
+running into my face, would wake me. I knew that I was a sinner, but I
+hope God forgave my sins one night, while my dear mother was praying for
+me, and I still hope I was converted then.
+
+"'About a year after my father died, my sister was taken sick and died
+in about two months. My mother was naturally feeble, and her sorrow for
+the loss of my father and sister wore upon her until she was confined to
+her bed. She lay there seven months, and last fall she died.'
+
+"By this time the little fellow was so choked with grief that he could
+hardly speak. 'Then,' said he, '_I_ was taken sick, and lay all winter,
+not expecting to get well.' I shall never forget the appearance of that
+boy, and the expression of his countenance, when he said, 'I am a poor
+orphan, sir; I have nothing in this world except the clothes I have on.'
+
+"All the clothes he had on would not have sold for twenty-five cents.
+
+"What an example is here to induce mothers to be faithful to their
+children. I wish to ask mothers if they have ever gone at the midnight
+hour and awoke their children by a mother's tears while pleading with
+God for the salvation of their souls?"
+
+Many mothers--thousands of mothers--have done no such thing. They have
+neglected their own souls, and the souls of their dear children--and
+both have gone to the bar of God, unprepared for the solemn interview.
+
+But some mothers have been more faithful, and what a rich and divine
+reward have they received! Many a son, now in glory, or on his way
+thither, owes his religious impressions to the prayers of a tender,
+faithful mother.
+
+Nor should mothers be soon or easily discouraged! True, they may not
+live to see their prayers answered--but a covenant-keeping God will
+remember them, and in his own good time and chosen way give them an
+answer.
+
+  Though seed lie buried long in dust,
+    It shan't deceive our hope;
+  The precious grain can ne'er be lost,
+    For grace insures the crop.
+
+The writer, perhaps, cannot better conclude this article than by another
+extract from the work alluded to, much to the same purpose as the one
+already cited.
+
+"In conversing with the captain of a certain boat, I found him a very
+amiable and companionable man, although he acknowledged, that he had no
+reason to hope that he was a Christian. Said he, 'I ought to have been a
+Christian, long ago,' without giving his reasons for such an assertion.
+When the hour for prayer arrived, (I staid on his boat all night,) I
+asked him for a Bible. He seemed to be affected, and I did not know but
+he was destitute of a Bible. I told him I had one in my trunk, on the
+deck, and that if he had none, I would go up and get it. 'I have one,'
+said he, and unlocking his trunk, he took out a very nice Bible, and as
+he reached it out to me, the tears dropped on its cover. 'There, sir,'
+said he, 'is the last gift of a dying mother. My dear mother gave me
+that Bible about two hours before she died; and her dying admonition I
+shall never forget. O, sir, I had one of the best of mothers. She would
+never go to bed without coming to my bed-side, and if I was asleep, she
+would awaken me, and pray for me before she retired. Twelve years have
+elapsed since she died, and five years of that time I have been on the
+ocean, five years on this canal; and the other two years traveling. I do
+not know that I have laid my head on my pillow and gone to sleep, during
+that time, without thinking of the prayers of my mother: yet I am not a
+Christian; but the prayers of my mother are ended. I have put off the
+subject too long, but from this time I will attend to it. I will begin
+now and do all that I can to be a Christian.'
+
+"I hope those dear mothers, who may have an opportunity of reading these
+sketches, will inquire of their own hearts, 'Will my own dear children,
+those little pledges of God's love, remember my prayers twelve years
+after my head is laid in the narrow house appointed for all the living?'
+Oh, could we place that estimate on the soul which we should do, in the
+light of eternity, how much anxiety would be manifested on the part of
+parents for their children, and for the whole families of the earth. The
+midnight slumber would more often be disturbed by cries to God, and
+tears for this fallen, apostate, rebellious world."
+
+Mothers! what do you think of such facts? And what are they designed to
+teach you? Every one of them, as you meet them in the pilgrimage of
+life, is a voice of encouragement from above. Has God been kind towards
+other mothers? he can be kind towards you. Has he blessed their efforts?
+he can bless yours. Has he heard their prayers? he can hear and answer
+yours.
+
+Say not that you have prayed, labored, watched, and all in vain! How
+long have you thus toiled? thus wrestled? Years? Well, and may be you
+will have to toil and strive years to come. What then! Your Heavenly
+Father knows precisely when it is best to answer you, and how! Suppose
+you pray and labor ten, twenty, thirty years--and then you
+succeed--won't the salvation of your children be a sufficient reward?
+How do worldly parents do? Take an example from them. _They_ spend
+_life_ in laying up this world's goods for their children--treasures
+which perish in the using. Surely, then, you may, with great propriety,
+devote a few years to secure an imperishable crown of glory for your
+sons and daughters. For what is the present world--its gold of
+California or its gems of Golconda--what are its honors--its stars,
+coronets, crowns--to an inheritance in the kingdom of God!
+
+The time has not yet come when parents appreciate this subject as they
+will do. Oh, no! and until they realize their duty, their privileges,
+the purchase which they have on the throne of God by means of faith, and
+their covenant interest in the blood of Jesus, there is reason to fear
+that many children will perish, but who need not perish--who would not
+perish were their parents as faithful and energetic as parents will be
+in some more distant age of the world.
+
+But why postpone what may be realized now? Why relinquish blessings of
+vast and incomparable magnitude to others which you may enjoy, and which
+it is no benevolence to forego for others, because when they come upon
+the stage, there will be blessings for them in abundance and to spare?
+Let the sentiment fall upon your hearts, and make its appropriate
+impression there--"While God invites, how blest the day!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If the candle of your earthly comfort be blown out, remember it is but a
+little while to the break of day, when there will be no more need of
+_candles_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHRISTIAN, wouldst thou have an easy death? then get a
+mortified heart; the surgeon's knife is scarcely felt when it cuts off a
+mortified member.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+FROST.
+
+BY MRS. JULIA NORTON.
+
+
+  The beams of morn were glittering in the east,
+  The hoary frost had gathered like a mist
+  On every blade of grass, on plant and flower,
+  And sparkling with a clear, reflected light--
+  Shot forth its radiant beams that, dazzling bright,
+  Proclaimed the ruling charm in beauty's power.
+
+  The god of day came forth with conquering glow,
+  When shrinking from his gaze the glittering show
+  In vapor fled, with steady, noiseless flight--
+  But left its blasting mark where'er it pressed
+  The tender plant that on earth's peaceful breast,
+  Still slept, unmindful of the fatal blight.
+
+  Thus sin oft gilds the onward path of youth,
+  Till straying far from virtue and from truth,
+  Heaven's bright, pure rays, in fearful distance gleam;
+  While on the mind the blasting, clinging shade,
+  With deathless power, refuses still to fade--
+  Till life's dark close unfolds the fearful dream.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Fireside, is a seminary of infinite importance. It is important
+because it is universal, and because the education it bestows, being
+woven in with the woof of childhood, gives form and color to the whole
+texture of life. There are few who can receive the honors of a college,
+but all are graduates of the hearth. The learning of the university may
+fade from the recollection; its classic lore may moulder in the halls of
+memory. But the simple lessons of home, enameled upon the heart of
+childhood, defy the rust of years, and outlive the more mature but less
+vivid pictures of after days.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] 2 Cor. 5:21.
+
+[B] The construction put upon this passage is taken from Bush's
+Commentary on Exodus, which see.
+
+[C] 1 John iv:16.
+
+[D] We are glad to see that Mr. Abbott has recently revised and enlarged
+this useful book. We recommend it to the careful perusal of all _young
+people_, as well as parents.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers
+and Daughters, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS WHITTELSEY'S MAGAZINE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17775.txt or 17775.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/7/17775/
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Josephine Paolucci
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/17775.zip b/17775.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6a3fdb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17775.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e983359
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #17775 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17775)