To-day, how many mothers mourn the loss of their little ones, taken from them this sickly season of the year for children! How many little faces are missed in the home circle! How many a little chair is empty! How many little new-made graves are in the grave-yard! Let us be thankful, for we have great cause.

This day, too, is your birthdayyou are sixteen. Does life look pleasant in the future? Oh, may it be long and full of happiness and good deeds. Does the past come up pleasant in your mind? I know it must. How many bright scenes of years gone by are remembered by you to-day? You love to live them over again in memory, and think kindly of those friendly forms which mingled with you. I like to think of days fled and of old friends. Then come heart-yearnings, oh, so strong, to see again those loved ones with whom we mingled in the school-room and in the social circle, from whom we are now far away. Would you not love to visit again that dear old Groton ? The church where we first worshipped. The old school-house where our reading and spelling were learned. The academy on the hill, where so many years of school life were passed. The dear old haunts by creek, meadow, hilltop, and forest, and the friends who still remain in the old homesteads; and the church-yard too, a painful stroll that would be, among the white stones, where we should see names that would cause the tears to flow and the heart to ache.

My dear girl, will you go on with your studies in the coming year? I would, for you have a fine mind;

you should cultivate it. I think not one in fifty girls have so apt a mird for knowledge; you ought to have a fine, thorough education-not, however, at the expense of health. Study two or three hours each day; have a regular time for your household duties, for your sewing, your reading and writing, and you will find that you can accomplish a great deal, and have time for out-door exercise. You ought to breathe the fresh, pure air, for at least two hours every day. Try it you will find it of great benefit to you. You have not the physical strength nor the perfect health that many possess, so you have need of the greater care, that you may improve and preserve what you have. It is your misfortune, and a great misfortune it is indeed.

A young friend of mine asked me, a few years ago, what I most wished for. She said, she wished to be the handsomest girl in town. I said, I would be the strongest and most healthy. She had really no need for such a wish; she was rosy, plump, and had scarcely known a sick day in her life; she had not need of her own wish either, for she was fair to look upon, and called very pretty. Beauty is worth having, for God created the beautiful flower, the grand old trees. He has made the human face beautiful; but there are a great many wishes that would come before that in my heart, would they not in yours? But wishes are not very profitable, yet we can hardly help the expression occasionally, “I wish." Let us be content, and think each day how many blessings we have, instead of what we have not.

The highest knowledge is "the knowledge of God," and the sweetest beauty is "the beauty of holi

ness!" These are the perfections of humanity.

THIS duty is often enforced upon the professed followers of Christ. But few of them, however, seem to have proper conceptions of its nature. In most cases, it is attended to, if attended to at all, with reluctance, and even then on so small a scale as to rob it of its very name. The Lord requires a cheerful as well as a liberal gift. To be acceptable to Him, it must be attended to with pleasure, and at the same time bear a proper proportion to the individual's ability. Under the Old Testament dispensation, and even among the heathen of former as well as present times, the amount contributed towards religious and sacred purposes was proportionably large. "The patriarch Abraham," says an unknown writer," gave one-tenth of all his possessions to religious uses ;" and so did Jacob and many other of the Old Testament worthies. And it is worthy of notice that the Jews, who as a nation gave more to religious purposes than any other people, were, as a nation, more prosperous and wealthy than any other that ever existed. Even the heathen-the Arabians, according to Pliny, and the Grecians, according to Xenophon and Herodotus-gave no less than a tenth part of every thing to sacred And shall the Christian do less for his God than did the Jews

uses.

L. M.

under the old dispensation, or the heathen for their idols ?" This question applies with special force to the Christians of the present day. Even in a temporal point of view, their condition is far superior to that of the heathen, and superior also to that of most of the worshippers of the true and living God who have preceded them. This superiority, however, exists in a particular sense, in a spiritual point of view. The Christian privileges of the present day, as well as the opportunities for doing good, are much greater than those enjoyed during any previous age. Have we not, therefore, a right to expect from them at least an equal, if not a greater spirit of liberality?

DO EXTRA STIMULI WARM US?

SUPPOSE we swallow rum, or smoke tobacco, or chew opium. The rum or opium, if not the tobacco, will increase the action of the heart and arteries, and for a time increase the heat. But as soon as the force of the stimulus is gone, we are not only no warmer than before, but rather colder. So it is with mustard, pepper, and spices; and so, in truth, with tea and coffee, and all other medicaments, solid and liquid.

They doubtless make us a little warmer for the time; and hence, at first, they as certainly increase the activity of the circulation; but it does not last long. The final or remote influence of all these is unfavourable. It is so with mental excitants no less than physical ones. Cheerfulness, and all the elevating passions and affections, warm us internally, and thus favour the healthful circulation of the blood and all the other fluids. But excess of these, especially of joy, love, &c., have the contrary tendency. They warm us and cause the heart to beat high for a short time; but the final result is to reduce the heat of the system and enfeeble, in a corresponding degree, the circulation.Alcott's Law of Health.

SLEEPING ROOMS. THE largest part of our rest is taken in sleep. Of course, the kind of room in which we sleep is worthy of consideration. Hufeland says:

"It must not be forgotten that we spend a considerable portion of our lives in the bed-chamber, and, consequently, that its healthiness or unhealthiness cannot fail to have a very important influence upon our well-being." It should, at least, be large. That is of prime importance, because, during the several hours that we are in bed, we need to breathe a great deal of air, and our health is injured when we are obliged to breathe it several times over. We should at least pay as much attention to the size, situation, temperature, and cleanliness of the room we occupy during the

The

hours of repose, as to the parlours or drawing-room, or any other apartment. And yet how different from this, is the general practice of families. The smallest room in the house is commonly set apart for the bed and its nightly occupants. sleeping-room should have a good location, so as to be dry. It should be kept clean, and neither too hot nor too cold. And more important still, it should be well ventilated. One bed occupied by two persons is as much as should ever be allowed in a single room; though two beds in a large room are of course no worse than one in a small one. are objectionable.-Dr. Warren.

READING ALOUD.

Both

THERE is no treat so great as to hear good reading of any kind. Not one gentleman or lady in a hundred can read so as to please the ear, and send the words with gentle force to the heart and understanding. An indistinct utterance, whines, nasal twangs, guttural notes, hesitations, and other vices of elocution, are almost universal. Why it is, no one can say, unless it be that either the pulpit, or the nursery, or the Sunday school, gives the style in these days. Many a lady can sing Italian songs with considerable execution, but cannot read English passably. Yet reading is by far the most valuable accomplishment of the two. In most drawing-rooms, if anything is to be read, it is discovered that nobody can read: one has weak lungs, another gets hoarse, another chokes, another has an abominable sing-song, evidently a

tradition of the way he said Watts's hymns when he was too young to understand them; another rumbles like a broad-wheel waggon; another

has a way of reading, which seems to proclaim that what is read is of no sort of consequence, and had better not be listened to.

'A WISE son maketh a glad father." So wrote Solomon, long centuries ago, and so testify the favoured few who have wise sons now. But will not all the boys who read this desire to be wise, that they may make their fathers glad? Children often say they do not know how to be wise, or they would try. Now let my dear young friends bear with me while I give them some of Solomon's rules for being wise, or rather his signs of wisdom, and also a short account of a lad who kept these rules, and made his father's heart rejoice. Solomon says, "A wise son heareth his father's instruction;" and Robert M. Browder, the son of Robert and Sarah L. Browder, who was born in

county, January 19, 1840, was an obedient child, and kept the counsel of his parents by associating with good and moral boys who attended church and Sabbath school, and shunning the company of the wicked, who profane the name of God, and desecrate His holy Sabbath. "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom." Robert also had this mark of a "wise son." He feared the Lord, and would not tell a falsehood nor do forbidden things, but he gave heed to pious instruction around the fireside, attended to the preaching of God's word, and at the early age of ten or twelve years he sought the Lord, in the pardon of his sins, and

was happily converted. He joined the church, and adorned his profession by a consistent deportment. He would talk of God's grace and goodness, with such zeal and earnestness, that many old Christians wept for joy, and hoped much for his future usefulness. In the prayermeeting, too, he bore his cross, and the voice of childhood was heard in solemn supplication, pleading with the Lord for a blessing on himself and his unconverted school-fellows. He was a boy of fine sense and sound judgment, and he gave his talents to the Lord. He exerted a good influence wherever he went, and, being polite and respectful to all classes, he had the respect and confidence of all who knew him. He was also "diligent in business," and whether discharging his duties as librarian and secretary of the Sunday school, or looking after his father's interests, he was prompt and energetic; kept his accounts clear and correct, and did not loiter away his time, nor seek to amuse himself to the neglect of his trust. He had great reverence for his father's authority, and most profound respect for his opinions.

Again: Solomon says, "The ear of the wise seeketh knowledge:" and Robert was true to this mark; diligent in his studies, he knew his lessons well, was thorough as far as he proceeded, observed all the rules