Imatges de pàgina
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O LOVE THE LITTLE CHILDREN!"
LOVE the little children! they are not like to you,
But simple, trustful spirits, that the angels whisper to;

They have not learnt the world at all, they have not felt its cares, And not a doubt that God can hear is mingled with their prayers.

I think it so bewitching the little face to see,

Bent on some sportive purpose that it will not tell to me;

And then the sudden changes, the gathering-in of thought,

When the little heart repeats to God the prayer it has been taught!

O love the little children, for them our Saviour bled;

"Suffer the little children to come to me," He said,

"Of such is God's own kingdom;" we can fancy how He smiled,
When He put His hands upon them, and blessed each little child.

We can see those Eastern children beneath their own bright skies,
Look up to the kind Saviour with their full, dark-curtained eyes;
And while He speaks those pleasant words, we think we hear the prayer,
"Oh may we go to heaven with Thee, and see the children there!”
In the Bible, blessèd Saviour, we read Thou lov'st them well;
But more than human heart can feel, or human tongue can tell.
Teach all the world to love them too, for Thou hast said that we
Must be like the little children, if we would come to Thee!

"For I know that, next to preaching, this (teaching), is the best, surest, and most useful vocation,-and I am not sure which of the two is the better; for it is hard to reform old sinners, with whom the preacher has to do, while the young tree can be made to bend without breaking."-Martin Luther.

"The little or almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences; and then it is, as it is in the fountains of some rivers, when a gentle application of the hand turns the flexible waters into channels that make them take quite contrary courses, and by this little direction given them at first in the source, they receive different tendencies, and arrive at last at very remote and distant places."-Locke.

BEGIN EARLY." Begin early" is the great maxim for every thing in education. A child six years old can be made useful, and should be taught to consider every day lost in which some little thing has not been done to assist its parents and benefit itself. Children can very early be taught to take all the care of their own clothes. They can knit garters, suspenders, and stockings; they can make patchwork and braid straw, they can make mats for the table, and mats for the floor, and they can weed the garden. In early childhood you lay the foundation of poverty or riches in the habits you give your children. Teach them to save everything, not for their own use, for that would make them selfish-but for some use. Teach them to share everything with their brothers. and sisters or playmates, but never allow them to destroy anything.-Mrs. Child.

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

OPEN YOUR WINDOWS. The celebrated Dr. Darwin was so impressed with a conviction of the necessity of good air, that, being very popular in the town of Derby, once on a market-day, he mounted a tub and thus addressed the listening crowd: "Ye men of Derby, fellow-citizens, attend to me! I know you to be ingenious and industrious mechanics. By your exertions you procure for yourselves and families the necessaries of life; but if you lose your health, that power of being of use to them must cease. This truth all of you know; but I fear some of you do not understand how health is to be maintained in vigour; this, then, depends upon your breathing an uncontaminated air; for the purity of the air beair; for the purity of the air becomes destroyed where many are collected together, the effluvia from the body corrupt it. Keep open, then, the windows of your workshops, and as soon as you rise open all the windows of your bedrooms. Inattention to this advice, be assured, will bring diseases on yourselves, and engender among you typhus fever, which is only another name for putrid fever, which will carry off your wives and children. Let me again repeat my serious advice-open your windows to let in the fresh air, at least once in the day. Remember what I say; I speak now without a fee, and can have no other interest but your good in this my advice."

FOR RHEUMATISM, LUMBAGO, OR

STRAINS.

oz. of strongest camphorated spirit, 1 oz. spirits of turpentine, one raw egg, half-pint best vinegar. Well mix the whole, and keep it closely corked. To be

rubbed in three or four times a day. For rheumatism in the head, or face-ache, rub all over the back of the head and neck, as well as the part which is the immediate seat of pain.

FOR THE BREATH.

Persons who suffer from diffi

culty of breathing and oppression on the chest, will find great relief from the following simple contrivance: A tea-kettle is to be kept boiling, either over a fire or over a common night-lamp or nursingcandlestick. A tin tube is to be fitted on to the spout of the teakettle, of such length and form as

to throw the steam in front of the sick person, who will then breathe in it. This prevents the distressing sensation occasioned by inhaling the cold night air, which will be felt by persons suffering from asthma or water on the

chest, and which is not obviated either by clothing or fire.

TO CURE WARTS.

Dissolve as much common washing soda as the water will take up; wash the warts with this for a minute or two, and let them dry without wiping. This repeated, will gradually destroy the largest wart.

TO CLEAN SILKS.

A quarter-pound of soft soap, a teaspoonful of brandy, a pint of gin. Mix all well together. With a sponge or flannel spread the mixture on each side of the silk without creasing it. Wash it in two or three pails of cold water, and iron on the wrong side when rather wet.

Happier, happier far than thou
With the laurel on thy brow,

She who makes the humblest hearth
Happy but to one on earth.

THE

MOTHERS' TREASURY.

"I SHALL NOT WANT."

(PSALM Xxiii.)

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APPY and blessed is the true believer! He can look upward, and exclaim, "I shall not want," for the Lord Jehovah is my Shepherd! He who sits on the right hand of the Majesty on high, and to whom all power in heaven and earth belongs, invites me to repose with confidence in His care; and promises to provide whatsoever may be necessary for my body and for my soul, for my support in time, and for my happiness in eternity!

Happy and blessed is the true believer! He can look downward, and exclaim, "I shall not want!" This earth on which I tread is full of the goodness of the Lord. He clothes these fields with beauty, and covers them with abundance. He provides for the fowls of the air, for the fishes of the sea, for the beasts of the field, and for the meanest of creeping things. This rich Provider for the whole creation will much more certainly provide for me, His intelligent and redeemed creature!

Happy and blessed is the true believer! He can look inward, and exclaim, "I shall not want!" He who has kindled in my soul these new and heavenly desires, who has taught me to abhor sin and to hunger after righteousness, who has inclined me by His Spirit to love His name, to delight in His service, and to sigh for greater conformity to His image, will perfect that which concerneth me, and will abundantly satisfy every holy aspiration of my heart!

Happy and blessed is the true believer! He can look backward, and exclaim, "I shall not want!" Insignificant and unworthy as I was, the good Shepherd sought my lost and wandering soul. Innumerable and aggravated as were my trespasses, He shed His precious blood to secure for me a full and free forgiveness. His Spirit deigned to visit my thoughtless heart. His providence has strengthened my weakness, and supplied my wants, ever since I was born; and, insignificant and unworthy though I still am, He will not fail to strengthen and to supply me in every time of need! Happy and blessed is the true believer! He can look forward, and exclaim, "I shall not want!" Pressing as my necessities may become-irksome and manifold as may be the duties to which

as my

I shall be called-painful, complicated, and prolonged, as may prove the trials that await me, my Shepherd has promised that " day is, so my strength shall be." He enables me with calmness to contemplate the vicissitudes of time, the solemnities of death, and the responsibilities of judgment; for the Lord Jehovah shall be my Friend in every vicissitude-that Friend shall be my Shepherd through the dark valley-that Shepherd shall be my Judge in the awful day-and that Judge will pronounce my everlasting acquittal nor mine alone; but for all those also who love His appearing, He will say, "For these My brethren, I died. Their sins are blotted out by My blood. Their persons are justified through My righteousness. Their souls are sanctified by My Spirit. Come, ye blessed children of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world!"

Happy and blessed is the true believer! He can look onward for ever, and exclaim, "I SHALL NOT WANT!" He soars in thought above the horizon of men. With eagle eye he looks down the vista of time, to gaze upon the glories which surround the threshold of eternity. He beholds by faith the advent of his Lordthe splendour of the attendant seraphs-the resurrection of the sleeping, and the transfiguration of the living saints-their spiritual, glorified, and immortal bodies-the city of the living Godthe heavenly Jerusalem-the innumerable company of angels-the reign of universal righteousness-the kingdom of peace, and purity, and power-and the effulgent presence of Him at whose right hand are fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore! He contemplates with delight the removal of all sin, the subjugation of every enemy-the delivering up of the kingdom to the Fatherand God all in all! Thus, onward and onward, can the believer gaze, and exclaim with wonder, and gratitude, and adoration, “I SHALL NEVER WANT!" The Lord Jesus shall be my Shepherdthe ransomed flock shall be my companions-heaven shall be my fold-and God Himself shall be my portion for ever and for evermore !-Dr. John Stevenson.

EDUCATION.

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NFORTUNATELY there is no one word in our language, representing ideas of equal importance, that is used in senses so different and great would he blessing conferred upon society if we could persuade mankind to introduce greater precision into their ordinary language on this subject. Many misapprehensions, many prejudices would immediately disappear, and men would be brought to a greater unity of opinion, and consequently of action, in this matter. With many, education means no more than the

acquiring a certain quantity of information, a certain skill in various accomplishments, in reference and in adaptation to the station in society which the pupil is likely to occupy; for instance, a knowledge of the classical languages and the higher branches of literature to the upper ranks; a knowledge of English, and perhaps some of the modern languages, of caligraphy, of geometry and arithmetic, to those who transact the trading business of the country; a knowledge of reading, writing, and elementary ciphering to the poor. And, when these several arts have been acquired in the respective schools, and when all this has been done at no small cost of time, of trouble, and of money,-if it afterwards appear that the subjects of such instruction pursue unworthy objects and disgrace themselves by vicious conduct, it is supposed that education, so called, is of no avail towards correcting the bad principles of our nature, and forming a moral and responsible being to habits of virtue. But all this is sadly to mistake the matter, it is to take a part for the whole. What I have now described is not education in its full and proper sense. It is instruction; and I wish, unless any other phraseology be preferred, that we should generally use the word in that meaning. Education means much more. This is to form the principles and to mould the habits of youth; it is not merely to qualify them to earn a livelihood by exercising some business or profession in the world, but to fit them, by the Divine blessing, to fulfil the several duties of domestic, of social, and of political life, in obedience to the great laws of righteousness, and in conformity with the high purposes for which they have been placed in their present state of being. This edu cation is not given merely at stated hours of lessons; neither does it take its commencement at the moment when the pupil is first sent to school. It begins with the faintest dawn of reason, from the earliest moment when the child is capable of receiving impressions on his mind; and it lasts to the time when he is emancipated from subjection, and is prepared to take his own part on the great stage of human life. Nay, even then, I believe, many a man has found that his education is but to begin, a course of selfeducation, by which he still has to fit himself to act his allotted part with propriety.

"Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one,

Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwells
In heads replete with thoughts of other men,
Wisdom in minds attentive to their own:
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,

The mere materials with which Wisdom builds,
Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place,
Does but encumber what it seems t' enrich.
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much
Wisdom is humble that she knows no more."

G. C.

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