some better way of passing our time than in tasteless, childish amusements, the monotony of which is only relieved by the most malicious backbiting.

A. I wish I could think as you do; but I have always been afraid, that if I were highly cultivated, I should not be so useful.

M. If you enlarge your views of utility, you will perhaps see that we promote it no less by ministering to the spiritual than the temporal wants of others. I cannot

consider the person who gives me a beautiful thought, enriches me with a valuable truth, or leads me to take more liberal views of the capacity of the soul or the value of time, is less useful to me than that other kind of beings, who make jellies for me, and watch with me in illness, or take me to ride, and entertain me with their best cheer, when I am well. Let none of us neglect the common duties of our spheres; but if any hours be left, can we devote them better than to acquiring a knowledge of the laws of God's world, or the minds and history of his creatures? Are we not thus fitted ourselves to perform the highest kind of duty towards each other? And I do believe that, if we judiciously manage our time on earth, short though it be, there will be sufficient to enable us to be useful in the highest sense of that term, as well as in the sense in which you use it.

DIALOGUE III.

ON PRE-JUDGING.

Charles. Good-morning, Mr. Barnwell!
Mr. Barnwell. Good-morning, Charles!
C. Have you heard the news?

Mr. B. No, I have not. What's happened?

C. Why, the thief's caught at last. Mr. Parshley has taken him up, and I hope he'll get his dues now. Mr. B. What thief are you talking about? You speak as if I knew all about the matter. I know of no

thief.

C. Why, don't you know Sam Osborn? Every

body says he's a thief; and now that he's caught, I suppose there's no doubt about it.

Mr. B. Who caught him?

C. Why, I don't mean caught, exactly, but that he's been taken up by Mr. Parshley, for stealing some money from him, and he's going to be tried before Squire Proctor to-morrow; but then I'm afraid he'll get clear, as his father is rich, and they say he's got Lawyer Townley to defend his son, and so of course they'll get him off.

Mr. B. It seems to me you draw your conclusions rather hastily. What do you mean by "getting clear," and "getting off?" Clear of what? off from what?

C. Why, from punishment in state's prison, of course. He's got a lawyer to save him from justice, and his father's rich, and lawyers, you know, will do anything for money. I've no doubt that old Townley would defend him, if he were taken up for murder.

Mr. B. But are you not prejudiced against Sam?

C. Oh, no; not in the least; though I think he's rather a bad boy.

Mr. B. Now, Charles, I think there is a little prejudice in your case. In speaking of Sam, you call him a thief without any hesitation. Now, you must either have prejudged him, or else you are informed of all the facts in the case. Now, did you see him steal the money, or have you heard a candid examination of the whole matter?

C. Why, no; I neither saw him steal the money, nor have I heard the matter examined.

Mr. B. If your father were accused of stealing, would you like to hear people call him a thief, before they had heard both sides of the story, and he had been proved guilty?

C. Certainly not.

Mr. B. Then should you not exercise a little charity toward another iņ a similar case?

C. Why, yes; I suppose I should.

Mr. B. You say Sam is to be taken before Squire Proctor: do you think it at all necessary that this should be done?

C. Oh yes; -he ought to be taken before some magistrate and be tried, in order to get at the truth. Mr. B. Just so; he's to be examined, then judged; not judged and then examined. You would not

think it right to hang a man as soon as he might be accused of murder, would you? Who do you think would be safe, if punishment so immediately followed accusation?

C. Well, come to think of it a little, I don't know but there would be rather a bad state of things under such regulations. I think such hanging would be

entirely wrong.

Mr. B. Is it not also wrong to call a man a thief before he has been proved to be one, as well as to punish him before proved to be guilty?

C. I don't know but that it would be;-but, then, what does Mr. Osborne want to get a lawyer to defend Sam for, if he's not guilty? If he is innocent, he needs no defence.

Mr. B. I think you are hasty again; did you ever hear of such a thing as slander?

C. Yes, I believe I have.

Mr. B. What do you understand by slander?
C. I should call it an unjust accusation.

Mr. B. That's it, exactly. Did you ever hear that a person was injured by slander-in his business which is the means of his livelihood, and the welfare of his family?

C. I have, often.

Mr. B. You recollect the case of Mr. Brewster. You know Mr. Williams said he had cheated him out of two hundred dollars; in consequence of which, Brewster's customers left him, -the town's people avoided him, and would not have any dealing with him whatever; and all this when, from evidence given in court, it was clearly proved that there was not the slightest ground for Williams' charge. Now, don't you think Brewster did right to prosecute Williams?

C. Yes, I do; he ought to have done it, in justice to himself and family, who were suffering unjustly by reason of the ignorance and prejudice of the town's

people. Still, if the town's people had not so pre-judged him, he would not have so suffered.

Mr. B. Very true; but I don't think the town's people wholly to blame in the affair. They heard Mr. Williams' story, and would have been glad to have heard Mr. Brewster's; but he would say nothing; he stood on his innocence-as if that, unknown, could be any safeguard.

C. But they ought not to have called him guilty until he had been proved so by an examination of the whole matter; and Mr. Brewster should have defended himself against the charge as best he could.

Mr. B. But I thought you said, just now, in speaking of Mr. Osborne's having engaged lawyer Townley to defend his son, that innocence needed no defence?

C. So I did, and perhaps I was wrong; but if I had said that innocence, when known, needed no defence, I should have been right. But I don't see why Osborne gets a lawyer to make the defence.

Mr. B. I will answer your question by asking another; or I will propose a question, so that your answer to mine will be mine to yours. Why do you get a tailor to make your coat?

C. Why? Why, because it's his business to make coats; he has learned how to make them, and he can make one quicker and better than I can; and it would be cheaper to get him to make it, for if I should undertake it, I might spoil the cloth.

Mr. B. The reason why Sam's father gets a lawyer to defend Sam is, that it is a part of a lawyer's business to defend the accused, and therefore he can do it, as you say, quicker and better than either Sam or his father; and cheaper too, for by reason of his knowledge and skill he could readily discover the force of the attacks, know what kind of defence would be necessary, easily detect the falsehoods and inconsistencies, if any, in the statements of the opposing witnesses, learn the whole truth, both in favor as well as against his client, compel the accuser to prove the truth of his acusation, and see, if Sam is to be punished, that he punished for what he has done, and not for what he

has not done; or, in other words, see that his client is justly dealt with; and that, certainly, is all that even his accusers can desire.

C. Well, I think I shall go to Squire P.'s office tomorrow, and hear Sam examined; and if he's innocent why I hope he'll be declared so.

DIALOGUE IV.

THE CURIOUS INSTRUMENT.

(Father, George, Charles.)

Father. Well, my boys, I have been to the city, and I have brought home, for my own use, a most curious and wonderful instrument; one which displays the most perfect ingenuity of construction, and beauty of workmanship. From its extreme delicacy, it is liable to injury, and, in order to protect it, a light curtain, adorned with a beautiful fringe, is always provided, and so contrived as to fall instantly on the approach of the slightest danger.

I have said it was beautiful in its external appearance, and it is really so; yet there is a great diversity in the different sorts. But the internal construction of all is the same, and so curious and wonderful as to excite the surprise and admiration of every one who considers it.

By a slight and sudden movement, which is easily effected by the owner, the size, color, shape, weight, and value of any article can be ascertained with considerable accuracy. Indeed, it is one of the most wonderful and useful instruments ever made.

George. If they are so very useful, I should think that every one who can at all afford it would have

one.

Father. They are not so uncommon as you may suppose; I know of several individuals in this neighborhood who own one or two of them.

Charles. How large is it, father? could I hold it in my hand?

Father. It is small enough to hold in your hand: but I should be very sorry to trust mine with you!