GROWLERS. and welfare, exempting them from all the duties of the household, while they occupy the "best room," deeply interested in "how to improve the complexion," or meditating on the regular Sunday visits of John or Adolphus. Such a girl we do not think worthy of the mother we have described. Ah, girls, help your mother! A time may come when you will have no mother. If you have never known how to appreciate her before, you will know then; and when you miss her pleasant, smiling face from the table, and her gentle presence from the fireside; when you miss the soft touch of her lips upon your cheek, or her cool hand upon your forehead, in the house of sickness and pain, and when you miss the hand that smooths the pillow that is so hard, and that none could render so comfortable and easy as mother-when you have thought of all these and numberless other acts of her kindness, you will ask yourself, "What have I done to repay her for this life long devotion to me? Have I been kind and obedient, doing all in my power to lessen the cares and anxieties of my devoted mother?" If you have, how much will yo ur great sorrow be softened; but if not, how many tears of bit ter regret will be shed upon your poor mother's grave! Girls, think of this, and remember that in all the wide world no love can be found like a mother's. "You may sound the depth of yonder sea, You may measure the heights of Heaven above, GROWLERS. "Man's THE fact is, we can always find enough to be sad about, to be discouraged about, to make us bitter and sour. inhumanity to man" is sufficient of itself to give one perpetual blues; the inequalities of fortune is another fruitful topic of lugubrious reflection; the sufferings of the poor, the sick, the forlorn in our large cities, may well draw tears down Pluto's iron cheek. . . . . But growlers have a beneficent mission. They enable those who love to be cheerful and see the bright side of things to put the little growling everybody must do out, and have it done by proxy. When we see an abuse rigorously overhauled, a wrong indignantly righted, a grievous fault severely corrected, there is a feeling of relief within us, a sense that justice has been done, and there is no necessity for us to take part in the strife. Then, too, that spirit of perverseness, which Edgar Poe insisted was an integral POETRY. part of human nature, comes to our aid, and we are ready to espouse the opposition side of argument, and give the party assailed a fair chance to defend himself, all of which prevents social stagnation, and keeps things in a lively condition. A great deal may be done by the moody, the melancholy, the emotional, the fretful, to overcome the peculiar traits which make them ungenial companions. A steadfast looking on the bright side, a persistent cultivation of serenity, hopefulness, patience, an abiding and fixed trust in the goodness of God and in the final righteous adjustment of all things, these will gradually but surely bring the clear shining light into all the dark places of life. ON a pleasant evening in spring, near one of our villages, you may see a scene like this. Sam has been ploughing all day, and is very tired, so he sits sideways on one of the horses to rest himself. Polly has been to milk the cows, and she has got a pail full on her head. Sam makes the horses go slow to keep pace with Polly; for he wants to have a bit of talk with her. Some young people might not think much of Sam or Polly, but they are very useful folks, both of them. What should we all do without them? Sam works to raise the corn for our bread, and Polly brings home the milk. Just think of that, for what would English boys and girls do without bread and milk ? ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. And then both Sam and Polly have to be up very early in the morning, work hard all day, and eat very plain food. But they are none the worse for that, for when they do go to bed they soon fall asleep as sound as a top. They hardly ever want doctors; early rising and fresh air are their doctors. Many rich young ladies would be glad to have such healthy looks as they have. Anecdotes and Selections. TEMPTATION.-Temptation always garbs itself with fascinations. It hides its evil beneath allurements. A broad-shouldered Scotchman was looking at Ary Scheffer's painting of "The Temptation of the Lord." In that picture-as is usual in pictures-Satan is represented as some grim, dark, ugly monster, the very sight of whom is terrible. Said the Scotchman, "If that chiel cam to me in sic an ugly shape, I think he would ha'e a teuch job wi' me, too." The thought of the Scotchman was truer than the artist's. When Satan appears to us, it is most frequently as an angel of light. I have come upon a singular natural analogy of this fact. Among flowers there is none more beautiful than the sun-dew of our bogs. It puts upon every leaf a garniture of ruby points; it hangs everywhere upon itself glittering diamonds. In the sunlight it is like some precious jewel. But all this display is death for the insects attracted by this tempting feast. Every shining point is simply treacherous glue. Touching but one beauteous globule, every struggle makes the insect's case more hopeless. He but winds about himself a multitude of sticky threads drawn out from these exquisite luminous glue balls. When the victim is fairly snared, the leaf slowly winds itself about him, and all the slender, alluring points bend towards him and the plant feeds upon its helpless prey. Thus it is always. Temptation at first shines, glitters, and allures, and then entraps. A KIND DEED REWARDED.-He had been telling how kindly deeds often returned with blessings to those who had sent them forth, and told the following story by the way of illustration: "A little boy about going on a sea voyage, desired to take his pet kitten with him. At first his parents refused; but when they saw how much it would please him, they finally consented. So the kitten went to sea with her young master. The ship sailed out grandly, but was wrecked off the coast of the Azore Islands. The life boats were put out, and the men were going to help the boy into a boat, when, quick as a flash, he thought of his kitten down in the cabin. He could not leave kitty to be drowned, and away he went to bring her. But before he returned, the boat was filled and gone. There was only one more boat, but in that they made room for the kind boy and the kitten. But a life boat was not safe by that rocky shore, and all were lost except that last boat. And I am quite sure the boy after that must have thought more than ever of his kitten; for if he had left her in the cabin to drown, ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. and had gone in the other boat, he too would have been drowned. In trying to save the kitten, he himself had been saved. This story reminds me of a rhyme, 'Kind words and deeds are little seeds, That every one may sow, And always bring some rich blessing WORSHIPPING FAULTS.-As the African negro worships a fetich, or as the ancient Egyptians worshipped the meanest animals, such as cats, snakes and lizards, so we often make idols of our faults. The fetich propensity is strong in human nature. We cling to what our best friends know to be our ruin. They dare not tell us frankly what they think mean and selfish about us, because we are so unwilling to hear it. Who will stand by and see his idols dashed in pieces? The meaner the idol, the more lustily, often, we are prepared to do battle for it. We glory in our shame, and will suffer no man to make void this our glorying. Men would be saints, if they were as anxious to cultivate virtues and excellences as to guard and to cherish their faults. We are like mothers who are most tender of their deformed children; our very defects and misfortunes tend to awaken our sympathy and love for what is ill in us. New and TRUE.-It is indeed a fact worthy of remark, and one that seems never to have been noticed, that throughout the whole animal creation, in every country and clime of the earth, the most useful animals that eat vegetable food work. The all-powerful elephant, and the patient, untiring camel, in the torrid zone; the horse, the ox, or the donkey, in the temperate; and the reindeer in the frigid zone, obtain all their muscular power from nature's simplest productions-the vegetable kingdom. But all the flesh-eating animals keep the rest of the animated creation in constant dread of them. They seldom eat vegetable food until some other animal has eaten it first, and made it into flesh. Their own flesh is unfit for other animals to eat, having been itself made out of flesh, and is most foul and offensive. Great strength, fleetness of foot, usefulness, cleanliness and docility, are, then, always characteristic of vegetable flesh eaters. NOT A NEW SAINT.-There is a curious story told of St. Philip Neri, who was commissioned by the Pope to enquire into the truth of certain miracles alleged to have been worked by a nun. St. Philip employed a very simple test. He resolved to ascertain whether the nun had true humility, which, as one of the cardinal virtues, must be possessed by any one before he or she can receive the gift of performing signs and wonders. Entering her cell with a pair of dirty boots on, he pulled them off, threw them at her head, and ordered her to clean them. Vehement and shrilly expressed was the indignation of the lady, whereat St. Philip reported to his holiness that a new saint had not arisen to edify the Church. Two VOICES.-The voices of the present say, "Come!" But the voices of the past say, "Wait!" With calm and solemn footsteps the rising tide bears against the rushing torrent up stream, and pushes |