circles of influence produced by the work of all, but more especially by the work of a mother. The mistress would succeed better in her responsible charge,—she would attain more easily to the happy medium between discouraging severity and culpable indulgence or indifference, she would not so often fail in attaching to her the hearts of her household,she would have her work better done, and her injunctions more faithfully obeyed, if she remembered that it is part of her appointed service to God, to teach those entrusted to her care, to be active servants,-useful members of society, and happy Christians. There would not so often be the coldness and reserve between sister and brother, sister and sisterin-law, and even between sister and sister, which too often mar the peace, or at least the rejoicing confidence of a family circle, were it borne in mind that not a jar, not a clouded brow, not a hasty word, but is dishonouring to His name, and grieving to His heart, who set the people of the earth in families. The solemn consideration of each having to perform to each the will of their mutual God, would soothe many an irritated spirit, and open the bolts and bars of many a closed heart. If the wife, whose portion too often appears to be one of heart-weariness and disappointment, of hopeless exposure to selfish and unreasonable temper,would but set herself to her work, forgetting her own trials in the earnest desire to glorify God, by rectifying what is amiss in her conjugal relations, and by exerting the sweet influences of woman's affection, bearing and forbearing,—overlooking what is faulty, and cherishing what is good, she would reap her reward in due time. The old simple story of a smile, may not be out of place here. A woman who lived very unhappily with her husband, came to a great divine to ask his counsel. "Always meet your husband with a smile," said the wise man. She followed his advice, and very soon returned to thank him for the blessing of a happy home. Whenever a home landscape is dreary, and its horizon clouded, we believe that it proceeds not so much from the storms of man's petulance and unreasonableness, as because woman has forgotten to draw a sunbeam from the Sun of Righteousness. In home work it must ever be borne in mind, that it is but a home for a little while, and that the chief object of the Home Missionary, is to lead those who now circle the board and the hearth, to seek the things that are above, and to form a family and a home in heaven. Often the Lord calls one of a household, and when he has engaged that heart to follow him, he sends it home to tell what great things the Lord has done. ever, is the report listened to. Not always, howThere may be long years of indifference, and diminished affection, and scorn, and even persecution, but let such a solitary one take courage. Let her pray unwearied the prayer of faith; and while never yielding one iota of principle, let her cultivate every iota of tenderness; let her preach silent sermons of example, and speak judicious words of precept. God will yet set her in a family of grace. The light will yet shine upon the hearts that have had light close to them though they acknowledged it not. The prayer for all those life-relations which our Lord himself sanctioned and enjoyed, will yet be answered far more abundantly than we can ask or think. VI. SINGLE WOMEN'S WORK. "The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord."-1 CCR. vii. 34. "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised."-PROV. xxxi. 30. "Gather thou not together in a net, The love, the strength, the work which God hath set For the wide household of the earth.-Go forth, Free and unfettered, east, west, south, and north; No symbol but the inner Cross of Faith, No rules but what the Lord Jehovah saith; Go forth, work cheerly, love divinely, raise Thy lonely heart in songs of joy and praise, The 'Woman's Mission' of thy woman's heart." IN addressing social and home workers, we have hitherto supposed them to occupy distinct "niches" in society, their work to be fully defined,—and their hearts cheered by love and appreciation. Something more, however, is wanted to fill up the picture. There is a class yet unspoken to-hearts yet unreached. There are those who have no home, or but a solitary one, whose portion in society is peculiarly one of neglect and insignificance. Take woman in all her phases, with one exception, and she is surrounded by a halo of interest and sympathy. The young and the lovely are ever the beloved. Many rise up around the wife and the mother, and call her blessed. The aged woman is a link to other times, and her words are listened to with reverence and respect. But from the single woman d'une certaine âge, are withheld the interest which it is the foible of her sex to covet, and the sympathy which she more than ever requires. Behind her are the sorrows and severings of the past, before her the waste and desolate places from whence the sunshine has faded. There are several characteristics, or, rather, pronenesses, in woman, that render her peculiarly alive to the trials of such a position. Prone to make idols and to find them clay, her first real conviction that there are no idols that will not break, severs her heart from its refuges like a nestless bird. Prone too, to faint and fail when the trial is petty and ignoble, she suffers acutely from the daily darts of neglect and ridicule, and from the departure of those attractions which once procured attention and consideration. Because she can no longer pour forth the full affluence of prized affection, she takes it for granted that she need bestow no love, and cultivate no sympathy. Much has been said and written upon this subject, and yet we have sometimes felt as if women thus isolated, were still left tossing in a rudderless vessel on a strange ocean,—told, indeed, that land lay near, but unable to distinguish it,-informed of the work before them, without having it clearly defined,—bid to be of good cheer, without the tenderness and sym |