a world to brave alone; and we therefore need the sympathy, the support, the assistance of a fellow heart. In a social and sympathetic view, there is much romance in the married life. A more substantial and solid romance (if the two terms do not contradict each other) than any found in those airy castles we have been demolishing. If the heart is rightly attuned-and any deity but self sits enthroned there-the luxury of making others happy is in itself a crown of happiness. Add to this the security of confiding affection, with all the sources of joy it opens, and we have materials enough for all rational happiness. The amount of happiness depends upon ourselves-and is in a great measure within our own control-for it will be precisely in proportion to the purity and entireness of our affections. The minor sources of pleasure, derived from attention to all that is graceful and beautiful in nature or acquirement, should not be disregarded or undervalued. The first should form the great outline of our lives; these, the beautiful filling-up. The Author of our being has been lavish in providing every means to cultivate and satisfy the taste and feelings He has created. "The world is full of poetry-the air But these fine sympathies suffer from neglect as readily as our hearts, our tempers and our understandings. We have addressed these remarks, wishing to make them practical, to our young readers; in the hope of leading them to more rational calculations than heretofore. They possess a double claim to our interests, as forming the pride and joy of the home they now grace, and standing on the verge as it were of another, which we would have them make more substantial than a glittering bubble, to break when touched. Not until they give heed to these things and set out aright, will they begin to be truly happy. But if they pass the ordeal before listening, and any such exposition after meet their eyes, they will then feel that they have been fore-warned-and had they accepted the weapons, might might have been fore-armed. [For the Microcosm.] A LAY PREACHER'S FIRST SERMON. "In her tongue is the law of kindness."-PROV. xxxi. 26. THE human mind has ever taken delight in the contemplation of excellence. And it has been a favorite employment of genius and taste to delineate the idea of perfection in the character of Man and of WoOf all the representations of the latter which have as yet been exhibited, it is admitted that the most faultless is the finished portrait man. A Lay Preacher's First Sermon. 61 which the Royal Artist has given in the Book of Inspiration, of a woman whose " price is far above rubies." So perfect is the skill with which he has delineated each line and feature, and has blended the whole with such consummate art, that he must be captious indeed who would suggest any alteration. The simplicity of her attire and ornaments-the calmness, the dignity and sweetness of expression, which indicate that her words are words of wisdom, and on her tongue are the accents of kindness, is calculated to win all hearts. It is delightful to contemplate such even with the "minds eye," in contrast to the cold. ness, the heartlessness, and the ambition of beauties of quite another, and I fear the most numerous class. For the love of power and the pride of supremacy-that sin by which angels fell-have been inherent in nearly all mortal breasts since the first rebel angel tempted to their fall the inhabitants of Eden. Since that time, high and low, kings and peasants have shown their fondness for power; a power which is attractive only as it is made to be felt. The extent of the desolating ef fects of ambition on kingdoms and nations, it is not my purpose to depict here. It is because the peace and happiness of communities, of families, and of individuals are jeopardized by the operation of the same principle, that I am induced to allude to the principle at all. How often would these live in harmony and friendship did but the law of kindness supersede the law of force, or rather, the strife for supremacy! Happy would it be were the Genius of Society-which, if not in fact, must by the necessity of poetic custom, be a female-to preside over our hearts with blandness of manner and persuasion of speech. Then very soon, would bickerings, and quarrels, and strifes cease. Even Religion whose office it is to heal divisions and strifes, and whose characteristic is kindness, gentleness and forbearance exerts too feeble an influence here. Many, very many, there are who possessed of warm feelings and generous emotions, feel compelled to throw around them a cloak of selfishness and pride, to prevent the storms of society from visiting them too roughly; and every effort made by increased coldness and blustering to compel them to throw it off, only compels them to draw its folds closer around them; while a few warm rays of kindness would soon induce them to lay it aside. Kindness is the wand-Do gentle hearts ever forget it?-kindness is the wand with which to strike the cold, rocky heart, and cause its affections to gush forth, copious, sparkling and pure. The appropriate influence of woman on society is the dread of goodness, and not the terror of talents or the fear of force. Even Satan felt rebuked, and was almost diverted from his fell purpose of introducing discord into the first family on beholding, "How awful goodness is, and Virtue in her shape how lovely ;" and often will woman succeed in frightening away the same demon of discord from families by the exhibition of the same qualities. Is it not too often the case that coldness, distrust and alienation of feeling, is produced in the hearts of fathers, husbands and brothers because the indomitable will, the determination never to submit or yield, finds its habita tion in female breasts. While a little gentleness and condescension on their part, would have melted them into love and admiration? I think it is a woman who has remarked, that " Man shows his greatness in action; Woman her's in suffering.' Under the sanction of this authority I shall shield myself from any invidious remarks which may be made on the tone of this address. It is addressed to ladies because a kind, gentle, entreating manner befits them with a peculiar grace. Let them be the ministers of natural religion which is here sanctioned by the higher authority of revealed religion. If man delights, with implements of terror and force, to subject his fellow-man to his will, or even to reclaim him from error; "With other ministrations thou, O nature! Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets; To be a jarring and dissonant thing T. [For the Microcosm.] THE ELDER SISTER. She sits amidst a lovely group, Their books and maps are rang'd around, And each with gentle voice requires But Seventeen sunny summers Have lent a maiden grace, A look of meek intelligence To that young, beauteous face. And something in that mild, dark eye Mother of that fair, happy group, With deep felt thankfulness adore Parental Love Divine And Sister, when the matron's crown Is plac'd upon thy brow; May such sweet flowers adorn thy bower As grace thy mother's now. Parental Influence. [Selected for the Microcosm.] PARENTAL INFLUENCE. 63 Placed by the all-wise providence of heaven in such a peculiar situation, it will be well for parents to keep especially in view what may be denominated the education of circumstances. Let purchased tuition be carried up to the highest perfection, and let neither money nor wis. dom be spared in reaching the height. Of such vital importance in the training of children is that department to which I now refer, that it can, and, if neglected, will undermine and undo the whole, as well as render many efforts in educating the disposition altogether abortive. Suffer me to explain my meaning. In the laudable anxiety of their hearts, two parents, with a family of infants playing around their feet, are heard to say, "Oh, what will, what can best educate these children?" I reply, "Look to yourselves, and your circumstances." Maxims and documents are good in themselves, and especially good for the regulation of your conduct and your behavior towards them; but with regard to your children, you have often to remark that many maxims are good precisely till they are tried or applied, and no longer. In the hands of many parents they will teach the children to talk, and very often little more. I do not mean to assert that sentiments inculcated have no influence. Far from it. They have much, though not the most. But still, after all, it is the sentiments you let drop occasionally-it is the conversation they overhear when playing in the corner of the room, which has more ef fect than many things which are addressed to them directly in the tone of exhortation. Besides, as to maxims, ever remember, that between those which you bring forward for their use and those by which you direct your own conduct, children have almost an intuitive discernment; and it is by the latter they will be mainly governed, both during childhood and their future existence. Addressing myself, therefore, to both parents, I would say, Contract to its just and proper dimensions the amount of all that purchased education can do for you, and expect no more from it than it is truly able to perform. It can give you instruction. There will always be an essential difference between a human being cultivated and uncultivated. In the department of purchased tuition you will portion out to the best advantage many of those precious hours of youth which never will return, and such employment will lend you powerful aid in forming those personal habits which lie within the province of parental education; but rest assured, and lay it down to yourselves as a cardinal principle, that the business of education, properly so called, is not transferable. You may engage a master or masters as numerous as you please, to instruct your children in many things useful and praiseworthy in their own place; but you must, by the order of nature, educate them yourselves. You not only ought to do it, but you will perceive, if I am correct in what I have stated, and may still advance, you must do it whether you intend it or not. "The parent," says Cecil," is not to stand reasoning and calculating. God has said that his character shall have influence, and so this appointment of Providence becomes often the punishment of a wicked or careless man." An education, in the sense I have explained it, is a thing necessary for all-for the poor and for the rich, for the illiterate as well as the learned-Providence has not made it dependent on systems uncertain, operose, difficult of application. Every parent, therefore, save when separated altogether from his family, may be seen daily in the act of educating his children; for from father and mother, and the circumstances in which they move, the children are daily advancing in the knowledge of good or evil. The occupation of the poor man at his labor, and the man of business in his countingIn both instances, the mother house, cannot interrupt this education. is plying at her uninterrupted avocations, and her example is powerfully operating every hour; while at certain intervals daily, as well as every morning and evening, all things come under the potent sway of the father or the master, whether that influence be good or bad. Here, then, is one school from which there are no truants, and in which there are no holydays. True, indeed, you send your children to another school, and this is the very best in the whole neighborhood, and the character of the master there is not only unexceptionable, but praiseworthy. When your children come home, too, you put a book into their hands, or even many such books, and they read them with pleasure and personal advantage. Still, after all this, never for one day forget that the first book they read, nay, that which they continue to read, and by far the most influential, is that of their parent's example and daily deportment. If this should be disregarded by you, or even forgotten, then be not at all surprised when you find, another day, to your sorrow and vexation, and the interruption of your business, if not the loss of your domestic peace and harmony, that your children only "know the right path, but still follow the wrong." EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS. Since there is a season when the youthful must cease to be young, and the beautiful to excite admiration, to learn how to grow old gracefully is, perhaps, one of the rarest and most valuable arts that can be taught to women. And, it must be confessed it is a most severe trial for those women to lay down beauty, who have nothing else to take up. It is for this sober season of life that education should lay up its rich resources. However disregarded hitherto they may have been, they will be wanted now. When admirers fall away and flatterers become mute, the mind will be drived to retire into itself, and if it find no entertainment at home, it will be driven back again upon the world with increasing force. Yet forgetting this, do we not seem to educate our daughters exclusively for the transient period of youth, when it is to maturer life we ought to advert? Do we not educate them for a crowd, forgetting they are to live at home?—for a crowd, and not for themselves? for show and not for use? for time and not for eternity? Mrs. More. |