may pass the entrance guarded by the flaming sword of cherubim, turning every way. The fruit of the tree of life, no mortal, since the fall, has ever been allowed to pluck. And everywhere outside, there will be sickness and death. The most devoted conjugal love cannot ward off the inevitable stroke. But what a blessed millennial state will that be, when all who marry will marry in the Lord; when the morning and evening hymn of married life shall flow sweetly on, without any of those breaks and discords which now so often spoil the harmony, and when conjugal love, always fresh and ever growing, will approach nearer and nearer to the mystical union between Christ and the church! Then will the song be, from the rising of the sun to

his going down,

"As Hermon's dew distils,

Or that on Zion's hills,

To swell their store,

So God doth shed his grace
On every dwelling-place,
Where love illumes the face,

Life evermore."

TO BEREAVED PARENTS.

BY REV. E. PORTER DYER.

A KING lent a jewel to one who had none,

To rejoice his lone heart with its beautiful ray;

Should the poor man complain when the king, from his throne,
Sent his servant to take his own jewel away?

Then why murmur, parents, with sad discontent,
The message received from your bountiful Lord?
Remember the beauteous jewel was lent!

Nor bewail the dear gem to its owner restored.

A jewel so precious, so radiant, so rare,

So peerless in beauty, like lily just blown,
The king, who had lent it, no longer could spare,
And his right is to do what he will with his own.

WOMAN'S SORROWS.

BY MRS. E. A. FISHER.

WHAT are woman's sorrows? She has the same senses which belong to man. Like him, she may be hungry, thirsty, cold or sick; but are these her sorrows? Ah, no! When you would see these, you must leave the tenement and look into the soul. She lives in her affections and sensibilities.

When poverty comes upon her, and the morsel of bread grows scanty, she hardly feels it, unless there are little ones depending upon her for sustenance. When she stands by the sick bed of the beloved, though her body may tremble with fatigue, and her eyelids drop with heaviness, yet she hardly perceives it. Her sufferings arise from her sympathy or fears for the sick one. How gladly would she transfer the danger and the pain from the dear one to herself! How soon are the greatest of bodily sufferings forgotten in the mother's joy, when a child is given! And how much greater than all bodily pangs is her agony, when she is called to yield it back to the Giver !

The true woman lives in her affections. Her joy is in being the beloved and dutiful daughter, the cherished and loving wife, the revered and tender mother. Her sorrow is in being the disgraced daughter, the despised wife, and the wretched mother. A single woman, perhaps, may taste the most of unmixed happiness, but she can never know what woman's keenest grief is till the voice which promised to cherish her falls upon her soul in taunts and curses; till the heart she doted upon becomes hardened and turned from her; till the man she loved becomes the monster whom she cannot forget. And yet she may have a greater sorrow than this. It is when the child, nourished from her bosom, brought up at her knee and by her side, educated under her influence and by her example in part, forgets his Maker, runs the broad road of sin, and sinks into his early grave, unrepenting and unforgiven. O, wretched mother! How much thy heart can endure without breaking! Life with many is but a sad tale; wrinkles and gray hairs come full soon enough; but thou art old before thy time. Thou wilt go down in sorrow to thy grave!

Woman is naturally communicative and confiding, but the voice of public opinion, that voice in which she has but little share, even in this Christian land, has made it a shame and almost a crime for a wife to utter a complaint; so she buries her grief, although not dead, in her own bosom, where it lives and rankles. Love tries to conceal faults. The mother and the wife wet their pillow with their tears; the private chamber is the scene of grief long-continued and unutterable, while no eye discerns it but the all-seeing Eye. Woman's interests are so connected with man's, that what wrongs her injures him also, in some degree. She is a part of that great body, of which no member can suffer without affecting the rest. Man's home should be in her heart, and that home should be lightened by her heartfelt smiles.

There are partial or entire remedies for woman's sorrows. I will not attempt to say how much happier she would be, if all men did what was just right; but I propose to mention some few ways in which a woman may increase her own happiness, or, at least, mitigate her own sufferings.

If a daughter would be loved, she must be dutiful and affectionate. If she would be respected, she must be discreet, industrious, kind, virtuous and true. If she would become a happy wife, she must be careful whom she accepts for a husband. She must beware of hasty matches. The worst of people often wear the fairest masks. Marriage is for life. A companion for life should be well tried before chosen, especially one in whose keeping we place our earthly happiness. Here is where I think our hopes are mostly wrecked. Woman, fond, simple woman, clothes the man she loves with the qualities she loves, then marries him in haste, and repents at her leisure. Why should there be such haste in wedding, when the relation is to be for life? Again, the daughter should never marry against the advice of pious parents. They have proved the good and ill of matrimony, and are qualified to give good advice. Again, the believing woman should never marry the unbelieving man. Thousands neglect this, as though it were not one of the plain commands of the Bible. Many persons think there are three classes of men, namely, believers, unbelievers, and a neutral class, which properly belongs to neither. Very good men, they call them, not quite Christians, but by no means unbelievers. O, how many are shipwrecked here! If a woman marries a man, who has all his life

1

neglected his Saviour, how can she expect he will long regard her? The good in her and the evil in him will be continually warring. She may be resigned and patient, but she cannot be happy. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

If the mother would be happy she must never tire training her children for immortal life. O, the responsibilities of the mother, the task of the mother! And the reward or punishment is proportioned to the work. May God help us! Our own strength is but weakness!

And where shall she obtain comfort upon whom the mantle of sorrow has already fallen, who is now suffering under the natural consequences of her own sins or errors, or the sins of those with whom she is intimately connected? The religion of Jesus affords a never-failing source of consolation to her. I know of no other fountain from which she may hope to obtain permanent and substantial relief. In the performance of religious exercises and duties, she may receive a balm into her soul. Whom the Holy Spirit sustains, may be cast down, but cannot be destroyed. Where the blessed presence of God is, there must be hope and a degree of peace.

RULES FOR HOME EDUCATION.

THE following we commend to our patrons and friends for their excellence, brevity and practical utility. They are worthy of being printed in letters of gold, and being placed in a conspicuous position in every household. It is lamentable to contemplate the mischief, misery and ruin, which are the legitimate fruit of those deficiencies which are pointed out in these rules. Let every parent and guardian read, ponder and inwardly digest.

1. From your children's earliest infancy, inculcate the necessity of instant obedience.

2. Unite firmness with gentleness. Let your children always understand that you mean exactly what you say.

3. Never promise them anything unless you are sure that you can give them what you promise.

4. If you tell a child to do something, show him how to do it, and see that it is done.

5. Always punish your children for wilfully disobeying you, but never punish them in anger.

6. Never let them perceive that they can vex you or make you lose your self-command.

7. If they give way to petulance and temper, wait till they are calm, and then gently reason with them on the impropriety of their conduct.

8. Remember that a little present punishment when the occasion arises, is much more effectual than the threatening of a greater punishment should the fault be renewed.

9. Never give your children anything because they cry for it. 10. On no account allow them to do at one time what you have forbidden, under the like circumstances, at another.

11. Teach them that the only sure and easy way to appear good

is to be good.

12. Accustom them to make their little recitals with perfect truth. 13. Never allow of tale-bearing.

14. Teach them that self-denial, not self-indulgence, is the appointed and sure method of securing happiness.

15. Guard them against the indulgence of an angry and resentful spirit.

If these rules were reduced to practice, daily practice, by parents and guardians, how much misery would be prevented; how many in danger of ruin would be saved, and how largely would the happiness of a thousand domestic circles be augmented! It is lamentable to see how extensive is parental neglect, and to witness the bad and dreadful consequences in the ruin of thousands!