IT is observable that the trivial services of social life are best performed, and the lesser particles of domestic happiness are most skilfully organized, by the deepest and the fairest heart. It is an error to suppose that homely minds are the best administrators of small duties. Who does not know how wretched a contradiction […]

IT is a trite saying, and an unique one, that there is “a skeleton in every house.” That every form however erect, that every face however smiling, covers some secret malady of mind that no physician can cure. This may be true, and undoubtedly is; but we contend that, as everything has its opposite, there […]

How quietly she lies! Closed are the lustrous eyes, Whose fringed lids, so meek, Rest on the placid cheek; While, round the forehead fair, Twines the light golden hair, Clinging with wondrous grace Unto the cherub face. Tread softly near her, dear ones! Let her sleep,– I would not have my darling wake to weep. […]

“Though our tears fell fast and faster, Yet we would not call her back; We are glad her feet no longer Tread life’s rough and thorny track. We are glad our Heavenly Father Took her while her heart was pure; We are glad He did not leave her, All life’s troubles to endure. We are […]

GOD is the author of all our blessings. There is no truth, perhaps, to which we are more ready to give our assent than this; and yet, a great many people seem to act as if they did not believe it, or, at least, as if they were prone to forget it. A traveller stopped […]

WOULDST thou be beautiful? Ah, then, be pure! be pure! An angel’s face Is the transparent mirror of her soul. If ghastly guilt on fairest brows you trace, Then do you hear the knell of beauty toll. Let Purity her seal on thee impress, And thine shall be angelic loveliness. The pure are beautiful. Wouldst […]

WHAT! can this be true in this dark world of ours, where the thick clouds of sorrow, disappointed hopes, and bereavements are continually hanging over us, obscuring even the bright star of hope; where upon every passing breeze is borne deep wailings of woe, bitter sighs ascending from bruised and broken hearts mourning over lost […]

BESIDE the toilsome way, Lowly and sad, by fruits and flowers unblest, Which my lone feet tread sadly, day by day, Longing in vain for rest, An angel softly walks, With pale, sweet face, and eyes cast meekly down, The while from withered leaves and flowerless stalks She weaves my fitting crown. A sweet and […]

IT was a golden sunset, which was fondly gazed upon by an old man on whose broad brow the history of seventy winters had been written. He sat in the wide porch of a large old-fashioned house: his look was calm and clear, though years had quelled the fire of his eagle glance; his silver […]

“I never was a favourite; My mother never smiled On me with half the tenderness That blessed her fairer child.” “CHRISTINE, do be obliging for once, and sew this button on my glove, won’t you?” cried Ann Lambert, impatiently, throwing a white kid glove in her sister’s lap. “I am in such a flurry! I […]

TWILIGHT.–The dewy morning of childhood has passed, and the noon of youth has gone, and the gloom of twilight is gathering over my spirit. Alas! alas! how my heart sinks in a wan despair! One by one my hopes have died out, have faded like the gleams of sunshine that have just vanished beneath the […]

TIME and Patience! These are Angels By our Heavenly Father sent; Whispering to our restless spirits, “Cease to murmur–be content; God, who is thy truest friend, Doth our aid in trials send. When thy weary spirit faileth, ‘Neath the weary cross it bears, God is not unmindful of thee– He is listening to thy prayers; […]

The light of her young life went out, As sinks behind the hill The glory of a setting star; Clear, suddenly, and still. –WHITTIER. YOU ask me to tell you of her, the sweet friend we have loved and lost. You impose on me a difficult task; I find it so harrowing to my feelings, […]

EACH owns some secret law;–the flowers that flourish Bloom in their season, in their season die; Dews flow beneath, their feeble strength to nourish, The wind, Earth’s angels, life’s sweet breath supply. As in the wondrous world of faultless Nature, So in the moral universe of man, Given for the spirit’s every form and feature, […]

WHO has not observed in passing through the crowded streets of our city, how great, comparatively, is the number of those, who are more or less deformed? My heart aches for these poor unfortunates, who are deprived of some of the legitimate avenues of enjoyment which God has so bounteously vouchsafed to me. Here is […]

TWO friends were walking together beside a picturesque mill-stream. While they walked, they talked of mortal life, its meaning and its end; and, as is almost inevitable with such themes, the current of their thoughts gradually lost its cheerful flow. “This is a miserable world,” said one; “the black shroud of sorrow overhangs everything here.” […]

September 15th, eight o’clock.–This morning, while I was arranging my books, Mother Genevieve came in, and brought me the basket of fruit I buy of her every Sunday. For nearly twenty years that I have lived in this quarter, I have dealt in her little fruit-shop. Perhaps I should be better served elsewhere, but Mother […]

THERE are few whose idea of happiness does not include peace as essential. Most men have been so tempest-tossed, and not comforted, that they long for a closing of all excitements at last in peace. Hence the images of the haven receiving the shattered bark, of the rural vale remote from the noise of towns, […]

“BABY is dead!” How many hearts have throbbed with anguish, and eyes overflowed with tears at the utterance of these thrilling words! A tender bud is intrusted to a rejoicing family. Very precious does it become to them. With what ecstatic joy do they note the first dawn of intelligence as it beams from the […]

I AM thinking how, one April eve, Upon the old arm-chair I sat, and how I fondly played With this brown lock of hair; Your head was pillowed on my breast, Your eyes were fixed on mine, I knew your heart was all my own, I know my own was thine. The balmy breath of […]