IN the flush, and the rush, and the crush of Life’s battle, When the stern blow of Right dashes loud on steeled Wrong, Half-drowning the voice of the babe’s holy prattle, Remember the watchword–the motto–“Be strong!” When the clouds of the past gather brooding above thee, And gloam o’er thy pillow the aching night long, […]

THERE is no time like these clear September nights, after sunset, for a revery. If it is a calm evening, and an intense light fills the sky, and glorifies it, and you sit where you can see the new moon, with the magnificent evening star beneath it, you must be a stupid affair, indeed, if […]

IT was Sabbath morning. Soft and silvery, like stray notes from the quivering chords of an archangel’s harp, floated the clear, sweet voice of the church-bells through the hushed heart of the great metropolis, while old men and little children–youth in its hope, and manhood in its pride–came forth at their summons, setting a mighty […]

WHAT is noble? to inherit Wealth, estate, and proud degree? There must be some other merit, Higher yet than these for me. Something greater far must enter Into life’s majestic span; Fitted to create and centre True nobility in man! What is noble? ’tis the finer Portion of our mind and heart: Linked to something […]

THE little Lina opened her eyes upon this world in the arms of her father, the good Gotleib. He kissed the child with a holy joy: “For,” said he, “now is a thought of God fixed in an eternal form;” and he felt that a Divine love flowed into this work of the great God–this […]

WHILE Hester lived, the day was bright With something more than common light– ‘Twas the moon’s difference to the night. As summer sun and summer shower Revive the tree, the herb, and flower, Hers was the gift of warmth and power. She was not what the world calls wise; Yet, the mute language of her […]

ARTHUR LELAND was a young lawyer of some twenty-seven years of age. His office stood a stone’s throw from the court-house, in a thriving town in the West. Arthur had taken a full course in a Northern college, both in the collegiate and law department, and with some honour. During his course he had managed […]

ONE warm morning in June, just as the sun returned from his long but rapid journey to the distant east, and sailed majestically up through the clear blue sky, the many bright flowers of one of the prettiest little parterres in the world, who had opened their eyes–those bright flowers–to smile at the sunbeams which […]

WHEN I was a young man, working at my trade as a mason, I met with a severe injury by falling from a scaffolding placed at a height of forty feet from the ground. There I remained, stunned and bleeding, on the rubbish, until my companions, by attempting to remove me, restored me to consciousness. […]

KATE DARLINGTON was a belle and a beauty; and had, as might be supposed, not a few admirers. Some were attracted by her person; some by her winning manners, and not a few by the wealth of her family. But though sweet Kate was both a belle and a beauty, she was a shrewd, clear-seeing […]

“DON’T mention it again for your life.” “No, of course not. The least said about such things the better.” “Don’t for the world. I have told you in perfect confidence, and you are the only one to whom I have breathed it. I wouldn’t have it get out for any consideration.” “Give yourself no uneasiness. […]

TWO men were walking along a public thoroughfare in New York. One of them was a young merchant–the other a man past the prime of life, and belonging to the community of Friends. They were in conversation, and the manner of the former, earnest and emphatic, was in marked contrast with the quiet and thoughtful […]

“WHERE now?” said Frederick Williams to his friend Charles Lawson, on entering his own office and finding the latter, carpet-bag in hand, awaiting his arrival. “Off for a day or two on a little business affair,” replied Lawson. “Business! What have you to do with business?” “Not ordinary, vulgar business,” returned Lawson with a slight […]

“YOU’D better take the whole case. These goods will sell as fast as they can be measured off.” The young man to whom this was said by the polite and active partner in a certain jobbing house in Philadelphia, shook his head and replied firmly– “No, Mr. Johnson. Three pieces are enough for my sales. […]

THERE are two classes in the world: one acts from impulse, and the other from reason; one consults the heart, and the other the head. Persons belonging to the former class are very much liked by the majority of those who come in contact with them: while those of the latter class make many enemies […]

“COME, William, a single day, out of three hundred and sixty-five, is not much,” “True, Henry Thorne. Nor is the single drop of water, that first finds its way through the dyke, much; and yet, the first drop but makes room for a small stream to follow, and then comes a flood. No, no, Henry, […]

How pure and sweet is the love of young hearts! How little does it contain of earth–how much of heaven! No selfish passions mar its beauty. Its tenderness, its pathos, its devotion, who does not remember, even when the sere leaves of autumn are rustling beneath his feet? How little does it regard the cold […]

“I AM hopeless!” said the young man, in a voice that was painfully desponding. “Utterly hopeless! Heaven knows I have tried hard to get employment! But no one has need of my service. The pittance doled out by your father, and which comes with a sense of humiliation that is absolutely heart-crushing, is scarcely sufficient […]

“I SUPPOSE you will all be off to Saratoga, in a week or two,” said Uncle Joseph Garland to his three nieces, as he sat chatting with them and their mother, one hot day, about the first of July. “We’re not going to Saratoga this year,” replied Emily, the eldest, with a toss of her […]

“AN object of real charity,” said Andrew Lyon to his wife, as a poor woman withdrew from the room in which they were seated. “If ever there was a worthy object, she is one,” returned Mrs. Lyon. “A widow, with health so feeble that even ordinary exertion is too much for her; yet obliged to […]