118 THE BANK ACCOUNTANT. 



for the Church, nor in Tait, with all his love of the Dis- 

 senters. Chambers, too, though beyond comparison less 

 exceptionable than either of these, seems to have a pretty 

 shrewd guess that stories of this kind are not at all the 

 best suited to secure to him his hundred thousand read- 

 ers. I would fain see a few good periodicals set agoing 

 of a wider scope than either those of the world or of the 

 Church works that would bear on a broad substratum 

 of religion the objects of what I may venture to term a 

 week-day interest. I can cite no book that better illus- 

 trates my beau ideal of such a work than the Bible itself. 

 No book more abounds in passages essentially popular 

 in their interest. And yet I question whether some of 

 these passages, were they now to appear for the first 

 time, would find admittance into many of our religious 

 periodicals. There are chapters in the Book of Proverbs 

 that would be deemed merely moral, and the stories of 

 Ruth and of Esther would be thought to rest too ex- 

 clusively on the operation of mere worldly motives. But 

 this is not at all what I meant to say. I merely intended 

 to remark that I would fain see periodicals established, 

 which would not only be suited to convince the man of 

 the world that it is more philosophic to believe than to 

 doubt the truth of Christianity, but which would also be 

 so written that the men of the world would read them.' 

 The cup of Miller's happiness was full when a little 

 daughter began to smile upon him from the arms of her 

 mother. All gentle helpless things he loved with a pas- 

 sion of tenderness, and his affection for his own little 

 prattler was inexpressible. He observed her movements 

 with ever fresh interest and charm. ' My little girl/ he 

 wrote once, ' has already learned to make more noise than 

 all the other inmates of the house put together, and is 

 at present deeply engaged in the study of light and 



