150 EARLY RISING. 



in time to join the family down stairs, the " morning sacrifice" 

 is neglected, and we begin the day by leaving undone that 

 which it is our first duty to perform. 



Seed, an old divine, beautifully expresses this, in a pas- 

 sage which I will read to you. 



" Let us take care that every morning, as soon as we rise, we 

 lay hold on this proper season of address, and offer up to God 

 the first fruits of our thoughts, yet fresh, unsullied, and serene, 

 before a busy swarm of vain images crowd in upon the 

 mind. When the spirits, just refreshed with sleep, are brisk 

 and active, and rejoice, like that sun which ushers in the 

 day, to run their course; when all nature, just awakened into 

 being from insensibility, pays its early homage; then let us 

 join in the universal chorus, who are the only creatures in the 

 visible creation, capable of knowing to whom it is ad- 

 dressed." 



MRS. F. 



Thank you, Esther, these observations are most true, and 

 are beautifully expressed. The more seriously we reflect, the 

 more anxious we become to economise our time, to " catch 

 the transient hour" while yet it may be called our own. As 

 a wise man has justly observed, " Let us render to ourselves 

 a strict account of every hour, that, having taken advantage 

 of the present time, we may have the less need of the 

 future."* 



HENRIETTA. 



Well, aunt, I am sure that I never thought of it before in 

 so serious a light. 



But the mere calculation of how many years are addedto an 

 ordinary life, by rising two hours earlier in the morning, were 

 of itself sufficient stirfmlus for exertion to the reflective mind, 

 which feels how short time is, for the work of eternity. 



* As quoted by Mme.de St. Lambert, in her " Avis d'une Mdre & 

 sa Fille," but she does not name the author. 



