i there i3 poverty there 

 slovenly, untidy, heedless 



work ever so hard, and get good wages, and yet 



•en, thriftless home, himself aod children 



mfortless, unless his wife : 



Lndtakescareofwh.it 



stands t 



It is surprising how few women consider 

 necessary to nse prudence in the management of 

 their wardrobe and household affairs. A w< 

 who considers it beneath her time and altenti 

 use half-worn garments to Bupply her family 

 bed-clothes or carpets, and cannot take the trouble 

 to keep a rag-hag or basket, deserves to be poor 

 always. How much better old dress skirts 

 neatly tied into bed -comforters, than stringing 

 all about the house, and tucked into odd corners 

 or broken panes. No matter if poverty does no 

 compel you to save paper-rags, keep a bag never 

 theless, and when full give it to your poor neigh 

 bor ; it will cost you not a moment of time to takt 

 care of "lots" of things that, if you do not want 

 them, will be uBeful to some one. I like to help a 

 tidy, industrious, poor family, but when I go into 

 a house and see disorder, waste, filth, and enough 

 laying about, if properly taken care of, to make a 

 comfortable home, I feel it is of no use to give 

 such people things to abuse and destroy. They 

 will always he poor, and no person could possibly 



Pomposity and false pride, or shiftlessness, and 

 pride, and poverty, usually go hand in hand. 

 What a pity that men and women, who have no 

 love of labor, no fancy for housework, no love of 

 children, should marry and attempt to raise a 

 family, to be a nuisance to themselves and the 

 community. 



Some err through ignorance, but many more 

 through idleness, and unwillingness to study and 

 practice the constantly recurring details by which 

 people in this country usually amass a comfortable 

 independence. They go to their graves, mourning 

 over their poverty, and envying those " more for- 

 tunate," as they call it, and wondering at the 

 "mysterious ways of Pnmdence," while, all the 

 time, the fault lies at their own doors. 



IWirawCB of Mothers.— " My mother," said 

 Mr. Benton, not long before he died, "asked me 

 never to drink liquor, and I never did. She 

 desired me at another time to avoid gaming, and 

 1 never knew a card. She hoped I would not use 

 tobacco, and it never passed my lips." 



Not long ago, the lie?. Dr. Mills, in one of his 

 powerful appeals to mothers to consecrate their 

 children to the ministry of th« gospel, said, "A 

 youth, after great deliberation, and with the 

 knowledge that his mother desired him to be a 

 clergyman, decided at last to become a lawyer; 

 and soon after, his mother inquired of him, in a 

 tone of deep and tender interest, "My son, what 

 have you decided to dor" "To study law, 

 mother." She only replied, " I had hoped other- 

 wise ;" and her convulsive sobbing told the depth 

 of her disappointment. " Do you think," said he, 

 "* c ^ ld _«o into the law over my mother's 

 considered the case, and has long 

 i efficient clergyman. 





(iiv 



"" children fortune without education, 

 it one-half of the number will go down 

 -perhaps to ruin. Give 



themselves 



' ~T u ' UDllv 'on-perhaps to ruin. Give 

 an education, aad they wU , u a fo 

 selves and their country It j a „„ ;.i..j, 

 gold, for it buvs ti 



What is the use of strutting about, 

 and using all the large words WroisTeit's Dictii 

 nary affords to make people think you are educa- 

 ted ? Did you never notice that the most talented 

 and best educated persons are almost 



those who i 



that 



I did: 



si pie ton e 





"It's 



to keep up an appearance of wealth, when yc 

 not worth a cent in the world. Why nol 

 within your means, and, instead of trying to ape 

 those who are rich, wait till you have something 

 of your own. People will think as much again of 

 you, and what if they don't — do have the courage 

 to act its you please, for dopeud upon it, you will 

 always get found out. You cannot " make a 

 whistle out of a pig's tail. 



Finally, " it's of no use" for any of us to t 

 "shine in borrowed feathers." It is a great 

 better to always act natural ; then we shall ] 

 be troubled lest people find out we are not 



SEED-TIME. 



Seed-time last* but a short period, aud those who 

 delay endanger the harvest. It would be foolish 

 indeed to expect a harvest without putting in seed. 

 No one adopts a theory so entirely preposterous, 

 and yet their practice is sometimes not much bet- 

 ter than such a theory would be. If the seed-time 

 is ueglected, the harvest will not be worth the 

 sickle of the reaper. There are those who idle 

 away the precious season of spring, and the soil is 

 not prepared to receive tho seed in season, and 

 then the young blade is left to languish for want 

 of cultivation, and to struggle with weeds which 

 have been warmed into an earlier growth. Others 

 early prepare the soil and sow their seed. Gath- 

 ering clouds and windy days do not keep them 

 from their labor. It is true, there are winds that 

 blast tho frnit, and frosts that wither the corn, but 

 the rule still holds good that those who in due time 

 Bow their seed, do in due time reap their harvest. 



Youth is the great seed-time in the rural world, 

 and those who neglect to labor then find no harvest 

 in store for them when gat liering years withers and 

 dries up the source of their worldly pleasures. 

 He who should undertake a long journey to a uew 

 country, and make no provision for his wants 

 while on the way, or when at his journey's end, 

 would act very unwisely, but how many commence 

 the journey of life and make no provision for their 

 journey, nor lay up any store for the future. 



If one desired to cross an unknown sea and 

 thereby reach a certain haven, how unwise it 

 would be to start away without a guide, or any 

 certain knowledge of his course, and yet how many 

 start on the journey of life just as unwisely. Let 

 the young bear in mind that the voyage of life can 

 never be repeated— and that one mistake in the 

 beginning may prove disastrous in all their after- 

 life. Join, my young friends, in the universal 

 effort at perfection, and make high and noble aimB 

 for life. Sow early and well thy seed, and trust 

 hopefully to the future for the harvest. 



Liberty will not descend to a people ; a pe 



aiso themselves to liberty; it is a blcs 

 ist be earned before it can be enjoyed. 



A Western- exchange makes the following 

 suggestions, which must meet the 

 pprobation of all. We trust they will also be 

 eceived with favor by the " old folks." It says : 

 Keep the birth days religiously; they belong 

 exclusively to, and are treasured among the 

 sweetest memories of home. Do not let anything 

 prevent some token, be it ever so slight, that it is 

 remembered. Birth *1»7» ore great events to 

 children. For one day they feel that they are 

 heroes. The special pudding or cake is made 



expressly for them; a new jacket, < 

 with pockets, or the first pair of boots, c 

 and big brothers and sisters sink ini 

 cance beside " little Charlie," who is ": 



apttoneglei 



i half-a-dozen little c 

 irth days; the 



trowsers 

 insigniti 



t often- 



when they are busy, 

 when they are " nervous;" but if they only ki 

 how much such souroiira are cherished by their 

 pet Susey, or Harry, years afterward; 

 away from the hearth-stone they had 

 remind them that they had added one mi 

 to tbe, perhaps weary round of life, or 

 them, in old-fashioned phrase. " many happy 

 returns to their birthday," they would 

 permit any cause to step between them and a 

 mother's privilege. 



THAT PORTRAIT, AGAIN, 



Mb. Moore:— I was about to ask a favor, but 



i not know that I have any right to do so, or bow 



far I may be getting "beyond my limit;" but, at 



venture, I can but speak— for I have put it off, 



d hesitated, for a year or more. Would it be 



inconsistent, or out of place, if you were to give 



the portrait of D. D, T. Moore, in the Rural? 



1 is not my wish that of thousaods, were it 



expressed V For one, I confess to a great anxiety 



how he looks, and to know somewhat of his 



previous history, up to this time. But, as I do 



xpect ever to meet him vis-a-vis, I will be 



nt with the shadow of his phiz, and whatever 



ia pleased to bestow. If the 



quest is deemed impertinent, or betrays lack of 



st sense of things, I have no excuse to offer, for 



can frame none. We naturally become much 



has been our daily companion for years, and 



ue of us imaginei him our particular friend, 



for he encoura^e^, ay np:itln.'.e.-i, cheers, advises 



that he must have had jur individual case in view. 

 Moore, "may his shadow never be 

 : wish him a right merry Christmas, 

 and many New Years, in which to continue the 

 good work in which ae has been so eminently 

 successful. Vine la Jhral. QuEECHr, 



), 1859. 



ruff that looked " like a sail ; yea, like 



as starched, 

 assisting the 

 Countess of Essex to poison Sir Thomas Overbury 

 ng sentence:— "That, 

 roduce the fashion of 

 yellow starohed ruffs, she should be hung in that 

 dress, that the same be held in shame and detesta- 

 In the play of Albusnazzar, edited in lijl-I, 

 ArsinilinaasksTrincalo, "what price bears wheat 

 and saffron, that your hand is so stiff and yellow ':" 

 Speaking of starch, it first came into use in 

 England in 1564. It was carried thither by a Mrs. 

 Dinghcn Yanden riasse, who set up business as a 

 professed starcher, and instructed others how to 

 use tbe article for £5, and how to make it for £20. 

 Tim :tf iir.fi Lotl-or of 1712 eives this notice : — " Vpry 

 good starch, made in Boston by a starch-maker 

 lately from London, is for sale." 



The picture of Gov. Winthrop appears with an 

 elegant ruff. The custom was imported by some 

 of our primitive settlers, but in 1729 this part of 

 the dress became so enlarged that the Legislature 

 of Massachusetts felt obliged to command that it 

 be kept within due bounds. 



In the reign of James I, bands succeeded the 

 full, stiff ruff. They were prepared with wire and 

 starch, so as to stand out "horizontally and 

 squarely." They were held by a. cord and tassel 

 at the neck. 



People of tbe t> 

 their bands som 

 embroidered, wh 



nary associations has adopted 



device found en an ancient medal, representing 



bullock standing between a plow and an altar 



with tbe inscription, "Ready for either." Ready 



to toil and labor in the field of service, or to be 



offered up as a sacrifice in defence of the faith of 



Christ. No more significant device could be 



chosen to express the feelings of the missionary. 



None need enter this field who shrink from the 



painful and trying drudgery, considered from 



a worldly point of view, to which man can be 



subjected. With but a few to sympathize and 



encourage, unsupported by the applause and 



admiration which his 



heroic constancy excite in the breasts of his 

 brethren in his own land, meetiog neglect and 

 contempt from those for whose eternal happiness 

 he has sacrificed home, friends and country, he 

 bors under an enervating tropical 

 men would shrink from under 

 circumstances best calculated to stimulate and 

 encourage. From morning till night there is no 

 rest for mind or body, for millions are perishing 

 around him, and there are but few to lighten his 

 the foreign missionary must be 

 equally ready to seal his testimony with his blood, 

 ■d by the idolatrous heathen whose 

 aches that the destruction of the Christ- 

 Many have perished in bis manner, and 

 many more will doubtless lay down their lives 

 before the evangelization of the race is accom- 

 plished.— if. C. Presbyterian. 



"MYSTERIOUS POWER." 



i had the strings and tassels of 

 .imea elegantly scolloped 

 h custom finally attracted 



, like a 



"Id, I 



"forbade bands 



hibiting the wearing of bands 

 fashion. 



amented with costly 

 likewise enacted pro- 

 had been the 



WHY HE FELL. 



We often wonder that certain men and women 

 are left by God to tbe commission of sins which 



shock us. We wonder how, under the temptation 

 oTa single hour, they fall from the very heights of 

 virtue and of honor, into siu and shame, The 

 act is, that there are no such falls as these, or 

 there are next to none. These men and women 

 are those who liuve dallied « ill. temptation — have 

 exposed themselves to the influence of it, and have 

 weakened and corrupted by it. If we could 

 , the secret histories of those who stand sud- 

 denly discovered vicious, we should find that they 

 had been through this most polluting preparatory 

 ocess; that they had been in the habit of going 

 t and meeting temptation in order that they 

 ight enjoy its excitements; that underneath a 

 blameless outward life, they have welcomed and 

 entertained sin in their imaginations, until their 

 moral sense was blunted, and they were ready for 

 the deed of which they thought they were incapa- 

 limothy litcomb. 



me necessity for e 



terest. That stat. 



ijoyment where m 



fully; where effort i 



;ss in LiFB.—Lifo without 

 rtion must ever lack real 

 ) capable of the greatest 

 »sity urges, but not pain- 

 required, but as much as 

 possible without anxiety; where tho spring and 

 !T of life are preparatory to the harvest of 

 a, and the repose of winter. Then is every 

 sweet, and in a well spem 

 best, the season of calm enjoyn 

 -ecollections, the brightest in 1 

 ng and a 





salth; 



dfan 



, the richest in 

 I. Good train- 

 more desirable 

 ) parents who 

 ther than the 

 ity, would 



itudy their children' 

 gratification of tbeiro 

 do well to think of th 

 iccessful ra 

 Masculine 



ninence as a powerful intellect. Ho who is defi 

 cient in either, will never, unless from tbe influ 

 of fortuitous circumstances, be able to plact 

 naintain himself in the van of his fellows. 



o begin and end at tbe goal. 

 r courage, is as necessary 



wandering over 

 Fearless in its innocence, it is not 

 abashed before princes, nor confounded before 

 Before it the blood-stained warrior 

 sheathes his sword, aud plucks the laurel from 

 his brow, and the midnight murderor turns from 

 his purpose, and like the heart-smitten disciple, 

 goes and weeps bitterly. It brings liberty to the 

 captive, joy to the sufferer, freedom to the slave, 

 repentance and forgiveness to the sinner, hope to 

 the faint-hearted, and assurance to the dying. It 

 enters the hut of the poor man, and sits down with 

 him and his children ; it makes them contented 

 in the midst of privations, and leaves behind aa 

 everlasting blessing. It walks through cities 



and unutterable misery, a purifying, ennobling, 

 remedying angel. It is alike the beautiful cham- 

 pion of childhood and comforting associate of age. 

 It ennobles the noble, gives wisdom to the wise, 

 and new grace to the lovely. The patriot, the 

 priest, the poet, and the eloquent man, all derive 

 their power from its influence.— Mary Hewitt. 



True Con fort.— Comfortless ones, be comforted, 

 Jesus often makes you portionless here, to drive 

 you to Himself, the <.nrhfdii»j portion,. He often 

 dries every rill and fountain of earthly bliss, that 

 He may lead you to say, " All my springs are in 

 Thee." "He seems intent," says one who could 

 speak from experience, " to fill up every gap love 



ven was to bind up tho broken-hearted." How 

 beautifully, in one amozing verse, does he conjoin 

 the depth and tenderness of his comfort with the 

 certainty of it— "as one whom his mother com- 

 forteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be 

 comforted." 



Tne Sabbath.— This is the loveliest, brightest 

 lay of the week, to a spiritual miod. These rtfU 

 efresh the soul in God, that finds nothing buttur- 

 ooil in the creature. Should not this day be wel- 

 ome to the soul, that sets it free to mind its own 

 usiness, which has other days to attend to tbe 

 usiness of its servant the body? And these are- 

 certain pledge to it of that expected freedom 

 'hen it shall enter on an eternal sabbath and rest 

 a Him for ever who is tbe only rest of the soul.— 

 Lcighton. 



I faithfully did 



illar-cloud and 

 of old 'precede Israel, till the last 

 -muring ripple of Jordan fell on tnoir ears on 

 shores of Canaan, than does the presence and 

 love of Jesus abide wit 



The quality of lovo in man is exactly like lo 

 u God— in element, but in quantity ! A taper 

 )in enough to tell you what what light is, but r. 

 ,vlu( Lin- n he-li luston and power of light is. 



