A MOTHER’S LOVE 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
UNLUCKY FRIDAY. 
The work to which we refer is that which 
every mother, whether rich or poor, whatever 
the advantages or disadvantages of the circum¬ 
stances may be, is required by the most sacred 
and rigid obligations to achieve— the assiduous 
cultivation in her children of the inner nature, 
of that -which makes the good man or woman, 
that which shall live for ever. For this she 
must be always at her post with never so much 
as a recess from her maternal care and solicitude, 
toiling on, breaking up the ground, sowing the 
seed, training the tender plant, enriching the 
soil, watering, nourishing, stimulating every 
good and pleasant growth, until the flowers be¬ 
gin to bloom, and the l'ruit to ripen. 
Then comes a heyday of enjoyment, of rest 
and comfort to the mother, in. tho golden au¬ 
tumn of her life, when surrounded by a group 
of affectionate, dutiful, virtuous, and noble sons 
and daughters, she sits among them in beautiful 
repose, her face radiant in the glow of her own 
heart’s ever-burning love, 
Let them give poor Friday fair play and he 
" ih come up to a level with his companions. If 
it he a catalogue of shipwrecks, burnings and 
other disasters, why not inquire whether such 
do not occur on the other days of the week in 
as large numbers as on Fridays? The Great 
Mogul, ArnrxGZEBK, is said to have exclaimed, 
“ 0 that m . r death may happen on a Friday, for 
blessed is he that dieth on that day! ” but as we 
do not know why he adopted this theory, we 
can say nothing further about it. As an exam¬ 
ple, however, ot the mode in which a sensible 
person may upset a stupid prejudice, we will 
quote a passage from history, showing that our 
great Republic, at ail events, bas no reason to 
consider Friday an unlucky day: 
On Friday, August 21, 1192, Christopher 
Columbus sailed on bis great voyage of dis¬ 
covery; on Friday. October 12, 1492, he first 
discovered land; on Friday, January 4 , 1493, he 
sailed ou his return to Spain, which, if he had 
not reached In safety, the happy result which 
led to the settlement of this vast continent would 
never have been known; on Friday, March 15. 
U93, he arrived at lidos in safety; on Friday, 
November 22, 1493, he arrived at Hispaniola, on 
his second voyage to America; on Friday, June 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
-A- V SKA. 
“Mr Mabel, you otrcc had a bird 
In your throat; audit sang all day; 
But now it. sings never a word. 
Has the bird ilown away» 
“ Oh sing to me, Mabel, again! 
Strike the chords Let the old fountain flow 
With its balm for my fever and pain, 
As it did years ago!” 
Mabel sighed (while a tear filled and fell,) 
“ I have bade all my singing adieu ; 
But I’ve a true story tQ tell, 
And I'll tell it to you. 
“ There's a bird's nest up there in the oak, 
On the bough that hangs over the stream, 
And last night the mother bird broke 
Into song in Iter dream. 2 
“ This morning she woke and was still; 
For she thought of the Trail little things 
That needed her motherly bill, 
Waiting under her wings. 
“ And busily, ali the day long, 
She hunted and carried their food, 
And forgot both herself and her song 
In her care for her brood 
“ I sang in my dream, and yon heard; 
I woke, and you wonder I'm still; 
But a mother is always a bird 
With a fly in its bill!” 
’Twas lutt a word, a careless word; 
As thistle down it seemed as light; 
It paused a moment on the air, 
Then onward winged its flight 
Another lip caught up the wold, 
And breathed it with a haughty sneer; 
It gathered weight, as on it sped— 
That careless word, in its career. 
Then rumor caught the Hying word 
And busy gossip gave it weight, 
Until that Uttle word became 
A vehicle of angry hate. 
And then that word was winged with fire, 
Its mission was a thiDg of pain; 
For soon it fell like lava drops 
Upon a wildly tortnred brain. 
And then another page of life 
With burning, scalding tears was blurred; 
A load of care was heavier made— 
Its added weight, that careless word. 
That cureless word. Oh! how it scorched 
A fainting, bleeding, quivering heart! 
’Twas like a hungry fire, that searched 
Through every tender, vital part 
How wildly throbbed that aching heart! 
Deep agony its fountain stirred; 
It calmed, but bitter ashes mark 
The pathway of that careless word. 
[Fine and Pahn 
lx the dim aDd shadowy night, 
On the broad spread, fathomless sea, 
I arise from my sleep in the midnight deep 
And proffer my vows unto Thee. 
As a bark on the storm-tost waves, 
When breakers dash high on the lea, 
In its fierce unrest, was my stricken breast, 
E re its hopes were anchored in Thee. 
Now, calm as-the tropical isles 
That sleep on this soft southern sea, 
And sweet as the love of seraphs above 
A peace languor steals over me. 
As an infant sinking to sleep. 
Secure in a mother’s fond care,— 
So sweet be our rest, on the Infinite breast; 
Our shelter from tempests be there! 
Lizzie D. 
and the smile of 
heaven as a halo of light about her head, a 
spectacle to be admired and envied of all. But 
this season of comfort, this "Indian summer” 
of maternal life never, never comes to those 
who evade their responsibilities, forsake their 
trust, and leave their work for otiiers to do, for 
the sake of personal ease, sensuous indulgence, 
or selfish gratification. 
PARDON AND PEACE. 
THE POWER OF A BAND BOX 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
“I SAY NOTHING.” 
As I was one day seated very quietly in my 
room, reading an old work, my attention was 
suddenly drawn by the sound of music. Think¬ 
ing a band was coming up the river, I opened a 
door and walked out upon the veranda. Not a 
person did I see, only Mrs. Levet, my new 
neighbor, sitting at her vine-capped window. 
How sweetly she sang! I was delighted. A 
few times before that pleasant voice had been 
heard at the door, speaking to the children or 
conversing in the yard. I was not long in ma¬ 
king her acquaintance. Whv was she always so 
Written for Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
STOP AND THINK. 
Pause— pause, ere you turn coldly, or un¬ 
thinkingly, from that tremulous plea, softly 
-J. Is it impossible 
? Then let your refusal be 
>s, that it may inspire 
- - 1 , 
power, the sorrows of disappoint- 
„ _t» Pause andre- 
enience. 
ladies’ car. but were politely informed that they 
could not be admitted unless in company with 
ladies. We will let the writer tell his own story: 
" We yielded to the ruling as correct. Just 
then a gentleman bearing a band box mounted 
the platfoim, and the key was turned in the 
look without a question. Through the window 
we saw the happy result of the innocent fraud, 
as the lucky passenger handed over the band 
box to a lady, with laughing thanks at the ‘ com¬ 
plete success’ of his happy expedition. Upon 
that hint one of the members spoke through the 
window, and out was handed the potent band 
box. Its second appearance at the door work¬ 
ed a like result, and the same experiment with 
the box three times, successively, gained en¬ 
trance, unquestioned. The fourth man, and the 
one who at first had been repulsed, now, with a 
faint hope of success, bore the magic box to the 
cai door, but the Cerebus of the car remem¬ 
bered faces, and for a moment hesitated, but as 
the band box was raised to his vision. 
breathed from a timid heart, 
I to grant the request 
characterized by kindnesi 
courage, rather thau send hack upon the soul 
with crushing j 
ment, grief and discouragement 
fleet. Can’t you, with trifling tnconv 
render assistance that may stamp you as a kind 
person indelibly on the mind? Have you care- 
iully examined the needs and nature of the ap¬ 
plicant? Perhaps the heart has fluctuated be¬ 
tween hope and fear for months upon your de¬ 
cision, so shrunk with dread from approaching 
you. Oh, send it not away to suffer from actual 
want, rather than endure the terrible pain of 
another refusal. 
"Please ma’am only a penny?” and the 
dreamy eyes were raised in tearful agony to the 
woman’s face. She haughtily gathered"up her 
silken robes and swept hurriedly past, exclaim¬ 
ing:—"Oh! these miserable street beggars: one 
can’t move without meeting them,” And the I 
child, cut to the soul by the haughty look and 
cruel words, wearied and disheartened with her 
painful efforts, went back to the lonely room 
and crept to the bedside of her dying mother, 
who, ere the dawning of the morn, "was wrapped 
Ou Friday. February 22, Gkorge/Washinc- 
ton. the father of American freedom, was born. 
On Friday. June 10, Bunker Hill was seized 
and fortified. On Friday, October 7, 1777, the 
surrender of Saratoga was made, which had 
such power and influence in inducing France to 
declare for our cause. On Friday, October 19, 
17*1, the surrender at Yovktown, the crowning 
glory of the American arms, occurred. On Fri¬ 
day, July 4. 1770, the motion in Congress was 
made by John Adams, seconded by K. n. Lkb, 
that the United Colonies "were, and of right 
‘liu, i ice par.ion for all his crimes— 
scaled with the royal signet. This was the secret 
ot his peace; this was what gave him coolness 
and confidence, in the dreadful position of a pris¬ 
oner before his king. 
Now, just such peace and calmness may we 
have in the judgment day, before the great 
white throne. Jesus our Saviour has died to 
pay all our debts, and to take away the sins of 
the whole world; and he tell- us all, that he will 
give a free pardon, sealed with the signet of the 
King of IviugB, if wo will go to Him in luith 
and ask Him for it; and therefore, if we go to 
Jesus now, and tell Him that we want this par¬ 
don very much, that when we stand before the 
great white throne we may not be condemned 
and cast into prison, he will give it to us. JBut 
if we do not go to Him, and do not get this par¬ 
don, then the judge will deliver us to the oflicer. 
and the officer will cast us into the dark and dis¬ 
mal prison of hell. 
s a child. She never gives us com- —-—-_. 
ires, but lets us watch her at work. HOW CHRIST EXALTED NATURE 
r forms dissolving and her colors - 
The distant sea to-day is of that de- Christ exalted our whole conception of na- 
r which is neither purple nor blue, ture ^7 habitually associating it with the spirit- 
id we find this fascinating indecision ual instruction of man. He made the wind 
As the waves break on the beach Q<xls minister to raise the mind of Nicodcmus 
ion, gray, purple, steely with light, to a conception of the Spirit’s influence. He 
foam, this vast blue ocean! The likened the Christian energies of his disciples 
ire loveliest at morniug and evening * J - V Panting to the fields whitening to harvest, 
ir haze reflects an ever-shifting light U)ar ‘ ietl fhe fluttering wings over the stony 
NATURE'S PICTURES, 
•Only just a small sum, sir,—Just enough to 
assist me through one quarter. Then I will 
teach and pay you doubly, and ever bless you 
for your kindness’’ The wealthy banker scru¬ 
tinized her closely, as he replied,—"You are 
frail looking. You might not live to earn that 
amount; I should be runuing a great risk. Bet¬ 
ter turn your attention to something else; we 
are already plentifully supplied with teachers." 
The poor orphan girl, with a beautiful and gift¬ 
ed mind, and a great longing cry for knowledge, 
felt her only hope expire with his words, and 
went slowly back to her post 
WHAT MAKES A LADY. 
When Beau Brummel was asked what made 
the gentleman, his quick reply -was, " Starch, 
starch, my lord!” This may he true; but it 
takes a great deal more to make a lady : and 
though it may to some seem singular, I am 
ready to maintain that no conceivable quantity 
of muslin, silk or satin, edging, frilling, hooping, 
flouncing, or furbelowing, can per se, or per 
dressmaker, constitute a real lady. 
Wag not Mrs. Abbot Lawrence just as much 
a lady when attired in twolve-cent calico, in 
Boston, as when arrayed in full court dress at 
. v t. Jumes, London? "As Mrs. Washington wag 
said to be so grand a lady,” says a celebrated 
English visitor, (Mrs. Troupe,) "we thought 
wo must put on our best bibs and bands, so we 
dressed ourselves in our most elegant rufiles and 
silLs, and worn introduced to her ladyship, and 
don’t you think we found her knitting, and with 
hei check apron on! She received us very grac¬ 
iously and easily, but after the compliments wore 
over she resumed her knitting. There we were 
without a stitch of work and sitting in state, but 
Gen. Washington’s lady, with her own hands, 
was knitting stockings for her husband.” Does 
not that sweet republican simplicity command 
your admiration ? 
aoove unsettle the colonng of their petals. The 
charm of the newly discovered French blues 
and purples is that they have this tremulous- 
ness, this bloom, this life. They are cold flames, 
they are dyed lights, not mummies c<f color. 
It is the same with life, the same with people, 
M hen they are all finished, correct, not to be 
taught, not to be startled or dismayed, to the 
mummy-pits with them! Who would not rather 
have sinners trembling between right and 
wrong, amused, depressed, influences every i 
hour shocking us, frightening, fascinating, I 
keeping us alive ? I saw once at a fair a bust of 
George Washington, life-size, done in soap; 
and beside it, in a glass jar, a Jelly-fish— the 
lowest form, 1 believe, of animal life. The 
servant, where 
toil, unkindness and sorrow soon terminated her 
life; while the sum denied her was expended 
the same evening for a robe of silk, for the pet¬ 
ted daughter, who could not tell the number of 
splendid dresses (scarcely soiled) that lined her 
wardrobe. 
"Don’t speak 111 of him, I can’t bear it ; for 
to him, under God, I owe all that I am. When 
sad and disheartened and every effort seemed 
unavailing, and I was tempted to dishonesty, his 
warning and kind encouraging words restrained 
me from sin, and inspired new strength and hopi 
wiitviupmuou, ne never paused to lay on 
the colors »>i the scene painter. Nature he 
viewed as made for man; in her illuminated let¬ 
tering he used to impress upon man the lessons 
of divine wisdom. The lilies of the field were 
to be considered in their monitions to humility, 
in their lessons ol trust in God, in their gentle, 
vet most expressive satire on regal glory and 
gorgeous apparel. All this attest- a state of 
perfect health, a settled calm of power and 
peaee, a still and placid elevation of soul, infi¬ 
nitely beyond reach of any cloud or any wind 
by which the clearness of the intellectual eye 
might be dimmed or its calmness fluttered.— 
Bayne. 
i'it.” Pause, 0 pause, ere you 
to a heart already writhingin 
crush out all hope, ere vou 
v to a noble and generous im¬ 
pulse, ere your words press the discordant 
strings of hatred and revenge, or cause the soul 
to bitterly exdaln,—" Oh! this cold, heartless 
world.” Listen to the better voice within, that 
you will hear more and more clearly the oftencr 
you heed its teachings, and a greater one hath 
said,— 1 "Ye shall in no wise lose your reward.” 
Lillie E, Lewis. 
GOSSIPPY PARAGRAPHS. 
— We give the following for what it may be 
worth:—A ball dress of pink crape over thin 
white silk, and ornamented with bunches of 
green dewy grass and bouquets of white violets 
is a very becoming costume, and calls forth the 
admiration ol all who behold it, generally ren¬ 
dering the wearer-if at, all pretty—that'envi¬ 
able creature known as the belle of the ball. 
— The last trial of the celebrated Yklver- 
^UN vase has developed the fact that a man may 
lawfully have a separate wife in each of the 
three countries - England, .Scotland and Ireland 
— whom he may respectively repudiate in each 
THANKFULNESS 
I hope, iiiend, you and I are uot loo proud to 
ask for our daily bread, and to be thankful for 
getting it. It is a thought to me, awful and 
beautiful, that of the dally prayer, and of the 
myriads of fellow-men uttering it. In care and 
sickness, indoubt and in poverty, in health and 
in wealth, all over tho world, what an endless 
chorus i- singing of love and thanks and prayer. 
Hay tells to day the wondrous story, and night 
recounts it all night. How do I come to think 
of a sunrise which I saw here twenty years ago 
on the Nile, when the river and sky flashed and 
glowed with dawning light, and as the lumina¬ 
ry appeared the boatmen knelt on tho rosy deck 
and adored Allah ? So, as your sun rises, friend, 
over the humble housetops round about your 
home, shall you wake many a day to duty"and 
labor. May the task have beeu honestly done 
when the night comes, and the steward deals 
kindly with the laborer.— Thackerau. 
HOME, SWEET HOME 
THE GLORY OF THE PINES 
Sri Any one who takes a Christian trait, 
Lq whether it be humility, or meekness, or geutle- 
vf ue ' ss j or liberality, or conscientiousness, or love, 
or zeal, or faith, and carries it beyond tbe line 
V 5 to which it is ordinarily carried, so that it 
U is a subject ot the inspiration, and so that it 
ft sparkles, and flashes, and flames, makes it 
% heroic. 
wuo mature Is love, and it reigns 
among all the shining ranks ot heaven. And in 
the numberless worlds which till immensity, and 
through the utmost variety of capacities and 
grades of beings, it needs but the fulfillment of 
this law to secure universal joy. Love is the 
one principle which binds ail individuals and 
pro\ irices of Ills rational kingdom to each other 
and each to His throne.— Air A:. 
Keep in good humor: anger is pure waste 
of vitality. No mau, and no boy, does liis best 
except he is cheerful. A light heart makes 
nimble hands, and keep- the body healthy and 
the mind free. 
