to the skin; but pale yellow or greenish yellow 
suits no one, especially those with pale com¬ 
plexions. Its effect Is to diffuse, by contrast, a 
purple hue over the complexion, and this is cer¬ 
tainly no addition to beauty. Blue is favorable 
to most complexions; light or sky blue espe¬ 
cially so to lair persons with golden hair; fuller 
tints to those who are less fair, or in whom years 
have developed some of the color of t he sere and 
yellow leaf peculiar to autumn. It often hap¬ 
pens that ns persons advance in years, colors 
which suited them in youth cease to be becom¬ 
ing; pink, for instance, agrees with a youthful 
complexion and fair skin, hut it does not har¬ 
monize with the yellow tints of more advanced 
ace; in this case either sky-blue, or pure deep 
blue, will be substituted with advantage for pink. 
TO CONTRIBUTORS 
less and beautiful, had I not espied the gleam of 
a friendly lamp. Guessing it came from 
“ Thy chamber window, sweet,” 
I made for it, over the roughest ground I ever 
navigated, where the waves were knee high. 
Having got back to the house, I passed around 
by the front door—wondering by the way 
whether the dog was chained— leapt the hedge 
and started for the mulberries, of whose topog¬ 
raphy r had some slight knowledge. Perhaps I 
destroyed some future melons in rny progress; 
for which I beg cousin Sam’s pardon. Down the 
long arcade, under the mulberries all was dark as 
one of Dim as’ plots. Now and then nn elbow 
of a tree gave ine a friendly nudge as I passed; 
or a low hanging limb took it upon itself to teach 
me manners. At last I discovered the fence by 
the road, as I had the others — suddenly and by 
the sense of touch. As I climbed over It there 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
MATTERS MATRIMONIAL. 
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE. 
Ot*R costliest buildings, our finest specimens 
of architecture, are the churches. \\ T c wear our 
best apparel (at least, most of us do,) to the 
house of worship, and observe within its walls a 
stricter deconun than any were else. This is ex¬ 
actly ns it should he, springing from the natural 
desire to avoid as far as possible having anything 
rude or uncomely connected with our religion. 
But in painful contrast with it stands the fact 
that that part of our literature which is devoted 
to religion is, generally speaking, the weakest 
and shabbiest, the least worthy of preservation. 
Much of onr pulpit oratory is of the most artifi¬ 
cial kind; and a large, perhaps the larger, part 
of the discourses delivered weekly in the temple 
to the best disposed audiences possible are stale 
or insignificant in tbeir matter, dull in their 
manner, logically lame and rhetorically ridicu¬ 
lous. You listen now to an interminable series 
of syllogisms intended to prove some proposi¬ 
tion that no one disputes, and now to a jumble 
which can only be described in newspaper lan¬ 
guage ns “a column of all-sorts.” You open 
the hymn-hook at the page announced, and the 
chances are that you light upon four to seven 
stanzas of what, were it not on a religious sub¬ 
ject, you would dignify with no better name 
than doggerel. The metaphors, few of which 
are at all poetical, run into each other like dis¬ 
solving views; the rhymes are many of them 
faulty; and the rhythm is rugged and unmusical. 
Wc sometimes think that the obscuring of the 
words by modern choir singing, which has been 
so often ridiculed, is a mercy for which the hear¬ 
ers can not be too thankful. 
Nor is this all. The more pretentious portions 
of our religious literature are equally poor. 
When, in the first year of the late, war, a call 
was made for reading mat ter for the soldiers, and 
it was announced soon after that the 
Having a devoted companion of our own, we sin¬ 
cerely sympathize with the luckier-, wight, author or 
“Matters Matrimonial,” ami fully agTee with him 
that material for good wives is sadly wanting in these 
degenerate days of fashion and folty. Hoping that 
he may yet Jinti the fair being of his imagination, to 
whom he may doff hie hut and make his best bow, we 
send these few lines for his especial perusal: 
TIIK PAST AND VILICSKJtT TIMES. 
When my good mother was a girl— 
Say thirty years ago— 
Young ladies then knew how to knit 
As well as bow to sew. 
Young ladies then could spin and weave, 
Couid bake, and brew and sweep, 
Could sing and play, could dance and paint, 
And could a secret keep. 
Young ladies then were beautiful 
As any beauties now; 
Yet they could rake the new mown hay, 
Or milk the brindle cow. 
Young ladles then wore bonnets, too, 
And with them their own hair; 
They made them from their own good straw, 
And pretty, too, they were. 
Young ladies then wore gowns with sleeves 
Which would Just hold their arms: 
And did not have as many yards 
As acres in their farms. 
Young ladies then off fell in love, 
And married, too, the men; 
While men with willing hearts and true, 
Loved thorn all back aguln. 
Young ladies now can knit and sew. 
Or rend a pretty bool¬ 
ean sing and paint, and joke and quiz, 
But cannot bear to cook. 
Young ladles turn can blithely spin 
Of “ street yam ” many a spool. 
And weave a web of scandal, too, 
And dye it iti the wool. 
Young ladies now can bake their hair, 
Can brew tbeir own cologne, 
In borrowed plumage often shine, 
While they neglect their own. 
And as to secrets, who would think 
Fidelity a pearl ? 
None but a modest little miss. 
Perchance a country girl. 
Young ladles now wear lovely curls. 
What pity they should buy them; 
And then their bonnets—heavens! they fright 
The beau that ventures nigh them. 
Even love is changed from what it was, 
Although true iovo is known; 
‘Tis wealth adds luster to the cheek, 
And incite the heart of stone. \ 
Thus time works wonders—young and old 
Confess hie magic power; 
Beauty will fade. ; but virtue proves 
Pure gold in man's last hour. 
Mrs. N. Shields Wit he eon. 
Dawn, Mo„ Jan. 1st, 1807. 
A PLEA FOR EARLY MARRIAGES 
Rev. Henrv Morgan lectured in Boston not 
long since on the subject, “ Young Men and 
Early Marriages.” The following is the Her¬ 
ald’s report of the lecture: 
“Nature, history, and revelation declare, ‘It 
Js not good.that man should be alone.’ He 
needs a help mate—a wife is the balance-wheel, 
the regulator, the guardian angel of a husband’s 
trust, confidence and prosperity. Politically, 
socially, morally and spiritually, man requires a 
wife. Man needs n home. The Romans gave 
bachelors no legacies. Corinth denied them sep¬ 
ulture. Athenians scourged them. In Plato’s 
commonwealth, at the age of thirty-five they 
were fined. Man is but half a man without 
a wife. lu all jour gettings, get a wife, and 
never rest from getting till you get married. 
Better live in an attic, under the hallowed in- 
fluence of a wife, than revel in a palace of dis¬ 
sipation. Mun needs a home. Marriage is the 
legitimate basis of a geniuine home. Look at 
the deplorable condition of the young men of 
this city without homes. Boarding houses have 
no elevating society of women, no home influ¬ 
ences, no place of mental or moral improve¬ 
ment, no altar of prayer, no angel of love. In 
Philadelphia there are more homes in propor¬ 
tion to its population than in Boston; hence 
Boston has an unequal contest in the battle of 
morals.” 
THE LONG AGO 
BY RICHARD MONCTON MILNEH, 
On that deep retiring shore 
Frequent pearls of beauty lie, 
Where the passion waves of yore 
Fiercely beat and mounted high. 
Sorrows that are sorrows still 
Lose the bitter taste of woe; 
Nothing’s altogether ill 
In the griefs of long ago. 
Tombs where lonely love repines, 
Ghastly tenements of tears, 
Wear the look Of happy shrines 
Through the golden mist of years. 
Death, to those who trust in good, 
Vindicates ills hardest blow. 
Oh! we would not, if we could, 
Wake the sleep of long ago. 
Though the doom of swift decay 
Shocks the soul where life is strong, 
Though for frailer hearts the day 
Lingers sad and over-long, 
Still the weight will find a leaven, 
Still the spoiler’s hand is slow. 
While the future has its heaven 
And the past its long ago. 
WHAT’S IN A NAME! 
The Gothic gives us “ Adelaide,” the princess; 
“Alphonso,” our help; “Charles,” one who is 
crowned; “Charlotte,” a crowned; “Emma,” 
one who nurses; “Ernest,” ardent of soul; 
“Everard,” well reported; “Francis,” freeman. 
From the French wc borrow “Amelia,” be¬ 
loved; “Arabella,” beautiful altar; “Isabella,” 
olive-colored; “Rosabella,” a beautiful rose; 
“Rosalind,” elegant rose. 
From the Latin we obtain “Augustus,” in¬ 
creasing, noble; “Barbara,” strange; “Bea¬ 
trice,” one who blesses; “Clara,” clear; 
“Grace,” favor; “Viola,” the violet; “Jane,” 
peace; “Julius,” soft-haired; “Julia,” soft- 
haired woman; “Juliette,” little and soft-haired; 
“Letitia,” joy; “Margaret,” a pearl; “Miran¬ 
da,” admired; “Oliver,” olive man ; “Blanche,” 
white. 
From the Greek we take “Agatha,” good; 
“Agnes,” chaste; “Basil,” kingly; “Bertha,” 
bright; “Catherine,” pure; “Erasmus,” wor¬ 
thy to tie loved; “ Eugene,” nobly descended; 
“Theodore,” a gift of God; “Cvnis,” lord; 
“ George,” a farmer; “ Helen,” one" who pities; 
“Matilda,” stately; “Phoebe,” light of life; 
“Philemon,” one who kisses; “Philip,” a lover 
of horses; “Sophia,” wisdom. 
pious peo¬ 
ple of the North, thinking the poor fellow in 
the presence of such awful danger would neces¬ 
sarily turn his mind away from earthly things, 
had sent all their religions books to the army, 
everybody appreciated at once the stupendous 
joke which had been unconsciously perpetrated; 
for everybody knew that nine out of ten soldiers 
would rather scale the bloodiest bastion of the 
enqmy than wade through the stupidities of 
many who have taken it upon themselves to 
write religious books. 
And the commentaries on the Bible, which 
ought to be the most concise and simple kind of 
writing, what are they? Let us open one at 
random—at the sixth chapter of Job, we read: 
“ The early part of this chapter contains an at¬ 
tempt on the part of his friends (so called) to 
overwhelm him with eloquent and severe speech¬ 
es, for which there was too much ground. But 
when l>e addresses the same language to the 
Almighty himself, and accuses Him of violence 
and wrong, nothing can excuse or palliate his 
crime, but the multitude and extremity of his 
afflictions; which none but He who inflicted, and 
he who bore them, duly could appreciate.” The 
axiomatic inanity of such commentaries — and 
we have quoted a fair, nay, a favorable sped 
men—needs no demonstration. They are written 
for the mere sake of writing something. Then- 
authors escape the condemnation which falls 
upon men of like ability who thus treat other 
subjects, only as of old the murderer escaped 
the law by Liking refuge in the sanctuary. 
A book recently written and published anony¬ 
mously in London has made a great stir in the 
religious world. Repeated editions have been 
called for, and every possible guess at the iden¬ 
tity of the author circulated in the papers. Yet 
there is nothing wonderful about “EcceHomo,” 
except as compared with the generality of reli¬ 
gious books. It is simply a clear, sharp and 
frequently suggestive analysis of the life and 
character of our Saviour and the plan of salva¬ 
tion ; and it has made a sensation merely because 
clear, sharp and suggestive writing is unusual in 
that department of literature. 
A celebrated divine is now traveling in Pales¬ 
tine. We have just read one of his letters, in a 
popular religious journal. It is almost entirely 
made up of repetitions of this formula “This 
morning we started from-aud journeyed so 
many miles to-, where we stopped for re¬ 
freshment. The place reminded me of the 
-the chapter of-. How thankful I 
BEYOND THE SIDEWALKS. 
TAKE CARE OF jTKE CHILDREN’S FEET 
Residents of the rural districts sometimes en¬ 
tertain romantic ideas of the possibility of get¬ 
ting lost in the city. The complicated labyrinth 
oi streets and avenues, the endless blocks of 
stores and dwellings, one just like another, and 
the motley crowd forever hurrying past,—all 
combine to confuse the points of the compass 
and distract the reckoning of the stranger. But 
in truth people bred In the city sometimes find 
it quite as difficult to go st raight to a destination 
in the country, without names to the roads or 
numbers to the houses. For instance, we have 
a vciy distinct recollection of traveling in the 
country ojicu vrhan a boy, and being told that to 
find our destination wc must “go straiirht,ahead 
the parents. A child should never be allowed 
to go to sleep with cold feet; the thing to be 
last attended to, in putting a child to bed, 
should be to sec that the feet arc perfectly dry 
and warm; neglect of this has often resulted 
in a dangerous attack of croup, dtptherla or fatal 
sore throat. 
Always on coming from school, on entering 
the house from a visit or errand in rainy, inuddy 
or thawy weather, the child’s shoes should be 
removed, and the mother should herself ascer¬ 
tain if the stockings are the least damp; and if 
so, should require them to he taken otf, the feet 
held before the lire and rubbed with the baud 
till perfectly dry, and another pair of stockings, 
he put on, and another pair of shoes, while the 
other stockings and shoes should be placed 
where they can be well dried, so as to he ready 
for future use at a moment’s notice. 
overturned by a tornado. The consequence was 
that we rambled over half the township and 
finally learned that a wind-fall might he only a 
few scarcely perceptible hammocks, covered 
with n second growth of timber, indicating the 
path, of a whirlwind of last century. 
Not many years ago a young gentleman of our 
acquaintance ventured beyond the sidewalks a 
short distance for an evening call on a fair cousin. 
It seems he was not familiar with the place and 
had forgotten the precaution of consulting the 
almanac on the question of moon. When lie left 
the house the night was as black as the ace of 
clubs, - * and a slight rain was falling. His adven¬ 
tures in finding the homeward road were such 
that he says he will never go there again without 
a lantern, a ball of twine and a pocketful of 
crackers. A letter which he soon after wrote to 
the lady has come into our possession, and we 
quote the story of his wanderings: 
“You may he interested in learning how I 
DRESS AND COMPLEXION, 
No point of taste in drees needs more careful 
study, and none perhaps is more generally Jell 
to http-hazard experiment, or what is mysteri¬ 
ously called the “taste” of the milliner or 
mantua maker, than the harmonizing of dress 
with the complexion. A little study of the 
laws and phenomena of optics will show that the 
harmonizing of colors depends upon certain 
fixed principles and may almost be reduced to a 
science. An anonymons writer, proceeding from 
these facts, lays down some general rules on the 
subject, which arc well worth bearing in mind. 
Of all colors, perhaps, the most trying to the 
complexion, are tin- different shades of lilac and 
purple. Thu fashionable and really beautiful 
mauve and its varieties arc, of course, included 
in this category. In accordance with the well- 
known law of optics, that all colors, simple or 
compound, have n tendency to tint surrounding 
objects with a faint spectrum of their comple¬ 
mentary color, those above-mentioned, which re¬ 
quire for tbeir harmony various tints ol'ycllowond 
green, impart these complementary colors to the 
complexion. It is scarcely necessary to observe 
that of all complexions, those which turn upon 
yellow are the most unpleasant in their effect — 
and probably, for this reason, that in tills climate 
it is always a sign of bad health. But, it will be 
asked, is there no means of harmonizing colors 
so beautiful in themselves, with the complexion, 
and so avoidin 
Clothes on Fire—What to Do.— There arc 
many lives lost annually, especially of females, 
by the accidental ignition of their clothing. 
When an occurrence of this kind takes place it 
requires cool and prompt, action to render assist¬ 
ance effectual. Hesitation, brief though it be, 
generally renders subsequent efforts at relief 
unavailing. The Scientific American suggests 
that when the clothes Like lire a woolen garment 
should be immediately clasped around the per¬ 
son, and the body be placed in a recumbent po¬ 
sition as the clothing will hum less rapidly than 
when an erect attitude is maintained. The burn¬ 
ing clothing must be removed as soon as possi¬ 
ble and the burned portions of the body be 
Sprinkled with flour, which will soothe and heal 
the wounds speedily unless very deep. Iu the 
latter event other applications may become nec¬ 
essary, but as a first one this will be found of 
excellent service. 
HOW TO LIVE EASILY 
The art of living easily, as to money, is to 
pitch your scale of living one degree below 
your means. Comfort and enjoyment are more 
dependent upon easiness in the detail of ex¬ 
penditure than upon any degree in the scale. 
Guard against false associations of pleasure with 
I expenditure-rthe notion iB absurd that because 
pleasure can be purchased with money, there¬ 
fore money cannot be spent without enjoyment. 
What a thing costs a map is no true measure of 
what it is worth to him; and yet how often is 
his appreciation governed by no other standard, 
as if there were a pleasure in expenditure pei - sc. 
Let yourself feel a want before you provide 
against it. l r ou are more assured that it is a 
real want, and it is worth while to feel it a lit¬ 
tle, in order to feel relief from it. 'When you 
are undecided as to which of the two courses 
you would like best, choose the cheapest. This 
rule will not only save money, but save also a 
good deal of trifling indecision. 
Loss OF Time. —An impatient Welshman called 
to his wife—” Come, come, isn’t breakfast ready ? 
I’ve had nothing since yesterday, and to-morrow 
will be the third day! ” This is equal to the call 
of the stirring housewife who roused her maid 
at four o’clock with, “Come, Bridget, get up! 
Here, ’tis Monday morning, to-morrow is Tues¬ 
day, the next day’s Wednesday — half the week 
gone and nothing done yet ? ” 
Too much leis¬ 
ure leads to expense; because when a man is in 
want of objects, it occurs to him that they are to 
be had for money, and he invents expenditure 
in order to pass the time .—Henry Taylor. 
g these ill effects ? To a certain 
extent this may he done, and as follows: 
Should the complexion lie dark, the purple 
tint may be dark also, because, by contrast, it. 
makes the complexion appear fairer; if the skin 
be pale or fair, the tint should he lighter. In 
cither case the color should never be placed next 
the skin, but should be parted from it by the 
hair and by a ruche of tulle, which produce the 
neutralizing effect of gray. Should the com¬ 
plexion still appear too yellow, green leaves 
or green ribbons may be worn ns trimmings. 
This will often neautralize lilac and purple 
colors, and thus prevent their Imparting an un¬ 
favorable hue to the skin. 
Scarcely less difficult than mauve to harmonize 
with the complexion is the equally beautiful 
color called “magenta." The complementary 
color would be yellow-green; “magenta,” there¬ 
fore, requires very nice treatment to make it 
becoming. It must be subdued when near the 
skin, and this must be done by intermixture 
with black, either by dimiuishing its brightness 
by nearly covering it with black lace, or by intro¬ 
ducing the color in very small quantity only. 
Yellow, also, is a difficult color to harmonize 
with the complexion. A bright yellow, like 
that of the buttercup, contrasts well with black 
and is becoming to brunes, when not placed next 1 
Self-Dependence, 
Many an unwise parent 
works hard, and lives sparingly all his life for 
the purpose of leaving enough to give his chil¬ 
dren a start in the world, as it is called. Setting 
a young man afloat with money left him by his 
relatives, is like tying a bladder under the arms 
of one who cannot swim; ten chances to one he 
will lose his bladders and go to the bottom. 
Teach him to swim aud he will not need the 
bladders. Give your child a 
An Excellent Sewing Machine.—A young 
man out W est was entrusted with the money to 
bring his father home a good family sewing ma¬ 
chine. He carried otf a neighbor’s daughter to 
Chicago, married aud brought her home, declar¬ 
ing she was the best family sowing machine he 
could procure. 
good education. 
See to it that his morals arc pure, his mind 
cultivated, and his whole nature made subservi¬ 
ent to the laws which govern man, and you will 
have given what will be of more value than the 
wealth of the Indies. You have given him a 
start which no misfortune can deprive him of. 
The earlier you teach him to depend upon his 
own resources aud the blessing of God, the 
better. 
A Valuable Skirt. — An aged woman, who 
spent her time in rag-picking, has just died in 
Charlestown, Mass., amid scenes of the greatest 
Prior to her decease 
distress, filth and poverty, 
a skirt was found iu her apartment, in which there 
was sewed up several thousand dollars iu gold. 
Dividing the House.— “I think,” said a wife 
who conldnotagrce with her husband—“I think, 
Mr, Jibbs, we had better divide the house. You 
shall live on one side and I on the other.” “ Very 
well, my dear,” replied he; “you take the out¬ 
side, and ril have the inside.” 
Life, we’ve been long together. 
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather. 
’Tis hard to part when friends arc dear. 
Perhaps ’twill cost a sigh, a tear; 
Then steal away, give little warning. 
Choose thine own time, 
Say not good night! hut in some happier clime 
Bid me good morning! [J frs. Barbauld. 
But for the thought of Providence, one would 
say that the world went all wrong; but it is 
rather wc who do not the right, We complaiu, 
wc get frightened, just as though God were not 
there. Never let us forget that it is he h ims elf 
and not man who guides us; else there would 
indeed be reason to despair, and to set out, like 
Columbus, iu search of a new world. 
There is no doubt that of all the States, the 
one in which the most earnest heart-prayers are 
offered up for the Uhion is the State of Single 
Blessedness. 
Tnur that deny themselves for Christ, shall 
enjoy themselves in Christ. 
