tables' ftart-Jmlia* 
SONG. 
In the night she told s. story, 
In the night and all night through, 
While the moon wa3 in her glory, 
And the branches dropt with dew. 
Twaa my life she told, and round It 
Bose the years and from a deap: 
In the world's great heart she found it 
Cradled like a child asleep. 
In the night I saw her weaving 
By the misty moonbeam oold, 
All the weft hor shuttle cleaving 
With a sacred thread of gold. 
Ah ! she wept me tears of sorrow, 
Bulling tears so mystic sweet: 
Then she wove my last to-morrow 
And her.web lay at my feet. 
Of my life she made the story: 
I must weep —so aeon 'twas told i 
But your narao did lend it glory. 
And your love Its threud of gold. 
[Jean Ingeloxv. 
A WORD ABOUT WOMAN’S WORK. 
I have lived in an okl-fasliioned family a 
score of years, and my cars are daily edified 
by the storied of what the women used to do 
In “old times,"—of the flax spun, woven, 
and bleached for the summer garments, and 
the unremitting toil of getting the wool in 
order for the winter garments, the whole 
spun and woven in tho family, to say noth¬ 
ing of the immense quantities of rye and 
Indian bread,pork and beans, pumpkin pies, 
etc., etc., baked in those days, and the hard 
labor it was to do all this baking in the brick 
oven, while all t his hard work only made the 
ladies of those days healthy and handsome. 
Then, to hear these old-fashioned fault¬ 
finders declare that all tho women o tho 
present day need to make them healthy is 
more work. Dear me! it gives me a “ stitch" 
in the side to think of it ! 
I believe we do, Indeed, as a people “ grow 
weaker and wiser.” I think that the plain 
food of those, olden days had much to do 
with the health of the people. Wc of this 
generation eat too much rich, and therefore 
indigestible food; and whose shall the mis¬ 
sion bo to inform us in this particular. If 
we can agree with tho physician, whose re¬ 
marks wc read in tho Rural of January 2, 
wo shall soon arrive at the truth, viz.: that 
the nearly air-tight houses of to-day foster 
the catarrh, asthma, and consumption, which 
are tho banc of the American people, and 
which the old-fashioned rooms of half a i 
century ago, with their wide, cheerful fire -1 
places, where pure uir ivas always circu¬ 
lating, did not. 
It is an undeniable fact that women of the 
present day, with all tho inventions t® lighten 
her labor, and all the appliances of art, arc 
harder worked than the women of fifty years 
ago; and t hat they are less able to cope with, 
the hard duties that fall to their lot. It is 
true there are those whose hands arc never 
soiled with labor, whose plethoric purse is 
the magic wand that exempts them from 
toils which are the heritage of her less 
favored sisters; but of the wealthy butterfly 
of fashionable lifu we have nothing to say. 
Our spheres are widely separated, and wc 
can hardly imagine what sort of a woman 
she must be who has no care, nor labor, and 
I migl tadd no aim in life. But the majority 
of women must labor; wives, daughters and 
mothers of poor men,—they must sustain 
their part in the battle of life; in homely 
phrase, “ must hold up one end of the yoke 
and though wc often find one whose natural 
indolence of disposition will shirk tho duties 
of her elation, and who will, she assures us, 
take the world easy, as there is only one lifo 
to live. On the other hand we find those 
whose whole life seems to be absorbed in her 
family, in husband and children, who is pale 
and spiritless, and uncomplaining, and who 
spares herself no toil, no care, no self denial, 
to save those she loves from anything un¬ 
pleasant. 
It is pitiful to see a woman like this, while 
it is provoking to see one like the former,— 
the one all self, caring nothing for anything 
but her own ease; the other so patient, that 
her children and husband only look on her 
self denial as their right, and come at last to 
regard her only in the light of an article ne¬ 
cessary to their happiness. What wonder 
that the asylums for the insane have two 
female patients to one male ? What wonder 
that women, with the cares and ills of ma¬ 
ternity, the labors of the household by day, 
and only broken rest at night, at last grow 
p?le, and fretful, and nervous? 
We care too much for our bodies, at the 
expense of our mental health. When the 
time comes that we live plainer, and dress 
more in accordance with health and com¬ 
fort, and less to meet the requirements of 
absurd fashion, then will come t ho Women’s 
Jubilee. When shall that millennial day 
dawn ? Berry Biuar. 
-»-»» - 
The best lessons are often learned by ex¬ 
perience. So are some of the worst. Experi¬ 
ence is one of the very oldest of teachers, but 
its prices are sometimes ruinously high. 
THE OLDTOWN HEROINE. 
Lx Mrs. Stowe's new novel, “ Oldtown 
Folks,” if there be any heroine it is little 
Tina Perceval, of whom the author says: 
“ I have always fancied Tina to be one of 
that species of womankind that used to be 
sought out for priestesses to the Delphic 
oracle. She had a flame-like, impulsive, 
ethereal temperament, a capacity for sudden 
inspirations, in which she was carried out of 
herself, and spoke winged words that made 
one wonder whence they came. Her reli¬ 
gious zeal had impelled her to be the ad¬ 
viser of every one who came near her, and 
her sayings were quoted, and some of our 
shaggy, rough-coatcd mountain Hoys thought 
that they never had an idea of the beauty of 
holiness before.” 
Tina believed her calling was to influence 
young men in religion,—a calling which it 
were well other young ladies might take 
kindly to. True maidenly piety is such a 
tender and holy thing that its influence is 
more effectual in subduing the roughness of 
young manhood nature than any other min¬ 
istration not absolutely divine. But there 
are social considerations involved in the 
young woman’s relations to young men, and 
her half-tender, wholly earnest deportment 
toward them is liable, though it ought not, 
to be misconstrued. In regard to this, and 
in further explanation of her heroine’s char¬ 
acter, Mrs. Stowe remarks - 
“ GUIs like Tina nro often censured as 
flirts—most tmjuslly bo, too. Their un- 
awakened nature gives them no power of 
perceiving what must be tho full extent of 
their influence owr die opposite sex. Tina 
was warmly social; she was enthusiastic 
and self-confident, and had precisely that 
spirit which slionld fit a woman to bo 
priestess or prophetess, to Inspire and to 
lead. 8hc had a magnetic fervor of nature, 
an attractive force that warmed in her cheeks 
and sparkled in her eyes, and seemed to 
make summer around her. She excited the 
higher faculties—poetry, ideality, blissful 
dreams seemed to bo her atmosphere, and 
she had a power of quick sympathy, of 
genuine, spontaneous outburst, that gave to 
her looks and words almost the value of a 
caress.” 
■-■»»»-«- 
PRESENT SUFFRAGE RIGHTS. 
Speaking of suffrage, an exchange makes 
the following statements: 
Women possess the right to vote more ex¬ 
tensively than is generally supposed. In 
Austria, women can vote as nobles, in their 
Corporate capacity as nuns, and as tax-pay¬ 
ers. In somo cases, however, they vote by 
proxy. In Hungary up to 1813, widows, 
and single women, who were landed pro¬ 
prietors, possessed the right to vote. They 
were deprived of it. by the revolutionary gov¬ 
ernment, and aro now petitioning for tho 
restoration of this right. 
In Canada, as in several of our own States, 
women arc allowed to vote for and serve 
as school trustees. In the Britsh Australian 
colony of Victoria women universally assum¬ 
ed the right to vote about four years ago, 
having found that the law had been so framed 
as to permit them. In Sweden, chiefly 
through the exertions of the late Fredrika 
Bremer, an indirect right of voting was, in 
18G3, granted to all women possessing specific 
property qualifications. In Italy, a widow, 
or wife separated from her husband, may 
vote if she pays taxes. Also, in Holland, 
single ■women possessing property arc entitled 
to vote on all questions likely to affect its 
value. In many towns in France, women 
possess and exercise the right to vote in 
municipal affairs. 
-.-*•♦»- 
GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS. 
When a young lady offers to hem a hand¬ 
kerchief for a rich old bachelor, doesn’t it 
look as if she meant to sow in order that she 
might reap ? 
Ladies’ ears, so long neglected, have 
become an object of attention in Paris, and 
are now tinted with pink or white. They 
arc brought forward or forced backward, 
according to taste. 
The uew marriage law of Ohio, prohibits 
marriages between first cousins, and of girls 
under sixteen years of age, and of girls or 
“ young ladies” under twenty-one years of 
age, without the consent of their parents. 
A lady whose family were very much in 
the habit of making conundrums, was one 
evening asked by her husband, in an excited 
tone, “ Why are these doors always left 
open ?” “ I give i-t up!” instantly replied 
the wife. 
TnE profession of designer is one of the 
nest in the community; but there are many 
men, and now and then a woman, in almost 
every place, whose designs arc anything hut 
good and commendable. One is artistic; the 
other artful. 
HUMAN FRAILTY. 
Even the snotv-flatco lets a shadow fall. 
As to the earth it softly sinks to rest; 
So may the whitest, sweetest souls of all 
Seem sometimes wromr to those who know them 
best* 
|I?0k£ Misallimg 
STRANGERS NOW! 
TEAKS ef chequered life together, 
Days of fair untl stormy weather. 
Hours of loll, end weery pain. 
Moments of eternal gain. — 
All arc gone, — we know not how. 
And havo left us strangers now! 
Words that flowed to lighten care. 
Thoughts wbloh others could not share. 
Hopes too bright for mortal oyos, 
Prayers for wisdom from tho skies.— 
All have ceased. — wo know not how, 
And have left us strangers now! 
Will it evormore be thus! 
Shall t he past be lost to us t 
Can the souls, united hero. 
Never once again bo near? 
Must we to the sentence bow — 
Strangers ever, strangers now ?’• 
Thorns amid tho rones press: 
Earth Is but a wilderness; 
Flitting o’er n fallen race, 
Love can find no resting place: 
Where his flowers immortal grow. 
Shall we strangers be as now ? 
•-- -» ♦-»---~ 
THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS. 
We have many individual rights with 
which our fellows have no concern, and 
which wo are justified in dinging to ten¬ 
aciously. But our fellows have also some 
rights which are Justly theirs, and which we 
are not warranted in disturb big. And in 
the common amenities of life wo are not 
pardonable if we allow our private rights to 
clash in any great degree with, those of our 
neighbors. 
It is the undoubted right of every indi¬ 
vidual who lias paid for an evening’s enjoy¬ 
ment to secure tho same. If lie goes to a 
concert, lie Is entitled to hear the entire pro¬ 
gramme, from the opening overture to tho 
closing aria. Whoever, attending the samo 
entertainment, arrives there late, creates a 
tumult, and distracts from the pleasure in 
progress, interferes with a vested right and 
title, and should bo punished for a misde¬ 
meanor. 
There is nothing more annoying, to all 
people of good taste, than tho late incoming, 
at any public gathering, of the laggards. 
Just when the preacher is declaring his 
general propositions, which wo must hear it 
we would fully comprehend thepurposo and 
scope of his discourse,—or the lecturer has 
begun those pleasant prcludatory sentences 
which whet our appetites for the remainder 
of his feast,—or Uiua^.xUc.ar:!. breathing 
out the very sweetest harmonics of tho en¬ 
tire evening,— these laggards aro sure to 
enter, their boots squeaking along down the < 
aisles, (they always squeak!) and their pre¬ 
sence almost an intolerable nuisance. 
Why on earth can’t some people always 
be “ on time ” in this world, as well as others ? 
Is punctuality a partial gift, bestowed only 
on certuiu elect? Or is it a habit, or an ac¬ 
complishment? The latter, wc arc inclined 
to think; for wo notice that they who prac¬ 
tice punctuality for a while become habitu¬ 
ally punctual without difficulty, while the 
laggards are never anything hut laggards. 
The laggard is either very thoughtless of the 
happiness of others, in following out his 
habit, or utterly regardless. We write this 
to set him thinking, if it be the one, or to tell 
him ho is intensely selfish and mean, if it be 
the other. 
“But it’s a free country,” says the lag¬ 
gard, “and I can go and come when I 
choobe. Guess I shan’t hurry myself unless 
I’ve a mind to.” 
No, tve don’t suppose you will. This is a 
free country. But nowhere have you a 
moral right to wrong your fellow. When 
he pays a dollar to hear Ole Bull play, 
you wrong him, pecuniarily, if you deprive 
him of any part of the performance. You 
wrong him as really as though you took so 
much money out of his pocket. You arc 
guilty of petty larceny, and of the most pro¬ 
voking kind. Did you never look at it just 
in this light before? Then see yonr actions 
clearly, for once; and the next time you go 
out to a public entertainment go in good sea¬ 
son, and don’t get up to leave until the entire 
programme is completed. So will you gain 
something yourself; so will your neighbors 
be not robbed of their just dues. 
- *++ --- 
FLOWERS. 
This were a dreary world, indeed, if never 
upon its breezes floated the sweet influence 
of beauty and blossoms. Everything beau¬ 
tiful has its mission among men; every re¬ 
currence of the blossoming time is a season 
full of blessing, if only men will open their 
hearts and allow themselves to be blessed. 
Each opening petal teaches something; and 
the thoughtful will surely learn somewhatof 
its teachings. Some one has written thus of 
the divine lessons of flowers: 
Flowers teach us the tenderness of God’s 
character. If He had made nothing of this 
kind,—if Ilis works had been for bare utility, 
and had consisted of coarse and more sub¬ 
stantial creations only, tbe tender side of the 
divine character would have failed of the 
revelation it now has in nature. You cannot 
come across a delicate, trembling flower in 
the shade of a wood, so small that your heel 
could crush out its life with one careless step, 
but that you will think how gentfe God must 
be, who made tins flower in its exqisile 
beauty to live there, and da iky cares for it in 
the regular course of His providence. 
Following the samo idea, the Bleep of the 
flowers touches our sympathies. Many of 
them at night will fold their petals closety 
together, and, like tho darlings of a kind 
mother, repose trustfully in the care of their 
Creator. And during the long, dark night, 
they gather the dews which distil in tho 
quiet air, and when day comes, the first 
beams of the morning fall on millions of glit¬ 
tering drops, and flash back from loaf and 
hud and petal and glassy blade, in such bril¬ 
liance that the whole waving and nodding 
field of blooming beauty seems dressed in 
gems more resplendent than any dream of 
oriental magnificence. So it may be with 
us, if in the night of this somewhat somber 
life, we chaw to ourselves the clews of heav¬ 
enly grace. We may hope that when eterni¬ 
ty fully dawns, the morning light of our 
Father’s love will glanco upon these jewels 
which we have gathered near the cross, and 
so light them up as to cover us with glory. 
•-*-*-*- 
HAVE CHARITY. 
Dip you ever think how much of truth 
there is in Alexander Page’s verse,— 
“ All mon tbtnk nil moil mortals but themselves ?" 
IIow prone wo arc to overlook our own 
weakness while the faults of others loom up 
mountain high. Turning tho glass of criti¬ 
cism towards ourselves, wo seo through It 
darkly. Perfection is not earthly. To care¬ 
fully observo and gently correct tho errors 
of a Mentl is in nccordaneo with the teach¬ 
ings of Christianity; but ft “ fault-finding 
spirit is a grievous thing." No class of per¬ 
sons more deserve the contempt of mankind 
than those conceited types of excellence who 
assume that, their highest duties consist in 
spying out and exaggerating tho uninten¬ 
tional omissions and commissions of their 
fellow beings. 
In one of Puny’s letters, ho says“ The 
highest of all characters is his who is as 
ready to pardon the errors of mankind, as if 
he were every clay guilty of some himself; 
and, at tho samo time, as •autious of com¬ 
mitting a fault, as if lie never forgave one.” 
We are too willing to condemn hastily. 
Ambition, revengo and jealousy havo often 
triumphed over innocence. Unwarranted 
suspicions, breathed aloud, have often ruined 
the social standing of innocent victims. Wo 
aro too selfish, suspicions and uncharitable. 
It is cruel to ascribe an unworthy motlvo to 
every deed. Bad as the world is, all are not 
bad. “ Honor to whom honor is due; ” but 
when the evidence is indisputable, let no 
cloak be thrown over the crime. Censure 
and praise should both bo measured out 
justly; for tiio gifted, erring Poe said truly, 
“ Tho laudation of the unworthy is, to the 
worthy, the most hitter of all wrongs.” 
L. D. Burdick. 
■-- 
A FEW SMILES. 
The mouths of milk cans aro fast becom¬ 
ing fashionable “ watering places.” 
Wiiy is oak tho worst wood of which to 
make a wooden log ? It produces a-corn. 
Why is a fine specimen of handwriting 
like a dead pig? Because it is dono with 
the pen. 
Why arc your eyes like friends separated 
by distant climes? They correspond, but 
never meet. 
A wag proposes to publish a new paper, 
to be called the Comet, with an original tale 
every week. 
Why is a selfish friend like tho letter P? 
Because, though first in pity, ho is the last 
in help. 
“Where are you going to?” asked one 
littlo boy of another, who had slipped and 
fallen down. “ Going to get up,” was the 
blunt reply. 
“ I don’t like to patronize this liue,” said 
a hardened rogue, as the hangman adjusted 
the noose to his neck. “ Never mind for 
just this once," answered the hangman. 
“ Have you seen my black-faccd ante¬ 
lope?” asked Mr. Leoscope, who had a col¬ 
lection of animals, of his friend Bottlejack. 
“ No, I haven’t. Whom did your black-faccd 
aunt elope with ?” 
Mark Twain says that the difference be¬ 
tween an American wilderness and an Afri¬ 
can wilderness is, that in ono you are con¬ 
tinually surrounded by black bears, in the 
other by bare blacks. 
A sharp grocer, when a customer who 
was buying a gallon of molasses observed 
that u gootl deal remained in the measure 
after it was turned, remarked, “ There was 
some in the measure before I drew your 
gallon.” 
“Where is the hoc, Sambo?” “It wid 
de rake, massa.” “ Well, where is the rake ?” 
“ Why, wid dc hoe.” “ Well, well—where 
are they both ?” “ Why, dey both togedder, 
massa—you ’pears to be berry ’ticlar dis 
xnornin’!” 
FOLLOWING THE MASTER. 
CatnsTUN ; eaust thou Idly loiter. 
Fold thy hands and stt ulfcusc.' 
While all around the work Is waiting. 
Dost thou strive thyaclX to please i 
Though the sun shines o'er thy pathway, 
Many faint kenoath the storm: 
Hast thou not some words of comfort. 
Deeds of love for those who mourn ? 
Jesus sought tho sad end burdened. 
When from heaven to earth He came: 
Dost thou cull Him Lord and Blaster? 
Dost thou bear UU holy name ? 
Then nrlso, and seek to follow 
Where Ilia voice of duty leads: 
Give th ysclf to works of merry. 
Lovtng thoughts and kindly deeds. 
[Clxariotte A. Means. 
LOOKING BACK. 
It is the solemn thought connected with 
middle ago that life’s last business is begun 
in earnest; and it is then, midway between 
the cradle mid the grave, that a man begins 
to look back and marvel, with a kind of 
remorseful feeling, that ho let tho days of 
youth go by so half enjoyed. 11 is t lie pensivo 
autumn feeling; it. is the sensation of half 
sadness that we experience when the longest 
day of the year is past, and every day that 
follows is shorter, and the lights fainter, and 
the feeble shadows tell that nature Chasten¬ 
ing with gigantic footsteps to her winter 
grave. 
Bo docs man look back upon hi* youth. 
Wlicu tho first gray liaira become visible, 
when tho unwelcome truth forces itself upon 
tho mind that a man is no longer going up 
tho hill but down, and that the sun is already 
westering, lie looks back on things behind. 
Now this is a natural feeling, but is it 
wise? Is it tho high Christian tone of feel¬ 
ing? Wc answer, No. Wc, who havo an 
“ inheritance incorruptible anil uudefUed, and 
that fadoth not away," what havo we to do 
with things past? When wc were as child¬ 
ren, wo thought as children. But now there 
lies before us manhood, with its earnest 
work; and then old age, and then the grave, 
and then lioinc. And so manhood in tho 
Christian life is better than boyhood, because 
it Is a riper thing; and old age ought to lie a 
brighter and a calmer and a more serene 
thing than manhood. 
There is a second youth for man, better 
and holier than his first, if he will look on 
and not back. There Is a peculiar simplicity 
of heart, and a touching singleness of pur¬ 
pose in Christian old age which has ripened 
gradually and not fitfully. It is then that to 
the wisdom of the serpent is added the liariu- 
lessncss of tho dove; it is then that to tho 
firmness of manhood is joined almost tho 
gentleness of womanhood; it is then that 
the somewhat austere and sour character of 
growing strength, moral and intellectual, 
mellows into the rich ripeness of an old ago 
made sweet and tolerant by experience. It 
is then that man returns to first principles. 
Then comes a love more pure and deep than 
the hoy could over foci; then comes a con¬ 
viction, with a strength beyond that which 
the boy could ever know, that the earliest 
lesson of life is infinite. Christ is all in all.— 
Earnest Thouylds. 
-♦♦♦-- 
WORSHIP ELEVATING. 
Does not experience teach, that the real 
worship of the true God, tends to strengthen 
the intellect? IIow shall we otherwise ac¬ 
count for the tact that most of the discoveries 
in science that have been made in modern 
times have been made by devout men V There 
have been infidels among men of science, but 
they have not generally been in the foremost 
ranks. Most of tliose who have occupied 
this position have been Christians. Coper¬ 
nicus was a pious man; and Newton was 
an humble Christian. Locke was not more 
distinguished for his philosophy than for his 
piety; and it has been stated, upon high 
authority, that there is at present but ono 
infidel among the really scientific men of tho 
United States. And have not most of tho 
great masters in literature that have flourish¬ 
ed in modern times been men of devotion ? 
Could an uiulovout man have written “ Jeru¬ 
salem Delivered,” or “Paradise Lost?” If 
worship of God does not tend to improve tho 
intellect, how comes it that the highest types 
of civilization arc to be found only where IIo 
is worshiped ?— Rev. 8. L. Leonard. 
---- 
Sin’s Promises.—T he most reckless sinner 
against his own conscience has always in tho 
background tho consolation that he will go 
on in this course only this t ime, or only so 
long, but that at such a time lie will amend. 
We may be assured wc do not stand clear 
with our own consciences so long as we deter¬ 
mine or project, or even hold it possible, at 
some future t ime, to al ter our course of action. 
- 44 -*- 
It is very dangerous for any man to find 
any spot on this broad globe that is sweeter 
to him than his home.— II. W. Beecher. 
