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THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 5. 
Horticultural Socioty, lias iuvented a self-registering 
Hygrometer, whereby the extreme points of dryness and 
humidity in Orchid-houses and other structures during 
the twenty-four hours may be ascertained. It promises 
( to be equally useful as a meteorological instrument. 
Lord Portman has been elected President of the Royal 
Agricultural Society, and will enter upon 'the duties of 
this office after the Society’s Meeting at Carlisle in July. 
In answer to various enquiries relative to the articles 
advertised by Mr. Rogers, of tbe Clock-house, Chelsea, 
we can only say that the Osage Orange has been found j 
quite hardy at the Horticultural Society’s garden, at 
Chiswick ; and as it forms an admirable hedge, it is | 
worthy of a trial. 
The same observation applies to the Texian Grass, 1 
described by Mr. Rogers as “ useful and elegant;” and 
is new Texian grain, described as “ most prolific, and 
growing in very poor soil.” These are all worth trial, I 
for they may prove valuable, and the cost of the expe- I 
riment is trifling. 
THE SPOILED CHILD. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers." 
The following narrative is from the instructive pen of the 
kind contributor to our pages, who has so frequently placed 
before us profitable lessons, as well as interesting sketches 
of character. The one which is now olfered to our notice 
is decidedly the most appalling of all. It utters, in tones of 
thunder, the solemn warnings it conveys. It turns from 
parents to children with loud and bitter cries. Oh! that all 
would hear and understand ! Oh! that parents would bring 
up children for heaven and not for earth! Oh! that children 
would consider the awful lesson before them, and “ tlee 
youthful lusts that war against the soul; ” yea, and that 
hurry it into perdition, without resistance, and without hope! 
“ The heart of him who can pass through the quiet 
churchyard of a rural district without meditating deeply 
upon the shortness and uncertainty of life, must, indeed, 
be more than ordinarily callous. Whose were the hands 
that planted these ancient Yews, that have witnessed the 
birth and death of so many generations ? Whose were the 
minds that suggested, and the hands that carried out, those 
architectural beauties, which so often fill with wonder and 
pleasure the heart of the passer-by, and teach him that, 
with all our boasted advance in arts and sciences, we are 
but little able to cope with the mental designs and manual 
productions of these early architects ? Above all,—whose 
are the graves which we see scattered around, whose head¬ 
stones have long crumbled under the hand of unrelenting 
time ? Do they contain bodies destined to join the band of 
happy believers in the first resurrection ? or the mouldering 
bones of the wretched individuals, who, having lived in 
carelessness about the great ooncern of their souls, will 
have no part nor lot with the happy beings who have 
obtained forgiveness of their sins through the blood of the 
Redeemer ? These are obvious thoughts that arise in the 
heart of every Christian man when passing through a 
village churchyard. 
“ It was on a similar occasion, only a few days ago, that 
my attention was painfully called to the grave of one who 
has now passed away some years from time to eternity, a 
brief sketch of whose melancholy life I purpose to give in 
your pages; and if it be the means of arresting the 
attention of any too-fond parents, or of recalling to the 
path of duty any headstrong son, I shall, indeed, rejoice in 
the result. 
“In a village, some miles from a manufacturing town, 
resided a Mr. and Mrs. Campbell. The former held a 
largo farm under a gentleman, whom he had formerly 
served as a kind of land agent, and in which capacity he 
contrived to save a considerable sum of money, hoping, 
doubtlessly, to leave it to his only son, a young man (at 
the the time I date the commencement of my story) at 
about nineteen years of age. This only child! alas! like 
too many only-children, was spoiled by both father and 
mother; and was taught to look upon gold as the one thing 
needful, superior to all other possessions, temporal or 
spritual. Poor George Campbell, as might be expected from 
the manner of his bringing up (no check being placed upon 
the gratification of any wish), became a violent, headstrong, 
ambitious young man ; ambitious, I mean, of wealth alone, 
careless of the good opinion of his friends, and brutish to 
his unhappy parents, to whose injudicious training, if such 
a word as training may be allowed in such a case, his 
progress in everything bad might be indeed attributed. 
The father had brought him up as a surveyor, to which 
profession, on his reaching manhood, and becoming un¬ 
shackled from his apprenticeship, he added the lucrative 
business of an auctioneer. In the latter department he 
had an extensive, connection, and for a while he seemed 
destined to distance his competitors; but it soon became 
known that his habits were unsatisfactory, that he was fond 
of card-playing, and of laying wagers in sums that were 
considered as verging on imprudence, even among those 
that were not very scrupulous in such matters. 
“ It happened at this early period of life, when not more 
than twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, that, owing 
to some peculiar results of an executorship, his father 
became guardian to a young lady, left at a very early age 
without parents, and on reaching her twenty-first year 
becoming the possessor of a very large property. Here, 
then, was a chance for young Campbell! Could he but 
induce this young lady to become his wife, his fortune 
would at once be made! She was, also, accomplished, 
possessed of considerable personal attractions, amiable, 
and lady-like, Unfortunately for the pretensions of the 
ambitious father and son, the latter was most unpre¬ 
possessing in his person and manners; tall and stalwart, 
his countenance boro a ferocious expression, which was 
not subdued by his face being deeply marked from an 
accidental blow or fall; but still the position which his 
father held went far to counterbalance many of these disad¬ 
vantages, nor did he hesitate to make use of this position in 
forwarding the suit of his son. The young lady was for a 
long time inexorable. Deaf to all entreaties, she resisted 
with extreme pertinacity the advances of the aspirant; but 
at length she became wearied with incessant opposition, and 
in an evil hour consented to become his wife! From the 
moment of her marriage her happiness was gone ! ” 
If there is, in woman’s life, one step more madly absurd, 
as well as sinful, than another, it is taken when she suffers 
herself to be teazed into matrimony; when she takes the 
I man to whom she is averse, or indifferent, “ to get rid of 
him,” as the customary phrase is. Alas ! alas ! Kid of 
; him she certainly becomes, in one sense of the word; she 
i gets rid of the attentions, the devotedness, the submission 
j of the lover; but the man, with all his disagreeables, is 
united to her for ever. Tempers, tastes, manners, follies, 
| or evil habits, all are made over to her for life, divested of 
j the only charm that, perhaps, was the secret cause of their 
| success,—the laying them all down at her own feet. 
Mrs. George Campbell will be a warning to all who are 
thus seeking to get rid of a lover; and her husband will be 
a yet more terrible picture of parental indulgence, and the 
misery entailed upon a child by mistaken affection. The 
truest love is displayed by early correction and powerful 
restraints. How many a grown up, and even aged person 
has expressed thanks and gratitude for the severe but 
wholesome discipline of their firm and watchful parents, 
and grieved over the milder system adopted in the present 
day! The Word of God should be our direction in all 
things. If we went “ to the law and the testimony ” for 
guidance, as well as for support and comfort, we should 
rejoice more frequently than mourn and weep. Our 
lamentations are too often caused by sufferings arising from 
our own misdoings; from doing our own ways instead of 
walking by the Lord's rules, by gratifying our own tastes 
and affections instead of obeying His commands. And this 
is the reason why worldly people are overwhelmed in the 
deep waters, and why even true believers feel like Pharoah’s 
