for none but himself, can hardly avoid benefiting his neighbours; but this is no merit of his, if he himself has no desire or wish to benefit them. On the other hand, a rich man who seeks for deserving objects to relieve and assist, and is "ready to give, and glad to distribute," is laying up in store for himself a good foundation for the time to come, that he may "lay hold on eternal life."

Let the poor also remember, that it is the great and wise God who has from the earliest times allowed both poverty and riches, and fixed peculiar duties on each. Be therefore content with your station in life; Scripture forbids us to "covet our neighbours' goods." Many, very many, of the wealthy in our land delight to aid their poorer neighbours.

When you see a rich person who is not kind and charitable, perhaps you are tempted to think how much better use you would make of wealth if rich as he. I hope you would; but the best proof that you can give that you would behave well if you were in another's place, is by behaving well in your own. God has appointed to each his own trials and his own duties; and he will judge you, not according to what you think you would have done in some different station, but according to what you have done in that station in which he has placed you.

Irish Society's "Fourth Book."

FRIENDLY HINTS TO SERVANTS.-WAGES.

A SERVANT'S wages are usually regulated by circumstances: as, for instance, the duties she is expected to perform, the appearance she is required to make, or the responsibility she has to bear. In some families, an upper servant is expected to wear good clothes, and to discharge duties requiring much skill, experience, and anxious care: consequently, such a servant is better paid than others whose situation is less difficult or responsible.

But there is a failing among servants generally, that of leaving a comfortable place for no other reason than for higher wages. They like their place, and they like the

family; but because some young woman of their acquaintance has more money, they are dissatisfied, and want to "better themselves," as they term it. But in this desire they too often lose sight of present comfort, religious privileges, and those advantages which a long character in one place is sure to secure in the end. Many a girl has ruined her constitution by working above her strength; and others have endangered their souls by entering irreligious families; and the only motive, in both cases, has been higher wages. Health is a great blessing,—a blessing the loss of which money can never repay; and as it respects the soul, what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

The labourer is worthy of her hire and the value of her talents, and there is no impropriety in her seeking it; but a servant should remember, that there are some things more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold, and that a comfortable place may be better than a rich one.

And when it is apparent, as is too often the case, that "higher wages" are desired by a servant solely to gratify a love of dress, then the love of change becomes an error and a sin.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain :
The blessing of the Lord maketh rich."

Servants' Magazine,

GOOD MANNERS.

It is a common, but true, saying, that "good manners are a letter of recommendation," and there are few things more pleasing in a servant than a kind and respectful demeanour. Not that manners should be cultivated at the expense of sincerity; for some persons are very fair and smooth outwardly, who are very deceitful in heart. The civility and kindness which every one should aim at, is that which really flows from a humble, Christian, affectionate, and amiable disposition; and such a disposition cannot fail to show itself by a respectful, quiet, and obliging manner. If such a servant is spoken to on any subject, she will listen with quiet

attention; her answers will neither be pert nor short; she will never mutter, or look sulky, even should she think herself reproved too strongly. When she receives her mistress's orders, she will look very respectfully towards her, and then express her readiness to obey in a very few civil words.

If there are children in the family, a respectful, or I may say a respectable, servant will never so far forget herself as to speak rudely or unkindly to them; she will remember what is due to them as her master's offspring, and will take pleasure in showing them kindness. I have seen some illtempered servants sadly thwart and teaze little children, needlessly vexing them about their toys or innocent pleasures. When it is really proper to deny children any gratification, a well-disposed servant will do so kindly though firmly.

There are some few things that young people may err in from ignorance, which, if habitually done, will get them the character of being very ill-mannered. If a servant should chance to meet her master or mistress in the streets, she ought to make a courtesy; and if she does so to such ladies as she knows to be frequent visitors to her mistress, she will only be thought a well-mannered young woman. To walk without jostling in a crowded street, the rule is, to keep the path to your right hand; but when the street is not crowded, whichever may be the right side by rule, it will be respectful for you to give the wall to your superiors. Be very particularly quiet in your manner in the streets; do not loiter at shop-windows, nor stare about you, nor look back; but walk steadily, calmly, and, if alone, rather quickly, through the streets of a town. If you meet any one in a passage or door-way, do not push by, but stand aside to let them pass.

Various.

THE CARELESS SERVANT.

CARE is a very valuable quality in a domestic servant. It is astonishing how much waste of property, and danger to health, have arisen from want of proper care. Hence, when a servant is young and inconsiderate, a mistress has con

"Take

tinually to be uttering some expression of caution. care that the chimney is not suffered to become foul, lest the soot should fire." "Take care that the bed-room windows are properly closed and fastened." "Take care that the street-door and back-door are bolted and locked at night." "Mind how you set china on the table, lest it should be knocked down and broken." "Take care that the linen is well-aired, lest the wearer should take cold:" &c. &c.

It were easy to multiply instances of the mischief arising from the neglect of these cautions. A careless servant taking out a handsome dinner-service, instead of placing the heavy articles on the solid part of the table, and carrying a little at a time, thought to save herself trouble by carrying a trayful at once; so, placing the tray half on and half off the flap of the table, she filled it with china. On attempting to lift it, she found it was too heavy, and that at last she must do as she had been told at first-take a little at a time; so taking up a heavy pile of plates, which just served to balance the tray on the table, the tray, with the remainder of its contents, fell to the ground, and nearly all the china was broken, amounting in value to two guineas, and, as destroying a complete set, which could not be replaced, a much greater damage still.

It is no uncommon thing for servants to leave a streetdoor, or a back-door, a-jar, or on the latch, while they run on an errand, saying, "I sha'n't be gone a minute." Perhaps, though they have but a few yards to go, the shop is full of customers, and they cannot get served in a minute; perhaps they meet an acquaintance, and a minute is soon gone in a gossip; and, by the time they return, their master's house and property have been exposed ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. An upright conscientious servant will have no secret errands of her own to call her out, unknown to her employers; and a prudent servant will not leave the door a single moment on any errand whatever, without intrusting it to the charge of some person in the house. Those who have the property of others intrusted to them should never be a moment off their guard. The necessity of such caution will appear by the following extract from a newspaper :

"On Monday morning, between eight and nine o'clock, a wicker-plate basket, containing the following articles, was stolen from the back parlour of the house of Mr. Charles Bacon, No. 5, Terrace, near Palace Yard: twenty-four silver forks, six table-spoons, twelve dessert ditto, twelve tea ditto,

two salt-spoons, cruet-stand, butter-knife, two sauce-ladles, soup-ladle, gravy-spoon, fish-slice, skewer, and cream-jug." The cook had just stepped out upon some errand, leaving the street-door open until she returned.

Servants' Magazine.

FORECAST.

FORECAST is a very valuable quality: I mean, a habit of looking forward, and considering what will be wanted, and when; and so arranging our activity and our resources accordingly.

I will tell you what I mean. Suppose I were in service, and my mistress ordered me to make a suet pudding for dinner. If I had proper forecast, I should think to myself, "What time is dinner to be ready? say one o'clock. How long will it require to boil? two hours. Then it must be put in at eleven. How long will it take me to make the pudding? If the suet is ready chopped, it will take me five minutes; if I have to chop the suet, it will take ten. How long will the water be boiling? best part of an hour." Well, then I leave the fire in proper order, and go about my other work till ten o'clock. Then I fill the vessel in which the pudding is to be boiled, and set it on, that it may boil by eleven. I go to my other work again till ten or five minutes before eleven. Then I make the pudding, put it in as the clock strikes, and when the clock strikes one it is ready to put on the table.-But if I have no forecast, when I come to make the pudding I find that the fire has been suffered to go low, and the water is not hot, and there is no flour in the house; I must be hindered to run to the baker's and fetch it. If I had but given him the bag when I emptied it yesterday, it would have been here in good time. Then the suet is to be chopped, perhaps fetched from the butcher's; and by the time the pot boils and the pudding is put in, it is twelve o'clock, instead of eleven; and either dinner must be deferred till two, or served up half-done: besides this, an hour has been employed in doing the work of ten minutes.

Now this disposition is just the same, whether in a ser