composed. There was, in truth, a something elegant and refined in her countenance; and the taste that she displayed, even in the homeliest branches of her own homely art, fully sustained the impression produced by her appearance. If any of our pretty damsels wanted a particularly pretty gown, she had only to say to Olive, "Make it according to your own fancy;" and she was sure to be arrayed not only in the best fashion, but with the nicest attention to the becoming, both in color and form.

Her taste was equally just in all things. She would select, in a moment, the most beautiful flower in the garden, and the finest picture in a room; and going about, as she did, all over the village, hearing new songs and new stories from the young, and old tales and old ballads from the aged, it was remarkable that Olive, whose memory was singularly tenacious for what she liked, retained only the pretty lines or the striking incidents. For the bad or the indifferent, she literally had no memory; they passed by her as the idle wind, that she regarded not. Her fondness for poetry, and the justness of taste which she displayed in it, exposed poor Olive to one serious inconvenience; she was challenged as being a poetess herself; and although she denied the accusation earnestly, blushingly, and even fearfully, and her accusers could bring neither living witnesses nor written documents to support their assertion, yet so difficult is it to disprove that particular calumny, that, in spite of her reiterated denial, the charge passes for true in Aberleigh to this very hour. Habit, however, reconciles all things; people may become accustomed even to that sad nick-name, an authoress.

In process of time, the imputed culprit ceased to be shocked at the sound, seemed to have made up her mind to bear the accusation, and even to find some amusement in its truth or its falsity: there was an arch and humorous consciousness in her eyes, on such occasions, that might be construed either way, and left it an even wager whether our little lame girl were a poetess or not. Such was and such is Olive Hathaway, the humble and gentle village mantua-maker; and such she is likely to continue; for, too refined for the youths of her own station, and too unpretty to attract those above her, it is very clear to me that my friend Olive will be an old maid. There are certain indications of

character, too, which point to that as her destiny: a particularity respecting her tools of office, which renders the misplacing a needle, the loss of a pin, or the unwinding half-an-inch of cotton, an evil of no small magnitude; a fidgety exactness as to plaits and gathers, a counting of threads and comparing of patterns, which our notable housewives, who must complain of something, grumble at as waste of time; a horror of shreds and litter, which distinguishes her from all other mantuamakers that ever sewed a seam; and lastly a love of animals, which has procured for her the friendship and acquaintance of every four-footed creature in the vicinity.

This is the most suspicious symptom of all. Not only is she followed and idolized by the poor old cur which Rachel Strong keeps to guard her house, and the still more aged donkey that carries home her linen; but every cat, dog, or bird, every variety of domestic pet that she finds in the different houses where she works, immediately following the strange instinct by which animals, as well as children, discover who likes them, makes up to and courts Olive Hathaway. For her doth Farmer Brookes's mastiff, surliest of watch-dogs, pretermit his incessant bark; for her, and for her only, will Dame Wheeler's tabby cease to spit and erect her bristles, and become, as nearly as her spiteful cat can become so, gentle and amiable! Even the magpie at the Rose, most accomplished and most capricious of all talking birds, will say, "Very well, ma'am," in answer to Olive's "How d'ye do?" and whistle an accompaniment to her "God save the King," after having persevered in a dumb resentment for a whole afternoon. There's magic about her placid smile and her sweet low voice-no sulkiness of bird or beast can resist their influence. And Olive hath abundance of pets in return, from my grayhound, Mayflower, downward; and, indeed, takes the whole animal world under her protection, whether pets or no; begs off condemned kittens, nurses sick ducklings, will give her last penny to prevent an unlucky urchin from taking a bird's nest; and is cheated and laughed at for her tender-heartedness, as is the way of the world in such cases.

Yes, Olive will certainly be an old maid, and a happy one-content and humble, and cheerful and BELOVED!

WHAT CAN WOMAN DESIRE MORE?

The National Magazine.

MAY, 1853.

THE CHRISTIANITY REQUIRED BY THE TIMES.

REFORM IN CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE.

the primitive truth upon the world; next came the "Revival Epoch," under Edwards, Wesley, and Whitefield; then, and almost immediately, ensued the great Aggressive Movement originating Sunday-schools, Bible, Tract, and Missionary Societies, the Temperance Reform, &c. By degrees the foreign world has opened its doors to evangelization, till now we have access to Asia-China on the east, India on the south; Africa-south,

subject-a subject which needs not much elaboration, though it certainly needs much conscientious revision throughout the Christian world. Many of the measures discussed in this series of articles, especially in the last one, have, it must be acknowledged, their radix in "the root of all evil"-money; and divinely wise is the providential ordination which thus connects so much good with so much evil. The great reforms which we have shown to devolve upon the "Christianity of our times," cannot be prosecuted, any more than war itself, without such "sinews." Here, indeed, is their most urgent desideratum, and we think we mistake not when we say, that the next great idea to be brought out and made prominent in the Church, is its true standard of pecuniary liberality-the right relation of Christian men to their property.

The subject has already begun to attract attention; but it is yet altogether too vague; it needs development, precision, demonstration. Several prize volumes have recently been published upon it; several personal instances-princely ones-of systematic charity, founded upon a corrected view of the subject, have become familiar to the public, and, as examples, will do much to promote the beneficence of the times; but the idea is yet too indefinite to have a distinct impression on the public mind of the Church. It must be more discussed. It is THE idea for the next general discussions of Christian reformers. And a sublime theme for them is it-ennobled not only by its essential beneficence, but by not a few profound ethical relations.

Half the energy now expended in wranglings that distract the Christian world, and disfigure the Church with sectarian bigotry, would be sufficient, if devoted to this great question, to advance Christendom fifty per cent. in a couple of generations, and would come near redeeming the world in a century. The remark is emphatic, but we utter it in all soberness.

A change amounting to a revolution must come over Christendom, in this respect, before Christianity can fairly make its experiment in our world. And does not the providence of God present the solution of this question as, precisely and inevitably, the next great duty of the Church? A series of providential dispensations have followed each other in her modern history until she has been brought to confront directly this problem, and here she standshesitating, shall we say? No-we trust not hesitating; but preparing to solve it, and to derive from it a new, and, as we believe, a transcendent dispensation of success.

First in these providential dispensations was the Reformation, letting out again the light of

some drawbacks, to Europe; nearly all of the northern and southern continents of the New World, and throughout the isles of the Pacific and South Seas. Everywhere, in fact, does the Macedonian vision stand out on the boundaries of the nations and beckon us. Not even in the age chosen by God for the introduction of the Christian religion, because of the general sway and peace of the Roman Empire, was the whole world more amply thrown open for the march of the Church. There is now passing over her a day of opportunity such as the history of our fallen race has never before seen. What is the providential meaning of these facts?

Not only have we this great access to the nations, but the Scriptures have been rendered into most of their languages. We have now about two hundred translations. Out of the eight or nine hundred millions of our world's population, some six hundred millions have the oracles of Revelation in their vernacular. This was the next essential step; for what could the living agency, entering into these open doors, have done with masses of reclaimed pagans without the Scriptures? What else than prepare another edition of Popery?

The next great need was men; and even here, where the chief obstacle to the missionary movement was at first apprehended, the providence of God has met the Church in due time. The "American Board," when it started, challenged all Protestant Christendom for men, and was ready to pledge itself to send out all who should be properly provided; now it has no lack of them. When the Methodist China Mission was started, two or three missionaries were called for the late Bishop Hedding had immediately some forty applications, mostly from promising, educated young men. An inspiration from on high-an heroic spirit of devotion and selfsacrifice has manifestly been poured out upon the Christian ministry to provide for this want, at the very time that the Church had prepared itself for the provision; at a time, too, when her domestic fields presented the most urgent opportunities for laborers. Thus has God exemplified the great principle of his providential economy toward her, viz., to provide her opportunities as she prepared herself for them. "Do the duty next to you, and all others will reveal themselves in their due order," says Goethe-a maxim applicable to public as well as personal conduct, and corroborated by the whole history of the Church.

Meanwhile many surprising facilities for the spread of Christianity have been provided. The cheapness of knowledge, by the improvements of the press, is a peculiar advantage of our

• Missionaries can labor and Bibles be distributed in nearly all the South American States.

times. The rapidity of international communication is annihilating distance. Colonization, now unknown among unenlightened nations, is spreading Christian civilization around most of the earth. Navigation and commerce, a few generations ago, in the hands of the Catholic powers of Spain, Portugal, and the Italian cities, are now mostly transferred to the Anglo-Saxon Protestant world. England is the mistress of the seas, and America, in less than ten years, is to be their master.

No man, however sober his judgment, can look at these facts without perceiving that the history of the human race is verging fast to a new and unprecedented epoch-that the false religions, the whole status of the unenlightened world, surrounded and pressed upon by such resistless agencies, must inevitably be revolutionized.

We have, then, the geographical access; we have the Scriptures, the munitions; we have many incidental facilities, and the men nec essary for this final moral campaign of the world. What is next needed? The sinews of the war, we repeat-the right standard of pecuniary liberality in the Church. We say, with all deliberation, that we cannot perceive why the mission of Christianity in our world could not proceed right on to its consummation, if this one condition were secured. The great obstruction now before its chariot-wheels is Mammon-the last idol of our Christian heathenism-and the Church needs a revival of its old Iconoclasm to break down this universal idolatry.

Thus is the subject, now under review, the great question of the day in respect to the specially evangelical movements of the Church; it is equally so in respect to those great reformatory measures which we have lately discussed. The public mind, in most Christian lands, is getting right convictions in regard to the necessity of such reforms. Christendom is rife with discussions and schemes about them. There is almost an excess of such discussions and schemes; they are becoming tiresome. What we now want is more practical endeavors— more work, and more means to work with.

What is the actual standard of pecuniary liberality in the Church? Let us meet the question honestly; but, in doing so, let us acknowledge some late, rapid improvements-improvements which indicate that the revolution we have affirmed to be necessary is not improbable. Twenty-five years have effected marvelous changes in this respect; nearly all the great Protestant philanthropies have been vastly advanced within that period; and if we bear in mind that hardly a century has passed since most of our Christian "enterprises" began, the present degree of pecuniary liberality among us is certainly an encouraging indication. Many Christian capitalists, in England and this coun

"Covetousness, which is idolatry," says St. Paul. The phrase is a striking one. "Idolatry" was a synonyme for heathenism, with all its attendant abominations. "Covetousness" in the Church was, therefore, in a sense, the retention of heathenism"idolatry." It is notable how specifically this sin is thus described. In another Epistle Paul says-"This ye know, that no covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God"-the Church.

try, have come to understand that they are not proprietors, but stewards of their wealth; and are devoting it, in large sums, to the charities of the times. Boston has won an enviable fame by the generosity of her rich men; New-York promises to excel her. Within the last year, about a million of dollars has been given for benevolent purposes in the latter city.

If we examine the treasury accounts of the "Christian enterprises" of the day, we shall find a rapidly increasing ratio of receipts. A few years ago, Stephen Roszell, of the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, wrote to a friend, that he "really believed the time would come in which that conference would afford $1,000 per annum for the missionary cause." A newspaper item, now current, reports the sum raised by it the last year at $24,500! The estimate of the veteran Roszell is now probably met by some single Churches of the Conference. Such examples are multiplying everywhere, and in all

sects.

Still how far short of the necessity of the times and the capacity of the Church is its liberality! It has been said that the aggregate appropriations of American Protestantism, for foreign evangelization, do not exceed the annual expense of a single American ship-ofthe-line. Is this fact befitting the strength and opportunities of American Christianity in an age like this? The largest denomination of the land contributes, to both its foreign and domestic missions, at the rate of only about twenty-one cents for each of its members.† The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions has commanded greater success; the members of the Churches patronizing it give at the rate of one dollar each. These are fair indications of the pecuniary liberality of the times. Encouraging as they are, in comparision with the past, they almost assume a ludicrous insignificance, when we consider the design contemplated-the overthrow of the Heathenism, the Mohammedanism, and the Popery of the nations-the moral renovation of the world. Would ten dollars per memberten millions per annum-be an extravagant contribution for Methodism to such a design? We think the time will come when even that sum will be deemed a pittance for the purpose.

The Christian beneficence of the times lacks two important elements-the sentiment of moral obligation and method.

There is, unquestionably, some sentiment of duty associated with these charities, but it is so general as to be almost inappreciable. It has no strong hold on the conscience. We feel that we ought to do something for them. He

The "Baltimore city station" alone contributed, the past year, $1,645.

† Methodism may plead some apology, however. It is not a century old; in about eighty-seven years it has erected four thousand two hundred and twenty chapels, (not much less than one a week during all its history.) at an expense of $14,730,571. Its expenses for colleges, academies, parsonages, the renewal as well as the original erection of chapels, &c., has been estimated, for the last quarter of a century, very little short of one million dollars per annum." This is in addition to the expense of its ministry, missions, &c. Zion's Herald, Boston, is our authority for these facts.

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