quest of employment, however abject it might happen to be. Where, then, was he now ?-how had he fared in this new theatre of exertion? A word or two will explain. From New York, where he landed, he had proceeded along with a band of emigrants to Canada. At Montreal, by a singular piece of luck, he had received employment as a clerk in the office of a merchant, one of whose assistants had the previous day met with an accidental death when bathing in the St Lawrence. Charles's appearance was not prepossessing; but there was no choice. Here, then, was he once more in the way of well-doing. But it was useless. He subsided into irregular habits—was dismissed from his situation-wandered into the agricultural settlements, where he occasionally wrought at different kinds of severe manual labour and at last pushed down to New York, with the hope of procuring employment in that quarter.

By a remarkable coincidence, the house in which Mr Macqueen had become a partner at this time required a person to act as truck-porter, and the advertisement announcing the fact brought Charles Grinton to seek it. The humiliation of feelings which agitated the miserable applicant, when, in one of the masters of this flourishing concern, he recognised his old associate George Macqueen, can be more easily imagined than described. George's heart, however, overflowed with tenderness towards his early companion. He interested himself to the extent of procur ing him a situation somewhat superior to that which had been applied for; and we are glad to say that, by the exercise of proper discipline, and now and then a word of advice, he at length produced the happy effect of leading his prodigal friend from thoughts and deeds of folly to those of sober well-doing.

FRIENDLY HINTS TO YOUNG PEOPLE.

THE preceding story, showing the advantage of industry over idleness, cannot but suggest to the minds of youth the necessity for self-exertion and self-dependence, along with a spirit of welldoing. On these, and some other points, we propose offering & few hints.

SELF-DEPENDENCE.

Limited as your experience may have been, you can hardly have failed to learn the important truth, that nothing is to be obtained, no comfort procured, no luxury or convenience possessed, without being previously purchased by exertion. Young as you are, you will have noticed that your parents do not get money wherewith to purchase the necessaries of life, without giving something in return. Your father has fed and clothed

you from infancy, he has given you an education suited to his means, he has bestowed upon you an infinite degree of attention, in order to fit you for the busy scenes of life; and when he has done all this, at a great expense both of his substance and his feelings, he cannot be expected to do more, farther than to give his best advice for your welfare.

Being now nurtured up to that point at which you are able to endure to a certain extent the withdrawal of parental support, you must not think it hard to be obliged to begin to do something for yourself. You only find yourself placed in the condition of every living creature. By a universal law of nature, the young of all animals are thrust forth from the parental nest on attaining sufficient strength to glean their own livelihood. Such, modified by human feelings and human customs, must likewise be the conduct of rational parents in pushing forth their families into the world, and so must young men commence the process of depending on their own faculties for subsistence. Judging from what we see around us, too little regard is paid to the moral lesson demonstrated by nature for our guidance in this respect. We find parents committing the error of allowing their families to hang about them long past the time at which they should have seen them placed out in the world in some honest calling or profession-a course of policy calculated to produce lasting regret even among the tolerably opulent classes of society.

But we much more frequently see the young endeavouring to avoid incurring the responsibility of self-dependence, and inhumanely leaning for support on those parents whose means have already been in a great measure exhausted both by misfortunes and the unavoidable expenses incurred in feeding, educating, and clothing their children. It must always be considered an exceedingly mean thing for a young man to continue exacting support from parents, after he was fully able to think and act for himself. There is, besides, an unfeeling cruelty in such conduct, for it is working on the benevolent affections of those who gave him birth, and committing a robbery, with the knowledge that its perpetration will not be visited either by rebuke or punishment. It seems to be difficult to convince the young of the urgent necessity for dependence on themselves. Long after they are placed in a way of earning a livelihood, they often think it all little enough that they can take from the parental home. As long as a mother or father exists, and retains a dwelling for the junior or female branches of a family, they are apt to suppose that there can be no harm in taking a little of that which is required by others less capable of ministering to their own necessities. Even although the burden of supplying the general wants should have devolved upon an elder brother, who has been prematurely invested with the character of guardian of the family, there are instances in which young men think

lightly of exacting subsidies and assistance, in various ways, from a household so circumstanced, for no other apparent reason than that they happen to be connected with it by birth, or because their demands cannot, without indelicacy, be withstood.

We earnestly and affectionately warn you against lapsing into a line of behaviour so ungenerous and unbecoming as that here hinted at. You are now called upon to exert all your faculties in the noble object of self-dependence. You are endowed with a power to think, hands to work, and a frame to endure labourwhy, then, depend on any one but yourselves? You will not suppose that we wish you to be thrown all at once on your own resources. That would most likely be only abandoning you to certain moral destruction and much painful suffering. What we propose is, that you should make up your mind to enter on some trade or profession, and follow up your inclinations by a steady attention to whatever calling you may attach yourselves. You may not be able at first, or for a little time, to do much in the way of supporting yourselves, but then you are in the fair way of well-doing. There is a pleasure in knowing that the money which we spend has been earned by our own exertions. One shilling gained by our own industry is always said to be worth twenty procured from friends. What we get for nothing is thought lightly of; but we know well the value of what has come in the shape of a remuneration for our labour.

CHOICE OF A PROFESSION.

Some young persons entertain ridiculous notions as to the choice of a profession. Carried away by the glitter of uniforms and the splendid pageantry of the soldier's life, nothing will please them short of entering the army; or, perhaps, carried away by the narration of maritime adventures, they resolve on following the hazardous profession of the sailor. But a very little experience of the realities of life generally banishes these idle dreams. Others pitch upon the clerical profession as most suitable to their ideas of living an easy and dignified existence, and enjoying the reverence of those around them, without reckoning on whether their parents or guardians are able in the first place to procure them the necessary course of education, or if they would subsequently have the good fortune to find a benefice. Many more equally delude themselves with regard to what are called professions. As a matter of course, they must be something better, though only in appearance, than their father; and so they frequently turn their attention to occupations which to them look remarkably genteel, but which all the world besides know to be superficial and unprofitable. The young in the middle and lower ranks of society should by all. ..s be governed in these matters by their seniors, for they are certainly the best judges with respect to what particular department of industry they should attach themselves.

From our own experience of the world, it does not appear that it is of much consequence what the trade or business is to which the young may be put after leaving school. The main thing to be acquired consists in habits of industry and self-denial; and if these be secured by a certain course of probation, all other advantages follow naturally. It is by diligence and integrity alone that fortune and fame arise, and both can be exerted upon a thousand different objects of pursuit. It is nevertheless certain that many boys have a peculiar turn or genius for particular businesses. One displays a mechanical turn; another is inclined to a mercantile pursuit; and a third is of a studious disposition. These, and other similar tendencies, will of course govern both yourselves and your parents in the choice of professions; all that we can do here is to give you a few hints for your consideration. In the first place, try to attach yourself to a business that is of extensive application, and promises to last long. Avoid profes sions that will fasten you to a spot, or to a country. Let it be one that will give you support wherever you may chance to proceed. Avoid also sinking professions: catch the tone and tendency of society, and seek to float down the stream of general utility. You can never go far wrong in following a trade, the assistance of which all mankind require; for instance, every branch of business connected with education and literature is at present rising, and will still farther be extended all over the world. All the useful arts are likewise extending themselves; while those of a contrary nature are becoming more limited. The two least promising professions which can now be followed, it will be allowed, are the clerical and legal. It is clear that there will very soon be a complete reformation in the law both of England and Scotland; and what now costs us many pounds, will most likely by and by be executed for a few shillings. We therefore consider the law a very bad profession, and that not only prospectively, but at the present moment; for it is greatly overdone, and too limited in its scope. The profession of a clergyman is still worse. No one can foresee how this profession is in time to be regulated: that is to say, on what footing an aspirant is to stand in relation to his settlement in a charge. But allowing that there will be no change in this respect, please to remember how many probationers are in a state approaching to destitution. It is calculated that in Scotland there are seven or eight hundred young men educated for the church, and ready for situations in it, while the vacancies are somewhere about thirty in the year. In England, there is a similar disparity between the number of church aspirants and livings.

WILLINGNESS.

We shall suppose that at the age of fourteen or fifteen you are at length fixed in some line of business. Your situation is now exceedingly critical. You are the servant of a master; and it is

necessary you should go through this course of servitude, to fit you for being some day a master yourself. You will perhaps be called on to perform some unpleasant, it may be undignified work, not agreeable to your pride. But go through all with alacrity and cheerfulness. Show willingness to do what you are bid; for, next to honesty and steadiness, there is nothing which masters like so much as willingness. If ever you show unwillingness, you are undone. If you be honest, steady, and willing, there is no fear of your success. We often hear a great many complaints about people not being able to find employment. A number of these complaints are certainly too well-founded; but rest assured of the fact, that masters have usually greater difficulty in getting trustworthy servants and assistants, than servants and assistants have in getting good masters. Men in business in large towns generally prefer apprentices from the country. The reason for this is, that country boys are considered to be more honest and steady than town boys. They possess at least greater self-denial. They have not the misfortune to be known by genteel people, and therefore they do not "think shame" to be seen doing their masters' work. This gives country boys an immense advantage over town boys; for an acquaintance with the higher ranks is often as dangerous to a boy as association with the dregs of the community. On the critical subject of acquaintances we must say a few words.

ACQUAINTANCES.

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One of the most important concerns of young people is the management of themselves in respect of what are called quaintances." To have many friends is desirable, in a world where men are generally thrown so much upon their own resources. But there is a distinction between the friendship of a certain number of respectable persons, who are only ready to exert themselves for us when called upon, and the acquaintance of a circle of contemporaries, who are perpetually forcing themselves upon our company for the mere purpose of mutual amusement. Taking the words in their usual signification, a young man ought to wish for many friends, but few acquaintances. There is something in the countenance of a companion that cheers and supports the frailty of human nature. One can speak and act more boldly with a friend by his side than when alone. But it is the good fortune of men of strong character, and it ought to be the object of every one, to act well and boldly by himself. One thing young people may be assured of; almost all the great services which enlightened men have done for their race were performed alone. There was but one man, not two, at the discovery of the compass, of the Copernican system, of the logarithms, and of the principle of vaccination. To descend to lesser things, ask any man who has risen in worldly fortune, from small beginnings to great wealth and honour, how he contrived