strange and wondrous things; thou hast kept on thy way untiring-hast passed over the great city, and left messages of joy or sorrow to millions of the sons of men. Thou hast frosted the heads of the aged, cut down beauty in, its bloom, and blighted earth's fairest flowers. Thou hast brought poverty into the dwellings of affluence; thou hast by thy movements brought distrust into friendly bosoms, and thou hast separated families. Thou hast brought about the utterance of the first unkind word between those who had promised to love each other ever; thou hast led the youth onward to his first act of wickedness and sin, and the maiden rashly to forsake the dwelling of her childhood the merchant to the verge of bankruptcy, and from thence to ruin, and to death; thou hast plunged the man of crime still deeper into the abyss of iniquity-caused children to weep over the death of their parents, and parents for the departure of their children. Thou hast done all these things, old Time; and now, what canst thou say for thyself? Hast done any good, old fellow? any thing for which we shall commend thee, or which should make us hail thy presence with gladness?"

"Mortal, listen!" said Time. "God is good, and to perform his will am I sent to the earth. 'Tis to work out the designs of his good providence, that I wend my way hither and thither over this little globe of yours. True, I have frosted

the heads of the aged, but the aged good man fears not Time. He who has spent his whole life in deeds of active benevolence and kindness, benefiting his fellow-men, knows that his gray hairs are a crown of honor, and that it becomes him, even as the crown which he shall wear in paradise as a reward for a life of righteousness here. True, I have cut down beauty in its bloom; but for what, think you? to gratify a malignant spirit? O, no! there are mortals here who seem all too good to be the inhabitants of such a dwelling-place as this earth, and I have but translated them to a brighter land, where the spirits of the pure and good-the just made perfect-will forever dwell. "I have blasted the loveliest flowers, say you? Not so. In the gardens of paradise they bloom again with more than their earthly freshness and beauty. Purity and goodness should not be scattered upon the cold winds of ingratitude and wrong, without a shelter, and without a fitting home of such is composed the kingdom of heaven; and nurtured by its dews, and warmed by the smiles which beam from the throne of mercy, they grow and expand until they become like the angelic beings they so much resemble.

:

"I have brought poverty into the dwellings of affluence, but to serve a good end. To the rich man, who loved his gold better than his God, I have taught a lesson; I have shown him the frailty of human hopes, and the instability of

human things. In the low-roofed cottage has the poor man found that happiness and peace of mind which passeth all understanding, which he sought in vain to find amid the glitter of wealth and the pride of station. Hast thou not read that it is easier for a camel to enter a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? and blamest thou me that I have stripped him of the vile clogs that weigh down his immortal spirit to the earth?

"Thou sayest that I have brought distrust into friendly bosoms; that I have separated families, and caused unkind words to be spoken. Look at the bright side of the picture: alas for your human nature! which, since the days of your good mother Eve, has delighted to place the burden upon the wrong shoulders. Think how my softening touch has quieted old feuds, and silenced old animosities, forever. Think how my old fingers have rubbed away long scores of hate and ingratitude; how I have warmed hearts callous to all feelings of affection, and caused them to glow again with the fires of friendship and love. I have led the youth onward to wickedness and crime, and the maiden rashly to forsake the home of her childhood; but think how many I have brought to see the evil of their ways, and turned from the path which leads to perdition. Think how many youthful hearts are made wise unto salvation by bitter experience, and how many

repentant erring ones are seeking at the only place for forgiveness, and atoning for the past by a life of rectitude and virtue.

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Think, too, while ye would seek cause to complain of me, how little ye know: think of all the gladness and joy which I bring to men's hearts. Children are born into the world, and O, what an inexpressible flood of delight rushes through the parent's heart, as he traces in imagination the dim, distant future! and how are his days and nights filled with blissful hopes of seeing them live and grow up around him, to cheer and to bless his later years! If I draw wrinkles upon the brow of age, I cause the roses to bloom brighter upon beauty's cheek. If I destroy, I also make alive. If I brush into oblivion some records of the past, I go with the man who searcheth after knowledge, and from my age and experience, his own soul is expanded, and he becomes a blessing to his race."

Just so far had Time spoken when the clock struck twelve; and with the determination to profit by his teachings, I wished him a HAPPY NEW YEAR, and fell asleep.

ΑΝΟΝ.

ICE PLANT.

Mesembryanthemum.

LANGUAGE-FRIGIDITY.

THY beauty not a fault is there;
No queen of Grecian line

E'er braided more luxuriant hair

O'er forehead more divine;

The light of midnight's starry heaven
Is in those radiant eyes;
The rose's crimson life has given
That cheek its glowing dyes;
And yet I love thee not: thy brow
Is but the sculptor's mould:
It wants a shade; it wants a glow;
It is less fair than cold.

MISS LANDON.

And underneath that face, like summer's oceans,
Its lip as moveless, and its cheek as clear,
Slumbers a whirlwind of the heart's emotions
Love, hatred, pride, hope, sorrow all save fear.

Better the tie at once be broken,
At once our last farewell be spoken,
Than watch him, one by one destroy
The glowing buds of hope and joy-
Than thus to see them, day by day,
Beneath his coldness fade away.

HALLECK.

MRS. OSGOOD.