it. Suppose a mercantile community could be found whose every individual was known and acknowledged to possess strict and uncompromising integrity, the representations of each one were in strict accordance with truth-his word as good as his bond-such a community would have a monopoly of the trade, so far as they had the means of supplying the demand. The tricks of trade, whatever be their apparent advantages, impair confidence, and, in the end, injure those who practise them far more than they benefit them. It is a shortsighted as well as a guilty policy, to swerve, under any circumstances, from those great principles which are of universal and everlasting obligation. Let a man maintain his integrity at all times, and he will be satisfied there is a blessing in it, and a blessing flowing from it, and a blessing all around it.

AIDS AND HINDRANCES TO SUCCESS IN MERCANTILE PURSUITS.

As in no department of life is success more earnestly desired, or more perseveringly sought, than in mercantile pursuits, it will not be out of place, in a work like the present, to exhibit all the aids and hindrances to a consummation so devoutly wished by the thousands that crowd the marts and thoroughfares of commercial life. With this view, we quote some sensible suggestions from that very excellent work, Companions of my Solitude,

which the reader is earnestly requested to "mark, learn, and inwardly digest: "

"One of the great aids or hindrances to success in any thing, lies in the temperament of a man. I do not know yours; but I venture to point out to you what is the best temperament, namely, a combination of the desponding and the resolute; or, as I had better express it, of the apprehensive and the resolute. Such is the temperament of great commanders. Secretly, they rely upon nothing and upon nobody. There is such a powerful element of failure in all human affairs, that a shrewd man is always saying to himself, 'What shall I do, if that which I count upon does not come out as I expect?' This foresight dwarfs and crushes all but men of great resolution.

“Then, be not over choice in looking out for what may exactly suit you; but rather be ready to adopt any opportunities that occur. Fortune does not stoop often to take any one up. Favourable opportunities will not happen precisely in the way that you have imagined. Nothing does. Do not be discouraged, therefore, by a present detriment in any course which may lead to something good. Time is so precious here.

“Get, if you can, into one or other of the main grooves of human affairs. It is all the difference of going by railway, and walking over a ploughed field, whether you adopt common sources, or set up one for yourself. You will see, if your times are any thing like ours, most inferior persons highly placed in the army, in the church, in office, at the bar. They have somehow got upon the line, and have moved on well, with very little original

motive-power of their own.

Do not let this make you

talk as if merit was utterly neglected in these or any professions only that getting well into the groove will frequently do instead of any great excellence.

:

"Whatever happens, do not be dissatisfied with your worldly fortunes, lest that speech be justly made to you, which was once made to a repining person much given to talk of how great she and hers had been—' Yes, madam,' was the crushing reply, we all find our level at last.'

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'Eternally that fable is true, of a choice being given to men on their entrance into life. Two majestic women stand before you; one in rich vesture, superb with what seems like a mural crown on her head, and plenty in her hand, and something of triumph, I will not say of boldness, in her eye, and she, the queen of this world, can give you many things. The other is beautiful, but not alluring, nor rich, nor powerful, and there are traces of care, and shame, and sorrow, in her face; and (marvellous to say) her look is downcast and yet noble. She can give you nothing, but she can make you somebody. If you cannot bear to part from her sweet, sublime countenance, which hardly veils with sorrow its infinity, follow her-follow her, I say, if you are really minded so to do; but do not, while you are on this track, look back with ill-concealed envy on the glittering things which fall in the path of those who prefer to follow the rich dame, and to pick up the riches and honours which fall from her cornucopia.

"This is, in substance, what a true artist said to me

only the other day, impatient as he told me, of the complaints of those who would pursue art, and yet would have fortune."

ENERGETIC MEN.

We love upright, energetic men.

Pull them this way,

and then that way, and the other, and they only bend,

but never break.

Trip them down, and in a trice they are on their feet. Bury them in the mud, and in an hour they will be out and bright. They are not ever yawning away existence, or walking about the world as if they had come into it with only half their soul; you cannot keep them down; you cannot destroy them. But for these the world would soon degenerate. They are the salt of the earth. Who but they start any noble project? They build our cities and rear our manufactories; they whiten the ocean with their sails, and they blacken the heavens with the smoke of their steam vessels and furnace fires; they draw treasures from the mine; they plough the earth. Blessings on them! Look to them, young men, and take courage; imitate their example; catch the spirit of their energy and enterprise, and you will deserve, and no doubt command,

success.

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHARACTER.

"The wild, the reckless, and the indiscreet-
His word was always doubted."

Ir not unfrequently happens that young men damage themselves for life, or at least for many years, by what to them appear as trifling or unimportant errors. They violate the truth, form reckless associations, and neglect positive engagements. Thus, at the very beginning, they impair confidence, excite suspicion, and create distrust. Character is a jewel of priceless value, and yet it is easily impaired or tarnished. The young, generally speaking, do not appreciate its importance, because they lack experience, and know but little of the world and its severity. An individual, for example, who is in the habit of repeating all sorts of wild and improbable stories —who boasts, exults, and magnifies-is at first looked upon with surprise and caution by the intelligent and discerning, and then, detected in some monstrous fabrication, he is distrusted and avoided. Thus, in an effort to appear what he is not, and to occupy a position to which he is not entitled, he destroys his character, and loses friends who otherwise would prove useful to him.

The young and indiscreet do not appreciate the realities of life, but permit fancy and folly to mislead them. They do not remember that character is, to a certain extent, like an edifice that is intended, not for a day or an hour, but for years, and hence its foundation should be of the best material. The advanced in life are, perhaps, too severe and too critical. They do not make sufficient