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How thankful, then, ought we to be for this mingling of earthly affections with heavenly; this lightening of the task of duty: this sweetening of the cup of self-denial! and how deep, how sincere, should be our pity for those unto whom this merciful dispensation is not extended, unto whom it is decreed, by the wisdom that erreth not, that they shall journey through the wilderness alone; unto whom the sentence has gone forth, "Behold! I will take away the desire of thine eyes as with a stroke !"

and solitary mourner by the side of the clos- may fly for healing, and the weary for reing grave. Over her pale features was spread the calmness of resignation; and none of the surrounding throng of lookers on knew, or cared to know, with what feelings she turned away, when the last solemn rites were over, from that little churchyard-not the noisy space of ground allotted to the burial of the dead, which her son had so often spoken of with disgust and horror; but a quiet resting-place, one they had fixed upon together during their last walk into the country. Here she had stood beside the grave, not only the chief, but the sole mourner; and here she left with her buried treasure all the hopes and the affections which bound her to this troubled life.

From this now sacred spot of earth, Alice returned to her home.-Home! what is home? Surely there must be something more than a hired tenement to constitute a home; but Alice had in this wide world nothing more. Happy-happy is it for those who feel that their home is "an habitation not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!"

The Christian character is almost universally described as one which is, and must be, at variance with what is commonly denominated the world; consequently, the Christian church is called the church militant, and the Christian himself is often spoken of as one who is compelled to fight the good fight. All the good lessons which we learn from our infancy, our observations upon the world in general, the experience of every day, and the precepts of the holy scriptures, combine to teach us that the utmost stretch of faith, and perseverance, and watchfulness, and zeal, are necessary to protect us against the mastery of evil passions within, and the temptations of the world without. It is, however, graciously permitted to us, in almost every situation in life, to enjoy the consolation of human help; to have some star or stars in our own low sphere to light us on our way; some kind voice to cheer us on our pilgrimage; some home of welcome in the hearts we love, where the wounded

In this situation the Christian is most severely tried; for here no earthly encouragement is held out, and whatever is done must be done purely for the love of God, for the pleasure of obeying his law, and walking in his ways.

In order more fully to illustrate the nature of true resignation, and more clearly to exemplify what ought to be the state of the human mind under this trial, it will be necessary to trace the progress of the humble individual whose character has been here described, one step farther on her path of pa tience and fortitude. For this purpose let us look in upon the childless widow in her solitude. Let us imagine her on the day following that of the funeral, solitary, but not inactive; for Alice busied herself with examining each article of the personal property which her son had left; and though her eyes were sometimes so dimmed with tears that she could hardly read the different labels he had placed upon all his school prizes, and his memorials of affection and early companionship, she still went on, leaving out whatever she thought might be more valuable to others than to herself; though it was a hard thing to part even with his wardrobe, now that she was so desolate and forlorn. This duty, moreover, was faithfully gone through, and Alice sat down to spend the evening alone;-alone, and without employment: for when she laid down her bible, and would have taken up her work, the thought that

she had now no longer any one to work for, seemed to paralyze her fingers, and throw a chain of icy coldness upon every effort to rouse herself for active exertion.

It was not long, however, that Alice permitted her spirit to sink under the pressure of unmitigated affliction. "It is the will of my heavenly Father," said she, "that I should bear my burden alone; and with his help I will not faint by the way; there must yet be some field of usefulness open for me, or my soul would be required of me. I will still labour in his vineyard, though my strength should be as that of the bruised reed; I will still worship at his altar, though my only offering should be a broken heart." | With such feelings, strengthened into resolution by earnest and continual prayer, Alice set about to prepare for a change in her occupations and her place of abode.Having heard that a mistress was wanted for an infant school in a distant part of the country, she offered her services, and was appointed as a decent, useful looking woman, by those who thought they were conferring upon her a favour.

Here let us observe how little is known by those who flatter themselves they are dispensing favours-how very little is known of the misery which the necessity of being the object of them, sometimes inflicts upon the receiver: thus we complain of ingratitude, because our bounties are not seized with avidity, and acknowledged with delight; when in reality each act of beneficence, upon which we pride ourselves, has been gall and bitterness to those who were compelled by circumstances to accept it.

Alice had no natural inclination for the situation, nor for the line of life which she had chosen, and would rather have shrunk away from the arduous task which she had imposed upon herself; but it seemed more desirable to her to enter at once upon the field of active and imperative duties, than to leave her inclination time to wander, and make its own selection amongst those which were merely optional. She therefore, took her place amongst the little throng, and went

diligently and faithfully through the whole process of instruction; while visiters flocked in to see, and ladies made their comments, and the wonders and praises of the new establishment spread far and wide.

It was no difficult thing to discover that Alice was a trusty servant, and, as such, she was valued and approved; but no one knew what her heart had suffered, or was then suffering; nor why when the school was closing, she would often single out a little dark-haired boy, whose pale complexion and soft shadowy eyelashes gave him an air of melancholy and languor, and often, walking home with him to his mother's door, would stand there until she saw him comfortably seated at his own fireside, and then turn away to take a long solitary ramble by the sea-shore.

Yet the character of Alice Bland was not one that was capable of remaining long unknown. Though unobtrusive in her charities, and limited in her means, she was so unbounded in her desire to be useful, that neither time nor opportunity seemed wanting; and it was a common reply with her, to the apologies of those who feared they might be making too great a claim upon her kindness, "Don't think of that. I am a lone woman. I have no ties at home, and therefore I am the more fit to be serviceable to others. To him who has given me health and strength, and a few kind feelings, I have to render an account; and blessed be his holy name, I am supported through every day by the consolations of his love. I am a weak instrument it is true; but then there is the more need that I should diligently watch, and earnestly embrace every opportunity of offering my mite. It is not the magnitude of our good actions by which we hope to be saved; it is the feelings from which they arise, and the spirit in which they are performed, that are the test of obedience."

In this spirit, the spirit of Christian love, the poor widow persevered in the path of duty. Filled with this spirit, she laid aside all weak lamentations and fruitless repinings. Encouraged by this spirit, she kept

perpetually in view the blessed goal, where she already beheld, in imagination, the souls of her departed robed in white. Supported by this spirit, she became a prop to the feeble, and a comfort to the needy. Inspired

by this spirit, she journeyed patiently along the pilgrimage of life, and was enabled, at the end, to lay down the burden of the flesh, rejoicing with the gladness of the captive who leaves his prison-house.

MARRIAGE AS IT MAY BE.*

Yes, he deserves to find himself deceived,
Who seeks a heart in the unthinking man.
Like shadows on a stream the forms of life
Impress their characters on the smooth forehead,
Nought sinks into the bosom's silent depth;
Quick sensibility of pain and pleasure
Moves the light fluids lightly; but no soul,
Warmeth the inner frame.
WALLENSTEIN.

It is a common and popular plan, in writing what is called an autobiography, to account in some plausible manner for the way in which the pretended manuscript has fallen into the author's hands. On the present occasion, however, the picture that is presented to the public, offers so little either of the extraordinary or the marvellous, that it appears quite unnecessary to introduce it under any other character than that of a confidential communication from one lady to another.

Painful as it may be to bequeath to posterity a record of our own errors, the heart that is deeply interested in the well-being of society, will think the instruction of even one of the rising generation cheaply purchased by its own exposure.

to give, of that most lamentable of all calamities-most irreparable of all misfortunes, -an "ill assorted marriage."

You who have shared in the pleasures and pursuits of my youth, are aware that my life was unmarked by any incident of sufficient interest to strike the attention of an impartial reader; notwithstanding I was distinguished for my quickness at school, and regarded as a prodigy of genius at home. Early deprived of the blessing of maternal care, and left at the age of sixteen to the unrestrained indulgence of my own tastes and caprices, I set about with the most voracious appetite, to feast upon that species of literature that was most in unison with a sensitive and undisciplined mind, and most conducive to the growth of that morbid me

To you, the friend of my early years, I lancholy which has followed me through life ; submit this manuscript, with strict injunc-restraining the aspirations of hope, weighing tions to keep it secret until I and mine shall down the energies of resolution, and damphave ceased to suffer the agonies of wound- ing the feeble fire of a lukewarm faith. In ed feeling. You may not outlive us, or if you the spring-time of life, when the heart is should, your judgment is now too mature, most capable of enjoyment, I was conseand your walk in life has ever been too cir- quently wretched. I was told reproachfully, cumspect for you to reap any advantage that it was the absence of religion which from my experience. But you have daugh- made me so, and I began to "believe and ters and may they read with charity, and tremble." wisely profit by the history which I am about

In my father's house we had no religious

The writer of this story would be sorry to draw upon herself the suspicion of having placed a worthless individual in the situation of a Clergyman of the Church of England, for the purpose of throwing an air of dis respect over that particular religious body. With creeds she holds no controversy,-for parties professes no preference. Her apology must be, that in painting from private life, she has delineated no traits of character which she has not seen, nor delinquency of conduct with which she has not been acquainted.

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exercises. The gay and the worldly-minded the flattery of the woman, I gently declined sought our society, and with these I was his proposals, pitied him, spoke of friendconstantly associated; until I felt like a be- ship, called myself his sister, and the thing ing who is carried away against his inclina- went on as such things usually do. tion by the mere press of a crowd, with which he holds neither sympat! y nor common feeling.

Amongst those who frequently sat at my father's table, was a young man of excellent disposition, whose light and easy manners won upon us all, and made him friends for the moment, with every description of character that happened to be brought in contact with his own. He was undergoing the process of preparation for the church, though still but a boy, when we first met; but he had read poetry, and been taught at high schools, and flirted with a young widow; and just for present pastime was very much at my service, either as a butt, a lover, or a convert. As a butt, I first tried him, and found him the liveliest, wittiest, and best tempered creature in the world; as a lover, I did not allow myself to ask what he might be; but as a convert,-I triumphed in the thought. Here was a field for my energies to work in. His good heart,-his habits of dissipation, his deference for, and evidently growing attachment to myself,-what vain woman, building her eternal hopes upon the frail reeds of self-righteousness, could resist a temptation like this? It was too much for

me.

For some time I was made happy in the confidence that I should obtain the reward of having saved a "soul from sin;" for my promising protege, though led away by gay companions, always came back to me in his hours of penitence, and a hopeful and interesting charge I had; until the hope, if not the interest, was somewhat abated, by my young friend proposing himself to me as my future husband.

I own I was a good deal surprised, that he who had always acknowledged such an immense inferiority on moral and religious grounds, should now esteem himself a fitting helpmate for me in the pilgrimage of life: but, forgiving the presumption of the boy in

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All this while, however, my heart was ill at ease. I felt like one who goes into the field of battle, bearing the banner of his cause, without having learned to defend it. If we build our religion upon a false foundation, we make but a sorry edifice. Mine was a temple in which I found neither shelter nor repose, but rather a fantastic fabric, whose dizzy pinnacles threatened to fall and crush me in their ruins. Thus my days passed on. If I began to converse on religion, I often concluded by listening to love; and night invariably found me listless, weary, and unsatisfied. My pupil, too, began to exhibit points of character, of which I had not before suspected him. There was a degree of wounded pride with which he listened to my repeated refusals to become his wife, that frequently urged him on to the manly revenge of determined inebriation; while many of my enemies, and some of my friends, wondered at and blamed me, for my intimacy with a being so unrestrained and desperate. Still it was no easy thing to break entirely asunder the chain which linked us together, for all his best hopes both for this world and the next seemed bound up with me: and I had the vanity to believe, that in casting him off, I should most probably consign him to everlasting perdition.

Surrounded by dangers and quicksands on every hand, it never once occurred to me that I was pursuing a wrong course; but still I determined to struggle through, though I felt myself plunging deeper and deeper at every fruitless attempt; and when time and experience brought me to my senses, it was too late to extricate myself from the difficulties in which I was involved. In this manner years passed away.-My lover was confirmed in his habits of dissipation, and my friends had some of them become enemies, loud in their declamations against me, though I observed that when

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