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from his "Future Years," a thousand new and startling thoughts and feelings flash upon you, as you read. His pathos and humor are not inferior to Sidney Smith's, and he touches everything with a refined but strong and nervous pen. The more you read these "RECREATIONS OF A COUNTRY PARSON," the more you will delight to read them, feeling that you are imbibing something of his riches, and learning to look on the world, and nature, and nature's God with a more reverent and appreciative

eye.

We are greatly obliged to the publishers for these volumes. If they had done nothing for the year past but issue these charming books from their press, they would have conferred a favor on the reading public, not soon to be cancelled. They are got up in a style worthy

of their contents.

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C. M. S. Two other books are before us from the same publishing house

Agnes of Sorrento and the Pearl of Orr's
Island."

These charming stories by Mrs. Stowe, are too well known and appreciated to need a word of commendation. It is only necessary to say that letter press and binding are neat and tasteful as is everything issued by those prince of publishers, Ticknor & Fields.

C. M. S.

and publisher. It is a cheering feature of our time that such books are more and more called for, that their need is more and more felt. The one before us is arranged with taste and judgment. The prayers are imbued with a most submissive and catholic spirit, and written as they are, by a large number of different clergymen, they possess great variety of style with one Christian tone. Let the ALTAR AT HOME find its place at many a domestic hearth. The Marten and Nellie Stories, six volumes, By Josephine Franklin, Price 50 cents per volume. Boston: F. A. Browne & Co.

16 mo.

This beautiful series of juveniles comprise the following books: "Nellie and Her Friends," "Nellie's First School Days," "Nellie and Her "" 66 'Nellie's Visit," and Book," "Little Bessie,' "Zelma." Whoever Josephine Franklin may be, whether it is a real or an assumed name, one thing is certain, she has produced as fine a series of stories as can be desired, or, we may almost say, as good as can be found in the country. The celebrated Rollo Books do not surpass them in interest, and in style, they are chaste and beautiful, abounding in incidents that cannot fail to please the young reader. Although the characters are the same in each volume, yet the stories are entirely distinct. The mechanical execution is of a superior or

The Master, by Mrs. Mary A. Denison. der; fine paper, clear, open type and fine enWalker, Wise & Co., Boston.

The many admirers of this charming writer, will be delighted with this story, just issued in the neatest of dresses, by this excellent publishing house. Its interest is remarkably sustained from beginning to end, and you follow the characters with all the sympathy you would feel towards friends. It is a most pleasant "Book for a Corner.' The Child's Pictorial Scripture Question Book. By Minnie S. Davis.

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C. M. 8.

gravings, make them attractive and interesting,
while the beautiful and artistic bindings are un-
surpassed by any juveniles that are made.
They should be in every one of our Sunday
School Libraries. They are pure, chaste, in-
teresting and instructive. For sale by Tomp-
kins & Co.

A Primary Cook Book, by Mrs. Putnam.
For new beginners in house-keeping. Re-
ceipts suited to the times. Loring, publish-
Boston.

er,

The title of this book expresses fully its obThis little work by our associate, Miss Davis, ject. It is a capital book for those who have is a true godsend to the little children of our never learned the first principles of housekeepSabbath Schools, and to their teachers as well.ing, and to those who have had some experiIts lessons are simple, brief and comprehensive, ence, it will be found valuable in many instanand made attractive by neat wood cuts. It ces, if only for reference. supplies a want much felt in our infant classes,

C. A. 8.

and I hope it will find a place in all of them.
Published by the late Abel Tompkins, and sold
by the present firm, Tompkins & Co., Cornhill,
Boston.
The Altar at Home. Selections and Prayers
for Domestic Worship. Walker, Wise & Co.
This is a book for which thousands of devo-
tional hearts will thank both writers, editor

Parson Brownlow's Book, Philadelphia.
Geo. W. Childs, 12mo., price $1.25.

The fighting parson is too well known to need any extended notice. There are many adjectives that might with propriety be omitted from his vocabulary, but the book before us is replete with patriotism, and will be read with interest by thousands. For sale by Tompkins & Co.

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tossing arms, and vengeful cries; "Lead on! lead on! He dies, he dies, Let

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Of course; what can they do if volunteers in sufficient numbers to supply the recent demand of the President, do not come forward?"

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But it is so dreadful. It seems almost like slavery, or at best like rebelstrategy. I do not like it at all. It is not like the Free North. We shall not conquer with such tyrannical means, resorted to."

"But the Free North has once before resorted to such means, and it seems to me perfectly legitimate to raise forces in that way, when it is the ultimate resort." "But what right, really, has the Government to coerce and lay violent hands on a free citizen?"

"The right which an individual has to defend himself against assault, by the surest means in his power.

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"I do not see the analogy, I confess." Strictly speaking, there is none. will better it by saying, the right which a father has to compel the needed and just services of his child, when they are not voluntarily rendered."

"Umph! you don't pretend that the Government sustains the same relationship to you, that your parents did?"

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In a sense, precisely."

"How do you show that?"

"In this way.

The Government

watches over my rights and liberties, and defends them when they are assailed by others. It guards my property, so that I feel no apprehension that it will be wrested from me by the dishonest or unscrupulous. I can thousands of miles away, and a little piece of parchment which I hold secures me in the possession of this house, for instance, or that land, even though I should not see it or hear from it again in twenty years.'

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"Well, what of that? It is the parchment, not the Government, to which you

are indebted for that."

"But do you suppose the parchment would be worth a straw, were it not made potent by Government?

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No, I suppose not.”

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"A father! what do you mean?"

he had bought either a farm, an ox, or a

"That your father was a conscript, or wife, but he would rather witness the de

rather a substitute."

"I never knew it.'

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"Sold himself, the brave young hero! and yet gave himself away, and his heart into the bargain, without money and with out price."

"My dear, must I tell you that my curiosity is rampant and my patience exhausted?"

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Well then, I must relieve you. But I must begin after the fashion of all good story-tellers, at the beginning, and tell you how the war of 1812, after having exhausted the voluntary system, at length determined that drafting was necessary, and that the ranks of the army must be filled by conscription. Of course there was in many instances, a wild scattering among the youth and young householders of the country, to escape this dreaded mode of massing men and muscle wherewith to whip Old England. Not that many loyal men had any objection to Johnny Bull's being soundly thrashed; on the contrary, the majority rather gloried in the idea, feeling as we do now, in this crisis of our nation's history, that nothing would do the overbearing bully so much good conduce so much to his spiritual health as a thorough and most unmerciful drubbing; but, like the guests bidden to the feast, one had bought a yoke of oxen, another a farm, another a wife, and therefore they begged to be excused.

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Among this class was a young man by the name of Alfred Foxcroft, not that

sirable feat of whipping said growling mastiff, than assist in its performance.

"He was a student in Harvard College, a somewhat green, and shame-faced youth, but nevertheless, with the making of a hero in his breast. The day for the drafting came, and the students were summoned to the gathering place, but, when their names were called over, Alfred was missing, nor could he, after much searching be found. So the requisite number of men was obtained without him, and the recruiting force marched away.

"It was a fine moonlight evening, and Alfred sat like a certain royal fugitive, quietly perched among the branches of an old oak tree that at this distant day still lifts its gallant branches to the sky, and battles with the storms of time, though hundreds of years have rolled over its head.

The truth is, he had sat there snugly hidden since early dawn; the pocket-full of crackers with which he had commenced the day, was long since exhausted, and he had begun seriously to consider the feasi bility of clambering down and seeking both food and safe lodgment. But how was he to effect this? To go back to the college, while the recruiting force was in the neighborhood, was quite out of the question; he might be nabbed at any moment; and to get out of town, when he had every reason to suppose many lynx eyes were on the look out for him, was not easy. His quandary was rot yet solved, when an incident occurred which bade fair to keep him fast in his sheltering nook another half hour.

"Two young girls accompanied by a young man, approached, and finally stopped nearly under the tree, and commenced a conversation, which was not so low but he could distinctly hear every word they said. They were strangers, but he soon made them out. It was a young man who had been that day drafted, his sister, and the young girl to whom he was betrothed. They had come to this secluded spot to speak their farewells, and to utter those words so dear, yet so sad to the heart, and which so many thousands are,

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all over the Loyal North, perhaps at this moment uttering. The betrothed maiden was tearful and almost silent, but the sister seemed radiant with excitement and resolution. She stood out in the moonshine, and her face shone clear and beautiful in its rays.

"O, Charles, if I were only a man, how gladly would I take your place, for I do glory in the cause for which you are going to fight! But I am only a poor, little girl with a very brave heart and a very weak hand, so I can't go, you see, that's out of the question. You ought to go, but I don't want to have you go, and Hepsy don't want you to go; she is crying her eyes out already, and, for my part, I am determined to find out some way to keep you at home."

66

You can't do it, Kate, and there's no use in trying. The only way is to look the matter in the face and bear it. It's rather hard on a fellow, I know, who is just going to be married, to go off and stay two years, and perhaps be shot, or have a great bayonet hole in his breast, just where the image of his little wife, that was to be, is cuddled down. But it can't be helped, I tell you; and so what's the use o' making it harder for a fel-” Here the poor fellow rather broke down, and Hepsy burst out in great sobs.

"Now, Hepsy, don't!" exclaimed Kate, "he shan't go; I'll find some way to keep him, if I'm a woman. I'll go to the Colonel-you have a Colonel, haven't you?-and I'll get down on both my knees, and I'll tell him you don't want to go, and that you have a little wife that don't want you to go, and a little sister that don't want you to go; and I'll say, I shall always love you if you will only let him stay at home; but if you don't, I shall always hate you, for you have no right to take my brother away from me and from his little wife, who can't live without him. I'll hate the British just as much as you please, and I'll stand by the eagle and the stars and stripes forever and ever, only let my brother stay at home." Kate stopped half laughing and half crying, while Charles turned away his head with a little impatient sigh.

"It's no use, Kate, I tell you again.

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"Is that all? then why don't you get a substitute?"

"A substitute costs money, and that you know I haven't got."

"Well, it is easily enough had. Here's my gold cross with mother's hair set in the face, and my ear-rings that grandmother left me, and my beautiful shawl that uncle Nathan brought from the Indies. You shall have them all, and everything else I possess, to sell." Ah, my

Charles shook his head. "" poor Kate! your gold cross and your earrings, and even your India shawl would go very little way in providing money for a substitute so let us waste no no more time in thinking of it."

Kate bowed her head and was for a few moments lost in reflection, many changing shadows flitting in the clear moonlight over her pretty features. At length seizing her brother's arm, "I have thought of another thing; we shan't need any money for a substitute. I will give myself. I know two or three persons who like me. I don't like them to be sure; but I will go to one of them and say 'I will be your wife, if you will only save my brother. See, I shall not make a disagreeable or ill-favored wife. I am pretty-everybody calls me so; I am goodhearted and loving, and I am a neat-handed housekeeper and all these advantages shall be yours when you return, if you will only enlist as a substitute for my brother. I promise you, on this gold cross of my mother's, with her sacred hair in its centre, that I will become your true and loving wife, if you will only save my brother."

She stopped too excited to say more.

Charles looked with love and admiration on the sweet, glowing face of the young girl, but shook his head.

"You are a darling sister, with a heart of gold; but this plan is the worst of all. But we must go home. My knapsack is to be packed, and all must be ready for

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