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the wickedness of voluntary insanity, disgusting idiocy, and profane beastliness-disgraces his friends, beggars his family, initiates his children in the dispositions and pathway of hell, --becomes the corrupter of youthful purity, and a public teacher of debauchery-with no disposition to engage in good pursuits, and no power to attend to the things which concern his peace, or to take one step toward the salvation of his soul!

What can be said of such a man, but that his present and eternal ruin are complete! Earth curses him, while he is upon it; and beyond it he can see no prospect but that of the blackness of darkness. A drunkard cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.

I am aware that many are ready to start back with incredulity and displeasure, when we speak of the eternal ruin of any human being and rightly, if it be denounced by human wrath with insufficient authority. But, in the present case, let any considerate man reflect on the nature of this vice, and consider how it deformas and brutalizes the whole man; how it destroys the intellectual faculties; how it palsies the moral affections; how it unfits for duty, incapacitates for improvement, disqualifies for the pure and elevated sentiments of devotion, and renders one as little capable of religion as of reason;-does he not perceive that it is impossible for such a man to relish the pure, intellectual, spiritual joys of heaven? and that his future prospects are, therefore, fearful and dark?

If pure affections, penitent humility, and devout habits, be essential to its bliss, has he not dreadfully ruined the hope of his soul? If preparation be necessary, has he not refused his happiness, by refusing to be prepared? Does not reason take up the language of scripture, and repeat, with earnest conviction, A drunkard cannot inherit the king dom of God?

LESSON XIII.

The Worm.-MISSOURIAN.

"Outvenoms all the worms of Nile."-Shakspeare.

WHO has not heard of the rattle-snake or copperhead An unexpected sight of either of these reptiles will make

even the lords of creation recoil: but there is a species of worm, found in various parts of this state, which conveys a poison of a nature so deadly, that, compared with it, even the venom of the rattle-snake is harmless. To guard our readers against this foe of human kind, is the object of this communication.

This worm varies much in size. It is frequently an inch through, but, as it is rarely seen, except when coiled, its length can hardly be conjectured. It is of a dull lead colour, and generally lives near a spring or small stream of water, and bites the unfortunate people, who are in the habit of going there to drink. The brute creation it never molests. They avoid it with the same instinct that teaches the animals of Peru to shun the deadly coya.

Several of these reptiles have long infested our settlements, to the misery and destruction of many of our fellow citizens. I have, therefore, had frequent opportunities of being the melancholy spectator of the effects produced by the subtle poison which this worm infuses.

The symptoms of its bite are terrible. The eyes of the patient become red and fiery, his tongue swells to an immoderate size, and obstructs his utterance; and delirium, of the most horrid character, quickly follows. Sometimes, in his madness, he attempts the destruction of his nearest friends.

If the sufferer has a family, his weeping wife and helpless infants are not unfrequently the objects of his frantic fury. In a word, he exhibits, to the life, all the detestable passions that rankle in the bosom of a savage; and, such is the spell in which his senses are locked, that, no sooner has the unhappy patient recovered from the paroxysm of insanity, occasioned by the bite, than he seeks out the destroyer, for the sole purpose of being bitten again.

I have seen a good old father, his locks as white as snow, his steps slow and trembling, beg in vain of his only son to quit the lurking place of the worm. My heart bled when he turned away; for I knew the fond hope, that his son would be the staff of his declining years," had supported him through many a sorrow.

Youths of Missouri, would you know the name of this reptile? It is called the Worm of the Still.

LESSON XIV.

Debt and Credit.-EMPORIUM, Trenton.

I DISLIKE the whole matter of debt and credit-from my heart I dislike it; and think the man, who first invented a leger, should be hung in effigy, with his invention tied to his feet, that his neck might support him and his works together. My reason for thus sweeping at the whole system is, not that I believe it totally useless, but that I believe it does more mischief than good, produces more trouble than accommodation, and destroys more fortunes than it creates honestly.

These opinions are not of a recent date with me: they are those upon which I set out in early life, and, as I grew older, I became more and more confirmed in them: not that I changed my practice, while I held fast my profession, and got my fingers burned at last, by trusting my name in a day-book; for I never did it, because I saw the evil effects of credit around me, in every shape and form.

A visit, this morning, to my old friend, Timothy Coulter, called the subject up so forcibly, that I concluded to write you a line upon it. His last cow was sold this very morning, by the constable, for six dollars, though she cost him sixteen; and they have not left an ear of corn in his crib, or a bushel of rye in his barn, much less any of his stock: it was what was called the winding up of the concern; and he is now on his good behaviour; for I heard one of his creditors say, that, if he did not go on very straight, he would walk him off to the county prison-ship. Thus has ended Timothy's game of debt and credit.

When he first commenced farming, he was as industrious and promising a young man as was to be found; he worked day and night, counted the cost, and pondered on the purchase of every thing. For a year or two, he kept out of debt, lived comfortably and happy, and made money: every merchant, that knew him, was ready to make a polite bow: each knew him as one of your cash men, and liked his custom. The mechanic shook him by the hand, and begged his company to dinner, hoping to get a job from him; and even the lawyer, in contemplation of his high character, tipped his beaver as he passed him, with a sign, as much as to say, “ Tim, you have more sense than half the world; but that's no consolation to us.

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By some fatality, Timothy found out, however, that there was such a thing as credit. He began soon to have many running accounts, and seldom paid for what he got; it soon followed, that the inquiry, "Do I really want this article ?” before he bought it, was neglected; then the price was frequently not asked; then he began to be careless about payday; his accounts stood, he disputed them when rendered, was sued, charged with costs, and, perhaps, slyly, with interest too; and he became a money-borrower before long; but his friends, after a lawsuit had brought them their money, were ready to trust him again, and he was as ready to buy. The same farce was played over and over, until now the end of these things has come; and, poor fellow, he is turned out upon the wide world, without a friend, save a wife and six miserable babes.

I asked the constable for a sight of the execution, and he showed it to me. It was issued by young 'squire Bell, and I could not but recollect how different was the history of this man from that of Timothy. Young Bell was a poor boy, and commenced his life with nothing but health and trade; but he adopted, as a sacred maxim, "Pay as you go;" and he frequently told me, he found little difficulty in sticking to bis text.

The necessaries of life are few, and industry secures them to every man: it is the elegancies of life that empty the purse: the knick-knacks of fashion, the gratification of pride, and the indulgence of luxury, make a man poor. To guard against these, some resolution is necessary; and the resolution, once formed, is much strengthened and guarded by the habit of paying for every article we buy, at the time. If we do so, we shall seldom purchase what our circumstances will not afford.

This was exactly the manner in which Jack Bell proceeded. Habit, strengthened by long continuance, and supported by reason, became second nature. His business prospered; his old purse became filled with Spanish dollars; all his purchases, being made for cash, were favourable; and, by always knowing how he stood with the world, he avoided all derangement in his affairs. He is now the 'squire of a little village, with a good property, a profitable business, and the respect of all who know him.

Young reader, who hast not entered on the stage of busi ness, when you come forward in the world, go and do likewise, and you shall have like reward.

LESSON XV.

The Indians.-NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, Cincinnati.

THERE are many traits of the Indian character highly interesting to the philosopher and Christian. Their unconquerable attachment to their pristine modes and habits of life, which counteracts every effort towards civilization, furnishes to the philosopher a problem too profound for solution. Their simple and unadorned religion, the same in all ages, and free from the disguise of hypocrisy, which they have received, by tradition, from their ancestors, leads the mind to a conclusion, that they possess an unwritten revelation from God, intended for their benefit, which ought to induce us to pause before we undertake to convert them to a more refined and less explicit faith.

The religion of the Indian appears to be fitted for that state and condition, in which his Maker has been pleased to place him. He believes in one Supreme Being-with all the mighty attributes which we ascribe to God-whom he denominates the Great and Good Spirit, and worships in a devout manner, and from whom he invokes blessings on himself and friends, and curses on his enemies.

Our Maker has left none of his intelligent creatures without a witness of himself. Long before the human mind is capable of a course of metaphysical reasoning upon the connexion which exists between cause and effect, a sense of Deity is inscribed upon it. It is a revelation which the Deity has made of himself to man, and which becomes more clear and intelligible, according to the manner and degree in which it is improved. In the Indian, whose mind has never been illumined by the light of science, it appears weak and obscure.

Those moral and political improvements, which are the pride and boast of man in polished society, and which result from mental accomplishments, the savage views with a jealous sense of conscious inferiority. Neither his reason, nor his invention, appears to have been exercised for the high and noble purposes of human excellence; and, while he pertinaciously adheres to traditional prejudices and passions, he improves upon those ideas only, which he has received through the senses.

Unaided by any other light than that which he has re

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