put in no such claim to your regard. What was it then, which SO enchained you to them, which death has not been able to destroy, and to which you now point as the only enduring part of their nature? It was their pure spirits, their unspotted souls, their sincere hearts, their kind feelings, their amiable dispositions, their excellent virtues. Those are the qualities of departed worth on which friendship loves to dwell; for she knows that these are the qualities which are imperishable, recommend their possessor to God, and fit him for heaven. Moral purity, spiritual excellence; this is the object of our being, the perfection of our nature, the only thing worth striving for, the the only thing about us that is truly ours, the only thing that is immortal. Your wealth, your fame, your learning, your beauty-what are they but the mere accidents of your earthly existence; the mortal integuments which you must cast off before you can enter the world of spirits?

Let us then expend our thoughts and lavish our labors in ennobling and purifying the incorruptible part of our nature. Let us be incited to this by the example of those excellent ones whose character swe revere and whose memory is precious to our souls.

FOR THE CHILDREN.

BE NOBLE.

The children must not be forgotten by any means; neither through neglect nor through an abundance of else to do and to think of! They must have a department in every number. We will begin the series in this volume, by saying, that your friends are desirous you should be interested and profited. One of the children's friends has written, that "the first step towards being instructed in any good thing, is to become thoroughly interested."

I am confident you all would like to be considered noble; and the first step towards being so, is to be true to think and act, as you have been taught is right; and while making few or no mistakes, you will grow up to be noble men and women. The little boy who raised a stone to kill the toad, thought he heard something speak to him, "that it was a wrong act," and he did not throw the stone. It was conscience that spoke to that boy, and it will speak to you too. One boy was at work in a linen shop, and his employer wanted him to help stretch a piece of linen, to make it longer, so as to get more money for it.

"I cannot do it!" he cried, "for it is wrong to do so!"

His employer discharged him, stating he would never make a salesman; but he grew up a godly man, and was none other than Dr. Adam Clarke, of whom your friends can tell you, a great deal of nobility for which he was noted. Be kind to those who need help; and who cannot easily help themselves. Not long since, a school-house in the city of New York caught fire. One noble boy remained, until he saw all the little fellows were safe, and then, choking with smoke, carried in his arms a poor, crippled boy, whom he induced to sit still, under promise that he would save him; and he did save him!

The school authorities summoned this noble fellow before them, spoke very many good words to him, and presented him with a valuable medal! But the noble feelings he can always have that he so helped the needy, are worth more than all medals! It was a noble little girl, (who after became a very noble woman), who begged that some naughty boys would stop teasing and stoning a deranged woman, telling them that "it is somebody's dear mother, may be!" And

not another stone was thrown, nor any further disrespect shown.

Conscience will be near you, if you do not drive it away by many acts of disobedience; but too oft this is the case, and it is left to stand afar off, like a reproving angel, who cannot get nearer because of repeated acts of rebellion. See what happens, oftentimes to those who are not noble enough to be obedient to what they know is right:

Three boys stood close by the Hudson river; one boy suggests that they all go in swimming; two agreed to do so, the other said he had promised his mother he would not go in swimming unless she knew of it. The other two laughed at his noble stand to obey his mother. They went in swimming; and thence into an old boat; the boat turned over and both boys were drowned. It was afterward learned, that these two boys had given their parents the same promise of the noble boy who kept his, and saved his life. B noble dear children in all things.

LADY OFFICE-HOLDERS IN
ENGLAND.

An English paper gives the following item in relation to the ladies of the royal household of the Queen of England:

"The Mistress of the Robes is an office of great importance, and one of the best in the gift of a ministry. The duties distinguish the holder above all others; for instance, that of riding in the royal carriage on all State occasions, and robing the Queen at the ceremonials of importance, though the actual manipula

tion connected with the duties of

Mistress of the Robes is usually per formed by attendants on the person of the sovereign. Groom of the Stole was rather a curious office to attach

en

to that of Mistress of the Robes, but, perhaps, requisite when a female was on the throne. The Stole is a narrow vest, formerly embroidered with roses, fleur-de-lis, and crowns, and lined with sarsenet. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, held both of these offices in the reign of Queen Anne, and so did the Duchess of Somerset. The salary was then £800, and is now £500 per annum. The Ladies of the Bedchamber-the duties are connected with all things appertaining to the royal sleeping and dressing apartments, of which they have the complete superintendence and control, as well also of the apparel of the Queen. The Bedchamber Womare seven in number, and their salaries and duties are similar to the Ladies of the Bedchamber. In the correspondence of Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, there are some singu lar illustrations of this office. Maids of Honor are of ancient date, and of considerable importance. They were always well paid and well cared for by royalty. The Chronicles of the reign of Henry VIII, give numerous examples of this fact. An order for the provision of one of the Ladies of Honor to Catharine is very minute; and, among other things, provides her with a gallon of ale for breakfast, and a chine of beef; a piece of beef and a gallon of beer for dinner; in the afternoon, a gallon of ale and a maniple of bread; and for supper, a mess of porridge, a piece of mutton' and a gallon of ale; after supper, half a gallon of wine and bread. In 1775, the Ladies petitioned for an increase of salary instead of rations for supper, and were allowed £70 per

annum.

Their duties, in the present. day, are to attend on the Queen, the turn of the eight ladies being according to an order drawn up each year. The salary is £300 per annum."

FRETFULNESS.

O woman! whose highest honor it is to mature and rear earth's men and women for God's service, and to breathe over the homes where you rear them something of the atmosphere of that Home yours should typify, exorcise, I entreat you, this foul spirit, this demon fretfulness, from your domain. Let its shadow never darken your threshold; let its breath never blight the spirits where it is your province to ward and watch. Would you be good and true where God has placed you? Would you have yours--your own dear oneslarge of soul, loving and beloved in their lives, living in sunshine and scattering sunshine? Would you be to them while you live, and live in their memories after you are dead, as one of those sent of God and manifesting Him in their lives? Then let your brow never be clouded, your tones sharpened, the loving beaming of your eye never quenched by this foul spirit, that gathers its venom and blight from discontent and unholy unrest. A truly noble man, a loving, innocent child, might find a better home in a den of stinging reptiles, than with "a brawling" or fretful “woman in a wide house.” If you are sick, and cannot give to your home service and care, give them the smile of a calm, unruffled soul, the sunshine of peace and love, and trust in God. If you are burthened with care and toil, add not to the load you must needs carry, one you need not, by fretfulness of spirit, but let cheerfulness and hope buoy you. Do difficulties, dark and frowning, meet you? Does your path lie over an intricate and thorny way? Let the light of a quiet spirit brighten it, and the music of gentle, loving tones thrill along its tangled mazes. Listen for them, and you shall catch, ever and anon, strains of poetry and meas

ures of melody, even on the dreariest road. Have you the greatest blessing a true woman's heart craves, affectionate friends, a pleasant home, a loving and noble man for a companion, and dear promising children? Oh, let gratitude to the Great Giver keep you always from the lowering frown of impatience, and the harsh, grating tones of complaint and fretfulness at the little ills, the liltle disappointments, the physical taxations, and the nervous discomforts and ailments that every mother of a family, however blessed and favored, must at times encounter. Let each strive, in her own sphere and in her own home, to make that home as perfect, that sphere as ennobled as it can be come. If this is the aim and ambi tion, surely from such a home and sphere will be banished, with much else that belittles and dgrades, and mars it, the demon--Fretfulness.

DO SOMETHING.

It is truly a melancholy spectacle to see so many drones in the great and busy hive of human life. We daily see young men of education, and who possess more than ordinary natural gifts, lounging about as listlessly as if there was nothing in the boundless universe worthy of their attention. How utterly lost to manhood are many sons of wealthy parents! No ambition, no hope, no ardent desire ever spurs them on to leap from obscurity into the broad daylight of lasting renown. Their lives, which should be full of noble achievements, are dawdled away in unholy dissipation. If such is to become the universal effect of wealth on the rising generation, it were far better that poverty should forever be the handmaid of our sons and daughters. In the name of common humanity, we call on all young men to do something. Do not sneak from

the cradle of infancy to the coffin of oblivion without, at least, one great effort to prove you have not lived in vain. Remember that fame and honor are never achieved with folded arms and "masterly inactivity." When the sublime wisdom of common sense taught Columbus there was a new world, he did not preach his belief with idle hands and lacklustre eye. The wonderful discoveries in science and art were not made by men who regarded life as a holiday of idleness. If you would achieve fame, if you would win the applause of your fellow-men, if you would gain your own self-respect, then, in the name of all that is good and sacred, we call on you to go to work and do something.

THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL

FIRE.

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."--Jude 7th verse.

"Eternal Fire," many suppose, means endless fire, and that the Sodomites must suffer endless torture therein. This word (Greek aionios) is frequently used in a limited sense, as all scholars admit. Hence the use of that word does not prove the endless ness of the fire.

The learned commentators: Whitly, Gilpin, Hammond, Benson and Dodridge; all interpret the suffering, the vengeance of eternal fire, as particularly relating to the temporal destruction of Sodom, and not to the suffering of their souls in the future state. Alexander Cruden, a learned divine, and author of the best concordance extant, commenting upon our text says: "the words eternal, everlasting, forever &c., are sometimes taken for a long period of time, and are not always to be taken as

strictly endless. For example, it is said, Gen. 17: 8-"I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of Caanan for an everlasting possession." And in Ch. 13, it is written: "I will give it to thee and thy seed forever." And in Ch. 49, we read of everlasting hills to denote their stability. And God promised a throne to David, an eternal kingdom, a posterity that shall never be extinguished, to denote that their sons empire shall be of very long duration. Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were said to be suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Yet the fire alluded lasted only about two thousand years, and is now extinct.

History proves that this fire continued to burn on earth, and not in the future world, several centuries after the people of these cities, and the domestic animals were destroyed. Its appearance to Abraham the morning after the dreadful catastrophe, is described in Gen. 18: 27, 28. "And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord, and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." And even then, the very next day we cannot suppose the Sodomites were still suffering there. When a man is thrown into a furnace of fire, does he suffer there as long as the fire burns? Certainly not.

Jeremiah, the inspired Hebrew prophet, says: Lam. 4: 6" For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrowr as in a moment, and no hand stayed on her." the punishment of the Israelites who were then living, was greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom

Yes

-greater because of longer duration. Strange as it may appear, the punishment of sinners in Israel, because of their greater light and knowledge, was endured for a longer time than the punishment of the Sodomites "greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was ovorthrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her."

Philo, Josephus, Diodorus, Siculus and Strabo, as quoted in the third volume of the Universalist Expositor, all testify that in their day, "Smoke, flame and fire were still seen in all that region." Hence, the fire from its long continuance, properly might be called eternal in the scripture use of that word, although the Sodomites and domestic animals, did not suffer in that fire but a very few moments.

And now, the text is plain, the fire spoken of was that which destroyed the cities, the domestic animals and the bodies of the wretched people, and was eternal, Aionion, agelasting, in the Bible sense of the word, inasmuch as it burned up all, both root and branch, and continued burning for several centuries in the earth.

The Jews were exhorted by the Apostles to look upon these calamities, (as the fire was still burning in their day) as faint representations of those punishments which were even then at their doors; they were set forth as the examples of the truth. that God "Judgeth in the earth," and "renders to every man according to his deeds, whether they be good or evil."

REV. B. HUNT.

POOR BOYS' RECORD.

The second president of the United States, John Adams, was the son of a farmer of moderate means, who was compelled to work constantly for the support of his family. When, at the age of twenty, the son graduated at Harvard College, his

education was his only capital for his start in active life.

Andrew Jackson was born in a loghut in extreme poverty. He grew up in the woods of North Carolina, living in the home of a relative, where his mother worked to support herself and her three children.

James K. Polk, the eleventh president, spent his early days on a farm in the wilderness of North Carolina. His father placed him in a store with the intention that he should enter mercantile life; but his dislike for business was so great that at the age of eighteen he was sent to the Murfreesboro Academy to fit him for college.

Millard Fillmore was the son of a New York farmer, and his home was an humble one. When he was fourteen years of age he was sent away from home to learn the business of a clothier. But five years later entered. a law office, and at the age of twentythree was admitted to the bar.

James Buchanan was born in a small town of the Allegheny Mountains. His father was poor, and by his own ax built his home in the wilderness. When James was eight years of age he was placed at school, and six years later entered Dickinson College, where he graduated with the highest honors.

It is well-known that Abraham Lincoln was the son of parents who were the poorest of the poor. Till he was more than twenty-one his house was a log-cabin. His attend

ance at school was limited to a few months. From early life he was compelled to depend on himself not only for his living, but also for his success in his business and his profession.

At the age of ten Andrew Johnson was apprenticed to a tailor. Previously his mother had supported him by her own labor. He was never