Thank God, ye toilers for your bread, in that, daily labouring,

He hath suffered the bubbles of self-interest to float upon the stream of

duty:

For honesty, of every kind, approved by God and man,

Of wealth and better weal is found the richest cornucopia.
Tempered by humbleness and charity, honesty of speech hath honour;
And mingled well with prudence, honesty of purpose hath its praise :
Trust paveth homage unto truth, rewarding honesty of action:
And all men love to lean on him, who never failed nor fainted.
Freedom gloweth in his eyes, and nobleness of nature at his heart,
And Independence took a crown and fixed it on his head :
So, he stood in his intregrity, just and firm of purpose,

Aiding many, fearing none, a spectacle to angels, and to men :
Yea, when the shattered globe shall rock in the throes of dissolution,
Still, will he stand in his integrity, sublime—an honest man.

OF SOCIETY.

BETTER is the mass of men, Suspicion, than thy fears
Kinder than thy thoughts, O chilling heart of Prudence,
Purer than thy judgments, ascetic tongue of censure,
In all things worthier to love, if not also wiser to esteem.

Yea, let the moralist condemn, there be large extenuations of his verdict,
Let the misanthrope shun men and abjure, the most are rather loveable

than hateful.

How many pleasant faces shed their light on every side!

How many angels unawares have crossed thy casual way!

How often, in thy journeyings, hast thou made thee instant friends,

Found, to be loved a little while, and lost, to meet no more;

Friends of happy reminiscence, although so transient in their converse, Liberal, cheerful, and sincere, a crowd of kindly traits.

I have sped by land and sea, and mingled with much people,

But never yet could find the spot unsunned by human kindness :

Some more and some less,-but, truly, all can claim a little;

And a man may travel through the world, and sew it thick with friend

ships.

There be indeed, to say it in all sorrow, bad apostate souls,

Deserted of their ministering angels, and given up to liberty of sin,—
And other some, the miserly and mean, whose eyes are keen and greedy,
With stony hearts, and iron fists, to filch, and scrape, and clutch,-
And others yet again, the coarse in mind, selfish, sensual, brutish,
Seeming as incapable of softer thoughts, and dead to better deeds ;
Such, no lover of the good, no follower of the generous and gentle,
Can nearer grow to love, than may consist with pity.

Few verily are these among the mass, and cast in fouler moulds,
Few and poor in friends, and well-deserving of their poverty :

Yet, or ever thou hast harshly judged, and linked their presence to disgust,
Consider well the thousand things that made them all they are.

Thou hast not thought upon the causes, ranged in consecutive necessity,
Which tended long to these effects, with sure constraining power.
For each of those unlovely ones, if thou couldst hear his story,
Hath much to urge of just excuse, at least as men count justice:
Foolish education, thwarted opportunities, natural propensities un-
checked,-

Thus were they discouraged from all good, and pampered in their evil :
And if thou wilt apprehend them well, tenderly looking on temptations,
Bearing the base indulgently, and liberally dealing with the froward,
Thou shalt discern a few fair fruits even upon trees so withered,
Thou shalt understand how some may praise, and some be found to love
them.

Nevertheless for these, my counsel is, Avoid them if thou canst;

For the finer edges of thy virtues will be dulled by attrition with their vice.

And there is an enemy within thee; either to palliate their sin,
Until, for surface sweetness, thou too art drawn adown the vortex;
Or, even unto fatal pride, to glorify thy purity by contrast,

Until the publican and the harlot stand nearer heaven than the Pharisee:
Or daily strife against their ill, in subtleness may irritate thy soul,
And in that struggle thou shalt fail, even through infirmity of goodness;
Or, callous by continuance of injuries, thou wilt cease to pardon,
Cease to feel, and cease to care, a cold case-hardened man.

Beware of their example,-and thine own; beware the hazards of the

battle;

But chiefly be thou ware of this, an unforgiving spirit.

Many are the dangers and temptations compassing a bad man's presence: The upas hath a poisonous shade, and who would slumber there? Wherefore, avoid them if thou canst; only, under providence and duty, If thy lot be cast with Kedar, patiently and silently live to their rebuke.

How beautiful thy feet, and full of grace thy coming,

O better, kind companion, that art well for either world!

'There is an atmosphere of happiness floating round that man,

Love is throned upon his heart, and light is found within his dwelling,
His eyes are rayed with peacefulness, and wisdom waiteth on his tongue;
Seek him out, cherish him well, walking in the halo of his influence;
For he shall be fragrance to thy soul, as a garden of sweet lilies,
Hedged and apart from the outer world, an island of the blest among the seas.

There is an outer world, and there is an inner centre;

And many varying rings concentric round the self:

For, first, about a man,-after his communion with heaven,—

Is found the helpmate even as himself, the wife of his vows and his affections:

See then that ye love in faith, scorning petty jealousies,

For Satan spoileth too much love, by souring it with doubts;

See that intimacy die not to indifference, nor anxiety sink into moroseness,
And tend ye well the mutual minds bound in a copartnership for life.

Next of those concentric circles, radiating widely in circumference,
Wheel in wheel, and world in world,-come the band of children :
A tender nest of soft young hearts, each to be separately studied,
A curious eager flock of minds, to be severally tamed and tutored.
And a man, blest with these, hath made his own society,

He is independent of the world, hanging on his friends more loosely:

For the little faces round his hearth are friends enow for him,

If he seek others, it is for the sake of these, and less for his own pleasure.
What companionship so sweet, yea, who can teach so well

As these pure budding intellects, and bright unsullied hearts ?
What voice so musical as theirs, what visions of elegance so comely,

What thoughts and hopes and holy prayers, can others cause like these?
If ye count society for pastime,—what happier recreation than a nursling,
Its winning ways, its prattling tongue, its innocence and mirth?

If ye count society for good,-how fair a field is here,

To guide these souls to God, and multiply thyself for heaven!

And this sweet social commerce with thy children, groweth as their

growth,

Unless thou fail of duty, or have weaned them by thine absence.
Keep them near thee, rear them well, guide, correct, instruct them:
And be the playmate of their games, the judge in their complainings.
So shall the maiden and the youth love thee as their sympathizing friend,
And bring their joys to share with thee, their sorrows for consoling:
Yea, their inmost hopes shall yearn to thee for counsel,

They will not hide their very loves if thou hast won their trust;
But, even as man and woman, shall they gladly seek their father,
Feeling yet as children feel, though void of fear in honour :
And thou shalt be a Nestor in the camp, the just and good old man,
Hearty still, though full of years, and held the friend of all;

No secret shall be kept from thee; for if ill, thy wisdom may repair it ;
If well, thy praise is precious; and they would not miss that prize.
O the blessing of a home, where old and young mix kindly,
The young unawed, the old unchilled, in unreserved communion!
O that refuge from the world, when a stricken son or daughter
May seek, with confidence of love, a father's hearth and heart!

Sure of a welcome, though others cast them out; of kindness, though men scorn them;

And finding there the last to blame, the earliest to commend.
Come unto me, my son, if sin shall have tempted thee astray,
I will not chide thee like the rest, but help thee to return;
Come unto me, my son, if men rebuke and mock thee,
There always shall be one to bless,-for I am on thy side!

Alas, and bitter is their loss, the parents and the children,

Who, loving up and down the world, have missed each other's friendsnip.
Haply, it had grown of careless life, for years go swiftly by ;

Or sprang of too much carefulness, that drank up all the streams:
Haply, sullen disappointment came and quenched the fire;
Haply, sternness or misrule, crushed or warped the feelings.
Then, ill-combined in tempers, they learnt not each the other;

The growing child grew out of love, and drew the breath of fear;

The youth ill-trained renounced his fears, and made a league with cun

ning;

And so those hardened men were foes, that should have been chief friends. Where was the cause, the mutual cause! O hunt it out to kill it :

And what the cure, the simple cure ?-A mutual flash of love.
For dull estrangement's daily air froze up those sympathies
By cold continuance in apathy, or cutting winds of censure;
It was a slow process, which any fleeting hour could have melted;
But every hour duly came and passed without the sun.

Caution, care, and dry distrust, obscured each other's mind,

Till both those gardens rich to yield, were rank with many weeds:
And doubt, a hidden worm, gnawed at the root of their Society,
They lacked of mutual confidence, and lived in mutual dread.
Judge me, many fathers; and hearken to my counsel, many sons;
I come with good in either hand, to reconcile contentions:

For better friends can no man have, than those whom God hath given,
And he that hath despised the gift, thought ill of that he knew not.
Be ye wiser, (I speak unto the sons)—and win paternal friendships,
Cultivate their kindness, seek them out with honour, and be the screening
Japheth to their failings :

And be ye wiser,—(I speak unto the fathers,)—gain those filial comrades, Cherish their reasonable converse, and look not with coldness on your children.

For the friendship of a child is the brightest gem set upon the circlet of Society,

A jewel worth a world of pains,—a jewel seldom seen.

The third cycle on the waters, another of those rings upon the onyx,

A further definite broad zone, holdeth kith and kin;

A motley band of many tribes, and under various banners;

The intimate and strangers, the known and loved, or only seen for loathing:

Some, dear for their deserts, shall honour and have honour of relation

ship,

Some, despising duties, will add to it both burden and disgrace.

A man's nearest kin are oftentimes far other than his dearest,

Yet in the season of affliction those will haste to help him.

For, note thou this, the providence of God hath bound up families together,

To mutual aid and patient trial; yea, those ties are strong,

Friends are ever dearer in thy wealth, but relations to be trusted in thy

need,

For these are God's appointed way, and those the choice of mar.