that when we behold a humble tenement surrounded with ornamental plants, the possessor is a man of correct habits, and possesses domestic comforts; whilst, on the contrary, a neglected, or weed-grown garden, or its total absence, marks the indolence and unhappy state of those who have been thus neglectful of Flora's favors. Of all luxurious indulgences, that of flowers is the most innocent. It is productive not only of rational gratifications, but of many advantages of a permanent character. Love for a garden has powerful influence in attracting men to their homes, and on this account, every encouragement given to increase a taste for ornamental gardening is additional security for domestic comfort and happiness. It is, likewise, a recreation which conduces materially to health, promotes civilization, and softens the manners and tempers of men. It creates a love for the study of nature, which leads to a contemplation of the mysterious wonders that are displayed in the vegetable world around us, and which cannot be investigated without inclining the mind towards a just estimate of religion, and a knowledge of the narrow limits of our intelligence, when compared with the incomprehensible power of the Creator. Flowers are of all embellishments the most beautiful, and of all created beings, man alone seems capable of deriving enjoyment from them. The love for them commences with infancy, remains the delight of youth, increases with our years, and becomes the quiet amusement of our declining days. The infant can no sooner walk than its first employment is to plant a flower in the earth, removing it ten times in an hour to wherever the sun seems to shine most favorably. The schoolboy, in the care of his little plat of ground, is relieved of his studies and loses the anxious thought of the home he has left. In manhood our attention is generally demanded by more active duties, or by more imperious and less innocent occupations; but as age obliges us to retire from public life, the love of flowers and the delights of a garden return to soothe the latter period of our life. To most persons, gardening affords delight as an easy and agreeable occupation; and the flowers they so fondly rear, are cherished from the gratification they afford to the organs of sight and of smell; but to the close observer of nature and the botanist, beauties are unfolded and wonders displayed, that cannot be detected by the careless attention bestowed upon them by the multitude. In their growth, from the first tender shoots which rise from the earth, through all the changes which they undergo to the period of their utmost perfection, he beholds the wonderful works of creative power; he views the bud as its swells, and looks into the expanded blossom, delights in its rich tints and fragrant smell, but above all, he feels a charm in contemplating movements and regulations before which all the combined ingenuity of man dwindles into nothingness. VALUE OF THE SOUL. After Saladin the Great had subdued Egypt, passed the Euphrates, and conquered cities without number; after he had re-taken Jerusalem, and performed exploits almost more than human in those wars which superstition had excited for the recovery of the Holy Land, he closed his life in the performance of an action, which well deserves to be noticed. A moment before he uttered his last sigh, he called the herald who had carried his banner before him in all his battles;-he commanded him to fasten to the top of a lance the shroud in which he was soon to be buried. "Go" said the dying prince, "carry this lance, unfurl this banner, and while you lift up this shroud as my standard, proclaim-This is all that remains to Saladin the Great, the Conqueror, and the King, of all his glory!" Christians, (continues our Preacher) I this day would perform to you the office of this herald. I would unfurl and display in all their pomp, sensual and transitory pleasures, worldly riches and human honours: all these I reduce to the shroud, in which you will shortly be entombed; this standard of death I lift up in your sight, and I tell you this is all that will remain to you of the posessions, for which the tempter seduces you to exchange your souls. Are such possessions too great to be given up in exchange for a soul? Can their perishing value outweigh the soul's immortality? Do you not feel, in your consciences and hearts, the deep import, the awful truth of our Lord's question? What shall a man, a rational man capable of comparing eternity with time, what shall such a one consent to take in exchange for his soul? Compared with this, how worthless is the flash of transient gaiety, or the false glare of worldly pride? Oh! my friends, where is our faith; nay, I will add, where is our reason? Why are not our desires, and our hopes, more constantly directed upwards to that crown of glory, reserved for the followers of God? Surely, one ray from that resplendent diadem might be sufficient to overpower and extinguish the glittering charms of these transitory vanities, which owe all their lustre to the darkness in which they are placed! Surely, when our spirits are overwhelmed within us, one glance of this celestial glory might be sufficient to animate and brighten them; and might enable us to exclaim with the Apostle, though in the midst of sorrows, of dangers, and of death-"In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us!" Graves. VALUE OF TIME. PEOPLE often waste time because they do not know how to save it, or how to use it. The day and the year are of the same length to us all; but to look at what some contrive to do in a day or year, one would think they had more time allowed to them than other people have, or that they knew how to live without sleep. The secret is, that they never waste any time; they do not pass half an hour in doing nothing, because half an hour is not an hour; and a few half hours put together almost make a day EXAMPLE BETTER THAN PRECEPT. WE will find in the conduct of Plato, a noble instance of the power of example over precept. His nephew Pseusippus, who became excessively debauched, was turned out of doors by his parents. Plato took him in, and entertained him, as if he had never heard a word of his debaucheries. His friends, amazed and shocked at a procedure that seemed to them to carry in sensibility in it, blamed him for not laboring to reform his nephew, and save him from utter ruin. Plato answered, that he was laboring more effectually than they imagined, in letting him see by the manner of his living, what an infinite difference there is between vice and virtue, and between honorable and base things. This method succeeded so well, that it inspired Pseusippus with a great respect for his uncle, and a violent desire to imitate him, and to devote himself to the study of philosophy, in which it is said he afterwards made great progress. Evil examples are as dangerous as good examples are beneficial. For as the slightest touch will defile a clean garment, which is not to be cleaned without a great deal of trouble, so the conversation of the wicked and debauched will in a very short time defile the mind of an innocent person, in a manner that will give him great trouble to recover his former purity. You may therefore more safely venture into company with a person infected with the plague, than with a vicious man: for the worst consequence of the first is death; but of the last the hazard of a worse destruction. For vicious people generally have a peculiar ambition to draw in the innocent to their party; and many of them are furnished with artifices and allurements but too effectual for ensnaring. POLISH HEROISM. At the storming of Warsaw, the principal battery was defended by only two battalions, but with such bravery as history can hardly parallel. When it was evident that it could no longer hold out, several privates of the artillery seated themselves on powder barrels and blew themselves up. But the conduct of Gen. Sowimski was truly heroic; having lost one foot, he was, at his own particular request, seated on a chair, and placed on the altar of the desperately defended church, where he continued to give orders until the last of his comrades was cut down, when drawing forth two pistols, he, with one, shot a Russian who was rushing upon him, and, with the exclamation, "So dies a Polish general!" fired the other through his own heart. POETRY. THE NATIVITY. A light is kindling o'er the midnight sky Had lit the starry lamp within his beacon tower And hark! fresh sounds; and lo! the scattered beams Pure as the chaste, cold moon-beams, yet more bright Heaven sheds its purest rays on some of mortal race. Why shine ye thus, ye heavens? and wherefore, earth, Is it the hoped Deliverer, whose dread sword "Tis all! 'tis more! upon a lowly bed Within a lowliest dwelling, there is One, Not earthly, though on earth; and though the Son Well may they shine! It is the promised Son, The living image of the viewless One! Well may they shine! By his auspicious birth Peace comes to dwell on earth,--joy reigns in heaven,-. Hell trembles, sin is chained, death vanquished, man forgiven! |