and corrupt the heart. Moral sense is weakened by the false sentiments they inculcate. Even the better class are wanting in true religious principle. They may not oppose, or directly denounce religion, but they make it appear unnecessary, by exhibiting a virtue sufficiently perfect without it. They delineate the most pious characters, and represent them under the most affecting circumstances, passing through the most trying scenes, till they enter joyfully the eternal state without the sustaining power of vital godliness. The sentimentalism of romance presents no motives to action so pure and exalted as the teachings of Christ. On the contrary, the viler class of novels actually teach and commend the most glaring vices. A recent author has truly said, "They paint for our imitation humane murderers, licentious saints, holy infidels, and honest robbers. Over loathsome women and unutterably vile men is thrown the checkered light of a hot imagination, until they glow with an infernal lustre."

Novel-reading is objectionable, because it creates an unnatural and morbid taste. It frequently becomes an inveterate habit, strong and fatal as that of the drunkard. In this state of mental intoxication, great waywardness of conduct is almost sure to follow. Even where the habit is renounced, and genuine reformation takes place, the individual always suffers the cravings of former excitement.

Novel-reading lays the foundation for sad ruptures in the domestic relations of life. The lady who revels in fiction, may possess the power, through fancy and feeling, to attract, to interest, to please, to charm, to win; but her reign over the affections will generally be short, because her character affords no solid basis of trust and confidence.

In conclusion, the practice of which we speak is to be deprecated because it raises extravagantly high expectations in the youthful mind, and then dooms them to utter disappointment. The novelist paints beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describes bliss more ecstatic than man ever tastes. Thus the young are taught to despise the good which God has mingled in their cup of blessings, while they sigh in vain for a beauty and a happiness which never existed in a world that is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. The world of romance differs so essentially from the real rough and stormy world of life, that few can dwell for years in the enchanted, fairy elevations of the one, and then cheerfully descend to the dull, dusky and discordant scenes of the other.

MY EARLY HOME.

BY J. HAYWARD.

No event has transpired during my lifetime which clings with such tenacity to my mind, as the recollections of my early home. In my thoughtful moments, as the memory floats backward on retrospective wings to re-visit the places of past enjoyment, and call renewed incentives to future action, it invariably alights upon the theatre of my early associations. It paints, with vividness, the merry scenes which clustered around the flowery pathway of youth. It revives the countenances of departed parents, guardians, and familiar friends. It imprints anew upon my brow the caresses of parental love and approbation. It portrays afresh the frowns of deserved restraint and rebuke. It recalls those lessons of genuine love and wisdom implanted within the breast by a fond parent's hand. When the temptations of thoughtless companions and sinful counsellors are urged for my indulgence, those early instructions forbid me to yield. When, from the promptings of a proud spirit, I essay to pass by, with cold indifference, the child of poverty and misfortune, they whisper, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." When driven by passionate excitement to the brink of profanity, they remove the bitter chalice from my lips, and turn my heated anger into cool reflection. When tempted by fear of just reproach or pecuniary loss to evade the alternative with falsehood, they answer nay. When I seek for real instruction and true happiness, they invite me to the study and practice of Christianity, morality and their kindred fruits.

Indeed, nothing is better calculated favorably to impress the youthful mind than the teachings of wise and judicious superiors. Nothing is more conducive to social, moral and intellectual improvement in maturer years, than the remembrance of and adherence to these inestimable doctrines. These principles, if rightly appreciated and duly improved, will clothe their possessor with an armor impenetrable to the weapons of wickedness, and render him inviolable to all the machinations of evil; exhibiting to the world a true friend, a kind parent, and a valuable citizen.

HOME A SPHERE OF USEFULNESS.

BY REV. LEVERETT GRIGGS.

CHRISTIANS have at home the best and the most abundant opportunities of doing good. This is a great truth, which, we have reason to fear, is overlooked by many at the present day. They seem to feel that they can do no good because they are so confined at home. They have yet to learn the fact that there is not only the field of duty, but the field of highest usefulness. Doing good, they conceive of as consisting in some great thing, some public act or exhibition; whereas, in most cases, it consists in that silent, noiseless influence, that is continually going forth as the dew, to sustain the life and nourish the growth of all good things. Public characters and public acts are the exceptions in this world; and these, however noble and exalted, are the fruit of some unseen causes which are equally excellent and splendid, too, in the sight of Heaven.

The church is full of the praises of Doddridge and Edwards, and the world trumpets forth the fame of Washington and Wilberforce; but what would they have been without that parental influence which guided their youth and stamped them for their riper years? They were moulded at home. There they received those qualifications of mind and heart, which rendered them so useful when they entered the stage of life. And who can tell but that the parents of those worthies stand as high as they on the register of heaven? Who is the brightest son that was ever reared in our state? After a little reflection, all would probably unite in pronouncing the name, John Quincy Adams. His father was once interrogated as to the course he pursued, by which his son was brought forward so early and became so conspicuous and useful. The father spoke of the various means and methods adopted in his education, and at the conclusion of the whole said, "Sir, there is one thing I must not forget to mention, he had a mother!" And when Governor Briggs repaired to his seat in Congress, and told Mr. Adams that he had been reading the letters of his mother and had just found out who made him; the "old man eloquent" replied, with the liveliest emotions, that whatever there had been in his life which was good and useful, was to be ascribed to her. Now, review his long life of unparalleled activity, of spotless purity, of highest honor and usefulness; behold his

sun, after having shone so long and so brilliantly above the horizon, going down in a sea of glory; then trace all this back to the honored mother, and never again think lightly of the domestic circle, or feel that that place is no sphere of usefulness. If not the most exalted, it is the most important. It is that without which all others would be in vain. The father in the field, the store, or the shop, and the mother in the dwelling, engaged in labor to sustain their family and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, are doing a praiseworthy and useful work. They are laying foundations, whereas others, in more public spheres, are rearing the superstruc

ture.

The family sustains to the church and the state a relation very much like that which the field and the garden bear to the agricultural exhibition. The splendid collections of fruits and flowers which attract and delight thousands of admiring spectators every autumn, are the result of labor and skill privately bestowed. Perhaps no one saw the toiling husbandman as he cast the seed and cultivated the tender plant. So the ornaments of the church and the pillars of the state are, in no small degree, the fruit of that influence which was silently and imperceptibly exerted at home. When, therefore, ladies hear a voice summoning them forth from their retired sphere of activity and usefulness, urging them to engage in all the strifes and aspire to all the petty distinctions that exist among men, they can in truth and dignity reply, "We are doing a great work, so that we cannot come down."

COST OF IDOLATRY.

I ONCE visited the rajah of Burdwan, and found him sitting in his treasury. Fifty bags of money, containing one thousand rupees in each, were placed before him. "What," said I, "are you doing with all this money?" He replied, "It is for my gods." "How do you mean that?" I rejoined. "One part is sent to Benares, where I have two fine temples on the river side, and many priests who pray for me; another part goes to Juggernaut; and a third, to Gaya." Thus one native is spending one hundred and eleven thousand dollars annually, from his princely income, upon idols and Brahmins.-J. J. Writbrect.

when the day was done, Their hearts with sorrow swelling;

drunkard's grave he lay, The light of

their lone dwell-ing, The light of their lone dwell-ing.