so. transactions are kept. On being seconded, and discussed by those who wish to speak upon the subject, the matter is brought to the vote by the chairman, but not until both the mover and amender have replied, if they please to do After they have spoken, not another word can be uttered, and the vote is taken, a majority carrying. If the votes be equal in number, the casting-vote of the chairman carries. There is another way of suppressing a resolution, which is by "moving the previous question." This signifies, to return to the point at which the business of the meeting stood previous to the tabling of the motion; or means, in other words, to do nothing on the subject. But this must also be seconded, and put to the vote in opposition either to the motion or amendment, or to both. The routine is generally to place it in opposition to both; if carried, the matter is settled; if not carried, the order is next to place the motion and amendment against each other, and vote. Such is an outline of the mode of procedure at public meetings, and it is particularly desirable that attention should be shown to the preservation of regularity. At all public meetings there is a strong tendency to go out of order." By this expression it is meant that speakers are under a constant liability to wander from the point under discussion. They are apt to digress into other subjects, and confuse their auditors; and these, getting impatient, are equally apt to interrupt them, so that a single irrelevant observation may lead to hours of idle debate or colloquy, or "speaking to order," as it is termed, and thus the harmony of the assembly be destroyed. Those who attend such meetings should therefore have a regard for the following regulations:-If they speak, they should keep closely to the subject in hand. If they be listeners, they should preserve a strict silence. It is ungentlemanly, not to say disorderly, to utter any sound or make any observation on what a speaker is saying. The speaker must on no account be interrupted, so long as he keeps to order; and if not in order, it is the chairman's duty to check him. It is likewise disorderly to speak more than once, except in replying before the vote is put, or except it be the rule of the assembly to permit it. Sometimes persons who have spoken rise again to speak as to "a matter of form." This is allowable, but in speaking as to form, the merits of the case should not be introduced. On this, however, as on every other point, there is a perpetual tendency to go out of order, and hence the absolute necessity for appointing a chairman well acquainted with the forms of public deliberation, and who has the strength of mind to insist on order being preserved. At all our public assemblages, a certain degree of courtesy is used both among speakers and listeners. On an individual rising to speak, he addresses himself politely to the chairman, and the chairman in return politely mentions the name of the speaker; by which means the audience is made acquainted with the gentleman who is about to address them. When the discussions of the meeting are over, the chairman closes the business with a few observations, and then dissolves the assembly by leaving the chair. When any dispute arises in the course of the business of the meeting upon points of form, it is customary to appeal to the usages of the House of Commons for an example to be followed. DUTIES AS ELECTORS. There are duties of another nature which we may be called on to perform in our character of citizens. We are invested with the high and solemn trust of electing our representatives in Parliament, as well as representatives in our municipal institutions. In the execution of our duty as electors, we are bound to divest ourselves of all factious or personal considerations. We have certainly to consult our own good in making a choice of a representative, but it is only as flowing from the good of the whole community. We must hence act entirely without passion or prejudice. Let us examine the pre vious habits of life, public conduct, and avowed senti. ments, of candidates, and calmly consider whether they are such as we can approve of, or as being consistent with the general welfare of the people. We should also recollect that we exercise the trust of electors for many who do not possess that privilege. A large proportion of the community consists of women and children, persons in an humble condition, the sick, and the helpless These look to us for protection from wrong, and it is our duty to afford it to them. If we, therefore, act with levity and imprudence in appointing men, who, from their conduct and character, are unfitted to exercise the important function of public representatives, we in more ways than one commit a crime against society, and are unworthy of possessing the valuable prerogatives with which the constitution has invested us. In our capacity as citizens, we are frequently called upon to elect representatives in different municipal bodies; such as civic managers of the city in which we reside, managers of local trusts-general, political, and religious. There is often much heat at such elections; a petty factious spirit frequently governs the choice which is made: sometimes the meanest passions of our nature are exhibited during the contest. The observations we have made on our duties as electors generally, apply here with peculiar force. As those who present themselves as candidates live amongst us, we can never find any difficulty in estimating their character and qualifications. But we must take care not to be borne away by private feelings; we must not give our vote simply because the candidate is an acquaintance. A consideration for what is best for the public interest should in every case govern us; and we should not be afraid to let these our sentiments be known, for they can give no honourable man offence. In all cases of elections of members of civic corporations, and such like bodies, the chief merit in electors, after that of good and respectable character, is soundness of judgment, and after that, activity of habits. The power of fine speaking, or eloquence, is not required in such a functionary, and should be es teemed very lightly. That which is required is a power of thinking coolly, an integrity of purpose, and a willingness and ability in taking a share of the burdensome duties to be performed. Our qualifications as electors, perhaps, render us liable to be ourselves elected. In the event, therefore, of being called forward by our fellowcitizens to fill the honourable situation of their representative, it is our duty to sacrifice perhaps our own feel ings and a portion of our time in the public service, provided we conscientiously consider ourselves qualified for the task, and that our health and private circumstances permit it. The principal question we have to put to ourselves, when we are so brought forward, is, "Have we sufficient time to spare to attend the various meetings-to sit and deliberate in the numerous committees to have our minds frequently occupied with public affairs?" If we deceive ourselves in answering this important question, we wrong society, and give ourselves cause for much after disquietude. Is it, or not, the proper way for every one who is worthy of this trust, calmly, deliberately, and to the best of his knowledge and belief, to do those acts which will best preserve for his own use the beautiful fabric of our political institutions? If he perceives and rejoices in the good which he and others derive from it, will he not best perform his duties to those who come after him, to use it, and not abuse it, that they may have the like good? Little suggestions of selfishness, rivalry, and petty local interests, and, most of all, perverted and mischievous ambition, are the blocks over which citizens stumble and fall, in the otherwise luminous and clear path in which they are permitted te move. DU TIES AS JURORS. The laws under which we live give us the invaluable privilege of trial by jury; in other words, we are tried for the commission of offences by a body of men chosen indiscriminately, as nearly as convenient, from the class of society in which we have moved. By such a considerate regulation, there can be little risk of individual oppression, provided those who compose juries do their duty. It is therefore incumbent on citizens who are liable to serve in juries, to make themselves acquainted with what is understood to be their duty when so called upon. It requires no learning to fulfil the character of a juror. It requires no more than a coolness of thinking, and a mind above being carried away by prejudices or feelings. The juror is to remember that it is the jury which is the judge in the case, not the judges who sit on the bench. Keeping this in view, it is one of the chief qualities requisite in a jury to maintain its proper dignity and honour inviolate, nevertheless with all courtesy, and to act with firmness in the execution of its important function. Besides deliberating dispassionately on the evidence presented, it is the duty of the juror to be totally regardless of every consideration but that of strict justice. He is neither to regard the rank or life of the culprit, nor of the injured party. In a court of jurisprudence all men sink to an equality. It is also the duty of the juror, after forming his conscientious opinion, not to be coerced, or flattered, or spoken into a different opinion. He is invested with a solemn trust, and that trust he must preserve with scrupulous care, as consonant with the dearest interests of society. DUTIES AS NEIGHBOURS. removable on summary verbal application, and not in the slow, written, and printed process, in which the movements of ordinary law are commonly made. The moral duties of neighbourhood extend to all things which minister to the common comfort, convenience, and security. Each one of a neighbourhood is bound to make his own dwelling-place as agreeable and pleasant to those around him as he reasonably can. Each one is morally held to uphold and sustain a good name for his own little community. He is, therefore, tc join, with a liberal and manly feeling, in all the improvements which tend to please and adorn. Such things, even if they occasion some expenditure, are sources of self-satisfaction; and one comes at last to take an honourable pride in hearing his street, his village, his town, or city, commended by observers. There is another sort of neighbourhood which is founded in social intercourse, and in the interchange of visiting and hospitality. As the world now is, this is commonly regulated by artificial and somewhat unnatural rules. It is often ostentatious, luxurious, and destitute of all feelings and thoughts in which well-trained moral minds can take pleasure. A profuse and volup tuous entertainment, comprising food little adapted to promote health and vigour, and in quantity sufficient for ten times the number, that rather look at than consume it, is an unsatisfying way of being happy in social intercourse. There are modes of maintaining such intercourse, which are innocent, pleasing, and dutiful. Mankind are fitted for such. The interchange of friendly visits, for conversation, music, and rational amusement, with such things as may be used without suffering or impairing health, is that kind of neighbourhood (in such relations) which is permitted and enjoined. We have, however, little reason to think that intimacies of this sort are likely to meet with such consideration as would induce the further extension of them. prosperity of the design. All these institutions do some good, and some of them eminent good, in helping on the great purpose of social life, which is general improvement. Of this nature are public charities, educational institutions, libraries, agricultural societies, and hose for suppressing intemperance and immorality. No well-disposed citizen can conscientiously abstain from giving his aid and support to such objects. It is each one's duty to try to leave the world a little better than he found it. No one can say that these are matters which do not concern him. Suppose every one should say so, and had said so from the beginning, society would still be made up of barbarians. Every good that is done in any community affects, directly or indirectly, every member of it. The law of example, of imitation, of doing as others do, has a most pervading and astonishing influence. Every community is like a full vessel of water; no one drop in it can be moved without affecting every other drop. Besides the duties which we have to perform as members of a great nation, we have duties of a similar nature to perform as inhabitants of a town, district, or neighbourhood, and in relation to which we sometimes receive Every person, in general, is a member of some kind the appellation of citizens. Every person belongs to a of society or association. Some persons belong to many. neighbourhood, which is both local and social. Even These are intended for some useful purpose. Every one those who have removed into new countries, and who who is such a member has some duties to perform. He dwell in solitary abodes, do not lose the sentiment of owes some proper part of his time, some proper contrineighbourhood. The nearest person to them is a neigh-butions to the common object, and has an interest in the bour, though separated by long distance. And when this sentiment cannot be preserved in fact, it may be in thought, and by that means it usually is so. Perhaps the last impressions that leave the heart of one who has wandered into far distant regions, are those made in his early days, in his native home. In general, as every one lives in a neighbourhood more or less dense, he can promote his own happiness, and that of those around him, by observing a becoming moral conduct. He has a right to enjoy life, and to use all things which he has, to that end; but he has not a right to any enjoyment which necessarily disturbs that of others. Peace, tranquillity, and security within one's own walls, is the main purpose of life. No one has a right to interfere in these things but by order of the public law. A neighbour, therefore, who so conducts himself, and those means of pleasure which he commands, as to vex, harass, and disturb those who are necessarily within sight, hearing, &c., commits an offence against morality. It often happens to be the pleasure of one who dwells in a dense neighbourhood, to, keep one or more animals, whose habitual noises disturb those who necessarily dwell within hearing, in the hours allotted to repose, and frequently when persons are visited by sickness, and when any noise is distressing. Now, whatever the rigid law of the land may say in such cases, the law of morality says that the suffering party has an unquestionable right to remove his trouble, if the proprietor of the cause of such nuisance will not, on request, remove .t himself. A more peaceable way would be, to have it removed by order of the public magistrate. Many of such petty nuisances ought to be DUTIES IN OUR DOMESTIC RELATIONS. Marriage. This institution is agreeable to a law of nature, and is an ordinance of the Creator. There are profligates who have doubted this; but they have exhibited no reason on their side. It is obvious that man is not only a gregarious, but a pairing animal. Marriage is consistent with the finest of his feelings-the most noble of his faculties. It began when man began. It is ordered to perpetuate the succession of the human family. It is ordered for the whole duration of adult age. It is man's peculiar privilege in this; it connects him v generations which are gone, with that which is passing way, and with those which are to come. The memory and the ashes of the dead are precious to him, and no other animal has that sentiment. He alone contemplates that his own memory will be held in honour, and that the place of his earthly quiet will be sacred. He only is enabled to conceive that moral and physical wrong will bear his own stamp in the character and in the frame of those that follow him; he only knows that a good name may be an honourable inheritance. These are the sentiments which spring from the beneficent gift of marriage. However much one may misunderstand or abuse this gift, nature, ever faithful to her trust, forces these sentiments on the heart. Marriage is recognised as a contract of a binding nature in all civilized nations. By some it is considered, from its solemnity, to be of a sacred character; by others it is deemed only a civil bond of connection. All, however, agree in holding it to be an irrevocable contract. The laws of the land, those of nature, and the divine law, disclose the sentiments, the feelings, and the awful sense of duty with which this undertaking should be regarded. Yet it is frequently entered into from motives highly reprehensible, and sometimes with shocking thoughtlessness. It is from such causes that we see that this sacred union, which should be the true source of the highest human happiness, becomes that inexhaustible fountain from which both parties are daily and hourly compelled to drink, and from the same cup, the bitterest waters. In a great number of instances, marriage is contracted with exceedingly little regard to the qualities of the mind on either side, particularly on the side of the man. If ɔne could penetrate the ear of an enamoured youth, some good might come from such suggestions as these:-Do you know what will come of that engagement which you are about to make? Are you about to tie yourself by bands, absolutely indissoluble while you live, to a mortal who has feelings, wishes, wants, hopes, and fears, which must become yours, and a part of your very self; or which you must resist, control, or contend with? Do you know that pain, suffering, and sorrow, originating in either, must be borne by both? Are you aware that whatsoever of error, folly or crime, may be chargeable to either of you, or to any who may spring from your contract, will be your common burden and shame; and that from these you can relieve yourself nowhere but in the grave? Or, do you know that this attractive being will be your kind friend; your counsellor; the welcome soother of your cares and anxieties; the generous and charitable judge of your infirmities; the inspirer of honourable ambition; your fellow-labourer in joint interests; the ornament of your life; the gracious, considerate, faithful, gentle companion, who will make your own virtuous home the place to which you refer all earthly happiness! Who that is "in love" has leisure or inclination to think of such trifles as these? There is no reason why the passion of love should be wrapped up in mystery, nor any why the mind should be stained in considering its nature. It would prevent much and complicated misery in the world, if all young persons understood it truly. There are in every human being seeds, each one of which may be made to germinate, and may be so cultivated as to produce the most odious vices or the most serene and heavenly virtues. There is in every human heart a fund of kindness, tenderness, and affection, which makes itself known to be there in due time. It demands to be applied. This is the trying and perilous moment in youthful life. There is some one somewhere, who will take that fund, and give back its full equivalent. The external senses and the heart are in search of that one. Happy will it be for the searcher, if he will take reason as his monitor to keep the senses and heart in order. But reason is conmonly regarded, not as a kind and faithful friend whose duty it is to whisper, «begin nothing of which you have not well considered the end," but as a withered scowling matron, who, being utterly dead to the impulses of youth, denies that there ought to be any. If there has been no preparation for this eventful period; if the mind has not been enriched with the teachings of rational prudence; if the eye has not been taught to distinguish between the real and the fictitious; if the ear has not learned to discriminate the meaning of sounds; if life, as a whole, if the consequences of irrevocable deeds be not thought of, there is peril; and the pure drop from the fountain may flow into any sea but that of happiness. In seeking for that being who is to be a companion during life, one grievous failing must be avoided. Young men frequently amuse themselves by playing with the feelings of young women. They visit them often, they walk with them, they pay them divers attentions, and after giving them an idea that they are attached to them, they either leave them, or, what is worse, never come to an explanation of their sentiments This is to act the part of a dangler, a character truly infamous. Young men cannot be too cautious in the attentions which they bestow on unmarried females, who on their part should be equally guarded in not encouraging the addresses of any individuals whom they would not choose to marry. According to the present state of society, one of the influential counteracting elements to marriage is or ought to be, a high degree of prudence. No one ought to marry who cannot foresee that he will be able to support the additional expenses of a wife and family, and at the same time fulfil his other necessary obligations. By good management, these additional charges are not great, but they amount to something, and he is worse than an infidel who does not provide against them. We are of belief that every industrious, active, and sober man, will find no serious obstacle in this respect. It is from idleness, love of company, and intemperance, not from simple expenditure on family necessaries and comforts, that ruin and poverty in the married life are produced. The dread of encountering the expenses of a family, though acting as a salutary check on imprudent marriages, is frequently productive of many gross vices, tending te the injury both of individuals and of society. Celibacy, especially when circumstances would permit marriage, is not respectable; it is considered akin to vagrancy. He who marries and settles down as a householder, meets with the approbation of the world. Why is this? it may be asked. Because in marrying we give a guarantee to society for our good behaviour. It is not to be doubted that a young, well-educated, industrious couple, who are sincerely and affectionately attached, on a sober examination and conviction of each other's worth and suitability to each other, may be happy with means far short of the fashionable standard. Presuming that such a couple are wise enough to take life for the real and substantial good that it can produce and as a whole, it would do them great injustice to suppose that they could not find that good in a small, simple, cheerful. tranquil mansion-it would be doing the friends of such a couple the like injustice to suppose that they could not visit them, and be satisfied to see them happy through such means. According to the usages of society, it is the custom for the man to propose marriage, and for the female to refuse or accept the offer as she may think fit. There ought to be a perfect freedom of the will in both parties. To impose any species of constraint on either party is most mischievous; it would be a gross violation of our most sacred privileges. Both parties, therefore, ought freely to think for themselves, however much they mav seek the advice of those who are inclined to afford them counsel. In treating of this subject, it may be of service to cher a few special advices to young women. Our first recommendation is, that they ought to be in no haste to accept a lover. Let them know him a sufficient time to Judge of his qualities of mind, temper, habits, &c., before they allow themselves to be inveigled into a marriage with him. Far better for them to remain single, than heedlessly incur the risk of being miserable during the remainder of their lives. In general, young women are much too anxious to involve themselves in this respect. The following observations on the injurious effects of making marriage the sole object of a young woman's thoughts, occur in a popular work by Mrs. Farrar, and are well worth attention. "Some one hath said, that 'matrimony is with women the great business of life, whereas with men it is only an incident' an important one, to be sure, but only one among many to which their attention is directed, and often kept entirely out of view during several years of their early life. Now, this difference gives the other sex a great advantage over you; and the best way to equalize your lot, and become as wise as they are, is to think as little about it as they do. The less your mind dwells upon lovers and matrimony, the more agreeable and profitable will be your intercourse with gentlemen. If you regard men as intellectual beings, who have access to certain sources of knowledge of which you are deprived, and seek to derive all the benefit you can from their peculiar attainments and experience-if you talk to them as one rational being should with another, and never remind them that you are candidates for matrimony-you will enjoy far more than you can by regarding them under that one aspect of possible future admirers and lovers. When that is the ruling and absorbing thought, you have not the proper use of your faculties; your manners are constrained and awkward, you are easily embarrassed, and made to say what is ill-judged, silly, and out of place; and you defeat your own views by appearing to a great disadvantage. "However secret you may be in these speculations, if you are continually thinking of them, and attaching undue importance to the acquaintance of gentlemen, it will most certainly show itself in your manners and conversation, and will betray a weakness that is held in especial contempt by the stronger sex. "Since the customs of society have awarded to man the privilege of making the first advance towards matrimony, it is the safest and happiest way for woman to leave the matter entirely in his hands. She should be so educated as to consider that the great end of existence-preparation for eternity-may be equally attained in married or single life, and that no union but the most perfect one is at all desirable. Matrimony should be considered as an incident in life, which, if it come at all, must come without any contrivance of yours; and therefore you may safely put aside all thoughts of it till some one forces the subject upon your notice by professions of a particular interest in you. Lively, ingenuous, conversable, and charming little girls, are often spoiled into dull, bashful, silent young ladies, and all because their heads are full of nonsense about beaux and lovers. They have a thousand thoughts and feelings which they would be ashamed to confess, though not ashamed to entertain; and their preoccupation with a subject which they had better let entirely alone, prevents their being the agreeable and rational companions of the gentlemen of their acquaintance which they were designed to be. "Girls get into all sorts of scrapes by this undue preoccupation of mind; they misconstrue the commonest attentions into marks of particular regard, and thus nourish a fancy for a person who has never once thought of them but as an agreeable acquaintance. They lose the enjoyment of a party, if certain beaux are not there whom they expected to meet; they become jealous of their best friends, if the beaux are there and do not talk to them as much as they wish; every trifle is magnified into something of importance-a fruitful source of misery-and things of real importance are neglected for chimeras. And all this gratuitous pains-taking defeats its own ends! The labour is all in vain; such girls are not the most popular; and those who seem never to have thought about matrimony at all, are sought and preferred before them." We may add the advice, that young women should not consider it a serious misfortune, even it never married: there is nothing disreputable, while there may be much happiness, in the condition of an old maid. HUSBAND AND WIFE. Marriage having, at length, taken place between two parties who feel a reasonable hope of being happy together for life, each has entered on a condition requiring the exercise of particular duties. These we shall endeavour to narrate, commencing with advices To Husbands.-I. Always regard your wife as your equal; treat her with kindness, respect, and attention; and never address her with the appearance of an air of authority, as if she were, as some misguided husbands appear to regard their wives, a mere housekeeper. II. Never interfere in her domestic concerns, such as hiring servants, &c. III. Always keep her properly supplied with money for furnishing your table in a style proportioned to your means, and for the purchase of dress, and whatever other articles she may require, suitable to her station in life. IV. Cheerfully and promptly comply with all her reasonable requests. V. Never be so unjust as to lose your temper toward her, in consequence of indifferent cookery, or irregularity in the hours of meals, or any other mismanagement caused by her servants; knowing the difficulty of making many of them do their duty. VI. If she have prudence and good sense, consult her in all great operations involving the risk of very serious injury in case of failure. Many a man has been rescued from ruin by the wise counsels of his wife; and many a foolish husband has most seriously injured himself and family by the rejection of the advice of his wife, stupidly fearing, if he followed it, he would be regarded as henpecked! A husband can never consult a counsellor more deeply interested in his welfare than his wife VII. If distressed or embarrassed in your circum stances, communicate your situation to her with candour, that she may bear your difficulties in mind, in her expenditures. Women sometimes, believing their husbands' circumstances better than they really are, disburse money which cannot be well afforded, and which, if they knew the real situation of their husbands' affairs, they would shrink from expending. VIII. Never on any account chide or rebuke your wife in company, should she make any mistake in history, geography, gramınar, or, indeed, on any other subject. There are, I am persuaded, many wives of such keen feelings and high spirits (such wives deserve to be treated with the utmost delicacy), that they would rather receive a severe and bitter scolding in private, than a rebuke in company, calculated to display ignorance or folly, or to impair them in their own opinion, or in tha of others. To Wives.-I. Always receive your husband with smiles-leaving nothing undone to render home agreeable-and gratefully reciprocate his kindness and attention. II. Study to gratify his inclinations, in regard to food and cookery; in the management of the family; in your dress, manners, and deportment. III. Never attempt to rule, or appear to rule, vour nusband. Such conduct degrades husbands-and wives always partake largely in the degradation of their husbands. IV. In every thing reasonable comply with his wishes with cheerfulness-and even, as far as possible, anticipate them. V. Avoid all altercations or arguments leading to ill humour and more especially before company. Few things are more disgusting than the altercations of the married, when in the company of friends or strangers. VI. Never attempt to interfere in his business unless he ask your advice or counsel; and never attempt to control him in the management of it. VII. Never confide to gossips any of the failings or imperfections of your husband, nor any of those little differences that occasionally arise in the married state. If you do, you may rest assured that, however strong the injunctions of secrecy on the one hand, or the pledge on the other, they will in a day or two become the common talk of the neighbourhood. VIII. Try to cultivate your mind, so as, should your husband be intelligent and well-informed, you may join in rational conversation with him and his friends. IX. Think nothing a trifle that may produce even a momentary breach of harmony, or the slightest uneasy sensation. X. If your husband be in business, always, in your expenditures, bear in mind the trying vicissitudes to which trade and commerce are subject; and do not expose yourself to the reproach, should be experience one of them, of having unnecessarily expended money of which you and your offspring may afterwards be in want. XI. While you carefully shun, in providing for your family, the Scylla of meanness and parsimony, avoid equally the Charybdis of extravagance. XII. If you be disposed to economize, I beseech you not to extend your economy to the wages you pay to seamstresses or washerwomen, who, particularly the latter, are too frequently ground to the earth by the inadequacy of the wages they receive. Economize, if you will, in shawls, bonnets, and handkerchiefs; but never, by exacting labour from the poor without adequate compensation, incur the dire anathemas pronounced in the Scriptures against the oppressors of the poor. To both Parties.-I. Should differences arise between husband and wife, the contest ought not to be, as it unfortunately too frequently is, who shall display the most spirit, but who shall make the first advances, which ought to be met more than half way. There is scarcely a more prolific source of unhappiness in the married state, than this spirit, the legitimate offspring of odious pride and destitution of feeling. II. Perhaps the whole art of happiness in the married state might be compressed into two maxims-"Bear, and forbear;" and "Let the husband treat his wife, and the wife her husband, with as much respect and attention as he would a strange lady, and she a strange gentleman." III. I trust much caution is scarcely necessary against flirtations, well calculated to excite uneasiness, doubts, and suspicions, in the heart of the husband or wife of the party who indulges in them, and to give occasion to the censorious to make sinister observations; and it is unfortunately too true, that the suspicion of misconduct often produces fully as much scandal and evil as the reality. It is a good rule of reason and common sense, that we should not only be, but appear to be, scrupulously correct in our conduct. And be it observed, that, however pure and innocent the purposes of the parties may be at the commencement, flirtation too often leads to disastrous results. It breaks down some of the guards that hedge "ound innocenco The parties in these cases are not inaptly compared to the moth fluttering around a lighte candle, unaware of the impending danger. It finally burns its wings, and is thus mutilated for life. He that foveth the danger, shall perish therein." Lead u� not into temptation" is a wise prayer; and while we pray not to be "led into temptation," we most assuredly ought not to lead ourselves into it. I know these remarks will be charged to the account of prudery; but, at the risk of that charge, I cannot withhold them. IV. Avoid all references to past differences of opinion, or subjects of altercation that have, at a former day, excited uneasiness. Remember the old story of the blackbird and the thrush. "I insist it was a blackbird." "But I insist it was a thrush," &c. The preceding rules, if as closely followed as human imperfection will allow, can hardly fail to secure happiness. And should only one out of every ten readers profit by them, I shall be richly paid for their concoction. I cannot conclude this brief essay better than by adding the following admirable advices of Julia de Roubigné to her daughter, shortly previous to her death : "Sweetness of temper, affection to a husband, and attention to his interests, constitute the duties of a wife, and form the basis of matrimonial felicity. These are, indeed, the texts from which every rule for attaining this felicity is drawn. The charms of beauty, and the bril liancy of wit, though they may captivate in the mistress, will not long delight in the wife. They will shorten even their own transitory reign, if, as I have seen in many wives, they shine more for the attraction of every body else than of their husbands. Let the pleasing of that one person be a thought never absent from your conduct. If he love you as you would wish he should, he would bleed at heart should he suppose it for a moment withdrawn; if he do not, his pride will supply the place of love, and his resentment that of suffering. "Never consider a trifle what may tend to please him. The greater articles of duty he will set down as his due; but the lesser attentions he will mark as favours; and, trust me, for I have experienced it, there is no feeling more delightful to one's self, than that of turning these little things to so precious a use. "Above all, let a wife beware of communicating to others any want of duty or tenderness she may think she has perceived in her husband. This untwists at once those delicate cords which preserve the unity of the marriage engagement. Its sacredness is broken for ever, if third parties are made witnesses of its failings, or umpires of its disputes.”* FAMILY RELATIONSHIP. The marriage state is the foundation of one of the most sacred and important institutions in society-that of a family. A family is a little commonwealth, jointly governed by the parents, but under the more special guardianship and direction of the husband and father, who is morally and legally the head of the house. To the father the children naturally look for protection, subsistence, advice, example, and encouragement. The father, therefore, has a serious obligation to perform in the proper rearing of his children. He is bound to educate them according to his means, to support them till they are able to depend on themselves, and to have them taught a business, or put them in some other fair way of gaining an honest livelihood. The children, on the other hand, are bound to obey their parents, and to exert themselves to make them happy. Parents are sometimes grievously distressed in consequence of the bad behaviour of their children. Their *The above excellent admonitions to husbands and wives are from an American work, called the Philosophy of Coinmon Sense, by Mr. Carey. 1 |