The hope of unjust men perisheth.

Truth is the best speech.

DUTY UNIVERSAL.

UTY is a thing that is due, and must be paid by every man who would avoid present discredit and eventual moral insolvency. It is an obligation-a debt-which can only be discharged by voluntary effort and resolute action in the affairs of life.

Duty embraces man's whole existence. It begins in the home, where there is the duty which children owe to their parents on the one hand, and the duty which parents owe to their children on the other. There are, in like manner, the respective duties of husbands and wives, of masters and servants; while outside the home there are the duties which men and women owe to each other as friends and neighbours, as employers and employed, as governors and governed.

"Render, therefore," says St. Paul, "to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law."

Thus duty rounds the whole of life, from our entrance into it until our exit from it.

Let "duty" be thy watchword.

duty to

The rod and reproof give wisdom.

Abhor that which is evil.

The three main duties of a Christian's life

superiors, duty to inferiors, and duty to equals —
duty to man, and duty to God. Wherever there is
power to use or to direct, there is duty. For we are
but as stewards, appointed to employ the means en-
trusted to us for our own and for others' good.

The abiding sense of duty is the very crown of
character. It is the upholding law of man in his
highest attitudes. Without it, the individual totters
and falls before the first puff of adversity or temp-
tation; whereas, inspired by it, the weakest becomes
strong and full of courage. "Duty," says Mrs. Jame-
son, "is the cement which binds the whole moral
edifice together; without which, all power, goodness,
intellect, truth, happiness, love itself, can have no
permanence; but all the fabric of existence crumbles
away from under us, and leaves us at last sitting in
the midst of a ruin, astonished at our own desola-
tion."

-

Duty is based upon a sense of justice — justice inspired by love, which is the most perfect form of goodness. Duty is not a sentiment, but a principle pervading the life and it exhibits itself in conduct and in acts, which are mainly determined by man's conscience and freewill.

SAMUEL SMILES.

Are retrospection, inspection, and anticipation.

102

Cleave to that which is good.

The used key is always bright.

No sense like common sense.

THE WAY TO WEALTH.

S an epitome of worldly wisdom, we know of no better than "The Way to Wealth, as clearly shown in the Preface of an old Pennsylvanian Almanac, entitled 'Poor Richard Improved," written by the great American

philosopher, Benjamin Franklin. It is homely,
simple, sensible, and practical—a condensation of the
proverbial wit, wisdom, and every-day philosophy,
useful at all times, and essentially so in the present
day. Nearly every line contains a Good Device or a
Precept for Practice, and we earnestly commend its
perusal to our readers.

"COURTEOUS READER,-I have heard that nothing
gives an author so great pleasure as to find his works
respectfully quoted by others. Judge, then, how much I
must have been gratified by an incident I am going to
relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great
number of people were collected at an auction of merchant's
goods. The hour of the sale not being come, they were
conversing on the badness of the times, and one of the
company called to a plain, clean old man with white locks,
'Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times?
Will not these heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How
shall we ever be able to pay them?
What would you
advise us to do?' Father Abraham stood up, and replied,
'If you would have my advice I will give it you in short,

Spur metal is the best metal.

He that lives upon hope may die fasting.

Time lost is never found again.

Hearken to good advice.

for, A word to the wise is enough, as poor Richard says.'
They joined in desiring him to speak his mind, and
gathering round him, he proceeded as follows :—

"Friends, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if
those laid on by the government were the only ones we had
to pay we might more easily discharge them; but we have
many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We
are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as
much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly;
and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or
deliver us, by allowing an abatement. However, let us
hearken to good advice, and something may be done for
us. God helps them that help themselves, as poor Richard

says.

"I. It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their time, to be employed in its service; but idleness taxes many of us more; sloth, by bringing on diseases, absolutely shortens life. Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears; while, The used key is always bright, as poor Richard says. But, Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of, as poor Richard says. How much more than is necessary do we spend in sleep! forgetting that, The sleeping fox catches no poultry; and that, There will be sleeping in the grave, as poor Richard says.

"If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be, as poor Richard says, the greatest prodigality; since, as he elsewhere tells us, Lost time is never found again; and, What we call time enough always proves little enough. Let us, then, be up and be doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more, and with less perplexity. Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry

A word to the wise is enough.

The present time is our own.

Time is the stuff that life is made of.

Sloth shortens life.

all easy; and, He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall
scarce overtake his business at night; while, Laziness travels
so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
Drive thy

business, let not that drive thee; and, Early to bed, and
early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, as
poor Richard says.

"So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times?
We may make these times better if we bestir ourselves.
Industry need not risk, and, He that lives upon hopes will
die fasting. There are no gains without pains; then, Help,
hands, for I have no lands; or, if I have, they are smartly
taxed. He that hath a trade, hath an estate; and, He that
hath a calling, hath an office of profit and honour, as poor
Richard says; but then the trade must be worked at, and
the calling followed, or neither the estate nor the office will
enable us to pay our taxes. If we are industrious we shall
never starve; for, At the working man's house, hunger looks
in, but dares not enter. Nor will the bailiff or the constable
enter; for, Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth
them. What though you have found no treasure, nor has
any rich relation left you a legacy? Diligence is the mother
of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Then,
Plough deep, while sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn
to sell and to keep. Work while it is called to-day, for you
know not how much you may be hindered to-morrow. One
to-day is worth two to-morrows, as poor Richard says; and,
further, Never leave that till to-morrow what you can do to-
day. If you were a servant, would you not be ashamed
that a good master should catch you idle? Are you then
your own master, be ashamed to catch yourself idle, when
there is to be so much done for yourself, your family, your
country, and your king. Handle your tools without mittens;

Industry pays debts.

He that riseth late must trot all day.