that they can keep the vessel between them and the` unbroken sweep of the wind. It is not surprising in such cases that their low wailing note of weet, weet, should add something supernatural to the roar of the waves and whistling of the wind, and infuse an ominous dread into minds prone to superstition.-Wilson. LOVE TO PARENTS. To honour those who gave us birth, When press'd by sickness, pain, or grief, THE RESULTS OF COMMERCE. If we consider our own country in its natural prospect, without any of the benefits and advantages of commerce, what a barren, uncomfortable spot of earth falls to our share! Natural historians tell us, that no fruit grows originally among us, that our climate of itself, and without the assistance of art, can make no further advances towards a plum than a sloe, that our melons, our peaches, our figs, our apricots, and cherries are strangers imported in different ages, and naturalized in our gardens; and that they would all degenerate if wholly neglected by the planter, and left to the mercy of our sun and soil. Nor has traffic more enriched our vegetable world, than it has improved the whole of nature among us. Our ships are laden with the harvest of every climate. Our tables are stored with oils, and spices, and wines; our rooms are filled with pyramids of China, and adorned with the workmanship of Japan; our morning's draught comes to us from the remotest corners of the earth; we repair our bodies by the drugs of America; and repose ourselves under Indian canopies. The vineyards of France have been called our gardens, the spice-islands our hot-beds, the Persians our silk-weavers, and the Chinese our potters. Nature, indeed, furnishes us with the bare necessaries of life, but traffic gives us a great variety of what is useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is convenient and ornamental. Nor is it the least part of our happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest products of the north and south, we are free from those extremities of weather which gave them birth; that our eyes are refreshed with green fields, at the same time that our palates are feasted with fruits that rise between the tropics. Nature seems to have taken particular care to disseminate her blessings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to this mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the natives of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one another, and be united together by their common interest. Almost every degree produces something peculiar to it. The food often grows in one country and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by the pith of an Indian cane. The Philippine islands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a woman of quality is often the product of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scarf is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The brocade petticoat rises out of the mines of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of Hindostan. Our English merchant converts the tin of his own country into gold, and exchanges its wood for rubies. The Mohammedans are clothed in our British manufacture, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone warmed with the fleeces of our sheep. There are not more useful members in a commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together, in a mutual intercourse of good offices, distribute gifts of nature, find work for the poor, add wealth to the rich, and magnificence to the great.-Addison. THE EDUCATION THAT CHILDREN GIVE THEMSELVES. THERE is a branch of useful training, which cannot be too heedfully regarded; I mean the education that children give themselves. Their observation is ever alive and awake to the circumstances which pass around them; and from the circumstances thus observed, they are continually drawing their own conclusions. These observations and conclusions have a powerful influence in forming the characters of youth. What is imparted in the way of direct instruction, they are apt to consider as official. It is otherwise with what children discover for themselves. As a matter of self-acquisition, this is treasured up, and reasoned upon; it penetrates the mind, and influences the conduct, beyond all the formal lectures that ever were delivered. Whether it be for good, or whether it be for evil, the education of the child is principally derived from its own observation of the actions, the words, the voice, the looks of those with whom it lives. The fact is unquestionably so; and the friends of youth cannot be too circumspect in their presence, to avoid every, the least appearance of evil. This great moral truth was keenly felt, and powerfully inculcated, even in the heathen world. But the reverence for youth of Christian parents ought to reach immeasurably further. It is not enough that they set no bad example; it is indispensable that they show forth a good one. It is not enough that they seem virtuous; it is indispensable that they be so, The Christian parent ought to be a living exemplification of Christianity. His house, his habits, his family, his associates, his pursuits, his recreations, ought all to be so regulated, as to evince that religion is, indeed, the parent of order, the inspirer of good sense, the well-spring of good-humour, the teacher of good manners, and the perennial source of happiness and peace. Accustomed to live and breathe in such an atmosphere, it is morally impossible that a child can materially go wrong, Jebb. THE TIME-PIECE.. WHO is He, so swiftly flying, From their birth they cease to be? Of each little moment flown; Thus to mortal sight unroll'd, More of sin and sorrow in it, More of man, might we behold, Than on history's broadest page Who could bear the revelation? Who, with leer malign exploring, On that record in the book, ages, Seal'd they are, for years, and On the sea and on the land Shall a midnight angel stand: Stand, and, while the abysses tremble, Time himself, with all his legions, Days, months, years, since nature's birth, Shall revive, and from all regions Singling out the sons of earth, With their glory or disgrace, Charge their spenders face to face. Every moment of my being Then shall pass before mine eyes: -God, all-searching! God, all-seeing! Oh! appease them, ere they rise ; Warn'd I fly, I fly to Thee: God, be merciful to me !-James Montgomery. |