A. L. O. E.

“ The rounded cheek has become hollow, the rose-colour has faded, the sparkling eyes have lost all their brightness! And yet Jessy is now far more agreeable as a companion, and far more valuable as a friend; more loved in her family, more happy in her own mind, than she ever was when lovely and young. A gentle, cheerful, loving spirit 215dwells in the faded form, and sheds a light on homely features which makes them more than fair. The beauty which passes away like a flower is exchanged for the beauty of holiness, which never fades, which never dies, but finds its perfection in heaven! ”

“ Yes, a furious temper is a very evil thing; I’d give my other leg to be rid of mine!” and in the warmth of his self-reproach the sailor struck his wooden one against the hearth with such violence as to make Alie start in terror that some fierce explosion was about to follow.
“Well, I’ve made up my mind as to its being an evil—a great evil,” continued Jonas, in his quiet meditation; “the next question is, how is the evil to be got rid of? There’s the pinch! It clings to one like one’s skin. It’s one’s nature—how can one fight against nature? ”

“ Jenny did not forget to look in the hedges for violets for her little brother. “I daresay,” thought she, as she stooped to pluck one from beneath the large green leaves, “I daresay that this sweet little flower will give my Tommy as much pleasure as the rich man’s son ever found in his gilded toys. How foolish was I to wish for wealth! Who knows what effect it might have upon me! Mother is right—the best blessings are as free to the poor as to the rich—sunshine for the eyes, love in the home, and a good hope of heaven for the heart! ”

“ I wish that I were a lady, that I do! I’d have a velvet dress of a different colour for every day in the week; and dear Tommy should have a white pony to ride on; and mother, oh! darling mother! should have everything nice that I could think of—she should never have time to wish for anything: how happy we should all be together! But there’s no use thinking about it,” added Jenny sadly, as on the crest of the hill a sudden gust of wind almost carried her off her feet; “I shall never be rich, nor a lady; I shall have to work and to want all my life through.” ”

“ But mark me, Jack—we learn even in that book that a savage, a cannibal may be tamed; and we learn from something far better, that principle—the noblest principle which can govern either the young or the old—may, ay, and must, put out the fire of fierce anger in our hearts, and change us from wild beasts to men! So I’ve said my say,” added Jonas with a smile, “and in token of my first victory over my old foe, come here, my boy, and give us your hand!”
“Oh, uncle, I am so sorry!” exclaimed Johnny, with moistened eyes, as he felt the kindly grasp of the old man. ”

“ Thorn saw that an answer was trembling on the lips of poor Seth, and encouraged him by a glance to say it aloud: “This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”
“Here, then,” said the teacher, “is the motive of love. Remember,” he continued, impressively, “that this was our Saviour’s dying request, when He who was innocence itself was about to suffer shame, agony, and death for our sakes. Is there one heart here so cold that it would slight the last wish of a dying Friend—so ungrateful that it would seek to make no return for love so exceeding great? ”

“ Their former occupant had died in poverty many years before; her very memory had almost passed away from the place in which she had dwelt. A happy, united family, now inhabited the beautiful home; the ringing laugh of childhood was heard there, pleasant and sweet to the ear; but not so pleasant or sweet as the sound of the hymn which rose morning and eve from the happy abode, to Him from whom all happiness flows!
The house was much changed when Jessy revisited it; but Jessy herself was more changed than the house. The pretty child, as often happens, had not grown into the beautiful woman ”

“ Alie sat on the threshold of her home on a bright morning in May, eating a cake which her uncle had given her, and now and then throwing a crumb to the merry little swallows that were twittering in the eaves and darting in and out of their nests.
Alie had not sat long when a tall, large-boned woman, in a red cloak, with sun-burnt features and wild dark eyes, approached her, followed by a miserable-looking little girl, about six or seven years of age, who had neither shoes on her blistered feet nor bonnet over her tangled hair. ”

“ Sam cared nothing for her, but he cared much for the shop; and, regardless of the command to marry only in the Lord, he vowed to love and cherish until death a woman whom he secretly despised. Degraded in his own eyes by his worldly marriage, Butler was not long in discovering that he had sold his happiness for gold. The comfort of a cheerful, peaceful home, was never to be his. Whenever he crossed his own threshold, the first sound which struck his ears was the voice of peevishness and ill-temper. ”

“ But it is well worth the trouble which it costs. And remember, Jessy, with the mind, as with the house, it cannot be entirely empty. Where knowledge is neglected folly will come—the dust gathers, the spider spins her web. If we are not learning we are losing—a mind left to itself is a mind left to decay!”
“I wonder if any one lives here!” said Jessy, who was rather desirous to turn the conversation. “No one takes the trouble to answer the bell.”
“I believe that we shall find Madame L’Ame in one of the upper rooms,” replied her mother. ”

“ It is impossible to regard with the greatest affection one who puts you in perpetual fear, or to feel quite happy with a companion whose smile may in a moment be changed to a frown, whose pleasant talk to a passionate burst.
Johnny, though considered a courageous boy, was afraid of rousing his uncle; and if to him Jonas was an object of fear, to Alie he was an object of terror. Alie was one of the most timid little creatures in the village. ”

“ Warner, trying again the effect of pulling the old bell-rope. “But houses are not the only things which need furnishing; and yet I fancy that there is some one not far from me who occasionally acts as though she thought that it matters not how empty a head may be, so that it looks well to the eye.”
“Oh, mamma!” cried Jessy laughing, yet half vexed, “heads and houses are such different things!”
“To my idea,” replied Mrs. Warner, “an unfurnished mind is much like an unfurnished house, only a much sadder object. Youth is the time above all other to fit up the intellect richly. ”

“ I’ve looked on bad temper as a very little sin, and I begin to suspect that it is a great one, both in God’s eyes and in the consequences that it brings. Let me see if I can reckon up its evils! It makes those miserable whom one would wish to make happy; it often, like an adverse gale, forces them to back instead of steering straight for the port. It dishonours one’s profession, lowers one’s flag, makes the world mock at the religion which can leave a man as rough and rugged as a heathen savage. ”

“ Graham and a party of ladies, having come from the house to witness the sports, stood by the edge of the parterre!
“I hope that you have not hurt yourself!” said one of the ladies, as Joseph, flushed and panting, scrambled to his feet.
“He has hurt himself,” replied Mrs. Graham’s displeased voice. Joseph did not venture to lift up his eyes to her face. “He who has disregarded my wishes, and, at the very time when he was experiencing my kindness, wilfully disobeyed my command, has little right to expect more indulgence at my hand. ”

“ OLD WILL AYLMER.
He stops at last at the door of a poor little hovel, built partly of mud, and thatched with straw. The broken panes in the single window have been patched with paper by Robin’s hand, instead of being, as formerly, stuffed up with rags; but either way they speak of poverty and want. By the miserable little fire—which could scarcely be kept up at all, but for the sticks which Robin has supplied—sits a poor old man, almost bent double by time, the long hair falling on his wrinkled brow, his hand trembling, his eye dim with age. ”

“ I have never yet gone one day quite without food; God has till now provided me with daily bread. I have a roof over my head, and some kind friends, and one friend”—here she laid her hand on a Bible—“that casts sunshine over the darkest trial. My hearing and my eyesight are spared to me—how great a blessing is this! Then I have sweet thoughts to cheer me as I lie here in pain. I trust that, through my Saviour, my sins have been forgiven. Is that no cause for happiness? I trust that every hour brings me nearer to a home where there shall be no more sorrow, or crying, or pain. ”

“ It matters not to him that the way is long; that in winter part of the road scarcely deserves the name of one at all, being almost impassable from slough and snow. Cheerfully he hastens along, with a light springing step; sometimes shortening the way with a hymn, or gazing around on the endless variety of nature, and lifting up his heart to nature’s God! There is surely something very pleasant that awaits Robin Peters at the end of his walk, that he always should take it in this one direction ”

“ One night as, clothed in his dark and ragged attire, he was reflecting upon his unhappy fate, a bright light shone in his prison, and he beheld coming towards him a Friend—one whose kindness he had long neglected, but who had not forgotten him in his adversity. The garments worn by that Friend were white and spotless; there was no stain upon them; they were such as befitted one of high estate, of one of such rank that it might have been little expected that his foot would ever tread the dungeon of Condemnation!
“He addressed the young rebel in terms of love and pity. ”

“ Is it upon the brow of the poor alone that we see the deep lines of sorrow? is it the cheek of the poor alone that is furrowed by tears? Are the merriest faces those that look from carriage windows? can wealth shut out sorrow, sickness, bereavement, disunion, or death?
Lady Grange noticed the tired looks of Jenny, and kindly ordered the maid whom she had summoned to receive the dress, to take the girl to the kitchen, that she might have a little rest and refreshment. ”

“ THE GREAT PLAGUE.
“Fools make a mock at sin.”—Prov. xiv. 9.
“What a violent storm is raging!” said Thorn the teacher to his scholars, as, after having dismissed them at the close of the school hours, he found them clustering together in the porch, afraid of venturing forth into the pelting rain, pouring down in large, heavy drops, mingled with hail, which danced on the wet, brown pavement. “Come back into the room, my children: it is better than standing there in the cold. Amuse yourselves as you like until the weather clears up, while I occupy myself with reading.” ”

“ Even in his delirium he is thinking of another; he is struggling to rise from the bed of death to go on his wonted visit of kindness to his own and his father’s friend! and I, blessed with means so much larger than his, have for thirty long years neglected, nay forgotten, the old faithful servant of my family! I shall look upon poor Will Aylmer as a legacy from Robin. He has done what he could for his friend during life; and by his dying words—if it please God that he should die—he shall have done yet more for the old man. ”

“ Priscilla showed less vexation at losing her excursion, though she took the shilling with a discontented air; and her first words, as she turned to walk back with her sister, were as unjust as they were ungrateful to that good Providence that gives us so much even upon earth to enjoy.
“I knew that it would be so! it always happens thus! If one expects a little pleasure, disappointment is sure to come!”
“How strange and unkind in my uncle!” said Lucy, still half crying; “and to think that these stupid shillings could make up for the loss of such a delightful treat!” ”

“ Why did his companions dislike sitting next in school to the pale boy with the sunken cheek and the drooping 22eye, and why in the merry hours of play did they seek to exclude him from their circle? Alas! there was a stain on the character of Seth Delmar—he had once been in prison for stealing bread from a baker, he was now shunned and despised as a thief!
The poor boy had deeply repented of his sin, and now bitterly felt its consequences. In vain he showed himself ever ready to oblige, bore meekly the taunts and neglect of his companions, and was most watchful over his own conduct. ”

“ Ask strength from the Lord to stand firm in the right, though you alone should defend it: fear nothing but the displeasure of a holy God. Keep his Sabbaths unbroken, and rest assured that you shall find them yield rich fruits of peace and of joy. Oh, follow not the multitude to do evil. When sinners entice, consent thou not. They may laugh down your doubts and your scruples now, but they cannot excuse your sin, nor save you from its punishment in the terrible day of judgment. ”

“ The pampered child of luxury shrank sensitively from pain, and the thought that he had brought all his misery upon himself by his folly and disobedience rendered it yet more intolerable. When the surgeon had at length done his work, Lady Grange retired with him to another apartment, and, struggling to command her choking voice, asked him the question on the reply to which all her earthly happiness seemed to hang—whether he had hope that the life of her boy might be spared. ”

“ The boys were quiet in a moment: they had almost forgotten the presence of their teacher.
“Why, sir, do you think that there is any harm?” said Bat Nayland: “it does not make us thieves to have a little fun about them.”
“It lessens your horror for their crime; and remember the words in the Bible, Fools make a mock at sin. Can you imagine any true child of God laughing at theft, drunkenness, and swearing?” ”