to do it with manifest kindness. The effects will be incalculably better. When you are obliged to deny the request that your child may make, do not allow yourself to do this with severity. It is enough for our little ones to be denied what they may think they want, without being nearly knocked down with a sharp voice ringing in their tender ears. If you practice severity, speak harshly, frequently punish in anger, you will find your children will imbibe your spirit and your manners. First, you will find that they will treat each other as you treat them; and after they arrive to a little age, they will treat you with unkind, unbecoming replies. But if you are wise, and treat your little ones with tenderness, you will fix the image of love in their minds, and they will love you and each other, and in their conversation will imitate the conversation which they have heard from the tenderest friend which children have on earth. [For the Microcosm.] SPIRIT OF BEAUTY. We offer the following beautiful lines to our readers, though they are not precisely adapted to the specific object of this work; further than the contemplation of the fair and beautiful, is always favorable to the moral interests of home. Spirit of beauty, where, Oh where is thy home? Is it those realms of light For thy bright smile is there Or is thy home the morn, scattering thy varied dies O'er the fresh flowers-the mist wreathed falls-and peaks that rise Or dost thou dwell 'Way in the coral depths of the blue southern sea-- Or doth thy mansion lie On the soft billowy clouds, whose sunset glories streak Or didst thou, spirit, come Forth from the Father's throne in holy love to give, Aye, in the region blest Where are the pearly gates-the street of gold--the chrystal stream There is thy place of rest. lone. A Home essential to Happiness. A HOME ESSENTIAL TO HAPPINESS. "By the side of a mountain o'ershadowed with trees, The seat of contentment, of friendship and love." 91 Is not the whole world engaged in a vain pursuit after happiness? Can any doubt that the inhabitant of yonder cottage enjoys more happiness than the restless aspirant of ambition, or the ever-wearied votary of fashion? With these concessions, is the task a hopeless one, of winning the children of fashion to taste these better things-or at least of inducing them to make a compromise in their favor, for the gilded but empty fare on which they now live? We do not mean to beckon them away to a fancied Paradise; using as a lure a romantic tale of love in a cottage, with exemption from every toil and care. It is a part of our creed of happiness, to look the ills of life in the face, and become interested in them, as familiar though ill-visaged friends and acquaintances. Our object is to win a confession of the charms of home, be it palace or cottage :-to establish the point that it is better to have a home, however humble, than to gain many things else without one. It is a common and growing practice for young married people to commence life without a home. And this not so much from necessity as from choice-because it is a fashion, more than for any other reason. Now we would soberly set forth the evils of this fashion; and happy will those be who profit by the experience of others. Some, we know, are obliged to make their wishes bend to untoward circumstances. Necessity has no law-and those who are constrained to a sacrifice of their favorite plans, should find contentment and satisfaction in the consciousness of doing their duty. But for such as forego the privileges of a home when it invites their acceptance, we have a word of remonstrance. The plan of taking board, in preference to house-keeping, is adopted by young married people in consideration of certain supposed advantages it seems to hold out. One pleads inexperience in household duties; another, the advantages of leisure that will be thus secured, and the opportunities for improve. ment; a third urges the wishes and advice of friends. In every case the argument is against them. They intend to become householders at some future day-will the duties they now dread, and are unacquainted with, become easier or more familiar by postponement? No teaching is so rapid as that of experience; and no time so fitting as the proper time. Young adventurers need the leisure they have only at the commencement of life, to form their plans with concert and reflection. Then the very occupation of domestic duties is essential to beguile the mind, and interest the feelings. We have seen the mischief of too much leisure, showing itself in repinings for the home of former days; in melancholy and discouragement, which affected the character through life. These consequences visit the parties unequally, while they injure both. If the husband is engaged in business, they fall almost wholly upon the wife; and are sometimes made the occasion of reproach, as indicating the absence of that affection which should bear the mind above disappointment or regret; when they are the natural and almost inevitable results of loneliness and inaction. Were the mind occupied in the interesting duties of ordering a household, the health would be invigorated, and the spirits cheered—while the cloud of despondency which had settled over the feelings, would disappear. Postponement of these duties, only increases the magnitude of the effort, and the timidity of engaging in it. We are not learning how to live until we actually commence the active duties of life; and have comparatively no motive for observation or improvement, until we feel a vital interest in the object of improvement. Those who commence their wedded life in connection with friends and relatives, are liable to greater trials than any we have specified. Such arrangements can scarcely ever be made without a jarring of interests. We speak with charity and humiliation, for the frailty of human nature,-jealousies and differences often arise between relatives and connections on this ground, which embitter social intercourse to the end of life. Independence and exclusiveness are, in one sense, absolutely essential to the security, the sanctity and preservation of domestic happiness. If those who risk this treasure lightly, could begin with the experience with which they must close their experiment, they would consider no vigilance too great, no sacrifice too severe for securing it. They would prefer beginning their married life in the shelter of a cabin, so they could call it their own, to venturing upon the insecurity of uncertain and divided ground. They would even make this condition indispensable to a concurrence in the arrangement. No matter how small or limited the premises of this beginning, so it be under individual control. It is because we consider domestic happiness of earthly jewels, the one above all price, that we insist upon this point so strenuously: because we consider the little spot called Home," the one bright spot of all the earth, that we would take every precaution to preserve its sanctity. Yet many throw from them, in insensibility, this treasure, for which the world is a paltry price. It is a painful reflection that so few understand their own happiness— leaving mere spectators to find more enjoyment in the contemplation of their circumstances, than is realized by the parties concerned. They who have ever known the blessings of a happy home-and then known what it is to want a home-will understand the emotion with which we linger near a cheerful dwelling-house, in the shades of twilight; and walk slower as we pass it, as if to catch and retain one ray of the beam that glances from a lighted window, or illuminates the cottage floor from the blazing "ingle," with its “clean hearth stane" nor will such reprove the involuntary sigh, which expresses the depth of the bosom's sympathy with the voice of joyous mirth within. Such a pilgrim goes on his way with new gratitude and cheer, for even this glimpse of borrowed happiness, while many who have the reality laid at their feet, can turn away. The Power of Kindness. [For the Microcosm.] THE POWER OF KINDNESS. 93 How much is comprised in the simple word kindness! One kind word, or even one mild look will often times dispel thick gathering gloom from the countenance of an affectionate husband, or wife. When the temper is tried by some inconvenience or trifling vexation, and marks of displeasure are depicted upon the countenance; and perhaps too that most "unruly of all members" is ready to vent its spleen upon the innocent husband or wife,-what will a kind mien, a pleasant reply accomplish? Almost invariably, perfect harmony and peace are thus restored. These thoughts were suggested by the recollection of a little domestic incident to which I was a silent, though not uninterested spectator. During the summer months of 1834, I was spending several weeks with a happy married pair, who had tasted the good and ills of life together, only a twelvemonth. Both possessed many amiable qualities, and were well calculated to promote each other's happiness. My second visit to my friends was of a week's duration, in the month of December. One cold evening the husband returned home at his usual hour at nine o'clock, expecting to find a warm fire for his reception-but instead he found a cheerless, comfortless room. His first thought no doubt was, that it was owing to the negligence of his wife-and under this impression, in rather a severe tone, he said, "This is too bad; to come in from the office cold, and find no fire: I really should have thought you might have kept it." I sat almost breathless-trembling for the reply. I well knew it was no fault of her's, for she had wasted nearly all the evening and almost exhausted her patience, in attempting to kindle a fire. She in a moment replied, with great kindness," Why, my dear, I wonder what is the matter with our stove? We must have something done to-morrow, for I have spent a great deal of time in vain, to make a fire." This was said in such a mild, pleasant tone, that it had a most happy effect. If she had replied at that moment, when his feelings were alive to sup. posed neglect, "I don't know who is to blame; I have done my part, and have been freezing all the evening for my pains. If the stove had been put up as it should have been, all would have been well enough." This, said in an unamiable, peevish tone, might have added "fuel to the fire," and this little breeze have led to more serious consequences; but, fortunately, her mild reply restored perfect serenity. The next day the stove was taken down, and the difficulty, owing to some defect in the flue, was removed? What will not a kind word accomplish? C. A sensible and pious mother once remarked, "If I may have but ten years of the life of a man of seventy, to form his character, give me the first ten." TO A FIRST.BORN CHILD. My child!-how strange that name appears How thrilling to my listening ears Those infant cries of thine! How many a thought mysterious burns And as I gaze on thee, the past, A tie, that binds me still more fast, The past, thy mother's fondness bade The present-can it be but glad The future wraps its dusky veil O'er what I fain would know: Then sadden into fear: Perhaps thy life may be a smile, My child! with love's best treasures fraught, To whom I turn in every thought, With every hope allied; Sweet be thy slumbers, soft and deep, While life no sorrow feels; A mother lulls thine eyes to sleep, A father's blessing seals. [From Combe's Works on Mental Derangement.] INSANITY. THE non-exercise of the brain and nervous system, or, in other words, inactivity of intellect and feeling, is a very frequent predisposing cause of insanity, and of every form of nervous disease. For demonstrative evidence of this position, we have only to look at the numerous victims to be found among females of the middle and higher ranks, who have no call to exertion to gain the means of subsistence, and no objects of interest on which to exercise and expend their mental faculties, and who consequently sink into a state of mental sloth, |