VOL. II. THE MICROCOSM. OCTOBER, 1835. No. 1. For the Microcom. 66 ALBUMS. WHY are Albums now banished from the social circle? Time was when they were as numerous as Autumn leaves in Valambrossa's vale;" no parlor was complete without them; no lady-no friend-was satisfied without some memorial by which in after years to recall past scenes of pleasure to her mind. But now "a change come o'er the spirit of the dream." Some boarding school Miss perhaps, extracts long rhapsodies on friendship or on love-borrowing both words and thoughts from Moore or Byron-into a tinseled and bepictured thing; inscribes her name among some score of others, and then the pretty gewgaw is forgotten. This is not as it should be. I would have Albums revived. I would have them purified from the dross by which they are now enveloped, and the pure gold exposed to every eye. I would have these loadstones of friendship again attracting kindred hearts to hearts. There is no place, however, in which such mementos of the past are more cheering; indeed I may say more necessary, than in our own beautiful city. Our society is ever changing, ever new; we bind our hearts in closest sympathy to a friend, and perhaps the next season's change bears the stranger forever from our sight. Like a beautiful bird from a southern sky, forced far from her accustomed limits by some freak of fortune; she has found a home among the green foliage and the embowering shades which encircle our own dwellings, and the wanderer is at rest. Her nestlings riot in the pure breath of our summer breezes, and carol their matin lays and match their tender wings with the loveliest and the fleetest of our own feathered songsters. But distance of time and place makes her own native orange groves look more and more inviting; she is gone, and hearts which have beat in unison perhaps for years, must now turn to memory's tablets for all their consolation. My album is one of my own invention; to each of my friends I give a card, on which to inscribe her name, and place some memorial of herself. These are my jewels; on these I anchor my affections. They recal to me, and to me only, the friends of my youth, the companions of my riper years. To me only, for over this treasury of the affections, this storehouse of friendship, I keep an eager and exclusive watch, as a miser gloating over his wealth of gold and silver. Some-no matter how many-years ago I had an Album-on its blank leaf, one of my friends-my friend scratched with a pencil a few stanzas-they have since been my text book through life. We had known each other long and well, but our still and quiet scenes, our rocks and shades, our wealth of woods and waters, could not satisfy his more stirring spirit. He was a devotee to Ambition and struck boldly forth from his native shore, in pursuit of the empty bubble of reputation. Toil and unaccustomed hardship were too much for a frame already enfeebled by application; he sank beneath the dart of the destroyer, and the wild, rank flowers of the prairie now wave and rustle o'er his head. Why do I give these stanzas to the winds? Why do I search with keenest probe the festering wound which has hitherto been so closely veiled from view? "Tis to "break the bondage of the mind," to "pluck from the heart its rooted sorrow." Evil Speakers and Evil Speaking. FINALE. These lines I've just been tracing One trace, within thy breast, Now beckons towards the West. B. EVIL SPEAKERS AND EVIL SPEAKING. To the Editor of the Microcosm : We are happy to see that one of your correspondents in two recent numbers entitled evil speakers has taken up the subject of evil speaking generally. The papers are worthy of the attention of all your readers but as ladies are at the close especially addressed, we think that your author would insinuate that they are most in fault. Let your female readers take the subject home at once and with their characterestic frankness confess at least to themselves that the implied charge is just and as their influence is very great unite in putting down so evil a practice. The question was once asked why the Lion, so noble a beast, was always painted asbeing led by a man? The reply was, " Because man is the Painter." Now Mrs. Editor though the two papers alluded to possess inherent evidence of being written by a gentleman we would not by the above quotation mean to intimate that females are thus accused because man is the accuserfor this would seem like an attempt to parry the truth. We will admit the fact, women are more inclined to evil speaking, generally than men. Why is this? Are they less amiable? No. In general they may be regarded as more gentle, more kind, more affectionate than the other sex. While then we attempt to solve the mystery, let it not be thought that we are endeavoring to excuse, or palliate, our sin, but merely to account for it. Then having admitted the fact, and given the reasons for its existence we shall be better able to take appropriate measures to eradicate the evil. We have seen that the cause of our censoriousness is not to be found in the infirmity of our natural qualities: we must then seek it in something extrinsic wholly apart from our moral characters. Nor is this any attempt at extenuation. We are free, voluntary agents and as much to blame for yielding to temptation as the other sex. Man's temptations are more from the world. Woman's sphere of action is home. Her battles are by the fireside and with herself. Here she is to fight and here obtain fresh conquests over self-" compared with which the laurels which a Ceasar gains are weeds." In reflecting upon this subject we believe that most of the evil speaking of women may be attributed to two general causes. Their minds are not subjected to the same severe exercise as those of men, and having so much leisure for conversation, and so great a demand for social intercourse within doors, the conduct and general characters of their acquaintances are inadvertently discussed, until the habit becomes too pleasant to be easily relinquished. Again women are more discriminating with regard to the minute shades of character than men, and more delicately alive to the proprieties and improprieties of those with whom they associate. They are more fastidious. A women is so much disgusted with that which a man perhaps entirely overlooks, that in the fulness of her displeasure she instinctively communicates her thoughts to the first friend she meets, for ont of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. As a sex they are fond of characterising and this habit leads to censoriousness. This too may be attributed to the circumstances in which they are placed and not to the fact that they are more censorious at heart than men. But to whatever cause the evil may be attributed, the fact itself is an appalling one, and we would unite with the author of the essays in your paper in imploring a reformation. If there be a cause actually found in our outward circumstances, or if the evil in question arises from the want of sufficient mental occupation we are furnished with a powerful inducement to cultivate our minds in the highest possible manner. Nor will we any longer plead the want of time or opportunity. Facilities at the present day abound, and if time for mental improvement is wanting, let morning calls and evening parties, and all unnecessary feminine employment whether of the needle, pen or pencil, be relinquished. There is one species of evil speaking to which your correspondent seems to imply that we are particularly prone, viz. that of criticising the performances of the ministers of Christ. This is not a fault exclusively feminine. All, all are guilty here; and sermons are a sort of public property so that those who dare not assail the private characters of ministers feel that they have a right to say what they please about them in their official capacity. A preacher is cold, or he is zealous, he is spiritual or worldly, he is a good speaker or a bad speaker, lazy or industrious, he writes in good taste or bad taste. So commonly are these remarks reiterated from week to week that one would think it was the business of each returning sabbath not to worship our Heavenly Father, and secure our salvation, but to discern the perfections and imperfections of those who come to us as ambassadors of Christ to beseech us in his name to be reconciled to an offended God. And do our sex stand first in this work of destruction also? If so let us consider that in destroying or even impairing the influence of ministers we not only wound and injure private feelings but we are actually preventing the public good, we are retarding the renovation of a world lying in wickedness and destroying souls for whom Christ died. The evil must be stayed. The sin is universal, for who can be found who is free from its contaminating influence? We could even wish that Heralds might be sent forth from one end of our country to the other to represent the prevalence and enormity of this sin as they have done those of intemperance until all, especially christian females, should banish it from their conversation, abroad and from their firesides, as they have done the intoxicating cup from their tables. If the reformation is to be a thorough one public sentiment must be secured. Let every one begin with himself or herself, setting a strict watch on the door of the lips, and whenever a defect in another is discovered let the offender be dealt with as the scriptures prescribe; let the heart be lifted up in prayer to God in Obedience and Happiness, &c. his behalf, and if the fault be too insignificant to authorise such a course, remember dear reader that it is so small that it may without inconvenience be concealed in your own bosom. CATHARINE. OBEDIENCE AND HAPPINESS ESSENTIAL TO THE FORMATION OF VIRTUOUS CHARACTER. WE once asked the venerable mother of a large family, whose members had grown up with characters and principles forming the best possible commendation of her system,-wherein consisted the secret of her uncommon success in training her children. She replied, that her intercourse with them had always been governed by sincerity and candor :-that her first care was to establish implicit obedience and the next to make them happy. The happiness of their home was the shield in which this mother trusted to guard her children from the dangers and temptations without ;-while confidence in their parents, and obedience to their injunctions, formed the restraining principle which directed and regulated their conduct. We have been led to think much of the importance of these two principles, happiness and obedience, in the formation of upright and decidedly virtuous characters. The child who has never been taught to yield his will and submit his heart to the claims of duty, in obedience to rightful authority, must necessarily be the victim of self-will, and the slave of passion-tost about with every wind of danger and temptation :—while he who has been accustomed to submit to lawful and judicious authority, is invested with a panoply of tried armor. The wisdom and benevolence of God are strikingly exhibited in the institution of family government, as a miniature representation of his own great plan; and the parent who faithfully establishes respect and obedience to his own authority, is laying the best foundation for the submission of the heart to God. The child who habitually revolts under parental government, has made rebellion his leading principle of action-and when the claims of God to love and obedience are presented, the same principle of rebellion is arrayed against them. But obedience alone will not constitute a perfect character. The social and generous qualities of the heart must be drawn out and exercised. We do not believe the child can grow up consistently virtuous who is not made uniformly happy. God has indissolubly united innocence and happiness— and as children possess much innocence they are naturally blessed with much happiness. When the circumstances of their early lives counteract this native happiness of the heart, its place is filled by discontent, repining or moroseness. All those amiable, ingenuous qualities which go to make up a benevolent, influential character, are crushed or perverted. An unhappy mind is constantly turned with pity upon itself-and as an inevitable consequence becomes selfish and complaining. The effort to devise and promote new sources of happiness at home, is probably one of the wisest to which the mother's attention can be directed. What a safeguard do those |