in authority. One of the unfortunate effects derived from the early stages of democratic training is the sense of personal sovereignty; the feeling that we stand on as high ground as anybody else. Under monarchical institutions, men are taught to revere the great and glorious in government. The feeling of reverence does not prevail to any great extent among us.

9. Children, nowadays, are brought up to be pert, to be saucy, to be almost without restraint. They They are brought up to have very little regard either for their parents or for their superiors. And, although there are a great many Christian households where children are rightly bred in this regard, it seems to me there has been a decay of that instruction which used to prevail, the tendency of which was to make children modest and respectful. We bring up our children to be old, and smart, and impertinent.

10. I discern, too, in the intercourse of society, that there is not so much respect paid to woman as is befitting. There is never any cause of complaint concerning the treatment of a woman, if she be beautiful. Oh no! there is no trouble then. I have seen young men spring from their seats to make room for a fair and accomplished person. Yet, I have seen a weary working woman, laden with bundles containing the necessaries of life, stand and look wistfully for a seat, when no man cared to rise for her. I have seen a mother, ill-clad, homely, even scrawny, weary, and carrying her child, yet nobody was eager or anxious to do reverence to her. We pay great respect to taste and beauty, but very little to womanhood, independent of external conditions.

11. I think every right-minded man is pained to receive respect from persons who show that they pay it to him by reason of his rank and public reputation, while

they deny it to those who have no such advantage as he enjoys.

12. This courtesy which carries with it respect, this testimony of veneration to the aged, this yielding one's self in a thousand little society rites for the sake of making others happy - oh, what brightness it gives to life! What beauty, what adornment, it gives to Christian character!- Henry Ward Beecher.

CII."A VESSEL IN DISTRESS."

THE first four days after leaving New York, it was like

river sailing,

smoother than any summer passage I have ever made. The stars, one night, were reflected singly in the sea. But, from Monday until Friday, we had an almost continuous gale. I had never been in a real storm at sea before, and this, certainly, was a magnificent sight, as seen from the port-holes, for we could not go on deck. Those great waves, breaking one over the other, lashing themselves into a fury of foam, splendid in their greens and blues, tossing us about like some small plaything, now rising on either side like hills, now falling into valleys, one can never forget the grandeur, the majesty of such a sight.

2. It was Thursday afternoon, just after luncheon. I had left the saloon, tired of holding on, worn out with the incessant day-and-night rolling which drove all sleep away, not knowing what to do or where to go. As I went down the passage-way, I heard a voice say, sel in distress!" "Where? What?" Then came the contradictory rumors passed down from the deck, “A small life-boat with men in it!"—" A steamer on fire! 66

"A ves

"A mast-head, in the distance, floating a signal of dis

tress!" This last was the truth, and we steamed towards the wreck.

3. First, we saw a shattered mast with a large flag, upside down, fastened to the end of the yard, and little signal flags below. Then, as we came nearer, men could be seen clinging to the rigging. Next, the great hulk appeared, helplessly tossing about, the waves breaking over it, everything gone but the one shattered spar, the flags, and the eight men. It was a terrible moment of indecision. Could we save them, or must we leave them? It might be destruction to our own steamer to go too near; it seemed madness to send out a small boat in such a sea. 4. Captain Lott hesitated, and then ran up the signal, "Shall we take How could they off?" No answer. you answer, poor fellows, clinging to that broken spar, the waves dashing over them? Surely, no answer was needed, with their signals set at "water in the hold," and with the despairing look of the rolling hulk; they knew, and we knew, that to leave them, then, was leaving them to certain death.

5. The life-boat was ordered to be got ready, while we steamed round to the windward side of the ill-fated brig. The captain called for volunteers. "No one is ordered to go," he said; "only those men who really wish to." At once, the second and third officers, the boatswain, and double the number of men needed sprang into the boat. From these a selection was made of eight men. Life-preservers were bound around them; other life-preservers and ropes were stowed away for the shipwrecked sailors; and, then, choosing a comparatively quiet moment, the little white boat, with the eight men in her, was lowered into the sea.

6. I shall never forget the pale, resolute look in the faces of the rescuing crew. But few words were spoken; there was no cheer; it was the silence of terrible earnest

ness, only broken by the whistling of the wind through the rigging, and the swash of the water across the deck. One man was heard to say, "It's an awful sea to put a boat in,' "and the answer, "Yes; but then it's to save life." At the last moment, the commanding officer took a friend aside to whisper a few words,

messages, doubt

less, to those at home, and then the little egg-shell struck the water and was whirled away.

7. Just then, the sun burst out from beneath a dark cloud; a canary-bird in the saloon began to sing; a little child danced about, wild with delight, over some porpoises she had seen. Meanwhile, our little boat was visible, now and then, on the top of a wave, but was soon lost to sight, carried on by wind and wave towards the wreck, our men, so many black specks; the oars, so many straws.

8. Again our steamer-most beautifully managed throughout was under way. We made a wide semi

circle round the Norwegian vessel to leeward of it, and there, with very little steam on, waited for the reappearance of our brave little boat; and it actually did come back, sixteen men in it now. Was it possible that it was all over at last, - that here they were, with rudder gone and oar broken, to be sure, but so near home, so safe, both the rescued and the rescuers! Was the susAlas! for the hope, born Why, we could see them,

pense and anxiety over at last! of inexperience and ignorance. could speak to them; and yet, this, in reality, was their most dangerous hour, to which the other perils were as nothing.

9. It seemed as though we should never get them on board. We were so very big, they were so very little; we rolled so unmercifully—how could we help crushing them? They came up on one side, and were almost dashed to pieces; then, they fell astern, and were nearly

caught under our quarter; a rope was floated to them by a life-preserver, but the one and a half inches snapped as though it were cord; and, then, the heavens were darkened and the squall burst upon us.

10. The captain signaled to them to keep away. We were in the trough of the sea, our third deck rolling under water; a near approach was certain destruction. As the dark cloud swept down upon us, the waves seemed lashed into greater fury than ever. We were carried before it, and, momentarily, lost sight of the life-boat. One terrible sea struck us, and we asked ourselves, with beating hearts, "Has it struck them?" At last, we were able to back down, and, to our relief, found the little boat still alive.

11. Again, they got so near that we could look into the men's faces, again, a rope was got to them, and, again, it parted. The sun was going down. The daylight was to be counted by minutes. "I have seen men rush to the mouth of a battery," said a fellow-passenger by my side, "but never anything like this, that suspense was soon over, but this is endless." It was an eternity.

12. The cruel hour was over at last. Taking advantage of a momentary lull and the leeward side of the ship, they got near enough to have ropes thrown to them. These they clung to and were pulled on board, — one poor fellow being somewhat crushed between the boat and the steamer, but all were saved. Even one of the two dogs was lassoed and hauled up in safety, while the Norwegian captain had his two pigeons tied about his

neck.

13. The little boat which had done such gallant service had to be abandoned. It was sad to think of her drifting off into the darkness of night. The long three hours were over ; — they were safe at last! so lost our own personality, it was so merged in the hopes

And then we had