Thus he went, they knew not whither.
Have you ever met him, pray?

You would know him by his smiling,
And the sunshine on his way.
We have hunted o'er creation,
Over land and over sea,
But no traces can discover
Of our missing Parson Lee.

XXXIII.-CHEERFULNESS.

THERE is no other one quality that so much attaches man to his fellow-man as cheerfulness. Talents may excite more respect, and virtue more esteem; but the respect is apt to be distant, and the esteem cold. It is far otherwise with cheerfulness. It endears a man to the heart, not the intellect or the imagination. There is a kind of reciprocal diffusiveness about this quality that recommends its possessor by the very effect it produces. There is a mellow radiance in the light it sheds on all social intercourse, which pervades the soul to a depth that the blaze of intellect can never reach.

The cheerful man is a double blessing-a blessing to himself and to the world around him. In his own character, his good nature is the clear, blue sky of his own heart, on which every star of talent shines out more clearly. To others he carries an atmosphere of joy, and hope, and encouragement wherever he moves. His own cheerfulness becomes infectious, and his associates lose their moroseness and their gloom in the amber-colored light of the benevolence he casts around him.

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It is true that cheerfulness is not always happiness. The face may glow in smiles while the heart runs in coldness and darkness below," but cheerfulness is the best external indication of happiness that we have, and it enjoys this

advantage over almost every other good quality, that the counterfeit is as valuable to society as the reality. It answers as a medium of public circulation fully as well as the true coin.

A man is worthy of all praise, whatever may be his private griefs, who does not intrude them on the happiness of his friends, but constantly contributes his quota of cheerfulness to the general public enjoyment.

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'Every heart knows its own bitterness," but let the possessor of that heart take heed that he does not distill it into his neighbor's cup and thus poison his felicity.

XXXIV. TRUTH THE OBJECT OF ALL STUDIES.

THE supreme want, as well as the supreme blessing of man, is truth; yes, truth in religion, which, in giving us pure and exalted ideas of the Divinity, teaches us, at the same time, to render him the most worthy and intelligent homage;-truth in morals, which indicates their duties to all classes, at once without rigor and without laxity;-truth in politics, which, in making authority more just and the people more acquiescent, saves governments from the passions of the multitude, and the multitude from the tyranny of governments;-truth in our legal tribunals, which strikes Vice with consternation, re-assures Innocence, and accomplishes the triumph of Justice;-truth in education, which, bringing the conduct of instructors into accordance with their teaching, exhibits them as the models no less than the masters of infancy and youth;-truth in literature and in art, which preserves them from the contagion of bad taste, from false ornaments as well as false thoughts;—truth in the daily commerce of life, which, in banishing fraud and imposture, establishes the common security;-truth in every thing, truth before every thing,—this is, in effect, what the whole human race, at heart, solicit. Yes, all men have a

consciousness that truth is ever beneficent and falsehood ever pernicious.

And, indeed, when none but true doctrines shall be universally inculcated,-when they shall have penetrated all hearts, when they shall animate every order of society,if they do not arrest all existing evils, they will have, at least, the advantage of arresting a great many. They will be prolific in generous sentiments and virtuous actions; and the world will perceive that truth is, to the body social, a principle of life. But if, on the other hand, error, in matters of capital import, obtain dominion in the minds of men, especially of those who are called to serve as guides and models, it will mislead and confound them, and, in corrupting their thoughts, sentiments, and acts, it will become a principle of dissolution and death.

XXXV.-GRADATION.

HEAVEN is not reached at a single bound;
But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to the summit round by round.

I count this thing to be grandly true:
That a noble deed is a step toward God,
Lifting the soul from the common sod
To a purer air and a broader view.

We rise by things that are under our feet;
By what we have mastered of good and gain,
By the pride deposed and the passion slain,
And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet.

We hope, we aspire, we resolve, we trust,

When the morning calls us to life and light;
But our hearts grow weary, and ere the night
Our lives are trailing the sordid dust.

We hope, we resolve, we aspire, we pray,

And we think that we mount the air on wings,
Beyond the recall of sensual things,

While our feet still cling to the heavy clay.

Only in dreams is a ladder thrown

From the weary earth to the sapphire walls;
But the dreams depart, and the vision falls,
And the sleeper awakes on his pillow of stone.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound;

But we build the ladder by which we rise
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to the summit round by round.

SPURGEON'S ADVICE.

No one is more like an honest man than a thorough rogue.

When you see a man with a great deal of religion displayed in his shop-window, you may depend upon it he keeps a very small stock of it within.

Do not choose your friend by his looks-handsome shoes often pinch the feet.

Do not be too fond of compliments; remember, "thank you, pussy," and "thank you, pussy," kill the cat.

Don't believe the man who talks the most, for mewing cats are very seldom good mousers.

By no means put yourself in another person's power: if you put your thumbs between two grinders, they are very apt to bite.

Drink nothing without seeing it; sign nothing without reading it, and make sure that it means no more than it says.

Don't go to law unless you have nothing to lose: lawyers' houses are built on fools' heads.

Put no dependence on the label of a bag, and count money after your own kin.

In any business never wade into water where you can not see the bottom.

See the sack open before you buy what is in it, for he who trades in the dark asks to be cheated.

Keep clear of a man who does not value his own character.

XXXVI. I FORGOT.

THERE is no excuse for neglect of duty more common or more unsatisfactory to those hearing it, than "I forgot." Whether the forgetfulness comes from carelessness, inattention, or weakness of the power of memory, the result is the same, and the loss or damage therefrom is no less than it would be if the neglect was premeditated and intentional. If a boy forgets to shut a gate, stray cattle can come through and destroy crops to the same extent as if they had been intentionally let in by some tramp.

The switchman at a railroad station who forgets to fix his lever properly, and allows the incoming train to rush on to destruction, has not the guilt of intentional murder on his soul, but the inevitable law of force works no less destruction to life and property than if he had done it with malice prepense.

To overcome the habit of forgetfulness-for it is to a great extent a habit is to a degree, at least, in the power of every one. He who is not an idiot has a faculty of memory, and the strength of any faculty can, by exercise and cultivation, be increased. Those who do not endeavor to cultivate it are guilty of culpable neglect, and should not be allowed to plead forgetfulness in palliation of any omission or neglect.

We know a clergyman whose power of memory is so great as to seem really wonderful, the result almost entirely of cultivation. In fact, we have heard him say that when he was young he was so forgetful as to be constantly under