"we shall all immediately return to our duty, for the maids will lie in bed till noon if we stand idling thus.” Upon this the weights, who had never been accused of light conduct, used all their influence in urging him to proceed; when, as with one consent, the wheels began to turn, the hands began to move, the pendulum to wag, and, to its credit, ticked as loud as ever,-while a beam of the rising sun, that streamed through a hole in the kitchen-shutter, shining full upon the dial-plate, made it brighten up as if nothing had been the matter. When the farmer came down to breakfast, he declared, upon looking at the clock, that his watch had gained half an hour in the night. JANE TAYLOR. HALF-A-CROWN'S WORTH. VALENTINE was in his thirteenth year, and a scholar in one of our great schools. He was a well-disposed boy, but could not help envying a little some of his companions, who had a larger allowance of money than himself. He ventured in a letter to sound his father on the subject, not directly asking for a particular sum, but mentioning that many of the boys in his class had half-acrown a week for pocket-money. His father, who did not choose to comply with his wishes, nor yet to refuse him in a mortifying manner, wrote an answer, the chief purpose of which was to make him sensible what sort of a sum half-a-crown a week was ; and to how many more important uses it might be put, than to provide a school-boy with things absolutely super fluous to him. It is calculated, said he, that a grown man may be kept in health, and fit for labour, upon a pound and a half of good bread a-day. Suppose the value of this to be twopence halfpenny, and add a penny for a quart of milk, which will greatly improve his diet, half-a-crown will keep him eight or nine days in this manner. A common labourer's wages in our country are seven shillings a week; and, if we add something extraordinary for harvest-work, this will not make it amount to three half-crowns on an average the year round. Suppose his wife and children to earn another half-crown. For this ten shillings per week, he will maintain himself, his wife, and half-a-dozen children, in food, lodging, clothes, and fuel. A half-crown then may be reckoned the full weekly maintenance of two human creatures, in every thing necessary! Many of the cottagers round us would receive, with great thankfulness, a sixpenny loaf per week; and reckon it a very material addition to their children's bread. For half-a-crown, therefore, you might purchase-the weekly blessing of five poor families! Many a cottage in the country, inhabited by a large family, is let for forty shillings a year. Half-a-crown a week would pay the full rent of three such cottages, and allow somewhat over for repairs. The usual price for schooling, at a dame-school in a village, is twopence a week. You might, therefore, get fifteen children instructed in reading, and the girls in sewing, for half-a-crown weekly! But even in a town, you might get them taught reading, writing, and accounts, and so fitted for any common trade, for five shillings a quarter; and therefore half-a-crown a week would keep six children at such a school, and provide them with books besides. All these are ways in which half-a-crown a week might be made to do a great deal of good to others. I shall now just mention one or two ways of laying it out with advantage to yourself. I know you are fond of coloured plates of plants, and other objects of natural history. There are now several works of this sort publishing in monthly numbers. Now, half-a-crown a week would reach the purchase of the best of them. The same sum laid out in the old-book shops in London, would buy you more classics, and pretty editions too, in one year, than you could read in five. Now, I do not grudge laying out half-a-crown a week upon you; but when so many good things for yourself and others may be done with it, I am unwilling you should squander it away, like your school-fellows, in tarts and trinkets. Evenings at Home. WINTER. It aids the sys THE scenes around us have assumed a new and chilling appearance. The trees are shorn of their foliage, the hedges are laid bare, the fields and favourite walks have lost their charms, and the garden, now that it yields no perfumes and offers no fruits, is, like a friend in adversity, forsaken. The tuneful tribes are dumb, the cattle no longer play in the meadows, the north wind blows. "He sendeth abroad his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold?"-We rush in for shelter. But winter is not without its uses. tem of life and vegetation; it kills the seeds of infection; it refines the blood; it strengthens the nerves; it braces the whole frame. Snow is a warm covering for the corn; and, while it defends the tender blades from nipping frosts, it also nourishes their growth. When the snow thaws, it becomes a genial moisture to the soil into which it sinks; and thus the glebe is replenished with nutriment to produce the bloom of spring and the bounty of autumn. Winter has also its pleasures. I love to hear the roaring of the wind,-I love to see the figures which the frost has painted on the glass,-I love to watch the red-breast with his slender legs, standing at the window, and knocking with his bill to ask for the crumbs which fall from the table. Is it not pleasant to view a landscape whitened with snow?-to gaze upon the trees and hedges dressed in such sparkling lustre ?-to behold the rising sun labouring to pierce the morning fog, and gradually causing objects to emerge from it by little and little, and appear in their own forms; whilst the mist rolls up the side of the hill and is seen no more? Winter is a season in which we should feel gratitude for our comforts. How much more temperate is our climate than that of many other countries! Think of those who live within the polar circle, dispersed, exposed to beasts of prey, their poor huts furnishing only a wretched refuge! They endure months of perpetual night, and by. the absence of heat almost absolute barrenness reigns around. But we have houses to defend us, and clothes to cover us, and fires to warm us, and beds to comfort us, and provisions to nourish us. How becoming, in our circumstances, is gratitude to God! This season calls upon us to exercise benevolence. While we are enjoying every comfort which the tenderness of Providence can afford, let us think of the indigent and the miserable. Let us think of those whose poor hovels and shattered panes cannot screen them from the piercing cold. Let us think of the old and the infirm, of the sick and the diseased. O let "the blessing of them that are ready to perish come upon us." Who would not deny himself superfluities, and something more, that his bounty may visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction." This season is instructive as an emblem. Here is the picture of thy life :-Thy flowery spring, thy summer strength, thy sober autumn, are all hastening into winter. Decay and death will soon, very soon, lay all waste! What provision hast thou made for the evil day? Hast thou been laying up treasure in heaven?-hast thou been labouring for that meat which endureth unto everlasting lite? Soon spring will dawn again upon us with its beauty and its songs. And "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. No winter there; but we shall flourish in perpetual spring, in endless youth, in everlasting life! JAY-Family Discourses. WINTER. No longer Autumn's glowing red In meek despondency they eye My imps, though hardy, bold, and wild, SIR WALTER SCOTT. THE COMPLAINTS OF THE POOR. AND wherefore do the poor complain? 'Twas evening, and the frozen streets And we were wrapt and coated well, We met an old bareheaded man, 'Twas bitter keen, indeed, he said, |