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circle of friends, guests, relations, and casual visiters! How many indulgences and gratifications are obtained for the irresistible pleader! How many petitions granted for the remuneration of a kiss! How tenderly are the tears of contrition wiped away from eyes that look so beautifully remorseful! And all this, I firmly believe, if restrained by right feeling and firm principle from reaching a blamable excess, is productive of good results only, in the young mind; and that children thus happily constituted thrive best (even in a moral sense) in that atmosphere of tender indulgence, and become eventually more amiable and equable, least selfish and exacting, in all the various circumstances and relations of life. The reason of this I take to be, that they feel the most perfect confidence in the good will and affections of their fellow creatures; and how many of the best affections of our nature spring up and flourish under the kindly influence of that most Christian feeling! The fair engaging girl expands into womanhood in the warm sunshine of affectionate encouragement, and all the delicate and grateful feelings of her heart are drawn out to bud and blossom in that congenial clime-every individual of her family and friends fondly or courteously contributing to her happiness or pleasure. Will not the desire to repay kindness with kindness, love with love, blessing with blessing, be the responsive impulse of her young heart?"

All this I take to be the true philosophy of life, very gracefully expressed. And here I might leave the subject, were it not that I should be very sorry that such as have not the attractive gift of beauty should derive a painful impression from what has been said, and take away with them no balm for the wound. Assuredly it is no fault of theirs that they are not, as others are, beautiful; and they may be certain that the judgment of all who have that faculty, will act upon the conviction that the want of beauty is no fault, worthy of blame, or disregard. It has pleased heaven to make varieties of conditions, without, so far as we can see, while yet in this world, any reference to the merits of individuals thus variously circumstanced. One is born to affluence and indulgence-another to poverty and hardship. We know not why this should be so, but we know what are the respective duties of each, and how the lowly may become dignified, and the lofty acknowledge a sense of their human equality with those of low estate. Difference of personal attractiveness is a difference of condition which a power above us has ordered. Let it be cheerfully submitted to, even though our lot be not the most favourable. Consider how much worse that lot might have been, and let us be thankful for what we have.

Difference of condition in the circumstances of life has probably the object of inducing men

to exert themselves, and improve their faculties. Let us believe that difference of personal appearance may have a similar object. The qualities of the mind are more endurable than the rich softness of rosy lips, or the melting glances of a lustrous eye. If beauty be wanting, let mental accomplishments be all the more assiduously cultivated. A plain woman, with understanding, spirit, and good humour, is after the first five minutes, a more attractive creature than a mere beauty, however elegant in feature or brilliant in complexion. Granting the truth of what Mrs. Southey says, that on a fair average pretty women are the happiest, as well as the most agreeable of the species, I yet deny that there is any inevitable decree, any necessity in the nature of society, that it should be so. If they who are not pretty would take care not to abandon themselves to malice, envy, hatred, and uncharitableness, but to acquiesce cheerfully in what heaven has ordered, and apply themselves to every virtuous and honest art of pleasing which is available, apart from beauty, they may depend upon it that, taking the whole term of life into account, their lot will not be the worst.

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TOWN AND COUNTRY-THE POOR.

THE short but simple annals of the poor are too much neglected, though recommended to our notice not only by Christian teachers of our moral duty, but by those who, in serving the muse, endeavour to touch with wholesome purpose the feelings of our common nature.

"He serves the muses erringly and ill
Whose aim is pleasure, light and fugitive."

But that is no light or transient pleasure which, while it interests our sympathies, opens as it were new mansions in the heart for the hospitable reception, in all time to come, of kind or tender thoughts respecting the humble poor, whom we have always with us. It is true that in cities, where men are wont to cast their individual responsibilities upon the public institutions which they support, and where imposture is so apt to grow confident from the facility of escaping into the crowd, there is not so much opportunity for taking a practical interest in the affairs of the poor as the habits of the country present. This, though it be thought by many a relief, is in truth, at least so I believe, one of the greatest, if it be not the very greatest of the evils that attend upon constant residence in a great city. We cease almost to know any class

but our own. We are indeed aware of the existence of other classes, but it is not a practical direct knowledge. It comes to us by tradition, or by casual brief observation, which leaves no permanent impress upon our minds. We see labouring men employed about new buildings, or carrying burdens, and we know that they work hard, and live but poorly, and there's an end. More about them we do not care to know. We have never seen where or how they live, and we have no wish to do so. We have a vague impression that when they are at home they are somewhat noisomely crowded together, that they feed rather disgustingly, that they often get drunk, and not seldom have quarrels and fights among themselves. This we learn partly from newspapers, partly from servants, partly from a glimpse of observation now and then at the corner of some shabby street, where something is seen, and more guessed at. But we are not a jot concerned about the matter. What is it to us?

Alas! we consider not how much we ourselves lose in this, as well as the poor. I do not say that in a great city the practice of life could be otherwise, for delicacy and safety forbid habitual intercourse with the crowded, obscure, and unwholesome haunts where city poverty finds a shelter or a hiding place, where the criminal, skulking from justice and the open day, seeks the same lodging with the poor

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