all ready for the others to begin their Matters were very differently conducted at the great factory hard by. There, the works were kept going as late as pos selves of these advantages, property was accumulated with astonishing rapidity. It was so by both the individuals here referred to, though in a ratio proportioned to their different beginnings. Mr. R-'s buildings and works were entirely his own. R. F continued to rent those which he employed; but instead of two rooms, as heretofore, he occupied one wing of a spacious and lofty building, erected by an enterprising man of property, for the employment of his capital. It is probable that R. Fsible on Saturday night, commenced as sometimes anticipated purchasing or building a mill of his own; though he appears to have been distinguished rather by a contented, liberal, and prudent use of present circumstances, than by schemes for the future. He did not accumulate that he might, at some future period, disperse and enjoy; a too common delusion with men when riches begin to increase: but in dispersing he accumulated, as the bread was multiplied in distributing, and the oil in pouring out, John vi. 11; 2 Kings iv. 3-6. The Lord prospered him greatly, like as he blessed the house of Obed-edom of old for the ark's sake, 2 Sam. vi. 11. Whether or not R. F -, in his growing prosperity, had anticipated becoming an extensive proprietor, in course of time that event took place, and under circumstances not a little remarkable. early as possible on Monday morning; and the sabbath was regularly employed in cleansing and repairing the works. To what extent this was carried on was not generally known, for a degree of secrecy was observed; but it was well understood that workpeople who cared much about the observance of the sabbath, had no chance of being employed by Mr. R The One sabbath day, an alarm of fire was heard, and the extensive buildings of Mr. R- were found to be in flames. The fire raged with uncontrollable fury, and in the course of a few hours nothing remained but the bare walls. The property consumed was estimated at one hundred thousand pounds; but the proprietor congratulated himself on its being insured. The claim on the fire office was, however, demurred until the occasion of the fire could be investigated. Few people are so ignorant or incon- matter was brought to trial, when it apsiderate as not to know, that lighting the peared that the fire had originated in the fire of a powerful steam engine is no engine house, a part of the building from trifling matter, either in point of labour which, on account of the oil, tow, and or expense; and that, consequently, it is other combustible materials necessarily a matter of economy, when it is lighted, employed, fire is always most carefully to keep it burning as long as may be; excluded. A lighted candle is no more and while burning, to keep it constantly permitted there, than nailed shoes in a in use, by employing a succession of powder mill. But it was proved that, by workpeople, to carry on the necessary order of the proprietor, the engineer and manual operations, day and night. In several other persons were at work in seasons of prosperity, when every work- that room, repairing the engines by artiing hour is bringing a sure and certain ficial light, the light of day being careprofit to the master, there is a temptation fully excluded, for the sake of concealing -a strong temptation-to men "making the proceedings: there was also a cauldhaste to be rich," to oppress their work-ron of melted lead for soldering. To some people, by requiring of them excessive labour, which, however well paid for, is injurious; and also to rob God of his time, by infringing on the sabbath. The workpeople of R. F were always dismissed at an earlier hour on Saturday evenings, and the fires extinguished. Those whose business it was to attend to the engines, fires, boilers, etc., commenced their operations at a very early hour on Monday morning, and had unknown accident arising from one or other of these circumstances, the fire was attributed; and, as it was at variance with the insurance policy for fire or candle, under any circumstances, to be admitted into the engine house, the claims of redress from the insurance office were set aside. Though seriously impoverished and deeply mortified, yet not altogether ruined, Mr. R might have made an effort to retrieve himself; and, had this calamity produced a salutary effect on his heart, he might have commenced a new career under the blessing, instead of the curse of Heaven. But when once a man casts off the fear of God, how little he knows to what degrees of guilt and infatuation he may proceed! The once honourable man, in his eagerness to improve the full tide of prosperity with which he was favoured, forgot who it was that gave him power to get wealth, Deut. viii. 18, and robbed God, by profaning his sabbaths, Mal. iii. 8. Next, he attempted to rob a public institution by concealing the act by which he had forfeited his claim upon its funds. And he stopped not there, but made another effort to fix his loss upon the county in which he lived, by robbing an innocent man of his character and his life. He charged the engineer with incendiarism, in consequence of which he was apprehended, and in due course brought to trial. The evidence appeared to go very much against him, and Mr. R began to exult in his anticipated triumph; but the whole was overturned, and the poor man's innocence established, by incontrovertible proof that the witnesses, including the man's own children, had been largely bribed to attest a falsehood. The man was acquitted and discharged. On hearing the verdict, he exclaimed, "Well, God is above the devil, after all!" and a murmur ran through the court, "See what comes of breaking the sabbath!" Mr. R―― immediately disappeared. He probably quitted the country, and assumed another name. Certainly, nothing further is known of him in the neighbourhood where he once dwelt; and his name is mentioned only as an exemplification of the words of the Psalmist, "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found," Psa. xxxvii. 35, 36. The poor man whose life had been thus put in jeopardy by his compliance with the sinful requirements of a sabbathbreaking master, was led to trace the hand of God, both in his danger and in his deliverance. He became a humble penitent, a sincere and exemplary Christian. R. F purchased the premises that had belonged to Mr. R――. There he erected spacious and commodious buildings and machinery; long carried on a prosperous trade; lived to a good old age in consistency and honour; and left a noble inheritance to children's children. Is not this an illustration of the sacred proverb, "The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked?"-considers it so as to make a proper estimate of it; sometimes, so as to come into possession of it; for "the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just," Prov. xiii. 22-"but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness," Prov. xxi. 12. It should be added, that when the mill was rebuilt by R. F-, not only was it never profaned by the violation of the sabbath, but it was hallowed by being employed as a sabbath-school, in which, for a long series of years, at least a thousand children at once, were taught the words of eternal life. Thus was a good man blessed and made a blessing. It becomes us to be extremely cautious in interpreting the calamities of others as direct expressions of the Divine displeasure; for "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth," Heb. xii. 6. And when we have reason, in the judgment of charity, to think well of a person, the more he is afflicted, the greater his claim on our sympathy. It was in this particular that Job's friends erred, and unkindly and unrighteously spoke to the grief of one whom the Lord had wounded; but the severe trial of whose faith and patience, instead of proving him, as they insinuated, guilty of presumption and hypocrisy, were found to praise, and honour, and glory. But when ourselves the subjects of long, severe, and unaccountable rebukes, it becomes us to search ourselves, and inquire, "Is there not a cause?" and also to carry our case to the Lord, and say, "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me." But there are instances in which the calamity so evidently and naturally flows out of a course of disobedience to the commands of God, that it would be criminal to overlook the instruction and warning they are intended to convey. How striking are the warnings of Scripture against harbouring the abominable thing, or bringing it into the house, "for it is a cursed thing," Deut. vii. 26; Josh. vii. 13. The accursed thing, whether it be a wedge of gold, hid in the earth in the midst of the tent; or the love of any sin, cherished in the heart, and secretly indulged, will hinder the prosperity of the individual, the family, the community. How fearful are such expressions as "All these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee," Deut. xxviii. 15; and how striking the warning against indulging false hopes of impunity! Deut. xxix. 19. Men of mere worldly policy are eoncerned to secure worldly advantages, and to guard against outward calamities; but true wisdom would make it the chief concern to secure the blessing of God, and guard against whatever might be offensive in his sight. But whether or not his threatenings are regarded, they are often realized; such as Jer. xxii. 13-15; Hab. ii. 9-11; Hag. i. 5, 6, 9; Zech. v. 4; Mal. ii. 2; iii. 5; James v. 1-4. Abused temporal blessings are mingled with bitterness, and prove a deadly snare. It is proved by bitter experience, that riches and grandeur can neither prolong life, nor afford inward tranquillity; and when men seek to enrich their families by oppression, injustice, or other vicious courses, the curse of God enters with their ill-gotten wealth; and there remains, to the waste of their substance, the impoverishing of their posterity, and the ruin of their souls. This, perhaps, is operating in many cases where it is not suspected; but a day is coming when hidden things will be brought to light, and then the severest judgments of God, however they may now be objected against, will, in that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, appear most perfectly righteous. True prosperity belongs to those only "whose delight is in the law of the Lord. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish," Psa. i. C. SILENT POWER IN EDUCATION. POWER is not useless because it lies dormant. The government of the United States employs its hundreds of workmen at Springfield, and at Harper's Ferry, in the manufacture of muskets. The inspector examines every one as it is finished, with great care. He adjusts the flint, and tries it again and again, until its emitted spark is of proper brilliancy; and when satisfied that all is right, he packs it away with its thousand companions, to sleep probably in their boxes in quiet obscurity for ever. A hundred thousand of these deadly instruments form a volcano of slumbering power which never has been awakened, and which we hope never will be. The government never makes use of them. One of its agents, a custom-house officer, waits upon you for the payment of a bond. He brings no musket. He keeps no troops. He comes with the gentleness and civility of a social visit. But you know, that if compliance with the just demands of your government is refused, and the resistance is sustained, force after force would be brought to bear upon you, until the whole hundred thousand muskets would speak with their united and tremendous energy. Such ought to be the character of all government. The teacher of a school, especially, must act upon these principles. He will be mild and gentle in his manners; in his intercourse with his pupils he will use the language and assume the air, not of stern authority, but of request and persuasion. But there must be authority at the bottom to sustain him, or he can do nothing successfully, especially in attempting to reach the hearts of his pupils. The reason why it is necessary, is this. First, the man who has not the full, unqualified, complete control of his scholars, must spend his time and wear out his spirits in preserving any tolerable order in his dominions; and, secondly, he who has not authority, will be so constantly vexed and fretted by the occurrences which will take place around him, that all his moral power will be neutralized by the withering influence of his clouded brow. To do good to our pupils, our own spirits must be composed and at rest; and especially, if we wish to influence favourably the hearts of others, our own must rise above the troubled waters of irritation and anxious care.-American Annals of Education. TRAITS OF THE SIAMESE. THE Siamese cherish a horror of permitting any thing to pass over the head, or having the head touched, or bringing their persons into a situation of physical inferiority, such as going under a bridge, or entering the lower apartment of a house when the upper one is inhabited; for this reason, the dwellings in Siam are all of one story. The Siamese also consider it an act of extreme degradation to perform any servile office for a stranger. MOUNT ETNA. Mount Etna. ETNA is a mountain and volcano of Sicily, remarkable both in ancient and modern times. It is divided into three districts, or regions, each having its characteristic differences. They have distinct climates, corresponding with the gradations of ascent, and divided naturally into the torrid, the temperate, and the frigid. The mountain, however, has been usually divided according to other differences; and thus we have described to us the fertile region, the woody region, and the barren region. The fertile region extends fifteen miles from the city of Catania, whence the traveller usually begins his journey, and from which part the ascent commences. The surface of this region is reckoned at upwards of two hundred and twenty square leagues. It abounds in pasture grounds, orchards, and fruit trees, of FEBRUARY, 1843. great and rich variety, and there the vine especially flourishes. The next advance is to the woody region, which begins about three miles above the latter place, and extends upwards of eight or ten miles. The vegetation of this part is said to decrease as you advance, the trees gradually diminishing in size, till they become comparatively dwarfish and insignificant. This region is estimated at from seventy to eighty miles in circumference, with a surface of about forty or fifty square leagues, forming a girdle round the mountain of vivid green, composed of oaks, beeches, and other trees, in a soil of vegetable earth. The climate is here most agreeably mild, the air is cool and reviving, and every breeze is filled with delicious odours. It reminds us of the scene in the antediluvian world, which Montgomery has so beautifully described. E So pure! so fresh! the woods, the sky, the air! There is on the mountain a curious snow grotto. The snow, which is drifted from the higher parts of the mountain, is stopped, by a wall erected for the purpose, a little above the grotto, whence it is thrown down by two openings; and is protected from the heat of summer, by a thick crust of lava, which forms a natural ceiling to the cave. Snow is exported from this receptacle in large bags, into which it is put, after being wrapped in leaves; and, thus preserved, it has the appearance of transparent crystal. The knights of Malta hire this, and other grottos of a similar description, for the use of their island: hence snow becomes an important article of trade, the nature of the climate always occasioning a large demand. As the desert region is approached, vegetation becomes thin and small. Wintry blasts now sweep along a wild and desert path. Here and there, indeed, clumps of trees and tufts of herbage are to be seen; but even these become more and more scarce, till they entirely disappear; and the traveller must encounter a space, from eight to ten miles in extent, overspread with a flat expanse of snow and ice, and abounding in dangerous torrents of melted snow. Beyond this, the great crater rises; and, at the highest summit of the mountain, there is, according to Brydone, an ample recompence for toil and danger, in the most wonderful and sublime sight in nature. The eastern side of the woody region abounds particularly in chestnut trees of the largest dimensions, which become a very profitable article of trade, by furnishing hoops for casks; on which account, the inhabitants attend very carefully to their cultivation. One tree has long been celebrated above the rest, for its extraordinary size, and is called the chestnut tree of a hundred horse, because it is supposed that its branches would cover that number; but particularly from the fabulous tradition, that the queen of Spain once found shelter, with a hundred attendants, under this tree. Carrera says, that there is wood enough in it to build a large palace. At the surface of the earth, it measures one hundred and ninety-six feet, and its height and size would have been like its dimensions, but for the practice of lopping off its branches for fuel. Some travellers have dug about it, to see if it were a cluster of several trees, or only one; and they have found that, although divided at or near the surface, into five branches, they are all united in one root. From the main stem a multitude of branches spring, each of prodigious size, and having the peculiarity of no bark on the inside. A hut is built in the hollow of the trunk, to accommodate those who are engaged in collecting and preserving the fruit. The use of ovens for drying the nuts, is thought to account for the want of bark on the inner side of the branches. Other vegetable wonders are found in the neighbourhood, and particularly a chestnut tree, with an undivided trunk, measuring fifty-seven feet, at the height of fifteen feet from the surface of the ground. The crater of Etna is perpetually varying in size and form, from the accumulation and falling in of volcanic matter. Its bottom is flat and tolerably hard. Near its centre are two mounds of scoriæ and ashes, surrounded by several fissures, whence, at intervals, issue columns of thick smoke, with a rumbling noise and hissing sound. There is also a light thin vapour, occasionally oozing from the bottom and sides of the huge amphitheatre, in every direction. Captain Smythe endeavoured to look into the principal chasm; but the rapid ejection of the cinders, and the strong sulphureous vapours that exuded, prevented him from attaining his object. The principal tunnel has three stages of descent. The first, which, according to Mr. Hughes, extends only a few hundred yards, terminates in a shelf or ridge of cinders; the second, more precipitous than the first, extends to a similar reef; the third being the perpendicular and unfathomable abyss. Between the two principal funnels are several smaller conical mounds, constantly smoking. The ground here is so hot, round the crater, that visitors are obliged constantly to shift their places; and yet even here, in the interior of the crater, snow is seen in immense ridges, disputing, as it were, the pre-eminence of fire, in the very centre of its dominions.". -W. 66 CORAL REEFS. MR. T. D. Bennett states, that few na tural objects are so well calculated to excite wonder in the human mind, as the coral constructions, in all their Protean forms, |