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time.

can you

We all have very noble sentiments about making home happy. No doubt we all wish to make the "fireside" attractive, and perhaps we succeed; but perhaps we could succeed still better if we weeded our conversation of these topies, so universally fascinating to women, and so invariably detested by men.

so easily spoken

band up into the fourth story of the house if ladies, with such advantages, would -that their humble sisters are creatures of and showed him a table which had not been study more the philosophy of human nature dusted. "There," said she, "like passions with themselves," having imagine anything deeper than that Margaret's viciousness? I have told her to the same heart yearnings for sympathy and dust that table every day since she has kindness which is natural to all the sex; if "My dear," they would regard the little offices of symbeen here-now look at it." said her husband, solemnly, "I have this pathy and spontaneous kindness on their day been cheated or a thousand pounds; I part as something apart from mere duty, have had a forgery brought to my attention; something to be valued and paid back in two murderers were brought into court kind, with ready sympathy in their small before me, I looked at them with horror; troubles; if that young lady would look but, anything like the guilt of Mary re-up with a bright smile, and thank the weary The solemnity of girl who has dragged up all those weary mains for me yet to see! these remarks, we have reason to believe, tights of stairs to attend upon her in her own apartment; if, when that same patient, checked the volubility of our lady for some unobtrusive girl has once more descended to the "regions below," but is presently called up, to let her young mistress out or in at the door, if that young lady, with all her leisure and polite finish, would not brush past her with such absolute indifference, if she would rather look kindly up, and utter half a dozen pleasant words to her, or even a well-bred "thank you". those casual words, which cost so little, but are worth so much, doubt, from home and friends-would go far, to the poor retainer, who is far away, no we think, to win that service of the heart, which is a thousand times preferable to that enforced by a haughty carriage and a cold, distant demeanour; and if, when servants should require correction, would it not be far more proper and effective to reprove the delinquent to her face, instead of going behind closed doors to talk it over, or carry the disagreeable story into a neighbour's house; or worse and more inexcusable still, to pour the weary tale into a weary husband's cars, who has escaped from the busy turmoil of the day--has quitted the crowded walks of weary men, and sought his own fire-side, in hopes of rest and enjoymentnot surely to be worried still further with Women can talk well domestic wrangles. and agreeably of the events of the day-of music, of all the arts, in fact; most women have a gift for it, and can describe a picture, a play, a public speaker, a tour, better than men; and it being their peculiar and proud province to make the world attractive, more beautiful, and more agreeable, how can they throw away this immense privilege, and, eschewing other subjects far more useful and agreeable, mount instead, for hours and hours, that perpetual hobby, servants! servants?

That servants have faults-often many, sore and provoking, and well meriting censure-no one with any extensive knowledge of the class could deny. But that ladies so generally take the very worst method of counteracting (if not of confirming) those Now, faults, we as confidently believe. eves-dropping is a failing often left to the charge of female servants, and if, indeed, they are guilty of this contemptible practice, never certainly were any parties more sure to realise the truth of the old proverb, about "listening ears hearing no good of themselves," for, ten to one, they will find themselves the theme of conversation; their failings, real or supposed, hauled up for animadversion in the drawing-room; and what likely will be the result upon them! Will it send them back to their household duties with more Christian tempers or faithful feelings? How should we regard those persons ourselves, who, inadvertently or purposely, we caught back-biting us? I don't think the effect would be encouraging or improving in our general nature; neither would such animadversion be salutary upon those who, if they are vicious, will feel all our will without our power to resent it; for, after all, there is not so much difference, naturally, between the hearts which throb under a calico print and those which beat Education is the beneath richest silks. real difference, the great distinction; and here, incomparably, the lady has the ad. vantage; and we cannot help thinking that,

L. B.

FRIENDSHIP.-HOME.-ON A BUNCH OF SEA-WEED.

ANOTHER “NIGHT ADVENTURE

WITH A MOUSE."

HAVING read, in the last number of the Family Friend, an account by a fair correspondent, of "An Adventure with a

Mouse," in the dead of night, I am induced to forward a somewhat similar incident that happened to myself some half dozen years ago, differing, however, in the proceedings and result. I may observe that I am quite free from any antipathy to the mouse tribe; and if the little animal did not disturb my rest, I should be very indifferent to its presence; indeed, in my eyes, it is a pretty, though

troublesome and mischievous little creature. On the occasion in question I had retired to rest, and was composing myself for my first sleep, when sundry scratching noises near at hand convinced me that one of these small quadrupeds was at large in my chamber. To make certain that the disturber was on my side of the wainscot, I got out of bed, and placed a bit of biscuit, that happened to be at hand, on the floor; in a few minutes I distinctly heard the biscuit moved, and presently it was dragged under the bed. On placing the night-light on the floor, and looking under, there, sure enough, was mousey nibbling the biscuit with as much unconcern as if he and I had been old acquaintances. Possibly he regarded the presentation of the biscuit as a mark of my friendship and esteem; at any rate he only retired when I advanced to take possession of the food. Having returned to my couch to determine on the best means of securing the intruder, he took advantage of the quiet to explore every corner of the apartment. After making himself heard in various directions, a scuffling, scrambling noise near the win dow informed me that he was busily engaged in converting the curtain into & ladder. Accordingly, in a very few moments, running from end to end of the cornice above the window, and peeping over, there was my friend, enjoying a finer bird's-eye view of the room than ever was beheld by its master. A short survey satisfied his curiosity, and a repetition of the scrambling noise, followed by a jump, indicated that his mouse-ship was again on the floor. After sundry excursions about the room, his next object of ambition was a chest of drawers standing against the wainscot in a recess. With several slips, judging from the sound, he

clambered up the back of this piece of furniture, and was soon visible running backwards and forwards on the top. On that again was a pile of flat boxes conthe drawers stood a small cabinet, and on taining a collection of insects. the uppermost being about seven feet from the motto, wherever there was anything to floor. Excelsior" appeared to be his climb, (I wonder if a mouse ever ascended Mont Blanc), and after a considerable amount of scratching and scrambling, he was again monarch of all he surveyed, fitting from corner to corner to make his observations, perhaps much disappointed that he could get no higher. By the time he quitted his high station, I wished to take him alive, being I had fixed upon a plan for his capture. generally desirous of keeping and taming any creature that comes into my possession. No trap was at hand, but there of which opened with a hinge, and as the was a small box in the room, the lid said lid was a mere frame, covered with wire gauze, a view of the interior could be had when the box was closed. To convert this into a trap, I placed the box on the floor, lid downwards, put the bit of biscuit inside as a bait, and raising the box up about an inch, by inserting a piece of wood, to which a long string was tied, with the other end of the string in my hand, I went back to bed. After some minutes' patient watching, during which the mouse seemed to visit every part of the room except that in which the snare was laid, the biscuit rattled slightly. It was an anxious moment. Ilistened intently-it moved again; with a jerk of the string, the box closed; and jumping out of bed, I took the cage and its captive, as I thought, to the light; but lo! there was no captive, and no biscuit--the active little animal had not only made its retreat in time, but had also secured the booty. It was not until the mouse commenced gnawing its prize that I knew where it had been conveyed; then, by a sudden charge, 1 drove off the terrible animal, and regained possession of its prey. Again I set the trap in order, taking the precaution of tying the bait, so that the mouse must go well inside the box to reach it; then, string in hand, I again betook myself to bed, and lay on my elbow, with ears all intent for a nibble. Fortunately it was summer time, or my ardour might have cooled considerably during the experiment. The love of sporting is, however, strong in Englishmen, and no doubt it supported me through the fatigues of this eventful night. Wearily

passed the time, for mousey had probably learnt a lesson of caution, and I began to doubt if he would azain tempt the danger he had so narrowly escaped. For some time he seemed, I thought, to avoid that part of the room, and as he had become somewhat less restless, I was nearly making up my mind to leave him to his own devices, and seek forgetfulness of my ill success in a quiet sleep. Drowsiness would soon have settled the question, without any special consent on my part, when a slight stir of the biscuit in a moment quickened my attention; he was at it again, and, wideawake now, I held the string all ready for the twitch the instant a repetition of the sound showed that the animal was in the right position. I had not long to wait this time; again the biscuit grated, and, at the same moment, the wooden prop was withdrawn, and the box closed. It seemed to me impossible that the mouse could have escaped this time, and on taking the box to the light, there, crouching in one corner, was the captive. I was, of course, much pleased to find my meritorious exertions were rewarded, but the creature being secured, there was nothing more to be done; so having carefully fastened the lid, and placed the box on the mantelpiece, I once more retired to bed-this time to sleep; not, however, entirely undisturbed, for the perverse animal contrived to make nearly as much noise in the box as he had before done out of it. The next day he was transferred to a small cage, which I built for his special occupation, but from some unknown cause he did not survive his capture more than a fortnight or thereabouts.

cake in the inner chamber of the cage, and set it on the floor; in a very few minutes mousey was heard at work on the cake, and by stepping up and closing the door he was secured. He accompanied me from the neighbourhood of London to the Isle of Wight, the cage wrapped in brown paper, and I noticed some fellow-passengers at a loss to account for the slight sounds which now and then issued from the parcel. His death was attributed to over-exercise, having greatly exerted himself 'in a wheelcage, which I had recently made for him.

I will conclude this mouse history by describing a contrivance by which one of these animals may often be captured, when no regular trap is at hand. Place a washhand basin, inverted, on the floor, and having filled a thimble with tallow or other grease, insert it, on its side, under the edge of the basin, so as to prop the latter up, and allow the mouse to get under. The mouth of the thimble should be placed inwards, and the mouse, in its efforts to get at the grease, will push the thimble out of its position, and the basin will fall over the animal. The captured mouse can be carried away by slipping a cloth under the basin, or it may be spread on the floor before setting the trap. GORGONIA.

FRIENDSHIP.

IT is difficult to conceive any situation more desolate than that of an individual absolutely without a friend. Friendless! The very word strikes upon the ear with a chilling sound; a cold shiver seems to run through the mind at the thought! CheerI was more successful with another spe- less, forlorn, solitary, and forsaken, like cimen, which was entrapped in the follow- Marius seated amidst the ruins of Carthage, ing manner:-A mouse made its appear-with not a single companion to bewail with ance in the sitting-room, and no trap being him his failen greatness; like Coleridge's within reach, I took a dormouse cage, and "Ancient Mariner," sailing alone on the making an elastic spring out of an India-wide ocean; like a stranger in the busiest rubber trouser-strap and two crooked pins, thoroughfares of the great metropolis, who so attached it to the door of the cage that sees, among the countiess faces he meets and it required a little force to open it. A pencil passes, not one with which he is familiar was so placed as to prop the door open, the not one with whom he can exchange a nod other end of the pencil being in the cage, of recognition or a kindly greeting,— a and supported against a bit of biscuit. The friendless man thus lives alone, while surnext morning the mouse was caught,-in rounded by multitudes of his fellow-creanibbling the biscuit it had, as intended, dis-tures; for "without a fiend, the world is placed the pencil, when the door snapping but a wilderness." to made the intruder prisoner.

This individual I had for many weeks, and tamed it in a certain degree, though its natural timidity was never quite overcome. One one occasion it had escaped, and with faint hope of recapture, I put a piece of

A friend is worth all hazards we can run. Poor is the friendless master of a world; A world in purchase for a friend is gain." A friend, then, is a very valuable acquisition, and friendship must be a great blessing to its possessor.

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But what is a friend, and in what does friendship consist? These may seem very simple questions to ask, but are they so We shall see. readily answered?

mutual regard of true friends, a spice of romance, which gives to the most prosaie narrative an air of "sensational" import, standing out in prominent relief among the incidents belonging to each particular history, and imparting to that history a deep and exciting interest.

Conspicuous among the events of the

Now a friend is a familiar and convenient title, by which it is customary to designate everybody with whom we are on any terms of intimacy-with whom we interchange the courtesies of life: visitors, acquaint-eventful career of David is the mutual ances, companions, and relatives, all come under this appellation. We receive a formal visit from a slight acquaintance, and we say a friend has called to see us; we write a letter, and are uncertain in what style to address our correspondent, and Dear Friend" suits our purpose admirably; a distant relative dies, whom, perhaps, we have never seen, and of whom we know very little, but we put on mourning attire, because we have "lost a friend."

All this is exceedingly convenient, and sounds well; but if we come to examine the strict propriety of this mode of expression, we shall find it to fall somewhat short of the mark. Friendship does not depend upon acquaintanceship or consanguinity; it consists not in the interchange of civilities, the observance of outward forms of politeness and intimacy, but of something more substantial, more useful, than mere courtesy. Everybody knows the fable of the "Hare and many Friends." The poor hare, who, in his days of prosperity, thought he possessed a friend in every animal he knew, soon found, to his grief, that when fortune deserted him, and he stood in need of assistance, they were only acquaintances. Real friendship differs from nominal in this respect-it is the same in prosperity as in adversity; when it is most wanted it is most active. A real friend takes an interest in our welfare; he rejoices when we are happy, we are in trouble. and grieves when Friendship, therefore, is nothing more or less than practical sympathy in time of trouble, and practical aid in case of need.

Unlike love, which invests its objects with a halo of perfection, blinds the eye to faults, and views every excellence en coleur de rose, friendship is keenly alive to any shortcomings; and, while it grieves over the disclosures, endeavours to correct those defects by counsel, remonstrance, advice, or warning. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend," says Solomon; and though this sincerity may not be palatable or well received, yet it is one of the most valuable features of true friendship.

Notwithstanding the plain, unreserved, straightforward, matter-of-fact characteristics of friendship, there is, in the firm and

attachment which existed between him and Jonathan. The self-sacrificial devotion of Damon and Pythias is a circumstance which will ever be familiar, as illustrating the length of personal abnegation to which friendship may impel.

Wherever friendship exists it produces The mutual understanding an equality. and confidence, the familiarity, the inti macy of friendship, are incompatible with patronage or servility, either of which produces a distance and reserve, creating a wide and inseparable barrier to the uncon strained familiarity of intimate friends. There may be a difference in actual rank, but virtually there is no distinction.

Thus friendship is sympathetic, but not patronising; warm, but calculating; sincere, but kind, honest, and faithful; and, being governed more by calm reason than influenced by the impulsiveness of passion, is impartial in its judgment and reflective in its operation.

"Hast thou a friend, as heart may wish at will?
Then use him so, to have his friendship still.
Would'st have a friend? Would'st know what
friend is best?

Have God thy friend, who passeth all the rest."
EMMA BUTTERWORTH,

NOT TIME.

He has not time to attend to those blackeyed boys of his, so the little fellows are learning street lessons!

He has not time to take the baby for a little while, or even bring in the coal and water, so his frail young wife is breaking down with cares and toil!

He has not time to stop to kiss his wife, so her heart is aching for the love of one she thinks indifferent!

He has not time to stop and say he was too hasty, so that friend is carrying with him the remembrance of a bitter wrong!

He has not time to drop into the schoolroom for an hour, and so a worthless teacher is allowing worthless principles and habits to root out the good which their mo ther has implanted in his children's minds!

He has not time to set out flowers and