advances into civilization, duties multiply, and responsibilities increase; there is then a demand for higher moral and intellectual culture. Providence has foreseen and provided for this necessity; for, with the advance of refinement and knowledge, the family circle is drawn closer together, and the solicitude of parents for their children, and their influence over them, are proportionably increased. Thus, while in a rude age, children are left, almost like the untutored animals, to make their own way, when knowledge is diffused, and the light of religion spread abroad, then it is that enlightened education becomes necessary, then it is that parental education becomes vigilant, and then it is that children are most completely subjected to the influence of parents. A Welch Peasant's Family. MR. EVANS, in his "Letters during a tour through Wales," gives the following interesting account of a Welsh peasant's family-It was one of those poor huts that are thinly sprinkled by the sides of the hills, inhabited by peaters and shepherds. As we approached, first one, and then two more children almost in a state of nudity, ran out to see what little Turch (the cur) could be so alarmed at. A stout, fresh-colored woman, with dark sparkling eyes, and black hair, made her appearance, habited in a striped gown and flannel petticoat; who, seeing our condition, welcomed us by the most inviting sounds in her language, to her little cot. It was partly formed by an excavation in the slate rock, and parily by walls of mud, mixed with chopped rushes, covered with segs; and having a wattled, or basket-worked chimney. The entrance was at the gable end, facing the south-east, which was defended, during the night, or in very cold weather, by a wattled hurdle, clothed with rushes. A wall of turfs (for fuel) served as a partition for the bed-room, furnished with a bed of heath, and dried rushes in one corner. The furniture was such as necessity dictated; some loose stones formed the grate; two large ones with a plank across, supplied the place of chairs; a kettle with a bakestone for baking oaten cakes, answered every culinary purpose; and two coarse earthen pitchers stood by for the preserving or carrying water and dodgrifel, the usual beverage of the family. On our making some inquiries respecting the neighborhood, she expressed a wish that her husband had been at home, as he would have been able to have given us the desired information. "You have a husband, then ?" said I. With a smile of approbation upon her face, she replied, "Yes, blessed be God, he and his father before him were born here; and he was as happy as any of the great folks, for that he loved her and his children, and worked very hard, and they wanted for nothing he could get them he was a peater, digging peat in the adjoining moors, and carrying it for sale." Asking what wages he might get; she said, "that depended upon the weather; sometimes six shillings in the week, and sometimes three or four; that they had a little cow on the lease, and a few sheep on the hills." "What assistance do you give?" said I. She observed, shaking her head at the time, "that she could do but very little; her work was knitting, at which, with the assistance of her two eldest girls, one five and the other seven, if not interrupted, they could earn fivepence a-day; but that the younger children engrossed much of her time." Now, my friend, recollect that they had to maintain a family of seven; a man, his wife, and five children! The mother looked in health, and the children, though thinly clad, ruddy and smiling. "Want, alas! Has o'er their little limbs its liv'ry hung In many a tattered fold; yet still those limbs Are shapely; their rude locks start from their brow, Sits sweet simplicity." Indeed, there did not appear anything like the misery and filth observable in the dwelling of many of the English poor, whose weekly income is four or six times as great. Though the floor was formed of the native rock, it was regularly swept with a besom made of seps, bound with a band of the same; and the fuel was as regularly piled as bread on a baker's shelves. All appeared in order; but the air of content apparent in the looks of this humble peasant and her family, put us all justly to the blush and a series of superior blessings, too often abused, or too often forgotten, rushed instantly upon our recollection, in witnessing so much reason and gratitude in the habitation of penury. If we had reason 10 be thankful that we were not constrained thus to earn our bread, and live excluded amidst the mountains, we had still more so for the education which had given us greater degrees of knowledge, and, if not lost to ourselves, of greater happiness. We were anxious to know in what school she had learned so important a lesson. "Sir," says she, "we regularly go to yonder church, pointing t the hills; and, if it be bad weather, we stop at Mr. Jones' meeting by the way, where we hear much the same things-all we have is the gift of God; and if we possess health and strength, we possess more than we deserve. If sensible of our utter unworthiness, we sincerely believe in the Redeemer, and follow his example, perform the duties enjoined us in his gospel, relying for assistance on his Holy Spirit; conducting ourselves with propriety in that state of life in which it has pleased God to call us, we shall, after death, change this poor uncertain life for a better, where we shall be forever happy; and the frequent interment of our friends and neighbors, inform us daily this event can be at no great distance." Astonished at so much good sense and piety, where I so little expected to find it, I exclaimed, "Just step into this humble cot, ye rich and gay, and learn that happiness ye so earnestly seek in vain; a happiness which neither wealth nor pleasure can bestow." Oh! who would not prefer the lot of this Welch woman, humble as it is, with her meekness, her contentment, and, above all, her prospects of final glory, to the envied lot of her who is clothed in silk, and in whose tresses the brilliant sparkles-whose fortune it is to be followed, carressed, and admired; but who is without God and without hope in the world. The Benefit of Prayer. THE benevolent Raikes, the founder of Sabbath-schoo's, visiting a poor woman one day, found her daughter very refractory. The mother complained that correction wast of no avail, and that an inflexible obstinacy marked her conduct. After asking the parent's leave, he began to alk seriously to the girl, and concluded by telling her, that as the first step towards amendment, she must kneel down and ask her mother's pardon. The girl continued sulky. "Well, then," said he, "if you have no regard for yourself, I have much regard for you. You will be ruined and lost, if you don't begin to be a good girl; and if you will not humble yourself, I must humble myself, and make a beginning for you. With that he knelt down on the ground before the child's mother, and put his hands together, with all the ceremony of a juvenile of fender, and supplicated pardon for the guilty daughter. No sooner did the stubborn girl see him on his knees on her account, than her pride was overcome, and tenderness followed. She burst into tears, and throwing herself on her knees, entreated forgiveness, and what is stil more pleasing, she gave no trouble afterwards. Tenderness and Benevolence of Jesus Christ. In the history of the miracles of Jesus Christ we see almighty power itself consenting to be led by love, and consecrated to its service. Had he only intended to produce impressions of his majesty, or prove the divinity of his mission, he might perhaps have accomplished this sooner by appealing to our fears in miracles of terror and destruction. But the object he aimed at, and the truths he taught, were both of a benevolent nature; and the miracles he performed in confirmation of those truths partook of the same character. He refused but one application to his miraculous power; when his disciples rashly desired that fire might descend from heaven on their enemies; but he reminded them that he came "not to destroy men's lives, but to save them." On the night of his apprehension he touched the wound of an enemy, and healed it; for with him power and kindness were the same thing. Wherever he came, disease and suffering fled from his presence. His path might be traced from place to place in lines of life, and health, and joy. Where he was expected the public way was thronged with forms of helplessness, disease, and woe. Where he had passed, the restored might be seen, making trial of their new found powers; listeners, formed into groups to hear tho tale of healing; and the delighted objects of his compassion, rehearsing with earnestness, what had passed, imitating his tones, and even trying to convey an idea of his condescending ways. His voice was the first sound which many of them heard; his name the first word they had pronounced; his blessed form the first sight they had ever beheld. And often, at the close of a laborious day, when his wearied frame required repose, the children of affliction besieged his retreat, and implored his help. And did they ever seek in vain? Wearied and worn as he was, "he pleased not himself;" he went forth, and patiently listened to all their tales of woe, tasted their several complaints, raised each suppliant from the dust, nor left them till he had absorbed their sufferings, and healed them all. He went through the land like a current of vital air, an element of life, diffusing health and joy wherever he appeared. Had the spiritual object of his advent permitted the continuance of his abode on earth, he would have become the shrine at which all diseases would have knelt, the centre to which all suffering would have tended as by a law; to him the world of the afflicted would have gone as on pilgrimage; and would it not then have been equally true, that "he healed them all?” In Deaths Oft. THE watchful care of Providence over children has often been remarked by those "who understand the loving kindness of the Lord." To such the following repeated instances of that care in the preservation of a child, in circumstances of peculiar danger, will not prove unacceptable, and may awaken a grateful remembrance of the goodness of God to them in years of helpless infancy. The individual referred to, lived in an obscure village in Northamptonshire, England; he was born of poor parents, who sent him to school. On his return home one |