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a quietness and repose, which cannot be bought by successful intrigue nor cunning. It greatly aids, also, the influence of its possessor, and should be sought amid the conflicts and trials inseparable from the changes of this life. The saints shall be calm and self-composed amid the last wreck of nature. Why? All is right on the part of God, who rules, and all is right in the feelings of the heart towards God. Its affairs are settled, its debts are paid, its sins are pardoned, duty has been its business, it is not afraid to meet its great account.

To the attainment of these habitudes of mind, much selfdenial is necessary. Often practised in little things, it will come to exercise a pervading and moulding influence on the character. In this the mind is much like a child. Indulgence makes it fractious and weak,-a wholesome discipline invigorates and gives it strength of character. It is surprising to see what self-command in great trials, the habit of little self-denials will sometimes effect, and how small indulgences, on the other hand, destroy the power of resistance. The eating of a forbidden fruit, perhaps a common apple, by our first mother, weakened all the moral energies of the soul, opened the floodgates of passion, and ruined all our race. Certain it is, that such a small gratification has often done much injury, has been the beginning of a ruin, which came by rapid steps from the first. It is true, also, in common experience, that a small selfdenial has often served greatly to inspire self-confidence, and confirm the soul in a course of virtue. If we wait for great temptations before we practise self-denial, we shall never meet those occasions. Crimes diminish in apparent magnitude as we approach them. We have gained one height, and the neighboring mountain is diminished as seen from that eminence, and we easily pass from one step to another till we surmount the highest flight. Let her, who would form her character by the discipline of self-denials, decline the first step in forbidden gratification.

Perhaps we need only add now to the habits merated, one other-a quick sense of propriety. a crowning characteristic of the sex. fluence, they must preserve their place.

already enu

This last is

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It is an important one,

full of honor, influence, and reward. Whenever they step aside from it they are degraded, especially when they assume places and duties which belong to the stronger sex. They may do every thing by persuasion, nothing by command. Home is their sphere of influence, and well exerted there, that influence will be sufficiently seen and felt abroad, to declare to the world what kind of a spirit rules in every house. Of the virtuous woman it is said,"Her husband is known in the gates, as he sitteth among the elders. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She riseth while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hand to the needy. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praiseth her." Here is character. Whence came it? From habits. Whence these habits? From education. Whence this education? From such mothers as the pen of inspiration has described. O for such a generation to bless our land! Then should our "sons be as plants grown up in their youth, our daughters as corner-stones polished after the similitude of a palace."

For the Mother's Magazine.

HINTS ABOUT DOMESTICS.

THE want of good domestics, is a general complaint. It constitutes one of the most formidable evils in housekeeping. From the number of manufactories, where female labor is in

demand, and the dislike of servitude which prevails in a free country, it is more likely to increase than to diminish. The foreigners, on whom we are often compelled to rely, the daughters of Erin or Switzerland, cannot, from their estrangement of custom, and difference of dialect, readily assimilate to our wishes. We expect too much of them, when we require them to learn and remember, to devise and execute, like our own early educated people. What, then, is to be the remedy? If we cannot so simplify the structure of our establishments, as to do with fewer domestics, is there any mode that we can adopt, to render them more trust-worthy, or to secure their permanent assistance? Can we educate them ourselves?

Formerly, in the small towns and villages of New England, when a bride entered her new home, she brought with her a child of the poor. She instructed her personally in the light services that were to be allotted her, she held herself accountable for her neatness, and skilful industry, and love of truth. She took pride in her good appearance and correct behavior. She daily heard her read, and if there was no appropriate school in the vicinity, saw that she was taught at home during the long evenings of winter, to write, and to perform the simple operations of arithmetic. She often called her to sit near her, with her needle, and encouraged her to take such an interest in the concerns of the household, as made her labors a heart-service. She impressed on her strict moral principle, and required that at the family altar and the house of God she should be found in her place. The care of providing her fitting apparel, and the responsibility for her good conduct, awoke in the young matron some semblance of maternal solicitude; and when suddenly forsaken by hirelings, or perhaps left alone, with unexpected guests, she has been astonished at what that young hand would zealously perform; or, in her sickness been soothed by grateful, affectionate attentions, which could not be purchased with money. And I have seen the same matron, when time had silvered her bright locks, visiting, with benevolent pleasure, the comfortable, well-ordered homes, of the humble friends she had thus reared, and rejoicing to see the good

habits which she had herself implanted, bringing forth fruit in another generation.

This custom of educating domestics, though somewhat fallen into disuse, is here and there laudably cherished. Some notable housekeepers have set the example of having the three departments of cook, chamber-maid, and waiter, filled by girls under eighteen, and every service discharged with the regularity of clock-work. The succession was preserved unbroken, by receiving a new member into the class, as the eldest attained maturity, and was advanced to the higher station of nurse, with the perquisite of wages, or bound apprentice to a trade, or, as is often the case in the agricultural districts of our country, prepared, by an early marriage, for a household of her own. an arrangement must, however, require much personal attention and energy, and a hand at the helm, which, as was said of the ministry of William Pitt, "caused its steadiness to be felt in every motion of the vessel."

Such

Few ladies, in our own times, will venture to admit more than one scholar of this nature. Most of them shrink back

from it as an appalling care. It is indeed a care, and, to a conscientious mind, not a slight one. But the sphere of a faithful housekeeper is sprinkled with cares, like the indefinable stars in the galaxy; and this is a care which may be moulded into an ally, and set in array against other cares, with some hope of advantage. Among the many young and lovely beings whose hearts are now trembling at the thought of leaving the parental hearth-stone, yet thrilling with the hope of presiding over one for the object of their fondest love, is there not one anxious to mark this great era of life by an act of benevolence, and willing to take some orphan girl to her new home, and train her up in usefulness and piety? Is there not some matron, who has never attempted this charity, who might undertake it, for the sake of the unprovided and sorrowing poor, and find it a gain to her own house? It is peculiarly a deed of mercy, in large cities, thus to shelter the foundling or outcast child, from degradation and vice. Risk of disappointment must indeed be incurred; but there is hope of a pure and precious payment, and that it will bear proportion to the

fidelity and sense of religious obligation with which the trust is discharged. Should this form of household teaching again become prevalent, would not an array of well-trained domestics be discernible on the face of society? Admitting that they did not long continue in a state of servitude, the intercourse during their minority, might still be made mutually serviceable. Does not this kind of teaching rank among the forms of patriotism, which woman's sphere comprehends?

L. H. S.

For the Mother's Magazine.

THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR.

BY C. A. GOODRICH.

THE present number closes another volume of the Magazine; and the present month closes another year of life. This coincidence presents a fit occasion for some reflections upon the rapidity of time, and the manner in which we have improved the year now drawing to a close.

"My days," says Job, "are swifter than a post." The patriarch alluded to a practice prevalent among Eastern princes in his day of employing special messengers, or expresses, to convey despatches of importance with expedition. A similar practice exists in our own times. Who has not, at some period, seen the courier-horseman on his panting steed, imitating in his speed, the flight of some migratory flock, on outstretched and lofty wing-or vieing with the wind, just let loose from some prison-house of Eolus?

And, as he passed, and you stopped to observe his movements--did you mark his eye, how steadily it was fixed upon his course? Did you notice his breathless hurry?—his panting efforts for still greater speed?-no foreign object diverts his attention; no call checks his progress; no tendered bribe would delay him for a moment. To the rapidity of such a

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