acts because of the physical and distracting effects produced upon the human organism by alcohol.'

This effect is recognized even by the mayors of rum-ruled cities who in times of riot and excitement send forth absolute prohibitory law in regard to the sale of alcoholics. This direct connection of rum and crime as cause and effect has been declared hundreds of times by every grade of judges, from our police justices to Judge Davis of New York, and others of equal fame in England and America, who unitedly testify that alchohol is the root of more than three-fourths of the crime recorded in their courts.

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DRINKING AND SMOKING.

Smoking and drinking," you said, "drinking and smoking." Why is it that these two things always go together, except that they belong together? Ministers used to indulge in drinking till the people waked up, or perhaps they themselves, and to drink became disreputable. Then they left off that, but held to the smoking, perhaps the harder for the restraint in other things.

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Of course there is no special rule for ministers that the people should not follow; for they are examples examples to the flock;" yet, by common consent, the people do things which they may not. Let us see how it looks. Imagine the Apostle John with a cigar in his mouth, or Paul with a pipe or quid. Do you start? It is revolting; but why should that be unbecoming in them which is all right and proper in the successors in their work?

What the apostle said to Timothy, "Keep thyself pure," has need to be the injunction to many a minister, young and old.

And it is not a question of purity alone, this tobacco-business. The

habit is making fearful havoc with the well-being of our race. The revenue of the country is affected by it; and the next to spirits, tobacco stands the second in value as yielding revenue. Then we learn that in France the increase of insanity, and idiocy, and kindred diseases has just kept pace with the increased revenue

from the tax on tobacco.

All that saves us is that women abstain. Those parts of the country where women also use tobacco are said to be "not worth saving." However, let us come back to our text, . "Smoking and Drinking."

How naturally they go together! Let them go, but not carry with

them either Christians or ministers of God. Slavery has been abolished." Let emancipation be here declared, and the man of God be a free man; for no slavery is equal to that of a habit.-New York Observer.

A LIBEL.--It is a shame to call a drunken man a drunken dog. Dogs never get drunk! It is also improper to libel the hog by saying that an intemperate man makes a hog of himself. Now, the hog is not a very polite animal, for he sometimes puts his foot in his dish, but he is not given to intemperance. Mr. Bergh ought to complain of the men who say that a bummer is a drunken brute. The brutes never use intoxicating liquors as a beverage. They are water drinkers, and they prefer cold water at all seasons of the year. No matter how hard their work nor hot the weather, they require nothing to drink except water.

AN experienced army nurse says that the last words of dying soldiers are oftener about their mothers than any other earthly friend. Mothers! the first in our early affections, the last in our dying thoughts.

A WOMAN'S SMILE.

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For good or for evil the power of a woman's smile is very great. It is the outward and visible sign of a talent of pleasing which she has received to enable her to be an influence for good in the ordering and government of the world. Men are very much what women make them, and it is by rightly using their talent of pleasing that woman can make man what they ought to be. The men at the head of house can the pleasure of the household; but he cannot make it; that must rest with the woman, and it is her greatest privilege. It is one of the duties of woman to beautify the world and especially their own homes and their own persons, to arrange the furniture and ornaments of their rooms tastefully, and generally to give a touch of comeliness, to that part of the world with which they have to do. To shed joy, to radiate happiness, to cast light upon dark days,

to be the golden thread of our destiny, the spirit of grace and harmony --is not this to render a service? Here and there we meet one who possesses the power of enchanting all about her, her presence lights up the house, her approach is like a cheering warmth; she passed by, and we are not content; she stays a while and we are happy. She is the Aurora with a human face.

In a New Zealand cemetery on a gravestone is to be found with the name and date of the death, the words. "She was so pleasant!" What a delightful character she must have been to have an epitaph like that! It makes one think that a choir of nightingales is perched upon her grave, and singing melodious chants to her memory.

"She was so pleasant" that friends used to come first to her in seasons of sorrow and sickness for help and comfort, one soothing touch of her kindly hand worked wonders in the

feverish child; a few words let fall from her lips in the ear of a sorrowing sister did much to raise the load of grief that was bowing its victim. down in anguish.

Her husband would come home worn out with the pressure of business, and feeling irritable with the world in general, but when he entered the cosy sitting-room and saw the blaze of the bright fire and met the smiling face of this sweet minded woman he would succumb in a moment to the soothing influences which were the balm of Gilead to his sinking spirits. The rough schoolboy fled in a rage from the taunts of his companions to find solace in his mother's smiles; the little one, full of grief with his own large trouble, found a haven of rest on her breast. All these and many others who felt the power of her woman's smile, mourn for her now that she is gone, because "she was so pleasant."--The Five Talents of Women.

VOICES.

Can any one over-estimate the charm of a well-modulated, soft, liquid voice? Is it not suggestive of harmony, peace and good-will?

A woman may be homely in appearance, indifferent about dress, but when in sweet courteous tones she addresses a stranger, greets an acquaintance, holds pleasant converse with her friends, or reads aloud, we place her among the gentle women of earth. To be sure it is given to a few unfortunate ones, to utter their opinions, and give their orders in harsh, rasping, unmusical tones, yet the unlucky possessor may accomplish more than she thinks for, perhaps, by checking the tendency to gruffness, and softening her words as she utters them.

Diffidence and extreme shyness-a lost characteristic in this assertive,

over-confident age-is often answerable for uneven, husky and breathless tones in the voice; yet in any emergency we may gain comparative control of it. Then why should our ear be offended, and our sense of fitness shocked by the loud, rough, unpolished, or shrewish tones, we are compelled to hear in every public place, the theatre, the stores, the street cars, and, tell it not in gath, at other times even in church.

Once in a city where dogs were allowed to follow their owners, a huge mastiff proceeded to gobble up a young girl's cocker spaniel; she naturally flew to the rescue of her pet, at the same time-unconsciously in her excitement-gave the unkindly brute a tongue thrashing for his meddlesomeness. Two gentlemen

went to her assistance and succeeded in putting the aggressor on the other side of the door. One was heard to say to the other:

"What a sweet voice she had! I wonder who she is? She must be a lady."

Now if its only generations of culture and good breeding that can produce that most desirable gift, a sweet voice-which is most emphatically denied-suppose we each begin the cultivation of our voice; and what shall the harvest be in the fu

ture ages. The rhythmic measure, the liquid tones, the full, pure, gentle utterance, that is so restfully desirable.

pinch of the soil over which lies two thousand, five hundred fathoms of sea-water, submit it to a microscope, behold! though it looks and feels like fine clay, it does not contain a particle of sand, earth, or gravel. Every atom under the lens tells of life and living things. The bed of the Atlantic is strewn with the bones and shells of the myriads of creatures inhabiting its waters-creatures so numerous that figures fail to convey an idea, or the mind to embrace their vast profusion. The navigator traversing the blue sea sails for days in a fleet ship through waters so thickly covered with small pulpy sea-nettles, or medusæ, that it looks to him like a 'boundless meadow in yellow leaf.' The savant following on his trail, places a single one of the sea-blubbers under a lens, and in one of its nine stomachs finds seventy thousand flinty shells of microscopic diatomaceæ, one of the many animalculæ of the sea. Thus each creature in these thousand square leagues of medusa was sucking from the sea millions of these diminutive creatures, and ejecting their shells, to fall, in a gentle yet perpetual shower, down to the bed of the ocean, and there in time form strata of silicious and chalky matter for future geolo gists to ponder over. And, remember, that upon all these medusa prey legions of bigger creatures, and that into these helpless sails the huge whale with cavernous mouth, and gulps down as many of them at every feast as they do of the minute diatomaceæ."

BENEFITS OF FEMALE SOCIETY.

It is better for you to pass an evening once or twice in a week in a lady's drawing-room, even though the conversation is slow, and you know the girl's song by heart, than in the club, tavern, or the pit of the

theatre. All amusements of youth to which virtuous women are not admitted, rely on it, are deleterious to their nature. All men who avoid female society have dull perceptions, and are stupid, or have gross tastes, and revolt against what is pure. Your club swaggerers, who are sucking the butts of billiard cues all night, call female society insipid. Poetry is uninspiring to a yokel; beauty has no charms for a blind man; music does not please a poor beast who does not know one tune from another; but as a true epicure is hardly ever tired of water, sauce, and brown bread and butter, I protest I can sit for a whole night talking to a well-regulated, kindly woman about her girl Fanny or her boy Frank, and like the evening's entertainment. One of the great benefits a man may derive from woman's ciety is, that he is bound to be respectful to her. The habit is of great good to your moral men, depend up

on it.

so.

Our education makes us the most eminently selfish men in the world. We fight for ourselves, we push for ourselves, we yawn for ourselves, we light our pipes, and say we won't go out; we prefer ourselves and our ease, and the greatest that comes to a man from a woman's society is, that he has to think of somebody to whom he is bound to be constantly attentive and respectful.

HEROISM AT HOME. How useless our lives seem to us sometimes. How we long for an opportunity to perform some great action. We be. come tired of home life, and imagine we would be far happier in other scenes. We forget that the world bestows no titles as noble as father, mother, sister, brother. In the sacred precincts of home we have many chances of heroism. The daily acts of self-denial for the good

of a loved one, the gentle word of soothing for another's trouble, the care for sick, may all seem as nothing; yet who can tell the good they may accomplish? Our slightest

word may have an influence over another for good or evil.. We are daily sowing the seed which will bring forth some sort of harvest. Well will it be for us if the harvest will be one we will be proud to garner. If some one in that dear home can look back in after years, and as he tenderly utters our name, say "Her words and example prepared me for a life of usefulness, to her I owe my present happiness," we may well say, "I have not lived in vain." -National Presbyterian.

GOOD ADVICE TO GIRLS. To one of his daughers at school Bishop McIlvaine gave the following counsel:

"Don't cultivate that sort of violent friendship which leads to a sort of confidential communication which can not be made known to your par ents. Be very particular as to whom you allow to be familiar with you, as your near companions and friends. First, know well the person, before you allow a closer intimacy; and the moment you see any thing wrong in a companion, think what effect it should have on your intimacy. Learn to say 'No!' decisively, to any request or proposal which your judgment tells you is not right. It is a great thing in a child to learn to say 'No,' when it is right to do so. Make it a rule to hear nothing from any girl which you may not be allowed, and would not be willing, to tell your dear mother. Be careful to let nothing interfere with your regular private prayers and reading of the Scriptures; and labor to give your whole heart and life to God."

I'LL KEEP 'EM AWAKE. Near Newark lived a pious family, who had adopted an orphan, who, by the way, was rather underwitted. He had imbibed strict views on religious matters, however, and once asked his adopted mother if she didn't think it wrong for the old farmers to come to church and fall asleep, paying no better regard to the service. She replied she did. Accordingly, before going to church the next Sunday, he filled his pockets with apples. One bald-headed old man, who invariably went to sleep during the sermon, particularly attracted his attention. Seeing him at last nodding, and giv ing nasal evidence of being in the "land of dreams," he took the astonished sleeper a blow with an apple on the top of his bald pate. The minister and aroused congregation at once turned round and indignantly gazed at the boy, who merely said to the preacher, as he took another apple in his hand, with a sober, honest expression of countenance, "You preach; I'll keep 'em awake!

"THE TUNE THE OLD COW DIED ON." How many have used this expression without any definite idea of its meaning or origin? It seems to have come to us from over the sea. It arose out of an old song:

"There was an old man and he had an old Cow,

And he had nothing to give her; So he took out his fiddle and played her a tune;

'Consider, good cow, consider; This is no time of the year for the grass to grow;

Consider, good cow, consider.'"

The old cow died of hunger; and when any grotesquely melancholy song or tune is uttered the North Country people say, "That it is the tune the old cow died on."

THE creation of beauty is art.