is gratifying to see that home feeling completely aroused which holds so powerful a place in every English bosom. The preparations making on every side for the social board that is again to unite friends and kindred-the presents of good cheer passing and repassing, those tokens of regard and quickeners of kind feelings -the evergreens distributed about houses and churches, emblems of peace and gladness-all these have the most pleasing effect in producing fond associations, and kindling benevolent sympathies. Ever the sound of the waits, rude as may be their minstrelsy, breaks upon the midwatches of a winter night with the effect of perfect harmony. As I have been awakened by them in that still and solemn hour "when deep sleep falleth upon man," I have listened with a hushed delight, and connecting them with the sacred and joyous occasion, have almost fancied them into another celestial choir, announcing peace and good-will to mankind. How delightfully the imagination, when wrought upon by these moral influences, turns everything to melody and beauty! The very crowing of the cock, heard sometimes in the profound repose of the country, "telling the nightwatches to his feathery dames," was thought by the common people to announce the approach of the sacred festival: Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling the season for kindling not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart. The scene of early love again rises green to memory beyond the sterile waste of years, and the idea of home, fraught with the fragrance of home-dwelling joys, reanimates the drooping spirit-as the Arabian breeze will somtimes waft the freshness of the distant fields to the weary pilgrim of the desert. Stranger and sojourner as I am in the land-though for me no social hearth may blaze, no hospitable roof throw open its doors, nor the warm grasp of friendship welcome me at the thresholdyet I feel the influence of the season beaming into my soul from the happy looks of those around me. Surely happiness is reflective, like the light of heaven; and every countenance bright with smiles, and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirror transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and ever-shining benevolence. He who can turn churlishly away from contemplating the felicity of his fellow beings, and can sit down darkling and repining in his loneliness when all around is joyful, may have his moments of strong excitement and selfish gratification, but he wants the genial and social sympathies which constitute the charm of a merry Christmas. THE COMFORTER, What was it, when my soul was crushed, The Comforter. What was it, when I gazed upon Loved forms so cold in death, That to me whispered, "cease to mourn, What, when I groaned in anguish deep, The Comforter. When 'neath the evil sland'rer's tongue, When every hope seemed from me wrung, The Comforter. What was it, when I saw the one What bade me hope and struggle on It doth enrich me hour by hour, Blest Comforter! Annie G. Lauritzen. CHOICE SELECTIONS, He was the Son of God. It was night. Jerusalem slept quietly amid her hills, as a child upon the breast of its mother. The noiseless sentinel stood like a statue at his post, and the philosopher's lamp burned dimly in the recess of his chamber. But a moral darkness involved the nation in its enlightened shadows. Reason shed a faint glimmering over the minds of men like the cold and insufficient shining of a distant star. The immortality of man's spiritual nature was unknown, his relation to heaven undiscovered, and his future destiny obscured in a cloud of mystery. It was at this period that two forms of etherial mold hovered about the land of God's chosen people. They come, sister angels, sent to earth on some embassy of love. The one of majestic stature and well-formed limb which her drapery scarcely concealed, and her erect bearing and steady eye exhibiting the highest degree of strength and confidence. Her right arm was extended in an expressive gesture upward where night appears to have planted her darkest pavilion; while on her left inclines her delicate companion, in form and countenance the contrast of the other. She was drooping like a flower moistened by refreshing dew, and her bright and troubled eyes scanned them with ardent but varying glances. Suddenly a light like the sun flashed out from the heavens, and Faith and Hope hailed with exciting song the ascending Star of Bethlehem. Years rolled away, and a stranger was seen in Jerusalem. He was a simple, unassuming man, whose happiness seemed to consist in acts of benevolence to the human race. There were deep traces of sorrow in his countenance, though no one knew why he grieved, for he lived in the practice of every virtue, and was beloved by all the good and wise. By-and-by, it was rumored that the stranger worked miracles, that the blind saw, the dumb spake, the dead arose, the ocean moderated its chafing tide, the very thunder articulated. He was the son of God. Envy assailed him to death. Thickly guarded, he ascended the hill of Calvary. A heavy cross bent him to the earth; but Faith leaned on his arm, and Hope, dipping her pinions in his blood, mounted to the skies. American Equality. In Europe, a laborer takes off his hat when he meets a lord. In America, a man keeps his hat on when he meets a millionaire, unless the millionaire salutes him first. In Europe, the teamster turns out for the carriage with a coronet upon its panels. In America, the multi-millionaire will lose a wheel if he does not turn out for the coalcart, if the latter has the right of way. What, at last, do rich men obtain from life more than the poorest of us? Toil brings hunger, and hunger is a better sauce than any served at the Alta club. God gives his beloved as sweet sleep upon a cot as upon the downiest couch. Public libraries and galleries give the treasures of learning and art to the poorest. Music and drama can be enjoyed as well from the galleries as from the boxes. A trolley car gives a safer and smoother and swifter ride than a carriage drawn by horses. There are no reserved seats in nature's amphitheatre. The ripple of the river, the verdure of the lawns, the shade of the trees and the perfume of the flowers, belong to rich and poor. I stood the other evening upon the hill above my home and watched the burning sun dissolve in fret-work clouds of color that filled earth and air with glory, and then the gray lids of twilight fell upon the drowsy eyes of yon inland sea, and the stars came out, and the great temple lifted its beautiful spires to the darkening sky. God gives such visions of beauty alike to capitalist and pauper, and the poorest laborer equally with the multi-millionaire can find heaven in the prattle of his babies and in the arms of the woman he loves.-Thomas Fitch. Listen to the Inward Voice. Dallying with conscience in small things opens the way to the commission of great crimes. The hardened criminal, the thief |