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and hoodman-blind, with the bringing in of the boar's head, announced by its proper carol:

"The boare's head in hande bring I,

With garlands gay and rosemary,

I

pray you all synge merily,

Qui estis in convivio,

are almost considered as things that were. In our young days we have sat and listened to the good old ditties of Christmastide, sang around the yule-log, which was brought in with all "the ceremonial and pomp of festival," and the wassail-bowl, the dancing feet, and dulcet voices of the damsels oft made us wish that Christmastide came more than once a year.

and the brandy, and now I will show you
how to make snapdragon. You know that
you have often asked me about the game,
and now that Christmas-tide is come, I
will show you the way. We must first put
that large brown earthenware pan, that
Lucy has carried up stairs, in the middle
of the table, and here go all the raisins
into it. Now, keep off your finger, Wil-
liam, and wait until I am ready, and
please, George, pour the brandy into the
jug. Do be quiet, Henry, you are as
troublesome as William, and if you steal
the raisins like that, I will not begin.
There, now, you see I have added a little
brandy to the raisins, and if one of you
will light me a piece of paper, we shall be
able to commence the snapdragon. That's
right; there's a blaze; now we must add
more brandy and a few more raisins. See
how the spirit blazes when I pour it from
the jug. Now, boys and girls, dive your
hands into the pan and get your raisins.
Ha! hah! William has burnt his fingers.
I thought he was a coward, or he would not
have stolen the raisins before we ignited
the spirit. Mind that you do not set your
muslin dress on fire, Jane, for the spirit"
will burn almost anything when ignited."

The merry-makings of Christmas-tide have ever been a favourite theme with the poet and the humourist; nor has the antiquarian omitted to take part in its games and gambols.

In Yorkshire the bells greet "Old Father Christmas," at eight o'clock in the eve, with a merry peal, and then the yule candles are lighted, and the youth of the towns issue forth with trumpets, drums, and bells, or other tinkling music, wandering from door to door. Then the Christmas-pie, of vast dimensions, is formally cut and served with good old ale to the gentry far and near, and humble yulecakes and good spiced ale delight the hardy peasants.

Many curious and now almost obsolete customs, are celebrated at Christmas-tide, when nearly all the world makes merry, for most people consider that

** Hospitality, Christmas, and mirth are akin, And the heart's best of feelings bid welcome him in."

Alas! many of our good old customs are rapidly passing away; the carols

"And jestours for to tellen us tales,"

The days of the hobby-horses and dragons, the pipers, drummers, and chanters, have passed away, and little remains of the customs of Christmas-tide, except snapdragon and the lately revived Christmas-tree.

"Ah! here is good Uncle Robert again; he is leading us to see something pretty, or to get up a new game. No! he has made us a Christmas-tree; and hush! he is going to speak."

"My dear children," says Uncle Robert, you know that I always like to make you happy at Christmas; yes, and at all times, but especially at such a time, and, therefore, I have made you a Christmas-tree."

"Oh! uncle, how beautiful!" exclaim the children. "How did you make it? do tell us."

"Well, my dears, it is merely a young fir-tree, about eight feet high, which Ï have had placed in a square box, and you see that there are six rows of branches, each bearing ten small wax-tapers, while various kinds of sweetmeats, bonbonnières, small toys, and trifles, are suspended from the under part of the branches; and you will find that each of your names is placed upon the little present intended for you, which will prevent any quarrelling."

Since we met last year at Christmas-tide, "What myriad hopes and fears do we remember. That had their death or birth!

How many joys and sorrows, which have made
Life's pathway one all sunshine, or all shade!
Since last the ruddy Christmas hearth did
brighten

The kindred faces of the social ring.
Since last the angel of the frost did whiten

The landscape with his wing,
Hath misery from our firesides kept aloof?
Hath death afforded of his power no proof?"
W. J. K.

RULES FOR SUCCESS IN BUSINESS.

BY T. P. B.

Select the kind of business that suits your natural inclinations and temperament.-Some men are naturally mechanics; others have a strong aversion to anything like ma- | chinery, and so on; one man has a natural taste for one occupation in life, and another for another.

I never could succeed as a merchant. I have tried it, unsuccessfully, several times. I never could be content with a fixed salary, for mine is a purely speculative disposition, while others are just the reverse; and therefore all should be careful to select those occupations that suit them best.

Let your pledged word ever be sacred.Never promise to do a thing without performing it with the most rigid promptness. Nothing is more valuable to a man in business than the name of always doing as he agrees, and that to the moment. A strict adherence to this rule gives a man the command of half the spare funds within the range of his acquaintance, and encircles him with a host of friends, who may be depended upon in any emergency.

Whatever you do, do with all your might.Work at it, if necessary, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can just as well be done now. The old proverb is full of truth and meaning "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." Many a man acquires a fortune by doing his business thoroughly, while his neighbour remains poor for life, because he only half does his business. Ambition, energy, industry, and perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business.

Sobriety. Use no description of intoxicating drinks. As no man can succeed in business unless he has a brain to enable him to lay his plans, and reason to guide him in their execution, so, no matter how bountifully a man may be blessed with intelligence, if his brain is muddled, and his judgment warped by intoxicating drinks, it is impossible for him to carry on business successfully. How many good opportunities have passed never to return, while a man was sipping a "social glass"

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with a friend! How many a foolish bargain has been made under the influence of the wine-cup, which temporarily makes its victim so rich! How many important chances have been put off until to-morrow, and thence for ever, because indulgence has thrown the system into a state of lassitude, neutralizing the energies so essential to success in business. The use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage is as much an infatuation as is the smoking of opium by the Chinese, and the former is quite as destructive to the success of the business man as the latter.

Let hope predominate, but be not too visionary.-Many persons are always kept poor because they are too visionary. Every project looks to them like certain success, and therefore they keep changing from one business to another, always in hot water, and always" under the harrow." The plan of " counting the chickens before they are hatched," is an ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.

error of

Do not scatter your powers.-Engage in one kind of business only, and stick to it faithfully until you succeed, or until you conclude to abandon it. A constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so that it can be clinched. When a man's undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will continually be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain were occupied by a dozen different subjects at once. Many a fortune has slipped through men's fingers by engaging in too many occupations at once.

Engage proper employées.-Never employ a man of bad habits, when one whose habits are good can be found to fill his situation. I have generally been extremely fortunate in having faithful and competent persons to fill the responsible situations in my business; and a man can scarcely be too grateful for such a blessing. When you find a man unfit to fill his station, either from incapacity or peculiarity of character or disposition, dispense with his services, and do not drag out a miserable existence in the vain attempt to change his nature. It is utterly impossible to do so. "You cannot make a silk purse," &c. He has been created for some other sphere; let him find and fill it.

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THE DOG OF ST. BERNARD.

Fast falls the snow on St. Bernard's high mountain,

Storing its wealth in the gullies below; Hiding the streamlet, and sealing the fountain, And making the valley a wild waste of snow. Nature is silent-the winds are all sleeping; Ceaseless and stilly the snowy-flakes fall: Mutely the monks of St. Bernard are keeping Their vigils around the red blaze in the hall. Crash!-'tis an avalanche!-silence no longer Communes with night, and the winds cry aloud, The wrath of the tempest grows stronger and stronger,

Wrapping St. Bernard around with a shroud. Holy St. Bernard! succour the dying,

Where but this instant the avalanche fell; Mother and child in the deep snow are lying, Making their grave in the cold mountain dell. No! there is one who is eagerly tearing

The hillock of snow from the child's freezing breast;

And now he in triumph is rapidly bearing
Away to the convent a perishing guest.
Robb'd of her child-as it quits her embraces,
Life comes to the mother, its value has fled.
Of her first, of her only born, gone are all traces,
Save on the snow-wreath that pillow'd its head.
See! the bereft one with wild terror screaming,
Flies o'er the mountain-away and away:
Frenzy itself has no hope of redeeming

Her child, to the wolf or the eagle a prey. She reaches the convent-she faints at the portals

She is borne to the hall, and to life is restored: She sank at the gates the most hopeless of mor

tals;

And sought but in dying, the child she adored. She openes her eyes-on her babe !-on her trea

sure,

Once more on its mother her darling has smiled. She weeps, but such tears have their fountain in pleasure.

The dog of the mountain has rescued her child.

A COLLOQUY WITH MYSELF.

BY BERNARD BARTON,

As I walk'd by myself, I talk'd to myself,
And myself replied to me;

And the questions myself then put to myself,
With their answers, I give to thee.

Put them home to thyself, and if unto thyself Their responses the same should be,

O look well to thyself, and beware of thyself,
Or so much the worse for thee.

What are Riches?-Hoarded treasures
May indeed thy coffers fill;
Yet, like earth's most fleeting pleasures,
Leave thee poor and heartless still.
What are Pleasures?-When afforded,
But by gauds which pass away,
Read their fate in lines recorded
On the sea-sands yesterday.
What is Fashion?-Ask of Folly,
She her worth can best express.
What is moping Melancholy?
Go and learn of Idleness.

What is Truth ?-Too stern a preacher
For the prosperous and the gay;
But a safe and wholesome teacher,
In adversity's dark day.

What is Friendship?-If well founded,
Like some beacon's heavenward glow;
If on false pretensions grounded,
Like the treacherous sands below.

HUMBLE WORTH.

Tell me not that he's a poor man,
That his dress is coarse and bare;
Tell me not his daily pittance

Is a workman's scanty fare.
Tell me not his birth is humble,
That his parentage is low;
Is he honest in his actions?

That is all I want to know.
Is his word to be relied on?

Has his character no blame?
Then I care not if he's low-born-
Then I ask not whence his name.
Would he from an unjust action
Turn away with scornful eye?
Would he than defraud another,
Sooner on the scaffold die?

Would he spend his hard-gained earnings
On a brother in distress?
Would he succour the afflicted,

And the weak one's wrongs redress?
Then he is a man deserving

Of my love and my esteem:
And I care not what his birth-place
In the eye of man may seem.
Let it be a low, thatch'd hovel :
Let it be a clay-built cot:
Let it be a parish workhouse-
In my eye it matters not.
And, if others will disown him
As inferior to their caste,
Let them do it-I befriend him
As a brother to the last.

1

SACRED QUOTATIONS.

THE BIBLE.

FATHER! that book

With whose worn leaves the careless infant plays,
Must be the Bible. Therein thy dim eyes
Will meet a cheering light; and silent words
Of mercy breathed from Heaven, will be exhaled
From the blest page into thy withered heart.
JOHN WILSON.

THERE wilt thou learn what to thy ardent mind
Will make this world but as a thorny pass
To regions of delight; man's natural life,
With all its varied turmoil of ambition,
But as the training of a wayward child
To manly excellence; yea, death itself
But as a painful birth to life unending.

JOANNA BAILLIE.

THE priest-like father reads the sacred page, How Abram was the friend of God on high; Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage

With Amalek's ungracious progeny: Or how the Royal Bard did groaning lie, Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire;

Or Job's pathetic plaint and wailing cry; Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme, How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; How He who bore in Heaven the second name, Had not, on earth, whereon to lay His head; How His first followers and servants sped;

The precepts sage they wrote to many a land: How he who, lone in Patmos banished,

Saw, in the sun, a mighty angel stand; And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounced by Heaven's command. BURNS.

WHENCE, but from Heaven, could men unskill'd in arts,

In several ages born, in several parts,
Weave such agreeing truths? or how, or why,
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie?
Unasked their pains, ungrateful their advice,
Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price.
DRYDEN.

So has this Book entitled us to Heaven,
And rules to guide us to that mansion given;
Tells the conditions how our peace was made,
And is our pledge for the great Author's aid.
His power in nature's ample book we find,
But the less volume doth express his mind.

WALLER.

A CRITIC on the sacred book should be
Candid and learn'd, dispassionate and free:
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel,
From fancy's influence, and intemperate zeal.
COWPER.

WITHIN this awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries;
Happiest they of human race

To whom their God has given grace,
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, to force the way;
And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt or read to scorn.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

INTERESTING VARIETIES.

Or brewed liquor one Englishman drinks as much as four Scotchmen or nine Irishmen. THE books in the library belonging to the British Museum occupy ten miles of shelf.

IN the course of three and a half years 270,000 trees were felled, in order to get at the gutta percha.

THE eyes of needles are punched by a machine, which, superintended by one boy, can punch 20,000 in a day.

Ir was stated at a temperance meeting held in Liverpool, that there are now, throughout the world, about 16,000,000 teetotallers.

A railway train travels at 70 miles an hour, which may be called 105 feet per second, and this is little more than four times less than that of a cannon ball when discharged.

ENGLAND could pay her national debt in 14 years, if she would take the pledge, and devote all the money now spent in intoxicating drinks to its liquidation.

A ray of artificial light travels at the rate of 70,000 leagues in a second of time. Astronomers have given the rate of solar light at 192,500 miles in a second.

THE comparative value of keep for domestic fowls is as follows:-Geese, 5 per cent; ducks, 7 and a half; pigeons 10; duug-hill fowls, 40: turkeys and Guinea-fowls, 50.

A large railway engine consumes from 92 to 100 gallons of oil yearly for lubricating its working surfaces. The annual consumption of it by the London and North-Western Railway Company for this purpose exceeds 40, 000 gallons.

THE quantity of seed annually sown in Great Britain and Ireland amounts to 7,000,000 quarters. If two-thirds of this quantity should be rendered unproductive by some agency which has hitherto been uncontrolled, then 4,666.666 quarters of corn are annually wasted! The quantity thus lamentably wasted would support more than 1,000,000 of human beings.

IN the formation of a single locomotive steam engine, there are no fewer than 5,416 pieces to be put together, and these require to be as accurately adjusted as the works of a watch. Every watch consists of at least 202 pieces, employing probably 215 persons, distributed among 40 traders, to say nothing of the tool makers for all these.

CALCULATIONS have been made, to show the number of different combinations which might be made in Chubbs' lock; and it appears that with an average sized key, having six steps, each ca pable of being reduced in height twenty times, the number of changes would be 86,400; that i the seventh step, which throws the bolt, be taken into account, the reduction of it only ten times would increase the number to 864,000 Further, that as the drill pins of the locks and the pipes of the keys might be inade of three different sizes, the total number of changes would be 2,592,000. In keys of the smallest size the total number would be 648,000, whilst in those of the largest size it would be increased to 7,776,000 changes.

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