and fall like nations. It makes the proudest humble in regard to his blood, since, from seeing the degradation of others, he learns that his descendants may become miserable, poor, or disgraced also. Even the Norman names, which perhaps he venerates in spite of his republicanism, his Saxon origin, and common. sense, he perceives, when he comes to analyze them, were but those of peasants, perhaps, in their own country, and became aristocratic in England, only through a stupendous territorial robbery; while the plainer name, which he secretly despises for its plebeian derivation, bears, in that evident origin, proof of its having been given for skill in some useful art or for perfection in intellectual labour.

THE VOICES OF THE PAST.

THE Voices of the Past! how like

Sweet solemn music do they fill

The heart's lone depth! Strange chords they strike, That through our inmost being thrill;

Making a harmony that hath no end,

And doth for ever with the Present blend.

The Voices of the Past are here!

That from the shadow-land arise, Telling in accents soft and clear

Of human hopes and destinies.

They come and pass, as doth the summer cloud, Folded in sunshine as a golden shroud.

The Voices of the Past! they sound
Glad childish laughter in our ears,
Bringing back joyous tones, that found
Too soon, alas! the need of tears.

Where are ye now, ye happy ones? ah! where?
Earth holds ye not-ye were too bright, too fair.

The Voices of the Past! ye twine

Around the things that are, and cling
With loving energy, with power divine
To waken thoughts all glad, and bring
Joy to the stricken heart, as when of old
Youth had no sorrowing memories to unfold

The Voices of the Past! not all

Are gladsome in their by-gone tone:
Some with a sighing whisper fall
Upon the spirit, sad and lone,
Evoking spectres that tell not of joy,
But, with deep harrowing memories, destroy.

Others, like winged angels, wait

Around us with a guarding voice, Shielding what might be hapless fate,

And bidding hopeless hearts rejoice; The Future borrowing the pallid light

Of Memory's Past-Day growing out of Night!

Oh! be ye evermore glad sounds,
To waken Hope within the heart-
The sweetness breathing from the wounds
Of broken flowers, the echoed part

Of long-remembered melodies, whose power
Hallows the Past, and soothes the Present hour.

GEMS FROM SIMMS.

THERE is a secret drawer containing valuables in every human heart, if we only knew how to touch the spring.

Strengthen your body with exercise, and your mind with wisdom; thus you will be able to execute your plans, and will know how to act in a manner advantageous to yourself.

The first lesson which you should teach your child is the value of your affections. Let him see that these are to be won only on certain conditions, and that his chief good is in their acquisition. Bestow them only according to his deserts; and by this simple rule you may teach him the not always obvious distinction between right and wrong.

6

OCTOBER.

THERE is a beautiful spirit breathing now
Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,
And from a beaker full of richest dyes,
Pouring new glory on the autumn woods,
And dipping in warm light the pillared clouds.
Morn on the mountain, like a summer bird,
Lifts up her purple wing; and in the vales
The gentle wind, a sweet and passionate wooer,
Kisses the blushing leaf, and stirs up life
Within the solemn woods of ash deep-crimsoned
And silver beech, and maple yellow-leaved,
Where Autumn, like a faint old man, sits down
By the way-side a-weary. Through the trees
The golden robin moves.

* * * * * *

Oh, what a glory doth this world put on
For him who with a fervent heart goes forth

Under the bright and glorious sky! *

PREPARATIONS FOR COMPANY.

A HOSTESS Who wishes that her friends should enjoy their dinner, and that she also should enjoy it with them, must see that all is ready and at hand before her guests arrive. If her servants are well trained, and accustomed to do things regularly when there is no company, there will be little difficulty when there is; and if there is that pleasant understanding between the head and the hands of the household which should always exist, any casual mistake will easily be rectified; an accident itself will occasion more fun than fuss; and although no host and hostess should feel as unconcerned or indifferent at their own table as elsewhere, the duty of seeing that nobody wants anything will be manifestly a pleasant one, whilst the simple cordiality, which delights in good appetites and cheerful countenances, and the domestic order which is evidently, but unostentatiously, the presiding genius of the family, will go far to enhance the flavour of the simplest fare. Who would not prefer one or two plain popular dishes, hot, well cooked, and served with their proper appurtenances, to a number of so-called made dishes, unsuitable to the condition of the cooks of those who offer them, and tasting strongly of the labour and sorrow with which they were concocted and served up, but of very little else.