Sabbath Reading

For patn Is nevcr wlioUy pain, Nor bleakesi proppect wbolly cold; The ligliiumg hJiows the inMnight ralu To be a hower of liquid gold. A star breaks thrnngh the eloudy rift, A lamp shines in vne. loving hand. Hopo peedH across thehcaving drift Aüd waves her toren froïn off tho land. The soul aloue, a upark divine, Strnck froin tho chariot whcels of God, Unqueuchable will ever shino And pierce the darknesB of the road. From boitow joy exultant ppringa, From Btormy night the aplencud morn ; Tlie angele carne on íhrilling wings Wbeii ia the stable Ohriet was born. And Irom the rnanger Olirist has ;one Down türough the ahadea of weeping night, XTp to, a love-illumincd throne, Which poura o'er heaven its tender light. Ar He has gone, so we muat go, Through valleys dimwith tearful rain, Nor find our Borrow hopelcae woo, Nor pain, thongh weary, wholly pain. - Wvi. C. Gray, in the Advance. ncasure and Goodness. Could the verdict of all experienco be ound as to whence comes the most li good, tb at verdict would be cheerfulaess and character. The ancient maxm, " A sound roind in a sound body," may have implied Üiis habitual cheerulness as a natural result of a sound body, and may have implied a good eharacter as the natural result of a sound mind, f er a mind that could be juilty of excesses or sin would show lit,1e claim to soundness. It would be a truism to affirm in a world where all seek pleasure that to make the most of lif e is to be happy, for ïow to be happy is the enigma placed jefore us; bui it certainly is no truism o say that a happy disposition or a reasonableness regarding pleasure is one of the best ways by which to find the mout import in this existence. There can be a foolish chase after enjoyment, and there can be a very wise one, and, ïence, what may be affirmed is that a wise pursuit of happ;ness and then the jerfect devotion to character, are twe orms of action which will make these rears yield the most possible of good. Chere have been those who feit that cheerfuluess and laughterwere sin, or at cast an infirmity. To these, earth has )een a great failure. They have dragged out life and have made of it simple exstence rather than the sojourn on earth of a divine soul. These have all mourned their way along, declaring at eaoh step the wretchednesss of man and ;he vanity of all earthly works and ïopos. And, as the antipodes of these, there rises up another class more numerous, but not more wise, who ïave fully resolved to have what, in the poverty of their language, they cali ' a good time." They declare that they will find what pleasuro there is in food and drink and games and vice and luxury. Could the world now give its candid opinión fis to the success of these ;wo multitudes, it would declare, without reserve, that neither the ascetics of ;he former school nor the epicureans of ;he latter have found tho most worth ;hat is possible to the tl) ree-score years of man. The avowed pleasnre-seeliers and the avowed pleasure haters are alike enemies of God's laws, for the human ieart is made for joy just as mi ch as 'or virtuo, and the class which sreks vir;ue at the expense of all pleasure as sruly violates the divino economy as do ;hose who Beek pleasure at the expense of honor. Not as greatly, bufc as truly, breakers of God's law. Nothing seeins more evident than that man is placed in a career which possesses two wateh■w ords of paramount significance, and that these are happiuess and charaoter. To be good is only ene-half of man's mission, the other half being summed up in tha phrase, to be hajpy. It is not probable that these are exact geometrijal hemispheres, for the continent called charaoter is in ill probability the larger, but in the moral globe there is no exact geography or mathematics, but only a ípiritual and henee mdefinite measurement. If character bc the greatest end of life, it is also the easiest found, for man has power to be righteous far beyond his power to be clieerf ui and smiling. We can control our conduot, but not the events of time. Disease in self or family will come, death wül fall like a thunderbolt in a group bound by inexpressible love, and there is no band to stay its ravages. One can keep from sin far more easily than from suffering of body or mind. Character is henee the most accessible of these large hemispheres, but the other is to be perpetualiy soright. That pleasure should be sought is proven by a single glance at not only man's nature, but at all animal nature. All God's creatures begin life with play, thus shadowing in the outset the Oreator's design; but of all these man only laughs, and man only carries on his enjoyment to the extreme limit of his stay in this world. The play of the lower animáis is merely physical, and henee it leaves them the moment youth's buoyancy is gone; but man's play or laughter is mental, and heneo will live whilo his mind ntains its facujties. The human delight in music or in a good anecdote will live as long as the mind lives. All these surprises of situation, of answer, of words, of incident, which so excite mirth will do so as long as tho mind retains its delicate and marvelous powers. The dving, within a moment of death, will smile if soine little absurd thing oocurs in their sight, or if some strange story or bon mot comes suddenly into the chamber of memory. Many instances are on record whero the solemnity of death could not prevent the mind, just about to sink away, from smiling just once moro over something laughable in the yesterday. You will thus perceive thai man laughs and plays by an innnte law, and that thus bappiness is liin birthright. His mind is made for a smiiing destiny. The only creature, indeed, that weeps, he is also the only ono who laughs, and his merriment is as divine as his tears. Happiness, therefore, reachesout before you as a continent you are to sail to and to possess and to transform into a home. You will not find it all you could wifc.li, but you will find it a botter land than any other philosophy could point out - a land that God made and whero Ho will be with His children. Tliose who have counted existence here a form of waiting for a real life. or thoso who have called this world a failiire, have, only by that course, made the failure more complete, for the mind is so fashioned that it ueeds the perpetual bouyancy of real or suppoHcd happiness. A disconraged soul is a rüined soul so far as this life is e.oncorned. Human success demauds a climate and soil of romance. Man must always say, " Oh, what a world is this ! T should love to live in it a thousand : years !" Tt ia proof absolute that this joyfiilness is an end and aim of mnn, the faot that the Croator hasdocreed that it shall or may spring up in any place or period. Il' the grounds of reul happiness were riclies, or high culture, or palaces, or fine furniture, then the human family would be in a most íorlorn condition until it bad reached the wealth of London or Paris, aud until eaoh poor man had becomo a member of the Kothscbild faraily - a foilorn condition until all had roaobed the learning of a savant. The Ulwise Oreator hns oífered no suoh a aarrow way to blessedness. He desired fchat tlie countless millions ehould find ;he bracing air of joy, and henee He nade the road thither very broad, that ill feet might run or walk therein. As jrod has not made His heavens for only i few who may reach a certain learning md faith, as He does not offer His sunjhine to only a few, so, also, has He not jpened tb e gates of pleasure to only a ïelect body of His children, but He hap made the portals broad, that the vast Jirong may easily enter this city of conientment. ' The only thing needed is a iiappy disposition - a willingness to see ind hear and enjoy the scène and tiie music around this life. There is no logie or aaalysis or measurenient whicb jan affirm that the men and mimen of ïmaller property, or that a Prince in his palace is anv happier than a New Englander in his cottage. The case cannot be made. out that a man whose income is hundred thousand a year has a lighter heart and a sweeter sleep than he enjoys whose income is the tenth or twentieth ar hundredth part of that quantity. God trould not make a world where only one in a thousand oould find any worth or iharm in life. Instead of flowing from some absolute Dutward condition of fame and wealth or talent, the pleasure of man comes chiefly [rom within. It is born in the soul, and rolls outward and covers the external landscape with its own beauty, like a setting sun. If a joyfullotwere depend?,nt upon some Sxed condition of wealth, tiow few could be its possessors ! If 3uch adestiny depended upon office, how Eew could ever smile or laugh, for there is not a throne or a bench or a Senate for svery one. If } leasura f ollowed genius, how'few could claim the boon ! for rot one in a million enjoys a highly-gifted mind. In the national guard of some Emperors, only men six feet in height are enrolled. Other soldiers must be mustered in hnmbler regiments. But in the army of the happy nature has no such rigid measurement. Her scaie is so graded that the world may all pass muster and may march out to the joyful field with flag and music. All her terms are flexible and relative terms. Education, talents, riches, beauty are ekstic words that will fit themselves perfectly to a villago or a city, to the first century or the eighteenth, to afarmer's daughter or a Princcss, to a schoolmnster or a Btatesman. As the ttrms of religión were made elastic, so that many minds might think many ways, and that millions might come to peace and God by mauy paths and gates, so the words which seem to precede happiness were malleable and ductile as gold, that they might assume any shape and yet be always beautiful. Somo semi-barbarous tribes will wear many pounds of jewelry to each person; civilized races will find as much pleasure in a much smaller quantity of decoration. Thus all the preludes or phapes of pleasure, so that no individual or century may boast of a monopoly. After a rich man hns turned 100,000 into a dwelling-house, and bas gotten fully into it, and upon his beautiful carpets andamid hisarticlesof virtu, he happens to look across his lawn at sunrise to a simple cottage, and lo ! the husband or the wife is out at dawn trimming a rose-bush or planting a momingglory, aad declaring that the birds were singing so sweetly, andtbedewso blazed in the daybreak that sleep was impossible. The outer world had knoaked on the cjiamber door, saying: "Como out and be with us." Thus palace and cottage were only two forms oL the same beautiful, not of external beauty, but of tlie beauty in man. Tbere are no balances on earth which could find in which home there was the more joy. Thus at your leisure, my friends, survey this ever-varying scène, and you will concludo that God has made this world, not with a partiality for a few, but with a most tender regard for all, and, as His gospel of Christ was prepared for all, so His nature was commanded to go to all in every age with its gospel of cheerfulness and even j oy . Henee you may most assuredly coaclude that be you not rich, nor fainous, nor talented, nor beautiful, still smiles and merriment and many blessed hours are offered you, or once were offered, by Him wbo sent His werd like His Christ to all. The messago of lappiness is as freely offered as the message of salvatioa. - From a Sermón by ïtev. Pavid living, of Chicago, Mrs. Tennysou's Wedding Present. When Grandfather Lickshingle heard that Queen Victoria gave an Indian shawl to Mrs. Lionel Tennyson as a -wedding present, his indignation knew no oounds. "An' is that all the penurious old creature gave her ?" he demanded. He was informed it was all the newspapers reported. "I have always said that she was a close-fisted old snoozer," exclaimed grandfather, stabbing the floor with his sane, "an' it's my opinión that any one who 'would give a poor, innocent girl an Indian shawl on her wedding day would not hesitate to steal chick"- "Tut, tut," said father, "you should not utter such sentiments." "T-t-t-tut, tut yourself," stammered granáfather in his anger. 'Tve been among the Indians enough to know that tho best Indiau shawl that ever hung from the shoulders of a greasy red man never cost more than 75 cents, an' is nothin' nohow but a red hoss-blanket, with natural bugs for ornaments. So help me gracious, I wouldn't give a dog oue for a wedding present." - OU City Derrick. Influencing Legislatura. I liave seen that, in respect of these very (Pacific .railroad) eompanies, when dauger to public interests, and dangor to tlie credit of these companies in respect of all their creditors, ineluding the Uuited States, was first bronght to the attontion of this body, and a bilí was aboui to be considered taking sonie first and more initial step abont it - I havo seen offlcers of the companies in this very Senato Olmmber on the day such n bill was to be up distributing their passes with an ostentatious impudence that was amivsing. I hopo it did nol affect any Senator. I suppose it did not. I have seen 50 cents a line paid to affect legifilation in editorials of newspapers. That is a very small price now. That was in oíd times. I supposo prcRent editorinls are paid for at the highest rate. - Speech of Senator Edmunds. The Braiu. The British Boyal Society is gravely investigating the changos of tornpornture that occnr in the human bruin. Delicate experiments with tlio thovmoelectric apparatus poríormed (i (ñx per sons who have offered themselves for the purpose demónstrate, we are told, that mental work canses an increase of heat; even to attraot a pernoa's attention raiees the tenaperatnre. To assist these investigations a chart has been laid out of the head, dividing it into sections; and it is aBBcrted that in a normal state different parta of the head exliibit different degrees of heat. Sinee my return irom L,urope a large numbcr of porsons who contémplate a visit to the Paris Exhibition during the present year have dtsired me to give thcm some idea of the probable cost of the journey. To eaoh one a uniform reply has been given, and tho first words were, " You can make it cost just what, in reason, yon like." And it is so. A mancanspend $l,000inamonth's travel, and another can suit himself just as wclí for one-fi fth of the mouey. My own etperienco, based on a ten days' visit to Paris during tho Exposition of 1867, is that you can live remarkably cheap in that delightful city. During my visit in January last to the capital of France 1 was careful to inquire as to the probability of an marease in hotel rates. The answer was thcre will be none. The Gthuu Hotel Bristol is a magnifloent house in every respect, and for suca a place the charges are remarkably reasonable. At that placo a handsomdy furnished, well-lighted room cost me 6 francs ($1.20) per day, and a dinner, including vin ordinaire, a similar amount. But, as in London, the better plan ie to take your meáis out, as the French people generally do. For 10 francs ($2) per .lay a man can live well. But to give a clearer idea of the total co&t of'such a journey, it may be as well to start out with the theory that we propose to be absent two months or sixty days. Eighteen days of this will bc 'ipon the ocean, and for the round trip the cost need not be more than $120. On arrival at Liverpool, the docks and other places of interest have to be seen, which will occupy two days, the cost of living per day being 10 shillings, with 4 shillings added for omnibus and cab fares, $7; from Liverpool to Manchester, where two more days are spent at the samo rate ; then directly to London, the fare being $5, occupying a portion of one day. In London there is a multitude of sights of interest to be looked up. There is the Crystal Palace, ( ish Museum, Alexandra Park, Zoological Gardens. National Gallery, Honse of . Pnrliament, the Tower of London, etc. ; Here, o do the thing up in any kind of way, a sojournof at least ten daysshould ' be made. ïhis involves an expenso of [ f30 for living (it can bo done for less, and well done, too) and an additional ; $7.50 for omnibus hire. Then comes the trip to Paris. The return ticket f rom London to Paris will be, in Amerioan money, 18.75, whicli is avaüable i'or one month. The journey to Paris usually occupies from ten to eleven hours, so that one full day may bc allowed in going and coming. Then a st-ay of flfteen days should be made in Paris, and the visitor, if he be prudent, can do admirably, as i'ar as lotlging and living, upon $2.75 per day, or $41.25; and, adding to this ten days to the Exnbition, one franc each time, brings 43 25 ; with $10 added forconveynnces, jrings Pariti to cost $53.25. During ,his time, if disposed, a trip can be made o Geneva lake at a cost of $15. This jrings us back to London, -with eleven iays io spare. Á trip to the Isle of Wight, a run to Scotland, and thenco lown throughlreland. ioiningtliestoamer at Queenstown, can be hastily done at an average cost of $7 per day - a toal of $77 - and then we ftnd ouraolves on board the steamer again, without anything further to pay than the stewards. This brings a total of $340, and, allowing the extravagant sum of 560 for waiterï, etc, the grand result is 400 for a sixty days' journey. This estímate is put at top ñgures, so that here shall be nothing ridiculous in its appearance ; but your readers may rest perf ectiy satisfied 'that a trip to Paris, roperly managed, and an absence trom ïome of sixty days, need not cost any single individual more than S340. One Use tor Oíd Postage Stamp. The Boston Journal uttered the query ;he other day : "What use is made of ;he mülions of old postage stampa whicn are oolleotedV" A correspondent answers iDforming the public, of a praotioe whioh prevai's in convenís and other Catholio institutions in this country, and ia almost unknown to those outside their walls. All canceled atanips ai e saved and sent to missionarics of the faith in China, who buy with those worthless scraps of paper Wants who would otherwise be deetroycd in accordanoe with the custom of the more degraded Chinese. The many-colored stampa are used for ;he decoration of walls etc. , by the ingenious Orientáis, and are valued so higbly that 100 of them will buy a baby whose pare'nts have doomed it to death. The little ones thus purc'iased are gathered into asylums, and reared in accordance with the laws and customs of civilzatioH. Smugglers' Devices. The custom-bouse officers at Neuville aux Joutes, on the Belgian frontier, lately discovered a development of tl' e f ormerly well known mortuary style of smuggling. A wagoner baving ppplied for a pass for his horse, the revenue offlcers proceeded to examine the animal. While uerformine: this duty. their noses were assailed -with a most offensive odoi arising froin the contenta of tho wagon. The driver stated that the sniell proceeded irom the carcassca of two dead horses, whioh were the only oontents of tlie vehicle. The officials insisted ou a rigid iuvestigation of the matter. The dead horses were literally atiiffed ■witli tobáceo. The affair bas oreated some sensation in the district, and a gloom has fallen over the local purchasersof oheap tobáceo, wlio fancy they have for some time paet detectrd a horsy flavorinthcir pipes. The Keoonstructed Balkan Peninsula. The Deutftche Zeitung guarantees the aecuracy of the following particular respeeting the rew situatiou in the Balkan península : Servia is to get 164 geographical square miles, containing 216,000 inhabitants, oi' whom 92,000 are Mussulmane. Montenegro is iuoreased by nt'tv-eighi'. square miles, eontaiuing 45,000 iuhobitants, including 15,000 Mussulmans. The Dobrulscha, comprising 199 square nrlf 8 and 19 1, 000 inhabitants, of whom 100,000 are Mussulmans, is destined for Konmimia. The new Bulgarian state extends over 2,562 square miles, with 3,822,000 inhabitants, of whom 1,430,000 are Mussmlrnaris. Turííey thus loses 2, 938, 000 squnrf iafles and 4.457,000 mbabjtaBts.