of pleasure, he seeks to drown the memory of his hard week's labor in the fumes of lager beer, or something stronger. Poor man! irresponsible and without self-control, his week's toil ends in a beastly debauch. The law will soon stand between such victims and those who filch them. The purposes of Providence are ripening fast.

Give way a little or that rowdy-looking set approaching may offer you some insult. What vicious countenances they wear. Stumps of segars stick out at the corners of the mouths of several. Others, in a swaggering way, squirt out streams of tobacco juice, prepared at personal expense of labor, money, cleanliness and dignity to bespatter themselves and others. Their leader stops them in front of the theatre; they read the "posters," are caught by the bait, and are relieved of some of their loose change. Neither their minds nor morals, souls nor bodies, will be benefited by the investment. Only their tastes will be vitiated still more, their appetites excited to a morbid state and unnatural degreeand they will be tenfold more fitted candidates for crime. My soul, come not thou into their councils.

Along, on the other side, is a lame cobbler and his little grandson-the one walking on crutches, the other carrying their week's work in a basket to the store, in whose service he is engaged. One would think that he has hardly body enough to encase a soul. His injuries must have been severe-run over by a dray-and yet he must labor hard in his old days to support himself and others. Years ago, a joyous heart beat in that emaciated breast, where sorrows nestle thickly now. Still, you have seen sadder shades in the faces of those who had less cause to complain. Those who have healthy bodies and sound limbs may feel thankful to God for the blessing.

Down at the mouth of that court you see a group of children; some are black, some are white, and all are dirty. Dirt is a disgrace, more reproachful than poverty. But blame those forlorn little creatures not too severely. That little girl, with those large eyes, lost her mother in the time of the cholera; and this one's father died the next day. The family of the one lived next room to that of the other. So the father of the one and the mother of the other manage to take care of both families now. God grant that those little buds of immortality may expand into blessings to themselves and others, and save them from the dangers and ills of life that seem now to threaten them. Hundreds of light little hearts present no more favorable spectacle than that one before you down there.

Evening is drawing on, and yet we have had time to notice but a few of the passing multitude. Hurrying along on the right goes one fast enough to push down all who do not get out of his way. Perhaps he is on an errand of necessary haste; some one

may be sick and wants the doctor-or it may be he is after some less worthy object. That is the carriage of a rich merchant, who has a fine country seat and a pleasant family, and he is hurrying from the confinement of the store to the loved ones at home-regardless alike of the wants and wishes, the miseries and ills of his suffering fellow creatures around him. He is too selfish to be truly happy. Next look at the poor shop-boy, who has toiled hard all week and is now lugging home to some rich man's house that capacious basket stored with family groceries and delicacies. Not far behind comes a widow with her scanty supply. Which will enjoy them best to-morrow? Let the other characters in the crowd pass on while we thank God for distinguishing favors far above our deserts. "When daily I walk abroad, how many poor I see, What shall I render unto God for all His gifts to me."

VISIONS OF HEAVEN.

BY X. Y. Z.

STERN Winter had vanished, so drear and so long,
And woodland and valley were vocal with song,
As down a lone meadow I pensively strayed,
Bestudded with flowers, in beauty arrayed.

Each object encountered seemed pleasant and new,
And beauties exquisite stood forth to my view;
All, all was so simple, so charming and fair-
With Nature, so lovely, O what can compare.

The gay-dancing streamlet, that flowed by my side,
Made music so simple and free from all pride;
Its soft-flowing cadence, its echoes so sweet,
Bro't scenes to remembrance with rapture replete.

I tho't of that music, whose soft-flowing strains,
Distilling like dew-drops on Bethlehem's plains,
Gave glory to God"—and to mortals forlorn
Proclaimed the good news that a Saviour was born!

I tho't of that moment, when first on my view,
Brake scenes of Redemption, so strange and so new;
When Jesus, who saw me in gloominess grope,
Became to my spirit the "day-spring" of hope!

I thought of yon temple-sweet portals of bliss-
And mansions we enter when called to leave this;
The home of the pilgrim, once wearied below,
And oceans of pleasure unmingled with wo!

That pureness I tho't of-the sweetness and love,
The beauty that reigns in the mansions above;
These visions, so lovely, so blissful, divine-
This beauty, dear reader, this sweetness be thine!

THE TREES OF THE BIBLE.

NO. VIII.-CYPRESS.

BY THE EDITOR.

THIS tree, in Hebrew called TIRZAH, is mentioned only once in our translation of the Bible. Is. 44, 14. It is an evergreen tree, and grows to the height of from twenty to thirty feet. Its trunk is straight, and its limbs, growing shorter towards the top, close up in the form of a regular cone.

This tree is remarkable for the great age which it attains. There are two of these trees in the gardens of the Alhambra, in Grenada, which five hundred years ago were already known as old trees. The wood of the cypress is very fragant, compact, heavy and durable even after it is cut. It scarcely ever rots, decays, or is worm-eaten-for which reason the ancients made the statues of their gods of it. The imperishable chests which contain the Egyptian mummies were made of cypress. The gates of St. Peter's, at Rome, which had lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Argene the Fourth-that is to say, eleven hundred years, were of cypress, and had in that time suffered no decay. There are large groves of these trees in the Island of Cyprus.

The balsamic odor of the tree is said to be wholesome. This agreeable fragrance of the tree, together with its sombre, solemn appearance, no doubt suggested its being planted over graves, whieh has been done from very early times.

NO. IX. CAMPHIRE.

The Camphire, in Hebrew CоPHER, is perhaps rather a shrub than a tree. It grows from six to ten and twelve feet high. It is a great favorite among the Arabians, and is by them called henna. This shrub or tree is thus described: "The henna is a tall shrub, endlessly multiplied in Egypt; the leaves are of a lengthened oval form, opposite to each other, and of a faint green color. The flowers grow at the extremity of the branches, in long and tufted boquets; the smaller ramifications which support them are red, and likewise opposite: from their arm-pit cavity (axilla) springs a small leaf almost round, but terminating in a point: the corolla is formed of four petals curling up, and of a light yellow. Between each petal are two white stamina with a yellow summit; there is only one white pistil. The pedicle, reddish at its issuing from the bough, dies away into a faint green. The calix is cut into four pieces, of a tender green up toward their extremity, which is reddish. The fruit or berry is a green capsule previous to its maturity;

it assumes a red tint as it ripens, and becomes brown when it is dried: it is divided into four compartments, in which are enclosed the seeds, triangular and brown-colored. The bark of the stem and of the branches is of a deep gray, and the wood has, internally, a light cast of yellow. In truth, this is one of the plants the most grateful to both the sight and the smell. The gently deepish color of its bark, the light green of its foliage, the flowers collected into long clusters like the lilac, are colored, the red tint of the ramifications which support them, form a combination of the most agreeable effect. These flowers, whose shades are so delicate, diffuse around the sweetest odors, and embalm the gardens and the apartments which they embellish; they accordingly form the usual nosegay of beauty; the women, ornaments of the prisons of jealousy, whereas they might be that of a whole country, take pleasure to deck themselves with these beautiful clusters of fragrance, to adorn their apartments with them, to carry them to the bath, to hold them in their hand, in a word, to perfume their bosoms with them. They attach to this possession, which the mildness of the climate, and the facility of culture, seldom refuses them, a value so high, that they would willingly appropriate it exclusively to themselves, and that they suffer with impatience Christian women and Jewesses to partake of it with them. The henna grows in great quantities in the vicinity of Rosetta, and constitutes one of the principal ornaments of the beautiful gardens which surround that city. Its root, which penerates to a great depth with the utmost ease, swells to a large size in a soil, soft, rich, mixed with sand, and such as every husbandman would have to work upon; the shrub, of course, acquires a more vigorous growth than any where else; it is, at the same time, more extensively multiplied; it grows, however, in all other cultivated districts of Egypt, and principally in the upper part."

The flowers grow in clusters. This explains the allusion in the song of Solomon, 1, 14.

The dried leaves of this shrub makes a greenish fragrant powder, with which a very durable red dye is made. With this the Egyptian females stain, ornament or disfigure, as the taste may judge, the soles of their feet, the palms of their hands, and the nails of their fingers.

This powder is prepared chiefly in Saiid, from whence it is distributed over all the cities of Egypt. The markets are constantly supplied with it, as a commodity of habitual and indispensable use. They dilute it in water, and rub the soft parts which they mean to color: they are wrapped up in linen, and at the end of two or three hours the orange hue is strongly impressed on them. Though the woman wash both hands and feet several times a day with lukewarm water and soap, this color adheres for a long time, and it is sufficient to renew it about every fifteen days; that

of the nails adheres much longer; nay, it passes for ineffaceable. In Turkey, likewise, the women make use of henna, but apply it to the nails only, and leave to their hands and feet the color of nature. It would appear that the custom of dyeing the nails was known to the ancient Egyptians, for those of mummies are, most commonly, of a reddish hue. But the Egyptian ladies refine still further on the general practice; they, too, paint their fingers, space by space only, and, in order that the color may not lay hold of the whole, they wrap them round with thread at the proposed distances, before the application of the color-giving paste; so that, when the operation is finished, they have the fingers marked circularly, from end to end, with small orange-colored belts. Others -and this practice is more common among certain Syrian dameshave a mind that their hands should present the sufficiently disagreeable mixture of black and white. The belts, which the henna had first reddened, become of a shining black, by rubbing them with a composition of sal-ammoniac, lime and honey.

"You sometimes meet with men, likewise, who apply tincture of henna to their beards, and anoint the head with it: they allege that it strengthens the organs, that it prevents the falling off of the hair (the followers of Mahomet, it is well known, preverse, on the crown of the head, a long tuft of hair) and beard, and banishes vermin."

This practice of staining the hands and nails with the powder of camphire may explain the allusion in Deut. 12, 12. "Pare her nails," critics say may mean "adorn her nails," and thus point to the antiquity of this singular practice.

PRAYER.

LIKE the low murmur of the secret stream,

Which through dark alders winds its shaded way,
My suppliant voice is heard: Ah! do not deem
That on vain toys I throw my hours away.

In the recesses of the forest vale,

On the wild mountain, on the verdant sod,
Where the fresh breezes of the morn prevail,
I wander lone, communing with God.

When the faint sickness of a wounded heart

Creeps in cold shudderings through my sinking frame,

I turn to thee-that holy peace impart,

Which soothes the invokers of thy awful name!

O all-pervading Spirit! sacred beam!

Parent of life and light! Eternal Power!

Grant me through dubious clouds one transient gleam
Of thy bright essence in my dying hour!