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looking wistfully on the deserted scene, exclaimed with tears, " And is this all of an abode that clung so closely to my heart? The home of piety, tranquillity, and peace, converted into a habitation for dragons, a hiding place for the beasts of the field! O Time, Time, blessed are they who, like my venerable friends, can view thy advance with placidity and hope! Thou sparest neither high nor low. Years steal on, and we go down to death. Happy, happy, who are prepared to meet their God! Looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith, they visit without alarm the dark and lonely grave; for he, they know, embalmed it with his rising breath, and dispersed the clouds that enveloped it when he left its gloom. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Happy, thrice happy, who, clothed with the garments of salvation and covered with the robe of righteousness, are waiting the invitation to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb! Blest, how blest, who are thus prepared to meet their God."

We now wandered in sad and silent thoughtlessness over the melancholy scene. Every spot which my companion could recur to as the witness of other feelings, demanded a momentary pause, and asked the ready tribute of a sigh or tear.

We entered what had once been the sitting room of the venerable inmates, and surveyed the corner where Bethlin's chair had stood. We turned and gazed on the window-seat where the good old woman had often reposed when the sun was sinking on the adverse hill, and insensibly stopped the rapid revolutions of her thrifty wheel to contemplate his departing glory, long lingering on the snowcapt summits, tinging them with crimson dyes, and follow him in spirit to another and a better world; reminded therein of that Day-spring

from on high, which rose with so benign an influence, and set with the mild radiance of redemption on our ruined race.

"Here," said my friend, his eyes overflowing with many a mournful but sweet remembrance," here have I beheld her saintly aspect brightened with the blessed prospects opened to her mental vision: here have I listened to the utterance of the full assurance of her faith, and wondered at the realizing view that was granted her of the things unseen: here, here, too, has my own heart been softened; and here, in the calm communion of Christian fellowship,have I looked beyond the grave, and all life's little sorrows, with blissful anticipation, joy unspeakable!

Still, however, we knew not whether Bethlin and his partner had indeed bid adieu to terrestrial scenes, or were yet conversant with the troubles of time; and we therefore slowly proceeded towards a cottage which we espied at the lower extremity of the ravine, along whose wooded side we had winded for some part of our way. Our hearts could not fail to participate in the gloom that enveloped us. Descending from the site of the ruined abode, we crossed a little rivulet, and pursued the path which presented itself before us. The direction it followed was of that kind whose singular formation must have struck every one who has considered the remarkable irregularity of foot-ways, as if they had been tracked by some lover of the agreeable diversities and comely negligence of nature, instead of the rude untutored step of the rustic, whose only object was to arrive by the least circuitous route at the place of his destination. Sad and thoughtful, we advanced; now receding from the light of day amidst the dark recesses of the wood, and again emerging from obscurity, and breathing more freely the air of heaven, as the

projecting crag lifted us from the depth below.

We had arrived within about fifty or sixty paces of the cabin, when a ruddy youth of about sixteen years of age rushed from the thicket where he had been resting, and with a smiling countenance welcomed my friend once more to the banks of this lake. He had grown so rapidly towards manhood since my companion had seen him, that he could not at first recognize him.

"Don't you remember Larpin, Sir, the grandson of old blind Ivan?" said the lad, looking wistfully in my friend's face.

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Why Larpin, is this you? I did not recollect you at the moment. A few years make a great alteration at your age. And how is your grandfather? I remember well the blessing he gave me when I left him under the old oak tree where he used to sit on the long summer evening, listening to the word of God."

"Quite well, Sir," replied the boy with much animation; "and often, very often, Sir, does he speak of you."

"Is he at home?" rejoined my

friend.

"Yes, Sir, and will be too happy to hear you are come."

The lad now left us; and with a few bounds, such as an active mountaineer would make whose limbs were light with boyhood, placed him on the threshold of his fathers. In an instant appeared the venerable patriarch led by Larpin, and followed by his daughter (the mother of the youth), and two little girls. We had by this time reached the door of the cabin, and already heard the salutation of welcome repeated with various intonations, from the deep and measured accents of fourscore to the shrill tone of infancy, as if simultaneously by one and all of the joyful group.

"Blessed be the God of my

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thers," faultered the old man: yea, blessed be his holy name, that he hath spared me unto this day. Truly, I am old and afflicted; but great do I deem the goodness of my God in permitting me again to embrace his honoured servant;" and the old man fell upon the neck of my friend, and wept. Then withdrawing himself, as if he would have gazed on him had not blindness forbade, again he embraced him, and again he wept.

When this burst of affecting gratitude had subsided, and my companion had shaken hands in turn with the daughter and the little ones, we entered the cabin, the aged pilgrim leaning on my friend's arm. Here, when we were seated, various kind interrogatories were exchanged. These mutually answered to the satisfaction of both parties, and a sufficient interval having elapsed for the pardonable loquacity of age to enumerate the divers occurrences which had taken place since last the pastor and Ivan had met, we naturally reverted to the inhabitants of the cottage in the wood.

"And what of Bethlin, your good old friend?" said my companion; "and his partner, are they yet alive? Their dwelling I observed was desolate, bearing indications that time had not forgotten the message he will soon bring to all."

"Ah!" replied the venerable Ivan-"I knew him well, and dear will his memory ever be to me. Bethlin and I were playmates on the banks of the Rhine seventy and three years ago. O it was pleasant to watch its bright waters, while we roved along its banks, or tended our little flocks beside its rapid stream. Poor Bethlin! he was a thoughtless but a kind hearted youth; and never was there one more fearless of danger when humanity called him to a fellowcreature's aid."

The eyes of Ivan, visionless

though they were, were now raised as if in the view of unseen realities. As we gazed on him, a smile played over his calm and venerable aspect, speaking the peace of the heart that beat below it. Then he sighed, and a tear stole along his faded and furrowed cheek. It fell, and he resumed his narrative.

"It was on a wintry morning, when the snow was filling up all the dales in the neighbourhood, and the wind was blowing with a piercing coldness, that an account was brought to the hamlet where my father lived, that a young woman had been lost during the night over the rock which rose to the left of the village. It was just above the river, whose current was much swollen by the recent rains, and was now doubly tumultuous from the tempest of the preceding night. It happened that Bethlin was at our cabin when the intelligence arrived. He listened to it with evident emotion; and scarcely had the messenger told us the melancholy tidings, when young Duplin was on the precipice where the mournful event had occurred.

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"I followed him speedily; and when I reached the spot, I found that he had already examined the different directions in which a person, falling from the path-way that led from the summit, would be thrown. I looked round for him, but he was no where to be seen. I called him, but I received no anI called again; but still all was silent save the tempest that roared around me. Becoming alarmed for my companion, I now attempted to descend the height, but was soon obliged to desist, and was thankful in again attaining a place of safety. ، But where is Bethlin?' said I to myself. Surely he has perished in the generous effort to save this poor young wo-man!' To be brief; he reached the top of the rock, and having

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ascertained the various points, like a brave youth as he was, he jumped from steep to steep, for the path was impracticable; now supporting himself by the branch of some tree that grew in the fissures, and now resting with a steady but momentary poise on some projection of the rock, until he gained the water-side. Here he scrutinized with an almost instinctive accuracy every line of fall, until he espied the marks of a human figure, as if it had been stretched with the arms extended upon the snow. From this he followed the track till he came to a thick wreath which the wind had drifted. Listening attentively, he thought he heard a faint cry from underneath. Encouraged to persevere, he excavated the snow as quickly as he could with his hands, for he had nothing else wherewith to extricate the unfortunate being. In a short time, he had the satisfaction to hear the voice more distinctly; and a moment after he had the joy to behold the object of his search. She was lying on her face, and he was prevented at first from recognizing the features; but his heart, as he has often told me since with tears, already misgave him. He turned the almost inanimate body, and, horror-struck, beheld the lineaments of her he loved most on earth-the only daughter of a respectable farmer who resided in the vicinity. He fell upon the cold lips, and kissed them deliriously, crying, O my Mary, my Mary? But he could relate no more. All consciousness forsook him; and when I found them an hour or two afterwards, they were laid side by side the poor girl a corpse, and Bethlin scarcely more alive than she. . Poor fellow ! I never thought him the same man again. He used to smile at our plans occasionally, but he would not mix in our boyish sports; and I never afterwards saw him laugh, but he

seemed to feel with the inspired penman, when he exclaims, I said of laughter, it is mad.'"

Here Ivan paused; and I could perceive that his own heart beat in harmony with that of the royal penitent; and if I mistook not the expression of his countenance, he could have added, “and of mirth, what doeth it?" He also had proved by painful experience that "man is born to trouble;" and had not his hopes risen above this lower world, and all connected with it, and rested amidst scenes whose joys are untarnished, and whose pleasures shall neither fade nor cloy, he too, with thousands who had journeyed before him through the vale of tears, had been most miserable indeed. But he had been taught that "secret of the Lord, which is with them that fear him ;" and, though the wicked were flourishing

around him like the green bay tree," he was conscious they were set in slippery places; for he "had gone into the sanctuary of God, and understood their end." As regarded himself, he knew whom he had believed; was assured that here his Redeemer would guide him by his counsel, and did not doubt but he would afterwards receive him to glory. In patience, therefore, he possessed his soul, and waited in humble resignation his appointed time. I was sensible of something peculiar in the beam which at that moment illumined the venerable visage of this aged pilgrim, now nearing the haven of his repose, and my soul calmly responded to his:

Some chord, in unison with what I saw, Was touched within me, and my heart replied."

R. T.

A DEPARTED SAINT.

MARKED ye his aspect, his heavenly smile,
Nature's last effort which tarried awhile?

Heard ye the words of his languishing breath,

Words that brought peace to the chamber of death ?
Jesus his all, and his motto through life,

Saved him when passing the waters of strife;
His prayers to his Saviour seem'd to declare,
He centered his hopes of eternity there.
One moment heard him a penitent crave

Forgiveness; the next glanced down on his grave.
Death was a triumph, his rest in the tomb
Is a prelude of peace in heaven to bloom.
His soul it flew to the kingdom of Love,
And joined the ministering spirits above;
There a melodious sonnet he'll raise,
And sing in the choir of glory and praise.
If but a glimpse of that place could be caught,
Where nought but religion pierces the thought;
Where all is holy, so sweet and serene,
No sorrow to dim the radiant scene;
The sight would act like a magical spell;
Our hearts would then on futurity dwell.
The soul that is flown, now touches its lyre,
And fills ev'ry chord with celestial fire;
In heaven the banners of victory wave,
A conquest is won o'er death and the grave.
A voice quite divine, methinks I hear, say,
"From the joys of the world hasten away:
Hasten away to the land of the blest,

That land where the sick and weary have rest."

HARROVIENSIS.

ON VISITING TO FORM CONNEXIONS.-A FRAGMENT.

"Is it necessary, Sir, that a medical man, who depends for a livelihood on professional success, should visit in parties of pleasure?" "Not in the least, Sir," replied Mr. P. "Too intimate an acquaintance between a medical man and his patients will, in some respects, tend to impede his advancement, and lessen his credit. There is an old saying, that familiarity breeds contempt. It is better that patients should only know their medical attendant professionally; they will then comply with his directions; otherwise they will disobey orders, and occasion him a great deal of trouble.

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Besides, if you enter into parties of pleasure, you must comply with their customs, play cards, &c.; and you will not only waste a great deal of time, but have dissipation of mind, and a worldly spirit, induced by intercourse with worldly people.

"But if it be not possible entire ly to avoid entering such parties, let your stay be short. A medical man may with great truth plead engagements; for, if he study as he ought, and attend properly to business, he will not have spare time to spend in company. Again, if he visit his patients, they must visit him in return; and that would be attended with considerable ex

pense; so that he would lose more than he would gain by it.

"It is true, that, pursuing the plan I recommend, a practitioner will not so soon become known, and may not get quite so soon into practice; but he will get on better, and be more esteemed when he is known.

"Nor must you," continued Mr. P. "be over-anxious about success. Endeavour to do your duty conscientiously, and to confer the utmost benefit on your patients, and leave the event to Providence. Means are in our power, but events are not.

"In our passage through this world, there are two things to be attended to the soul and the body; the soul first, and the body second. The interests of the body must always give place to those of the soul.

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Every event that comes to pass in the world may be referred to one of two causes: all the evil is the consequence of sin, and all the good is the effect of grace. Let it be your first concern to avoid sin, and to please God, and you will have all he sees to be good for you. All minds are not fitted for prosperity. God often sees fit, by trials, and troubles, and disappointments, to prepare us for the enjoyment of it." C. H.

NOTE FROM A WIFE, ACCOMPANYING THE PRESENT OF A DIAMOND PIN TO HER HUSBAND ON HIS BIRTH-DAY.

"HUSBAND BELOVED-Accept this brilliant trifle. It is a sample of those varied riches found in the womb of mother earth, whence we learn much of the Creator's power; but of his love he has given a fairer specimen than by things terrestrial, however nicely wrought or curiously devised. He has sent to his fallen creatures the image of the invisible God, the

First-born of every creature, whom you preach-the adored Word, by whom alone man must be saved!

I would then to you, the honoured minister of his grace, express a wish, a heartfelt prayer-May every sabbath day bear tidings of His richest love who died to save; and cause the choir of angel worshippers to sing, "A sinner saved; another trophy to redeeming love."

CLERICA

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