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that it is so common. Why is so much of our conversation made up of uncharitable talk about our neighbours, companionsperhaps those we call our friends? Is it not because the heart is wrong and loves scandal -caricature-ridicule-and the tongue finds it easy to exercise itself in this way?

Perhaps my readers may think that they will become dull and uninteresting, if they only speak of pleasant things. It is not so, my dear young readers. Nothing can better show good sense-a good heart-good taste -good talents, than the habit of perceiving and pointing out the good qualities of others. Which shows the best taste-going forth into the fields to gather noxious weeds and offensive plants; or going forth to gather sweet-scented flowers and lovely blossoms? Which is most lovely-one who is addicted to making and exhibiting nosegays, gathered and grouped from the pleasant things in the. characters of their friends; or one who is in the habit of treasuring up the unpleasant things they can discover in those around them, and retailing them for the poor compensation of a smile or a laugh?

To illustrate the advantages of dealing in the good things which we may see in others, if we will only seek for them, let me tell you a matter of fact. I have the pleasure to know a lady, who is one of the most agreeable, the most gifted, and the most famous in America, and though I have known her intimately for years, I never heard her say an unkind word of any living being!

This lady has written many books-some of prose and some of poetry, and her name is honoured as well in the Old World as the New; yet you cannot find in them a page of satire, or a sentence of misanthropy. All is charity-all is a display of the beautiful in nature and the lovely in character; she is enamoured of beauty and virtue wherever they dwell, and her books as well as her conversation are but exhibitions of that holy affection. What a glorious thing it is to have a heart to admire and a genius to display the loveliness which God has scattered over the landscape, and made to flourish and bloom in the human bosom !

Though I have said a good deal more than I intended on charity, still there is

much more to be said of it.

The Bible tells

us that it covers a multitude of sins, which means, that a person who has true charity will seek rather to hide than to display the faults of others.

Alas, how unhappy should we be, if God, who looketh on the heart, and sees all our motives, were not more kind and charitable to us, than we are to our fellow-men! If we would hope for mercy above, let us practise it here below.

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CHAPTER VIII.

CHARITY.

History of the Two Seekers.

THERE were once two boys, Philip and Frederick, who were brothers. Philip was a cheerful, pleasant, good-natured fellow; he had always a bright smile on his face, and the mere sight of him made everybody feel an emotion of happiness. His presence was like a gleam of sunshine, peeping into a dark room-it made all light and pleasant around.

Beside this, Philip had a kind heart; indeed, his face was but a sort of picture of his bosom. But the quality for which he was remarkable was a disposition to see good things only in his friends and companions: he appeared to have no eye for bad qualities. If he noticed the faults, errors, or

vices of others, he seldom spoke of them. He never came to his parents and teachers, exaggerating the naughty things that his playmates had done. On the contrary,

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when he spoke of his friends, it was generally to tell some pleasant thing they had said or done. When he felt bound to notice another's fault, he did it only from a sense of duty, and always with reluctance, and in mild terms.

Now Frederick was quite the reverse of all this. He loved dearly to tell tales. Every day he came home from school, giving an account of something wrong that had been done by his playmates, or brothers and sisters. He never told any good of them, but took delight only in displaying their faults. He did not tell his parents or teacher these things from a sense of duty, but from a love of telling unpleasant tales. And, what was the worst part of it all, was this: Frederick's love of tale-bearing grew upon him, by indulgence, till he would stretch the truth, and make that which was innocent in one of his little friends appear to be wicked. He seemed to have no eye for pleasant and good

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