respect to one whose public benefactions and private virtues deserve to be remembered." * But the vow of Martha Crossley was not yet entirely fulfilled: "If the Lord bless us in this place the poor shall taste of it." In 1864 the great business formed by her husband and sons was made into a joint-stock company, so as to secure the interest and co-operation of all workers. Artisans, clerks, managers, and all have a share in its profits, and in order to accomplish this, a large sum of money was lent to them originally for the purpose of taking shares in the company, which they readily and gladly did. The results of this system have been entirely satisfactory, and the directors report that the active interest thus secured in the employées as well as the principals, is the best guarantee for the continuance of The workpeople hold shares in the business to the amount of thirty thousand pounds, and the deposit bank founded for their use exclusively contains savings of more than sixteen thousand pounds sterling. Thus has the vow of Martha Crossley that the poor should taste of the prosperity of "John Crossley and Sons" been amply and nobly fulfilled. success. Warley. A village in Yorkshire. Halifax. A town in Yorkshire, celebrated for its woollen manufactories, begun in the 15th century, and carried on still. People's Park. A large recrea. tion ground for the people. Quebec. The capital of Canada, LORD CHESTERFIELD was a literary nobleman and statesman who lived in the last century, and was a friend of Dr. Johnson. His "letters to his son" on manners and behaviour, though in many respects vain and foolish, contain many sensible pieces of advice, which he would have done well to follow. Amongst other things he says:-"Do what you are about.' 'Hoc age' was a maxim among the Romans, which means, 'Do what you are about, and do that only.' A little mind is hurried by twenty things at once; but a man of sense does but one thing at a time, and resolves to excel in it; for whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. Therefore, remember to give yourself up entirely to the thing you are doing, be it what it may, whether your book or your play; for if you have a right ambition, you will desire to excel all boys of your age, at cricket, at trap-ball, as well as in learning." In writing on the use and abuse of wealth, a modern writer of good sense says:-"I wage no war against wealth. I taint it with no vilifying breath. Wealth, so far as it consists in comfortable shelter, and food and raiment for all mankind; in competence for every bodily want, and in abundance for every mental and spiritual need, is so valuable, so precious, that if any earthly object could be worthy of idolatry, this might best be the idol. Wealth, as the means of refinement and embellishment; of education and culture, not only universal in its comprehension, but elevated in its character; wealth, as the means of perfecting the arts and advancing the sciences, of discovering and diffusing truth, is a blessing we cannot adequately appreciate; and God seems to have pronounced it to be so, when He made the earth and all the fulness thereof-the elements, the land and sea, and all that in them is--convertible into it. But wealth as the means of an idle or a voluptuous life; wealth as the fosterer of pride and the petrifier of the human heart; wealth as the iron rod with which to beat the poor into submission to its will, is all the curses of* Pandora concentrated into one. It is not more true that money represents all values, than that it represents all vices."-Horace Mann. Money obtained without work is often a curse instead of a blessing, as is seen every day in the families of those who have struggled hard in early life, and having made fortunes perhaps too late for their own enjoyment, die and leave them to their children, who never having acquired thrifty and persevering habits, soon squander their patrimony. John Astley, a portrait painter-whose art was destroyed by his fortune-was born at Wem, in Shropshire, in the year 1730, and was the son of an apothecary. Evincing a talent for drawing, his father sent him to London, when he became a pupil of Hudson, a portrait painter. At the age of nineteen, Astley managed to raise money enough to take him to Rome, and whilst pursuing his studies there he had to endure great privations. It is told of him that on following the example of some of his brother artists, one hot evening, on pulling off his coat, it was observed that the back of his waistcoat was one of his own canvas studies! On his return to England, Astley practised his art some time in London, and afterwards went as an adventurer to Dublin, where in about three years he realized three thousand pounds by his pencil. As he was painting his way back to London, in his own post chaise, with an outrider, he visited the neighbourhood of his birthplace, and being invited to the * Knutsford Assembly, he there saw Lady Daniell, a widow, who was so captivated by him, that she contrived to sit to him for her portrait, and then offered him her hand-and they were married in a week after they had made the acquaintance of each other! In addition to settling on him the Talby estate, producing one thousand a year, she by her will left him, on the death of her daughter, the Duckenfield estate, worth five thousand pounds a year. He now left off the pursuit of painting, and passed his time. in idleness and dissipation, and became known as "Beau Astley." "Lightly come, lightly go," was exemplified in Astley's case, and he soon disposed of the Talby estate. He was also about to raise money on his reversion to the Duckenfield estate, when the daughter of his wife died, and he came into possession of the whole. Proceeding to London, he purchased a house, and fitted it up in the most expensive manner. He next speculated in a colliery, and also in some ironworks, and was unsuccessful in each. At this juncture, when he was becoming straitened for money, his brother was accidentally killed, and he came into possession of ten thousand pounds. After some time a change came over Astley; he was no longer extravagant or reckless. In the decline of life, his mind became greatly disturbed by reflections upon the dissipation of his early days; he was haunted with apprehensions of indigence and want. He died at Duckenfield Lodge, Cheshire, in the year 1787, and was buried in the church of that village. Pandora. The name of a woman in ancient Pagan fable, who is said to have given a box to the dwellers on earth containing all the evils common to humanity; Hope alone remained at the |