THE FIRESIDE. The Penny Post Box. A POETIC EPISTLE TO A YOUNG FRIEND, BY HER PASTOR, ON THE MORNING OF HER MARRIAGE. MAY heaven its choicest blessings now bestow, Like gentle dew, on Charlotte's head and heart; United to the object of her heart, May she a prudent, happy wife become; An honour to her husband and her home. Meek, and submissive, as her God commands, And cheerfully for all her wants provide. Charlotte, to all around a pattern give : Be thoughtful, modest, careful, clean, and neat; With dignity and cheerful love be blest. Much of your happiness will now arise Bear and forbear, and every fault forgive, Or you As saints, as one in Jesus, aim to live, For him your time and talents still employ. Conceal your husband's faults from all around, FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Let kind attention to his wants abound, Study his temper, always try to please; So will domestic happiness increase, For this from true religion only springs. Dear friends, I wish you all that God can give, And after perfect holiness aspire. Then when the time allotted you below Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. In the middle of the last century oneseventh of the people of England and Wales ate rye-bread. Even principal families in the northern counties partook very sparingly of wheat, chiefly as a kind of luxury at Christmas. THE OAT was in former times almost the sole food of the Scotch, and is still very extensively used there for bread. THE original habitation of the potatoe plant is South America, and it is still found in a wild state on the mountains of Chili. Sir Walter Raleigh first brought the potatoe plant into England in 1585. J. S. although so far back as 1299 they were known in Scotland. The Greeks obtained peas from Egpyt, and probably the Romans introduced them into Britain. IN 1428, that is, in the reign of Henry VI., the hop was petitioned against as a "wicked weed." The word hop is derived from the AngloSaxon word hoppan, to climb. THE FINE APPLE ORCHARDS of Hereford began to be planted in the time of Charles I. THE ROMANS reared the turnip with great skill and success, and deemed it next to corn in point of utility. THE TEAZLE, or fuller's thistle, has for more than a century been culti PEAS were first brought from Hol-vated as a farm crop, owing to its use land in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in the woollen cloth manufacture. Hints. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. HOPE NOT FOR IMPOSSIBILITIES.He needs to stand on tiptoes that hopes to touch the moon; and those who expect what in reason they cannot expect, may expect. SOME MEN'S MEMORIES are like inns: they retain old guests, but have no room to entertain new comers. GUILTY MEN are afraid where there is no cause for fear, and count every creature they meet a sergeant sent from God to punish them. IF THY BUSINESS be sedentary, exercise thy body; if stirring and active, recreate thy mind. ON PERSONAL APPEARANCE.-Be glad that thy clay cottage hath all the necessary rooms thereunto belonging, though the outside be not so fairly plastered as some others. WEATHER. -"What weather shall we have?" said a gentleman to a shepherd one misty morning. "Sir," he said, "it shall be what weather it pleaseth God; and what weather pleaseth God, pleaseth me." MANY SEE THE OAK when grown, whilst few remember the acorn when set. HE THAT IS A BAD HUSBAND for himself, will never be a good one for his sovereign. NOTHING should make the Christian give up his hope, till it forces him to give up the ghost too. He who is not strong enough to beat back a blow, ought to be quicksighted enough to decline it. THE SOUL'S PLAY-DAY is always the devil's working-day, and the idler the man the busier the tempter. Idleness offers up the soul as a blank to the devil for him to write what he will upon it. IF WE LEAVE OFF PRAYING before the devil leaves off tempting, we throw off our armour in the midst of the battle, and so must not wonder at the worst that follows. When you reach the courts above, Look down with the light of thy beautiful eyes On those that you used to love. Whisper sweet dreams in our earthly ears When we lie down to sleep; Paint bright pictures before our eyes When we wake to weep. Wait! my little one, wait! When you reach the celestial strand, For thy mother may be toiling up To the heights of that better land. For years that fall like molten lead On the hearts this side of the sea, TEMPTATION first finds a man evil, Will pass like the light of a beautiful dream, and then makes him worse. My little baby, o'er thee. THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. LEARNING AND UNLEARNING. You all know what it is to learn; do you know what it is to unlearn? The former is the chief business of your life, and will be for years to come. Perhaps I ought to say it will be so for ever, because we shall always be learners in some of God's schools. But what is unlearning? To unlearn a lesson is to rub it out of the memory; to unlearn an art is to forget how to do a work of skill, such as knitting a purse, doing crochet-work, or drawing an object in pencil or crayon; to unlearn a habit is to get rid of the inclination which makes us love to do certain things, such as lying late in bed, leaving things in the wrong place, idling away time, foolish talking, &c. Do you understand? Yes? Very well. Now, mark me, it is harder work to unlearn than it is to learn a thing. If you want to rub a bad thought from your memory, it is very difficult to find rubber and strength to do it. It will stay there in spite of you. If you try to break up an old habit, it will require all your strength, with Christ's help besides, to do it. There are many great men who, having learned to use tobacco and strong drink when they were young, would give much to unlearn those bad habits, but they cannot at least they do not do it. Their habits are their masters, and they are slaves. Though great and strong in many things, they are too weak to unlearn their bad habits. Now, boys and girls, I have a proposal to make. I propose that you all resolve to learn nothing which your future happiness will require you to unlearn. Learn all the good things you can. They will never need to be unlearned. But learn nothing wrong, because all wrong things must be unlearned, or they will ruin you. You are sensible children, and understand me. Will you accept my proposal? Will you resolve never to learn anything that you must unlearn, or be miserable? You will? Good! Now go to your places of prayer, kneel down, and offer this petition "O Jesus, teach us those things which we need to know. Show us those things we ought to avoid. Help us to learn nothing which thou wilt require us to unlearn. If we have learned any bad thoughts, acts, or habits, help us to unlearn them now; and may we never learn anything bad again. Amen." LETTER FROM A SCOTTISH TOURIST. THE tour among the Scottish Highlands, which occupied most of the week since leaving Inverness, has been prosecuted amid all sorts of weather except the hot and sultry, and has brought a variety of experiences. I have sailed over not less than half a dozen of the famous lakes-or Lochs, as they are called-travelled by steamer through the entire length of the Caledonian canal, across northern Scotland, from the Murray Frith to the bay of Oban; stood at the foot of Ben Nevis, whose summit is yet white with snow; rode an hour face to face with Ben Cruachan, and steamed by Ben Lomond; taken the wild, weird, sombre pass of Brander, on the borders of Loch Awe, whose name is well chosen; spent a day in sailing among the picturesque scenery around the island of Mull; and given an hour to the ancient ruins and ecclesiastical symbols and royal relics which have made Iona famous, and another hour to the wonderful geological formations and the strange grandeur of Fingal's Cave on the island of Staffa. Scottish life and character have turned many of their ordinary and their extraordinary phases toward me, and the most celebrated of all the Scottish scenery has been inspected somewhat in detail. It is a peculiarity of mountain scenery that it never exactly reproduces itself in another country. One in name and general character, mountains, like great souls, give us an endless variety of combinations, specific features, and details. The Appenines differ from the Alps, the desert groups and ranges belong to a family still more remote, the chains and single heights in Syria are made up after quite an original model, the Carpathians have their own unmistakeable build and aspect and expression, and the Scottish Highlands are not less unique than beautiful. Where the naked rock appears in the loftier heights of Scotland, it does not often stand out bare, cold, unsympathizing, and desolate, but wears a softened, mellow tint of gray, or brown, or purple. Sharply cut outlines, and long acute angles, and sheer perpendicular cliffs, and dizzy precipices, are mostly wanting. And in most cases, where the forests are not carried to the summit, the rains, and frost, and friction, and sunbeams, acting |