Sure of a welcome, though others cast them out; of kind

ness, though men scorn them;

And finding there the last to blame, the earliest to commend.
Come unto me, my son, if sin shall have tempted thee astray,
I will not chide thee like the rest, but help thee to return;
Come unto me, my son, if men rebuke and mock thee,
There always shall be one to bless,—for I am on thy side!

ALAS, and bitter is their loss, the parents and the children, Who, loving up and down the world, have missed each other's friendship.

Haply, it had grown of careless life, for years go swiftly by; Or sprang of too much carefulness, that drank up all the

streams:

Haply, sullen disappointment came and quenched the fire; Haply, sternness or misrule, crushed or warped the feelings. Then, ill-combined in tempers, they learnt not each the

other;

The growing child grew out of love, and drew the breath of

fear;

The youth ill-trained renounced his fears, and made a league with cunning;

And so those hardened men were foes, that should have been chief friends.

Where was the cause, the mutual cause? O hunt it out to kill it:

And what the cure, the simple cure ?-A mutual flash of love. For dull estrangement's daily air froze up those early sym

pathies

By cold continuance in apathy, or cutting winds of censure; It was a slow process, which any fleeting hour could have melted;

But every hour duly came and passed without the sun.

Caution, care, and dry distrust, obscured each other's mind, Till both those gardens rich to yield, were rank with many

weeds:

And doubt, a hidden worm, gnawed at the root of their So

ciety,

They lacked of mutual confidence, and lived in mutual

dread.

Judge me, many fathers; and hearken to my counsel, many

sons;

I come with good in either hand, to reconcile contentions: For better friends can no man have, than those whom God hath given,

And he that hath despised the gift, thought ill of that he knew not.

But be ye wiser-(I speak unto the sons),-and win paternal friendships,

Cultivate their kindness, seek them out with honor, and be the screening Japheth to their failings :

And be ye wiser-(I speak unto the fathers),-gain those filial comrades,

Cherish their reasonable converse, and look not with coldness on your children.

For the friendship of a child is the brightest gem set upon the circlet of Society,

A jewel worth a world of pains,-a jewel seldom seen.

THE third cycle on the waters, another of those rings upon the onyx,

A further definite broad zone, holdeth kith and kin:

A motley band of many tribes, and under various banners; The intimate and strangers, the known and loved, or only seen for loathing:

Some, dear for their deserts, shall honor and have honor of relationship,

Some, despising duties, will add to it both burden and dis

grace.

A man's nearest kin are oftentimes far other than his dearest, Yet in the season of affliction those will haste to help him.

For, note thou this, the providence of God hath bound up families together,

To mutual aid and patient trial; yea, those ties are strong. Friends are ever dearer in thy wealth, but relations to be trusted in thy need,

For these are God's appointed way, and those the choice of man.

There is lower warmth in kin, but smaller truth in friends, The latter show more surface, and the first have more of

depth.

Relations rally to the rescue, even in estrangement and ne

glect,

Where friends will have fled at thy defeat, even after promises and kindness.

For friends come and go, the whim that bound may loose

them,

But none can dissever a relationship, and Fate hath tied the

knot.

WIDE, and edged with shadowy bounds, a distant boulevard to the city

The common crowd of social life is buzzing round about:
That is as the outer court, with all defences levelled,
Ranged around a man's own fortress, and his father's house.
For many friends go in and out, and praise thee finding pas-

ture,

And some are honey-comb to-day who turn to gall to-mor

row:

And many a garrulous acquaintance with his frequent visit Will spend his leisure to thy cost selling dullness dearly: For the idle call is a heavy tax, where time is counted gold, And even in the day of relaxation, haply he may spare his presence,

He found himself alone, and came to talk,-till they that hear are tired:

Let the man bethink him of an errand: that his face be not unwelcome.

BUT many friends there be both well and wisely greeted, Gladly are they hailed upon the hills, and ure chidden that they come so seldom.

Of such are the early recollections, school friendships that have thriven to grey hairs,

And veteran men are young once more, and talk of boyish

pranks;

And such, yet older on the list, are those who loved thy

father,

Thy father's friend, and thine, who tendereth thee tried love: Such also, many gentle hearts, whom thou hast known too

lately,

Hastening now to learn their worth, and chary of those minutes;

And such thy faithful pastor, coming to thy home with

peace ;

Greet the good man heartily, and bid thy children bless him!

MANY thoughts, many thoughts,-who can catch them all? The best are ever swiftest winged, the duller lag behind: For behold in these vast themes, my mind is as a forest of the West,

And flocking pigeons come in clouds, and bend the groaning branches;

Here for a rest, then off and away,—they have sped to other climes,

And leave me to my peace once more, a holiday from thoughts. I dare not lure them back, for the mighty subject of Society Would tempt to many a hackneyed note in many a weary key;

Sage warnings, stout advice, experiences ever to be learned. The foolish floatiness of vanity, and solemn trumperies of pride,

Economy, the poor man's mint, extravagance, the rich

man's pitfall,

Harmful copings with the better, and empty-headed apings of the worse,

Circumstance and custom, sympathies, antipathies, diverse kinds of conversation,

Vapid pleasures, the weariness of gaiety, the strife and bustle of the world,

Home comforts, the miseries of style, the cobweb lines of

etiquette,

The hollowness of courtesies and substance of deceits,

idleness, business, and pastime,—

The multitude of matters to be done, the when, and where, and how,

And varying shades of characters, to do, undo, or miss them,-
All these, and many more alike, thick converging fancies,
Flit in throngs about my theme, as honey-bees at even to
their hive.

Find an end or make one: these seeds are dragon's teeth:
Sown thoughts grow to things, and fill that field, the world:
Many wise have gone before, and used the sickle well;
Who can find a corner now, where none have bound the
sheaves?

So, other some may reap: I do but glean and gather:
My sorry handful hath been culled after the ripe harvest of
Society.

OF SOLITUDE.

WHO hath known his brother, or found him in his freedom unrestrained!

Even he whose hidden glance hath watched his deepest Soli

tude.

For we walk the world in domino, putting on characters and habits,