fit subject of ennui," said the deacon, smiling. He continued, "Heaven is certainly somewhat different from what we have dreamed; but however that may be in our experience, our hopes are realized in that we have no tears to be wiped away, no more of sin to taint the conscience and wound the soul."

Mrs. Colgate, with her sweet smile, followed her husband, saying, "To be holy, forever pure as God is pure, is the completeness of heavenly felicity. And yet we all feel that we are but in the beginning of our blissful existence. To grow into the likeness of God-'one with God as Christ and God are one'-means more than we can now conceive of, and the ages of eternity will come to us full freighted with the blessings of our adoption, and 'a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

"It must be so, dear Mrs. Colgate," said Peter, "and yet, for myself I speak, I have no power to apprehend these great thoughts from the completeness of my present existence. The measure of my capacity will doubtless be enlarged, but no measure can be more than full."

"Pray do not perplex my mind, Peter," Mrs. Jay exclaimed, "with such vain imaginings; soap bubbles of philosophers! I am happy now, and shall be forever happy. What more can be desired, deacon and Mrs. Colgate ? And yet, deacon, I can guess at the perplexity and embarrassment you felt while wandering

through a vast collection of natural history, which was new to you, and which you could not but strive to arrange into some order which would be available to you hereafter."

"My dear madam," said the deacon, "you do not begir. to guess the embarrassments that await you. Here is a world, one of fifty-two planets, that belong to this system, whose history goes back many millions of years, and every age an age of progress. Their authors' works are written in a language forever changing, making the literature of one cycle unintelligible to those of the next, and all these changes are to be studied and attained before the books piled up in public libraries can be read. Then there are as many eras in Art as in lite rature, and in the same age, in different lands, are contending schools whose works to be appreciated must be studied in the light of the period when they were originated. So that I, who when I reached here, knew nothing of such matters, felt myself overwhelmed with the variety of knowledge to be acquired. Happily I have no lack of industry and docility; and under the kind tuition of able masters, aided by my son, Mrs. Colgate and I have begun at the alphabet of science, and we hope to comprehend what now only inspires us with wonder."

A scampering of some sort was heard in the shrubbery, and turning round, our friends saw a flock of fawn-like animals bounding over the bushes. So soon as they dis

covered strangers they stood at gaze, and when Mrs. Jay ran towards them with kind words and extended hands, they drew back, till coming to a wall of shrub. bery, they turned and giving a leap were out of sight. Shortly the Egyptian girl joined the party, and at the deacon's request she gave a whistle, when the troop came bounding once more over the bushes and ran up to her to receive her caresses. Encouraged by her voice, the animals stood while Mrs. Jay stroked their smooth skins, spotted with white. "How beautiful!" said Mrs. Jay, and turning to the deacon, she inquired, "Of what use are they?"

"How much that smacks of earth, madam. In our world everything is regarded as valuable or otherwise for its utility. An animal for his fur or his flesh, but here are animals whose only use, outside their own joy of living, seems to be to fill the mind with forms of beauty, and to give play to the loving affections of the soul. I doubt not there is a use in all things God has made, but I doubt if the inhabitants of this world ever had this inquiry of yours in their heads. You will find, Mrs. Jay, that all your ideas are to be read backwards in worlds where sin and sorrow are unknown."

"Is there no death here?" exclaimed Peter, "and if none, what saves you from a redundant population ?"

The deacon replied with a smile, "I assure you, Peter, we do not need English laws to discourage matrimony, nor any aid from Mr. Malthus, as to population."

"Do explain yourself, Deacon Colgate," said Mrs. Jay; "for this world wears a look of spaciousness, and from the bird's-eye view I have had of it, though cultivated as a garden, it has no sign of being crowded; indeed, there are vast areas yet in nature's virgin soil to be seen in every continent and on every island."

"The germ of population commenced here as on earth, only as their Adam and Eve ate no apple, so their Paradise now covers the entire globe. There are here two classes-the commoners, who are many, and the select few, who are born, as in England, lords of the soil. These all have their appropriate training in their several schools of literature, art and science, and when they attain to perfection here, they are translated to a higher sphere, where they are placed in worlds analogous, but of greater glory, and thus they go onward in endless progression."

Mrs. Jay asked, "Do they not dread this change? Is there no hesitancy, nothing like that which we feel when leaving

-' the warm precincts of life's cheerful day, We cast one longing, lingering, look behind?"

"O, never!" replied the deacon. "I have witnessed several translations. When the angel comes for them, all their children and friends are gathered together with joy and gladness. After a season of festivity, the father and mother (for here these ties are indissoluble), are

taken up into the air by the convoy of angels, and their songs of thanksgiving are sent back by those they leave behind."

"And do children never hear from their parents? Are there no telegraphic lines to link these far-off worlds together?" asked Peter.

"No, Peter, we have no such vehicles of thought, though we are constantly receiving visits of angels who bring messages from those 'not lost, but gone before." But though we have no such lines as you ask after, you will find each of our great cities the centre of a net-work of wires; for though these people are in advance of us by cycles of ages in all our discoveries of printing, steam, and the like, yet Professor Morse's discovery of sending a written message with the speed of lightning was a surprise; and it was at once introduced into this world. There are no such pitiful jealousies here, as has kept Wheatstone's visual telegraph in being in England, while the continent of Europe is covered with Morse's instruments, writing by Morse's alphabet."

"Have they made no improvements upon Morse ?" asked Peter.

"None," replied the deacon, "and for this reason, Professor Morse, at a single bound, reached the ne plus ultra of alphabetic signs, since nothing is so simple as a line, nothing can be less than a dot."

Mrs. Jay, who had been listening with great attention, asked if they used steam on this globe, for, she said, “I