Habit is so powerful, that in times not very distant it constituted an argument called "use and wont" in law; and in time a Christmas-box came to be regarded as the right of every one in the capacity of a servant. To such an extent was this mendacious custom carried at one period, that it actually became a scandal and national grievance. In England these demoralizing gratuities, which were annoying to the giver, were of little real advantage to the receiver, their wages being regulated in accordance with the prospective amount of their Christmas-box. It was only in the year 1837 that the government of Great Britain issued circulars to the different embassies, requesting their excellencies "to discontinue the custom

ary Christmas-boxes to the messengers of the foreign department, domestic servants of Viscount Palmerston, foreign postmen," &c. This general order was not, as might be expected, very favorably regarded by those who annually looked out for Christmas favors; but the great mass of the people hailed it with pleasure. The custom still partially exists, for it takes time to eradicate any evil. A few years more, however, will see it numbered with the things that have been, and one

more of the strange old fashions will have already disappeared with the march of civilization

The decoration of churches is a beautiful relic of those old times, the purest one that remains. We close with Wordsworth's sonnet on it :

"Would that our scrupulous sires had dared to leave

Less scanty measure of those graceful rites A stir of mind too natural to deceive; And usages, whose due return invites Giving the memory help when she could weave A crown for hope!-I dread the boasted lights

That all too often are but fiery blights, Killing the bud o'er which in vain we grieve. Go, seek, when Christmas snows discomfort bring,

The counter spirit found in some gay church In which the linnet or the thrush might sing, Green with fresh holly, every pew a perch Merry and loud, and safe from prying search,

Strains offer'd only to the genial spring."

THE real object of education is to give children resources that will endure as long as life endures; habits that will ameliorate, not destroy; occupation that will render sickness tolerable, solitude pleasant, age venerable, life more dignified and useful, and death less terrible

Alas! how changed from the fair scene, When birds sang out their mellow lay, And winds were soft, and woods were green, And the song ceased not with the day.

But still wild music is abroad,

Pale, desert woods! within your crowd; And gathering winds, in hoarse accord, Amid the vocal reeds pipe loud.

Chill airs and wintry winds! my ear Has grown familiar with your song;

I hear it in the opening year,

I listen and it cheers me long.

A TURKISH COFFEE-HOUSE.

T had been a hot day in July, the hottest month of the year in Turkey, when we went forth, close upon sundown, to enjoy a cheerful ride in the suburbs of the town where we were residing, and to inhale a few mouthfuls of the pleasant evening breeze, which, as though infected with the general lassitude, crept languidly along the tops of trees and the surface of the river. The Moslem part of the population were rigidly observing their annual fast of the Ramadan, which precludes them for the space of a new moon from indulging, from sunrise to sundown, in even a drop of water to assuage their thirst. During the daytime, the streets had been deserted and noiseless; but now that the hour for breaking the fast was nigh at hand, everything was bustle and confusion. Shrill voices of angry and hungry women scolding within doors, famished children screaming without, sedate-looking long-bearded Turks hustling and jostling each other in the streets some running, some walking, and all talking-presented altogether a most ludicrous and novel spectacle, and one very much at variance with the ordinary decorum observed in oriental towns. Each man was as anxious as his neighbor to emerge from the confined and close streets into the open freshness of the suburbs, and there amuse himself until the warning cry from the minaret's top should apprise him of the agreeable fact that Sol had taken his departure for the day, and that he was consequently at liberty to eat, drink, and smoke as much as he liked till sunrise next morning.

On arriving at the gates of the town, the crowd was so dense as to impede for a few minutes our outward progress. Rushing forward, however, we galloped

into the open country, and, following the banks of a winding river, arrived in a few minutes at the desired point toward which the multitudes we had encountered were hastening with all possible speed. This was a noted Turkish coffee-house, celebrated among the Moslems for furnishing exquisite Mocha coffee and the very best procurable tobacco and timbuc-all three luxuries to the Turk, and articles of which he alone may be said to be a connoisseur. The keeper of this coffee-house was himself a strict hadji; he had twice performed the pilgrimage to the Prophet's tomb, and had consequently been dubbed with the title and assumed the garb to which such a pilgrimage entitled him, namely, a green turban and a green sash. Much respected was the hadji Achmet by all the Moslems, and very much dreaded by others. was a thorough revolutionist, and at his coffee-house many had been the tumults planned and plotted. We, however, being Europeans, were rather held in terrorem by him than otherwise, for we could write, and had elchis (embassadors) at Stamboul. Although, therefore, his blind fanaticism caused him to detest us, fear made him pretend to love. He never, however, would open his coffee-house by day during the Ramadan, and declared he would not do so for a bagful of golden coins.

He

On the present occasion the doors had just been opened as we alighted, and some score of servants and hangers-on (who worked for the consideration of a cup of coffee) were busily occupied ranging all kinds of seats in front of the coffee-house for the anxious Mussulmans. Charcoal fires were being lit by dozens, to supply lights for the various smokers. Water, too, by caldronfuls, was boiling; while diminutive coffee-pots and firepans, brightly scoured up, were ranged in martial array upon all kinds of sideboards. Then came the important operation of loading some fifty or sixty pipes, so as to be prepared for the general assault that was expected in a very few minutes' time. While all this was going on, the open doors were barricaded with cross-bars, so as to prevent the castle being taken by storm, which it certainly would have been but for this precaution. Matters being thus arranged, the coffee-house keeper, after scrutinizing his citadel like a careful general, prepared water for his ablutions, and spread his carpet ready for his evening devotions.

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would shout, "Who wants this?" while a host of voices would quickly reply, "I do! I do!" "O! give it to me, Mustapha!" One would clamor for a preference on the score that he was a better patron of the coffee-house than others; another on account of his age; a third on the ground of his rank; while the scuffle usually terminated in the last-comer availing himself of the turmoil to whisper to some friend to hand him over the pipe, and so getting possession of the much-coveted delicacy. There was one very stout old gentleman who must have lived at the further end of the town, judging from his late arrival; but to see him running and puffing along the banks of the river was really, in connection with the rest of the scene, worthy of the pencil of a Hogarth. When he did arrive, however, he was more fortunate than his neighbors, for many of the firstcomers had satiated themselves and were returning to their wives and families, so that there was ample room for all. After smiling at this ludicrous spectacle, we remounted our nags and cantered into the town again, for the dark mists of night were rapidly gathering around.

they passed every night of the thirty constituting the Ramadan.

It often happens that the Ramadan, which is a moveable fast, falls on the very hottest month of the year, and then the sufferings of the more bigoted and strict Moslems must be intense, especially in places like Cairo, where the thermometer often stands at 100° Fahrenheit in the shade. The more wealthy and rigorous observers of this fast usually confine themselves to the precincts of their houses, where they sleep away the livelong day, or else seek shelter in the dampest vaults and cellars in the neighborhood. Most acute, however, must be the agony of thirst suffered by the poorer classes, whom necessity compels to attend to their every-day avocations. These poor benighted creatures, especially in the larger towns inhabited by mixed populations, are exposed to momentary temptations to break through the rigid observance of the penance imposed upon them by their false prophet. They see the Christian population indulging themselves, while they are prohibited from taking relief till the sun has set.

Accordingly, after partaking of our evening repast, we proceeded to the bazaar, where everything betokened festivity and mirth. As though ashamed that daylight should witness such gambols, the night was converted into the period for indulging in a variety of childish games. The streets were illuminated, and so were the mosque and the minarets. The coffee-houses resounded with discordant Arab music, and dances were a-foot. Amid the uncertain gloom a huge camel would protrude himself into the scene of revelry, and stretching out his long neck, commit a felony on some man's store of sugar-cane. Gaylycaparisoned horses and riders were numerous, and the vailed women thronged to and fro, talking, laughing, and commenting on all they saw or heard. Whirligigs, as they term them, and other swings, were not wanting, neither was there any lack of confectionery and good cheer. Thus the Moslems passed that night, and thus

hypocrites, and who, while they make every outward demonstration of a mind and body afflicted, secretly revel in all the indulgences of this life, at the same time that they are nothing loth to join in the nocturnal carousals already described.

The scene which we have thus painted from actual observation carries, we need hardly say, its own obvious lesson. It wants that which constitutes the element of a true religious fast-unfeigned sorrow for sin. How different in all respects it from the ordinance which the pen of inspiration has drawn :—

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen?
To loose the bands of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens
And to let the oppress'd go free,
And that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
And that thou bring the poor that are cast out
to thy house?

When thou seest the naked, that thou cover