The next morning her head ached too violently to admit of her rising, and, indeed, she was so completely over-done with the fatigue that she had gone through, (not being a very strong girl at any time,) that her mamma advised her to lie quietly in bed for a day or two till she should have lost the effects of so much extra exertion.

A day's confinement to bed when people are not very ill, is highly favorable to reflection; and so Emma found it. She was not altogether satisfied with herself, and yet she comforted herself from time to time with the consideration that she had spent her strength in a good cause: and then she thought how grateful the children at the Orphan School would appear the next time she went there. Then her thoughts wandered to the second day's purchasers, and their uncourteous demeanour. And then followed some faint twitches of conscience, reminding her that she had not always been quite so lady-like in her own manner when shopping as she ought to have been. But these reproaches were very slight, for Emma was one of a very numerous class, the self-excusers, who can always find some reason why their conduct is not so bad as that of others, whom they blame for practices which, to an unprejudiced observer, would appear vastly similar. She did not put it in these words, but her comparison of the cases amounted to this: "Shop-people are paid for serving their customers, and have nothing else to do, so it does not signify how one treats them. It was very kind of me to sell any thing at the bazaar, and every body ought to have felt grateful to me for the trouble I took, and have behaved to me accordingly. Besides, it was very tiring to me to me to have to stand all day long, when I am not used to it."

And thus many argue; as if the necessity of undergoing fatigue can make it press more lightly upon the wearied frame-as if having to do an irksome thing every day must be less felt than when it occurs but once in a life-time. To say nothing of the different feelings of the shop-woman, who is aware that subsistence itself depends upon her unremitting attention to the duties of her calling, and those of the lady who undertakes the character as a source of amusement to herself. The one feels totally indifferent as to the conduct of her customers. She may, indeed, feel hurt when her table is passed by, for rivalry is too apt to spring

up in such a scene and each is desirous that her own wares should be considered the most desirable; but there is no more deeply seated emotion; she can afford to return rudeness with indifference, but how different is it in the other case:-caprice, idleness, and we grieve to say it, even impertinence, have often to be borne with. And whatever amount of provocation is inflicted, let but a look betray that it is felt, and the shop is deserted by those who have been thus offended, and the story flies far and wide, deterring others from entering it.

Oh! when will the Golden Rule be responded to in its full force? Certainly never until people place themselves mentally in the circumstances of those to whom its protection ought to be afforded-till they consider how they themselves would feel, and how they themselves would desire to be treated, under similar circumstances.

But to return to Emma Maxwell. The longer she pondered, the more unsatisfactory the result appeared. A month wasted without the satisfaction of knowing that the funds of the Orphan School had profited in the smallest degree by her efforts. Indeed in another way the school had lost by her. For she had devoted herself to working for it during the week when her turn as visitor came round, and when she ought to have taken a class there. She tried to comfort herself by thinking that though her efforts had been unsuccessful they were certainly well meant, and that though disappointment had ensued, yet that was a cause for sympathy and not for blame; but all would not do; she was restless and unhappy. The idea would intrude itself that while she had fancied herself busily employed in works of charity, charity itself had really had very little to do with the affair. Then she puzzled herself with thinking what charity really is, and what are the best means of showing it: and lastly, she remembered what Catherine Simpson had said of her grandfather's supposed dislike to bazaars, and determined on the first opportunity to try to find out his sentiments on the subject.

We are sorry that a little delay must take place before we can give our readers the result, but if in the mean time they will examine their Bibles, and find all they can, there, that bears upon the subject of charity; and then examine their own minds and discover how far the principles which they have admitted there,

are in accordance with its holy spirit and precepts; and, in the third place, scrutinize their own conduct, and see how far motives and actions have been in unison, they will be better able to judge for themselves as to the justice of Mr. Simpson's opinions, when they know them. L. N.

TRANSATLANTIC RE-DISCOVERIES,

SOME of our more philosophical readers may be aware of the existence of certain patches or spots of light in the heavens, called nebula, which, though supposed to be composed of stars thickly clustered together, could not, until very lately, by the aid even of our most powerful telescopes, be resolved, or separated into parts. Towards the close of the year 1845, the gigantic telescope of Lord Rosse was brought to bear upon one of these in the constellation of Orion, without success; but in March of the following year it solved the problem in the most triumphant manner, and proved this so-called nebula to be, so to speak, a vast conglomerate of stars.

Our transatlantic brethren, unwilling to be behind hand, now claim, of course, still higher honors than those which belong to Lord Rosse; and "Our Incomparable Telescope;" of which no one has ever heard, is ostentatiously brought forward in the following paragraph, copied from a paper published in the United States. We should like to know something more of this Rival Wonder-the Bond Telescope.-ED.

"The eighth annual meeting of the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists has been held at Boston, and been attended by a large number of scientific men from all parts of the Union. The following letter from Mr. Bond to President Everett, of Harward University, announces the resolution of the nebula of Orion:-"You will rejoice with me that the great nebula of Orion has yielded to the power of our incomparable telescope. This morning (September 22), the atmosphere being in a favorable condition at about three o'clock, the telescope was set upon the trapezium in the great nebula of Orion. Under a power of two-hundred, the fifth star was immediately conspicuous; but our attention was directly absorbed with the splendid revelations made in its immediate neighbourhood. This part of the nebula was resolved into bright points of light. The number of stars was

too great to attempt counting them; many were, however, readily located and mapped. The double character of the brightest star in the trapezium was readily recognised with a power of six hundred. This is Struve's sixth star,' and certain of the stars composing the nebula were seen as double stars under the power. It should be borne in mind that this nebula and that of Andromeda have been the last stronghold of the nebula theory, that is, of the idea first thrown out by the elder Herschel, of masses of nebulous matter in process of condensation into systems.

"The nebula in Orion yielded not to the unrivalled skill of both the Herschels, armed with their excellent reflectors. It even defied the power of Lord Rosse's three foot mirrors, giving not the slightest trace of resolvability,' or separation into a number of single sparkling points. And even when, for the first time, Lord Rosse's grand reflector, or six-foot speculum, was directed to this object, 'not the veriest trace of a star was to be seen.' Subsequently, his lordship communicated the result of his further examination of Orion as follows:-'I think I may safely say that there can be little, if any, doubt as to the resolvability of the nebula. We could plainly see that all about the trapezium is a mass of stars, the rest of the nebula also abounding in stars, and exhibiting the characteristics of resolvability strongly marked.' This has hitherto been considered as the greatest effort of the largest reflecting telescope in the world, and this our own telescope has accomplished."

THE INFLUENZA.

"Influenza" is an Italian word, and it means what we express in English by almost the same word, "influence." A century or two ago, people believed in the existence of witches, and in the influence of the stars. When they saw a complaint come suddenly amongst them, and affect great numbers, without an obvious reason, they attributed the visitation to the stars. It is said, that it was in this way, that the word influenza, as applied to the disease so called, originated. Though it was absurd, to think that the complaint had anything to do with the stars, the name is not a bad one, for the Influenza certainly springs from some pervading influence.-Family Economist.

YOUTH DIRECTED TO THE BEST TEACHER.*

"Learn of Me." MAT. xi, 29.

MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS; It is to you that I intend addressing myself. I shall endeavor to avoid all sermonizingall conventional forms and technical phrases, and give a free and conversational utterance to a few thoughts which may, under God's blessing, quicken your spiritual natures, and help you to reach the destinies of the good.

I. The first introductory thought I would have you understand and feel is, that You are all learners.

Other

Man only, philosophically considered, is a learner. creatures have, treasured up in their mental constitutions, a sufficient amount of intuitive knowledge to enable them to supply their wants, to preserve their existence, and to fulfil the several purposes of their being. Hence there is no accumulation of knowledge in the lower creation-centuries add nothing to their common stock of intelligence or experience. The bird thatnow warbles in our groves, knows no more than its first parent which sang in the bowers of Paradise.

But you are learners. Learning is at once the Great Want, and the Great Law of your being.

It is your great want. What would your existence be without learning? You would be incapable of directing either the members of the body, the faculties of intellect, or the deathless and ever-stirring sympathies of the soul. To live for ever, without learning, would be to live in eternal infancy-a mere sentient life, passive, without meaning, and without power. To such a life, the lovely universe would be a blank; and the Infinite Creator, a cipher.

It is a great law as well. We are bound to learn; we cannot help it. Were we excluded from all institutional schools, and never taught more than to read or write, or even say the alphabet, we are still in the great public school of life, where experience is the teacher, and every human being a pupil; and where, in every scene, the family, the street, the market, and nature in all her departments, lessons are hung up which we are all bound to

Being the substance of a Sermon to the Young, by the Rev. David Thomas, of

Stockwell.

G