"I see them now, the moonlight shedding "Ah, human love, so fraught with joy and o'er them A flood of silver rays; How changed is Willie since we last beheld him In bygone, childhood's days! Erect and handsome, with a noble bearing, And stamp'd upon the whole A majesty above all other greatness, "And standing there, his arm encircling Nellie, His head downbent, until The dark locks mingled with the golden ringlets The light breeze stirr'd at will, He told her of his early days of struggle, And how, like star through midnight darkness shining, sadness, We know not which thy name! The heart doth lose thee when thy purest gladness Thrills the awaken'd frame. The music ceases when its strains are sweetest; The flower dies in its bloom; The sun is darken'd in its noonday splendour, And sets in midnight gloom. "Two happy years had pass'd since Nellie's bridal, Two happy, fleeting years, And strange emotions thrill'd her gentle bosom, New hopes, new joys, new fears. The holiest love that bloometh under heaven Was swelling in her breast, Would come sweet thoughts of her. For Nellie's heart now hid another trea The love that's strong as death.' And, gentle Nellie?-ah, what need for answer? Her heart was all his own; Of her deep misery. 'My little Lucy waits her father's blessing, Ile read it in her blue eye's trustful beam- Till he is here. He knows, and he'll be ing, coming, I will not, will not, weep!' But as the truth in all its dread distinct ness Dawn'd on her trembling soul, She sank, as sinks the frail skiff, when the waters Begin to heave and roll. They bore her from the tumult of the city Back to her village home; But grief like hers no earthly love or pity Could yield or overcome. N And yet the night of sorrow was not ray- That hour has pass'd, but its sweet mem'ry less, One precious star remain'd To light her pathway, though its noonday glory Had now for ever waned. Lucy was left, and oft the little fingers And mutely tell in tender, pitying glances "This was poor Nellie's favourite spot, and often She came and sat for hours; Her shrunken form, like some frail broken lily Withering amid bright flowers. They bore her here with Lucy on her bosom One lovely summer day; And while she spoke of Heaven to her darling Her spirit pass'd away." And bring me nearer THEM. My heart throbbed wildly, and the wind was moaning A dreary, sad refrain; But the blue sky above me seemed to whisper, "My child, take heart again. God is all-wise, and mortals only dimly Discern the outer plan, And cannot grasp the inner wondrous workings Of His great love to man." O sainted parents, tell me, were you bending Down from your shining thrones ? Was that sweet whisper from the blue sky falling An echo of your tones? lingers It bids me trust and love the hand that chastens, Deep in my inmost heart, And bravely bear my part. And one sweet truth it whispers to me alway When deeper shadows fallThough dark the night the morning cometh surely, AND GOD IS OVER ALL." THE BELLS. LUCINDA B. 'Twas a starlight night, That told of the passing hour! The old year's moan TO THE OCEAN. WAVES that ripple o'er the shore, Dashing, splashing, evermore, Gaily laugh while yet ye may, Sparkling crystal all the day. Music soothing to the ear, Music drying sorrow's tear, Spread thine influence over mine, Blending harmony divine. Yonder cloud's impending blast Shows thy brightness will not last; Soon thy billows, surging high, Will essay to reach the sky; Ripple, ocean, while you may, Ripple music to my lay. CHESS. SOLUTION OF PROBLEM XV. WHITE. 1 Bt Q 2 (discover ch) 2 Q Kt to KB 6 (ch) BLACK. 1 K to Q 4 2 K to K 4 3 K takes Q 4 K takes R 5 K to K 4 (discover ch) 5 Kt to B 5 (mate) WHITE. Were you not near me when I stood and 1 B takes R (dis ch) listen'd BLACK. 1 K to K sq. 2 K to K 2 3 B to QR 4 (dis ch) 3 K to K 3 4 K to B 4 5 K to Kt 5 And was not every zephyr round me laden 5 P to K 4 (ch) 6 B mates GOOD WISHES FROM INDIA. THE natural and most universal longing of the human heart is for happiness, though it is sought for by means differing as widely from each other as are the characters of those who seek for it. Especially in the beginning of a new year, when our minds are more forcibly impressed with the lapse of time, and we confess that our search has been fruitless hitherto, is the question brought forward, "Where shall we find happiness?" We think too often that our happiness depends on outward circumstances. Wealth and grandeur, fame and pleasure, are each tried in turn without success. spend in gazing on the lovely scenes that When While the year is young, let us resolve earnestly, prayerfully, to use it more for the high and noble purpose for which it have been. We know not how long it was bestowed on us than the past years may be ours. Death, "the 'if' of all toaway from God can never make us per-morrows," may come when we least exmanently happy, for the terms are pect him. Let us deliberate and act at changed, unchangeable." Life is too solemn a reality to be We forget that those things that lead us "By which True peace was given to man, Unchanged as God, Who, in His own essential nature, binds un Nor lets them part through all His universe." If you would be happy, have an aim in life-a good aim, one that you feel is worth striving for, that deserves all your energies. Let it be something that will endure when all the frivolities and pleasures of time have passed away. Whatever may be your plans for the future, do not forget to ask God's aid and blessing, for without them the best and wisest will fail of success. If, hitherto, you have lived for yourself, begin now to live for others. Think of the glorious things achieved by those who have left their "footprints on the sands of time," and trive, like them, to accomplish something really good and noble in the sphere in which it has pleased God to place you. Try, by every means in your power, to prove your talents. It is not, as you Ray imagine, a matter of mere choice, At a duty you owe to God and to those who come under your influence. Yet do ot think the time wasted that is passed in bealthful exercises; it will give a greater zest to that devoted to study. Nor is the quiet half-hour lost that you once. wasted in idle dreams. "Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Then we shall not grieve at the lapse of time, for each day brings us nearer to our home and to our God, in whose presence "there is fulness of joy!" "And, oh! the rapture when the circle is complete, And all the children sundered now around their Saviour meet; One fold, one Shepherd, one employ, one everlasting home." ALICE MCINTYRE. MATERIALS USED FOR PAPER. But it appears that at a date not long after A.D. 650 the priests and monks, sole depositaries of the learning of those days, substituted parchment. The papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) is, of course, an aquatic plant. It has large tortuous roots, a trian Or all the manifold substances contributed by the vegetable world to the sustenance and comfort of man we must certainly assign a high place to those from which paper is producible, since no manufacture with which we are familiar contributes more to our convenience, or enjoy-gular stem shooting up to the height of ment, or to our literary and scientific progress; and there is certainly nothing in the whole article of produce with which we could less easily dispense than with that very common, but most valuable necessary of civilised life to which we have already made reference. In the days of the world's infancy, and when the art of writing was first invented, smooth surfaces of stone and metal, the barks of trees, the hides of animals, and the broad strong leaves of the palm, were, probably, used by those who desired to transmit ideas of their own or records of events to posterity; and these were succeeded, or, perhaps, in some countries, supplemented by wooden tablets covered with wax-the cera of the ancient Romans-on which characters were engraven with a sharp-pointed instrument called a stylus. The first manufactured paper of which we have any account was made of the papyrus, a species of reed growing plentifully in the shallow waters of the Nile. It is probable that the invention was due to the Egyptians themselves, as the first known paper of this kind is attributed to them by the Greeks and by the Romans; and as the article in question became more widely known, and, consequently, appreciated, it formed an important branch of commerce among the Egyptians, who exported it in large quantities. Either there was a deficiency in the supply, or else, as is commonly stated, one of the Ptolemies was jealous lest Eumenes, king of Pergamus, should form a library equal to that at Alexandria; but certainly the exportations of the papyrus sheets to that part of Asia Minor was prohibited; and parchment in consequence invented before the Christian era about two centuries and a half. But though it was for a considerable period the sole material for writing employed in Europe, it was very long before it superseded the use of the papyrus. Even down to the seventh century papyrus seems to have been scantily used. sixteen or eighteen feet, and bearing upon its slender summit a graceful umbrel of tufted fine filaments, again dividing and putting forth small seedy flowerets, forming altogether a graceful, beautiful, and waving plume. The paper was formed of the inner bark of the stem, and the nearer it was cut from the centre, the better it was supposed to be. The ancient Egyptians used immense quantities of papyri in their sepultures alone, and the sheets were also of great length: that indefatigable traveller, Belzoni, had one in his possession which was twenty-three feet long, by one and a half broad! Evidence is also afforded of the extensive use of the papyrus by the ancients, in the fact of the number of MSS. written on this kind of paper, dug out of the lava that entombed the city of Herculaneum, and preserved in the museum of Naples. These eighteen hundred papyri were-like those drawn from the mummycases of Egypt-found in compressed rolls, having "the appearance of burnt sticks, or cylindrical pieces of charcoal. They seemed quite solid both to the eye and touch; yet an ingenious monk discovered a process of detaching leaf from leaf, and unrolling them, by which means they could be read without much difficulty." There is only one place in Europe where the papyrus flourishes in its natural state, and that is in the bed of the river Anapus, near Syracuse in Sicily. It has already been remarked that paper made from papyri was superseded in Europe by parchment, about the middle of the seventh century; and this in its turn had to give way to paper manufactured from cotton at the beginning of the tenth century. This new production was white, strong, and of fine texture, but not so durable or suitable to its purpose as that which is now made out of linen rags. Disputes were once maintained as to whether the art of making paper from linen was not a mere revival of an ancient manu facture; but it is now pretty well agreed that the libri lintei, or linen books men tioned by Livy, Pliny, and others, were sheets of linen cloth or canvas prepared after the manner of oil-cloth; and the exact epoch at which linen rags were actually converted into paper is somewhat uncertain, though in the year 1762 a learned Frenchman offered a reward for the discovery of the most ancient MS. written on paper made of linen rags. Documents were consequently produced which led him to fix a period between 1270 and 1302 as the era at which this manufacture commenced. But a more ancient specimen has since come to light-a charta, written in 1243, which is preserved in the imperial library of Vienna. We have many incontestable proofs that the Chinese made paper at a very early date, bamboo being the substance most generally used; from them the Tartars received the art, but substituted cotton as the material more readily procured in their country; the Arabs were the next to profit by the lesson, but they in their turn substituted linen for cotton, and to them it would appear that the Europeans are indebted for the inestimable invention of paper made from this material. Q prove inadequate to the demands of th manufacturers, and much ingenuity wa brought to bear upon the discovery of som substitute by which the evil might be reme, died or averted. It was soon found out tha coloured material and even coarsest canvas could be made available for the production of the finest paper, by subjecting them to the influence of chlorine. And the same chemical bleaching process being applied to useless MSS., and to torn and soiled actual paper, further material was afforded from whence the fair and spotless sheet might again arise, and again and again undergo the same transformations and be written over and discarded, and resuscitated again, for a considerable period of time. The bark of various trees-the beech, the willow, and the aspen, have been successfully converted into paper; that formed from the bark of the linden, or lime, is of a reddish brown hue, and so smooth as to be peculiarly well calculated for drawings; it is also affirmed that the tendrils of the vine afford a substance from which paper can be made. That persevering experimentalist, M. Schäffer, endeavoured to convert every substance that came within his reach into paper; and many of his attempts, that at first sight seemed utterly chimerical, were wonderfully crowned with success. The stalk of the briony, the slender twigs of the wild clematis, the fibrous stem of the upright lily, and even wood shavings and cabbage-stalks were successfully brought into a pulpy consistence, "capable of cohering in thin and smooth surfaces." Then the rind of potatoes was put to the proof, and finally the potato itself, which produced a beautiful paper, extremely smooth and soft to the touch, while its tenacity was so remarkable, that for purposes where durability is essential it may be ranked as approaching to parchment. But whether it was introduced by the Italians of Venice or Gaeta, who during the eight, ninth, and tenth centuries kept up commercial relations with Syria; or whether the Saracens (Arabs under another name), who conquered Spain in the early part of the eight century, made known their welcome invention in that country, is not yet indubitably ascertained. England was the last among the countries of Europe in which paper was introduced, not having been used in our island till the beginning of the fourteenth century, and until 1690 there was scarcely any paper of home manufacture besides that of a common coarse, brown description. But the war with France involving high duties, the From the fir-cone, a paper strong and English themselves attempted the finer useful, and very serviceable as a wrappingsorts, and in due time brought it to great paper, has been manufactured; the woody, perfection. In 1720, we are told that two-overlapping scales being first reduced to a writing-paper was made at substance like tow. The bine of hops likehome, and soon afterwards we became wise is a very good material; and in France entirely independent of foreign supplies. paper has been fabricated from the common The Japanese make an excellent paper liquorice-root, at a price, it is said, much from the bark of a species of mulberry-tree; lower than that made from rags, and yet the Tonquinese produce it from silk; and quite as white and smooth to the touch, the Persians from a mixture of cotton and and requiring no size in its preparation. silk, brought to a smooth surface and after- Many attempts have been made from time wards polished with a shell or stone. to time to utilise straw into a material from Some years ago, from the widely spreading demand for paper all over Europe, serious apprehensions were entertained lest the supply of white linen rags should thirds of our which paper may be manufactured, and in 1825 a patent was taken out with this intent, but the commodity thus produced was harsh, coarse, and easily torn, and not |