race in no common degree, who has been instrumental in raising up a master-spirit to leave his impress for good on the age and nation in which he lives?

But all cannot be great. Few mothers have knelt beside the cradle of a Watts, a Newton, a Wilberforce, or a Washington. True; but all may be good, and goodness as far exceeds mere greatness as the beneficent light of the sun exceeds the lurid radiance of a midnight conflagration. There are multitudes of devoted men and women whose names, though not inscribed on the records of fame, shall shine as stars for ever and ever, whose first lessons of self-sacrifice were learned at a mother's knee, and caught from her revered lips.

To save and bless our country, to insure the perpetuity of our institutions, and to render this rescued republic a blessing to the world, we need mothers who shall understand and worthily fulfil their high vocation. need women in whom the lofty devotion and stern patriotism of the mother of the Gracchi shall be united with the lovelier attributes of

We

the Christian matron-women whose purity and truth shall guard the domestic sanctuary from the intrusion of vice, as the cherubim and flaming sword guarded the entrance of a lost Eden. We need for the exigencies of the times daughters, wives, and mothers who shall be not the mere creatures of impulse and excitement, the devotees of fashion, or the votaries of pleasure, but coöperators in the work of a world's renovation, sober, earnest, thoughtful, alive to the wants of humanity and the claims of God. It is not to the soulless, mindless beings whose only employment is to torture the wires of the piano, to skim over the pages of the last new novel, or to dress and shine in places of fashionable amusement-not to the sentimentalist, weeping over imaginary woes, nor yet to the literary dreamer, however richly gifted, that we are to look for the educators of the future sons of the Republic.

Not such were the pilgrim mothers who came to America in the Mayflower. Not such were the noble women of '76, who cheered and aided the heroes of the Revolution in their severe but glorious struggle.

The world is to witness a yet fiercer conflict between light and darkness, sin and holiness, ere the final triumph of truth is attained; and in this conflict there can be no doubt that our beloved country is destined to act an important part. To the women of this generation, as the mothers, wives, and sisters of those who are to lead the van in the coming contest, the world is looking with hope and expectation; and if there be any thing valuable in the liberties purchased and secured by blood, any thing sacred in the domestic constitution, or inspiring in the sublime truths of Christianity, that hope may not, must not be disappointed.

The Mother of John the Baptist.

HE declining sun was shining over the hills of Ajalon, lighting up with its beams the deep valley of the Kidron, and touching with glory the gilded pinnacles of the temple, causing them to glow like points of flame above its snow-white battlements and walls.

Sudden

ly, from one of the western watch-towers of Jerusalem, a prolonged trumpet-blast broke the stillness that reigned around; and while its tones still vibrated in the air, they were caught up and reëchoed by a hundred silver trumpets within the temple, announcing to the people the hour of evening sacrifice and prayer.

In an instant all labor was suspended, all recreation thrown aside, and the hush of night settled down upon the city, save where the multitudes thronged the streets going up to Moriah to worship. The splendid courts were soon filled to overflowing; the burnt-sacrifice was slain, and the pieces ranged in order upon the altar, waiting till fire should be kindled by the officiating priest to consume them. At that moment, amid the sound of trumpets, the voice of prayer, and the chant of the Levites rolling in a flood of melody through the halls and corridors of the temple, Zacharias, the priest to whom it fell by lot to burn incense for a week before the Lord, entered the holy place clad in sacerdotal robes to perform his accustomed service.