He that has never known adversity, is but half acquainted with others, or with himself.

Constant success

shows us but one side of the world; for, as it surrounds us with

110 LIABILITY OF LABORERS TO INTEMPERANCE.

similar temptation; and, if so, surely we shall at least be kind in our endeavors to reform them.

Again, while endeavoring to reclaim persons of this strong propensity for intoxicating drink, attempts should be made to provide, especially among our laborers, substitutes that will appease thirst. If one thing will not answer, try another and another, till successful. The object to be attained is worthy of persevering effort. In periods of severe toil, when every physical energy is required in work, provide substitutes that will not only appease thirst, but will be palatable, and nutritious, and invigorating. The effort may not in every case be effective; but, if such endeavors were generally made by those employing laborers, and especially farmers, it is believed much, very much, would be accomplished in promoting temperance; and at the same time the best feelings will be induced between the reformers and those reformed. The latter will consider the former as their best friends and benefactors.

which

A few words in this chapter will be added on a kindred subject-a subject not much thought of, but surely one of no small magnitude-intemperance of eating. Laboring men, especially, are liable to eat too freely. Fatigue, and, occasionally, long abstinence, naturally create excessive appetite. The consequence is, they eat without reflection, till the stomach is actually overcrowded and overburdened with food. It is a fact every person ought to know, that the stomach will digest only a given quantity of food. What is called digestion is the conversion of the food received by the stomach into a fluid called chyle, which is immediately carried by vessels for that purpose to the blood, and to the different parts of the system, for nourishment. That portion of the food not converted into chyle, for a period, remains in the stomach, giving peculiar painful sensations, as if a stone had been swallowed, and then passes away with other waste matter, doing no more good than though it had at first been cast into the fire. The food of the stomach is digested or dissolved by the agency of another fluid, called gastric juice, analogous in its character and office to lye in making common soap. In the latter, it is known, that grease is dissolved by the lye; and that if the quantity of grease is too great for the quantity of e, a portion of it will remain in its solid state. Precisely so is it in the process of digestion. Hence, care should always be taken not to eat more than will be dissolved or digested by the gastric juice. If one does eat more than this, speedily this heavy weight is felt, longer or shorter as the case may be, in the stomach. In addition to the pain, usually a heaviness or dullness of feeling is experienced,

From hearing comes wisdom; and from speaking, repentance.

friends, who tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom alone we can learn our defects.

That which we acquire with the most difficulty, we retain the longest, as those who have earned a fortune, are

usually more careful of it, than those who have inherited one.

disqualifying for labor, and especially for mental action. Nor is this all; frequent habits of thus overloading the stomach, derange and enfeeble all its organs. Disease of some sort or other is the ordinary result. In the end, therefore, excessive eating may be as prejudicial to health, and as capable of shortening life, as excessive drinking. True, one does not make a person appear so much like a fool or a brute as the other; but it involves evils, against which every wise and good man should cautiously guard. Nor should it be forgotten, that moderate eating satisfies the sensation of hunger as well as excessive eating. The same as a small draught will appease the sensation of thirst as well as swallowing a gallon.

Listen, young farmer, to the moral muse,
And catch the useful lessons of her song.
Be frugal and be blest; frugality

Will give thee competence; thy gains are small,
Too small to bear profusion's wasteful hand.
Make temperance thy companion; so shall health
Sit on thy brow, and brace thy vig'rous frame
To every useful work.

THE RAINBOW.-BY CONRAD.

"What does the Rainbow's beauteous arch declare?
That Justice still cries STRIKE; Mercy, SPARE."
ALL NATURE lay in sleep; no zephyrs stirred
Its sweet repose. The trees were motionless;
E'en the fair flow'ret hung its beauteous head,
And gently closed its varied colored leaves.
The waters, like a mighty mirror, lay
Extended wide; scarcely a ruffle stirred
Their glossy surface; and the sun's bright ray
Pierced their transparent bosom, clear and bright.
The scene was changed: the elements awoke,
Grown strong by their late slumber, and burst forth
In all the wildness of their common nature.
The winds spread forth their pinions and rushed on,
Laying fair Nature's gifts in sadness low.
The tender saplings bowed their graceful heads,
And yielded to the blast. The giant oak,
The pride of this our land, emblem of strength,
Of grandeur and of might, low, blighted lay,
Remnant of what it once had been.

A wise man will not tell such a truth as every one will take for a lie.

It is recorded of Professor Porson, that he talked Greek fluently when he could no longer articulate in English.

Anguish of mind has driven thousands to the commission of suicide; anguish of body, none. This proves,

112

that the health of the mind is of far greater consequence

THE RAINBOW.

The heavens rolled sternly on in its frowning forms,
Throwing their darkened shadows far below,
Upon the groaning and deep-heaving earth.

The sea, roused up, and lashed with whitening foam
The rocky shores, reflecting far and wide

The lightning's vivid flash; while here and there
The hills and vales sent back in echoes wild

The thunder's roar. The heavens poured streaming down,
In torrents wild, their waters o'er the earth.

The storm had passed. All nature shone

In bright, redoubled splendor. Earth, air and ocean,
Refreshed by heaven's delightful showers, breathed forth
His wisdom, strength and love, in sweetest strains;
The bird sung sweetly from the chestnut's bough,
Sparkling with dewy gems, and the sweet flow'ret
Breathed its rich perfume on the air around.
The heavens spread forth their canopy of blue,
And the bright sun cast forth its healing rays
O'er hill, and plain, and sea.

But above all,

Surpassing all in splendor and in grace,
The Bow of God, the emblem of his love,
Stretched o'er the blue, ethereal dome of heaven,
Its streaks of varied light; in modesty,
In beauty, in rich magnificence it lay,
Bright emblem of that glorious, matchless love
To us poor sinful mortals of the dust,

Which none but God can tell, none but God give.
Methinks it spoke in peaceful, heavenly strains,
More than the heart of man can e'er conceive.
Methinks it breathed of love, a love too holy
And Godlike for this poor and sinful world.
Aye, gazing on its lines of matchless grace,
I felt far more than mortal; in that bow
I saw the image of a God in whom

I lived, and moved, and had my being, too.
A signet I beheld, in wisdom given
To sinners low, that ne'er again he'll strike
With justice due, his disobedient flock.
Methinks in that broad arch of varied hue,
Mingling its tints so sweetly, so divine,
It breathed of justice, nobleness, and love,
Combined in that all-glorious centre-GOD.

The world makes men drunk as much as wine doth.

than the health of the body, though both are deserving of much more attention than either of them receive: