is an abomination to the Lord;' together with many kindred denunciations against pride. A French cavalry officer, who happened to be in the diligence, comprehended the rebuke that was thus indirectly administered by a foreigner, and as he was unconscious of the sacred profession of the speaker, he seemed disposed to resent the criticisms. Antoine Delacorde, who happened to know the clergyman, good-naturedly interposed, and said he would tell the company an adventure which once occurred to him while travelling in Pennsylvania, and which he believed would prove that pride was not confined to France:

'You all probably know,' continued Delacorde, 'that by long application, I am become conversant with the language of several kinds of birds, and can even imitate many of their sounds, so that the birds will permit me to take them in my hands. When I was in America, I arrived one Saturday night at Easton, which is about fifty-eight miles from Philadelphia, whither I was going; but as the stage-coach was not permitted to travel on Sunday, I was forced to remain at Easton till Monday morning. As is usual with me when I am in a strange place, and enjoy leisure, I wandered out of the pretty village into the country, and sitting down under the shade of a pleasant tree, I waited for the approach of some birds, that I might ascertain if I knew their language. I had not been seated long before I discovered that a sparrow had built her nest in the lower branches of the tree, and I overheard the following harangue, which was addressed by the mother bird to her young, who were nearly ready to leave the maternal residence, and act a part in the scenes of life:

"My children,' said the sparrow, 'you are born to a great destiny, and should be duly impressed with the high position which you occupy in the scale of existences, so that you may act worthily when you shall attain a sufficient age to enter upon the active duties of life. Observe the superiority of our nature over that of man. We possess not only legs which transport us as he transports himself, but we are supplied with wings, by which we attain at a bound a distance which he can only accomplish by painfully and perseveringly dragging his feet one after the other. Vegetation yields us spontaneously its fruits, animal life its insects; and while we sit in shady trees enjoying our siesta, the clowns beneath us are toiling in the sun to coax the reluctant soil to yield them a precarious supply of seeds and roots. They are fain to feed on even the lacerated bodies of oxen and other slaughtered quadrupeds; nay, more revolting still, on dead birds; the idea of which cannibalism may well cause you, as I perceive it does, to avert your beaks in horror.

"Observe also the miserable expedients to which men are driven to preserve their bodies from external exposure. They cut the rank fleece from sheep, and by multiplied expedients strive to overcome its impurities, before even they can endure to cover themselves with it. They resort, in their need, to the loathsome film of a certain worm, that, after incredible patience and appliances, is wrought into a fabric but little more substantial than a spider's web. Nay, they rot certain vegetables, and manufac ture the fibres into cloth. I will not insult your understanding by contrasting man's best habiliments with that which nature has provided for our more noble bodies. I will say nothing of the superior beauty and purity of ours, or even of its imperviousness to moisture, or its impene

trability by cold. Let us pass from these physical advantages, and con-, template our moral superiority. The death of a friend, the destruction of a dwelling, are griefs which prey on men in all positions and at all seasons, for months and years; indeed, so pervading and irresistible is their weakness, they are often hurried by such events to a premature grave, while we speedily dismiss such calamities from our contemplation. Not that we feel less acutely than they, but that we feel more wisely, they themselves being the judge; for we possess on such subjects, and without effort, all the philosophy which their sages endeavor to practise or inculcate.

"But in our intellect lies our most inestimable superiority. The houses and ships which you will see in your excursions over the earth are the result of successive ages of experiments, and proceed from the rudest beginnings; while our first parents discovered a mode of building which no succeeding efforts can improve. On all subjects our knowledge is definite and clear, while the opinions of men are in a constant flux. Every successive generation boasts the discovery of a true system in every department of their learning, though the next generation is sure to deem it as false as the system which it supplanted. But, my children, instead of reflecting on our manifest superiority for the purpose of nourishing our pride, let the reflection teach us humility, for the BEING who made us as we are might have created us men and women. Beside, pride is said to be a favorite weakness with them. Your great-grandfather, of illustrious memory, who was skilled in their harsh lingo, once heard a man describe to another a military review which occurred last summer in this common: The soldiers,' said the man, 'were, all proudly drawn up in line, two deep, with the proud standard in front, that was presented to the proud Fourth by the General's excellent lady; when suddenly peering over yonder hill, and descending proudly into the plain, were seen the General and his brilliant suite. The horses curveted proudly, as if conscious of the proud occasion, and the band struck up the proud greeting, 'See the conquering hero comes!' The General was heard to exclaim, 'This is the proudest day of my life!' And as the rank and file presented arms, and the officers saluted with their swords, and the cornets lowered the standards at his approach, he said: 'Fellow-soldiers, I am proud of old Northampton and her proud yeomanry. A prouder body of citizen soldiers never honored the proud old Keystone State; and I take a just pride in believing that this proud day will long be proudly remembered. The recollection of it will be the proudest inheritance I shall bequeath to my children.' The General was greatly affected during the delivery of this address, while the enthusiasm which it elicited proudly demonstrated that the soldiers were as justly proud of their old General as he was justly proud of his men."

'Are you through?' said the American clergyman to Delacorde. 'I shall be,' said Delacorde, 'after you tell our military companion whether the perpetual boasting of personal pride that seems to be characteristic in America, is more venial than the obtrusion of national trophies that is common in France.' 'My friend,' replied the clergyman, 'instead of answering your casuistry, let us profit by the lecture of your sparrow; and if man cannot eradicate the infirmity of pride, let him avoid at least the ostenta

tion of a weakness which is as much our shame as any other evil passion. I admit we sometimes hear of a 'just pride,' and of being 'justly proud;' but if such things exist, they are like hot ice, and my researches have never discovered them in nature, or found them alluded to in revelation.'

E ART H - A NGEL S.

BY T. 8. FAY.

Berlin, 1850.

THE earth was cold, the woods were bare,
The blue sky hid in winter's shroud;
Keen struck December's piercing air,
With fitful gusts and loud.

'O GOD!' I thought, 'how long we roam,
Forgotten and removed from THEE;
How vainly strives, through woe and gloom,
Our poor mortality!

When shall I know the higher fate,

To spirits blessed hereafter giv'n?
When shall I pass Death's dismal gate,
And range the fields of heaven?
Sweet messages, at THY command,
From world to world, obedient, bear,
And minister o'er sea and land
THY bidding every where?'

When, lo! amid my musing mood,
A being, fresh from that fair world
Of inner light and beauty, stood,
His wing an instant furled.

'On GoD,' he said, 'unnumbered tend
Angels. through all creation's bound.
Some near his holy throne ascend;
Some distant far are found.
Each in our place. But onward still
We ever strive, we ever rise,
As all our various tasks fulfil,
Up through yet higher skies.

And some this side the gate of death
Still bend beneath life's heavy load.
Angels there are of mortal breath;
Ay, angels, here, of God.

What though no robe instinct with light,
To match their secret rank, be given;
What though no wing or halo bright?
They yet commence, in Earth's dark night,
Their long career of heaven.

Dost thou behold yon feeble form

Stand shivering in the winter wind?

Penury, sickness, sorrow, storm,

Have struck her dumb and blind.

Yet strong in faith her head she bends,
And prays this day relieved to be
From hunger. GoD an angel sends,
And, mortal, thou art he!
Go, and a gift-t is His command
Place gently in that withered hand;
Let lowly words, with love expressed,
Confirm her faith, and cheer her breast.'

'IN VINO VERITAS.' The more a man disguises himself, so much the more does he appear in his true colors; which maxim is even better illustrated in masquerades than by the influence of wine. Strange that a fancy dress should have the power to open the gates of the soul and let out its prisoned fancies. I am ambitious for a motley coat,' said the melancholy Jacques, when desirous of speaking freely and truly to the 'infected world. Perhaps the hour at which masked balls are held has something to do with the matter. Before breakfast, people are prone to tell what they would like to be. In the retrospective twilight hour, they review the past and think of what they were. Only after dinner, or more accurately, after supper, do they show what they are.

I was startled one pleasant afternoon in Heidelberg by the apparition of a friend, with the announcement that a grand masked ball would that evening' go los;' and farther, that if I designed taking part in the fun, not an instant was to be lost in making due preparation. Not caring to go disguised, I resolved to enter simply 'en pékin,' as the French term the dressing in citizen's clothes. To be sure, the ball regulations insisted that every one in the room should wear a fancy dress; but this was allowed such a latitude of interpretation, that a false nose or a feather could be received as the fullest sort of full dress. The usual method, however, of evading this rule, was to attach to the left lappel of the coat a little fancy mask or masks, the size of a half-dollar, which were to be found in great variety at the different shops. We immediately went for this purpose to the magasin des modes kept by two pretty young Jewesses in the Haupt

strasse.

We found the establishment full of upper-class Burschen, busy in hiring dresses, pulling over fancy wares, and poussiring or talking soft nonsense to the two amiable proprietors. Fräulien received us graciously; conversed trimly and prettily in German-English, to the great astonishment of all by-standers ignorant of her philological attainments; and concluded by exhibiting several dozens of the articles we were in quest of. Our selections made, and the Knöpfe or buttons (as the students term money) delivered, we wended our way to the scene of action, and obtained tickets.