associated comforts of our fireside. So when age has enfeebled the outward man, he joys to impart, and we to receive, the treasures of wisdom and experience which the inner man can afford. The variety which exists in the lives of individuals of course reduces this equal distribution of joys and sorrows to a rule containing, alas! many exceptions, occasioned by vices and follies, or peculiar calamities.

The conclusion at which we naturally arrive, from the above observations is, that life, at best, is in any stage of its progress a mixture of joy and sorrow, and that therefore, in order that we may proceed on our way rejoicing," we need a hope of some state of unalterable blessedness, beyond our present existence. We are often animated by anticipating that the turns of our path in our earthly pilgrimage will present a more cheering appearance, but of this we are uncertain, nor can we even assure ourselves we shall be permitted to travel much further, How much more, then, is the hope of happiness at the end of our journey, calculated to sustain and animate the mind!

We are warned by the quick succession of the stages of our ephemeral existence to improve the peculiar advantages each of them presents. The stages of life are not to be traced and retraced like those of coach travellers; at each fresh starting we leave for ever behind us the past, to be retrodden only by memory, and in that day of final retribution, when each period of our career will be present to our recollection.

66 Infancy, adolescence, manhood, age,
Are always moving onward, always losing
Themselves in one another, lost at length
Like undulations on the strand of death."

Let not then the almost imperceptible passing on from one stage to another, prevent our occasionally reflecting upon the progress we have made, and forming useful resolutions with regard to the stages we may have to travel. EMILY.

Contrast christianity with infidelity.

Christianity prevents us from falling into many of the snares of youth, by inculcating virtuous habits.-Infidelity teaches

us to say with the worldling, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

Christianity is a sure guide through a dark and sinful world.-Infidelity is full of obscurity and uncertainty.

Christianity shines brightest in the hour of affliction, by sweetening every bitter cup.-Infidelity, instead of affording consolation, fills that cup to the brim.

Christianity increases the enjoyments of life, by purifying and exalting them: but infidelity throws a damp upon every comfort.

Christianity gives hopes of rising again, to live with Christ for ever. Infidelity makes the future appear doubtful and gloomy. MARION.

REMARKABLE ACCOUNT OF A DEAF, DUMB, AND

BLIND GIRL IN AMERICA.

By far the most interesting object to be met with in the Hartford Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, is a poor girl named JULIA BRACE, who, in addition to being deaf and dumb, is also blind. She is a native of the immediate neighbourhood of the asylum. She is the only instance of so great a misfortune, of which any record is extant, except one European boy, by the name of James Mitchell. He was so irritable that few experiments could be tried for his benefit; but Julia Brace, it is said, has been mild and docile from her childhood. There is nothing disagreeable in her countenance, but her eyes, for ever closed, create a deficiency of expression. Her complexion is fair, her smile gentle and sweet, though of rare occurrence, and her person somewhat bent, when sitting, from her habits of fixed attention to her work. Many strangers have waited a long time to see her thread her needle, which is quite a mysterious process, and never accomplished without the aid of the tongue.

She was a daughter of exceedingly poor parents, who had several younger children, to whom she was in the habit of showing such offices of kindness as her own afflicted state admitted. Notwithstanding her blindness, she early evinced a close observation with regard to articles of dress, preferring

among those which were presented her as gifts, such as were of the finest texture. When the weather became cold, she would occasionally kneel on the floor of their humble dwelling, to feel whether the other children of the family were furnished with shoes and stockings, while she was without, and would express uneasiness at the contrast.

Seated on her little block, weaving strips of thin bark with pieces of leather and thread, which her father in his processes of making shoes rejected, she amused herself by constructing for her cat, bonnets and vandykes, not wholly discordant with the principles of taste. Notwithstanding her peculiar helplessness, she was occasionally left with the care of the young children, while her mother went out to the occupation of washing. It was on such occasions that little Julia evinced not only a maternal solicitude, but a skill in domestic legislation, which could not have been rationally expected. On one occasion she discovered that her sister had broken a piece of crockery, and imitating what she supposed would be the discipline of her mother gave the offender a blow. But placing her hand upon the eyes of the little girl, and ascertaining that she wept, she immediately took her in her arms, and with the most persevering tenderness, soothed her into good humour and confidence. Her parents were at length relieved from the burden of her maintenance, by some charitable individuals, who paid the expenses of her board with an elderly matron who kept a school for small children. Here her sagacity was continually on the stretch to comprehend the nature of their employments, and as far as possible, to imitate them. Observing that a great part of their time was occupied with books, she often held one be fore her sightless eyes with long patience. She would also spread a newspaper for her favorite kitten, and putting her finger on its mouth, and perceiving that it did not move like those of the scholars when reading, would shake the animal to express displeasure at its indolence and obstinacy. These circumstances, though trifling in themselves, reveal a mind active amid all the obstacles which nature had interposed. But her principal solace was in the employments of needlework and knitting, which she had learned at an early age to

practise. She would thus sit absorbed for hours, until it be came necessary to urge her to that exercise that is requisite to health. Counterpanes beautifully made by her, of small pieces of calico, were repeatedly disposed of, to aid in the purchase of her wardrobe; and small portions of her work were sent by her benefactors as presents into various parts of the Union, to show of what neatness of execution a blind girl was capable.

It was occasionally the practice of gentlemen, who from pity or curiosity visited her, to make trial of her sagacity by giving her their watches, and employing her to restore them to the right owner. They would change their position with regard to her, and each strive to take the watch which did not belong to him-but though she might at the same time hold two or three, neither stratagem nor persuasion would induce her to yield up either of them, except to the person from whom she had received it. There seemed to be a principle in the tenacity with which she adhered to this system to give every one his own, which may probably be resolved into that moral honesty, which has ever formed a conspicuous part of her character. Though nurtured in extreme poverty, and after her removal from the parental roof, in the constant habit of being in contact with articles of dress or food, which strongly tempted her desires, she has never been known to appropriate to herself, without permission, the most trifling object. In a well educated child this would be no remarkable virtue; but in one who has had the benefit of no moral training to teach her to respect the right of property, and whose perfect blindness must often render it difficult even to define them, this incorruptible honesty is truly remarkable. There is also connected with it, a delicacy of feeling or scrupulousness of conscience, which renders it necessary in presenting her any gift, to assure her repeatedly by a sign which she understands that it is for her, ere she will consent to accept it.

Continuing to become an object of increased attention, and her more remote situation not being convenient for the access of strangers, application was made for her admission into the Asylum, and permission was granted by the directors,

in the summer of 1825. After her reception into that peaceful refuge, some attempts were made by a benevolent instructer to teach her the alphabet, by means of letters both raised above and indented beneath a smooth surface. But it was in vain that she punctually repaired to the school-room, and daily devoted hour after hour to copying their forms with pins upon a cushion. However accurate her delineations sometimes were, they conveyed no idea to the mind sitting in darkness. It was, therefore, deemed wiser to confine her attention to those few attainments, which were within her sphere, than to open a warfare with nature in those avenues which were so decidedly sealed.

It has been observed that persons who are deprived of a particular sense, have additional quickness or vigor bestowed on those which remain. Thus blind persons are often distinguished by particular exquisiteness of touch, and the deaf and dumb who gain all their knowledge through the eye, concentrate as it were, their whole soul in that channel of observation. With her, whose eye, ear, and tongue are alike dead, the capabilities both of touch and smell are exceedingly heightened. Especially the latter seems almost to have acquired the properties of a new sense, and to transcend even the sagacity of a spaniel. Yet, keeping in view all the aid which these limited faculties have the power of imparting, some of the discoveries and exercises of her intellect are still, in a measure, unaccountable,

As the abodes which from her earliest recollection she had inhabited, were circumscribed and humble, it was supposed that at her first reception into the asylum she would testify surprise at the comparative spaciousness of the mansion. But she immediately busied herself in quietly exploring the size of the apartments, and the height of the staircases. She even kneeled, and smelled to the thresholds; and now, as if by the union of a mysterious geometry with a powerful memory, she never makes a false step upon a flight of stairs, or enters a wrong door, or mistakes her seat at the table.

Among her various excellences, neatness and love of order are conspicuous. Her simple wardrobe is systematically arranged, and it is impossible to displace a single article in