THE PENNY POST BOX. The Holy Scriptures still shall be a lamp unto thy feet, The Penny Post Box. OUR SERVANT GIRLS. I WANT to call some attention to these young women, for I feel very much interested in their welfare, and I fear they are getting spoiled very fast. They are not now what servant girls once were. Here and there you may meet with a rare specimen of her class, and find a trusty, tidy, modest, and honest servant girl; but I fear that generally they are become gay and giddy things, of very little use. But I will not say more about them myself just now. I would rather call the attention of your young female readers to what the Recorder of Hull, Samuel Warren, Esq., said a few weeks ago. That learned gentleman, charging a jury, observed:: "It is almost impossible, speaking in a general way, to get or retain a respectable, modest, and trustworthy female servant. Young women in that class of life are neglecting homely and useful acquirements, their minds are distempered and inflated, disturbing all their notions of dutiful, respectful, and happy subordination, and giving them a disgust for the plain paths of duty. Cases have recently come before us here, of young women who have stood weeping bcfore me bitterly at that bar, and afterwards in the gaol; but I know what they have said, what they have owned, as to their having felt 'above their places,' and 'been too fond of dress, which,' they said, 'had brought_them where they were.' Gentlemen, I ask you whether any observant person can walk the streets of our cities and towns on Sundays, when shoals of servant girls are abroad, without feelings of pity and disgust? There you see them, aping the absurdities of their superiors in station, with lace or make-believe-lace peticoats, crinoline, kid gloves, parasols, and preposterous headdresses. What must be passing through their minds as they strut along, thus bedizened, inviting imputations on their character? Whence come the funds to supply this paltry finery? They easily become a prey to the profligate, and disable themselves from resisting the opportunity of robbing their mistresses and masters. Gen. tlemen, you know, and if you do not, I do, that I am here touching an evil of serious and rapidly-increasing magnitude-one sapping the foundation of virtue and character in a great and indispensable class of society. But you will say, 'What is the remedy for it?' FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Why, I will tell you. First of all, let their betters cease to set them an example of a preposterous and paltry love of finery, which they themselves are often as little able to afford as their inferiors, at all events without shamefully and cruelly wasting the means of busbands and fathers. Let mistresses steadily and resolutely set their faces against finely-dressed servants. A general combination with this view, in even a month or two, would be of incalculable importance. Do not let quickly-cast-off fashionable clothing be given to servants, but be otherwise and charitably disposed of. Let lords and ladies-let gentle and simple-in their respective spheres of influence, inaugurate a more rational and wholesome state of things with reference to education, and then we may have a chance of again seeing that charming feature of an English domestic establishment-a trustworthy female servant." Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. England had the high honour of beginning and carrying on this great work of spreading the Word of God over the earth. May we not hope that the Most High will never permit it to be interrupted by the invasion of French infidels and papists, and their savage African soldiers! Hints. BE PUNCTUAL.-There are few things which help to establish a man's character better than a strict regard to punctuality. EVIL-MINDED MEN will say of others, in order to damage them, what they wish were true rather than what is true. OPEN THE DOOR of your heart to a little vice, and a big one will squeeze itself in along with it. GIFTS TO THE POOR should flow like oil, gently and quietly. He who gives with angry words is like the unruly cow, which gives her milk and then kicks over the pail. ANGER.-The best way to manage an angry feeling when it rises up suddenly is to put it off for the present, that you may have time to FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. think about it, and then you may find your best plan will be to let it die out. THE WORLD IS FULL OF SUF. FERERS.-You may not meet them in the streets; but you need not go far to find them if you wish to help and comfort them. Visit them, and you will be to them as angels of mercy. SELFISH PEOPLE are never contented, never happy. They are always fretting because they cannot grasp more; and never know the happiness felt by those who do good to others. HE IS A WISE AND HAPPY MAN who, having food and raiment, is content with his lot; who envies no man, and feels that, taking all things together, he would rather be where he is than anywhere else. Gems. ETERNITY is an awful word. What does it mean? With regard to God it means his habitation-with regard to you it means never-ending joy or woe. Which? To PREPARE FOR ETERNITY is, or ought to be, the one great business of your life. Have you set about it? Ask God, for Christ's sake, to help you, and he will. DURING YOUR LIFE-TIME, how much may be done! You may learn the value of your soul, the guilt of your sins, the love of the Saviour, and be made meet for eternal glory! SOME MEN ACT as if to work, eat, drink, and sleep, were all they had to do, forgetting that brutes can do these things as well or better than they. In vain does God and Christ, the Bible and the Gospel, invite them to an angel's life. THE CHRISTIAN HAS HOPE-a good and well-founded hope of a better life than this. Christ died to purchase it, and lives to bestow it. That is enough for him; he leaves all the rest to God. TIME. What is it? To you it is only a longer or shorter term of life on earth. That over, you have done with it for ever. How are you using it? LET GOD GUIDE YOU. I could write twenty cases, said a pious man, where I wished God had not done with me as he did. Now I see that it was all for the best. DONT THINK that because you have not all you ask of God that he will not hear you, or is angry with you. No such thing: he knows, as your Father, what is best for his child. Poetic Selections. THE BEGGAR'S DEATH. On riches, honour, pleasure, strife, As naked it he entered; A faith in Christ unshaken. Yet God for his great day of grace Is this poor name retaining, That here in want I languish, Find comfort in my anguish ; THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. ON THE DEATH OF TWO YOUNG MEN. KEEP holy thou the sabbath-day Is the command that's given; Thousands give loose to their desires, And fancy all is well, The path that leads to hell. With sinners often God long bears, But sometimes suddenly destroys, One sabbath-day not long ago, To three young men, who sadly did For on that day they hired a boat, That ev'ning when returning home, They little thought that some of them Through some mishap the boat upset, Had they the Lord's command obey'd, This awful death they had not met, Upon the sabbath-day. May all from this a warning take, Walk in the path which leads to life, But O, if you should still resolve Consider, you cannot escape Newport, I. of W. J. D. THE NOBLE COBBLER. NOT a nobleman who became a cobbler, but a cobbler who became a NOBLE-MAN. JOSEPH WATKINS, a resident of Bromyard, near Stoke-Editb, was a shoemaker by trade. By hard industry, economy, and diligence, he had acquired a small sum of money. There was in the same neighbourhood, and of the same little society of christians, a young female, a domestic servant in a respectable family. Her mistress, dying, bequeathed Mary £20, in testimony of respect, and as a reward for her faithful services. Her master had then an aged mother who lived with him. He said to Mary, "If you will remain and take care of my mother during her life, when she dies you shall have £20 more." To this proposal Mary assented, remarking, "Master's word is as good as his bond." The object of her special care did not long survive; and Mary became possessed of the sum of £40, in addition to some savings from her wages. An attachment was formed between Joseph and Mary, which ripened into marriage; in which union they were happy together more than forty years. The following particulars respect the appropriation of their money, and their subsequent proceedings in the practical acknowledgment of God with it. Joseph had looked round on the moral condition of his neighbours. He deeply mourned over their spiritual destitution. He earnestly desired to do something for their benefit by the establishment among them of means of grace similar to those which at Stoke had been so great a blessing to himself. He thought he would, if possible, purchase a small freehold, that he might open his own house for the worship of God, and have no interruption by landlord or anybody else. In a short time two properties were advertised for sale by auction at an inn. Joseph attended the sale, expecting that they would be offered in separate lots, intending to make a bid for the smaller one; but, to his great disappointment, he found they were to be sold together, and therefore abandoned his intention of bidding, as he had not the means of paying so large a sum as would be required. The business began, the conditions of sale were stated, and bidders invited. The auctioneer, observing the young shoemaker, somewhat humorously said, "Come, Watkins, wont you give us a bid?" To which Joseph replied, "I certainly intended |