h to destruction. They
start all the hours of the day, and all the hours of the night. There
are the freight trains; they go very slowly and very heavily; and
there are the accommodation trains going on toward destruction, and
they stop very often and let a man get out when he wants to. But
genteel idleness is an express train; Satan is the stoker, and Death
is the engineer; and though one may come out in front of it and swing
the red flag of "danger," or the lantern of God's Word, it makes just
one shot into perdition, coming down the embankment with a shout and a
wail and a shriek--crash, crash! There are two classes of people sure
of destruction: First, those who have nothing to do; secondly, those
who have something to do, but are too lazy or too proud to do it.

LOVE TO PRESIDE.

I have one more word of advice to give to those who would have a happy
home, and that is, let love preside in it. When your behavior in the
domestic circle becomes a mere matter of calculation; when the caress
you give is merely the result of deliberate study of the position you
occupy, happiness lies stark dead on the hearthstone. When the
husband's position as head of the household is maintained by loudness
of voice, by strength of arm, by fire of temper, the republic of
domestic bliss has become a despotism that neither God nor man will
abide. Oh, ye who promised to love each other at the altar, how dare
you commit perjury? Let no shadow of suspicion come on your affection.
It is easier to kill that flower than it is to make it live again. The
blast from hell that puts out that light leaves you in the blackness
of darkness forever.

A HOUSE NOT A HOME.

Here are a man and wife; they agree in nothing else, but they agree
they will have a home. They will have a splendid house, and they think
that if they have a house they will have a home. Architects make the
plan, and the mechanics execute it; the house to cost one hundred
thousand dollars. It is done. The carpets are spread, lights are
hoisted, curtains are hung, cards of invitation sent out. The horses
in gold-plated harness prance at the gate; guests come in and take
their places; the flute sounds; the dancers go up and down; and with
one grand whirl the wealth and the fashion and the mirth of the great
town wheel amidst the pictured walls.

Ha! this is happiness. Float it on the smoking viands; sound it in the
music; whirl it in the dance; cast it on the snow of sculpture;