SPIRIT-WORLD?

BY A NEW CONTRIBUTOR.

Perhaps the World of Spirits
Is the invisible air,
And every soul inherits
Its endless portion there,
When mortal lays its mortal by,
And puts on immortality.

Then round us and above us
Unseen, the souls of those
That hate us and that love us
In motion or repose,
To plan and work our good or ill,
As when on earth, are busy still.

For Enmity surviveth
This transitory life;
Spirit with spirit striveth
In an unending strife;
All roots of evil planted now
Eternally shall live and grow.

So friendship ever liveth
Immortal as the soul,
And purer pleasure giveth
As longer ages roll;
And hope and joy and inward peace
Forever heighten and increase!

Our homes and dwelling-places,
The country of our birth,
The old familiar faces
Endeared to us on earth,
And every source and scene of joy
Our spirits' senses shall employ.

So shall our true affections,
To earthly objects given,
Form intimate connections
Between our world and heaven;
And all our long existence move
In an unbroken stream of love.

THE TYRANNY OF AFFECTION.

BY MRS. ENNSLO.

Methinks those who preach up the dignity of human nature, and expatiate
upon its original perfections, must look upon it through magic glasses: to
some perceptions at least, it presents even in its best estate a picture
of such abortive aims, such woful short-comings, such clouded brightness,
that even in those better natures, where we feel sure that the sun of
virtue _does_ shine, the noxious vapors of human frailty, pride in all its
various ramifications, selfishness under its many disguises, prejudice
with its endless excuses, etc., etc., do so envelope it that we cannot
hope to feel the warmth of its rays until some wholesome trial, some
aptly-apportioned cross, clear away these paralyzing influences and force
it into action.

What seems at the first glance freer from this dross than the love of man
to man? the love of the creature for his fellow; the ordained test of his
love to his Creator? What seems more preeminently pure than the affection
of the parent for the child, who owes him not only life but the nurture
which has maintained and elevated that life? Yet even here, even over this
fair garden of peace, the trail of the serpent may be detected. The
tyranny of deep affection is seen in every relation of life: we l