ith hope of better days, and bidding the man take a
hasty meal below, took him with him, and helped with his own hands to
load a cart with bed, bedding, clothes, furniture, and food for the
family.

The man was gone, and the merchant for the first moment, reflected on
all that had passed. He was relieved of his misery by doing something
for another, and out of mere selfishness he resolved on doing good to
others, to prevent the necessity for drowning himself.

He employed the man in his stable, removed the family near, and placed
them in a cottage, sending the children to school. Soon he sought out
misery to relieve, and was led to consider the cause of all
misery--sin. He turned to God and found him, and sought to turn his
fellow sinners.

He aided every good word and work, and was the humble teller of his
own humbling story. He had been a merchantman seeking goodly pearls,
and having found the pearl of great price, he went and sold all that
he had, and bought it; and the retired earthly merchant became an
active heavenly merchant.

"Better the valley with peace and love
Than the desolate heights some souls attain;
Lonely is life on the hills above
The valley lands and the sunny plain.
What is fame to love? Can it satisfy
The longing and lonely hearts of men?
On the heights they must hunger and starve and die,
Come back to the valley of peace again!"

EFFECT OF NOVEL READING

On the romantic borders of a beautiful river, in one of our Northern
States, there is situated an elegant mansion. Spacious grounds
surround the dwelling, and, what is not usual in this country, it has
a terraced garden. This is a hill, situated at the side of the house,
presenting a mass of living verdure. You ascend gradually, step by
step, each platform, as it were, richly embroidered with brilliant
flowers.

In this retreat of elegance and retirement, lived Mr. and Mrs. M.,
their daughter, and a French governess. No expense or labor had been
spared to make this daughter an accomplished woman; but not one
thought was ever bestowed upon the immortal interests of her soul. At
the age of sixteen, she was beautiful and intelligent, but utterly
destitute of all religious principle. Enthusiastically fond of
reading, she roamed her father's spacious library, and selected
whatever books best pleased her. Of an imaginative turn, earnest and
impassioned, hers was the very mind that required th