t
joy of Christian life.

It was a glorious day for Madisonville when those six young mechanics
met in the village barroom and concocted the plan for their society.
And the good has worked in two ways. The members find themselves
happier, healthier, and stronger, for having given up their pipes and
cups; and the poor unfortunate ones of the town are once again basking
in the sunlight of peace, content, and plenty.

How very many professed Christian churches there are in our land which
would be benefited by following the example of the six noble youths
who still stand at the head of the _Madisonville Benevolent Society_.

LIFE THAT LASTS.

They err who measure life by years
With false or thoughtless tongue.
Some hearts grow old before their time;
Others are always young.
'Tis not the number of the lines
On life's fast-filling page,
'Tis not the pulse's added throbs
Which constitute their age.

Some souls are serfs among the free,
While others nobly thrive;
They stand just where their fathers stood,
Dead, even while they live.
Others, all spirit, heart, and sense,
Theirs the mysterious power
To live in thrills of joy or woe
A twelve-month in an hour.

He liveth long who liveth well!
All other life is short and vain;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of living most for heavenly gain.
He liveth long who liveth well!
All else is being flung away;
He liveth longest who can tell
Of true things truly done each day.

AN INSTRUCTIVE ANECDOTE

Most young people are very fond of display in dress. Rings,
breastpins, and similar superfluities, are in great demand among them.
We have known a girl to spend a month's wages for a single article of
this kind, and a young man to run in debt for a cane when he had
scarcely clothing enough to appear respectable. The following story of
a successful merchant will show to such how these things look to
sensible people. Said he:

"I was seventeen years old when I left the country store where I had
'tended' for three years, and came to Boston in search of a place.
Anxious, of course, to appear to the best advantage, I spent an
unusual amount of time and solicitude upon my toilet, and when it was
completed, I surveyed my reflection in the glass with no little
satisfaction, glancing lastly and approvingly upon a seal ring which
embellished my little