Angel, is very near to them in that hour. During that pause
they have made a step toward heaven or toward hell, and an item has
been scored in the book which the day of judgment shall see opened.
They are the strong ones of the earth, the mighty for good or for
evil, those who know how to keep silence when it is a pain and a grief
to them; those who give time to their own souls, to wax strong against
temptation; or to the powers of wrath, to stamp upon them their
withering passage.

BY CURRER BELL.

TIME.

Life, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?
Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly!

What though Death at times steps in,
And calls our _best_ away?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway?
Yet hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell:
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair!

REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

_Vanity Fair, a Novel without a Hero. By W. M.
Thackeray. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1 vol. 8vo._

This is one of the most striking novels of the season. It bears little
resemblance in tone, spirit and object, to the other popular romances
of the day. The author follows in the track of Fielding rather than
Bulwer, and aims at representing the world as it is. Though his mind
is not creative, it is eminently delineative, and he has succeeded in
cramming into one volume a large variety of characters, each
expressing one of the different forms of worldliness, and all
belonging strictly to the world we live in. Though the novel thus
relates exclusively to the world, and indicates a most remarkable
knowledge of the selfish element in human nature, in the multitudinous
modifications which that element receives from individual
peculiarities, the general tone of the author himself is so far from
being worldly, that it is distinguished by singular manliness,
cheerfulness and generosity. There is nothing morbid, nothing of the
hater or t