THY WILL BE DONE.

THY will be done," our lips are trained to saying;
My will be done our urgent hearts implore;
But while we look for gifts to crown such praying,
God's No has crushed us-we will pray no more.

We're slow to learn that we have asked insanely;
Misread the text; and so reversed the spell
Of benediction meant for all-not mainly
That I and mine may in its affluence dwell.

That we must loose the idols we are holding,
Ere we can rightly lift our hands in prayer,
Though life
go with it, and our arms unfolding
That dear embrace, drop nerveless with despair.

When, swooning downward, prone before God's altar
Our eyes close blindly, and we think all's done,
An arm uplifts us; and our steps that falter
Are guided forth-and lo! a day begun.

With morning brightness all the East is burning, Although but now we deemed the daylight dead; And, up the rugged steeps our way discerning, We ask for guidance, and for daily bread.

Not bread alone, but all good gifts bestowing, God's angel sends us strengthened on our way, With sacrificial wine life's cup o'erflowing,

And palms kept clean from idols, let us pray.

WOMEN OF THE TIMES.

In anticipating the numerous and important revolutions the present national crisis is destined to effect, it may not be amiss to consider what will be its influence upon the development of female character and intellect.

It has long been the complaint of woman that the sphere in which she moved presented little stimulus to mental exertion; that her laudable ambitions found few sources of gratification, and no adequate rewards; that if she aspired to any thing beyond the labors of her nursery and household, she was met with sarcasm from one sex, and rebuffs from the other; while the scanty pittance reluctantly doled out to her for all kinds of labor, whenever necessity compelled her to rely upon her own exertions, has been a sharp criticism upon the chivalry of those claiming to be her natural protectors, but who have been the first to denounce her for the independence poverty compelled her to assume

While we believe a woman faithfully discharging her social and domestic duties is fulfilling the very highest

mission it is in her power to compass, since it is the one her Maker evidently assigned her, still we cannot be unmindful of the external pressure of public events upon her destiny, or of the development, both moral and intellectual, they must necessarily accomplish. If ladies have murmured at the narrow limits of their homeinfluences, gentlemen have murmured quite as loudly at the insipidity of our conversation, and the circumscribed range of reflections in which our minds seem always to be revolving. Nor can we resist the conviction that this imputation is well founded, when we listen day after day to the small talk of our drawing rooms, and find ourselves enlightened upon nothing beyond the fashions, the misdeeds of domestics, and the sagacity of a French poodle. That this plebian mental condition is not the necessary result of woman's domestic position is the more certain, since the larger portion of our most gifted female authors and artistes have originated from those classes of society which are more or less accustomed to labor; and very many of the happiest inspirations of poesy have welled up spontaneously, while the hands mechanically performed their menial offices.

It is the misfortune of our country-women that society and parental influence encourage young persons to resign the healthy discipline of the school room, while they are yet mentally and physically unfitted for the onerous duties

with which they are so early invested. In this precocious pressure lies the real germ of mediocrity; and it is only when parents become discreet, and society judicious, that youth will be impressed that something more is required for home happiness, than a beautiful face or a golden fleece.

Since the women of the revolution manufactured their linen, moulded bullets for their defenders, and braved death for their little ones, American ladies have experienced no hardships calculated to bring out the innate strength of female character. Their minds have become too morbid and imaginative, their hearts too sensitive and exacting, and the result of both has been a painful reaction upon the physique, making them hot house buds, where nature designed them for prairie roses. The evils of the present crisis will fall heavily upon our sex. Woman must exchange her dream-life for real sacrifices, hardships and sufferings. For almost every victim that falls upon the field of blood, a wife or mother is left to assume his responsibilities, together with the support of his daughters and sons. Her experiences will be new and bitter, but beneath all the supineness and helplessness of female character, there is concealed a power of endurance, a submission and adaptation to suffering, which seldom fails to buoy her up, amidst the deepest waters of affliction. These will avail her in her hour of