the chilling oath of the blasphemer may be heard now and then. The watchman's cry at night for the capture of the incendiary, and the shout of the abandoned victim and votary of sensuality break at times on the startled ear. The wary politician still engages in disseminating slander and falsehood; and the foe of Christianity is seen distributing the upas fruit of his destructive doctrine. But are the vices of the present day so great as heretofore? Certainly, some are not. The temperance reformation has given a death-blow to some of them. It has stilled the waves of anguish in the bosom of many a devoted wife, and hushed the cries of her starving children. It has thinned the ranks of the pauper host; rendered tenantless the dungeon, and given to reason's sway the brain of the hapless maniac. The dwelling once filled. with the noxious and sickening vapors of intoxicating beverages, is now redolent of the perfume of flowers. The child, once taught to lisp the curses of a drunken parent, is now taught to syllable the words: "Our Father who art in heaven,” with a sweet delight and in tones of gentle rev erence, The abandonment of strong drink by thousands in our land has lessened many sinful habits. In numerous instances profanity has ceased. It has cured the ruinous disposition to gamble, and prevented the shedding of innocent blood. But from other premises we may reason that society is improving. The increasing attention given to the cause of education indicates it. The cultivation of the mind has a direct tendency to chasten the thoughts, improve and refine the taste, and elevate and ennoble all the intellectual faculties. The encouragement given to ladies is a great incentive to the dissemination of knowledge. It is found that the human mind has no sex; that woman has keen sensibilities, pure and elevated sentiments and affections, and mental powers that are strong and vigorous. The wise in every en lightened country acknowledge that woman gives tone to society. Then, can she, with all the better faculties of her soul expanded and refined, allow the car of moral reform to remain motionless? Impossible. So long as the portals of literature and science. those powerful engines of virtue and exaltation of character, are thrown open to both sexes; so long as the votaries of learning increase in number. and add more and more rapidly to their store of intellectual treasures, just so long will the whole train of morals be in continued and rapid progression. Lowell, January, 1842. From the Green Mountain Gem. WINTER. Talk The winter months-the time for sleigh-riding, coasting, and all kinds of frolic and pastime, is to many the pleasantest season of the year. not of the beauty of those tropic climates where endless summer reigns -"Where grain and flower and fruit Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er" an eternity of unmitigated, enervating heat may do for poets and mad romancers, but we are fond of variety; we prefer our own rugged climate. Our short summer, which comes at a moment's warning, as it were, flinging flowers and sunshine over mountain and valley, and making the desert sing for joy, is rendered more delightful by the contrast with the cold and storms of winter months. The clear blue skies, sparkling snows and bracing winds of our winters bring with them an elasticity of the body, a lightness of spirit, that are never experienced in the drowsy lands of the sun." Hence, New England is a magazine of energy and enterprise for the whole country. Her sons. from battling with the difficulties that surround them; from overcoming the rigors of a despotic climate; from subduing the rocky steeps and barren plains, literally making "the wilderness blossom as the rose;" have acquired a reliance on their own powers; a boldness that has induced them to dare everything, and look upon no obstacle as insurmountable. Then give us our loved New England before all other lands. "Her sons, like the oaks of the forest, And like to the cliff-girdled waters So pure in the shallows of sand, Are the merry-eyed, rosy-cheeked daughters February, 1843. From the Green Mountain Gem. LIVING BY SPECULATION. A. B. F. H. Any man who does not procure an honest living by some productive industry, or by contributing as much to the convenience, knowledge and health of the laboring classes as he derives from their labors, is a drone and a nuisance upon society. This plan, too common in our country, of living by speculation on each other, is like the subsistence of the Kilkenny cats who ate each other up— all but the tips of their tails. Suppose that ten men should take their lodgings together at a public house and seek to make their living by gambling one with another at the same table. In this way nothing is produced, and in a short time some must become poor and unable to pay their bills, while the more crafty few would amass the money of those less fortunate. These could pay their bills a little longer than their ruined companions, but unless they leave the place their means ere long would be exhausted by the landlords bills and they also must fail. It is just so in that larger tavern, the world. Those who depend on speculation for a living do no good to society. On the contrary, they live by devouring others. And their own good fortune will not endure forever. Both themselves and those they have ruined will become objects of charity, or they will become desperate men and at length find a home in the penitentiary.-Editor. MAY DAY. A sweet tradition of olden time is that which sets apart, the first day of May as sacred to the floral goddess, and which prescribes an offering of the first flowers and fruits of the new year as the most suitable and sacred tribute to the shrine of that divinity. This custom, so pleasing in its origin and observance, we are glad to find still cherished by the sons and daughters of New England who, with all their inherent dislike for the customs of the mother country, cannot find it in their hearts to trespass upon this time-honored and hallowed usage. It is in fact a species of worship of the Creator, with the beauteous fields, with their smiling and ever changing drapery, and the glorious arch above for the temple. To the young this is a time of unusual interest-one to which they look forward with fond anticipations of delight. even from amid the frosts and snows of winter.Ed. G. M. Gem. From the American Protector. SUMMER. Summer, bright, blue-eyed summer,-has once more appeared. The trees have donned their vernal beauty. The turf is rich in its carpet of emerald pranked with thousands of wild-flowers, and the groves are vocal with the notes of nature's minstrels. The bee has left his winter dwelling, and in the bland balmy air roves from flower to flower. -"Sweet daffodils That come before the swallow dare, and take Now is the season for the worshipper of nature to leave the din of business, and wander in the secret byways where silence is sole monarch, and bud and blossom are blushing in their beauty; where, through the leafy canopy, the sunbeams penetrate like threads of glistening silver, and on every side flowers are breathing incense from their snowy petals; or, to dive into the deep and silent forests; to follow the windings of the joyous streamlets as they leap and dash along, freed from their icy fetters, sounding like "the music of the spheres, while the trout springs from their lucid bosoms, and the swallow dips his wing in their dewy treas ures. So, away to the green fields and dells, the lonely lanes and silent forests; forget the turmoil of business and the din of men; think and commune with your heart, till it overruns with gratitude to the Giver of all good, and you cherish not a thought but of happiness and bliss,-holy moments, which in after years will rise bright and beautiful spots in the desert of remembrance. The merry laugh of childhood, in all its artlessness, and innocence, and loveliness, and the happy songs of the joyous husbandman are ringing on every gale, which show that the heart is overflowing with gladness and is almost a stranger to sorrow. The cheek of beauty is suffused with a deeper and brighter carnation; the fire in the flashing eye of genius glows with a more intense |