When, yielding to thy soothing power, We thank thee for this silv'ry moon- We thank thee for the varied charm And humbly pray thee, Lord, to warm We thank thee that our minds perceive Oh, teach us how we may believe, We thank thee at this close of day That leads to thee and heaven. Soon after, the boat stopped. There was dear grandmother to receive them. The party parted with the stranger, who first shook them cordially by the hand, and handed Mr. Friendly a card on which was "B. Blanchard, Oculist." In less than an hour Edward, Jane, and Willie were snug in bed. What think you occupied their thoughts before they fell asleep? Yours ever affectionately, [To be continued.] A FATHER. ERRATA IN THE LAST No. Page 176, line 16 from top, for "these" read "their" 178, last line but one, omit "and" GENTLE RUTH AND ROUGH REUBEN. I MUST leave you to imagine the mingled Reuben had gone to bed with a heavy heart, for he had left his mother in London to procure medical advice, and for the first time in his life he was alone with strangers. You must recollect he had always been a spoiled child, and accustomed from his infancy to exact submission from all whom he chose to consider his inferiors. Yet there were in his character the germs of many good and noble qualities, which had been almost choked by VOL. I. 9 the weeds which his early bad training had produced. Happily for his eternal state, as well as his temporal welfare, Providence had, before it was too late, appointed him a new home, where the better feelings of his nature would be called forth. Poor little Ruth! how her heart beat, as she tripped along next morning, at her father's side, up the avenue leading to the great house. Silly little Ruth! she felt rather patronizing as she remembered that she was to act as a sort of juvenile mentor to the young Sir Reuben, whom she fancied would enter at once into all her projected plans. She thought, too, that she should still hold the same position at Elm Park that she had ever done. Her father whispered in her ear, as he took leave of her at the entrance, "God bless you, darling; but remember that every thing in this life has its shadow as well as its sunshine, and it is good for us that it is so.-You will understand this better by and by." Ruth shook her head laughingly, and replied. “Oh, dear papa, mine is all sunshine. My shadows will not come yet, so do not look grave; I shall have a fine deal to tell you to-night when I come home." In the hall she met Dennis, the butler, a trusty old servant, who had lived in the family from his youth. His hair had grown grey in the service of his mistress, and for her sake and her lost son's, he had determined to devote himself to the young lad, whose arrival had imparted to her broken-down spirit new life and hope. He loved Ruth, too; for who did not that knew her? 66 Well, dear," he said, as he took her hat and shawl, and helped her with a kind smile to smooth her curls; "well, dear, we shall have fine doings now the young master has come home, our lady looks so bright this morning that I scarcely know her; but your nose will be out of joint a bit, I warrant." Ruth looked up at him, completely mystified, and involuntarily raising her hand to her face, "what does that mean, Dennis.' The man, who was a sort of privileged person in the house, laughed at her sweet simplicity, as he called it, and opening the door, whispered in her ear, "If you are in any trouble come to me, and I will help you if I can." Ruth thanked him, but hoped she should not want it. Reuben was sitting on Ruth's seat at his grandmama's feet; her beautiful dissected map, (her last birth-day present from Lady Grace,) scattered about the room; her portfolio of drawings turned over in direful confusion, and the boy himself making a paper boat of one of them. You may wonder how and why we had permitted all this disorder; but we had left the young gentleman for half an hour to 234 the weeds which his early eds which 227 appearance ed and her sweet elight. A stroll in osed. "Come along," top to pick up all those them a kick, "ring the bell be sure; he used to wait upon of course he will wait upon me. will put away the pictures," thrusting in confusion into the portfolio. Ruth's eading look at me awakened my compassion. The drawings were her own, and intended as a surprise to her father; for, finding she had a taste for this art, she had been my pupil, in secret, for some months. I promised to restore all to order as well as I could, and the children set off together. My heart misgave me a little, I confess, as I watched their retreating forms from the window. I wondered whether they would return as good friends as they left us. Reuben's selfishness would, I expected, so distress and puzzle my little Ruth as to render her really |