and to leave his impress upon so much of the all that has been accomplished for the progress of man as has Lord Brougham. Think of it! Fifty years ago the leading scholar, orator and statesman of Great Britain, and yet to-day strong physically, and in perfect health; clear and vigorous in intellect, still holding his high place in the forum of that great nation, and on the rostrum, as a gallant leader in all the great social and political reforms; and still prominent among the active literary and scientific men of this teeming, working age! Can the life of such a man be other than full of rich and profitable lessons? ing in his great speeches nearly every imporportant reform since made. At the general election on the accession of William IV. to the throne, stood for Yorkshire. Was now known as "Glorious Harry Brougham, the Leader of the People." In 1830 became Lord Chancellor, and introduced great reforms in the matter of Government expenditures. In 1834 went out of office with the other members of the whig ministry; since which time he has devoted himself, with unremitting energy, to the interests of popular education, the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, the repeal of the corn law, and to the advocacy, in the House of Lords and before the Let us glance a moment at the history of people, of such measures as have tended to his career. the prosperity and glory of the British nation; thus fairly winning, and by common consent wearing, the proud title of "Patriarch of Law Reform." After this remarkable record of accompishment, the question naturally arises, How has it been made possible? The answer is, by virtue of extraordinary natural endowments and of fortunateness of time. Born September 18, 1778. In 1796-7-8 wrote important papers on light and on difficult mathematical questions, which were published by the philosophical societies of EngLord Brougham is the author of numerous land and France. Studied law and was ad- works of great value on educational, scienmitted as a member of the Edinburgh Society tific, religious and political themes, and still of Advocates in 1800; in which year, also, he continues, with unwearied pen and unfalterhelped to start the Edinburgh Review, and ing speech, to employ his keen and powerful was called to the English bar. In 1810 enter- intellect and his vast stores of accumulated ed House of Commons, as member for Camel-knowledge for the good of his country and ford; took position against the Government the world. party, demanding the suppression of the slave trade, Catholic emancipation, various reforms in the government of British India, and the abolition of flogging in the army. From 1816 to 1820, in connection with duties in Parliament, gave himself, wish great zeal and ability, to the organization of important agencies Born of healthy, long-lived ancestors, Lord for the advancement of popular education. Brougham was even more fortunate in his In 1820 espoused the cause of Queen Caroline physical endowments than were any of them. and won great applause by his masterly de- As he stands to-day, he is full six feet and fence of her rights. In 1823 helped to found perfectly erect, with broad shoulders, deep the first Mechanic's Institute. In 1825 pub-chest and limbs more than usually muscular lished works on the Education of the People, for a man eighty-five years of age, and poswhich went rapidly through twenty editions; sessed of more vigor and energy than half the was elected Lord Rector of the University of men of this country at forty-five. There is, Glasgow over Sir Walter Scott, the opposing at times, a little tremulousness of the head, candidate, and initiated the London Univer- showing that his strong and vigorous frame sity, on the new basis of freedom from reli- is not entirely reckless of the fleeting years, gious tests and preferences. From 1825 to and his fine head of rather wilful, wavy hair 1830 devoted himself to law reforms, indicat- is sprinkled with frost; but otherwise there nothing, in either his appearance or gait that would mark him as a man of over fifty years. What has been the force of his vitality and power of endurance may be judged by the historic fact, that, when a candidate for parliament in Yorkshire, in 1830,-at which date he was over fifty, he travelled, by stage, 120 miles and spoke at eight election meetings in one day, and yet appeared at the York assizes next morning perfectly fresh and ready for more work! come by an amount equal to £700 per annum. As a writer and orator, Brougham is characterized by order, logical power, perspicuity, accuracy, and persuasive eloquence. It was our pleasure to hear him several times at the sessions of the Social Science Congress, of which he was President, and on each occasion he well sustained his high reputation. His voice is stll full and heavy, his utterence clear, distinct and pretty rapid, his gesticulation earnest, emphatic and forc His habits of body have always been per-ible; the clenched fist being steadily and resfectly temperate and systematic, so that what of health and strength nature gave him has been so remarkably preserved. olutely shaken whenever he felt disposed to prove himself indisputably in the right. Socially, Lord Brougham is dignified and stately, yet gracious, genial and entirely free from that self-consciousness which unpleas To the physiognomist, his face, as presented by the artist, speaks for itself. Though the portrait hardly does him justice, it is, never-antly characterizes too many men after they theless, quite correct, and would enable a have attained to admitted greatness. It was stranger to identify him in the streets of Lon- our privilege to speak with him several times don or anywhere else. on educational and political subjects, espe "But tell us," says one, "of his present attitude towards America.' The head, unusually large, long and angu- cially on the progress of free institutions in lar-as if hewn out for a special purpose-England and America, and we were each and with decided prominence above the eyes; time more and more favorably impressed by the full, clear, steady eye; the large and the greatness of his genius and the real noblestrong, bony nose, square at the end and broad ness of his nature. in the nostrils; the breadth of the mouth; the length, fullness and firmness of the lips; the prominence of the chin, and the intellect- Very well. Brougham has never been an ual, resolute, severe and commanding expres-out-and-out radical; neither has he been a sion of countenance,-all these would satisfy crystalized conservative. His reforms were you, at a glance, that Brougham is great by always conservatively planned and carried endowment, and not by accident. While the shape of his head above and posteriorly could hardly fail to suggest to the student of phrenological science those pure and lofty moral principles which have made him so signally eminent as the heroic, persistent champion of the cause of truth and justice. He has ever been unapproachable, by even the most shrewd and influential; schemers, for measures not demonstrably right, and the charge of dereliction of duty was never made against him by even his bitterest enemies. on. Things must be done decently and in order. Haste and unauthorized instrumentalities are unbecoming and unworthy of great ends. This seems to have been his constitutional creed, and his life has always been consistent therewith. He was a reformer, but would always insist that his reforms be constitutionally effected. And so, when the repeal of the corn law was agitated, he fought the consrvatives with one hand and restrained the radicals with the other; denouncing the law and laboring like a Titan for its reThe impartiality of his justice is well illus- peal, and yet denouncing the League as uncnstitrated by the fact that, when Lord Chancellor, tutional and warning the people against the he instituted and inflexibly carried forward, danger of popular combinations against the reforms in law which diminished his own in-supreme authority of the Goverment. 1 1 It is because of this natural conservatism, made still more conservative, no doubt, by age, that he now fears-or did a year ago the going down of our Republic in anarchy and ruin. To us it seems absurd that he should doubt of our ultimate success; to him, ignorant as he must be, to a considerable extent, of the real character and temper of our people, his misgivings are founded in reason illustrated by history. That he is really a friend to America no one can reasonably doubt, who remembers his matchless eulogy on Washington, and the readiness he has ever shown to avail himself of the valuable results of American genius, even to the introduction of our civil code of procedure into England. If Lord Brougham were strong and brave with all the strength and courage of a quarter of a century ago, he would unquestionably be our ablest advocate and defender to-day; as it is, it becomes us to remember his long life of heroic deeds, to think of him gratefully as the scholar, orator, statesman and philanthropist of two full generations, and to cover this last and almost single error of a sublime life with the mantle of a noble charity. A Compassionate Judge. A very learned and compassionate judge in Texas, on passing sentence on John Jones, who had been convicted of murder, concluded his remarks as follows:-"The fact is Jones, the court did not intend to order you to be executed before next spring, but the weather is very cold; our jail, unfortunately, is in a very bad condition; much of the glass in the windows is broken; the chimneys are in such a dilapidated state that no fire can be made to render your apartments comfortable; besides, owing to the great number of prisoners, not more than one blanket can be allowed to each; to sleep sound and comfortably therefore would be out of the question. In consideration of these circumstances, and wishing to lessen your sufferings as much as possible, the court in the exercise of its humanity and compassion, hereby orders you to be executed to-morrow morning, as soon after breakfast as may be convenient to the sheriff and agreeable to you." BARBARA FRIETCHIE. The Atlantic Monthly for October furnishes the following story of Lee's invasion of Maryland, by Whittier: Up from the meadows rich with corn, The clustered spires of Frederick stand, To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, Up rose old Barbara Fritchie then, Bravest of all in Frederick town, It shivered the window, pane and sash; Ever its torn folds rose and fell THE HOME. THE NEW. BY MRS. HOYT. Now what is new that bells should ring That all the folks their gifts should bring, That fair young girls should wear their best, That at the hearth, so often scant, There's room for children in their best, And room for One who makes no vaunt? Ah, He it is who strikes the strokes And lifts from off these fair young folks Who hides from dame and sire and guest That, truth to tell, there's nothing new Save as the moment comes to me, and you. Mrs. Hopeful on Slovenly Husbands. "What a dissatisfied set of beings farmers' wives are", said a lady friend the other day. Whereupon I immediately took up the defensive. "And have they not good reasons, many times, for being dissatisfied, since the majority of their husbands are as slovenly as they well can be, and make a great deal of unnecessary work, which a little forethought, on their part, might prevent?" "Well," says she, "farmers cannot be expected to work without making some litter, nor to go dressed up while about their work." "I think," says she, "they are more fond of display." Ah, but farmers' wives are not more so than other men's wives; but one thing is certain, they have more to vex them, that is if they happen to love cleanliness. For instance, when a man comes in from the barn yard with his feet covered with dirt, and, instead of cleaning them,stalks right in, just the same, and plants himself as composedly as if he had on a pair of nicely polished boots." "What, with all that dirt on them ?" "Certainly, and on a nice brussels carpet, too; while his poor wife sits by fidgeting the while, for fear lest her company should observe it; caring more for the exposure of his slovenly traits than for the injury done the carpet." "But farmer's wives should not have Brussels carpets." BY MRS. HOYT. I doubt if one new thing can be said about New Year's day. I doubt, too, if any one of the old things, however good, that will be said, all over the land, and written for the millions "Admitting all that, yet they might, at least, get into a decent coat, when they go away; especially when their wives accompany them, said wives being expected to change their dresses and tidy up generally, and all within a very limited space of time, since their lords are always in a hurry. Querry-who read, will be as good as down in the are women naturally more neat than men, or silence of our own thoughts is the thing we are they prouder ?" think. The chief significance of the day would ble and run from the thought of death, while with open eyes we face the awful mystery of life, because it is only in the now and then of years that our eyes and the eyes of the invisable meet. HEALTH AND DISEASE. [A valuable article intended for this department was unfortunately crowded out in the "making up."-ED.] WIT AND WISDOM. be lost to you and to me, lost to the world, if Louis XIV, being extremely harassed by the repeated solicitations of a veteran officer for promotion, said one day, loud enough to be heard, "That gentleman is the most troublesome officer I have in my service." "That is precisely the charge," said the old man, "which your majesty's enemies bring against me." Accident does very little toward the production of any great result in life. Though sometimes what is called "a happy hit" may be made by a bold venture, the old and common highway of steady industry and application is the only safe road to travel. I do not know anything about it; I do not think you do; but in the midst of the festivities of every New Year there is a deepening of that fearfully strange thing we call experience. As children from the dark, we trem al. Ladies, please be sweet, but don't be too form- breeze' when his wife begins to put on 'airs' Some late advertisers of patented pills, By way of persuading the public to buy, 'Tis the highwayman's cry of "Your purse or your life!', "Is that a lightning bug in the street ?" asked a very short-sighted old lady. "No grandma," said a pert little miss, "it's a big bug with a cigar." DOMESTIC ECONOMY. A Talk in the Kitchen.-About Pastries. BY MRS. HOYT. Almost all families use pies, for almost all persons like them. When you are going to have company, and when you want to do a nice thing for your own folks, you give an extra touch to the pie. It is commonly supposed that a good pie is a very proper finish for a good dinner, as well as an amende for a |