your hearts. Diligently, therefore, carry the advice here given into your daily practice; and you will have every reason to hope, that by the help of these schools, your children will, with God's grace, grow up to be a blessing to you, a comfort to themselves, useful to their country, and faithful disciples of their Lord and Master, who will hereafter receive them to himself in his heavenly kingdom-and when you yourselves shall be summoned to give an account of your stewardship, before the judgment-seat of Christ, you will have the comfort of being able to say, "Lord, of the children whom thou gavest me,-by my own carelessness and bad example, have I lost none." R. Y.

SIR,

A SONNET.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor.

Hayes-ford, Kent, August 20, 1831.

OLIVER Goldsmith, in the original copy of one of his popular works, is reported to have written the following sentence:

"I soon ceased to aim so eagerly at novelty, on discovering that what was new, in other authors, was also, for the most part, false."

That passage he omitted, upon publication; the reasons for which omission Dr. Johnson always professed himself unable to comprehend.

I mention this circumstance, Sir, as a sort of apology for sending you a sonnet, the general train of thought pervading which is any thing but new. Still, should a portion of it be not altogether of the most common description; or, should the ideas (such as they are) be clothed in language differing from the exact terms of any known writer; or, above all, should

1

A Walk in the Country in Autumn.

475

those ideas be expressed in a sincere and devout spirit, perhaps you may make some use of the accompanying lines.

I am, Sir,

Yours very sincerely,

LIONEL LAUNder.

Written at an ancient Farm which had formerly been a Manor

house.

Around my massy porch luxuriant plays
The leafy clematis of purple hue;

And hardy rose, with blossom ever new,
The rose of China, spreads in many a maze:
Thrice welcome guest! by thee our rustic ways
Are well adorn'd; through winter's murky days
Our lowliest cots thy kindly influence shew.
Oh then-while nature's varied charms we view,
(For every season fresh delights can raise)
Let us, with awe, the Mighty Giver praise :
And may we cheerful, harmless, aye be found,
Neither of life, nor earthly duties tired;

Yet ready, should each hear the warning sound,
Prepare! This night, thy soul shall be required."

A WALK IN THE COUNTRY IN AUTUMN.

SPRING and summer are passed away, the fresh flowers of the one, and the burning sun of the other are gone, and autumn is come. The country has been beautiful; the fields have been rich with harvest, and we have seen the golden wheat, the waving barley, and the greener oats ripe. The fields are now, for the most part, cleared. In some counties there is another great harvest besides that of grain, that of potatoes; these are generally ready in October. So excellent is the potatoe as an article of food, that we can only wonder how England ever did without it. It is not more than two hundred years since it was first brought here from America: the ship containing the

roots was bound for Ireland, but, by adverse winds, was cast ashore at Formby, in Lancashire; there the potatoe first grew in our island; and Lancashire, and its neighbour Cheshire, are still famous for this vegetable. In Worcestershire, Kent, and Sussex, hops are generally grown; these are fit for gathering about the middle of September, and afford employment to numbers of people; hop-picking, or hopping as they call it in Kent, is an easy occupation, by which even little children can earn money; so, my cottage friends, I think our autumn rambles may boast attractions as various as either of our former ones. The woodland scenery is now beautiful; what a variety of colouring does every group of trees, almost every tree possess. The oak, with its deep orange, sometimes almost scarlet leaves, contrasts well with the russet garb of its more sober brethren. It is an often disputed point, whether the country is more beautiful in spring or in autumn. Spring has the charm of freshness, of hope; it resembles the childhood of man; we look forward, and think, "these flowers will produce fruits, these days, though longer, lighter than those of winter, will still lengthen." All this gives spring a charm greater even than its actual beauty; there autumn outrivals it, but we do not rejoice as we did in the merry month of May. True, the woods are magnificent; true, the robin cheers us with his song, but each day those trees are despoiled of some of their attire; the robin sings, but he is almost the only warbler; the days are shortening. Spring is likened to childhood; surely autumn presents a good picture of our declining years. Winter comes not upon us suddenly, we have many warnings to prepare for it: and is not old age equally heralded by various signals? the leaves change from green to brown, our hair changes from its original colour to grey; the birds cease their singing, our voices no longer possess the power of harmony. Yet, with all this, autumn is not a dull season; on the contrary, it is generally full of cheerfulness; and so ought the de

Extracts from Different Authors.

477

cline of life to be; and so it will be, if the foregoing season has been well employed. Not all the birds are silent; the little robin still cheers us, the very picture of serene happiness. Let him be our emblem; remembering, nevertheless, that the autumn blast of life, whether felt by infirmities, or merely by gradual decay, must not admonish us in vain. Autumn will soon be over, then surely comes winter; our old age over, as surely comes death. If our work has been performed in due season, death is only a blessed change to the mansions of happiness: if not, how sad the reverse, the grave is the door to punishment. He who did not sow in spring cannot reap in autumn. Yet neglect not the passing moment. And though no encouragement is held out to the obstinate sinner, still we would remind the sincere penitent of the resemblance between the autumn of life and the eleventh hour of the parable, and we trust the hope is not too presumptuous, that there may still be mercy for those who seek for it by the right means, and make the most of the December of their years.

F..

EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT AUTHORS.

To withhold our heart from God,-who demands of us our whole heart,-and then to suppose that there can be any use in making professions of what we do not feel,-in offering prayers that we do not wish to be granted, and in repeating a set of words without thinking of their force and meaning,-is not only a grievous sin, but a grievous folly.-Anon.

Truly happy are they who have the blessing of God on their labours, for that alone maketh rich, and causeth no sorrow.-Footman's Directory.

The true Christian humbles himself, as a sinner, at the foot of the cross, under a deep sense of his own guilt and the Divine mercy,-he rests his only hope

on the merits of a Redeemer, whose promises, and whose law he receives with all his mind, and soul, and strength. He has an earnest desire and care upon his soul to be walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless. For this blessing he daily prays; in this work he daily advances ;-" loving the Lord God with all his heart," and "loving his neighbour as himself," he is, of all men, the most inclined, as he is assuredly the most bound, to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” -Rev. J. Slade.

66

Without religion, the human mind is an unweeded garden; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely ;" and if these weeds shed their destructive influence over it, farewell tranquil content, and all those pleasing feelings which neither riches nor power, but religion alone can give.-Sir Eardley Wilmot.

The most material object of all, for your son, is, disciplining his passions, and regulating his mind, and impressing such religious principles upon him as the tenderness of his age will endure, and enlarging gradually upon those subjects as his reason opens to receive them. I lay great stress upon this part of his education, because I am sure his future happiness in this world, as well as the next, will greatly depend upon it. The same.

-

Of all vices which degrade human nature, I have always thought that "envy" is the most abject and inglorious. It is far better to take pleasure in seeing, hearing, and giving applause, than in receiving it.— The same.

Very fitly is the state of the sinner compared to a state of sleep: he is quite insensible of his true, his awful condition; he fears not, perceives not, the doom that is awaiting him. Satan has bound up his senses; the eyes of his understanding are closed, and his knowledge of good and evil is utterly prevented.Speak to him of mercy, he hears not: "sing him one of the songs of Sion," it is all in vain: speak to him of