ticular station, whatever it may be, in which the providence of God hath placed thee. And, amongst other things, remember and respect my admonitions; forget not, 'that whoso honoureth his father shall have joy of his own children; and when he maketh his prayer he shall be heard.' It is not the custom of our days for children to be so attentive to their aged parents as is required by the laws of God, and the obligations of society. In our condition, I fear some old people are thrown on the parochial charity whose children might provide for them. I remember to have heard my master say, that the Gallicians, who are labourers in the great cities of Portugal, and the Russians, who do the same offices in their own country, are never so happy as when they carry home their gains to assist their aged parents. Heaven knows I have little to give thee but my good advice. Do not, however, think this a misfortune, for the riches of the wealthy often prove temptations to great wickedness. Whatever sufferings thou mayest undergo, be courageous. REMEMBER THAT THY GREAT LORD AND MASTER LIVED IN POVERTY, AND DIED IN PAIN. NEVER FORGET HIS LIFE AND DEATH. To-morrow we must part; but I trust that in the love of God and goodness, we shall ever be united. Adieu! ECONOMICAL RECEIPT. An EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTE for SOAP, easily prepared, and which will be found to answer all the purposes of that useful but expensive article, for family use. COLLECT, before the time of seeding, thistles, nettles, fern, and such other weeds as usually infest the borders of high roads and hedges, and burn them in a large heap, gradually, till the whole are consumed, and carefully preserve the ashes in a dry place, ready to make the ley wanted for the purpose of making a substitute for scap. The The requisite materials and utensils should be prepared, which are but few in number. They consist, 1st, Of a small tub of white wood, nine inches in width, and as many in height. This tub should be perforated near the bottom; its use is for mixing the leys. (Were it made of oak it would colour the leys.) 2d, A small copper bason, with a round bottom, a foot in diameter, and seven or eight inches in depth; or where this cannot be procured, an iron pot, or earthen vessel, that can bear the fire, may be used, This vessel is intended for boiling the mixture. 3d, For this small manufacture are finally required a skimmer, a spatula of white wood, and two earthen pans. The materials nesessary are, 1, some good ashes; 2, lime; and 3, oil, tallow, or kitchen fat. Method of preparing the leys. Take three pounds of ashes and one pound of lime. First, moisten the lime with a small quantity of water, in order to slake it; and after it has completely crumbled down, mix with it the ashes, and put this mixture into the tub, having previously spread a piece of canvas at the bottom; carefully close the hole at the bottom of the tub; after which pour upon the materials a quantity of water sufficient to soak it well through, and rise above it in the vessel, to the height of about three finger breadths. Then stir it well with a stick, and suffer it to stand for some hours; then open the hole, in order to let the ley run off, which is collected and kept by itself. This is the first ley; then again put fresh water in the tub, stir the materials with a stick, let them stand for some hours, and then draw off the second ley, which is also kept separate; the third ley is obtained in the same manner, by pouring fresh water upon the remainder of the ashes, which will now have been sufficiently exhausted of its saline particles Take equal quantities of the first ley, and of kitchen fat, tallow, or oil, and melt them together in your copper bason, over a gentle fire, till they are well incorporated, by constantly agitating them with your wooden spatula. When the ley and grease are well united, you may add more ley of the second quality, and digest them for some time with a gentle heat, till the mixture is completed, taking care to stir it well all the time; then pour it into your earthen pans to cool and preserve for use. A few trials will enable you to make it in a perfect manner. The surplus ley of the stronger kinds may be preserved for future use, and the weaker ley will serve to put upon fresh ashes on a future occasion, or a little of any of these leys will form a useful steep, with a considerable quantity of warm water, for the dirty plain linen intended to be washed, but will be too strong for printed calicoes or dyed articles. USEFUL INFORMATION. DANGEROUS SITUATIONS, PLAYS AND SPORTS, FOR CHILDREN; With necessary cautions to be observed by those grown up: as they are strikingly laid down, and legibly marked off, by many a dear-bought experience in the CHART OF LIFE. AN eminent poet and philosopher, in allusion to the complicated nature and wonderful structure of the human frame, says well: Strange that a harp of thousand strings But his words are no less true: Dangers stand thick thro' all the ground, Man truly comes into the world in a weak and helpless state, and if left to himself, in the tender years of infancy and childhood, would be momentarily exposed to many a danger, each of them sufficient to extinguish the vital spark, before lengthened days had suffered it to acquire a brilliant flame. As he advances from his nurse's arms, these continue to gather, like a baneful atmosphere, around him; nor has he got beyond the reach of accident, when age and grey hairs warn him of his departure. In every stage, betwixt the cradle and the grave, he stands in need of the care and circumspection of others, or of the most prudent dictates of his own experience to screen him from accidents the most fatal, or teach him to avoid those numberless casualties, that, like so many shoals and quicksands, lie across his path, or threaten to swallow him up in the voyage of life. In Childhood Man is exposed to many dangers, and not a few of them may proceed from the very elements that seem essentially necessary for his existence and comfort. In page 92 of our second number, we had occasion to mehtion, that a child should never be left alone, in any situation where he may be exposed to the element of Fire, and then stated such forcible reasons for it, as no person could possibly mistake; and yet, it was only the other day that a mother, with a fine child in her arms, declared, that the day before, that same child had made a very narrow escape from being burnt to death, in consequence of his clothes having caught fire while she had left him for a few moments. The same may be said with regard to Water, and how many little creatures perish through the carelessness of their nurses by scrambling and falling into a tub, well, or piece of water, to which they have incautiously had access. The accidents from Scalding, as we also formerly observed, are still more numerous, in consequence of which we took occasion to notice the continual danger to which children are exposed, in places where cooking is carried on; and from the aptitude of a child to pull any thing he can lay hold of to him, and carry it to his mouth, we pointed out the propriety of leaving nothing hot within his reach, and yet, how many melancholy instances have since happened by children laying hold of tea-pots, kettles, &c. The same argument holds with respect to poisonous articles of any kind-pins and needles-any piece of animal food with small bones in it, or hard vegetable substances, particularly such as are apt to swell by moisture; all of which, as well as sharp and dangerous instruments should be carefully kept from the hands of a child. When they begin to move about The tottering and feeble limbs of infants demonstrate the propriety of having nothing sharp in their way, and that the corners of tables, or other furniture in nurseries, or places occupied by young ones, should be properly rounded. When able to play out of doors, They should be carefully taught not to recreate themselves on exposed outside stairs, by the edges of precipices, on the margins of rivers, brooks, canals, mill-dams, or ponds;Not to play in the midst of streets or highways, or amuse themselves by the very pernicious and bad custom of throwing of stones, which often begun in sport has ended with very serious and alarming consequences. They should also be cautioned not to allow themselves to be led aside, or out of their way by strangers on any pretence whatever. As they grow up It may be proper to guard them against climbing about old walls, ruinous buildings, or high trees; sporting with gunpowder, fire, or fire-arms, mischievous weapons of any kind; leaping from high places, swinging about or hurling empty carts or chaises, toying with horses, leaning against or sliding down rails and ballustrades, swinging too high at see-saw or on a tree, playing at what is called weighing butter and cheese, * An instance is recorded of a poor boy who had his head so much cut by a stone thrown by another, that the Surgeon declared the blow to be a very dangerous one, and he feared would cause the poor little fellow continual pains in his head, and hurt his understanding as long as he lived. cheese*, venturing beyond depth in learning to swim, attempting to swim in a strong current, skating on places where the water is deept, walking upon the sides of ships and boats, or taking the amusement of sailing without some experienced person, &c. When arrived at maturity, It may still be proper to caution them against perilous or dangerous situations, such as standing up in a cart or gig when it is in motion; leaning against a coach door; sleeping on the roof of a stage coach, or upon horseback, in travelling; keeping nigh the side of a street in a gale of wind; hurrying from a church, theatre, or crowded assembly of any kind, on a slight occasion of alarm; getting into the midst of a crowd at any public spectacle or exhibition; going through a field in which are suspicious cattle feeding; going suddenly out of a warm room into the cold air; sitting on the damp ground, or bathing while hot:-and to be particularly attentive When engaged in employments which may be rendered extremely hazardous through inattention, As about mills, engines. feeding machinery, working upon the tops of houses, ladders, and scaffolding, undermining, embanking, quarrying or blasting, cleaning windows outside, folding up beds, &c. These necessary hints and cautions, with ed throughout our work, deserve the most serious attention of others scattermany our readers, and in corroboration of our remark, as far as it respects the greater part of them, we have only to refer to the experience of the present year in the Chronological Table, preceding the Index, at the end of this Volume. *Weighing butter and cheese, as it is called, is done by two boys entwisting the arms together, back to back, and thus swaying each other; this is a highly dangerous practice, in which an instance is recorded of a boy having his back bone actually broken, and made a cripple for life! + In the directions for recovering persons who have fallen through the ice, in page 45, (see No. I.) we have omitted one most excellent device, viz, a Ladder, which, by being slid across the hole, would furnish the unfortunate person with one of the best and most effectual life preservers. By laying hold of this, he might not only support and raise himself up in his perilous situation, but enable the bystanders, without danger to themselves, to drag him along to a place of safety. A broad, light made ladder, and a little longer than the common in use, kept in the neighbourhood of deep waters, much frequented in winter for the purpose of skating, would he a humane and useful appendage indeed, and with the ropes, poles, and drags, formerly mentioned, might be the means of saving the life of many a fellow-crea ture. |