THE CHRISTIAN SOUVENIR: AN OFFERING FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR. EDITED BY ISAAC F. SHEPARD. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY HENRY B. WILLIAMS. Philadelphia: Perkins & Purves. New-York: Collins, Brother & Co. Baltimore: Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and forty-two, by HENRY B. WILLIAMS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Contributions for the next volume should be addressed to the Editor, care of H. B. WILLIAMS, by the first of April next. Wm. White & H. P, Lewis, Printers, PREFACE. "THE CHRISTIAN SOUVENIR " comes before the public as a stranger, in its modest garb asking to be entertained, with the warm hope that they who harbor it, may thereby receive a spirit of light, of beauty, and of love. The late hour at which the work was undertaken, of necessity, caused some embarrassments in the mechanical and artistical departments, which require time and care, to be rendered perfect. The engravings, from this circumstance, are not in all respects what we wish them, and what may be looked for in another volume. Still it is believed that they will compare with other annuals, and one or two of them, it is thought, are not often surpassed in beauty of design or in delicacy of finish. In the literary department, the editor has endeavored to improve on all who have gone before him, by combining what shall be attractive, sparkling and chaste in polite literature, with a high degree of utility, and religious value. He may have failed in his attempt, and to some extent he is conscious of the fact, because contributions, valuable and relied upon, were received too late, or would occupy too much space for a work of limited size. But either from the fact, or because he strongly desires to have it thus, he believes that no annual ever issued in the country, will surpass this in interest or permanent value. The list of contributors is rich and varied, ranking the first writers of the age in their several departments, male and female, and their articles do no dishonor to their reputation. It is somewhere written of a certain plant, that if it be placed in a close room for an hour or two, its penetrating fragrance will so infuse itself with every object, that for months after, its odor will exhilarate the senses, while the walls and ceiling seem to have become surcharged with its nature. Such we wish this gift-book to be, when upon Christmas and NewYear's day, it is taken to the fireside, or laid upon the centre table, to distil its moral aroma through the atmosphere of the parlor, whose sweet inspirations may be retained down the far vale of years. There has been of necessity a postponement of some valuable articles offered, and among them there should be mentioned, an elaborate and most interesting sketch of "The Scottish Covenanters," by Rev. William C. Brownlee, D. D., of New-York. It is a |