"There's not a cheaper thing on earth,
Nor yet one half so dear;

'Tis worth more than distinguish'd birth,
Or thousands gained a year.
It lends the day a new delight;

'Tis virtue's firmest shield;
And adds new beauty to the night
Than all the stars may yield.

"It maketh poverty content;

To sorrow whispers peace;
It is a gift from Heaven sent
For mortals to increase.

It meets you with a smile at morn;
It lulls you to repose;

A flower for peer and peasant born,
An everlasting rose.

"A charm to banish grief away,

To snatch the brow from care;
Turns tears to smiles, makes dulness gay-
Spreads gladness everywhere;

And yet 'tis cheap as summer's dew,

That gems the lily's breast;

A talisman for love as true

As ever man possess'd.

"As smiles the rainbow through the cloud
When threat'ning storm begins-

As music 'mid the tempest loud

That still its sweet way wins-
As springs an arch across the tide,
Where waves conflicting foam,
So comes this seraph to our side,
This angel of our home.

"What may this wondrous spirit be,
With power unheard before-
This charm, this bright divinity ?

GOOD TEMPER-nothing more!
GOOD TEMPER;-'tis the choicest gift
That woman homeward brings;
It can the poorest peasant lift

To bliss unknown to kings."

Good temper is so precious that it becomes like a charm wherever it reigns. We feel it is impossible not to love those who constantly manifest its virtues, for we always expect to find serenity marked upon their coun

tenance. "A cheerful temper," says Addison, "joined with innocence, will always make beauty attractive, knowledge delightful, and wit good-natured. It will lighten sickness, poverty, and affliction, convert ignorance into an amiable simplicity, and render deformity itself agreeable." How invaluable, therefore, it must be to cultivate it, and in every possible way to aid its growth and development! Temper is the greatest of all levellers; it lowers the character of all who give way to its influence, and in no case refines or purifies those who submit to its pernicious power.

You may perhaps see the full force of cultivating such a spirit by trying to realise the fact, that married people would be happier if they remembered that each other is a human being, and not an angel-if they tried to be as agreeable in marriage as they were in courtship-if they would study to comfort and support each other-if they remembered that they married for worse as well as for better.

It is the duty of a wife to study to be in every way she can a companion, a help in all bis toil, and a friend to her husband. She will soon discover for all practical purposes, that in proportion as she fulfils these three duties, she will promote the wellbeing of herself as well as her husband. Much of the wretchedness of married life arises from the fact that the wife does not seem to realise that she has to do these things to make her a true wife. pleasant thing it is to have a pleasant companion! We never tire of their society, and never feel happy when separated. We seek to enter into one another's thoughts, purposes, plans, tastes, and by interchange of views add to our stock of happiness. It should be so in married life, and each should seek to cultivate such things.

What a

A wife should be ready to make great allowances for a husband who comes home after a hard day's work, on a hot day, thirsty, perhaps irritable and exhausted, and try and get a meal suitable for him. Remember what is suitable food in the winter may be very unsuitable in the summer. In

cold weather we instinctively relish pea-soup, Irish stew, broth, buttered toast, but in the hot weather they are as much out of character as strawberries at Christmas.

And every husband must be prepared to make allowances for his wife. She has her difficulties with household matters, and her trials and crosses with the children. Things do not always go smooth with her when you are away, and you must be prepared to find her more or less affected by such things. Some husbands are very unreasonable; they forget that the wife is but mortal. Even Luther, it is said, one day gaily said to his wife :-"If I were going to make love again I would carve an obedient woman out of marble, in despair of finding one any other way."

The question was once asked in a Sunday school, "Why should a man not have two wives ?" To which a sharp boy replied, "Because no man can serve two masters." We may smile at the answer, but there is a lesson wrapped up in the words which it would be well for every wife to lay to heart. Many a wife has missed her way in trying to be master, and many a husband has missed his way in failing to recognise his duty in this matter. "A fond wife," says Fuller, "commandeth her husband in an equal matter by constant obeying him," and also adds, among other things, that "She never crosseth her husband in the spring-tide of his auger, but stays till it be ebbing water. Surely men, contrary to iron, are worse to be wrought upon when they are hot. Her clothes are rather comely than costly, and she makes plain cloth to be velvet by her handsome wearing it. Her husband's secrets she will not divulge: especially she is careful to conceal his infirmities. In her husband's absence she is wife and deputy husband, which makes her double the files of her diligence. At his return he finds all things so well, that he wonders to see himself at home when he was abroad. Her children, though many in number, are none in noise, steering them with a look whither she listeth. The heaviest work of her servants she maketh light by

orderly and seasonably enjoining it. In her husband's sickness she feels more grief than she shows."

It will thus be seen that life after marriage is made up of those little attentions which beget much love in courtship, and it would be well to carry such attentions therefore, into the home after the wedding is over more than is often the case. The fact is you must not expect too much of each other. We have all our weak places somewhere; we have evil natures whose development we must expect, and we should, therefore, forbear and forgive, as we often desire forbearance and forgiveness ourselves. The best ought to be willing to give way, because the worst will not, just as the wife once said to her husband-"You know, my dear, you are the best, and therefore I will at once give in." Study the character of each other, and sympathise with one another in any trouble however small or great. Cultivate the habit of speaking in a gentle tone of voice, and say kind things whenever an opportunity offers. Never credit each other with a bad motive if it is possible to conceive of a good one. In any time of ill-health, irritation, or trouble be specially watchful against snappishness, ill-temper, and sharp words. Do not neglect any little thing if it concerns the comfort of the other in the smallest degree. Learn to deny yourself for the other's good. Do not believe the cross old fellow who said that a strong-minded woman will always be speaker of the house; or that to please an illtempered woman is like attempting to lick honey from a thorn. It will be a blessing if you can say with Alice Carey :

"My friend, here's a secret

By which you may thrive:
I am fifty years old,

And my wife's forty-five

"A queen among beauties

The wedding-guests said,

When we went to the church

With the priest, and were wed.