early years, that pleasure was comparatively unknown. If such has been the case we say God pity you, and all such who have never had a home! You have lost a precious boon on which multitudes frequently look back with a joy which it is impossible to over-estimate. It may have been but a very humble abode to gaze upon from the outside, but the influences within have been such that many to their dying hour can never think of it without deep emotion and heartfelt joy. The plain beams mean more to such than a palace walk with its rich carving or its handsome gate. Or as one says:- "Parks and bowers and trees on fashionable watering-place or country seat do not mean so much to you as that brook that ran in front of the plain farmhouse, and singing under the weeping willows. The barred gateway swung open by porter in full dress does not mean as much to you as that swing gate, your sister on one side of it and you on the other; she has gone fifteen years ago into glory. That scene comes back to you to-day, as you swept backward and forward on the gate, singing the songs of your childhood. But there are those who have their second dwelling-place. It is your adopted home. That also is sacred for ever. There you established the first family altar. There your children were born. In that room flapped the wing of the death angel. Under that roof, when your work is done, you expect to lie down and die. There is only one word in all the language than can convey your idea of that place, and that word is 'home.' Now let me remark that I never knew a man who was faithful to his early and adopted home, who was given over at the same time to any gross form of wickedness. . . . Though you may be cut off from your early associates, and though you may be separated from all your kindred, young man, is there not a room somewhere that you can call your own? Though it be the top story of a third-rate house, into that room gather books, and pictures, and a harp. Hang your mother's portrait over the mantelshelf. Bid unholy mirth stand back from that

threshold. Consecrate some spot in that room with the knee of prayer. By the memory of other days, a father's counsel, a mother's love, and a sister's confidence, call it HOME!"

Say, from the very depth of your soul:

"O home! sweet home! in whose endearing name

Is centred every inborn happiness;
Receptacle of each fond tender tie

That binds us to existence; loved resort
Of every social joy and pure delight;

O hail! and with thee thy attendant train
Of tireside comforts and domestic peace.".

IX. Continue faithful to each other to the end.-Finally, ever remember that between the two eventful daysthat on which the marriage knot is tied and the one when death will step in to untie it-many things will have to be done to keep the love bright and pure. Many sorrows as well as joys may have to be shared. Many a disappointment, as well as many an unexpected joy, will be your portion; hence, like wise people, you must be ready to ever act upon the well-known principle, and "continue in welldoing,” if you wish to reap in due season. Be it your desire and aim to make your Home so happy, your fireside so bright, that it may be a reflection of the better home above to which you and all your loved ones may come. Then

"What shall the unveiled glories be of our celestial home

Where waves the glorious tree of life, where streams of bliss gush free,
And all is glowing in the light of immortality?

To see again the home of youth, when weary years have passed,
Serenely bright as when we turned and looked upon it last;
To hear the voice of love, to meet the rapturous embrace,
To gaze, through tears of gladness, on each familiar face,
Oh this indeed is joy! though here we meet again to part;
But what transporting bliss awaits the pure and faithful heart,
When it shall find the loved and lost, those who have gone before,
Where every tear is wiped away, where partings come no more!"

E begin by supposing that you have both selected each other wisely and made every arrangement to start with a nicely-furnished home; every article has been bought and paid for with the savings of your own industry, and has not to be "furnished on the hire system." The long-looked-for day has arrived. Everything has been

ready. The vows " to love, honour, and cherish until death. you do part" have been made; the marriage-ceremony is over; the hearty good wishes of your friends have been given; the wedding-breakfast has been eaten; the speeches delivered; desires expressed; hopes breathed; prayers offered; rice showered, and the old boots thrown; and you have been permitted to depart on your journey to spend "the honeymoon." Is it too much to hope that you imagined just then that you were the most fortunate couple in the world, and that nothing could hinder you from being happy beyond expression in each other's company, and that you fully intended doing all you could to secure each other's happiness? Not a cloud could be seen, or a fear for a moment entertained that all would be well.

You spent a few days by the seaside, watching the ebbing and flowing of the tide, fit emblem of life, or you wandered together down the by-lanes of some rustic corners of our country where all Nature is full of beauty and peace.

After a few days you returned to the sacred spot you for the future would call your HOME. Was it any wonder, when you took your seat in that easy-chair by your own fireside, and looked around at the evidences of comfort you had been able to gather together in anticipation of your settling down, that you said instinctively to your wife, as no doubt you did that evening

"Well, my dear, there's no place like home, after all, is there?"

So.

To which she responded

'Of course not; and I hope we shall always feel it to be

It is true, beautifully true, that there is no place like a happy Home. There is a preciousness about the joys of home-life with which nothing else can be compared, nor is there anything which can in the smallest degree supply its place if it be missing. Cowper well illustrates this in his Task, where he says

"Domestic happiness! thou only bliss

Of Paradise that hast survived the fall!
Though few now taste thee unimpair'd and pure;
Or tasting, long enjoy thee; too infirm,
Or too incautious to preserve thy sweets
Unmixt with drops of bitter, which neglect
Or temper sheds into thy crystal cup;
Thou art the nurse of virtue-in thine arms
She smiles, appearing, as in truth she IS,
Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again.
Thou art not known where PLEASURE is adored-
That reeling goddess with the zoneless waist
And wandering eyes, still leaning on the arm
Of novelty, her fickle, frail support;

For thou art meek and constant, hating change,
And finding in the calm of truth-trie i love

Joys that her stormy raptures never yield."

Of nothing else can one speak with such intense and hearty feeling as about the joys and pleasures of home-life. If you wish to realise all the happiness which it is possible. to enjoy, it will be seen at a glance that there must be a right way of going about to seek it; and if you are to secure it as your portion, your conduct must be guided and controlled by some leading motive, by which you will be able to look with confidence for its attainment. What should be this moving impulse? This-that you will resolve, by God's blessing, that you will with truthfulness and sincerity be able to say that every other desire shall be subordinate to this :

I. "My home shall be the happiest place in this world."Such being the resolution to which you have come, it may naturally be asked WHAT IS THE SECRET OF A HAPPY HOME? Is there any magic spell by which it can be secured? A man or a woman may sing with the most intense feeling