way or the other, without a moment's hesitation, if you will let me know what it is."

"Then to be candid with you, John, I have heard-now don't be offended-I have heard it whispered that you are going to be married. Is it true ?"

"And pray who told you?" asks John, blushing up to his eyebrows.

"Oh, a little bird who flies about whispered it in my ear. It's a secret that nobody knows; but it's curious how so many people manage to find it. Come, is it true ?"

"I don't mind confessing to you that it is.”

"And is it to-you know who I mean ?"

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Why who else do you think it could be?" John confesses, with a blush rising again all over his face.

"I thought I was about correct, for I have often seen you going off together as if you believed two to be company and three none, and, indeed, I don't think I shall be far out if I say that you are now expecting her to turn up somewhere in this direction."

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Why you might know all about it by the way you speak."

"So I do; and it is because I do know so much that I am anxious as an old friend to ask you a few simple questions, with your permission."

"With the greatest of pleasure," he replies, "for you have always shown a desire for my good in many ways." "Well, then, if I may be so bold, is it really true that you are going to be married?”

"Yes, quite true."

"And have you fixed the day?"

"Yes."

"And when is the happy event to come off-if I may allowed to know ?"

be

"I don't mind telling you, but as we intend having a very quiet wedding please not to mention it to any one." "You may rely upon me keeping dark."

"Then, if you must know, it comes off in a fortnight." "Indeed! so soon as that? Then I presume you have made all your arrangements pretty complete by this time?" "Oh yes, nearly everything is settled."

"I am glad of that. And where is it to be, and what time? I should like to creep into a quiet corner and see the deed done."

"It is to be in" (naming the place), "and at eleven o'clock."

"All right, I shall try and be there. You won't be late ?" "I should think not; it might prove serious."

"And now, John, as I may not have the opportunity of seeing you before the happy event takes place, and as you tell me all your arrangements are complete, may I ask where you intend to live, and to start housekeeping, as I should like to send you a small present, and some day I may drop in and see how you are getting on ?"

Well! to tell you the truth," he replies with evident unwillingness contrasted with his former frankness-"that is the only thing we haven't quite decided upon."

"What! and only fourteen days to the time of your wedding ?"

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Yes, we have not yet fully decided about what we shall do," he again reluctantly confesses.

"Surely, then, you must by this time have come to some understanding as to what you think will be the best to be done ?"

"Yes, we have decided, under the circumstances, it will be best for the first six months or so, to live in lodgings, or take up our quarters with the old folks at home."

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What! the first evening of your married life to have to sing Home, sweet Home!' in lodgings? Surely you can't be serious in what you are saying?"

"I am as. serious as possible. The fact is, I have not been able to save anything towards furnishing a home, anl therefore am obliged to do without it for a time."

"And pray, if you have not been able to make provision before you are married, how are you going to do it after ?" "Oh, something will turn up, I expect

"Turn up, indeed! and a pretty turn up it is likely to be. The idea of having to buy, even if you find that you can afford it, a few articles week by week! When is it likely you will be able to have anything like a decent furnished home at this rate? You will be always buying and never having, and the result will be that both of you will get disheartened and give up in despair. Take my advice: postpone your wedding-day. Go and talk over the subject with your intended wife, and tell her that one who wishes you both well has long been of opinion-and the more he sees the firmer grows the conviction-that he is right when he says'No WOMAN SHOULD CONSENT TO FIX HER WEDDING-DAY UNLESS SHE IS SURE THAT SHE IS TO BE TAKEN TO A HOME

OF HER OWN, FURNISHED AND PAID FOR,' and not even on

the hire system, whether it is for one or more years. Unless this is done, misery instead of happiness must be looked for. Hence the truth of the proverb

"Know when to spend, and when to spare,

And when to buy, and thou shalt ne'er be bare.' But how is it to be done? it may be asked.

"Done?" we reply. "It CAN be done and OUGHT to be done." But, as a rule, it can only be done in one way, and, thank God, the way is within the reach of all who are anxious to avail themselves of it. We confidently say that it is within the power of thousands of young people to start with a decent, comfortable furnished home of their own when they marry, if they will early in life resolve to get into THE HABIT OF SAVING, instead of THE HABIT OF SPENDING. It is here where thousands miss their way, forgetting that “Where pence go pounds follow, Where pence stay pounds stay." How many there are who let week after week, month after month, even year after year slip away, without ever making a single effort to lay by a small sum towards the important day, when they intend starting a home of their own! Don't for a moment imagine that it can be accomplished by mere dreaming about it, sighing after it, or even earnestly wishing for it. It can only be secured by the earnest use of the best means in your power. Go to the happy home of any hard-working people and ask the secret of their success. You will soon discover that it has not been brought about by a hasty whim, or a mere fancy, or a night's dream, but by downright determined effort. They have had to resolve to act in harmony with the teaching of the old proverb, which says "Every pea helps to fill the peck," and with that also in the Bible, which declares, "Be not deceivedwhatsoever a man soweth, that he shall also reap."

It has been said by some one that "marriage is a lottery," but we may properly ask, "Why should it be so " True, speculators may turn almost anything into a lottery, and even go so far as to do so with things which in the hands of

fair dealers would be the basis of honourable transactions, but they must choose to do it. In like manner young people who choose to make marriage a lottery may do it, by going about it and entering upon it in a rash speculative spirit, instead of regarding it with that watchful care and serious thought, which it most certainly deserves, and ought to receive, at the hands of all who wish it to turn out a complete success. Let it be your determination, therefore, to seek wisely, choose carefully, decide seriously, and prepare diligently for the whole business, and then there will be little fear of your finding it either “ a blank" or " a blunder," but a prize," and so prove it to have been a right thing for you to have done, and in the doing of which you have secured for yourselves those blessings which you expected as the result of taking such a step.

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The secret of a real happy home lies here: the people have learnt to sow the right seed at the right time. You will find the same holds true of the wretched home. They have sown the wrong seed. It is no use expecting good things to turn up, unless you adopt good plans and good efforts to turn them up. It is in vain you merely sigh for a nice, comfortable, cosy home, unless you resolve to use every possible effort to bring nice, cosy, comfortable things into it. Intention is all very well in its place, but depend upon it the best intention for promoting the happiness of the homes of England is that which says "I will imagine what a home ought to be, and then by God's help set to work to use the best means so as to realise it, with all the perfection and blessedness which belongs to it."

But it may be asked, "How AND WHEN CAN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE SAVE ?" To this we reply by saying-Of all needless and expensive habits which are common and costly, into which most of our youths drop, without asking the cost, are those of smoking and drinking. If a youth wishes you to conclude that he has "cut his wisdom teeth" and is now a full-blown man, he is sure to do so by starting a pipe or a