FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

the spark will find the train, and then comes an explosion, and the whole mass goes hurtling in the air.

From every wrong decision there lies an appeal. It may be to conscience; it may be to impartial men; or it may be to the righteous Judge upon the great white throne. However the matter may be stifled, smoothed over, or misrepresented, every wrong not righted will come up and keep coming up.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDRENS' CORNER.

WRECKED.

THE storm-king rides upon the sea,
And loud the breakers roar;
The wind is still, the wavelets lie
Asleep upon the shore.

O Storm! O Sea! thy work is done!
No one to tell the tale?

The idle waves creep up the strand
And breathe a bitter wail.

Pale faces in the morning light
Asleep upon the shore!

Pale hands clasped over silent hearts
That beat and throb no more!

Can truth come home with greater force
Than this, O cruel Sea?

Our dead loves lying on the strand

And none to blame but thee!

There is no light, no hope, no love

In all the coming years;

Only the terrible despair,

The blinding, useless tears.

O God, forgive! In our great woe
We pushed Thy hand aside;
But in deep penitence we come,
And in Thy love would hide.
The storm-tossed heart, the bitter tears,
Who, more than thou canst know?
We come to Thee for strength to bear
This agonizing woe.

The Childrens' Corner.

ANECDOTE OF A GREAT MAN.

THERE was a lad, in Ireland, who was put to work at a linen factory, and while he was at work there, a piece of cloth was wanted to be sent out, which was short of the length that it ought to have been; but the master thought that it might be made longer by a little stretching. He thereupon unrolled the cloth, taking hold of one end of it himself, and the boy the other. He then said, "Pull, Adam, pull!" but the boy stood still.

The Master again said, "Pull, Adam, pull!”

The boy said, "I can't."

"Why not?" said the master.

"Because it is wrong," said Adam, and he refused to pull.

Upon this the master said he would not do for a linen manufacturer. But that boy became the Rev. Dr. Adam Clarke, and the strict principle of honesty of his youthful age laid the foundation of his future greatness.

SERMON OF THE SHEAVES.

THE hot summer day was past. A beautiful summer's night had extended itself over the silent fields. Then a sheaf arose and cried out over the field: "Let us hold a harvest thanksgiving to the Lord, under the calm night sky." And all the sheaves arose, and by their confusion awoke the larks and quails that were sleeping in the stubble near by. The first sheaf began his discourse. "Bring to the Lord honour and praise; for He is good, and His goodness endureth for ever. He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. All eyes wait upon Him, and He giveth them food in its season. Thousands of years have past over the earth, and every year has gathered its harvest and prepared its food. The Lord has ever decked His table, and millions have been satisfied. His goodness is new every morning. Bring to the Lord honour and praise." Then the choir of larks sang a thanksgiving song. And another sheaf said: "Having secured God's blessing, everything is secured. The farmer moves his active hand, ploughs the field and strews corn in the furrows; but the increase comes from the Lord. Many cold nights and hot summer days intervene between the sowing and the reaping. Human hand cannot collect the rain cloud, nor yet avert the hail. The Lord preserves the tiny kernel in the bosom of the earth, protects the tender shoot and the ripened Fear not. He has been with us. Having secured God's blessing, everything is secured."

corn.

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Now the third sheaf took up the discourse. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. With a sad heart, a son went out to SOW. Alas! his father had died, and his bereaved mother was weeping at home; for the hard-hearted creditors had emptied their barns. A compassionate neighbour had lent him the seed; but tears fell with the corn in the furrow. Now he reaps a hundredfold, for the Lord has blessed his harvest. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They go out and weep and bear precious seed, and return with joy and bring their sheaves with them."

After that, a fourth continued to speak. "Forget not to do good and to communicate; for such sacrifices are well pleasing to God. Could we shout this into the houses of the rich, who are now filling their barns! Could we call to that hard-hearted man who, yesterday, drove the poor reapers from his field! He whom the Lord has blessed should open his hand that he may resemble Boaz who exercised mercy towards the pious Ruth. Forget not

WOMAN IN ITALY.

to do good and communicate!" And the quails cried out aloud over into the village, as if they wished to awaken the slumbering hearts.

And the fifth sheaf closed thus-" Whatsoever a man soweth

that shall he also reap. He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he that soweth abundantly shall reap abundantly. Why wonder that tares stand among the wheat! Had you sifted the seed before you strewed it! He that soweth weeds shall reap toil. Whosoever soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: whosoever soweth to the spirit shall reap life everlasting." And all the sheaves around bowed themselves, and said, "Amen, Amen."

WOMAN IN ITALY.

THERE are few more cheering signs in the recent history of the world than the development of Italy during the first fifteen years of her independence and unity. Indeed, when we consider that her complete unity as a nation has only been achieved within six years, and that she has not yet outlived the disturbances inseparable from even beneficent changes, we cannot but wonder at the extent to which all classes of her people have accepted their forgotten or prohibited duties, as citizens of a State and members of the great family of humanity. The common people are fast losing their provincial jealousies: the higher classes of society are risingalthough slowly and with difficulty-out of their former lassitude and indifference: material undertakings of all kinds increase and flourish; and a new spirit is working in every field of speculation, literature, and science. The same phenomena which meets us in the history of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages are reappearing under the reign of Victor Emanuel. No further evidence could be desired to show that the brilliant natural capacities of the people, although hampered in their activity of centuries, have not been lost. The independence of Italy simply proves that the Italians have always deserved freedom.

Italy first, toward the close of the Middle Ages, permitted to woman the free exercise of distinguished talents. Olympia Morata lectured publicly in Ferrara, the universities of Padua and Bologna gave chairs to female professors; and the study of medicine, the higher mathematics, and classic literature was open to the sex. Shakespeare's Portia " is less than a full type of the accomplished Italian woman of that day. At this moment, three or four hundred years later, Germany, France, and even England are not much

WOMAN IN ITALY.

in advance of the public sentiment which then accepted such a recognition of woman's capacity; while no modern university has ventured to go so far. Already, in the present general development of Italy, the women are preparing to claim their ancient privileges. A new intellectual activity is stirring in the sex; not only in literature and art, also in politics and sociology, we are beginning to hear softer voices. The popular sympathy with the martyred Bulgarians, which expresses itself through immense mass meetings of Rome and Naples, no less than in London and Glasgow, has given the Italian women an opportunity which some of them have instantly seized. It is true, indeed, that the Italian poetess, Signora Fua Fusinato, has frequently made brief addresses before societies; but we cannot recall any previous instance of a woman addressing a great assemblage of the people. At a meeting held in Rome, in the Apollo Theatre, the Countess Chiocci appeared upon the platform, and presented a written address which she requested to have published with the proceedings of the meeting. It was accepted, and the address would have been willingly heard by the audience, had the Countess not lost her courage.

A week afterward, an immense multitude assembled in the atrium of the monastery of Santa Maria la Nova, in Naples. Thousands upon thousands of all classes of the people were present. The third speaker was Miss Matilda Caselli, who displayed such remarkable spirit and eloquence, rousing the vast audience to such uncontrollable enthusiasm, that the remaining orations in the programme were instantly suppressed, and the resolutions adopted by acclamation. From the report of her speech we find that Miss Caselli was no less daring than eloquent. In Naples, the so long Bourbonized Naples, she cried to the new people which is rising out of the former lazzaroni: "The Cross, the emblem of humanity, can have no brotherhood with the Crescent, the emblem of barbarism! We repudiate the Jesuit policy which now favours the Crescent, as we reject his authority who usurps the name Vicar of Christ!" To appreciate the force of this utterance, it must be remembered that the policy which emanates from the Vatican has been hitherto unfriendly to the Oriental Christians, and therefore, so far as it may effect diplomacy, favourable to the Turkish side of the question. But the freedom of speech of Miss Caselli is hardly more remarkable than the readiness with which it was accorded to her, and the manner in which it was received by the audience. There are still many turbid ingredients in the life of Italy; and if Italian women are as wise and patient as they are able and eloquent, they may render noble service to their country.